"Sam, is something wrong?"

She shook her head slowly before glancing up at his concerned expression. Her head changed direction, and became a frantic nod.

Daniel slipped off his stool, and stepped around the lab table to stand in front of Sam. Reaching out, he hesitantly took hold of one cold, trembling hand. "What is it, Sam? What’s wrong?"

Sam fought valiantly to fight the tears from forming in her eyes. She swallowed hard a couple of times before she was able to put voice to her fears.

"I don’, I don’t think I’m gonna be able to solve this."

Daniel shook his head and squeezed the still trembling hand, in what he hoped was a comforting way. "Sam, you will, we all know you’ll do it …"

At this Sam snatched her hand away from Daniel’s grasp. "But Daniel," she cried, in obvious distress, "I’ve been working on this thing for a month now, and I’m no closer to working out the calculations now than I was then. Even with all the help General Hammond has brought in, something just isn’t working."

Daniel frowned again, wishing there was some way that he could help. Seeing Sam in such distress was not something he was accustomed to, and it distressed him greatly.

"Do you have any idea at all what the problem is?" Sam shook her head again and her shoulders slumped even lower. "Well, what’s not working, is it the math, or the materials..." he ended his question with a shrug.

Sam shook her head and let her head drop down, knowing Daniel meant well, but also knowing that he was no mathematician.

"Sam." Daniel’s tone was earnest, pleading. She glanced up at him again. "Please, let me try to help. Maybe a fresh pair of eyes might help a little."

She considered his words carefully. If the problem was something simple as she suspected, he might be able to spot it, where her math-weary eyes hadn’t. She nodded and rose from the stool.

"Come on," she said simply, leaving his lab to return to her own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daniel followed Sam into her lab shortly before 4.30. The room was filled with papers, all covered with equations and formulas and there were numerous symbols he didn’t recognise. It was like hieroglyphics, but different, more geometric in form and filled with Greek letters.

Sam moved across the room, pushing piles of paper across the large table to make some room. Around the edges of the room Daniel saw four large whiteboards, all covered with equations.

He felt Sam’s eyes on him and looked at her. She held her hands out in front of her and waved them around the room. "Well, this is what I – we’ve come up with so far."

Daniel glanced at the four boards and back at Sam. "Where does it start?" he asked.

Sam moved to her right slightly. "Here," she said, indicating the first board. "They’re all numbered," she added, pointing to the large number 1 written in black ink amongst the green of the other writings.

"Thanks," he said dryly, before approaching the first board. He squinted at the figures, and then removed his glasses. That made things a little clearer, and he began to decipher some of the equations. Whilst none of his degrees were in Mathematics specifically, he had taken Math to a relatively high level during his schooling. The beauty of its simplicity and finality had intrigued him. There was always a right answer in Math. Not like in life, or archaeology.

As he studied, a nagging doubt came into his mind, and wouldn’t keep quiet. He read on, but this doubt kept drawing his eyes back to one equation, near the beginning of the calculation. Something was not right with these figures, but he wasn’t sure what that was.

He glanced round to see Sam frowning as she stood with one arm wrapped around her body, the other hand cupping her chin. He looked back at the board, and then at Sam again.

"What is it, Daniel?" she asked, her voice quiet, hopeful.

He glanced at her again, before turning to the board, and picking up one of the markers sitting beneath it. "I’m not sure, Sam, but," he tapped the marker on the equation he was troubled by, "this equation looks wrong, somehow."

Sam moved to his side and peered at the symbols and numbers. She frowned, and shook her head. "I don’t see it, Daniel. What’s wrong with it."

Daniel released a frustrated sigh and dropped the marker. "I don’t know, Sam. I’ve just got a hunch."

Her eyes flickered between Daniel and the board, but the figures still swam before her eyes. She rubbed one hand over them, hoping to wipe away the fog that was keeping her from seeing the answer. Her hand slid down her face to cover her mouth as her mind began to clear. He was right. Why hadn’t she seen it herself? Right at the beginning of the calculations, a mistake that caused all the work following it to be rendered meaningless.

Daniel saw realization on Sam’s face and he stepped back from the board. "Sam?"

She looked at him, eyes shining with comprehension. "Daniel, you’re right. It’s wrong. It’s all wrong." She reached out for the board eraser and began rubbing out the equation. She made her movements larger, erasing everything on the board, except the first few lines of numbers and symbols.

Daniel moved closer to the board as she worked, anxious that she may be removing more than was necessary. "Whoa, Sam, what are you doing?"

"You’re right, Daniel, that equation was wrong. And that means all of this is wrong too." She continued erasing the writing on the board, before moving on to Board 2. Before long all the writing on all four boards was gone, apart from the very first few equations.

Sam stepped back slightly from the boards and sighed. She knew she should feel dejected, but somehow it was as though a weight had been lifted from her soul. This was right. All she had to do was fix this equation and the rest should come easily. All the really hard work had been done before, only the figures and results would change.

She moved towards the board, picking up the marker before rubbing out the figures in the incorrect equation. She wrote the equation out again, and immediately began filling in the broad white expanse of the board with further calculations, symbols and equations.

Daniel stood back and watched as Sam worked quickly. She paused occasionally, moving to the computer to check some calculation or other, and then continued writing on the board.

After several minutes, he coughed slightly, hoping Sam would stop her scribblings. She didn’t, and he coughed again, louder. When she still didn’t react, he reached over to tap her on the shoulder.

"Sam," he said. "Don’t you think you should maybe get some rest before you carry on with this?"

Sam shook her head and continued writing. "No, I’m on a roll now, Daniel, I need to get this done."

"Why can’t it wait just a couple more hours?" As he said that out loud Daniel realized how like Jack he was sounding right now. Daniel knew what it was like to get on such a roll with a problem, have the solution flowing out. For him it would be a translation, for Sam it was these equations.

She turned to face him, eyes intense and fiery. "You know why. He’s already waited too long. I have to get this done." They stared at each other for a moment. "Besides, if I can get this done now, then my team will be able to check it for me in the morning."

Daniel glanced at his watch and coughed slightly. "Er, Sam, it is morning."

Sam looked at the clock above her head. It was just gone 5am. She raised her eyebrows and looked back at the board. Then at Daniel. "You know, I really need to get this done, while it’s still fresh in my mind."

Daniel nodded, understanding her need to work on the problem. "Ok, I’ll, er, I’ll go and get some breakfast from the commissary. I’ll be back soon."

"Thanks," she threw over her shoulder, her marker squeaking its way across the white board.

Daniel watched her as he backed out of the lab, a small smile crossing his lips. She was okay, for the moment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daniel spent the next few hours watching Sam scribbling away on the white boards, and by the time her assistants arrived she had filled two of them with revised calculations.

He had returned from the commissary carrying pastries and coffee for Sam, who had consumed them voraciously while continuing her work. Teal’c joined them some time later, and the pair sat watching Sam scribble like a demon across the boards. She would occasionally pause to consult one of her team or to check a calculation on the computer, but would then continue.

After a couple of hours of frenetic work, Daniel decided Sam definitely needed a break. She had paused halfway through the fourth board and seemed to be at an impasse. Rising from his seat, he stretched his compressed vertebrae a little and called over to Sam, "Sam! Time for a break!"

Sam waved at Daniel without turning her head away from the board. Her other hand held the marker, which she was tapping gently against her chin, obviously still deep in thought. Daniel stepped across the room to his friend and pulled the marker away from her hand. "Now, Sam!" he said, his tone clearly stating that he wasn’t taking no for an answer this time.

With a sigh Sam glanced at Daniel, then back at the board.

Smiling to himself Daniel cupped Sam’s elbow with his hand. In a gentler tone he said, "Come on, now," and began to pull her away from the board.

She resisted slightly, but acknowledged that once she had stopped her exhaustion had made itself known.

Sam allowed Daniel to lead her out of the lab, down the hall and into the commissary, aware the whole way of Teal’c’s comforting presence behind her other shoulder.

Daniel led her to a table at the back of the commissary, away from the general hustle and bustle of the brunch queues. Teal’c sat next to her, his silence a welcome relief. Daniel collected coffee, doughnuts and Sam’s favourite blue Jell-O as a treat. He also found her favourite commissary sandwich, turkey and pickle. Sitting opposite Sam he laid out her meal on the table. Sam smiled at him wanly, picked up a spoon and dug into the Jell-O.

They ate in companionable silence, Daniel not wanting to push Sam on a timescale for building and testing the particle generator. When she had finished the Jell-O, Sam moved on to the sandwich, finishing off with a chocolate doughnut. She then sat back in her seat, her belly comfortably full. She rubbed her stomach and breathed out a long breath.

"You okay?" Daniel asked, putting his coffee cup down on the table.

Sam nodded, and smiled. "Yeah. I feel a little better knowing the calculations are going to work now. Thank you for helping me see where the problem was."

Daniel shrugged his shoulders. "It just needed a fresh eye." He sipped his coffee, looking at Sam over the rim of his glasses as he did so. "You’re working too hard on this, you know."

The expected outburst didn’t happen. "I know," Sam murmured instead, her voice uncharacteristically weary. "But if I don’t … God knows how long he’ll be stranded there. I have to do this, Daniel."

Daniel reached across the table to take Sam’s fisted hands in his. "It’s counter-productive, Sam. You work yourself into the ground, and then you make, or miss, silly mistakes. You can’t afford to have that happen either." Memories of a time when he’d had to trash an entire week’s work over a silly mistake in translating from Latin to English flashed across his mind.

Sam didn’t speak, merely nodded again.

"Do you not trust your colleagues to continue the work when you are not there?" Teal’c rumbled.

"It’s not that I don’t trust them, Teal’c, I just …" She fisted her hands even tighter for a few moments. "I feel that I have to do this myself. It was my idea, my project. I guess, I just need to be involved at every step."

"I understand that, Sam," said Daniel. "But you have to look after yourself. Look, you need to sleep now." Sam moved to protest but Daniel cut her off, "We can go back to the lab first, just to check on how they’re doing. But then I’m going to see you to your room so you can sleep."

Exhaustion prevented Sam from fighting the suggestion, as she would normally have done. She nodded weakly and pushed her chair back from the table.

Once Sam was satisfied that the work in the lab could continue without her, Daniel was able to persuade her to get some rest. He escorted her to the room she had been using while on base, and watched until she was inside, and the door was closed.

Sam shuffled into the room and over to the bed. Slumping down on top of the covers, she sighed and ran a hand over her face. While she was working she didn’t notice her exhaustion, but once she was forced to stop, the tiredness hit her like a juggernaut. Promising herself she would only take a nap, she lay down on the bed, curling up instinctively into a foetal position. She just had the energy to reach over and turn off the bedside lamp before she fell into slumber.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

General Hammond put down the receiver of his red phone and leaned back in his chair. He released a dejected sigh and ran a slightly shaking hand over his head. The conversation he had just finished had been frustrating in more ways than one.

Trying to obtain some of the highly technological components needed by Major Carter was proving more difficult than he could have imagined. Money was no object, but some of the companies producing these components were demanding more information than he could give them about what their products were required for.

He glanced down at the list of companies Major Carter had provided him with, along with a list of the components she required. He had managed to check off four of the five items, but the last one remained elusive. He had also checked off three companies on the list, and had two more still to try. As he could feel the beginning of a headache, he decided to leave them until after his morning break.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daniel strode into Sam’s lab to pick her up for their usual mid-morning coffee run, to find her sitting with her chin cupped in one hand, the other tapping on the table.

"Sam?" he asked. "What’s up?"

She sat up straight and smiled at him wanly. "I’m at an impasse again. I’m waiting for some components for the generator, but General Hammond’s having a hard time getting hold of some of them. We can’t really move on without them, so …"

Daniel smiled. "So you’re left feeling helpless again?"

Sam nodded.

He moved round and put an arm around her shoulder. "Come on, there’s no point in hiding in here and moping. Coffee time." He pulled Sam to her feet and gently pushed her out of the lab ahead of him.

They walked together down to the commissary where they found Teal’c already waiting with coffee for them both and a variety of very yummy, but very fattening snacks.

Sam smiled her thanks to Teal’c and unwrapped a chocolate muffin. She took a bite and washed it down with a gulp of coffee. "Th’nks for this, T’lc," she said through a stuffed mouth.

Teal’c nodded his head in her direction, glad to see that the major now seemed eager to eat again.

"How are matters progressing Major Carter?" he asked.

Sam shook her head and swallowed. "Not good. General Hammond is still having trouble getting hold of some components I need."

"I see," Teal’c said, his brows furrowing. "What is the delay?"

"I don’t really know, Teal’c. I gave the general a list of components and their manufacturers two days ago. He contacted me yesterday to say that he was having some trouble. But that was all he said."

"Then perhaps we should ask General Hammond what is occurring?" he asked. Sam and Daniel nodded, and then followed Teal’c’s gaze to find the general himself entering the commissary. They watched as the queue for coffee parted, allowing him to help himself, before he looked round for a seat. Sam caught his eye and he made his way across the room to their table.

"Major, Doctor, Teal’c," he greeted. "May I join you?"

"Of course," Daniel said, shifting his chair slightly so there was room for the general.

"We were just talking about you, actually, sir," Sam said. The general took a sip of his coffee and looked at her questioningly. "We were talking about the components that are needed for the generator."

"Ah yes. I’m still working my way through the list, Major. It’s proving to be more difficult than I had anticipated to get hold of some of those items." He took another sip from his cup. Lowering his voice slightly, he leaned across the table. "Are all of the items essential, Major?"

"I’m afraid they are, sir," Sam replied, screwing her face up slightly.

General Hammond leaned back in his chair. "Just checking." He downed the rest of his coffee and stood up. "I’ll get back to it."

Sam rose and smiled at the general. "Thank you, sir."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

General Hammond had tried the remaining numbers on Major Carter’s list to no avail. No-one was willing to sell their components to the military without having explicit details concerning it’s use. And as this information was classified to the highest level, that was impossible. Even telling the companies this did not persuade them to part with their merchandise.

Hammond sighed and looked through the details of the various companies again. He had managed to procure all but one of the components which were needed. He had to find a way to get hold of this last one.

Out of curiosity, he fired up his computer and made a connection to the internet. All the companies listed had website addresses, and he linked to each one in turn, hoping to find something that might help him. He brought up lists of company executives and there, on the site for the third company, appeared a name he knew. A smile grew wider on his lips as the implication of this dawned on him. Robert Hordern. An old friend from his post-Vietnam posting. And if memory served him correctl, he was still owed a favour. Hammond reached out for his red phone. Time to call that favour in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daniel was worried about Sam again. Because of the delay in obtaining the parts she required for the generator, she had nothing to do except brood and worry about Jack.

He was doing his best to keep her out of a funk, but it wasn’t easy when he was worried about their friend himself. At present they were both sitting, dejected, in his lab. He had persuaded Sam to leave her own office, only for them both to end up here. He watched Sam as she leaned on the table, her chin in one hand, the other hand flicking through one of his books. She was obviously not reading the book, because her eyes were aimed at his bookshelves, unfocused.

While his gaze was fixed on her eyes, he spotted a single tear, falling off her lashes onto her cheek. He reached out to stop the frantic movement of her hand, and lay it down on the table. She jerked at his touch and brushed away the errant tear with her other hand. He squeezed her hand tightly and gently stroked her cheek with the thumb of his other hand. Sam sniffed and looked into concerned blue eyes, almost a mirror image of her own.

"I’m ok," she whispered.

Daniel nodded, and putting his hand around her neck, pulled her into a warm embrace.

Sam accepted the comfort he provided without comment or hesitation. They both knew what the other was feeling, a sense of desolation and complete hopelessness.

They stood together like that for several minutes, until Sam pulled away. She looked into Daniel’s eyes and smiled, a warm, genuine smile that he hadn’t seen for so long. "Thank you," she said, squeezing his arm tenderly.

"Anytime, Sam." She stepped away from him and rubbed her hands down her face. Releasing a sigh she glanced at her watch.

"Wow. I didn’t realise it was that time. Let’s go get something to eat. I’m hungry."

Daniel nodded and hesitated only to retrieve his glasses from the table where he had placed them earlier. Fixing them into position on his nose, he followed Sam out of his lab and down the corridor towards the commissary.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

36 hours later, and the mood sitting over SG1 was 100% lighter. General Hammond had come through, as he had promised, and Sam was busy unloading the various components she had been waiting for. Daniel and Teal’c were back on Sam-sitting duty, ensuring that she ate and slept at regular intervals.

Another 32 hours later, the particle beam generator was complete and ready for testing. Daniel watched as Sam and her team checked and wrote down every minute figure that resulted from each test they put the generator through. Eventually Sam turned to face Daniel and smiled. "It’s working. We can do this."

Daniel grinned in response; at last it was nearly over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sam sat in the control room, watching the stargate activate, ready to start their rescue of Colonel O’Neill. Once the gate was open, she tapped a command into the keyboard in front of her and announced her action to the room. "Initiating beam firing sequence … now."

The particle beam generator was sitting on the metal ramp in front of the stargate, and as Sam looked down she could see the beam emanating from the machine and going through the event horizon of the stargate. She checked the monitoring programme on her computer and grinned. "Particle beam is operating at 112% of predicted efficiency." This was so much better than she had hoped for.

General Hammond was standing behind her position, watching the proceedings carefully. "How long will the beam have to be maintained?" he asked.

Sam half-turned to direct her next comment to the General directly. "The longer, the better, sir. The important thing will be to dial again as quickly as possible as soon as it shuts down." She saw Hammond nod his understanding. They all understood that that was the crucial part of her entire plan. If they didn’t dial the gate again while whatever was covering the gate was still hot, the gate wouldn’t create the required pocket allowing Teal’c access to the other side.

The next half hour seemed to last forever. Sam had calculated that that was the maximum length of time they could leave it running before there became a danger of the generator burning out. Sergeant Davis was sitting next to Sam, ready to begin the dialling sequence again as soon as the gate had shut down. Sam counted down to the time when she would turn off the generator, which in turn should lead to the gate shutting down.

"3, 2, 1." She hit the switch which would turn off the generator. The gate shut itself off shortly after the generator had stopped, just as she had believed it would. She nodded tersely to Sergeant Davis, who began the dialling sequence to Edora again.

Sam made a show of looking over the data from the generator while the sergeant counted down each chevron. Even though the generator had worked beyond her expectations, there was still a nagging fear that something could still go wrong. She sensed Daniel and Teal’c behind her, and knew they were feeling the same thing. Sergeant Davis finally got to the 7^th chevron, which locked perfectly. The gate whooshed open again, the event horizon glistening like a mill pond.

While waiting for the gate to re-open, technicians in the gate room had been busy removing the particle beam generator from the ramp and making ready a MALP in the same spot. Once they got the thumbs up from the technicians, Sergeant Davis began tapping instructions to the MALP into his keyboard. The MALP began it’s slow trundle up the ramp and through the gate.

Sergeant Davis kept his eye on the telemetry he was getting on his screen and said, "MALP should be arriving at the Edora gate in,3, 2, 1. Receiving telemetry … No, wait, wait, we lost it, there’s no signal!"

General Hammond looked as puzzled as everyone else in the control room. "What happened?" he asked.

Davis scanned the limited information he had available to him. "Transmission interrupted at source," was the only reply he could give.

Sam had scooted her chair over closer to Davis’ position and was considering the information also. "Play back the visual," she said. As the video played she started and cried, "Whoa, there, see?" Everyone gathered around had indeed seen what looked like an open space, in the shape of a spiral, culminating at a point in the distance. As they watched the video, the camera seemed to move forward, and then fall backwards.

Teal’c considered the footage and said, "The gate is horizontal as you thought, Major Carter."

Sam nodded, her eyes still on the video footage. "And the MALP just slipped back through the event horizon. It means the vortex will have dug part way to the surface. Teal’c, you’ll need to secure yourself above the event horizon as soon as you’re on the other side and you’ll have to carry everything you need." She looked up at her friend as she said this, her gaze saying everything that she could not.

Teal’c inclined his head and replied, "I understand."

General Hammond looked up at the Jaffa, his expression grim. "I hope you do, son, because if you fail to dig your way to the surface, this will be a one-way trip."

The implication of the General’s words was clear to everyone. Sam looked up at Teal’c and reached a hand out to squeeze his arm. He was taking a very big risk, for the sake of a man they all called friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Teal’c was ready for his mission within the hour. He was armed with a harpoon gun, and had digging equipment and an oxygen supply. The gate opened before him and he raised the harpoon gun. He aimed for the centre of the event horizon and fired, releasing the harpoon dart which was attached to a very long length of rope. He glanced backwards towards the control room once, acknowledging Sam, Daniel and General Hammond, before striding up the ramp and through the wormhole. He took up the slack on the rope just before entering, but carried the rope with him.

As Teal’c disappeared through the event horizon, Sam turned her attention to the screen in front of her, following the tracking of Teal’c to the other side. There was a tense wait for Teal’c’s first radio contact.

"General Hammond," came his voice, strong and loud. "I have secured myself on the other side."

General Hammond leaned in to the microphone on the control desk and said, "Understood, Teal’c."

"I will begin immediately," were the last words they heard from Teal’c before the sound of his drilling tool filled the air.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After 36 minutes of drilling Daniel stepped up to the microphone to contact Teal’c. "What’s your progress, Teal’c?" he asked.

The sound of the drilling stopped and Teal’c replied, "It is most difficult, Daniel Jackson."

Sam checked her data and spoke. "The gate will shut down automatically in 60 seconds. At that point we won’t be able to open it again from this side. The vortex would vaporize everything within the cavern."

"You‘ll have a maximum of 4 hours of oxygen once we’re cut off. If you haven’t reached the surface by that time…"

Teal’c interrupted General Hammond by stating, "You may want to wish me Ral Tora Ke."

Hammond looked to Daniel for a translation. Daniel merely said, "Good luck, Teal’c."

The sound of drilling re-commenced.

Sam began counting down to the gate shutdown. "20 seconds till shut down,15 seconds till shut down…" She continued her countdown until the gate was idle. Leaning back in her chair and let out a long sigh. Another long wait now before they would know if Teal’c were successful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been an interminable wait before the gate activated and Colonel O’Neill’s voice sounded in the control room. The shout of joy at the knowledge that both he and Teal’c were alive and well was deafening. Sam, however, sat silently in her chair, afraid to say anything in case her emotions overwhelmed her. Daniel took the chair next to her and scooted in closer.

"You ok?" he asked.

Sam glanced at him, trying desperately to control the tears that wanted to fall from her eyes. She nodded and swallowed the lump which was forming in her throat. "I’m fine. He’s coming home." She smiled and Daniel squeezed her hand tightly.

"He is. All because of you."

Sam shook her head. "No. It wasn’t just me, it was a team effort."

"A team effort that wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t come up with the idea in the first place." Daniel looked out over the gate and smiled. "And I’ll make damn sure he knows that."

General Hammond appeared on the other side of Sam and he smiled down at her. "As soon as the Edora gate is unburied, Major, you go and bring him home."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sam watched Colonel O’Neill approach Laira and felt a pang of something that she convinced herself was not jealousy. He had walked right past her as she had started telling him about how they had come to his rescue. Daniel had assured Sam that the colonel was ok, but his snub had hurt her deeply. After everything she and the entire SGC had done to save him, this was all the thanks she got?

She watched the colonel pull Laira into an engulfing hug and the jealousy nibbling at her gut became more acute. When he eventually moved away she turned from him, unable to look him in the face. She led the way back to the stargate, leaving the Daniel and Teal’c to walk alongside the colonel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack watched Sam walking ahead of the rest of his team, noting the tense set of her shoulders. He looked at Daniel and smiled fondly at his friend. Gesturing at Sam with his head he asked, "Is she ok?"

Daniel glanced at the ground before answering. "I guess so, but she’s exhausted."

Jack raised an eyebrow at that. "Why exhausted?"

"She’s exhausted because she’s spent the last three months working day and night on building a particle beam generator to allow us to open the gate here and rescue you."

"Oh," he said in reply. He looked across at Teal’c, whose attention was fixed on Sam, the distance between them growing longer with each step. "And what were you two doing while Sam was working so hard?"

"We helped," Daniel replied, a sarcastic note to his voice.

"In any way that was required, O’Neill," Teal’c answered.

"Ok. Should we be catching up with her?"

"Indeed."

They picked up the speed but by the time they caught up with Sam the gate was already open. She tapped the GDO code into the device on her arm and led the way through the wormhole.

When Jack and the others arrived on the other side, Sam was just disappearing through the door from the gate room. General Hammond was waiting at the bottom of the ramp with a rare smile and a handshake for Jack.

"It’s good to have you home, colonel," he said.

"Thank you sir. It’s good to be home."

"Report to the infirmary, colonel," the general ordered. "Then clean yourself up before de-briefing."

"Yes sir," Jack replied and followed Daniel and Teal’c out of the gate room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sam stood in the infirmary waiting to be checked over. She knew she shouldn’t have left the gate room so abruptly but she didn’t think she could stand to be near the colonel at the moment.

Janet approached her, a puzzled look on her face. "Where’s the colonel?" she asked.

"On his way," Sam replied curtly.

Janet raised her eyebrows but didn’t question Sam further. "OK. Well Nurse Lyndon is going to do your checks, ok?" Sam nodded and moved across the room to the bay occupied by Nurse Lyndon, who smiled at Sam as she approached.

Sam pulled the curtain part of the way around the cubicle before jumping up onto the bed. As Nurse Lyndon began the usual checks, Sam heard the rest of her team enter the infirmary. There was a great flurry of activity and greetings around the colonel. She tried to drown it out, concentrating instead on her boots as Nurse Lyndon took blood, then her blood pressure and the other post mission checks.

Making note of all her vitals she looked up and smiled at Sam. "Ok, Major, time for your MRI."

"Is that really necessary?" Sam asked, her voice quiet. "We were only off-world for a couple of hours."

"Yes, it is necessary." Nurse Lyndon was still smiling but her eyes conveyed that she wasn’t going to take any crap from Sam today.

Sam sighed and jumped down from the bed. An SF appeared to escort her to the MRI scanning room, but she had to walk past the colonel and the others to get there. She kept her eyes forward as she walked through the room, avoiding even Daniel’s concerned gaze.

The MRI took 40 minutes and after leaving the scanning table Sam left the room. Daniel was waiting outside and he held a hand out to stop her as she moved past. Looking up into his eyes Sam saw his concern and shook her head to allay his fears. Daniel didn’t look reassured, but after squeezing her forearm gently he moved out of her way and into the scanning room.

Back in the infirmary Sam jumped back on to the bed to await her all-clear. The colonel was lying on a bed directly opposite her, but she deliberately sat facing the other way, avoiding his gaze completely. Teal’c had already been cleared and was standing sentry not far from O’Neill’s bed.

Nurse Lyndon finally got back and told Sam she was free to leave. She jumped down from the bed and strode out of the infirmary. She saw the colonel raise his head from where he was lying and heard him call out, "Carter! You ok?"

"Fine," she replied, not stopping to look at him or Teal’c. She knew she should have stopped but her anger and hurt was too acute. She needed to be apart from him for a while. Ironic then that she had just spent three months of her life trying to bring him home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack let his head drop back onto his pillow. Carter’s reaction to him had been odd to say the least. He glanced over at Teal’c, whose position hadn’t faltered.

"T," he called. "Any idea what’s up with Carter?"

"None."

"Ok."

Daniel returned from his MRI and sat on the bed next to Jack’s. Jack turned his head in Daniel’s direction. "So, Daniel, do you know what’s up with Carter?"

"Er… I’m not sure I know what you mean," Daniel replied. Jack frowned. He knew Daniel was lying to him.

Janet approached at that moment and confirmed that Jack was in perfect health and could go about his business. Jumping down from the bed he began to walk out of the room, calling behind him, "Shower first, then de-briefing," as he wagged a finger.

Daniel hung back and called, "We’ll meet you in the briefing, Jack." Jack nodded and continued down the corridor. "It’s good you have you back Jack!"

Jack smiled to himself at that. It was good to be home, in spite of the life he’d left behind on Edora.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He’d expected the SG1 locker room to be empty and was surprised to hear movement behind the door as he approached. Guessing it was Carter, he knocked loudly before opening the door a crack. "Carter?" he asked. The movement sounded louder and then Carter was there at the door, already changed into her civvies.

"I’m done, sir," she said, her tone polite but cold.

"That’s ok, Carter, take as long as you need," he said, his voice soft. Sam hesitated on the way out of the door but didn’t look him in the eye.

"I’m done," she repeated, before leaving the room, and him, behind.

Jack had enough experience with women to know that Carter was pissed with him, but not enough with this particular woman to have any idea what he’d actually done. Sighing, he entered the locker room mentally making a note to get this thing, whatever it was, with Carter sorted out ASAP. He also needed to find out what his team had been up to since he’d been away. After three months he’d begun to think seriously about a future on Edora; now he needed to get his head around the fact that he was back, and his future was here, on Earth.

He’d half-expected his section of the locker room to have been cleared out, but found all his things exactly where he’d left them; half-used bottles of shampoo and shower gel, towel and clothes. He half smiled; he should have known better. He shucked the Edoran clothes he was wearing quickly onto the floor and pulled out a towel, shampoo and gel from his alcove. As he walked through to the shower area a smile formed on his face. This was definitely something he’d missed on Edora. There was no running water there, never mind hot water on tap whenever it was needed. All hot water had to be laboriously boiled. After the Fire Rain there had been neither the time nor the fuel to spare to allow him the luxury of a hot bath or shower.

Turning the shower controls full on Jack waited only briefly for the water to come to temperature before stepping into the stall and under the comforting spray. He sighed as the pulsing water began to ease into muscles he hadn’t even realised were aching. He washed his hair and body efficiently, and then spent several minutes flexing his shoulders and legs until he was sure all the aches had dissipated. When he turned the water spray off the sound of hushed voices surprised him briefly, until he recognised them as Daniel and Teal’c. Wrapping one towel around his hips he walked back through to the changing area, using his other towel to dry his hair and body. Sure enough, Daniel was sitting on the bench, fingering the shirt Jack had taken off, while Teal’c stood stoically at his side.

Daniel looked up and dropped the shirt. "Hey Jack," he said.

"Daniel," Jack replied, scrubbing the towel across his head. He pulled his civilian clothes from the alcove and dressed quickly. He was lacing his shoes when he saw Daniel pick up the pile of Edoran clothing from the floor where he’d left them.

"What do you want to do with these?" Daniel asked, his voice not as casual as he had obviously intended it to be.

What was it with people, trying to get him to throw perfectly good clothes and things away lately? Jack reached out and took the clothes from Daniel’s hands. He fingered the shirt Laira had given him, not for the first time admiring the hand stitching. "I’m, I’m gonna hang on to these for a while," he said quietly. He pushed the clothes into his holdall, which also contained some other personal items he needed to take home.

Home. He hoped no-one had cleared his house or done anything rash. "Daniel, is my house…"

Daniel was quick to reassure him. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no. We didn’t… everything’s fine there."

"Good." Jack zipped the holdall shut and then looked at his teammates. He’d thought all he would want to do was to go home and sleep, but when it came to it, he didn’t want to be alone just yet. "Do you guys want to get dinner tonight?" he asked, unsure as to their response.

Daniel grinned and glanced up at Teal’c. "That would be great, Jack," he said, then his face fell slightly. "Oh, but I think Sam’s already gone home."

"That’s ok, we’ll go get food and supplies and go to her house."

Daniel shook his head and held a hand out to stop Jack from moving. "I’m not so sure that’s a good idea Jack. She’s pretty mad."

"With me?" Jack held a hand to his chest. "Why?"

"Oh, because of what happened when we came to bring you home from Edora."

Jack’s brows furrowed as he tried to think what he could have done to upset Carter. He remembered walking away from her and the guys while she was prattling on about something, but that had been to say goodbye to Laira. She couldn’t be upset about that. He shrugged and looked back at Daniel "It’ll be ok," he said. "What do you want to eat, pizza?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After leaving the locker room Sam entered her lab to find that it was still full of components and notes for the particle generator. Sighing, she began to clear her desk, carefully filing the notes and diagrams away for future reference. Various spare parts were labelled and packed away before being piled up for transport to a different storage facility.

Once her desk was clear she sat down and surveyed the other projects awaiting her attention. Trouble was she felt no inclination to start work on any of them. Checking her watch she decided it would probably be better if she left for the day.

Locking the lab securely she made her way back to the locker room. She was kind of surprised that Daniel hadn’t made his way to her lab to discuss their earlier encounter. Shrugging mentally she figured he was probably hanging out with the colonel. General Hammond had scheduled the colonel’s de-briefing for the following day, and assuming that Janet had given him the all-clear, they could well have already left the base.

She hesitated slightly before entering the locker room, trying to hear if there was any noise coming from inside. It sounded, and was, empty. She entered and changed quickly into her civilian clothes, picking up her leather jacket, keys and purse. She glanced across the room at the colonel’s bay. His clothes were gone, but his leather jacket was still on it’s usual peg. So he was still on base. Sam sniffed and left the locker room, and then, the base.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peering into her fridge Sam sighed. ‘I should have stopped off at the store,’ she thought, pulling items out of the fridge and dropping them into the garbage with a grimace. Closing the fridge she opened some of her cupboards, still finding nothing that she wanted to eat.

Reaching for the phone she opened the drawer containing all the take-out menus she’d collected over the years. She was just trying to decide between Thai and Italian when the doorbell rang out. Frowning, she put the menus down and walked to the door calling, "Who is it?"

"Carter! It’s us!"

Sam’s face fell. She hadn’t thought they would come over unannounced like this. She clenched her fists, chewing the inside of her cheek.

"Carter!" came the colonel’s voice again. "Are you gonna let us in or what?"

Daniel’s voice chimed in. "Sam? We thought it would be nice to have a team dinner. We’ve got pizza and your favourite cannelloni."

She reached out to pull back the latch on the door, then opened it. She avoided looking at the colonel, smiling instead at Daniel and Teal’c, who were hovering behind him. Daniel smiled encouragingly at her and waved a brown paper bag in the air.

"Come in guys," she said, gesturing down the hall towards the kitchen and living room. She preceded them, throwing the menus back in the drawer and putting the phone back on the base unit.

The colonel entered first, looking around the room. He caught her eye and smiled tightly. She didn’t respond, merely looked towards Daniel and Teal’c. Daniel moved behind her to deposit his bags on the counter, and Teal’c placed three video cases down.

Sam smiled at Teal’c and checked the cases. She was not surprised to see three completely different titles; they had obviously each picked one movie. Turning back to Daniel she began to help him unpack the food they had brought with them. The colonel had carried in two large pizza boxes, while one of the bags Daniel had carried held her cannelloni, garlic bread and salad. The other bag held dessert, including her favourite cookies and cream ice cream. She moved quickly to put the ice cream in the fridge and then helped Daniel to prepare the salad and warm up the other food.

She pulled out a chopping board and knives, salad bowl and dressing, which was one of the few things that was still edible in her fridge. Daniel nudged her as they worked and asked why she had left the base alone.

"I just, I needed some time alone."

"Yeah. Sam, I know you’re upset with Jack…"

"What? Why would I be upset with the colonel?"

Daniel raised his eyebrows above his glasses and faced her. "Sam. Come on. I saw what happened on Edora."

Sam frowned and concentrated on the tomatoes she was slicing. She glanced up through her eyelashes at the colonel, who was staring directly back at her. She quickly looked back down.

"Sam," Daniel repeated. "He’s home now. You need to talk to him. Clear this up."

She slapped the knife down on the counter and wiped her hands on a cloth. With another sigh she looked at her CO. She moved around the counter, stopping at his side. She smiled wanly at him receiving a warm smile in return.

"Daniel thinks we need to talk, sir," she said.

"I think he’s right, Major," he replied.

Sam gestured towards the back door, and then led the way out into the yard. She walked across the lawn to where there were two chairs left over from the last barbecue she has hosted before the colonel’s extended leave of absence. The weather was a little chilly for sitting out, but she had felt the need to get outside.

She slumped into one of the chairs, gesturing to the colonel to do the same. He sat on the edge of the chair, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together.

"So," he began. "Daniel told me you were a little … upset with me earlier."

Sam didn’t respond. When he said it like that it sounded pretty silly.

The colonel seemed to think she needed further clarification. "After what happened on Edora? He think you think I snubbed you when I went to say goodbye to Laira."

Sam closed her eyes, her brow wrinkling in a frown. "Well, yes, sir. I was talking to you, and you just walked away." She still felt silly.

"I was saying goodbye, Carter."

"I know." Her voice softened. "I know, sir. But … after all the work we put in, it seemed that, well, you seemed a little ungrateful."

"Carter … Sam. Ungrateful is not a word I would use. I can never, ever thank you enough for bringing me home. I still don’t know exactly what you did, but I will find out."

Sam looked at her CO, taking in for the first time the dark circles under his eyes and the weary look within the dark depths.

"You gave up," she stated. He looked away guiltily. "You gave up on us."

"Sam. I waited for three months. Three months with no contact of any kind. What was I supposed to do?"

It was Sam’s turn to look away. "You should have had more faith. ‘No-one gets left behind.’ You taught us that."

"Yeah. I taught you well."

Sam smiled briefly. "It hurts," she blurted out. She bravely looked the colonel in the eye. "It hurts that you didn’t have faith in us."

Jack winced at her words. "Carter, I had faith that you would try. But after three months with no word, no hope, no nothing … You can’t blame me for doubting."

Frowning again Sam pondered his words. She imagined how she would have felt in the colonel’s place. She didn’t know if she would have been able to have eventhat much faith, given the circumstances.

She felt the tension drain from her face and shoulders. The colonel half-turned in his seat to look at her. "I’m sorry," he said. "If I made you feel that I wasn’t grateful, then I’m really sorry. I am grateful, more than you’ll know."

As he spoke he reached out to cover her clasped hands with his own. The unexpected contact made Sam jump slightly, but the colonel wasn’t fazed. He squeezed her hands, keeping his eyes on her face.

Sam eventually looked at him her eyes wet with tears. "I’m sorry," she said.

The colonel shook his head. "It’s ok. Just … tell me we’re ok."

She nodded. "Of course we’re ok, sir."

"Good." He squeezed again before lifting his hand from hers.

Sam smiled at him again. "Welcome home, sir," she said.

Jack sighed and stretched out in the chair. "It’s good to be home, Carter. Almost thought I wouldn’t make it."

"Yes, sir. I’m just sorry it took us so long."

"Us?"

"Yes, sir. It was a team effort. We all helped."

Right on cue Jack felt the presence of both Daniel and Teal’c behind him. Daniel’s hand appeared holding a bottle of his favourite beer. Smiling, he took the bottle, downing a lengthy swig gratefully.

After a too-long pause, for Jack anyway, he stood and turned to face his team. "So, is the food ready?"

Daniel and Sam both smiled and moved back towards the house. Teal’c inclined his head and followed. Jack glanced up at the sky. He had no idea right now which direction Edora lay in, but he raised his beer to the sky in a salute. "Fair day, Laira," he whispered before re-entering the house and re-joining his team … his family.

NOTES: I always wondered what Sam, Daniel and Teal’c got up to while Jack was stuck on Edora. I wanted to explore it mostly from Sam’s point of view; the impression given in the episode is that she worked herself to the point of exhaustion. This fic was started over 2 years ago, and I’ve only just got round to posting. My most humble thanks go to everyone who has ever read this over for me, especially Sandra, Lex, Lisette and Babs; all your comments have been a great help. Thanks also to Tiv who helped out a lot in the plot bunny chats, and to anyone else I may have forgotten who remembers reading this for me.

© Revised January, 2004 Stargate SG1 and it’s characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions and Gekko Productions. This story is written for entertainment purposes only – no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations and storyline are the property of the author – not to be archived elsewhere without permission.