I really wanted to give Lonely Hunter a solid ending, wash my hands, and be done with it because my life has gotten really busy. Things never go as planned though. Last summer, before I had a definite ending for LH, I came up with a story beyond the story I was working on. It continues where LH leaves off, but the catch is that it really does involve the full casts of both Stargate Atlantis and Stargate SG-1. I did do a bit of cross over, but this one will be much more intense. Several of you made comments that you wished LH would continue or that it seemed like there was still more story to tell. Another one of you demanded that I keep writing. The truth is that I'm a bit burnt out right now and don't want to make promises that I can't keep. I wasn't a faithful writer with this fic and went several months before updating which isn't a very nice thing for a writer to do. Hopefully I'll be able to sit down sometime in February and start writing again. It will be published as a new story with a note that it's simply a continuation of this one (unless all of you think I should keep posting it as chapters of Lonely Hunter....let me know which you would prefer). It has a different pulse, a different feel to it so that's why I want to make it a separate story.

You know of two timelines so far: the main LH timeline which consists of two very similar timelines that united in the last chapter and the distant one where Rodney was able to raise the city in time so the team never ventured to Athos. In FSE I'll be introducing a third timeline which is even more distant from the main timeline, and those three timelines will be the canvas for my story. I already have several scenes written and most of the plot figured out. Below are a few scenes from the first chapter that take place in the third timeline. Thanks for reading!

~Joy
8 January 2009

The Far Side of Eden
(excerpt)

Daniel stepped out of the shadows where he had been hiding and moved towards her. “You wanted me to be the only one to understand what you were telling your First Prime. Why did you say it?”

Vala backed away as he came closer. “Because it’s true."

“You’re married to me in that other timeline, aren’t you?”

She dropped her eyes to the floor. “The most terrifying moment of my life was when an Ori Prior burned me alive, but by some sort of cruel mercy, he brought me back to life. When I was conscious again, you were holding me. I’ve loved you ever since, Daniel. I wasn’t a good person when you first met me. It took you a long time to trust me and an even longer time for you to love me. I didn’t say anything earlier because I’m not asking for anything from you. I only want to help even if I never see any part of the life I once had. I want to live here, not just survive until I can find someplace else to go.”

“How did you get here if you died?” he asked.

She sighed. “It’s called unity. When I was dying, I didn’t fight it. I willed myself to be carried across time and space and be taken in by the strongest of my existing selves. There’s always a risk that I will be the weaker consciousness and that I will be drawn to hopes and dreams that didn’t originate with me. Perhaps if you unified with my Daniel he would find peace in your life and your work and have no desire to keep me as his wife.”

“Perhaps,” Daniel agreed, “but you don’t believe that, do you?”

“Was there something you came in here for?” Vala asked, evading the question.

“I wanted to see if you were real. It’s hard for me to believe that a human can retain free will while being host to a Goa’uld."

Vala shrugged. “If it weren’t for me Qetesh would be stuck swimming around in a puddle. She can’t dial the Stargate on her own, and she certainly can’t crawl her way through it. There’s no power struggle, Daniel. A lot of the time I don’t want to be the one in control. You’re human so you know how wonderful it feels to be lazy. Most of the time we share control, like how I was earlier. She kept me from reacting when I saw you, made sure I did things correctly, and she helped me say that line in Ancient Goa’uld.”

Daniel smiled as he recalled her words. “You would really give everything for my life?”

“It sounds a bit dramatic, but—”

He grabbed hold of her face and kissed her mouth. It was brief, and he tipped her chin up so he could see her eyes clearly, but she turned away.

“Please, Daniel. Don’t tease me.”

“I wasn’t teasing you, but I am going to take a moment to quiz you.”

“More questions?" She turned back to him, inspired by curiosity. "Bring them on.”

“What's my birthdate?”

“October 6, 1973.”

“Do I have any scars or serious injuries?” he asked.

She smiled. “You have serious allergies, you wear glasses...unless you’re wearing contacts right now or maybe you had laser surgery. You stepped on a nail when you were six and it went straight through you’re left foot, but you had a good doctor so the injury didn’t cause any permanent damage.” She touched her fingertips to his belly. “You had your appendix rupture when you were eighteen.”

“Impressive. Anything else?”

“You favor sleeping on the left side of the bed and hog the blankets. You can juggle and walk on your hands, but not at the same time. Your favorite game is scrabble. You love telling ghost stories. You—”

“You really know me,” he said in mild wonder.

“Those are just things about you, Daniel. Knowing you is a little more intimate, and I’ve only known you the past four years, so that’s not something you can quiz me on.”

He grabbed hold of her waist with both hands. “We have to start somewhere.”

She clung to him. “I don’t understand.”

He frowned. “Did it ever occur to you that I might not be happy with my life? It’s been a nonstop headache ever since I was sworn in as an officer. I’m ordered to do everything but what I want to do. Jack liked being in command, which made everything work out great because I was able to focus on artifacts, translations, and histories.”

She shook her head feeling confused. "Why did you do it then?”

The silence that followed was full of sadness, and she waited through it until he could finally speak. He replied in a barely audible whisper: “The Stargate…”

They got another chance the next morning when they found John outside of the Saint Louis Cathedral. Dozens of drawings and paintings were on display on a long drape cloth that covered the side walk. Several boxes with paints and pencils were on the ground beside an easel and folding chair. John was sitting a short distance away on a bench with a large drawing board balanced on his lap. Angled rulers and various pencils were scattered on both sides of him. Cameron nudged Rodney when he saw a large glass candy jar and a hand drawn sign of an elegant magnolia with a drop of blood falling from it and the words: "Shelter a life. Stop child abuse."

They studied John from a distance. His right leg stuck out to the side as if it hurt him to bend his knee. He was wearing bicycle gloves, and they noticed that he had to turn his body completely to pick up pencils with his right hand because the fingers of his left hand were useless. The bar had been dark, but now with the morning light, it was possible to see the thick burn scars that covered John's cheek, neck, and left arm.

“His file said he was a POW for six months during the Bosnian war. Why didn’t the Air Force tell us how badly he got hurt?” Rodney asked.

“He was declared MIA, and they told his family that he was dead. From what I know he was rescued by the French and spent a year recovering in a hospital in Leon. He lived four years in Paris before moving back to the states, and this is where he came.”

"The French Quarter...that kind of makes sense," Rodney muttered.

“Why don’t you two try looking at one of my paintings for a change,” John said without looking up from his work. “They’re a lot prettier than I am, and for the right price you can take them home with you.”

“I thought you were deaf,” Rodney said.

“It depends on where I am. It’s pretty quiet out here in the morning, but give it another hour and I’ll be stuck asking people to look at me when they speak so I can read their lips." He set the board on the bench and wiped his right hand on his pants. "So, let’s get this over with while I can still hear you. Who are you and why have you been following me?”

“I’m Dr. Rodney McKay. I’m a civillan scientist working for the United States Air Force. This is Colonel Cameron Mitchel.”

“My answer is no to whatever you intend to say,” John growled.

Cameron nudged the tip bowl with his foot. “You’re quite the hustler when it comes to pool and sidewalk art. I have to admit I’ve never seen this approach before.”

John shrugged indifferently. “People are tired of seeing bum soldiers sitting around begging for sympathy. I put that sign out and they think what they want to think when they look at me. I make good money, and I don’t feel guilty for my strategy of marketing because my work is much better than anything else they've got hanging on their walls at home.”

“What happened to your ears?” Rodney asked, sincerely interested.

“The French doctors saved my life at the expense of my hearing. The medicine they gave me permanently damage the auditory nerves in both of my ears. That wasn’t in my file because one of the benifits of being declared dead is that I didn’t have to report back to the Air Force when I decided to return to this side of the Atlantic.”

“We really need you.”

“Get someone else.”

“It has to be you. Please," Rodney pleaded. "You’re the only person in the whole world who can do what we need you to do.”

“Really?” John asked doubtfully.

“Yes...look we can’t tell you here, but we want—”

“Too bad! You either tell me or you walk away.”

“I say we wait for Vala and Daniel because there’s no way in hell he’s going to believe us,” Cameron muttered.

“We have to try,” Rodney told him.

“Your act isn’t working,” John said.

“Neither is yours,” Rodney bit back. “Give me ten minutes minus the crap you feed to people out here. Cameron and I are only the first wave. Very soon all of the higher ups will comprehend how valuable your life is, and they’ll send their goons after you.”

“Wow, I love how that’s laced with irony. If only their goons had come after me ten years ago when my life wasn't so valuable.”

“I asked you to cut the crap.”

“I can’t change who I am,” John said.

“Are you into scifi? Astronomy? Physics?”

John laughed and glanced at a nearby oil pastel drawing of Saturn and its moons. “You wouldn’t have had to ask that if you had listened to me and taken a moment to notice my work.”

Rodney turned and followed the direction of John's gaze, feeling like an idiot when he realized that science fiction and outer space were some of John's favorite subjects to draw. “There are millions of populated planets beyond Earth," he finally said. "Most of the people are human, but there are a few scifi-ish races mixed in. Cameron and I are part of a team that travels to various planets in our galaxy through a device called a Stargate. What you need to know is a long and complicated story that only Vala is qualified to tell at this point. She’s an alien.”

“A very sexy alien queen who rules over a huge empire," Cameron added.

John grunted. “That’s very touching. You still haven’t gotten to the part of why I’m in such high demand.”

“Okay, there are infinite timelines that exist in reltionship to the one we're living in," Rodney said. "Vala died in her timeline and came here by following the teachings of a great alien race. Let me restate that. She jointed to the body of her self that exists here, so now she has the memories and experiences of both. You would be amazed by the difference between our time and the line she came from.”

“This is all charming, but I still don’t care,” John muttered sarcastically.

“You have a very different life in that other timeline, John. You’re not crippled, you hold the rank of Colonel when you're on Earth, and when you're in your home galaxy Pegasus, you're some kind of powerful Lord in a great alien city known as Atlantis.”

John let out an amused snort. “This sounds like the plot to a Disney movie.”

“Hey," Rodney grumbled, taking offense, "there are some really evil bad guys out there, and apparently you're the key to helping us take out ours as well as some creepy vampire things that are feeding on the people in the Pegasus galaxy. Vala’s told me some really great stories of my self that exists out there and his life at Atlantis. She told me that we’re best friends.”

“I don’t want to be your friend,” John said.

“You have to come with us because we need your help to find a woman named Teyla who lives in Pegasus.”

“Who's she?”

“In that other timeline she’s your wife. She's the last of a great race, and she'll be able to help us. You have a gene that will allow you to operate the technology of her race. She doesn’t know who she is, but Vala said things will change just by bringing you two together.”

“I've never heard her say that,” Cameron whispered to Rodney.

“Fine, she said things changed when she was reunited with Daniel,” Rodney corrected while glaring at Cameron.

“I take it that once upon a time somewhere else this Daniel was married to your sexy alien," John said.

“Yes.”

“I’m still not interested."

“Vala can heal you. Completely,” Rodney said with heavy emphasis on the last word.

“I’m tired of being used.”

“Well I’m tired of my crappy life!" Rodney bit back. “We’re all doing this because the Goa’uld are kicking our asses, and we’re tired of it. Vala goes on and on about how cool this city Atlantis is. You don’t have to agree to anything, but you should at least fly to Colorado with us to meet Vala and let her heal you.”

“How long would it take for her to heal me?”

Rodney turned to Cameron. “How long did it take for her to heal that gash on Daniel’s face.”

“Fifteen seconds,” Cameron replied. “I was counting.”

Rodney studied John’s appearance for a moment. “It would take about an hour...two at the most.”

John nodded towards the drape cloth. “Pick something.”

Rodney took out his wallet and pulled a twenty from it.

“I said pick something, not pay me for it. The rest will be gone in an hour.” He grabbed a thick charcoal pencil and wrote a note on the easel advertising that the artwork and supplies were all free.

“You’re just going to give all of that away?” Rodney asked in shock.

“I hate it. I never wanted to be an artist.”

“Why?" Cameron asked. "You’re brilliant!”

“I really was abused as a child," John stated coldly. "My dad messed with my mind so I escaped to the Air Force, but they screwed up my body so I ended up being stuck with art again. My dad would be proud.”

“So that’s it? You’re really coming with us?” Rodney asked in disbelief.

John dropped the piece of charcoal on the ground. “You played your trump card, and I folded. That’s how the game works.”

The garden Stargate activated, and Sam exited through the calm shimmering surface that Thor had explained was not an event horizon but a temporal singularity because it transected time, not space. Jack followed a moment later carrying two extra bags of gear besides the backpack he wore.

“Eden at last. It's so nice to be home," he said as he dropped everything onto the ground. “You know, I wonder if this is the actual Garden of Eden from the Bible.”

“I seriously doubt that, sir.”

Jack headed to the stream she was drinking from. “Sir? Carter, I thought we agreed to stop that.”

“I was preempting a comment.” She splashed water in his face and sat on the grass. “You would have said something about Adam and Eve if I had agreed this was Eden.”

“You’re right, I would have said that, but I would have also added that I’d make you dinner.”

She turned away and reached for her computer bag. “It'll take me several hours to finish my analysis of Z27-X74-Y21 and assign it an official classification, but I wanted to let you know now that I think we’re ready.”

“Ready for what, Sam?”

“To travel to timelines where we're both alive.” Sam glanced beyond Jack and surveyed the garden. Thor had instructed them on how to use the ninth chevron and also gave them a list of addresses to timelines where they could safely travel because their selves in them had died, so there was no risk of suffering from entropic cascade failure which only occurred if two copies of a person were present in the same timeline and not pursuing unity with one another. Right now, their home away from home was a comfortable little base in the garden of a deserted Atlantis where their selves had died and Earth had never sent an expedition.

“I’d have to use the chair to formulate an address, and I’m still intimidated by that," Jack admitted. "I could really screw things up, and we’d never be able to make it back.”

“I’d find a way to fix it if you did,” Sam said with a smile. “All you have to do is think about where you want to go and what you’re looking for there. Teyla said she didn’t know where Asterion was, but she found the address because she was drawn to the gravity of his timeline. Temporal gravity and spatial gravity manifest in different ways.”

“Ah! Will you stop that,” Jack complained. “I married you so you could think for me. Now, go be brilliant and think while I go do what men do. I’ll make sure your protein packet is cooked medium rare.”

She caught his arm before he could leave. “I know where we should go first.”

“Where?”

She smiled and gave him a hug.