Epilogue

I have to admit that this life I've got isn't anything like the one I envisioned. But then again, when does life ever turn out like we plan it? Plans, those beyond what to make for supper, those tend to get lost if we take our eyes off of what's important. I'm focused on my family now more than ever. Those I was born to, and those I found along the way.

My father, the Daniel one that is, finally got the life he deserved. He's sharing it with Vala after all these years. Not sure how he takes to having to follow her orders though. It is her world, quite literally, elections or not. According to his letters that I get from time to time, she's driving him insane. Guess she took up where I left off. He loves it. You can tell he's proud of her from the way he writes about it all. People still come to the planet after all these years. So many refugees from worlds that couldn't recuperate from the fall of the Goa'uld, those who were persecuted, or people looking for an honest new start all come to this one place out there where they can start over. Sounds like a familiar history story in a way.

Jack and Mom, they keep in touch too. Mom's a bit obsessive about it in fact. She gets me a new camera all the time so I can send pictures. I've been through three, though I haven't broken a single one, in a just over a year. Jack says she's making up for lost time. We didn't have too much together, just five months before the transcripts and tests went through and I made it into an archeology program that would set me off to being the second Dr. Jackson, archeologist. Living with them was great though. I could see what life would have been like if I had grown up in that house with them, and by the last few days it was like I had. But I realized even before that time together, that I'd never trade the time I had with my real dad, Daniel. No matter how strange and out of the ordinary a life it was, it was mine.

After that winter, which I remember most out of the seasons because of the Christmas extravaganza that beat anything I'd ever heard about in stories, I didn't see them in person for a while. Dad came back a few times over the months, and I even got a special privileged visit to Vala's world, known as Valadonia much to Dad's chagrin.

A few days ago I got to see Jack and Mom for the first time in about a year since I've been placed at the dig here in the Andes. Strange how I ended up back where I began. I have to admit, my stomach sank when I saw Colonel Davis appear on the tree line that evening. Didn't know if it was a bad dream or some cruel fate of reality telling me it had all been a dream. Instead, he smiled and I somehow felt a lot better. He said my father had requested I be brought back to Colorado for a visit. When I asked him which father, he simply stated that I would see.

I was met with a surprise at the airport: a sign saying 'Welcome Home Katie!' and one Daniel Jackson at one end and a Jack O'Neill at the other. I smiled at the thought of finally having a home to come to. One that I knew in my heart hadn't changed much, and for the most part I was right. Dad had stopped in for a short visit to see how things were going with my college studies and internship. Vala couldn't make it this time because of some legal dispute she was settling over water rights or some such thing that apparently no one solves better than she. Dad said not to worry, that she'd drag herself away in no more than a week, but the reason they'd called me could not wait that long.

Back at Jack and Mom's house I found out what they meant. I'm a sister! It's quite odd in fact, seeing as a few years ago I thought my mother was dead and my father was a hermit, not to mention my biological father. But there was my mother, holding a beautiful little boy.

"What's his name?" I asked.

Mom smiled. "Well, we figured he had to have the same name as his sister…so Katie, meet Jackson O'Neill."

I giggled profusely. Jack cut me off. "I know I know, he reprimanded. 'Jack's son' and originality and all."

"He's precious." I cooed as Mom put him in my arms and I saw two tiny brown eyes just like mine.

It was hard to finally let him go when I left a week later to get back to work. Vala had made an appearance just in time. I think she may have cracked a rib with one of those hugs.

So that's it. That's how the world ended. In this case, the world I knew. I went from having just a dad, to having two dads, two moms and even a baby brother. Life throws some curve balls, or 'Lord Ba'als' as Jack says. The ones we got just happened to be a bit…different.