Notes: Gotta be the longest epilogue I've written in a while. Everybody kinda ran away with me I guess. I'm debating going for a sequel or something with this.
"Never, ever, ever again!" Jack fumed, close to banging his head against his desk.
"It would appear that you are correct about the Tok'ra," Teal'c replied.
"Ya think?"
"Indeed."
"Go in, retrieve a 'Goa'uld' alive. Oh, by the way, forget to mention that she's a Tok'ra, one of oldest and wisest, and that she's been waiting for us all along! Yes, please do ask me to send my people into a trap!" he cursed, "Next they'll want us to take down Anubis with a peashooter!"
"…We did not offer Medea great hospitality…" the Jaffa reminded him.
"Yeah, well, she deserved to be bound to that chair for hours. We fed her, what more does she want? Next time they might try telling us the truth and we might be a little more friendly! In fact, next time they can go find somebody else to do their dirty work!"
"They are most untrustworthy," Teal'c agreed, having heard the particular rant occurring many times before. He opted to change the subject, "How is young Grace, O'Neill?"
Jack smiled, his rage almost completely forgotten, "She's doing well, so the Doc says. Normal human being-ness and all that."
"It is a most joyful occurrence."
"Yeah…" the General stood, "You wanna come see her? I'm sure she'd like to get to know another person she's probably been spying on for the past year."
"I will accompany you," Teal'c followed him to the door.
Once in the corridors, Jack threw his hands up with a shout, "Tok'ra! Never again!"
"What?" Maddie's voice was nearly at shrieking pitch as she stood up, shoving her chair away from the table angrily, "You mean I have to endure more time with that…that…" she glared across the table at Tom, who, for once, did not grin smugly back at her.
"Yes, you have to endure more time with Colonel Albers," Sam stood up, her tone even, "and you're going to have to deal with it."
The woman glared defiantly at her CO for a moment before sitting down again, arms folded across her chest, full sulk mode engaged, as if she were a child.
Lanna exchanged a concerned look with Matt and gave a slight shrug.
"Major Tiari?" Sam addressed her.
"Ma'am?" she questioned.
"You're to be second in command of your team, with Colonel Albers as your CO."
Maddie's eyes bulged and for a moment it looked as if she would throw a fit there and then. However, she glanced across at Lanna and smiled, knowing that, despite her shy tendencies, her friend was hardly going to give their 'new CO' an easy time.
"…I'm their CO?" Tom uttered, eyes wide.
Matt raised an eyebrow and offered a token grin.
"Yes, Colonel, you're the commanding officer of the newly formed SG-20," Sam nodded. She stared at him for a long moment, as expressions of disgust, possible fear, (at having two women who were out to kill him on his team) worry and finally anticipation cross his features. This time it was he who folded his arms and finally grinned across the table at Maddie. The grin promptly vanished and was replaced with a brief look of pain as it would appear that she had kicked him, "Problem, Hawthorn?" she questioned.
"No, Ma'am…" Maddie hissed.
"Don't worry, Major, I wont push you too hard," Tom taunted.
"And I wont push you down a large hole as soon as we step through the 'Gate!" she retorted.
"Colonel, Major!"
"Maddie, that's enough, there's nothing you can do about it now," Lanna's soft voice interrupted them, "Sir," she addressed Albers, "I don't think your attitude is any help at this moment in time."
He turned a suddenly confused gaze upon his 2IC, "Lanna?"
She blinked, startled that he'd used her first name, "Sir?"
"Good one."
"I thought so."
"As you may or may not have been informed," Sam sat back, "until you learn to work as a team, none of you will be transferred as leaders of other teams." She took in their horrified expressions and regarded them with a cool gaze, "That is both a threat and an order."
A rather disheartened and quiet, "Yes, Ma'am," met her ears in reply.
"Any questions?"
Matt thought for a moment, debating whether or not to ask his question, "Yes, Ma'am…" he hesitated.
"Major?" she tilted her head, expecting an answer.
"…How is your daughter, Ma'am?" he asked, not quite making eye contact with her, wondering whether he was out of line.
Sam dismissed his fears with such a smile as they'd never seen before from her, "She's fine, Matthew, doing well. Thank you for asking."
"That's good to hear Ma'am," Tom's voice was strangely quiet.
Maddie raised an eyebrow as she glanced across at him, curious as to how he could switch from such an arrogant individual to somebody who might actually have human feelings somewhere.
Sam stood up, "Is that all?"
Lanna nodded, "Yes, I think so, Ma'am."
Albers too, followed her lead, "Yes, Ma'am."
"Then you're all dismissed," the Colonel nodded and swiftly left the room, those she left behind all sure of where she was headed.
"Well…" Matt stretched, "Looks like this is it."
"For a good while anyway," Maddie muttered, brown eyes downcast.
"Turn into a good enough officer and we might be together for a shorter time than you think," Tom replied.
"Turn into a good enough CO and they might promote you the hell out of here!"
"Alright! Enough!" Lanna raised her voice, standing, "Can you two just give it a rest for once? Its stupid arguments like this that landed us here in the first place. Can't you two leave each other alone for five minutes?"
When she put it like that, if anybody overheard, they would probably have reason to doubt any 'professional' relationship they had.
Maddie couldn't resist, "Tom, I admit it, I've been in love with you from the moment I set eyes on you!" she feigned a breathless voice, "Don't you return my feelings?" she cast a hand across her forehead and looked away with a mock pained expression.
Staring, mute and unsure how to react, Tom finally laughed, "Maddie, my darling of course I do! Will you marry me?"
"Of course? Here and now? I don't think I could stand the wait!" she finally dissolved into giggles.
Matt frowned, "…Maybe they should've gone into theatre instead of the military…"
Lanna grinned over her shoulder as she started to walk away, "Leave them to it, Matt, its probably the best option…"
He stood and almost ran after her, "I hear you," Matt paused, "…Ma'am…"
"Not yet, Matt," her laughter echoed back to the briefing room where the other half of their team still sat.
"…So…" Maddie crossed her arms, "You think we can get on for long enough?"
Tom nodded, "I guess so…unless you have any more plans to scare people away with impromptu theatre."
She tried a smile, "…Well, you have to admit, she did imply…"
"I'll have to watch out for her."
Maddie stood up and crossed around the table, grimacing for a moment before her expression became serious, "Thanks…for the help…"
"Huh?" he stared.
"When I got hit," she prompted, "don't make me elaborate or I'll think you're enjoying this." When he nodded in recognition, she continued, "And you were great with the Colonel too."
Albers was still staring at her, not quite sure how to react.
The Major turned and began to walk away, halting before she got to the door, "You got a soft spot for little kids?"
Tom was on his feet and almost leapt for the door, "Gods help me, Hawthorn, its going to be hard not to kill you these next few months."
She grinned as she walked away, "Or years…"
"How is she?"
"She's doing well. All readings are normal. There's some unusual brain activity, but that's most likely due to active memory waiting for its cue to shut down…" Janet replied.
"What do we do about legal documents?" Sam questioned.
She shrugged, "Do what we did with Cassie. Fake them. We can't use her original birth certificate, as there's also a certificate of death…" her voice had grown progressively quiet as she continued, "…We can create a birth certificate for her recognised by all legal parties. Other information can be faked and her medical records can be buried. If any doctor without clearance ever has to see her, they wont know anything aside from the normal, records of medicine given, symptoms, flu, colds, etc…" Janet smiled, "…I cant believe you got her back, Sam…I can't tell you how hard it was to tell you to let her go…"
Sam hugged her friend, "…I know you did everything you could have ever done…I never blamed you for anything, Janet." She stepped back and looked down at her, "So…how are you?"
"Well," she began, "If I ever get past morning sickness I might just live to see my baby."
"Ouch…" Sam winced in sympathy, "I know that feeling…"
"Doctors always are the worst patients," Daniel commented, smiling, perched on the bed behind his wife.
Janet jabbed back with her elbow, "For that, you're sleeping on the couch," she threatened.
Sam laughed, "Can I go see her?"
"Sure. She's been asking for you all morning. Jack's already with her."
"Thanks, Janet."
"Anytime, you know that."
She approached the bed in which her daughter was lying, propped against several pillows, laughing at her father's antics. Jack noticed her presence first, finally a true smile on his face, the likes of which she hadn't seen for months, nor attempted herself.
"Mama!" Grace threw back the covers on her bed and would have hopped down to the floor had her father not touched her arm and held her back, "What did Janet say, Grace?" after only a few days, he still said the name as if were foreign to him.
"…Stay in bed until we're all sure I'm better…" she repeated, as if on cue.
Sam sat down on the edge of her daughter's bed, eyes shining as the girl threw her arms around her.
"I missed you."
"I missed you too, Grace," she reached into the pocket of her fatigue's jacket, "I brought you something."
Grace's eyes widened in anticipation, proving that, time spent as an Ancient or not, she was still a little girl at heart, "What is it?"
Sam held out a little bottle and grinned.
Grace giggled and took it, unscrewing the lid and taking out the wand, blowing through it and laughing as bubbles filled the air around her bed, "You remembered!"
"Of course I did," her mother replied, smiling.
Jack pretended to pout, "Can't we all play?"
She took out another bottle, "Here."
He took it, "See, your Mom still thinks I'm a big kid," he whispered to Grace.
"…Its more fun that way…" she whispered back, still giggling.
Sam produced another bottle of bubble mixture with a grin.
"Ah, see, she couldn't resist; bubbles all round!" Jack laughed.
Grace waved the wand around, producing another batch of bubbles, before her face became quite serious, "…You have to find Atlantis," she suddenly stated.
Sam stared at the abrupt change in her daughter, "…What?"
"You have to find it," she repeated, "and you will. They want you to find it."
"Who?" Jack frowned. He knew that her memories of her time with the Ancients would fade at a slow rate, her mind having no memories of her time as a normal human to replace those of being an Ancient. What memories she did have would be random and nonsensical, those of a mere baby. For her to function as a human child of the age she appeared, the age she had mentally reached during her year with the Ancients, the memories of her time with them would have to stay until she had matured enough to be rid of them, and eventually not even miss, or know they ever existed.
"The Ancients," Grace stated, "They're waiting for you to find Atlantis…they know you will be able to defend yourselves once you have found it…"
"Grace…how do you know all this?" her father questioned, worried.
"They spoke of it often," she nodded, "They have faith in you. But they wont interfere."
Sam reached out to her, "That doesn't matter anymore, leave that to us. You don't have to do things like this, you understand?"
"I know," Grace nodded, "One day I won't remember anything, so She said. But you have to find it," she insisted.
"Why?" her parents asked in unison.
A small smile passed across her features;
"Because one day…I'm going to rule there."
Fin