Star Crossed Love

by Elizabeth Carter

URL: http://www.area52hkh.net/ase/ecarter/starxd.php
Summary: Sam/Janet and Seven/B'Elanna help the other pair realize that they are in love

SG1, flagship team of the Stargate Command, was on a long but not dreary mission. For nearly a week they had been on M3R233, one of twelve moons orbiting a large ringed gas giant. What they found was a large cache of mineral deposits and very friendly indigenous people. The time spent here would be well worth it.

But SG1 was not quite itself. Colonel Jack O'Neill was in command, Teal'c was there for muscle power and Goa'uld information, and Captain Samantha Carter, doctor of astrophysics, was the chief scientist. But Dr. Jackson was still on down time back on earth considering that it had only been three days since the incident on PXR636 where he had became addicted to a sarcophagus, with an almost narcotic need. Dr. Janet Fraiser had not cleared him for duty and had insisted that he should be off duty for a full week. General George Hammond had agreed with her assessment.

The fourth member on this particular mission was, in fact, the good doctor, Captain Janet Frasier. She was accompanying the team for medical purposes. The task of medical evaluations of a planet normally fell on SG8 with SG3 covering their six. But on certain occasions, with certain missions, Janet accompanied the flagship team.

M3R323 was inhabited by a settlement that could have fit in with the Native Americans in the 17th century, in particular the Dakota tribes, or Sioux to the English tongue. Janet had discovered that their Healer had some exceptional medicines both for anesthetics and also a curative for common ailments such as the flu and other similar diseases.

Janet enjoyed talking with the indigenous medical personnel of alien cultures, both primitive and advanced. Eighty percent of earth's medicines came from plant life found in the tropics of rainforests. Such was the case on this moon also. Janet was welcomed back any time she wanted to talk with the Shaman.

The basis of trade with this planet focused on their medicine and on some unique crystals from the large caverns twelve clicks from the village. The crystals in the cave, Captain Samantha Carter discovered, would power death gliders and other Goa'uld ships. Actually the crystalline formations almost looked like those found on P3X562, the planet Jack O'Neill had renamed Lazarus, where the crystal entities resided. The crystals here on this moon, however, were not sentient. And they were nearly equal in power to naquaada, though Carter had yet to discover their place on the periodic table.

The La'Cota, as the tribe called themselves, wanted protection from the Cahlash, the unmakers, and their serpent-demons, aka the Goa'uld and serpent guard. Considering that SG1 had destroyed two of Apophis's ships above Earth not long ago and that the old snake head had to be dead, it wouldn't be hard to protect them. So SG1 had promised to safeguard the populous of the tribe from Goa'uld invasion.

The troup was going home in the next day, so Sam had wanted to do a little more research on another 'gate that the tribe had shown her when they first came. Janet, always curious, decided to tag along, much to the blonde's delight.

When asked what the second gate was, the Shaman stated it was a gate of the Ancestors. It revealed things that were not, and things that had not yet happened, and things of long ago. Sam considered the implications and thought as she now looked at the rather organic-looking gate that it was some marvelous geological formation and nothing more.

"Do you think the tribe was trying to replicate the idea of the Stargate for religious reasons?" Janet asked as she stepped closer to the crudely carved gate. "Like Stonehenge?"

"Sounds reasonable to me. You know people say they feel things when they go to Stonehenge."

"Do you believe that?" Janet asked her companion.

The blonde shrugged. "Working with the Stargate, I'm starting to think a lot of things are possible. I am not about to go and start talking to animal totems or anything like your buddy, Shaman Karoush, but, hey, you never know. I've seen stranger things."

"You believe that the La'Cota can turn themselves into large cats, like they say they can?"

"I believe they believe it," Sam smiled.

"What a scientific answer, Doctor Carter," Janet teased.

"A safe answer." The blonde was still grinning.

Indeed, the tribal grounds of the La'Cota had several icons of large hunting cats such as lions, tigers (sorry no bears) and leopards, puma, jaguars, and lynx, cheetah and others that looked like the Scottish wild cat and the sphinx breed of domestic feline of Egypt. There were nine sects within the tribe, or rather nine prides, and each had a head of state, as it were, to represent them in the La'Cota Nation.

Everyone, not just the religious leaders, claimed they could transform themselves into large cats. Indeed, SG1 had grown accustomed to having large cats roaming the village as one might expect a neighborhood in suburbia to have many breeds of dogs.

Sam and Janet had both accepted the situation the same as anyone within the SGC would, willingly crossing the line from disbelief into it could be possible. Right now Sam was in disbelief that the 'organic' Gate was that, organic. She had a deep scientific feeling that it was something far far more than that.

Hitting the button on her radio she commed her CO, "Colonel, I think that the second gate we discovered warrants further study, I'd like to request an extended period of time to...."

**Carter, what ever you're going to say, I'll second it. Make the call to Hammond for a few extra days. It's time we checked in anyway.**

"Sir?" Cater had been expecting an argument.

** T'vook offered to take me on a little fishing trip. He says the bass are...well, they are huge. Teal'c ...well he's made a few new friends. I don't see that a couple of days would hurt. We'll send some of the crystals through the 'Gate and ask the General for a few more days so you can study that carved rock or whatever.**

Janet looked up in time to see Sam flash a brilliant smile, the sort that brightened the astrophysist's whole face and made Janet feel butterflies.

**He may send SG10 to help you.**

SG10, of course, was one of the few purely scientific teams, the other being SG7.

"Yes, sir. And thank you. Carter out."

To Janet her blonde companion looked like a child with a brand new toy. "Sam, I'll make the call. Why don't you start your investigations on the organic gate."

Sam's smile grew broader. "Oh, thanks Janet, I owe you." Sam watched as the doctor turned to the DHD and started punching the panels that would activate the gate. 'She has a seriously cute...' Sam winced. 'Don't go there...don't go there ...bad Carter, bad!' the scientist chided herself. And she went back to the scanners she had been using and started to analyze the constriction of the organic gate.

She was surprised, yet not so surprised, to find that the carved gateway was made out of naquaada. It still had that nature-carved-this-thing look to it and yet prehistoric hominids could have had a hand in its construction. It was like they were indeed trying to replicate the Stargate using the natural geological structures in the area. Like the Garden of the Gods back home in Colorado Springs, this area was teaming with natural rock formations.

Behind her Sam could hear the ever-familiar kawoosh of the Stargate's wormhole opening up. A second later she felt Janet plow into her.

"Sam!!" Janet cried out and tackled the blonde to the earth, sending them both through the organic gate's mouth.

Just as Sam was about to ask what in the world was going on she heard the roar of a very large, very hungry forest cat. The white and blue-stripped tiger crouched low one moment, the next it sprang up and rushed the two women. Just about then there was another cascade, as if another wormhole had opened up.

And in a spit second everything had changed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The away team had been working on the collection of a cache of dilithium crystals. They had been working on the deposit for a week. It was, in fact, a payload of the ore. Though not refined, both Seven of Nine and B'Elanna Toress were confident they could make it core ready with some tweaking in the labs on Deck 11.

It was also a time to catch up on some much-needed routine repairs that could not be done in space. Having no spaceport, Captain Kathryn Janeway had ordered Voyager to land on an M-class moon, one of twelve that was orbiting a ringed gas giant.

It was also an opportunity for much needed R&R. Many of the crew had gone exploring mindful to stay within ten clicks of Voyager. But when not on duty, the entire crew was, in a word, playing. Neelix and several of the crewmembers had discovered large fish that looked like a hybrid of North American large mouth bass and Japanese carp. There were also stags and elk and wild game birds for the taking. They were massive and would supply Voyager with pounds of meat for a long while. There were also thousands of kilos of grains, and bushels of fruit and vegetables. Many of the varieties were transplanted to the hydroponics bay.

Commander Chakotay and several others that shared an anthropological and archeology interest were besides themselves when they found an ancient encampment of what could have been Native Americans from the northern states, Chakotay had declared them cousins to the Lakota and Dakota tribes. Even their religious totems were very similar, save for one. Instead of the Thunder Bird, their large religious icon seemed to be a massive puma. Though, of course, there was a significant difference. They were homo-felineus, perhaps a distant relation to the Bastet, a feline hominid species in the beta quadrant.

The ruins also depicted that once upon a time there were rather large hunting cats in residence. That was why the Captain had everyone who went on shore leave armed with a phaser locked on the highest stun setting. She didn't want to kill the cats, but she didn't want the cats killing her crewmembers because the beasts thought the crew might make a nice snack.

Another great bit of interest was the archeological discovery of two circular constructions, one crudely hand hewn and the other delicately sophisticated. Both portals were made out of the same material, a rare quartz substance the periodic table had named Naquaada. B'Elanna, Seven, and Kathryn Janeway buzzed over the discovery like children with a new toy.

"Well, at count there are thirty-nine glyphs and nine chevrons," B'Elanna said. "I don't see any way to control this portal, but it seems that the inner ring spins around and the outer one locks in the chevrons. But I don't see how it's activated or how it would draw its power."

"Naquaada, though rare, is equally if not more powerful than delithium," Janeway said. "We've found some of the naquaada in the crystal mines. I think if we harvest some of it, we could refine it and use it as a power source."

"Perhaps to power the alcoves," Seven ventured. "It would be less taxing on Voyagers power."

"Hey, good idea Seven," B'Elanna said.

"I agree," the captain remarked. "You two make up some plans and I'll go over them with you once we are space born." Janeway looked at the crude gate and back to the more beautiful construction. "Seven, any idea what the glyphs are? Chakotay was clueless."

Seven had for three days studied the glyphs. The former Borg turned to "The glyphs depict drawings of constellations, Captain. I have discovered by running the glyphs in astrometrics that many of them represent known constellations in our own galaxy, Orion for example," Seven pointed to the hourglass shaped glyph. "As for what the others are, I'll have to run further comparisons but I believe that there must have been a controlling system for this gateway."

"Key in what? Coordinates?" B'Elanna furrowed her brown. "For what purpose?"

"That I have yet to discover."

"I think I know," Janeway cut in

The Captain of Voyager walked over to the crude gate. "This gate closely resembles the Guardian of Forever, a temporal gateway discovered by Enterprise about eighty some years ago. It was able to lock on a planet and thrust a traveler through a temporal wormhole. The traveler could go backwards or forwards in time. Passage was only one way. As everyone knows, you can only travel one way through a wormhole whether stellar phenomenon or temporal."

"So this one is a Guardian of Forever?" B'Elanna asked as she touched the hewn rock.

"Then perhaps the indigenous people were trying to manufacture a second such portal with this seemingly more advanced gate," Seven reasoned.

"That does sound plausible," Janeway said. "But unfortunately this Guardian of Forever is dormant. That could be the reason for the more sophisticated portal."

"Indeed, there are no power readings whatsoever in the Guardian of Forever above what is inherent in the naquaada itself," Seven explained as she scanned the crude gate with her tricorder. "If we wish to use it we will have to find a way to power the portals."

Janeway thought for a moment. If this was indeed a Guardian of Forever, then it might be possible to make a temporal wormhole to Earth and simply leap home. Her grin broadened as she instructed, "Ladies, we are going to find away to make this work. I think we might just have found a way home."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Perspective is a very odd thing.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As Sam fell foreword her instinct was to cradle Janet, to cover the doctor lest the smallest amount of harm come to her. It was not to be so. It was Janet who covered the blonde, the doctor's torso covering Sam's back, neck and head as if she were Cassandra back in the Gate room all that time ago.

Sam could hear the sound of the tiger approaching and then nothing. The sensation was not dissimilar to leaping in the Gate. But yet it had a new feel to it, a new vertigo to grow accustomed to. Then the white blindness vanished.

In the back of the astrophysicist's mind something told her she had gone through the hewn gateway. Something stirred in her memory, but for the moment Sam could not think of what, though it gave her an odd creeping sensation in the pit of her stomach.

Seven's first reaction in hearing the kawoosh of the watery pathway was to thrust B'Elanna Toress out of danger. The superior strength of the ex-Borg collided with the Klingon, tackling her to the ground. Had she not, the activation of the gates' event horizon would have taken Toress with its vast explosion of energy.

Janeway was standing near the Guardian of Forever and ducked when the more elaborate gate activated. For a moment there was what looked like a pool of shimmering blue water contained within the rings. Then something extraordinary happened. The Guardian of Forever activated in a smoky white vaporous mist.

Out of it came a massive white tiger with blue strips followed by two females, both in some kind of military garb. It looked alike some giant had thrown her toys at great velocity seeing how the females and the tiger fell out of the portal. The women rolled in a mass of arms and legs. The tiger roared its confused fury, whipped around and roared once more, seeming to blame its prey for what had happened to it.

The smaller female lifted her head and took what looked like some artistically designed phaser and aimed it.

Janeway raised her own phaser, uncertain if she should be pointing at the small redhead or the tiger. The redhead decided for her. The pulse of her phaser hit the tiger in a flare of blue-white energy. The tiger groaned and fell down.

As this was happening, B'Elanna rolled over pushing against Seven's shoulders. "What in the hell..." Then she saw. The Guardian of Forever activated and three lifeforms toppled out at a great speed. 'That's gotta hurt,' said a wee voice in the back of her head.

Sam regained control of her senses and noticed three alien females that did not belong to the La'Cota. Sam rose to her feet, lifted the M16 and trained it on the two standing near the Stargate farthest from her, , her finger flagging the trigger. Her blue eyes never left the women, one blonde with silver adornments and one brunette with cranial ridges.

Janet had the shorter redhead covered with the Zatnicitel.

Captain Kathryn Janeway knew she had to keep things under control. These human looking aliens were holding themselves like professional soldiers. Their nerves on edge, no doubt due to the tiger that had decided that they might make a good dinner. And falling out of the Guardian of Forever didn't help either. Whenever they were from, they were no doubt completely disorientated and leery. Having dealt with the '39's, Janeway figured that these two human females had stepped out of time.

Sam looked at the three of them. 'They're not Gould, thank providence for that,' she thought. The caramel skinned one kept her odd looking zat aimed on her and Janet as did the adorned blonde. The older woman, however, was slowly putting her's away. From the look of it, the older redhead was the leader of the trio.

Janeway noticed the antique, mottled green uniforms and patches that had images of earth and an inverted 'V' shape on one shoulder and on the other what could only be a marker of one of the chevrons on the elaborate gate. It had the identification of SG1 on the patch. This pair had to have knowledge of the elaborate gate. Both wore black multi-pocketed vests, no doubt armored. Both had antique ballistic handguns and knives openly visible on their persons.

"My name is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the USS Voyager. We mean you no harm."

The blonde holding the large firearm didn't lower her weapon as she narrowed her blue eyes and studied the woman who had spoken. "USS Voyager?" She questioned.

That did not sound right. What was a navel officer doing on M3R323? From the UAV, Sam knew there were large lakes equal to the Great Lakes of the States but there were no oceans on this moon. Their uniforms were odd too. Well, two of them wore uniforms, while the other one looked like some sort of cat-suite. 'What self-respecting woman would agree to wear that outside of a gym?' Sam pondered. The only weapons they had were the odd zats.

"Captain Samantha Carter, SGC. My companion is Doctor Janet Frasier."

No one lowered their weapons.

Janeway watched the young blonde. She was extraordinarily young to be a captain of a ship. But Kathryn could tell that this very young woman was very professional, very military. No doubt she could hold command.

"I think we'll all be a little more comfortable if we put our weapons down. Seven, Lieutenant...."

B'Elanna reluctantly lowered her phaser. Once she did, so did the one who called herself Samantha. Seven lowered her's and so did the tiny redhead.

"My own companions are Lieutenant B'Elanna Toress and Seven of Nine."

Sam and Janet did a double take at the name of the tall blonde but said nothing.

"I don't understand. Why is the Navy here? Where are the La'Cota?" Sam asked.

Janeway knew this was never easy explaining temporal travel. "Um...we don't have a water going vessel, we have a starship."

Neither woman seemed concerned or, even more shocking, surprised by this.

"Your vessel is orbiting M3R323?" Sam said.

"M3R323?" Janeway frowned.

"The disengaged binary code for the moon, Captain," Seven offered.

"Okay, so we..." Sam looked at the twin gates. The organic gate looked even more aged, lichens and moss now grew on its sides. Even the cracked steps to the Stargate were covered with thick moss and more disconcerting itself was that the DHD was gone!

"Oh boy," Sam teetered for a moment and was caught up by Janet's comforting hand.

"Sam...?"

"Janet, we have a major problem. I don't know how, not yet, but ...I think were went forward in time."

"That is exactly what happened," Janeway agreed. Surprised yet again. "Perhaps we could return to our ship so we can discuss this. Captain, Doctor, we'd be honored if you were to join us."

"They aren't Goa'uld, Janet. I think we will be okay."

Janet nodded and stepped closer to her companion. From the corner of her mouth Sam whispered, "We'll trust them for now, but keep your eyes on the door."

The petite physician slowly nodded again.

B'Elanna looked at the two blondes. If it wasn't for the heels Seven wore she and the one named Samantha Carter would be of the same height. Doctor Fraiser was even shorter than B'Elanna. The Klingon estimated she couldn't be over five feet, and with the large black vest she looked even smaller, almost frail. But there was nothing frail in how she carried herself.

The thing that puzzled the Klingon was that they didn't seem startled when they saw her. The cranial ridges didn't put them off at all, no questions, nothing. Just acceptance. It was if they were indeed members of the federation, for their pure acceptance of temporal travel, alien looking females, and advanced weapons.

The Klingon looked again to the odd looking phasers in holsters strapped to the legs of the newcomers. Okay, so maybe advanced is a relative team. She wondered if the large rifle Captain Carter carried was anything like Klingon disrupter rifles.

~*~~*~*~**~*~

Once aboard Voyager, Janeway stepped off the transporter pad and handed her phaser over to Tuvok, her Vulcan security officer. "It isn't customary to wear weapons aboard my ship," she explained. And she then nodded to her own crew to take their cues. B'Elanna disarmed herself as did Seven.

Sam took a deep intake of air and similarly disarmed. She didn't like it, not one bit, but she could understand the prudence this naval captain was taking. Janeway didn't know either Sam or Janet from Eve so she had no basis for trust. Of course Sam didn't have to trust the redheaded captain either.

She handed the chocolate skinned male her M16, as well as her ALICE vest that had the hostlers for her 9mm, the clips and K-bar. Janet did likewise, as another security officer came for her gear.

Looking at the tall, pointed-eared male, something in him reminded her of Teal'c, though obviously at least seventy-five pounds lighter and less muscle bound. Teal'c could put most linebackers to shame with his brickhouse build. Still there was something of this man that was very 'Teal'c-ish, as if he was a Jaffa but without the symbiote.

Janet must have recognized the similarities as well for she looked at Sam and raised an eyebrow in a very Teal'c-like manner.

"Commander Tuvok, this is Captain Samantha Carter and Doctor Janet Fraiser. They are our quests."

"I was under the impression that the moon was uninhabited," he said in his Vulcan monotone.

'Yep.... Very Teal'c-like,' Sam thought.

"It will be in the briefing. I want you to recall the senior staff, now."

"Aye, Captain," he said with a slight head bow, handing Sam's possessions to an ensign.

'Wonder if he is a distant relative to Teal'c?' Janet pondered to herself.

"Captain, Doctor, welcome aboard Voyager," Tuvok said now addressing the new comers.

"Thank you," both said in unison.

"Are you two uninjured? We can take you to sickbay," Janeway offered.

"Isn't that standard protocol?" Janet inquired. Any alien visiting the SGC, save for Master Bra'tac, was always ushered into the Infirmary to insure no contagions were brought to base.

"We have bio-filters...er...." Janeway stopped herself. She couldn't explain how the transports worked to women who had the appearance of coming from late twentieth or very early 21st century. "With our transportation technology we have a way to contain and filter out any contagions," she offered.

'But how do you detect Goa'uld?' both Sam and Janet thought privately.

'Perhaps the elf can detect Goa'uld, like Sam,' Janet guessed, thinking Tuvok looked like the descriptions of elves in the Lord of the Rings.

'The Captain was saying something about bio-filters before she cut herself off. Maybe like Janet's MRI they can detect the presence of a symbiote and alert security if one should try to infiltrate and try to get a foothold.' Sam thought again if it wasn't for the overgrowth on the Stargate and the Organic portal she would have thought she was in the company of the Tollens.

The long corridors of Voyager didn't faze either Sam or Janet, but both thought it was odd that a naval vessel had gone from gun-metal gray to white with blue utilitarian carpets. Carpets on a ship? Then of course a lot had changed since 98'.

Once Janeway had ushered her guests into the briefing room, they both looked around and were startled to see that the port windows revealing the forest outside.

"I thought you were orbiting the moon?" Sam said.

"We touched down to make repairs," B'Elanna answered for her captain.

"You're capable of vertical take off," Sam concluded. Not unlike the mother ships. She turned and saw the startled expressions of the trio. Now that was odd. Why would they be shocked by some of the information Sam knew? Unless, of course, the Stargate program was still unknown...... "What century is this?"

"By your calendar early twenty-fifth,-." Janeway said.

"Whoa." Sam and Janet chorused.

"Okay. I.....I realize that by the Grandfather Paradox you won't be able to tell us much of what happened past 1998, but this ship, your uniforms, you're not exactly the Navy, are you?"

"No," Janeway said as she stood leaning against her chair at the head of the table. "We are not. We belong to the United Federation of Planets."

Seven and B'Elanna looked at each other and then to their captain, wondering since when is the Klingon Empire and Maquis or Borg apart of the Federation?

"We belong to a naval-like military faction called Starfleet."

Once more Borg and Klingon looked at one another. Janeway caught the glances and lifted her hand ever so slightly, in a secret way telling both young women that it was too long and too complicated of a story to go into divisions right now.

Before long the rest of the senior staff entered. Sam and Janet watched as a large tattooed Native American sat to the Captain's right.

'First officer' Sam checked in her mind.

There was the elf Tuvok. An Asian man fresh out of training by the look of it, a young blonde male that set Sam's teeth on edge the moment he smiled at her and Janet. There was a lanky bald man as well, wearing some sort of metallic device on his right bicep. And of course B'Elanna Toress and Seven of Nine

They were all introduced, and pleasantries exchanged. Then came the questions.

"Can you tell me, Captain Carter, what does the SGC and SG1 on your patches stand for?" Janeway took her chair now, indicating that her staff as well as the guests should do the same.

"Stargate Command," Sam said easily as she had already introduced herself with it. "SG1 is the numeral designation for my team. SG1 is the flagship team." If they were spies for the System Lords Sam wasn't saying anything more than they already knew.

"Stargate." Seven raised the silver ocular implant. "Indicating the esthetic design of your insignia patch you mean the more elaborate gate do you not."

"Yes." Sam frowned. "I take it because of this vessel's interstellar capabilities you don't often use the Stargate."

"We do not," Seven answered.

Neither Sam nor Janet found this odd. After all, the System Lords and apparently the Asgard, had sprinkled the galaxy with humans. And the Tollens, not having experienced the Dark Ages, had advanced quite well beyond the Tau'ri. So who was to say another colony had not done the same?

"Yes." Sam frowned. "I take it because of this vessel's interstellar capabilities you don't often use the Stargate."

"We do not," Seven answered.

Neither Sam nor Janet found this odd. After all, the System Lords and apparently the Asgard, had sprinkled the galaxy with humans. And the Tollens, not having experienced the Dark Ages, had advanced quite well beyond the Tau'ri. So who was to say another colony had not done the same?

"Are you telling me you and the Stargate Command regularly use the...this Stargate?" Janeway was stymied. "To explore?"

"Yes," Sam nodded clearly. "It creates a wormhole between two corresponding gates. The DHD, or Dial Home Devise, accesses the addresses. Unfortunately the DHD that was there in our time doesn't appear to be there now." Blue eyes narrowed. "That can be solved by manually dialing the address into the Gate, but the thing is where it's standing it lacks a power source."

At the word wormhole the whole table of Starfleet officers perked their ears.

It was Harry Kim who spoke. "A Wormhole. Captain, we can go home."

"What and leave Voyager!?" B'Elanna yelped. She wasn't about to leave her ship on a the moon.

"Home, B'Elanna, doesn't that mean anything to you?" Kim asked.

"Wait," Sam interjected. "We fell out of time. In this time line I don't even know if the Stargate is still active. The only way to do that is to establish a wormhole and try to link to the one on earth. And by now even if it is still active SG1's IDC has to have changed. If the security is anything at all like it was at the SGC in our time, " she nodded to Janet "the iris will be in place, and believe me you don't want to jump through the gate when it is in place."

What's more, Sam knew that all this information was already possessed by the System Lords. It was nothing new. And besides, she didn't feel like jumping through a gate to smack into a triennium shield. And of course there was the singularity of time warping.

"Captain Carter is correct," Janeway said. "We do have priorities. Now, considering that you and Doctor Fraiser came out of the Guardian Forever Perhaps going back through it will put you into the right time line. As for the use of the Stargate now, I suggest another alterative landing site to see if it is even plausible. Perhaps an active Gate in the Alpha Quadrant. Captain Carter, if you could perhaps give us a list of mapped Stargates we can cross-reference them with what information we have in our database."

"How is the Guardian of Forever activated?" Janet asked. "I saw no means of power during our timeline, despite the fact we are here."

"That will be one of the equations we'll investigate, Doctor. It was a dormant gate as well until you came through."

"The Stargate is a super capacitor," Sam explained. Now if the Guardian of Forever is made out of the same element as the Stargate that would explain the surge of power. But something else had to have been added to this equation, otherwise every time the Stargate was activated the Guardian of Forever would also have been active."

Janeway looked at the very young blonde woman. "You are more then a solider," she said pleasantly.

It was Janet's face that was beaming with pride as she too looked to Samantha.

"I'm a doctor of theoretical quantum mechanics with an expertise in plasma particle physics."

"She's the leading astrophysicist on the SGC," Janet said, obviously very proud of her friend. "She spearheaded wormhole theory. And she is the top expert on Stargate technology. "

"Wait!" B'Elanna said. "Whoa, wait. You mean you're *the*Dr. Samantha Carter?"

Sam frowned, feeling the heat rise around her neck as a nervousness surrounded her heart in a tight grip. "I am," she admitted shyly.

"Your work is required study in the Academy," the Chief of Engineering stuttered. "God, you're one of my heroes. What you wrote, . . . Your theories are . . . brilliant," she exclaimed, hardly believing that she was meeting her idol.

Janeway herself was humbled to be in Carter's presence. It was one of her dreams as well. She had met Amelia Eireheart, one of her heroes. She had the DeVinci program because he was another one of her heroes. Einstein was as another and so was Carter. She also noted the flush of pink that hit the elegant cheeks of the young blonde.

'Modest too,' the captain observed.

"From history we know that you worked for a branch of government called NORAD," Seven of Nine said, as she too was familiar with Dr. Carter's work, just as she was for several dozens of scientists. "I would surmise this was not entirely accurate."

"Well, I have an office at NORAD, but yeah, it's a cover story. The SGC isn't for public consumption. The general populace would not be able to deal with travel to other planets, aliens and starships. They all think of Roswell and Star Wars."

"Oh, Wormhole Extreme! That was one hell of a show, I loved it," Tom Paris said. "Man, it must be something to watch it for real rather than as a holoprogram."

"Wormhole Extreme?" Sam shrugged. "Never heard of it." And Sam watched a lot of sci-fi shows and movies just to see if they get it anywhere near the truth. When she got home she would have to ask Cassandra about the show. Maybe it was a cartoon, like Dragon ball-Z that the young girl was into.

"Ah, come on, you don't watch..."

"Ensign Paris, we are off the topic," Janeway snapped. "Ladies, perhaps we should adjourn for a meal before we start lab-work. I am sure you two are hungry."

Janet, who knew that her beautiful companion easily became anemic, decided for the blonde. "Actually, that's a fine idea."

"Great," Janeway smiled. "I'll also have Neelix, our morale officer, take care of guest quarters for you both. I am regretful to announce we are low on individual quarters."

"Captain," Sam said, " on field missions I'm accustomed to sharing campsites with three male teammates. Sharing quarters with Dr. Fraiser won't be a problem."

The blonde looked to her diminutive companion to make sure this was so and was more than relieved to see one of those very rare, very reserved smiles that Janet seemed to only to give Sam. The younger woman felt her heart stir with flocks of butterflies anytime she saw that smile. Quickly, before her look could be counted as too long and almost flirtatious, Sam forced herself to look elsewhere.

~*~*~~**~*~*~

"Well, that explains a few things," B'Elanna said as she, Seven and Captain Janeway were sharing a table in the mess hall with Sam and Janet.

Sam bit into an odd looking purple tuber, trying not to wince as the extremely bizarre flavor hit her tongue. She noticed the engineer watching her and ventured a quizzical "What?"

"Your 'no-reaction' to me," The caramel hand touched her ridges. "And to Seven."

Both women from 1998 smiled. "Well, considering we've come across some unique species in our travels, you're not exactly surprising, Lieutenant," Janet answered.

"You were addressed as Doctor. If you are in the military is it not customary to address someone by title rather then salutation?" Seven asked.

"That's true, but because I am a medical doctor, actually the CMO of the SGC, it's more typical to call me by Doctor than rank. But am a Captain, too."

"But neither of you are in command of a ship." Seven was a little puzzled.

To those of Voyager this wasn't surprising since Seven's experience with military rank was limited to Starfleet.

"Oh, ah, well, ranks are a little funny." Sam said. "See, in the Navy and apparently Starfleet, Captain is different than Captain in any other branch of the military. Janet and I are Captains in the Air Force. The equivalent rank would be Lt. Commander on a float.....er starship."

Janet continued to watch Sam dig around on her plate. True, the purple what-ever-it-was didn't look at all appetizing and the taste was completely weird.

"Leola root isn't my favorite either," Janeway said, noticing the reluctance on the part of the young blonde to dig into the lunch. "Let me see if I can get us all something else."

"Um?" Sam smiled. "Do you have blue jello?"

"I'll see what I can do." The captain rose and left to talk with Neelix.

Janet snickered. "People are going to think that's all you eat, that and salad."

"What? I like blue jello." Sam shrugged. "I'm not a huge fan of sweets, but I like blue jello." She smiled.

B'Elanna chuckled. She heard the distinctive lover's banter in the doctor's voice. It was the same banter she gave her own beloved. Under the table, she placed her hand upon Seven's knee and softly caressed the long limb. With her fingertips she wrote out the words 'I love you.'

Under that same table, Seven took the nimble fingers of her lover and softly squeezed them, telling B'Elanna that she was loved too.

When Janeway returned, she had Neelix in tow carrying a tray of lemon chicken (or what ever the bird was on the planet), salads, and from the replicaters a bowl of blue jello. Of course, the entire table eagerly dug into the new platters of food with hearty appetites.

"You mentioned the Grandfather Paradox," Seven began, trying to get more information from the other blonde astrophysicist. "This suggests you re familiar with the inherent dangers of time travel and the disruptive nature it could impose."

"Yes." Sam nodded, shifting a bit of meat to the corner of her cheek so she could talk around it. "When I was in the Pentagon I studied the Stargate and possible applications it could be used for. Time travel was one of them. But it was disregarded soon after. The gate can't be utilized for time travel because the dangers are astronomical. I mean, sure, to stop Hitler before he invades Poland might sound like a good idea but then so many things could go terribly wrong after that. A traveler in time can not interfere with the natural progression of what has happened."

"I couldn't agree with you more," Janeway offered. "Temporal paradox gives me a week long migraine. And your right, Captain, it isn't a legitimate pursuit of science."

As they all continued eating, Janeway explained, "It was never actually determined if the Guardian of Forever is a natural phenomenon, a sentient being, or technology. What I can tell you is that we have not, in all of our travels, ever encountered a Stargate."

"Never?" Sam found this hard to believe.

"How," Janet spoke up as if voicing Sam's thoughts, "can this be? I mean there are thousands of gates strewn all over the galaxy. You are telling me that in this century no one knows of the Stargate network?!"

Sam paled. "That means that either the Stargate is still a secret on earth, it was lost or.... It's like Daniel and his traveling the Quantum Mirror." She stopped there and said nothing further of alternative universes. Right now there was more than enough on her plate trying to figure out how the activation of the Stargate had activated the Guardian of Forever.

The traveling in time was now simple to understand. The Guardian of Forever was designed to do just that, thrust a traveler forward or backward in time.

Sam thought about it, thinking that if you place two super conductors next to each other it is more than possible to charge the other with energy. With enough power, the other gate would become activate. It appeared that for a period of time the Guardian of Forever stored the energy of active wormholes from the Stargate and acted like a battery or generator. Once enough energy was collected from residual power, the inactivate gate itself would activate.

That was a logical conclusion. Of course there were going to be other variables to consider, but at least Sam now had an active theory. Over lunch she had bounced this idea off of Seven of Nine and B'Elanna Toress. Both women agreed that Sam's theory was on the right track and would go to Astrometrics to start scans to confirm the theory.

As the five women were eating, the mess hall doors whooshed open and closed allowing the youngest member of the Voyager crew to pad up to the captain and her guests.

Janet was the first to notice the strawberry blonde Katerian. The smile on the doctor's face caught Sam's eye and she turned to look at what had stolen the smaller woman's attention.

"He-ey there," Janet said presently.

Sam winked to the girl and flashed her best friendly smile.

"Hi," Naomi waved. "You're the lost ones, huh?"

"Yeah, that's right," Janet said. "And who are you, little one?"

"I'm Naomi Wildman. I am the Captain's Assistant. If you need anything just ask, okay?"

"Wow, that's a huge job. I am impressed," Sam said. She touched her hand to her chest. "Well, my name is Samantha Carter, but you can call me Sam."

"Oh! My mommy's name is Samantha," Naomi gushed. "But everyone calls her Samantha or Ensign Wildman. No one calls her Sam. It's kinda neat though."

Sam chuckled. "Well, I've been called that most of my life."

"How come?" The girl asked.

"Because my dad wanted a boy," the young captain replied as she flashed another grin.

"Oh, well, I am glad you're a girl. Samantha for a boy would be silly," Naomi pointed out.

At that the whole table broke out laughing.

"Sometimes you are too much, Spike." B'Elanna ruffled their girl's locks, which promptly got the Klingon a scowl for her reward. Naomi hated to have her hair messed with. But she loved B'Elanna so she put up with having her hair tussled.

Naomi took her favorite chair, right on Seven's lap. It had astonished the whole Voyager crew just how close the Borg and child had become. In fact, Naomi wanted to be just like Seven, and had started to mimic her words, mannerisms and study habits. Of course, to the little six year old, Seven was her best friend and hero all rolled into one.

Not unlike another alien girl hundreds of years in the past, named Cassandra Fraiser, who viewed Sam in the same light as Naomi did Seven of Nine.

"What's your name?" Naomi asked, addressing the small redhead.

"Janet Fraiser."

"Pretty name," Naomi said.

Janet winced, but only Sam would have noticed.

"Um, if you will excuse me. I.... need to use the facilities."

"Oh, over there against the back wall to the left." Naomi pointed.

"Thanks, sweety." Janet smiled and darted away.

Sam frowned

"Sam?" The child asked. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No honey. Its ...well I think Janet is missing her daughter right now. Cassandra is just a little bit older then you are."

"Oh." Naomi looked down. "I didn't mean to make her sad."

"Oh, I know. And so does Janet," Sam winked. "I think I'll go see to her." With that, the tall blonde excused herself and departed the table.

It was only after the tall blonde disappeared, that the three remaining women and the child looked to each other.

"Captain, we must find a way home for them," B'Elanna said. "We have to make this work."

"With you two and Samantha Carter working together, there is no doubt in my mind that you'll make a way home for them," Janeway said. "Well, I too must leave." With a brisk and forever polite smile the Captain of Voyager departed, heading in the opposite of direction from the ladies of the SGC.

A beat later.

"Are you sure I didn't do anything wrong?" Naomi asked her hero.

"I think perhaps that it is as Captain Carter explained. Doctor Janet Frasier was reminded of her own child that she is not now untied with and misses her. NaomiWildman you are not at fault here."

"Seven's right, Spike. Janet might be a little sad because if this doesn't work..." A very excitable little girl cut off B'Elanna.

"Oh, Seven, B'Elanna, you have to make it work. I'd hate it if my mommy were lost."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

In the mess hall rest room, Janet was leaning against the sink, her head bowed, causing her shoulder length red hair to fall forward and cover her face. But from the slight shudder of her shoulder's Sam knew that Janet was crying.

Padding up softly the tall blonde placed her hands upon the smaller woman's shoulders. "He-ey, " Sam said gently. "It's going to be okay."

"Sam....I am sorry. I must seem a little foolish....I just couldn't help but think of Cassandra. She's gone through so much already. To lose another set of parents...."

"It is not foolish, Janet. I thought of the same thing when I saw Naomi. It's natural to think of Cassie. I promise you we'll get home."

Janet turned and inhaled a deep sigh. She didn't flinch or shrug off her best friend's hands. There was always a deep respect, and deep friendship between the two women, and after these two years there was a level of love as well. There wasn't much one woman wouldn't do for the other. Including lending a shoulder to cry on and a discrete ear to listen.

Right now Sam simply held her dearest friend who allowed herself to cry until her fear of never returning to her daughter had been cried out. Although Cassandra, having been found as the sole survivor on an alien planet, was not born under Janet's heart the young girl was certainly born within it.

"You know...the other day when you and the rest of SG1 were away on P3R-636, she came to me. She knew something was wrong because...you were over due. Cassie read my unrest. I couldn't help but be worried for you Sam....er for SG1. You guys were gone for ten days...Daniel...well we know now he was telling lies about the rest of you. And I was more than worried about you Sam." Janet looked into her friends blue eyes before continuing.

"And Cassandra knew. She climbed up into my lap and held on to me. She asked me then if she could be granted a favor." The doctor's doe brown eyes glistened with tears. "Oh Sam, she asked of she could call me..." Just the thought brought a smile to the doctor's face. " She wanted to call me mom!" Janet flashed another grin. "I m not Janet to her any more. I get to be Mom!"

"That's great, Janet!" Sam pulled her dear friend tighter to her chest, her arms holding on tighter. "I promise you Jan, that I will do everything I can so Cassie as her Mum back. Okay?"

Secretly Janet had to smile occasionally when she heard the slight British/Canadian accent slip into her dearest friend's speech, as did some English versions of familiar American words. Of course Samantha's mother was English, which explained Carter's use of 'British-isms'.

~**~*~*~~*~**~

Seven and B'Elanna waited until they saw the tall blonde and tiny physician emerge from the privies before they proceeded to astrometrics. Another Voyager crewmember had also waited, little Naomi Wildman. The small child had wanted to make sure that the very pretty doctor was okay.

When the child saw Janet, she disengaged herself from her hero's lap and shyly stepped foreword to the newcomers.

"You know," Janet turned to her companion, "that little one looks at Seven the same way Cassandra looks at you." Another smile. " It's as if you were responsible for hanging all the stars and moons and planets in the sky."

Sam chuckled.

"But..." Janet drew the word out long, " she calls *me* mom," she beamed with an even brighter smile. " I'm MOM!" Jane giggled finally, feeling totally accepted by the little lost alien girl she took into her home and heart a year ago. She had adopted Cassandra willingly. And for a year she was Janet. Now she was 'mom' and Janet loved it.

Sucking in a deep breath, Naomi adopted her very best Seven of Nine pose. "I'm sorry if ...I made you sad, Dr. Fraiser."

Janet's heart melted. She knelt down so she was eye to eye with the girl. "Oh honey... it's okay. See, I have my own little girl back home and I just miss her. You kinda reminded me of her."

"Sam and then Seven said that" the girl replied. "But I wanted to make sure you were okay." The young girl patted Janet on the shoulder.

"I'm okay now," the doctor winked. "I must say Naomi, you are a wonderful Captain's assistant."

With that the girl almost burst with pride. "Seven, helped me study and prove I could do the job. Captain Janeway said we are on a test period. But I think I can show her I'm a good Captain's Assistant. One day I will be captain. I figure by the time we reach the alpha quadrant Voyager will be under my command." The girl grinned proudly. " Well, it's gonna take Seventy years, so if there are any more kids born and stuff I'll be the oldest and, well, I'll have rank and with tons of study I'll be Voyager's captain by then."

"Ambitious goals," both Sam and Janet said together, thinking again of Cassandra who wanted to become a part of SG1 when she grew up.

"Well, Seven's helping me out. She's the smartest person on Voyager. And my best friend."

Janet turned to her blonde friend. "Just like you and Cassie," the doctor said with a slight tremor in her voice that caused Sam to once more place a comforting hand upon the tiny woman's shoulder. Without realizing what she was doing, Sam stroked the back of Janet's neck with the pad of her thumb. It wasn't until she heard a sharp intake of breath that the blonde realize just how intimate the gesture was.

Janet was almost regretful when she felt Sam's hand pull away. The touch, the softness, the exquisite feeling of love coming from her friend was enjoyable. Too enjoyable. Janet hadn't meant to sigh; she hadn't meant to feel the pleasure in the touch. What she felt for Sam was a lot more than she was supposed to. The blonde was her dearest and best friend, they were sharing the responsibility of raising Cassandra, and the three of them were almost a family. Janet didn't want to scare Samantha off because she was interested in a lot more. For two years Janet Fraiser had kept the fact that she was in love with Sam hidden and in one tiny moment she had almost let it slip

The doctor's heart hammered in her chest when she felt the hand snap away. She waited for some joke, some comment from Sam, but it never came. Instead she only saw the blonde beam a large smile at the girl who was leading them back to the table where Seven and B'Elanna were waiting.

Sam was mentally kicking herself. 'What the hell do you think you were doing, Carter! And if she figures out you...you what....that I'm gay? You're lucky she didn't slap you! Touching her like that....like...' Sam hid the sigh. 'Like I've wanted to forever. I'm in love with my best friend...stupid stupid stupid.....hopefully Janet will think I was only trying to comfort her.' Another sigh escaped, hidden under the smile. 'But I was. I just want to hold her in my arms... Not as her friend, but.... Never going to happen, Carter..... So get over it.' This time she couldn't hold back the sigh.

"Doctor Fraiser ...." Naomi's voice thankfully drew attention away from them.

"Sweety, it's okay. You can call me Janet."

Naomi smiled brightly.

'Thank God for little pictures and their distractive natures,' Sam thought softly to herself.

"I...wanted to tell you not to worry," the child said. "Like I said, Seven is the smartest person in the quadrant, and I bet in all four of em... She's a genius and her and B'Elanna together will figure out a way to send you and Sam home," Naomi said with the same affection that Cassandra had for Sam.

"Well, Sam's pretty smart, too," Janet winked to 'her' blonde astrophysicist. "With all three of them tackling this problem there is no doubt that Sam and I will be back where we belong soon." Janet smiled a mother's smile at the young Kataarian.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

B'Elanna liked this Sam Carter. She was all business; a 'skip the tour of the ship crap so we can get to work' personality. For three hours the Klingon couldn't help but give herself the luxury of watching the two scientists bounce ideas off one another once they had adjourned to Astrometrics.

B'Elanna threw in her own ideas. Of course, but for the moment she and Janet flashed full prideful grins was they watched the astrophysicists debate the theories as to why they had traversed time.

".....no, I am positive that it's more than that," Sam said, countering Seven. " We'd been on that planet for a week and this was the only time the Guardian of Forever activated. There has to be a plausible explanation."

"You yourself spoke of the two gateways as super conductors and the Guardian of Forever storehouse-ing the residual energy of the Stargate," Seven pointed out.

" When I was at the Pentagon, there was a mission to Abydos. Afterwards we couldn't get the gate to work again, but couldn't find the reason. I couldn't believe I hadn't accounted for solar shift when using the addresses of the gate. The DHDs naturally realign themselves for that event, but the program I had written couldn't. I had to reinstall a new program that accounted for a thousand years of solar shift," Sam shrugged sheepishly.

"Um,...anyway, I was eventually asked by General Hammond to figure out different applications of the Gate, including time travel. What if a massive solar flare just happened to occur at the exact moment that we were traveling between another Stargate and Earth? If the wormhole itself was redirected closer to the sun because of the planet's magnetic field, the increased gravity could slingshot us back to said planet," Sam finished explaining.

"Why haven't we tried this before?" Janet asked. "Because flares are impossible to predict. Light takes several minutes to travel between the Earth and the sun, so by the time a flare of sufficient magnitude has been confirmed, it's already too late," Sam answered.

"You're theorizing that by dialing coordinates on the opposite sides of the sun at the exact moment of a solar flare it causes the wormhole to turn back towards the outgoing Gate on itself and creates a time distortion," Seven said. " That is extremely plausible."

"But from what the Captain says, The Guardian of Forever already transports people through time," B'Elanna stated. "It's a quantum accelerator."

Janet thought of this as a medical issue. If two events happen in the body simultaneously, say a stroke and a heart attack, which event sets off the other? "Isn't it possible that the gate being dialed and establishing the wormhole and then looping through the solar flare was what triggered the Guardian of Forever to work? If we had gone through the Stargate we would have been sent back through time. Instead we went forward because we fell through the Guardian of Forever."

Janet held up her hand to stall the three other scientists who had questions in their expressions. "I know each gate is independent and the time travel occurrence is a separate singularity, but what if one is responsive to the other's activation in this event? As you said, the opening of the Star gate triggered a loop because theoretically it passed through a solar flare. If both gates are super conductors and your idea about a battery is correct Sam, then the Guardian of Forever did storehouse that energy but, like a naquaada fall out, it opened up a gate to expel the energy it was gathering."

Sam felt a surge of pride for her friend's grasp on the subject. The other two looked at the tiny physician with awe.

Janet shrugged. "You can't hang around miss genius over there without picking up a few things about quantum physics." There was a slight blush to Sam's cheeks in hearing Janet's admiration.

"And well, I cheated. I placed the issue in a medical context. One gate the heart and the other the brain. Was it a stroke that triggered the heart attack, or the heart attack that triggered the stroke? The fact remains that both happened to the body. Now I think the same happened here. Both happened to, well, the body...the wormhole. Now we have to contain the damage and try to reverse it."

'God, I could kiss you. That was brilliant!' Sam said in her mind. Now she was truly flushed, hoping no one would see her and comment on the redness in her normally pale cheeks.

Seven's ocular implant rose a little in a Vulcan like manner and her lover knew the ex-Borg was impressed. The Klingon engineer admitted to herself that she was too. Janet was indeed clever minded. The way Carter's mind worked, B'Elanna would have never guessed the tall blonde was from the late twentieth century. But then, of course, her exposure to the Twentieth Century had been via Tom Paris's Captain Proton and that was laughable.

Then again, Dr. Samantha Carter, Captain in the USAF, was doing things that those of her time believed belonged in science fiction. She was indeed a woman far ahead of her time and apparently so was the good doctor, Janet Fraiser.

"Captain Carter.... Perhaps in your time predicting solar flares was not possible, however with Voyager's abilities, predicting a flare is very possible. I can do so down to the nanosecond," Seven intoned with a bit of smugness that comes from well-deserved pride, as this lab was Seven's baby. She had designed the astrometrics lab and made it possible. This was something B'Elanna knew. She got the same feeling in Engineering every time she made advancements with Voyager's warp-core.

Sam was all grins. As soon as she had stepped foot in the Astrometrics lab on Voyager she was in total heaven. A child at a Harry Potter convention could not be as excited as Samantha Carter was in the lab. Janet knew that if there were ever a place of deep affection in the blonde's heart it would be quantum physics. Getting the astrophysicist out of the lab back home was almost impossible. The physician laughed to herself. 'Good thing she isn't my girlfriend or I'd be jealous over this lab...'

"We'll have to back track the records to July 24, 1998, the day when the flare happened on the planet, and then confirm a similar flare of significant magnitude," Sam said. "And of course figure a way to power the Stargate. We can manually dial the gate, but the power source is another matter."

"Sam," B'Elanna addressed the blonde. "You and Janet spoke of a DHD, the Dial Home Device."

"Yeah, I didn't see it with the Stargate," the young blonde said.

"We have uncovered some artifacts, some we brought aboard Voyager the others are still planet side. We can go take a look. Chakotay is on the planet's surface. We can have him look there as well."

Janet gave Sam a look that said 'what do you want to do?' They might be of equal rank but Sam was the 2IC of SG1 and thus decisions regarding what to do in the field were up to the younger woman.

" Let's go have a look," Carter decided. "If we can get a hold of the DHD, it will make things so much simpler and more controlled." This last bit was said mostly to Janet, who nodded her head. "I am a little concerned that if we can not have complete control over the gate's functions that we could inadvertently go further into time or further back than we want to and miss our window."

When Sam Carter said she was a little concerned about something it was time to stand up and take notice. It was generally something quite significant to if it ruffled the unflappable blonde scientist. Sam's little concern made Janet extremely concerned.

~*~*~*~~**~*~*~

Voyager was considerably smaller than the Goa'uld motherships and after having seen the hanger bay with nearly a hundred Death Gliders, it was hard to impress Sam. Janet. on the other hand. had never been aboard a Goa'uld vessel and during the walk to Cargobay One she was very impressed by what she saw of Voyager. The white and blue of the ship's corridors was such a magnificent change from the dull gun-mettle grays and olive greens of the SGC that she felt more relaxed.

She couldn't help but watch Sam. The young blonde captain had not relaxed her guard since leaving the astrometrics lab. Switching from scientist mode to soldier mode was for Sam as easy as donning a jacket. The switch was so automatic that the doctor couldn't help but wonder if her friend was even aware of the change.

The blonde's hand automatically went to her side, but of course her weapon had been confiscated. Seven noticed the movement and said, "You and Dr. Fraiser are safe aboard Voyager."

Sam smiled. "Sorry, reflexes. It's standard protocol to be armed to protect ourselves when we're on off world missions."

"Yeah, it's the same with the Maquis, or hell, even on Klingon ships," B'Elanna said. "But Seven's right, you're safe here."

"In my experience when alien hosts say that, we usually end up in trouble," Sam said softly. It wasn't clear whether the young woman was talking to Janet, to herself, or to the Voyager women.

"Maquis...that's the resistance movement of the people against the nobility in French history," Janet said, redirecting everyone's attention.

"Yeah, well, the founder of the Maquis had a thing for Victor Hugo. It didn't matter to us where the name came from when we adopted it." B'Elanna admitted. "The belief is still the same. We had to do something ..."

"B'Elanna, the Temporal Prime Directive," Seven warned her friend softly.

The Klingon rolled her chocolate eyes. How she hated temporal paradox.

"We understand," Sam stated knowing the dangers of going against the Grandfather Paradox. "It's okay."

One they entered into the cargo bay, Sam and Janet wandered over to a long table where Commander Chakotay was labeling artifacts he and his team of archeologists and anthropologists had discovered. Some defiantly belonged to the La'Cota, others, like a ballpoint pen, belonged to SG1.

Sam snickered as she picked up a pen that only this morning she had seen Janet use to scrawl something in her medical journal. "Hey, Jan, lose something?" She tossed the pen to her friend.

Janet looked in the pocket of her canvas BDU trousers and frowned. The ink pen wasn't there. "I think it fell out when the tiger jumped us."

Chakotay chuckled. "Well, a few hundred years is a long time to wait to recover something."

The tiny physician turned to the speaker. "Well, if you really want it, knock yourself out." She tossed the ballpoint back to the first officer. The brunette shrugged and said, "Who knew that a ballpoint pen would become an artifact?"

"Like the man said, Janet, give it a few hundred years and anything can become priceless," Sam jovially teased.

"I guess so."

The two women laughed as if sharing a private joke.

B'Elanna shook her head and smiled as she watched the two out-of-time women tease one another. 'They make a good couple,' she thought. She had seen the unmistakable love passing between them. The engineer's dark eyes lifted to her own tall blonde astrophysicist and felt her own smile widen. 'Can we pick 'em or what, doc?'

Upon the table there was something else that looked as if it didn't belong to artifacts of the ancient tribal population. After seing the zat'nicatel Janet had been carrying, B'Elanna couldn't help but wonder if the golden mesh artifact was something else that SG1 had lost. But this was something a little more complicated than an old-fashioned ballpoint pen.

Holding it and turning the golden device over it looked quite a bit like Seven's silver meshed hand. It had twin coiled strips of gold that bore the semblance of ribbons that would curl around the forearm when worn. In the center of the gold mesh was a gem. To a Klingon it was as a blood ruby.

"Hey, Sam. Any idea what this is?"

The young captain turned and paled when she saw the Ribbon Device in B'Elanna's hand.

"Whoa...that was amongst the artifacts?" Sam breathed.

"Yeah..." B'Elanna said, pointing to the space on the table where she'd discovered it.

Sam moved to the Klingon's side and took the golden glove-like device from the caramel hand. Her blue eyes were wide in wonder, and a small sense of apprehension. The Goa'uld weapon felt oddly familiar in her hand.

"Sam....?"

The blonde didn't answer the diminutive doctor. She was fixated upon the Goa'uld weapon as she started to put it upon her right hand. It felt oddly familiar as the red gem nestled against the palm of her hand. Somewhere in Jolinar's memories Sam knew the Tok'ra had used the device against her enemies.

So intent upon the odd familiarity, Sam didn't notice the cargobay doors open or close. Nor did she notice the approach of Captain Janeway or the other crewmember.

But she felt something. Something surged within her, screaming for her attention. Sam immediately recognized that feeling for what it was. Blue eyes glanced up, targeted a woman with leopard spots on her neck, standing near Janet. It was all it took for the warrior to react.

The ruby flared with a life of its own. "Janet, Goa'uld!" Sam snapped.

Janet fell back and dropped to the deck of the cargobay. As she did, a beam of white-gold energy flared out of the ruby gem, striking the spotted woman in the chest. The force was so powerful it lifted her up several meters off the floor and slammed her hard against the far wall of the cargo bay.

Janeway had no idea what had happened or how. One moment she was standing by Ensign Ke'rel-Venka, and the next the Trill was sent across the cargobay by an energy beam.

B'Elanna tackled Sam to the ground, stooping and protecting her at the same instant. What ever it was that set the tall blonde off, B'Elanna knew it had to be serious. She saw so many similarities in Sam and Seven that she doubted, even in the short time she knew the young captain, that she would go off half-cocked.

"No! She's a Goa'uld!" Sam yelped, pinned under the superior strength of the Klingon. She had battled Jaffa and was accustomed to the superior strength of a foe. "I am sorry," she said softly, regretful for what she was about to do.

The red gem flared to life.

"Wait! Wait!!" B'Elanna yelled.

It was too late. Sam used a quarter of the power of the gem to fling B'Elanna off of her. Sam was up in the next instant, heading for the Goa'uld.

Janeway had gone to help Ke'rel-Venka to her feet. The Trill woman was badly bruised but alive. From the corner of her eyes, Janeway saw that Seven had successfully restrained the struggling blonde stranger.

"No! She's Goa'uld." Sam said. "I can feel it!"

"Let her go, Seven, its okay." Ke'rel-Venka said. "Please Captain, I understand. It's okay, let her go."

"Ke'rel..." Janeway wasn't so certain she should allow the rampaging woman to be free.

"If you knew what she was talking about, you'd have done the same," Ke'rel said. "Just think if the Borg Queen suddenly appeared. You'd shoot first and ask questions later, am I right? Captain, let her go."

"Seven." Janeway ordered the tall ex-Borg.

Sam was immediately set down. Protectively Carter stood near Janet, placing her body between her friend and Ke'rel. The doctor knew that Sam could feel the presence of a symbiote, and trusted her explicably.

"Captain Carter," Ke'rel-Venka said softly. "I am not Goa'uld."

Blue eyes blazed in disbelief. "Tok'ra...?"

"Not exactly, but closer." The Trill smiled, trying to ease the young blonde captain apprehensions. When the Voyager crewman stepped closer, the green eyes brightened. "You were joined once!"

Sam silently nodded. "I was. She was Jolinar of Malkshur."

"And not by choice," Janet said. "Like the Goa'uld, the symbiote forced herself into Sam."

"For that experience I am sorry," Ke'rel-Venka said with true kindness. "It is no wonder you reacted as you did."

"Someone here want to tell me what the hell is going on?" Janeway barked.

*~*~*~*~*~

The briefing table was crowded. Janeway was flanked by the time travelers, B'Elanna, the ex-borg, Ke'rel-Venka, Tuvok, Chakotay, and, of course, the Doctor.

"Captain." Ke'rel addressed Kathryn Janeway. "First let me try to place the essence of the gravity of the danger that Captain Carter and Janet Fraiser must be feeling. The name they spoke -- Goa'uld -- hasn't been heard for a long time, nor, for that fact, the Tok'ra. At least not with our sect."

The young dark haired Trill tried to smile at the two guests. "Several thousands of years ago there was a queen symbiote.... She betrayed the Goa'uld and separated from them. Her name was Egeria. She literally spawned the Tok'ra. The Tok'ra took up the battle against the System Lords of the Goa'uld. But before Egeria disappeared she had spawned another movement. In time that sect found the Trill home world Where they made a pact with the Trill. Ours is even more of a symbiotic relationship than the Tok'ra.

"The Trill culture prepares a host from yearly youth as to what will happen. And only a few are chosen, those who are strong of mind, character and willpower are given the training to deal with the duality of life the symbiote brings. Samantha, what happened to you would never happen on Trill. Even if a symbiote is dying a host must be perfectly willing to join or the tragedy is too much for the symbiote and both will die. This is the legacy Egeria gave to her children. I can not imagine the horror of an unwilling joining."

"Are you saying a symbiote joined with Captain Carter?" The Doctor raised a photonic eyebrow. "Incredible."

"She...gave her life to save mine," Sam said slowly, and felt Janet's hand on her back, giving her strength. The memory was still so recent, so painful. For a week afterwards Sam had gone catatonic. By the week after that the depression was still there but manageable, enough so that Jack O'Neill had ordered her back to duty.

Janet did tri-daily checks on the young captain when she was on earth, making sure that Sam was still in good heath. The death of Jolinar had left Sam with a unique protein marker in her DNA and now she had naquaada in her blood, which was why the young scientist could detect the symbiotes. The serpentine lifeforms were naquaada based just as Humans were iron and Vulcans copper. The new changes in Sam had Janet concerned, but so far physically there were no adverse effects of the new protein marker or naquaada, save Sam healed a little faster and some medicines had little effect on her while others had none at all.

"Earth's greatest enemy is the threat of the Goa'uld. They destroyed countless worlds and enslaved entire populations. They came close to destroying Earth and we are at war with them," Sam admitted. "They take hosts against their wills. You're a prisoner in your own body watching as you commit atrocities, and there is nothing you can do about it. When Jolinar took me over I had to watch...I had to see my hands....pick up someone I loved and threaten her little life." Sam looked away ashamed. "I will never forget the look of terror on that little girls' face. But Jolinar had no choice when she forced herself into me. She was so desperate. Then she gave her life for mine. I am left with images, memories and thoughts that are not my own. Sometimes it's so confusing." Sam paused to collect her thoughts. Her listeners waited patiently, respectfully. "The Goa'uld are evil, Captain. I'm sorry I reacted to Ke'rel-Venka as I did, but all I felt was the symbiote. All I could think of was the threat and nothing beyond that."

Janeway thought about the similarities as she looked at Seven. Back home there would be a few Starfleet personnel who would shoot the tall blonde and ask questions latter. They would consider Seven a threat and try to neutralize her, without giving the woman the benefit of the doubt even though Seven was no longer Borg. The steel blue eyes rested upon the Klingon-hybrid. And how long after the treaty with the Klingons did Starfleet, or the Federation as a whole, mistrust the warrior Empire? Janeway could definitely identify with Sam Carter's reaction to her crewmember.

"I know you can't go into how the Goa'uld were defeated," Sam said with a slight smile. "But apparently Earth survived. That's good to know."

Seven looked at the Ribbon Device laying in front of Tuvok. "Curious that you need naquaada in your blood for this weapon to be operational. But it works on the power of the mind, and emotion fuels it."

"I...don't know. I've never used one before." The blonde scientist turned to look at the Trill. "But when I saw you, Ke'rel-Venka, all I could think of was..."Sam looked to Janet, " eliminate the threat."

B'Elanna hid her thoughts well. She couldn't help but wonder how much Sam's perception of Janet's assumed danger affected the blonde's reaction to the symbiote B'Elanna that knew if any danger came to Seven, her gut reaction would be to cut that threat down and question later. Sam had done the same. Janet was near the Trill when the blonde captain activated the Ribbon Device.

'She certainly does love you, Janet. That is so obvious,' thought the Klingon. 'Can't say I blame her. I'd risk anything to protect my own BangwI.'

"Like I said, I understand," Ke'rel-Venka said. "But we are not your enemy. In fact, after these few thousand years and we don't even look like the Goa'uld anymore. We are not as draconian in appearance and have lost the dorsal fin and mandibles and multiple eyes." The Trill smiled. "In fact, I think we are much more aesthetically pleasing."

Both Janet and Sam chuckled softly as one does in embarrassing situations.

"Captain, I want to apologize for the disruption..." Sam started, but stopped as Janeway held her hand up.

"Other than a few bruises, my crewmember is okay, and given some of the facts, it is understandable as to why you reacted as you did, Captain Carter. Military training isn't something a good solider abandons because she thinks she is amongst friendlies. We have some experience with seemingly friendly allies here in the Delta Quadrant who turned out to be enemies." The military mind of the Captain of Voyager could not fault the younger woman, not when she would have done the same thing, if their roles were reversed.

"Since the excitement is over, perhaps we should find a way for our guests to return home." Tuvok commented dryly.

"I agree," Chakotay commented. "I received word before the four of you came to the Cargo bay that your DHD has been found and will be transported into a quarantined lab in Engineering."

Janet felt as relieved as Sam had with news of the recovered DHD. Now there was no doubt at all in the young physician's mind that they would be going home soon. For the first time since being misplaced in time, Janet had a true sense of hope.

"Doctor Fraiser," the photonic physician said. "I was wondering if you would enjoy taking a look at our sickbay."

Janet had to smile. If sickbay was anything like the astrometrics lab she would love to get a glimpse of new medical technology.

Sam read the yearning in her friend's expression and shrugged. "We'll be busy in Engineering, Janet. Go a head, knock yourself out." Her grin conveyed her pleasure at knowing that Janet would enjoy the tour.

The brightness in Janet's eyes gleamed even brighter.

However, Sam was reluctant to allow Janet to go unprotected. Perhaps it was something Seven recognized for she stepped forward. "Dr. Fraiser, I will accompany you as B'Elanna and Captain Carter will be more than able to handle the DHD with efficiency without my aid."

Sam cast a grateful look to her tall blonde counterpart.

B'Elanna hid her grin; she didn't blame Sam at all for her protectiveness over Janet.

Unfortunately, the Doctor's ego was ruffled. "Now see here, Seven. Just because I am photonic doesn't mean I can't give a good tour of the ship and sickbay. ..."

"Wait a minute," Janet interjected. "Photonic...like a hologram?"

Sam blinked and stared at the bald man in front of her in awe and wonder.

"He's solid," Janet said as she touched the arm of the EMH. "That's incredible."

" No kidding. A projected hologram with no silver halide coated plates, no photo polymer film." The astrophysicist said. "How is that possible? A solid hologram. I mean, they're only light and photons."

"Now see here. I am more than just light." The doctor sounded wounded.

B'Elanna tugged at the young captain's arm. "I'll explain it to you on our way to engineering. Sev, take care of Sam's partner." With that the Klingon escorted the extremely curious blonde to the turbo lift. "Or you might find yourself on the bad end of that ribbon device," the Klingon chuckled.

Janet grinned as she heard the woman she secretly loved start asking about the projection capabilities of Voyager and the holomatrix used to support the photonic physician. Then it hit her. B'Elanna had called her "Sam's partner." Something in her made the tiny doctor think that it wasn't used in the military context but something more personal.

' We aren't lovers,' Janet said to herself. She looked at Seven and B'Elanna and thought of what could be. Her dark doe-eyes drifted to the lean body of her friend. 'But I wish we were....'

Sam's thoughts had mirrored the young doctor's. 'Partner....why do I get the feeling you don't mean teammate? God...I wish... She's so intelligent, so beautiful. There is nothing more perfect than she is.... But she ...it can never be...' Sam inwardly thought. 'Stop it Carter! Janet is your best friend... You can't get all 'libidinous' over her...'

Captain Janeway actually took over the tour to allow Seven of Nine time to scan the sun for solar flares and to map the heavens so that the time-travelers could be sent home. The Captain would, of course, end the tour in sickbay.

"This is incredible!" Janet Fraiser gasped as she looked at the bio-beds for the tenth time, soaking in all of the new technology. She was not unaccustomed to computer monitors showing a patient's vitals, but to have to rely on only one was not only efficient it saved on room and encumbrance.

When she saw the bone-knitters and dermal regenerator she thought perhaps the medical field might become obsolete, but then the presence of the EMH negated that small fear. The young doctor loved being a physician, helping people, curing their ailments and soothing their hurts. She wouldn't know what to do if that was taken from her because technology advanced so far that she was not needed anymore.

Seven of Nine and the purpose of her implants equally fascinated Janet. The abdominal implant was likened to the Jaffa's incubation of the Goa'uld larva. Without it Seven would not have an immune system, just as the Jaffa if they did not have the infant symbiotes. Janet and the rest of the SGC had learned that the hard way. When Teal'c offered to have his infant symbiote taken from his marsupial-like pouch, the goliath sized man had nearly died.

Of course, discovering that the Voyager's EMH had attained sentience was totally amazing to her. The Doctor, in his typical egomaniacal way had

completely grated on Janet who was more of the modest variety of medical genius. Janet didn't know what she wanted to do more, surround herself with the advancements of medicine even though it meant listening to the narcissistic prattle of the EMH, or escape sickbay and forget about the whole thing. From what she had heard and seen of the photonic physician Janet quickly deduced that he was egotistical, cold, brusque, and impolite. This was something a triage physician in an ER could possibly get away with but not a doctor responsible for 150 souls. He was the only doctor Voyager had unless they decided to generate more holographic physicians. His very demeanor would alienate himself from the crew, definitely not a good way to create a solid and firm doctor / patient relationship.

Janeway saw the growing irritation in the young woman at her side, but like a diplomat her demeanor was commendable in that she didn't tell the EHM to switch off, which by now any one of the Voyager crewmembers would have done, or at least made an excuse and fled as far as possible from the photonic narcissistic motormouth.

Taking pity on the diminutive doctor, Janeway took the photonic doctor by the arm and started to lead him to his office. "Will you excuse us Dr. Fraiser?"

"Of Course," Janet nodded. Being a captain in the USAF she knew a 'pull the subordinate away to reprimand them, when in the company of others' when she saw it. The young doctor theorized that Janeway would have to remind the photonic man about Sam's 'Grandfather paradox' or, as Seven said, the 'Temporal Prime Directive.'

Relief flooded the younger redhead seeing that she would, at least for the moment, be given a moments peace to soak in the new medical wonders about her without her counterpart going on and on about how he was yet to encounter a disease he couldn't cure or a neurological problem that was too big from him. The way he described the Vinculum he alone had saved Seven of Nine. And of course he was ultimately responsible for her beautiful appearance now.

Doors opened up admitting a slightly whimpering and bleeding Naomi Wildman in the company of a very worried Neelix. The furry Talaxian was protectively holding the girl close to him as if he was the child's father.

"Dr. Janet," Naomi said as soon as the little Katerian saw the tiny woman. Janet responded immediately when she saw the trickle of blood soaking the knees of the girl's pants and the awkward way she was holding her arm, so protectively against her little chest.

"Put her on the bed," Janet ordered as if she was in her own infirmary.

Neelix quickly obeyed. "She feel." He stammered.

"Fell?"

"I was on the planet with Neelix. I wanted to climb a real tree," Naomi said. "And the limb broke."

Pure kindness shone in the dark pools of chocolate that were Janet's eyes. "Oh," she uttered understandingly as she touched Naomi's tear stained face. "Well, let me take a look."

Although the EMH didn't have to wear latex gloves for protection of himself and his patients, it was still prudent for his medical aids, such as Tom Paris, to do so. Going over to a tray, Janet cleaned her hands with what she recognized as antibacterial soap and then donned the surgical gloves.

"Okay, Sweety, I need to ask you a few questions."

"Okay," Naomi nodded.

"Are you allergic to any medicines that you know of?"

"No."

Janet looked to the furry guardian and he shook his head.

"Okay. Good." Janet smiled once more. "Now I want to see your arm. Can you wiggle your fingers for me?"

Naomi did and winced but she could wiggle them just fine. "It stings a little."

"I bet," Janet nodded. "You did a number on it." She checked the bruised limb and with a mere tactical examination, the doctor knew the little bone wasn't broken. She'd want an x-ray or whatever passed as one in the 25th century to make sure, but Janet knew it was only a sprain. A bad one, granted, but no broken bones.

Janet could see that the little girl was scared and in pain. "Naomi, I want you to do something from me."

"Sure, Dr. Janet."

"I don't want you to think of pink elephants, green giraffes, or purple bunnies."

Naomi smirked, giggling at the thought.

"You're not thinking of them are you?" Janet asked as she took a pair of scissors to the pant legs so she might examine the skinned up knees.

" It's really hard not too, Dr. Janet." Naomi was still giggling slightly despite the pain and the fear. But for the life of her she couldn't shake the idea of fuzzy green bunnies.

"Well, as long as you're trying," Janet calmly said. As Janet cut the legs of the girl's pants, she saw that her knees, like on any rough and tumble child, were badly skinned up but once more there were no broken bones. When Naomi saw the blood on her knees she started to panic once more.

"Naomi," Janet said in an almost chiding tone. "How badly did you hurt that tree? You must have beat it to a pulp! It certainly tried to beat you up."

Once more the Kataarian's thoughts were redirected. She chuckled. "I didn't beat the tree up."

"Are you sure? I mean that poor tree...." Taking a look at the tray of hypos, Janet noted a common anesthetic, loaded the hypo and showed it to Naomi. "This will make the pain go away for a little while. Of course that poor tree won't have anything to make it feel better." She depressed the contents of the drug into the girl's neck, knowing the drug wouldn't take long before it took effect.

Naomi was laughing harder now. "That is very silly."

Janet winked. Taking the bone knitter that the doctor had shown her Janet programmed it and ran it over the bruised tendons to cure the sprain in the wrist. Then she took up the dermal regenerator to patch up the skinned knees. But before she took the device to the lacerations Janet cleansed to wounds.

Naomi looked down and saw that her knees were no longer bloody, bruised or sore. In fact she felt very little pain at all. She watched as the doctor removed the gloves and set them aside on the tray by the bed. The little girl thought that Janet must have one of the prettiest smiles she had ever seen, even compared to Seven' and her mommy. Janet's smile made you feel good and safe.

"Now, Naomi, I don't want you to use that arm for a few days, okay? Your body took a bad tumble and it needs time to heal even if you feel like you're okay.,"

"Okay." Naomi nodded and smiled. She didn't want to disappoint Dr. Janet at all. Naomi liked the fact that Janet hadn't made her feel stupid or bad like the EMH would have just because she was climbing a tree and fell. Without voicing it, Naomi decided that going to the doctor's wouldn't be so bad if Dr. Janet was in charge.

Janet winked again and cupped the little girl's chin. "I think you're pretty brave. You handled that whole thing a lot better than some pretty tough soldiers I know."

"Really?" Large blue eyes blinked disbelievingly.

"Sure." Janet leaned in and whispered, "Sometimes those guys whimper and whine terribly."

Naomi felt her self grow taller in the knowledge that she was braver than a warrior. "Well, I bet Sam never whines or whimpers."

"No, she doesn't," Janet admitted. "She's very brave. Sometimes she's a little too brave."

'~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Even as Captain Janeway was escorting the young doctor, Janet Fraiser, upon the four-hour tour of Voyager, Sam and B'Elanna headed for engineering and began to conduct a diagnostic on the DHD.

"Well, as far as the diagnostic shows, the DHD is relatively undamaged. The a main power crystal core will need to be replaced," Sam explained. "It's been compromised."

B'Elanna scrunched her eyebrows. "Will that cause a problem? Isn't the memory of the place in the main crystal?"

"Yeah, it is, but even if we didn't have the DHD, the gate can be activated with an alternative power source. There are no signatures of bio-matter in the crystal's memory so it's basically irrelevant that the crystal is replaced for that matter. What concerns me is the flare of the sun in proportion to the flare that crosses with the out going wormhole. If Seven can lock on to a flare and the time-index the rest should be pretty easy. Just dial home and bingo, were off."

"Don't worry about Seven, she'll find the flare. She's good," the hybrid Klingon responded.

Sam recognized a lover's pride when she heard it. Self-admittedly she could never say that about Janet out loud, but there wasn't a time when the tall blonde wasn't proud of her dearest friend.

"From what little I spoke with her, she is very brilliant," Sam complimented. "Her understanding of astrophysics and quantum mechanics is incredible."

"It is," B'Elanna chuckled. " Sometimes she can get a little air of superiority, but she knows she's bucking for trouble when she pulls it with me."

Sam contemplated Seven, and thought her counterpart, the former Borg, was a little removed, but she didn't seem to be the egotistical sort, just confident in her abilities. Sam could identify. She could understand the complex equations of math and science but when it came to personal issues, Sam was a poor student. Science was her life. She got along well with science, but people were an enigma to her.

Sam could hole up in her lab for hours, days on end going over a new project or completing experiments and computations, but put her in a crowd of people and she would become the proverbial wallflower seeking the nearest exist. She could give a presentation on subjects that concerned quantum mechanics but she was socially inept. Because of this people tended to think of Samantha Carter as an aloof, emotionally stunted solider and science geek.

Sam chuckled, "Good to know Janet and I have you guys watching our six."

"Any time," B'Elanna answered with one of her rare smiles. "So the replacement core of the DHD, any thoughts?"

"There were Naquaada mines moon side. If we can collect a few samples I can use them to power the core. The thing is, refining it might pose a problem." Sam rubbed the bridge of her nose, thinking on how she would accomplish this feat.

"No it isn't. We can do it on Voyager."

"Really?" Blue eyes sparkled. "That's great." A large Cheshire grin spread across her pale face.

B'Elanna thought that next to Seven, Sam Carter had one of the most magical smiles, and despite her self-control, the Klingon felt her heart flutter with the presence of the young scientist next to her.

"Okay, I need to make some calculations. You have a notebook or a laptop?" Sam asked.

B'Elanna was stymied as to the young blonde captain's request. She rose and went over to her desk and retrieved a data PADD. "Here, try this."

Sam shrugged. "A Palm Pilot might not be enough, but what I enter I can always transfer to a desktop." She looked at the PADD in front of her and began inputting equations that would aid in the refinement requirements of the naquaada crystals.

"You know, I was thinking. What if we could adapt the DHD to accept dilithium?"

"Dilithium?" Sam frowned having never heard of it. "That is the second ore we discovered, isn't it?" Sam smiled when she saw B'Elanna nod. "Good to know it had a place on the periodic table."

"God, it is so hard to think you belong in the late twentieth century Sam, I mean ....you could belong in mine."

Sam chuckled. "Good to know I fit in. Don't worry about the 'Temporal Prime Directive,' I know the implications of breaking the grandfather paradox. The name of dilithium will be added to the periodic table when it's supposed to."

B'Elanna visibly relaxed.

"That is a possibility, but I would like to run some computer simulations to see if the DHD and the dilithium are compatible."

"Computer? Sam, I can do better than that." B'Elanna smiled wickedly.

The tall blonde captain caught herself, thinking of the playful smirks that Janet flashed. Smiles that it seemed only Sam knew about, for no one at the SGC would ever think the 'Napoleonic power monger' had a playful side.

Even as the EMH was describing the use of the dermal regenerator to Janet, B'Elanna escorted Sam to Holodeck one. The young Klingon ordered the computer to program a lab complete with the 'alien artifact', the DHD that had been discovered. She then ordered the computer to simulate a dilithium core using the computations Sam had made on the PADD to power the device.

"Holly Hannah!" The blonde exclaimed. "This is so cool. I mean it looks just like the lab in Engineering. This is holographic technology?"

"Sam...I am sorry, but I really can't tell you how it works." B'Elanna felt bad that she couldn't share with one of her heroes the advanced technology, as much as she wanted to.

"I know, I know... but, God, I would love to figure this out. This is incredible." Sam ran her long fingers over the photonic representations. Photonic solid matter. I know you can't tell me, but I am thinking that the energy conversion is like the ring transports. It realigns the molecules of photonic mass into solid matter. Actually this is more like your replicaters, isn't it? Or rather a combination of both."

B'Elanna was astonished. No, she was beyond that. Sam had accurately described in a quick download of facts just how the holodecks worked.

"Yeah." B'Elanna smiled thinking more now of this genius than she had in the past. So this must have been what Geordie Laforge and the rest of the Enterprise crew felt when they met Zefram Cochrane in the flesh. Meeting Samantha Carter was an all time thrill.

"I'd love to take this apart and see how it really works," Sam muttered. "I could use one of these back at the SGC. To safely run real-time simulations would be so wonderful. Janet has got to see this! I mean she could run all sorts of medical applications with this device. She could accurately depict the human body, Goa'uld symbiotes and Jaffa to test medical theories. What a great tool."

B'Elanna chuckled. "Well, it can be more than a tool, Sam."

"What other possible reason would there be to have a holographic generator, other than for lab simulations?" Amber eyebrows shot up into unruly golden bangs.

"Well, recreation, for one thing," B'Elanna pointed out.

"That seems to be a waste of resources," Sam frowned. "It would be like opening the Stargate just to see how far you can hit a golf ball. A bit of a frivolous use for scientific equipment. Your CO would condone it?"

If B'Elanna wasn't in love with Seven of Nine she could go for Sam Carter in a heartbeat. Because this tall, blonde time-traveler was a woman after her own heart and mind.

"You know, Seven says pretty much the same thing. But we are lost in deep space, Sam. The holodeck works wonders for morale."

"Oh," a sheepish expression flickered across the alabaster face. "Yeah, I guess it would, wouldn't it?"

"You know, Janet's a lucky woman," B'Elanna muttered aloud, though more to herself than to her companion.

Sam paled. If the military even suspected she was gay there would be an inquiry and it would hurt her career as well as Janet's. "Janet...um, we are just friends, colleagues...we...well, we are raising a child together, but our ..." Sam started. She had no idea how to deny any involvement that wouldn't make her look as if she was guilty of being a lesbian.

"Sam...."B'Elanna cocked her head to one side. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"Oh, well, since you're not asking anything, Lieutenant, I guess I'm not telling anything."

B'Elanna frowned, what was the blonde going on about. The one thing that struck B'Elanna was the near panic that was evident in the large blue doe-eyes. The fact that the time-traveler had used rank meant she was hiding behind military protocol. Some part of the Klingon woman recognized a shield for what it was. Seven was the same way when she was completely uncomfortable. Her tall blonde lover hid behind the Borg-wall.

"I am sorry if I implied that you and Dr. Fraiser were together intimately. I don't know the connections between you two. It's just so clear that you guys care deeply about one another. Being with Seven, I just read some familiar..."

Sam blinked. "You and Seven... in the open?"

"I'm not ashamed of her!" B'Elanna almost roared, she was so accustomed to some of her former Maquis ridiculing her for taking the former drone as a lover, that she immediately assumed that Sam was slamming her for the same thing. But Samantha Carter had no clue as to who the Borg were, so there was no way she would be as judgmental as the Klingon's Maquis friends.

"Sam..." B'Elanna used the first name to reestablish a more personal front. "I know very little about the culture of your time, but what I do know is all in science. But.... I take it being in a same-sex relationship is bad?"

"Depending upon whose viewing it," Sam said. "In the military they will court martial you and ... well, once that happens no one wants to touch you career wise for being drummed out of the service. It's like you can't be trusted any more."

"That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. And I date Tom Paris once," B'Elanna said indifferently

Sam didn't get the comparison between being gay, being kicked out of the military, and a former boyfriend. But obviously Tom Paris was B'Elanna's Jonas Hansen; mistake of a lifetime. Dating Jonas had been one of the dumbest things Sam had ever done. Thank Providence Sam's little trip to boys town had been cut short by a hard realty check, and that she moved out quickly back to the normal part of herself, even if the blonde scientist had to keep it a secret.

"Sam, apparently sometime between my century and yours the p'tahk governments decided to get their collective heads out of their arses because being gay isn't an issue anymore. Hell, if it was, Janeway would have to court martial herself." To this the Klingon laughed. She laughed all the harder at the disbelief flooding Sam's face.

They had gone as far into personal space that either woman was willing to go and it was time to back off and go back to work. "You know though," B'Elanna commented stoically, " you two do look great together, and even if there isn't romantic love there, I think there is love there."

Sam smiled faintly, took in a big breath of air and exhaled slowly, and with PADD in hand said, "So...how about those computations?"

For several hours Sam and B'Elanna worked on restoring the DHD. After five hours they had found a way to make the dilithium power the Dial Home Device. Then several more hours went into restoring the DHD to working order using the findings of the simulations to guide them.

After nearly sixteen hours of work, Janet Fraiser sought out her missing companion and found her with B'Elanna in engineering. Fraiser knew just how dedicated Sam could become when she was locked onto a project. Janet also knew that if she didn't insist for health reasons that Sam stop and take a break that the tall blonde wouldn't. Sam would get a fix of caffeine and continue to work until she was finished. That was one of the reasons her friend and favored patient was at times anemic.

Janet decided Sam had neglected herself for long enough, and as the young 2IC of SG1's physician, Janet would put her foot down and demand Sam take a break. Of course, the brunette thought it wasn't fair to their hosts to subject them to Sam's workaholic, overachieving behavior. Of course the young physician had no idea that the Klingon hybrid chief engineer had the same habits. Work until you drop.

'Sorry, Babe, not on my watch,' Janet commented to herself as she found Seven of Nine going to Engineering with what looked to the twentieth century doctor a handful of palm pilots.

Sam raked her hands through her short cropped, forever unruly blond locks of hair and blinked her tiredness away. She and B'Elanna both were waiting for Seven to arrive with her findings from Astrometrics. The next phase of the workload would be the running of simulations of how the two gates had fed off one another in order to create the quantum paradox. Simulation after simulation would have to be run to find answers to the time riddle, but it would soon reveal itself if diligence was maintained.

"Sam," Janet addressed the blonde captain.

Both B'Elanna and Sam looked up. The physician recognized the signs of fatigue almost instantly. It was time to pull rank. "Sam, B'Elanna you should take a break for the rest of the night and return to this once the both of you had proper rest." Janet knew she had no pull what so ever with the Chief of Engineering, but clumping B'Elanna in with Sam would not isolate the young captain.

"Just let us run a few simulations," Sam pleaded, looking at the PADD in her hand.

"No. Now," Janet affirmed, her dark brown eyes blazing with authority. "You've been working for more than sixteen hours and before that nine hours on the moon before we crossed over the time-stream. Your body and mind need down time, Sam."

Sam melted under the writhing look. Concerning all things medical, Janet Fraiser, the Chief Medical Officer of Stargate Command, could over rule any officer.

"And I thought Janeway had a glare," B'Elanna whispered from the side of her mouth to Seven.

The tall astrophysicist simply raised an ocular implant at the comment, not putting to voice the same thought.

"Janet, - we were working with an unknown deadline," Sam said, already giving in to her doctor and friend.

"I know. That's why I didn't say anything until I met up with Seven." Janet pulled Sam to her and walked a little away in order to speak with Carter privately. "I'm worried Sam. I almost didn't clear you for duty before the jump because of the anemia, but since I was going to be with you I thought I could keep an eye on you."

The blonde smiled. She would never admit that she secretly enjoyed the idea that someone was there to worry over her. Just as she enjoyed the fact she had someone to worry over, even if Sam dare not speak of it. "I'm okay, Janet. But you're right, I am a little tired."

"Well, as your doctor,I am prescribing at least six hours sleep, then something high in protein and carbs. As well as a workday that isn't twenty hours long. Understood?"

"Totally, Doctor." Sam nodded, complying with the tiny woman.

" Doc Fraiser is right, we should knock off for the night," B'Elanna said. "Besides, we have thirty-two hours before the next flare of significant magnitude registers. A clear head in the morning and we can look at this a little more objectively."

"I do not require regeneration at this moment. I will continue the research," Seven said.

"Oh, no, you don't, Borg, The Klingon smiled. "You're knocking off for the night, too." With that B'Elanna grabbed a hold of the front of Seven's bio-suit and pulled the tall blonde down so she could soundly kiss her, leaving Seven a little flushed. "Comply." The voice was soft, teasing and demanding.

"I was in error. Perhaps I do need to retire for the night," Seven said, managing to save face, her large blue eyes dark with want and need.

"I thought you might see things my way."

Sam and Janet were both smiling, astounded by the openness of affection that would have definitely gotten them in a world of trouble had they done the same thing back home.

Shocked at the thought that came into the minds of both time-travelers, Sam and Janet stared at each other, finding that perhaps they had shared the same thought.

"Until tomorrow, ladies," Janet managed with composure.

"Sleep well," B'Elanna tossed over her shoulder as she placed an arm around Seven's thin waist. "I know we will."

"BangwI, you insisted that I should practice digression with our intimate relations and yet you boldly proclaim our intentions tonight to our guests."

B'Elanna smiled and kissed Seven once more. "Oh, I think they'll keep it under their hats."

"Because they too will be intend to engage in such actives?" Seven suggested.

B'Elanna looked back over her shoulder and saw a clear blush on both Janet's and Sam's faces, and laughed.

~*~*~*~*~*'

In the VIP quarters:

Sam laid back on the bed watching through half lidded eyes as Janet was changing into skivvies. The diminutive physician had won the coin toss to see who got the shower first.

'Perfectly proportioned. So gorgeous.' The blonde mentally complimented her friend. 'To touch her, to run my hands over those muscles .... The softness of skin....to be granted the privilege to hold her, love her....' Sam drifted off into the land of slumber.

The sonic shower was something very new to Janet, who idly thought of the hydro-showers and the possibility of sharing one with Sam. She had seen how B'Elanna was totally enamored with her blonde astrophysicist and the tiny fiery spirited doctor almost grudgingly thought of her own blonde physicist and dreamed of having those willowy arms about her.

Coming out of the bathroom wearing nothing more than a replicated Starfleet issued tee-shirt and boxers, Janet saw that Sam was sound asleep, her long body draped horizontally across the bed.

"Oh, Sam, what am I going to do with you, huh?" Janet shook her head and started to undress the young captain, boots, blouse, trousers, until the blonde was down to her military issued sports bra and boxers.

Sam, on rare occasions, slept hard, usually at home or when in the presence of Janet. (Most of the time when that occurred, Sam was in the infirmary.) Off world she was easily awakened due to training, but once she allowed her guard down, the young blonde could be dead to the world.

Janet turned her companion so she was to rights on the bed and tucked her in. The bed was the only one in the room, but since it was king sized there was plenty of room to share.

For a moment the doctor heard Sam mutter something but she couldn't tell what it was.

"Good night, blondie," the petite doctor said as she closed her own eyes and succumbed to sleep. As many hours as Sam put into the lab, Janet had put into Sickbay.

The EMH was a little put off by yet another brilliant mind outshining him, but he watched fascinated as Janet Fraiser, MD, patched up the regular flood of bumps, bruises, burns and lacerations that came as part of the every day traffic in Sickbay.

She dressed a 3rd degree burn Neelix got from his open grill, a broken leg that came from one of the members on an away team when he had gone water skiing with a buddy and taken a risky jump and landed wrong. She treated a misplaced disk, and a hyper extended hernia from Chakotay because he had lifted wrong when uncovering an artifact from the dig. Joe Carrey had a dislocated arm from his mountain climbing excursion. Even Samantha Wildman had a deep laceration caused by a sliver that was deeply imbedded into her hand.

Each case she treated with calm and kindness, making the patients feel at the very least that they had kept their dignity. In fact, all of her patients either hugged her or shook her hand because she made them feel far more than healed, she made them feel truly cared for.

An EMH was never programmed with a good bedside manner, never mind a great one. The holographic physician saw how much a warm smile calmed a patient, the tone of voice-soothed nerves. He saw that when many of the patients started to argue with her about what they could and could not do during recovery she became extremely dominating and they all complied under her withering glare. For someone who barely stood over five feet, Janet was a giant in her field.

Not once did she berate a patient for their stupid and careless behavior. Not once did Dr. Fraiser admonish them for being reckless. The EMH couldn't understand it. After all, the Doctor thought, someone should tell them how dumb they were so they wouldn't go and do something that idiotic again.

When he asked her why she didn't lecture the injuried on safety and make them understand their stupidity Janet calmly replied, "They have suffered pain, that is enough to tell them they were stupidly reckless, I don't need to tell them that. We are doctors and we took an oath, at least I did. First do no harm. And harming their spirits by belittling them is as bad as willingly hurting their bodies. And a patient will heal faster with a spirit that is intact. It's important that they want to heal. " She said this loud enough so that Harry Kim, the one with the broken leg, could hear. He blushed but he was gratified that Janet Fraiser didn't make him feel small because of his stunt.

By the end of the sixteen hours in sickbay, Janet had more patients asking for her to treat them than the EMH. Perhaps giving time to an outstanding bedside manner was worth reevaluating.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day simulation after simulation was run to test theories of the workings of both gates, the sun flare and the dilithium powered DHD. Sam even helped with a few maintenance repairs in Engineering. Her understanding of Warp-engines was surprising until the blonde pointed out the concept of warp-drive was very similar to the hyper-drive on the Goa'uld mother ships. In fact the quantum physics involved was exactly the same. And it was something she had been trying to retro-engineer. B'Elanna would regret losing Sam's company and brilliance.

And Janet put in several more hours in Sickbay. She found it odd to have some repeat customers from yesterday, but of course Captain Janeway put two and two together. The crew wanted to be near the new doctor. They wanted to be close to such a caring soul. Dr. Fraiser gave sickbay a heart and soul in the very short time she was there. Kathryn Janeway could see why as she came in with a very bad burn caused by a scalding of coffee that the replicater had made far too hot. Janet was a remarkable doctor. She had tended the burn with such a gentle manner, more than just running a dermal regenerator over it and giving the older redhead an anesthetic for it. The tiny doctor treated the patient as well as the injury. Janet Fraiser would be sorely missed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

That night Sam and Janet were invited to dinner with Seven and B'Elanna in Holodeck one's program Sandrine's. It was, for the two time-travelers, a bit of an eclectic experience, one which both fully enjoyed.

Of course the evening would not be complete without a game of pool. B'Elanna had challenged her hero, wanting to play against the great Sam Carter. Janet couldn't help but snicker because she knew the Klingon was going to lose. Leaning over she whispered to Sam, "Fix her little red wagon, hon. Show her what twentieth century chic's can do."

"Can do, Babe," Sam shot back without realizing she had used an endearment, nor did she understand the wonderful wide grin on Janet's face at hearing it. Instead, the physicist thought it was due to the fact that she was going to win.

The table was hot and cold for both B'Elanna and Sam. Tonight Sam's mind wasn't entirely focused on the game. She kept watching Janet move feline like around the table. Tight leather jeans and a dark red blouse that accented the redness of her auburn hair, made the tiny physician an image to behold.

Consequently B'Elanna was a head of the game. And she was taking advantage of the fact that Sam had been teased, tempted and tormented by the scorchingly seductive Janet for the past three hours. The engineer had all but cleared the table. All she had to do was to drop the blue-striped and then the eight ball and she and Seven would win.

The tall blonde time-traveler mentally mapped out her shots like a geometry puzzle. She had to put in four balls to win. She leaned over and sighted her first shot down the barrel of the pool stick. She only had to put the yellow, blue, red and black balls in. With the right force and trajectory she could do it.

Seven was impressed by the geometric enigma that faced Sam. She would be even more impressed if her counter part actually was able to sink all four balls.

"Never going to happen," B'Elanna whispered to her lover. "I've got this game in the bag."

Seven's silver ocular implant went up. "Of that, I must admit, I am skeptical that you will win this game. Captain Carter is exceptional at mathematics."

B'Elanna's hand trailed up the tall ex-drones back. "You doubt me, lover?"

"No, of course not." Seven kissed the caramel cheek. "But I do not doubt her skill either." A long willowy arm went about the trim body of her beloved.

A tick sounded and B'Elanna watched as the red ball followed by the yellow went into the left side pocket, thne the blue to the far end and the eight ball into the corner pocket. The cue ball rolled to the lip of the corner pocket and came to a rest.

Sam put the cue stick on the table and smiled brightly.

Janet whooped and threw her arms around Sam's neck and hugged her tightly. Sam was only too happy to return the embrace.

" How the hell did you do that!" B'Elanna uttered amazed.

"I am impressed." Seven nodded her head.

"So am I, but how the hell did you manage it?" B'Elanna repeated.

Sam shrugged nonchalantly. "Geometry." She flashed a huge grin "So what do you say I buy the next round of beers?"

The young Klingon playful hit Sam in the arm. "Sorry, but it will be on us. Credits have replaced paper currency and, well, on this ship it's rations. No big deal since Seven has a stock pile of them."

"Indeed, I require very little nutritional supplements, consequently, as Belle would say, I have a cache of replicater rations. The treat is one me." She turned, kissed B'Elanna, and then went to the barkeep to order a pitcher of beer as well as one ginger ale, for Seven of Nine had no stomach for sythehol.

Janet watched the two new friends together, then she turned her dark doe eyes to Sam. 'To love like that....To be loved like that. God,I can only imagine... oh, god, Sam... why can't I tell you? Why the hell am I such a coward? I want to kiss you, hold you, give you touches the same way B'Elanna does with Seven. Do you want the same? Could you want the same?'

The evening progressed and all Sam could think of was the exuberant hug Janet had given her. Her mind wouldn't let go of it, nor would her heart stop hammering as she continued to think of the closeness of Janet. The effect was so intoxicating that it threatened to over come her sensibilities. She had to get some space, some distance. She had to think clearly.

So when it was decided to retire for the evening, Sam made the excuse that she wanted to wander for a moment to clear her head, giving the defense of too much beer.

Janet too need time to think. It felt too good to have Sam's arms around her, to smell the scent of roses and sandalwood in the blonde's cologne.

*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sam's wanderings took her into the mess hall, not to find food, but to find solace and peace of mind. At this late hour the hall was quiet and dark, a perfect place to gather ones thoughts.

'You've never known love, have you?' The words continued to burn in Sam's mind. She leaned foreword, her hands flat against the bulkhead supporting her weight, her blue eyes staring out at the darkness of space. In the porthole she could make out the shadowy reflection of herself. "You have never known love, have you?" she accuses her reflection.

"I can assume the question was not addressed to me," Seven of Nine said as she stepped up behind the young air force captain.

"Ah...no...Sorry, I didn't hear you come in." The pale cheeks blushed a little, having been caught talking to herself. Sam looked back to the window.

"I, too, come to his area to 'stargaze.' I find I can gather my thoughts easier."

Sam grinned. "Stargazing has always helped put things into perspective. You're looking at something bigger and more vast than you are, and it helps you go to the inner space and sort out things in the smallest of places."

"The question you asked yourself, they are not your words, Seven said bluntly

"No." Sam shook her head. "They were said to me by a friend."

"A friend?" Seven narrowed her eyes. "They sound antagonistic. This 'friend' meant to hurt you, did he not?"

"He was going through a rough patch at the moment. It wasn't his fault really, he got hooked on... um it doesn't matter. People say things they don't mean when they're going through a withdrawal."

"He used a narcotic?"

"Of sorts." Sam shrugged. Her feet shifted uncomfortably. "What he said...might have been...hurtful...but it was no less true."

Seven looked at the blonde captain. "You are both in error then," the ex-Borg said in her typical straightforwardness. "It seems that you know love but you will not allow yourself to experience it, or do you even recognize it?"

"What?" Sam narrowed her blue eyes and pinned her gaze upon the azure eyes of the woman across from her.

"As B'Elanna would say, 'how can someone so smart overlook the obvious?'" Lifting her chin Seven indicated the large port window. "I shall leave you to your stargazing, Captain Carter."

Sam watched silently as the blonde ex-Borg vacated the mess hall, the look of stymied astonishment fixed on her ever-expressive face. Turning back to the window, Sam saw blue eyes staring back at her in a reflection backlit by the stars. The vastness of space allowed her to see clearly the inner self with more clarity.

"I might never have known love since my mother died, but that doest mean it will stay that way. Come on, Carter, you're not a chicken-shit. You thrive on adrenalin rushes and challenges. Telling Janet how you feel is going to be one hell of an adrenalin rush. She won't take Cassandra away from you and she won't tell you she never wants to be your friend because you told her the truth.

"Janet appreciates honesty, right? She hates deceit. And keeping quiet about the fact that you're in love with her, pretending the feelings you have is love out of friendship only is lying to her." Sam pinned her reflection with azure ice. "You know love, but you will not allow yourself to experience it, or do you even recognize it?" Sam glared at the starfield. "And if she returns your love? How long has it been there that I didn't see it? Maybe she is as terrified as I am ... but Janet isn't afraid of her emotions, not like me...."

The stars zipped by as if to say, ' but she might be afraid of what your reaction would be. Because you never let anyone in since mom died.'

Sam stared at the stars a bit more, before abandoning them for something far grander than the vastness of space.

~*~**~*~*~*~*~

Janet wandered into Engineering. It was a place Sam had found wonderful and almost like home. Fraiser would never admit this to anyone, but whenever Sam was off world the physician would pass by blonde's lab at the SGC, lingering for a moments to fill herself with the presence of her secret love. There was so much of Sam in the lab that it almost radiated Sam's energy.

Away from the SGC, from everything familiar, Janet still craved to feel the blonde around her. For the past two days, Sam had walled herself up in the lab with the DHD. Here Janet thought she might find the answers she was looking for.

"You really should tell her," B'Elanna said coming around the corner. The young Klingon could never knock off for the night without checking on her baby, the warpcore.

Janet spun around. "Excuse me?"

"Tell her you love her.

"I...."

"Janet, I am a klingon, I can sense your ...attraction to Sam. Love is first smelled and you have her scent all over you. It's there even if you haven't touched her. You should tell her that you're in love with her."

"B'Elanna, this isn't the time," Janet said meekly.

"I think it's the perfect time, because, well, you're out of time." The Klingon said leaning against the circular DHD.

At the confused look on the small redhead's face, B'Elanna went on to say, " You're not in your century, doc. Take the window of opportunity and proclaim your feelings for her. If it goes wrong, Tuvok can work his mental mojo and erase the memory of the proclamation, and going back to your time, this all won't have happened yet. Don't you just love a paradox?"

Janet swallowed. "I chance to lose everything in telling her. I care too deeply to lose her."

"There is a saying amongst my people. One does not run away from her battles; if you can't fail, you can't succeed." B'Elanna nodded to the doors that would take the young doctor out of Engineering. "Conquer what you desire Janet. Show her your heart."

When she saw the reluctance in the dark eyes she tried to smile. "Look, I know a few things about fearing to tell the one you're in love with that you're in love with her. I see a lot of similarities between Sam and Seven and I am not talking the interest in astrophysics, quantum mechanics and being a 5'9" blonde bombshell."

Janet snickered. Without the three inch heels, Seven was indeed the exact same height as Sam. She had seen that tonight as they were playing pool.

"Seven is a woman who is straightforward and blunt to the point of rudeness. Sam, I imagine, isn't as blunt but she is definitely a woman who likes things straightforward. So do it. The worst that will happen is that she will tell you her love for you isn't sexual. But I know she loves you, it's in those big blue eyes of hers. I know because I have a pair of blue eyes that look at me with the same expression."

~*~*~*~*~

The same thought entered two minds.

'Tell her and I can lose everything. If I don't tell her I stand to gain nothing and lose so much more. I have to tell her. I have to tell her that I am in love with her.'

Sam wandered through the halls, her mind in a fog that wasn't created by the ingestion of alcohol. When she came to the door of her quarters she stopped dead cold in her tracks. Her blood froze in her chest. She could face off against the Goa'uld but telling a woman who was only five foot two that she was in love with her absolutely terrified the scientist.

Janet watched as the door open and the tall blonde walked slowly in. B'Elanna's words echoed in the doctor's mind and heart, but she couldn't find a voice. She could only watch the blonde slip in. Before Sam had arrived the words were in her head, she had rehearsed them, was prepared to say them, but suddenly her mouth was dry and her mind was blank.

Both women set eyes onto one another. There was a flash of warm smiles, slightly open mouths closed, but words never formed.

"Mind if I hit the shower first?" Sam asked.

"No, go ahead." Janet gestured to the bathroom.

The blonde smiled her thanks and disappeared.

"Okay, okay. I can tell her when she comes out," Janet mumbled. "Just tell her and close my eyes."

Sam leaned against the wall in the bathroom. "Okay, okay. I can tell her when I'm done. Just tell her and hold my breath."

It's amazing how easy it is to procrastinate when there is something you want to do but are too terrified to do it. Sam came out of the shower, Janet pretended to be a sleep, and the night passed in silence.

In the morning it was cheerful smiles, coffee and breakfast.

"In twenty hours we should be in our own time," Sam announced with a large grin. " We're going home, Jan."

Relief flooded the doctor's face. "Then all the simulations are done? Everything works?"

Sam had been keeping Janet appraised every step of the way, but there were times when the blonde scientist fell into her work and became obtuse to anything outside the project before her.

"Seven and I are going to run a few more tests first to finalize the corresponding fluctuation in the power output in the EM field surrounding the Guardian of Forever. And B'Elanna asked me to stop by engineering, there was a problem with the DHD."

"This won't set us back?" Janet couldn't disguise the concern in her voice.

"No." Sam reached across the table, past the plates of half eaten omelets and bacon to take hold of Janet's hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. "Even if the DHD is inoperative, B'Elanna and I came up with a contingency plan. That's another thing that she and I will be going over. Don't worry, Jan, the three of us, you, Cassie, and I will be together again." The blonde winked and rose from the table. Her hand, still holding Janet's, dropped gingerly as Sam reached for her cup of coffee, which she downed quickly.

"You know, you can always come down and lend a hand," Sam hinted hopefully. She desired to be close to Janet, especially at this momentous time. Janet always gave Sam strength, even if the doctor never knew it. When discouragement set in over a task that seemed too daunting, all Sam had to do was to look into those large dark brown eyes and somehow the blonde would find the strength, the courage to move on and overcome. So how come Sam could not overcome this fear gripping her heart and simply tell this woman the truth about how she felt about her.

"I might, but I want to lend a hand in sickbay for a little while," Janet quickly excused herself. She couldn't be near Sam right now. She couldn't face the blonde knowing she was keeping the truth from her. Nor could she face the eyes of B'Elanna who had prodded the doctor to tell Sam that she was in love with the youthful captain. Every time Janet looked into Sam's blue eyes, the words and courage froze solid.

Jane looked down at her uneaten toast, unable to meet the disappointment in Samantha's eyes. "I'll be down, I promise. But first I want to spend a few hours in sickbay."

That brought a large smile to Sam's lips. "Great!" she beamed. Then she blushed, thinking herself too much like a schoolgirl. "Um.... You're going to miss the sickbay, aren't you?"

"No more than you will the astrometrics lab or all that stuff in engineering," Janet teased.

"Guilty." The blonde winked. "Well, I'm gonna take off. See you in a while."

~~*~*~**~*~*~

"You're distracted," B'Elanna accused Sam as they were running a tricorder over the crystals in the DHD matrix. "I can relate. If I was this close to home I'd be excited to. Or is it something else?" B'Elanna said with an almost knowing tone in her voice.

"What else would there be?" Sam had a sinking feeling that Seven had spoken to B'Elanna about the mess hall last night and the Klingon was prodding for details. Telling B'Elanna that she was afraid was like telling Teal'c the same thing. There are just some things you never tell a member of a warrior race. One of them was to admit that you're petrified of emotions.

The Klingon shrugged. Dealing with Seven, B'Elanna had became very adept at reading the unspoken words behind aloof walls. Seven and Samantha Carter were both geniuses and their interactions with people suffered. They didn't mean to be aloof, more like they had no idea on how to react to their emotions and so they became detached, and believed they wouldn't have to deal with this more complex side of the heart.

B'Elanna frowned at a sound that only a chief engineer would likely hear. A moment latter the klaxon of alert sounded in Engendering.

"Shit!" B'Elanna shouted.

Sam was up on her feet ready for any emergency. She was a captain in the USAF, and a member of the flagship team, SG1. Danger she was used to.

Both women saw what caused the red alert to sound. On the wall near the warpcore, Joe Carry and Susan Niclolettie had been monitoring the venting of the plasma relays when the panel sparked.

Sam reacted almost immediately just as the flare of the exploding plasma relay erupted in front of Niclolettie. The blonde tackled the smaller brunette to the floor. Adrenaline added strength to the young captain, and Niclolettie went flying across the room. But the plasma was insistent on claiming a victim.

Thick smoke choked the air with the stench of melted plastic, plasma and charred flesh. Extinguishers propelled Freon, snuffing out the plasma fires.

"Get the area contained, now!" B'Elanna cried out, ignoring the pain in her ribs as she sprinted for the very still Sam Carter. "Erect a level ten force field."

A chorus of 'Aye sir's' answered her.

Niclolettie had the wind knocked out her, the side of her face bleeding from the impact her flying body had taken against the rail surrounding the warpcore. But she could have been in a lot worse condition had the plasma relays erupted in front of her. Had it not been for Carter, Niclolettie might have been dead.

"Oh, God," B'Elanna moaned when she saw the massive plasma burns covering Sam's face, chest, arms, and left leg.

Sam was only aware of the sudden explosion of pain striking her. Her lungs felt as if she had a ton of bricks pushing on them. Every breath was sharp and painful, and she couldn't get enough air. Something was constricting her. It would be so easy to allow the darkness to take her, to just slip away. If she closed her eyes she wouldn't feel any more.

"Lieutenant, you all need medical attention now. We have the plasma leak contained. I can take over until you are cleared," Vorik offered.

B'Elanna was about to protest, but she stopped when she heard the gurgling sound of Sam speaking. "Janet...."

B'Elanna struck her combadge " Sickbay, we have a medical emergency. I have three people with plasma burns, . . . . one critical. Carrey, Niclolettie, . . . and Carter were exposed to the equivalent of over 9 grads of neutron radiation resulting from direct contact. Full body exposure of over seven." B'Elanna announced. " Four to beam to sickbay."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Janet paled when she heard the name of Carter mentioned. Slamming down the medical mask, she prepared herself to receive the casualties.

"Understood," the EMH responded. "Tom, I need your aid. Dr. Fraiser, I am glad you're here."

"Right, Doc," the young blonde helmsmen said.

In a moment the three biobeds filled with bodies.-, with B'Elanna standing at Sam's side. She was the worst of the four injured.

Janet was at the blonde's side instantly. 'Oh God...'

"Janet..." Sam coughed, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. Her pale eyes opened, staring dully at her friend.

"I know how to deal with this," the EMH said without emotion. "You see to the other patients. Bone knives and bear skins won't save her."

"No...." Sam moaned, her hand grabbing hold of Janet's wrist and not letting go. "You...Janet...you....need you..."

"Doctor Em'H, I am not going to argue!" asserted the tiny brunette. "You see to the others." Janet turned her attention to her newest patient. "Nurse, I want 1 milligram epi's, an EKG, and an EEG, stat!" Her last order was addressed to Tom Paris.

For a moment Tom didn't move.

"Tom, now!" B'Elanna barked.

"I am not going to let you treat her, Fraiser. I know about plasma burns. You are a novice." If the hologram had had veins, they would have been standing out on his face and neck.

Janet ignored him as she took the hypo from Tom. "Epi's in."

"I AM THE CMO here!" The EMH growled.

" ....want....Janet...." Sam crocked out.

"Then act like you're the CMO," Janet flung at him with disdain. "You have three other patients that need you." Janet pushed the button on the biobed to engage the EKG and an EEG. She looked at the readings then pushed past the hologram.

"Doctor, please," B'Elanna, pleaded as she indicated both Carry and Niclolettie, cutting of the EMH's arguments.

Begrudgingly the hologram turned his back on the worst of the four injured and started to treat the two engineers.

"Nurse, set up an ambubag; draw 2 grams of magnesium sulphate." Janet ordered.

" It's in." Tom said

Janet had another hypo filled with 5cc of Valium ready to set and inject into Sam to stop her from seizing.

"Nurse, she's stabilized. Assist the Doctor," Janet ordered.

Tom nodded and sprinted over to the other two beds, not stopping to correct Dr. Fraiser that he wasn't really a nurse, just a medical-tech in training.

"Sam, Honey...? I need you to focus," the tiny doctor said gently, wanting to touch her friend but afraid to make her pain worse.

Sam's blue eyes were heavily dilated as she stared into Janet's dark concerned eyes.

"You've been exposed to a lethal dose of radiation, but we can treat it and neutralize the poisoning. I need you to fight the sickness. This is going to be painful, I know. But I am going to be right here." She feathered back the damp locks of gold.

Sam nodded weakly.

"Rest now."

Again a nod.

Janet turned to B'Elanna. "Now your turn."

It was a grueling three hours, but the minor injuries had been treated. Both Niclolettie and Carrey were cleared, but required to stay the day for observation. Tomorrow they would be cleared for light duty. The same went for B'Elanna. The three of them suffered more from their bruises than the exposure to plasma radiation. Only Sam remained in questionable condition. But at the very least she was stable.

The one thing that wasn't stable was the EMH's temper. Janeway found herself in Voyager's sickbay in the office of the CMO, for Janet would not leave sickbay, and it was this petite woman that was the center of concern.

"She took over my sickbay, Captain, and that is unacceptable," the hologram pouted.

Janeway looked to Janet.

"Captain, I am not going to defend my actions. I would do them again. I know Captain Carter's physiology. ..."

'I know human physiology..." the Doctor snarled.

"But not Sam's," Janet pointed out. "You recall she used the Ribbon device? That's because she had naquaada in her blood like a symbiote. She has a Goa'uld protein marker in her DNA because she had been altered. I know what meds she can handle, which she cannot, and I know the dosages to administer. What I did was not only logical; it was standard practice of triage. The crewmembers and B'Elanna are better treated by their normal physician. Especially B'Elanna, as I know nothing of Klingon physiology."

"Still, you could have treated the humans," the EMH pointed out.

"Yes, I could have, but in a triage situation Captain Carter was a priority. My priority. Your nurse could have handled the crewmembers as well, to allow you to assess B'Elanna's condition. My point is it would have been a waste of precious time if you had treated Sam Carter, Doctor Em'H."

The holographic physician bristled but Janeway set a hand up forestalling any arguments.

"Dr. Fraiser is correct, Doctor, and we both know that." Janeway could readily identify with the other woman. After all, Kathryn would be suspect of the treatment of B'Elanna or Seven by someone not knowledgeable about their prior medical history or physiology.

"And the manner she was hurt, plasma burns. You can't treat them with bone..."

"Bone knives and bear skins," Janet finished for him. "Yeah, I head that one. Still not amusing. In fact, it is down right insulting, Doctor, and not professional. Or are you not programmed with a professional demeanor? I know all about plasma burns, Doctor, because I am the CMO at Stargate Command. Plasma burns are exactly the same wounds that are delivered by a blast from a staff weapon.

"We are on the front lines, Doctor, protecting the past of your Earth from the infiltration of the System Lords, so that you can live in this pristine future with out a system lord being your master. I know exactly what plasma radiation does to the human body. So don't you dare tell me what I do and do not know, when you have no clue about what I've faced. Now if you will excuse me Captain, Doctor, I have a patient to attend to."

Through the glass of the office Janet saw the stunned doctor turn back to his captain, But didn't hear him say, "If I didn't know better I would say she was related to B'Elanna Toress."

Janeway stood up and clapped a hand on the photonic back. "Our Lieutenant Toress is half human... who's to say Fraiser isn't an ancestor?" The captain smiled. "They both have that fiery sprit. B'Elanna could have as easily gained it from her human side as her Klingon."

"Latinos it is said are supposed to be fiery. But Doctor Fraiser isn't Latino," the EMH said. "But of course that doesn't mean that one of her decedents won't be."

When Janet came to Sam's bedside in the morning she softly stroked away the golden locks of hair. She flashed a warm genuine smile when she saw blue eyes open and look at her.

"He-ey. So are you feeling pretty lousy?" the brunette asked.

"Yeah, a little, " Sam admitted.

"I'm not surprised. The radiation affected your hypothalamus. Essentially, your internal thermostat went haywire. Your respiration, heartbeat and your temperature have been fluctuating wildly. Sam, if you want a full recovery I need you to rest. Seven has finished up the scenarios. And B'Elanna has overseen everything, so you are going to rest before we bug out." The tiny doctor punctuated her bullying with a big smile. "That's an order, Captain." Janet affirmed sternly.

Sam felt her will trickle away as she complied with the diminutive physician. "Okay." The young captain decided a quick answer was best considering the way too protectiveness of the Napoleonic power monger. ...even if she was in love with the brunette.

"Sam...." Janet furrowed her brow, not buying for a moment the too quick passiveness in the stubborn blonde.

"Okay... No marathons."

Janet nodded. Looking at the scanners around Sam, the physician knew that Sam would be fine. Due to twenty fifth century medicine a lethal dose of radiation would not kill Samantha, as it would have in their own time. The pain threshold was even manageable with the right amount of painkillers and sedatives.

Sam still looked far too pale for Janet's liking. The dermal regenerator took care of several of the lacerations and abrasions, but it did nothing for the paleness.

For a moment all Janet could see was Sam's blue eyes. She was almost overwhelmed by the thought of never seeing them again.

'Love is first smelled and you have her scent all over you.' Janet could hear B'Elanna's words spoken just a few days ago. 'It's there even if you haven't touched her. You should tell her that you're in love with her..... One does not run away from her battles; if you can't fail you can't succeed. Conquer what you desire, Janet. Show her your heart.'

B'Elanna words continued to echo loudly within the young doctor. Hours ago, Sam's life lay on the brink and she had almost been lost. And the young captain would have never known that she was loved.

' It seems that you know love but you will not allow yourself to experience it, or do you even recognize it. How can someone so smart overlook the obvious?'

Seven's words flared to life within the blonde causing cacophony-jumbled emotions. Hours ago Janet had struggled to save Sam's life. And she would never have known that she was loved.

Two heads looked down trying to find courage. Twin sharp intakes of breath. It was now or never.

"I'm in love with you," two voices spoke at the same time.

Two heads looked up, two sets of eyes flared in disbelief.

"What did you say?" Once more the words were said in unison.

"Sam?"

Toothy grins.

"Jan, did you say what I thought you said?"

Janet moved to the side of the taller woman's bed so that she might sit down upon it.

Without realizing it, Sam moved her hand so she could touch Janet's. The diminutive physician took the hint and gathered the long fingered hand into her smaller one.

"I said I am in love with you. I almost lost you ... Samantha, I had to tell you.. I had to...concur what I desire and not run away from my battles. I was battling a lot of fear... and I ... just had to tell you. I love you. No.... I am in love with you."

Sam lifted a hand and traced the slightly tanned skin of the woman who had captured her heart, letting it linger on the brunette's cheek. "Because of who I am I never thought I could know love. At one time someone told me I had never known love and he was right. But he was wrong, too .. ..I ....I.... was too too... um.... I overlooked the obvious. I don't want to do that... I want to see clearly.... See everything. When I do I...I see you Janet. I am in love with you."

Janet took Sam's hand from her cheek so she might kiss it before she leaned over and kissed the blonde's pale forehead. Her eyes met Sam's own, both falling down the pale cheeks of the blonde.

They moved as if the world had shifted into slow motion, hesitant, unsure, frightened but exhilarated. Janet's lips tasted Sam's for the first time. The doctor didn't know whose heartbeat she was feeling, her own or Sam's. She was only aware of the thudding rapidness of it.

Soft velvet warmth. That was the only way Sam could describe the lips of her beloved. "Like running a rose petal across my lips," Sam whispered smokingly before she captured Janet's lips once more.

Janet felt a swarm of butterflies surround her. She moaned softly as she pressed deeper into the kiss.

"This is a whole new meaning to bedside manor!" B'Elanna joked as she came around the corner with Seven of Nine in tow.

The two lovers blushed as though they had been caught making out by their parents.

The two Voyager women smiled smugly. Seven leaned close and whispered so only her BangwI might here. "As you said, 'playing cupid' was a worth while endeavor. They do indeed make 'a cute couple'."

"I told you so," B'Elanna smirked as she eyed her tall blonde, blue-eyed lover.

Janet rose from the bed but her hand never let go of Sam's, the pad of her thumb idly stroking the too pale flesh. "B'Elanna, how are you feeling?"

"Five by five, Doc. Not to worry. I wasn't the one playing hero." B'Elanna was still smiling.

"You, Sam?"

"Better, thanks. I might be able to sweet talk my doctor into letting me go early." Sam playful raised her blonde eyebrows up and down.

"Don't count in it, Blondie. Or have you forgotten your physician is 'the Napoleonic Power Monger with very large needles'?"

"I thought you saved those threats for the colonel and the marines," Sam mockingly pouted.

"Oh, well, and in special cases very stubborn blonde quantum physicists," Janet shot back before she raised Sam's hand to her lips to kiss it.

"Look, Sam, I appreciate what you did for my people, but are you insane!" B'Elanna roared.

"I beg your pardon?" Sam blinked.

"You dead. That isn't something that can be afforded," B'Elanna said. " It's like the Borg taking out Zefram Cochrane. You spearheaded wormhole physics, everything we are taught in the academy.... Hell, a lot of other institutions use your theories, your work, as equally as they do those of Leah Brahms, Cochrane, Einstein, Schrodinger, Newton, and a lot of others. You just can't go around getting yourself killed in this century."

"Oh, please...." Sam dismissed the supposed importance she had played in history

"B'Elanna is correct, Captain Carter. I assisted in the assimilation of thousands when I was a member of the collective. Many space-faring races depend upon the Carter theorems of wormhole physics and quantum mechanics. Your actions in Engineering, though highly commendable, were also very irresponsible for our maintained future. Had you perished the loss would have been more grave then you can imagine," Seven pointed out. "What would your own progress in science be if you had not the theories of Niels Bohr, Einstein or Schrodinger, Carnot, Kepler, Planck, Joseph Henry, Rydberg, Archimedes...." Seven listed.

"Okay, okay..." Sam said holding up her hands in surrender. "I get the picture." A slight modest smile graced the beautiful face. "So....um can I see this book I was supposed to have written?"

"Grandfather paradox, Sam. Sorry," B'Elanna said, "but you had a lot to say, over 2,000 pages of genius," the Klingon winked.

"You know, you've been wanting to write a book on wormholes and quantum mechanics for a while now," Janet said, touching the blonde's shoulder.

"I know. It's just . . . I never have the time. Nice to know that eventually I'll find it," Sam smiled. Then deep concern filled her eyes. "I don't see Ensign Niclolettie. Was she released?" This question was directed to Janet.

"She wanted to help with the lab work that's left to go over. She wanted to pay you back for saving her life. The doctor let her go, but he is monitoring her vitals," Janet said.

"And her chief is keeping an eye on her as well," B'Elanna said. "She's helping with the final runs in the simulations. We think we found the timing that is necessary to start the dialing up of the DHD just as the flare is starting. The flux of EM pulse in both gates will simultaneously activate, just like you said they would, Sam."

"And so with the marked timing we jump through the Guardian of the Gateway," the blonde captain finished. "The wormhole itself will be redirected closer to the sun because of the planet's magnetic field. The increased gravity should slingshot us back to said planet and the power of the Guardian of Forever will insure we land in the right time."

It was at this moment that Captain Kathryn Janeway and the EMH decided to join up with the quartet of ladies.

"You certainly know how to keep things exciting around here, Captain Carter," were the words of greeting coming from the redheaded older woman.

"That wasn't exactly my intention," Sam responded sheepishly. She started to move so that when sitting she could swing her legs over the side of the bed.

"Sam, you're not exactly strong enough . . ." Janet's words of warning were cut short by the fact that the blonde wavered as a wave of dizziness surrounded her mind in a haze of grayness.

"Dizzy..." said Sam.

"See..." Janet rebuked. " You're fortunate you didn't fall off the bed. Now lay back down. Captain. That's an order."

Sam complied with a minimum of fussing, but the stern look in the dark chocolate eyes of the petite physician had the tall blonde silenced immediately.

"Good to see I am not the only one who has difficulty with patients," the EMH said jokingly.

"Well, you can always threaten them with very big needles," Janet instructed with a chuckle. "They might be archaic now... But trust me. To keep the disobedient patients in line, a mere threat of needles will get even the most stalwart of Marines to back down and become kittens. It works on Jaffa, too, so I am positive it will work on stubborn Klingons and ex-Borg, should you have to resort to it."

"Hey!" B'Elanna yelped. "Standing right here!"

"Janet knows. That's why she said it." Sam smiled.

"I'll keep that in mind." The balding physician smiled, rocking on his photonic heels.

"Yeah, well, just remember who it is that you call to realign your matrix, Doc!" B'Elanna commented. "And you...Doctor Fraiser, that's fine gratitude for all the free advice I gave you." Her words were growled but the merriment in her dark brown eyes and the smirk took the sting out of them.

Sam gave a quizzical glance to her newly proclaimed love.

"Captain, your doctor is right," Janeway stated. "You need to rest before your journey home. All the simulations have been tested, rechecked and triple checked. Everyone is confident that the cross flux of the two gate's wormholes will take you where you need to go."

"And what of you?" Sam asked. "I have promises to keep, so I can't give you the gate address to earth. But there are uninhabited planets in what you call the Alpha Quadrant that I can give you gate addresses for. Once you gate there, Seven and B'Elanna, I'm sure, can create a communications array to contact your Starfleet Command."

"Thank you," Janeway smiled. "That has been our quest for six years now -- to reach home. And I understand about Earth's address. And as a leader in the military, I respect and commend your dedication. For the last three days, it has been an honor to have you amongst our numbers."

"Thank you," both time-travelers said in unison.

"She's right, you know," B'Elanna said. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you could fit right in, in our century. Hell, Voyager would be lucky to have you."

"But both must return. Captain Carter's contribution to science must come to pass or everything we know now about wormhole physics will be severely hampered," Seven argued. "And for her part, Dr. Fraiser is not without impact upon medicine, is she Doctor?" The tall blonde ex-Borg looked to Voyager's physician.

"Indeed," the man said. "I was ordered not to speak of it."

"Those orders still stand, Doctor," Janeway said in a no argument command voice.

Both Sam and Janet recognize the unmentioned 'Grandfather Paradox.'

"Well, if Sam is to get her rest, then I request that visiting hours are cut short," Voyager's doctor dared.

"I agree," Janet said. "Sam, I need you to rest."

"Janet, you know I hardly ever rest well in the infirmary."

"This isn't the SGC, Sam. I've worked here for the last three days, you forget, and it's generally quite. But I'll agree to allow you to return to our quarters 'IF' you take a nap."

Sam nodded emphatically. "Please."

~*~*~*~*

Once Janet was satisfied that Sam was tucked into the bed she sat a moment longer on its edge, softly stroking the blonde locks, scarcely believing not four hours ago she had told this woman she was in love with her. More unbelievable was that Sam had returned the words and had meant them.

"There is room for two," Sam said sleepily.

"You're supposed to be resting."

"I will. And more soundly, once I have the woman I love in my arms."

Janet stared speechless into the deep ocean blue of Sam's eyes. "Sam..."

"I love you Janet. I love everything there is about you."

The smaller woman tenderly kissed the soft pink lips of the blonde.

"I dreamed abut you," Janet whispered. "But I never thought to hope I could have the dream. I thought your heart belonged to another."

She didn't mention who the other was. She didn't have to. Jack O'Neill was in love with Samantha, and the doctor had thought, as had others, that it was two ways. But because of their careers, of their ranks, they had never crossed the lines of the regulations.

"It belonged to you Janet. It always has. It's just that I never thought I stood a chance. So I took the easy way out and loved you as I was allowed to, as your friend."

"I want you to be more." Janet kissed the soft lips once more, and closed her eyes to the tender caress of the blonde's long fingers as they caressed her cheek.

"Please, Janet, let me hold you. Just to hold you like a lover would. I want you to be mine."

"Yours." Janet leaned close and felt those beautiful lips claim a spot on her throat and kiss her tenderly.

"Mine." Sam said kissing her again, marking a hidden spot on Janet's throat.

Janet nibbled Sam's throat in turn. "Mine," she uttered softly.

"Yes...yours."

There upon the brunette's face was a massive bright smile that shamed the sun. Silently the doctor lay down on her back, but in response to a gentle prodding from the blonde, she rolled over on her side so that Sam might cuddle her next to her own body.

Janet wasn't the only brunette to be spooned by a tall lanky blonde.

Seven lay upon her side and tucked the compact body of her beloved to her own. Now in the quiet recesses of much needed lovemaking, the two enjoyed the bliss of each other's presence.

"I am gratified," Seven started as she placed a kiss upon B'Elanna's neck, "to know my words have been heeded by Captain Carter."

The Klingon chuckled. "Oh? So you think it was you that got them together? I think I might have played a significant role in the joining up. After all I pushed Janet into declaring herself to Sam. And, hell, I even told Sam she looked good with the little doc."

"They do make a fine couple," Seven responded. Once more she kissed the caramel skinned neck. "Perhaps something is to be said about blonde physicists and mercurial tempered petite brunettes."

B'Elanna rolled over and gingerly punched Seven in the arm. "Who you calling petite?"

Seven kissed her lover's nose. " The woman in my arms."

"Oh, you're going to get it, Gazelle!"

Seven chuckled. It was a sound only B'Elanna had ever heard. "Do you know that is what Janet calls Samantha Carter?"

"Oh, really!?" B'Elanna started to nibble the long pale neck. "What does Sam call her?"

"Turtle."

B'Elanna growled. "That is an insult."

"No, BangwI. Not in the context you believe it to be. Captain Carter calls Janet this because when they were on a mission Janet was loaded down with a large supply pack, which was green matching their BDU's. The heaviness of it as Janet described it to me, nearly consumed her. And she felt like a turtle lugging around the pack that weighed nearly as much as she did."

To this B'Elanna did laugh as she got the mental image of Janet with a massive pack on her back. "So how did Sam get Gazelle?"

"Apparently Captain Carter asked her BangwI what animal she was and both simultaneously said gazelle. When I asked Janet why, she gave me a very puzzled expression and told me I should ask you."

B'Elanna let out a full Klingon belly laugh. "Oh, that is too sweet. Hon, she called you and Sam that because gazelles are gangly long legged mammals. Kinda like you and Sam, gangly and long legged. I'll show you a picture of a gazelle in the database some time."

Seven nuzzled B'Elanna. "You do know I would never call you a shelled amphibious reptile as Sam has called Janet. For I have never seen you loaded down with a supply pack weighing nearly your weight, nor do you wear green. Nor are you sluggish as those creatures are. From what I have observed of Janet she would be better described as a rabbit, for she is filled with a great deal of energy."

The Klingon kissed her lover deeply. "Is that why you think.... Never mind." B'Elanna didn't want to disillusion the innocence in her lover. Seven had no clue that turtlehead had nothing to do with clothing color, wearing a heavy survival pack or one's slowness of speed. Seven was still mostly Borg and the Borg would find bigoted comments irrelevant and a waste of energy. Though Seven knew bigotry as keenly as B'Elanna did. And it was enough for B'Elanna that Seven would never use such a hated term to describe B'Elanna.

"And I believe that for Klingons it does not have the same inference, correct?" Seven asked softly.

"Yeah, but, hey, it doesn't matter." The klingon tucked herself deeper into Seven's arms.

Sleep took all four prisoners.

~*~*~*~*~*~

You know how when you sleep hard during little catnaps you wake up a little disorientated and believe a whole day has passed, when in fact only a few hours have? This was a phenomenon that all four women experienced.

Four collective sighs of relieve were exhaled in two separate quarters as the truth of the time was made apparent by asking the computer the time and date. Likewise, there were feelings of being foolish for a moment's panic that they had all slept through the window of opportunity.

Sam sat up. Her equilibrium was still a little out of sorts, but Janet was there to lend a hand, giving her beloved a glass of water from the replicater as she had requested. Handing it to Sam, the small physician sat next to her on the bed and placed a hand upon the long back of the blonde, both giving her support as well as transferring the touch of her affection.

"You're still not a hundred percent, Sam. No pushing yourself."

"How can I? My doctor won't let me." Sam kissed the bridge of Janet's nose.

"What did I tell you about sweet talking your physician?' Janet giggled.

"Speaking of that.... Back home...."

"We keep things as they were, Sam. Everyone knows we're close friends, everyone knows we are raising Cassandra together even though I adopted her. We are both her parents. On base they see us as best friends. That won't change, that outward appearance is what everyone will see."

"And when we are alone?" Sam asked as she traced the heart shaped face of her love.

"Alone, we have no boundaries."

Sam smiled. "What do you think Cassie will do?

"Faint dead away that one of her wishes has come true, and that we've gotten together and can make a real family. Sam, I think she....No, I know she has been secretly wishing for us to get together and, truth be told, so have I."

"As have I. I was so afraid. I was terrified it wasn't mutual, that....I'd lose the love with you I did have, for a dream of what might be."

"That same fear was mine, Sam. For a long time. Since Cassie came into our lives, I saw you in a more than friend light. I watched you with her those first couple of days, and then that night after the bunker, and I saw how much love you had for that little girl and I fell for you. But to tell you...it would ruin everything."

Sam kissed Janet's soft lips once more enjoying the heady rush of butterflies that came with the kiss.

Janet felt those same butterflies. And in the tiny part of her brain that was still functioning she sent a silent pray of thanks to a klingon woman with soulful brown eyes who had prodded the doctor into action.

'Conquer what you desire....'

Those words would stick with the petite woman for a long time to come.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sam had said it once before. 'Goodbyes really suck.' That could not have been more true today than it was the day she had first said it. Friendships were indeed sometimes brief candles in life.

On the way to the transporter pad, Janet thought everyone she had treated in the infirmary must have shaken her hand or hugged her a dozen times over. She was more than embarrassed by the attention she was gaining and felt a tiny bit bad for the EMH. He wasn't a bad man; he just wasn't programmed with a very adept bedside manner.

Of course, she had no way of knowing that he had asked B'Elanna to upgrade his program based on Janet's own demeanor when it came to treating patients.

In the transporter room the time travelers were greeted by Tuvok who surrendered their gear over to them, knowing they would need it once they returned to their own time.

Little Naomi Wildman and her mother were present. Samantha Wildman was elated to finally meet the woman her daughter had been going on about for three days.

"Oh, Dr. Fraiser, I wanted to thank you for what you did for my little girl. You took such great care of her while I was so far away. Nelix wanted to bring her down to where I was but the area was too dangerous.... But she got hurt anyway..." The mother looked mortified that her child had been hurt.

"Well, AS I said, "Every kid is entitled to one broken bone from tree climbing, bike or horseback riding, skate boards... It's apart of growing up. I broke my one arm when I was about seven riding a horse..." Janet laughed. "A single incident like that isn't neglect, Miss Wildman, it's just kids being kids. Cassandra, my own daughter, twisted her ankle ice-skating... We parents have to teach them to be a bit more careful, that's all. And of course grow a head of gray hairs worrying over them."

This made Samantha Wildman laugh. "Thank you," she grinned, then hugged Janet. "Naomi wouldn't stop going on and on about you, doctor. I think you have a fan."

Fraiser ruffled the locks of strawberry blonde hair. " Well, she's a good kid and a fine captain's assistant, I must add."

Naomi beamed at this and gave her own hug to Janet.

"Always neat to meet another Samantha," Wildman said to Sam. "Naomi says you prefer Sam, though."

"Yeah, I guess it's been my nickname since I was little. I got used to it. It's odd to hear my full name."

Both Samantha's chuckled.

The door swooshed open to reveal two more well-wishers: Susan Niclolettie and Joe Carrey.

"Captain Carter," Susan said. "I am so glad I had a chance to see you before you beamed down." She held out her hand to give Sam a very hearty handshake. "I...I owe you my life. What you did... It was amazing. I've only seen the Chief do something like that." Then, rubbing her bruised arm, she added, "And you're a lot stronger than you look."

Sam smiled modestly. "I just reacted....I didn't mean to throw you quite so hard."

Susan Niclolettie knew from the body language that Sam was uncomfortable about the praise, a lot like B'Elanna would be. A simple thank you was great, grandstanding wasn't.

"Just thank you." Niclolettie said once more.

The tall blonde beamed. "You're welcome."

"Hey, Captain Carter. I think the Chief will miss you around Engineering." Joe said. "It was kinda cool having you assist us."

"Are you kidding, I had a blast with the hyper...er warpdrive. It was really quite fascinating."

After the second day and a stern lecture from the Chief, no one was to talk about Dr. Carter's book or her genius. In fact, the subject was taboo; however, discussing theory wasn't, just the book. B'Elanna said the last thing she wanted was a Cochrane incident like when the Enterprise had nearly lost Zefram because they had embarrassed him. Everyone likes praise, not everyone likes to be gushed over.

"And I wanted to wish you a good journey home," the young man said.

"Thanks and you too. I hope the Stargate will work to get you guys to the Alpha Quadrant," Sam said sincerely.

Janet set Naomi down on the floor once more and tapped Sam on the arm. " It's time. B'Elanna and Seven are waiting for us along with Captain Janeway."

"Right."

With little more said the two time travelers stepped on to the transporter pad and vanished to the moon's surface.

There Seven of Nine, B'Elanna Toress and Kathryn Janeway met them. The scene was similar to the first day the five of them had met. Of course this time no one was pointing zats, phasers or M60's at anyone.

"It's been a pleasure and honor to have known you two ladies," Janeway said graciously.

"It's been an experience," Janet returned

Seven and B'Elanna weren't so distant as the young Klingon clapped both women on the back in a hug as if saying good-bye to long time college buddies.

"So you really have to go, huh?"

"We weren't meant to stay," Sam smiled. She winked. "Apparently there is a textbook on theoretical constructs and wormhole physics I have to write."

Looking to Janet the blonde's smile deepened. "And we have a daughter to go home to."

"I have become accustomed to your presence. It is difficult in saying good-bye," Seven said.

The two time-travelers, having knowing Teal'c, could hear the warmth and care in the words that were delivered in a Borg monotone. They had also become accustomed to the presence of the tall Borg. Sam especially, as they had spent several hours bouncing ideas off of one another. And on that same note, the young captain would miss the chief of engineering. It was rare that she met another brilliant mind to talk 'shop' with.

Janet was a genius in medicine but sometimes there were things that were above Sam's ken when dealing with the world of a healer. Nevertheless, Sam loved to listen to her beloved speak about that world, just as Janet enjoyed listening to Sam speak about Quantum mechanics.

It was one more thing that the time-travelers had in common with B'Elanna and Seven. The ex-drone and Klingon hybrid could spend hours talking physics, quantum mechanics and science.

" Thank you for everything,' Sam said. She was going to shake hands with B'Elanna but the Klingon would have none of it. Instead the young woman drew Carter into a bone crushing Klingon bear hug. The same hug was given to Janet, who let out a woof of air.

"You're stronger than you look," the doctor said, catching her wind back.

"She is Klingon," Seven said proudly. "Size often belies strength."

They all chuckled at that.

The tricorder at Seven's waist bleeped. "It is time," she announced. "The gate must be dialed."

"Godspeed, then," Janeway said.

"Indeed, may your journey be without incident," Seven echoed.

"Qa'pla!" B'Elanna boldly said. "It means to succeed."

"Qa'pla," both Sam and Janet returned.

Janet nodded. Moving to the DHD, she started tapping in the code that would send them back to the moon's past.

The kwoosh of the active Stargate struck the Guardian gateway. The portal opened. Holding each other's hands, they leapt through........

~*~*~*~*~*'

"Hey Carter!" Jack O'Neill balked. "I thought you were going to run tests on the organic gate."

Sam looked around, dazed, and found that the light in the eastern sky had dimmed. Hours must have passed. Looking to her side, Janet was just moving and waking up.

"Oh, Boy." Sam staggered and sat on the steps to the Guardian of Forever

"Now I know you didn't just lay down for a nap," her CO said. "What happened?" The silver haired colonel demanded.

Sam, now on her feet, shook off the disorientation.

"Qa'pla, Sam." Janet shook the dizziness from her own mind.

They shared a secret smile, for they knew it was all real, that what they had revealed to each other was real. And what had happened to Sam had been real.

"Doc?" Jack looked to the tiny physician at hearing the strange foreign word, sounding out of place, coming from the small woman. "All right, you two back to the base. Get check out, that's an order." He didn't like the fact that his 2IC was struck by dizziness and disorientation. Add that to the doc's smiling and talking weird, and it was more than a small concern for the former special ops officer.

"Yes, sir," Sam nodded and moved to the DHD. "Sir," the astrophysicist said as she nodded toward the two gates, "just to be safe, don't stand anywhere near the Guardian of Forever when the Stargate is opened."

"Carter?"

"It's a quantum accelerator...."

"Ah....." Jack held his hand up, halting any Carterism-technobabble. "Save it for the briefing."

"Yes, sir," the blonde nodded.

Jack looked over his shoulder. At the moment it was enough to hear a warning from Carter. He trusted her and her understanding of the world of science. It was enough that he would know what the hell a Guardian of Forever was at the briefing. What ever it was, it had stunned his officers. Therefore, until Carter neutralized it with her explanation he classified it as a threat. He watched as the Stargate was opened and Carter and ol' Doc Fraiser disappeared through the wormhole, and were gone. His dark brown eyes glued onto the organic gate, he shock his head.

"Quantum accelerator? I'd like to know how you figured this one out, Carter. Quantum accelerator.... Isn't that the Sam....guy in quantum leap thingy? For crying out loud, what is with people named Sam and quantum physics?"

The end