I've made it! This is the final chapter; I cannot say thank you enough to those of you who came along on the journey with me, especially those who reviewed so faithfully. I have really enjoyed writing this story, and sharing it has made it just that much more special to me. Thank you!

SGC

It was a very disturbed Teal'c who made his way slowly through the corridors of the SGC a couple of days later. The Jaffa prisoners were ensconced in the cells below the main part of the facility, and he had been spending time, along with Bra'tac, interviewing each and every one. Lor'ac, as expected, had proved himself to be relatively insane, although high functioning enough, Teal'c reflected grimly, to have infected a large number of young Jaffa with his own particular brand of madness.

It was something one of these others had said to him that was exercising his mind today. This young man, Sep'rac, still carried a symbiote and, like many of the members of Lor'ac's movement, had refused to switch to tretonin. He was by no means insane, but the rot bit deep, and he refused at the present time to acknowledge any way other than that he had chosen. All very well, but it was his quietly spoken words at the close of the interview that were most worrying.

You can not stamp this movement out. Even without Lor'ac's leadership, it will continue to grow. There are many of us, spread out over many planets and many sects. You will need to be careful, sholva, for we are always among you.

The illusion of the united Jaffa Nation was gone for good. The ideal he had cherished of each Jaffa working together to promote the good of the whole... he could no longer believe it was a possible reality.

When he had shared this knowledge, and his regrets, with Daniel Jackson, Daniel had sighed, then fixed him with a sympathetic look.

Welcome to true freedom, Teal'c. Each individual gets to choose their own path, even if it seems crazy to everyone else. He'd rubbed his eyes tiredly. Fun, isn't it?

It was not. For some reason, Teal'c acknowledged, he had not anticipated this happening amongst his people. Despite spending over a decade on Earth, experiencing its turmoil and the differing views and opinions of its people, somehow, he had thought the Jaffa immune.

He had been wrong.

His path took him past Colonel Carter-O'Neill's lab, and he turned in at the door almost without thinking. Sam sat at her desk, the lamp pooling golden light over her papers. Her head was propped on one hand and her computer screen was scrolling data. As he watched, she blinked a few times then yawned, covering her face with her other hand.

"You are tired."

His voice was soft and his words didn't startle her. She did, however, pause, and swing her chair round to face him, with a smile.

"I am. I imagine you are too - have you had any luck yet with the prisoners?"

Teal'c sighed, and came all the way into the room.

"We know we have the ringleaders who planned the attack on Feydara, in which you and O'Neill were injured." His eyes lingered for a moment on a newly healed scar on the underside of her arm, and his expression hardened.

"However, it has become apparent that there are Jaffa scattered throughout the Nation who believe as these do." He drew a breath, and released it again. "It will not be as easy to eradicate this as I had hoped."

Sam stretched, and yawned again, belatedly remembering to cover her mouth. "Oops! Sorry, Teal'c, I'm tireder than I realised." She shook herself awake, and reached out a hand to lay on his arm. "You can't blame yourself for any of this. It was bound to happen once the Jaffa realised they were not fighting a single enemy any more. There will always be groups of people willing to hurt or kill others to achieve what they want."

They sat in silence for a moment, then Teal'c looked down to where her hand rested on his arm. Sam, noticing the path his eyes had taken, blushed and made to remove it quickly. But not quickly enough. Teal'c captured her fingers, and held on, forcing her to look up and meet his eyes.

"Samantha." His voice was low. "There is something I must say to you."

Taking the other seat and visibly steeling himself, he continued.

"I would never have revealed what transpired on board the Odyssey if it were not for the distressing circumstances in which we found ourselves: you and O'Neill injured, the Nation breaking apart, as it seemed to me." His voice was troubled. "I can not bear to think that my weakness has in some way impacted on our friendship. That is the very last thing I would wish to happen."

Sam looked down at their linked hands for a long moment, then back up at her old friend. Blue eyes met brown, and she could not be anything but honest. This was Teal'c, after all; he had known her for over 12 years now and would recognize a glib falsehood designed to reassure. He deserved the truth.

"Teal'c," she spoke softly, exploring the way forward. "I can't deny that I'd wondered, before, about what might have happened during all those years." She searched his face, looking for understanding. "And I meant what I said when I thanked you for being there, for me."

Again there was a pause, as she sought the right words, then she squeezed his hand and relinquished it, lifting her own to briefly cup his cheek. "Your friendship has meant more to me than I can possibly explain. The knowledge that we deepened that friendship, and were lovers... that's going to take a little getting used to, I won't lie to you. But, and this is important, Teal'c - it will never change the way I feel about you now. I will never respect or, or love you less as my friend, for knowing what I know."

She grimaced at him. "Does that make sense? Do you know what I mean?"

Teal'c's face had relaxed, and he reached up, fetching her hand and laying it carefully on top of the desk.

"Indeed I do." He smiled, the small movement of his mouth reaching all the way to his eyes. "In the words of Jack O'Neill, it means, We're Good, does it not?"

Not trusting herself to speak, Sam simply nodded, and Teal'c, still smiling, rose and turned towards the door. As he reached it, he turned back. The smile fell away, and his face grew severe. Sam, with a qualm, wondered what had caused the change, and half rose from her chair.

"Now you need to take rest, Colonel Carter-O'Neill." His voice was stern, but at his words Sam fell back, in relief. "You will be of no use to General O'Neill when he awakes if you can not keep your own eyes open."

With another small smile, and a little bow, he was gone. Sam, relieved of a tension she had been only peripherally aware of experiencing, stifled another great yawn and looked wearily at her notes. Shuffling the papers, she shook her head, and began to shut down her equipment for the night.

*********************

In the infirmary, one of the machines around General O'Neill's bed started beeping, and a line crawling across the surface of the screen suddenly sped up and began rising and falling in regular peaks and troughs. Startled, the nurse on duty pressed the button to call Dr Lam from her cubbyhole, where she had been snatching a few hours of well earned rest.

Blinking, Carolyn inspected the machine, pressed some buttons on another, and clasped her fingers around her patient's wrist. After a tense minute, her face broke into a smile, and she turned and spoke softly to the nurse beside her.

"Go and alert Colonel Carter-O'Neill, and see if you can find Teal'c and Dr Jackson." She turned back to Jack, then called out as the nurse left the room, "Oh, and my father too. Let General Landry know." Her smile was radiant. "General O' Neill is waking up."

**************

All tiredness forgotten, Sam was bending eagerly over Jack's bed, his hand in hers. Behind her, Daniel and Teal'c had crammed into the little room, and taken up stations at the end of the bed.

"This is just normal sleep now?" Sam turned to Carolyn for confirmation, and the doctor nodded.

"Yes. The coma state has subsided, and he is sleeping peacefully. It would be best though if he were left to wake naturally." The last was said in a warning tone, and with a look at Daniel and Teal'c, who had been jostling to get comfortable. They had the grace to look abashed, but Sam didn't even noticed. All her attention was focused on Jack.

**************

Swimming back towards consciousness, Jack found it hard to let go of the dreams he was entangled in. The image of a bright, laughing, dark eyed girl, her curls bouncing as she picked olives in a grove somewhere far away. The picture shifted, changed, and he was sharing a meal in a cool breeze next to a creek of some sort - Mevrouw Jansen raised her cup and smiled at him. Again the images morphed; he was stepping off a space craft of some kind, shaking hands with a chattering flunkey, all his attention caught by the vista of green grass and interlinking lakes before him.

Still he could see grass, but oh, he was dying... he could not walk a step further. Yet he must. Jenson was dead, and Wallis murdered, and he was all that remained. The sun beat down and the Japs drove by, mocking, laughing, and he could feel his own ribs pressing to exit the thin layer of skin still covering them...oh Grandpa, oh Mom...

And the dreams whirled him away and swirled him around...

Now he was straightening a long skirt, stiffening his resolve and holding his head high, presenting a paper to an audience made up mostly of other women but with some men too, scattered throughout the auditorium ah, there he was! He had said he would come - her heart leapt in secret joy as she spied his dark head and aquiline features in a seat some rows back...

Still in a skirt, no, it was a robe, and he had it kilted up above his knees as he waved his stolen zat'ni'katel in a frenzy of triumph; above him the great pyramid ship rose and sped away... and they were free. As he turned around to yell his defiance, the scene changed again, melted away, became peaceful. There was his pond, and there was his rod. And there was Samuel, face screwed up in concentration, threading a worm onto a hook. In the background a voice was calling, sounding exasperated, these sandwiches are curling up at the ends, young man! Tell Granpa Jack to take a break and come back here to the house...

Deep in his subconscious mind, Jack stirred.

Sam. That's Sam's voice. I need to wake up. I'm on my way home.

Beeping noises, the rustling sound of sheets, and muffled voices. The smell of disinfectant and then a scent so achingly familiar it brought a rush of blood to his brain and quickened his heartbeat; he heard the machine whir and the beeps speed up.

General Jack O'Neill opened his eyes.

There were nurses, Hank's doctor daughter, lights dimmed specially, the green curtains of the SGC infirmary - but he took in none of these.

He saw Sam smiling at him, blue eyes gleaming with joy. He saw Daniel, overcome, push his glasses up and grin at him, his nose wrinkling. And he watched Teal'c, the broadest smile he had yet seen on the man stretched across his face, bow slightly, and say, in that inimitable chocolate-brown voice,

"Welcome home, O'Neill."

And Jack, home from long wanderings, could not find his voice to reply, just stretched out his hands and tried to catch hold of them all at once, and hold them tight.

********************

It was the following day, and Jack, having been filled in on the hunt for the rebel Jaffa, had been outlining the bare bones of his journey home for the past few hours. The little crowd in the infirmary room had sat rapt, Daniel failing even to notice that Vala was perched on his knee for most of the morning.

"Wow." Mitchell's eyes were alight with interest. "It is fascinating what the mind can do, isn't it? All those stories yours showed you while it was healing: you'll have to write them down, you know, Sir."

Jack raised an eyebrow, and wrapped his arm around Sam a little more tightly. "Stories? You don't think any of it was real, Mitchell?" He gazed pointedly at the younger man, and grinned as Cameron began to splutter a bit. "Well, ah, General, I mean, you can't really believe you visited your past lives? Um, can you?" He began to look a little desperate. "I mean, me as your grandfather; it just seems well, a bit unlikely."

Petering out, he elbowed Daniel in the ribs, eliciting a startled "eh?", and incurring a dirty look. To Cam's relief, however, he picked up the thread of the conversation.

"After all we've seen, it's tempting to believe it all happened. I, for one, am fascinated by the idea of some of the Ancients evolving even further and advancing to higher planes of consciousness..." He drifted off, eyes dreamy, and Jack thought with some trepidation of the AAA's words. I, for one, do not relish being the object of his study... Then Daniel sighed and returned his gaze to Jack's, saying, regretfully, "However, in real terms, it does seem a trifle unlikely."

Jack said nothing, but held Daniel's gaze. He thought of Cecily, and her envoy, and wondered when, if ever, he should share the full story. The thought made his grin deepen. Daniel, unsure of what was causing this, squirmed.

"I think it's fascinating that you met the Daniel stuck in Ancient Egypt." Sam had been entranced by his tale, hanging on to every word. He was looking forward to going over it all in more detail with her later. Much, much later... As soon as he was allowed out of this infirmary bed he had plans for his wife. To his great delight, she had whispered something very similar to him, just after Dr Lam had declared that his brain functions had returned to normal and that there appeared, remarkably, to be no lingering ill effects of the coma. From her tone, he gathered he was something of a medical miracle.

And speaking of Dr Lam, here was the good doctor herself, frowning as she tried to make her way through the throng. Teal'c, stepping courteously out of her way, accidentally knocked over a shelf containing bedpans; the resulting clanging deepened her displeasure.

"I thought I said General O'Neill was to be allowed to rest." Her voice brooked no argument, and Jack wondered idly if they taught that tone in medical school. It certainly had the required effect. Teal'c backed out of the door, murmuring apologies, followed in quick succession by Mitchell. Vala jumped off Daniel's lap, beamed at Sam, and waved chirpily at Jack, before saying firmly to Daniel "I'll see you outside in half an hour, remember?" and skipping out just behind Carolyn.

Jack cocked his head, and Sam too looked intrigued. "Daniel? Half an hour - outside?"

"Oh! Well." Daniel cleared his throat, and looked uncomfortable. "We have a date." He went red as Sam made a surprised noise, and Jack had to laugh. 'A date?" Daniel was so easy to tease, sometimes. "What, candles, wine, chocolates... that sort of date?"

"Oh no!" Daniel was quick to deny it, too quick perhaps. He pulled his car keys out of his pocket, and heaved a heavy sigh. Looking glum, he muttered "I've promised to teach Vala to drive," then, grinning slightly, he made a hasty exit followed by Sam and Jack's peals of laughter.

"Oh my, the world might really end this time." Sam wiped her eyes, then leaned in for a long, lingeringly passionate kiss. "God, I've missed you."

Jack held her close for a second longer, reveling in her scent and the warmth of her skin so close to his. "Me too," he breathed into her ear, making her shiver delightfully. "Oh, me too!"

"Ahem." The cleared throat came from the doorway where Dr Lam stood again, chart in her hand, ready to take readings from the last few machines still wired up to her patient. Sam, faintly pink, disentangled herself, and with one last smoldering glance and a whispered promise of "later" she was gone. Jack submitted to being prodded and poked and nodded approvingly over, and then Carolyn left too, and he was alone for the first time since he had awakened, finally, home in his own body and his own time.

He lay back against the pillows, and studied the room, looking especially into the corners. Despite there being patently nothing there at all, a smile played around the curves of his mouth.

"I know you're there. You can show yourself now."

Still there was nothing, the room, if anything, appearing even emptier than before.

"Oh, come on." He spread his hands out. "Don't make it look as if I'm talking to myself here!"

The room remained resolutely empty. If it had been a person, it would have put its hands behind its back and whistled innocently. Jack sighed theatrically.

"Have it your own way, then." He ostentatiously closed his eyes almost all the way, leaving just a slit through which to view the room. There. A faint shimmer, almost invisible against the surgical green of the curtains, but unmistakable nevertheless.

"Thank you."

It was softly said, but heartfelt, and Jack could swear he heard a faraway chuckle in reply. The shimmer faded away, leaving just the familiar and, until now, under-appreciated infirmary room. He was home, and he was himself. It just didn't get any better than this.

With a smile, General Jack O'Neill closed his eyes.

END

I'm going to take a couple of weeks off to catch up on reading some of the great stories out there, and then I'll be back with a new adventure. I really hope to see you back here then!