That was part of the reason for this mission. The other part was that General Landry felt that SG-1 was in dire need of a simple mission unlikely to go awry. A mission that was as close to R and R as you could get. Heck, Landry wanted to put them on stand down for at least a week, but he knew that it would not guarantee them actually getting any rest. And rest was what they really needed. Hence the simple exploratory mission. But just because a mission was simple did not mean that it was without complication.

They stepped through the Gate onto a beautiful, barren world. There was no sign of human life anywhere. There were plenty of birds—Mitchell called them gulls as they squawked like seagulls, and they could hear the sounds of waves crashing in the distance and smell the salt of an ocean in the air—and one could assume that there was some sort of marine life in the ocean to support the gulls; but no sign of recent villages or human habitation anywhere.

Daniel Jackson was in archaeological heaven. The signs of recent human habitation may have been lacking, but there was plenty of evidence that humans had once lived there. He immediately went to work filming and scanning the ruins.

Mitchell, on the other hand, was a little more cautious. “Jackson, any sign that this may have happened recently? You know, like a Prior attack ‘cos the natives wouldn’t bow down to the Ori?”

“Doubt it,” Daniel replied. “While it does look like there was wide spread destruction here, its way too old for it to be at the hands of the Ori. Now the Goa’uld on the other hand…”

“I concur with Danieljackson,” Teal’c added. “Although, to my knowledge, the Goa’uld were unaware of this planet.”

“The address was on the Abydos cartouche,” Sam pointed out, “Though, admittedly, the Goa’uld hadn’t visited some of those planets in generations.”

Mitchell waved his hands. “Whatever. Just keep pokin’ around, and keep me posted if you find anything interesting.”

Sam Carter hid a smile at the expression Daniel pulled when Mitchell described what he does as ‘poking around’. Although the archaeologist really should be used to it; Jack O’Neill used to say stuff like that all the time. Her smile grew tender as the thought of Jack, now a 2-star general stuck behind a desk in Washington (DC, not State) when he would rather just be in charge of an SG team, preferably SG-1. Even though if he was back at the SGC and on SG-1, she would not be having the relationship she was with the man. She loved Jack dearly, and could not imagine life without him; but the tension of being under his command and having the regulations keep them apart was more than they could bear. It got to the point that she applied for a transfer to Area 51—with Jack being promoted from Brigadier to Major General and assigned to Washington the separation of assignments finally allowed them to give into the feelings long denied between them. Technically they were still in the same chain of command, but he was no longer her immediate superior. They had special dispensation from President Hayes for their relationship as long as they kept it discreet. It wouldn’t stop their detractors from making a fuss, but it gave them less ammunition.

“What’s got you all smiling and happy?” Mitchell asked, breaking into her thoughts.

To her credit, Sam didn’t jump when he spoke, only flushed slightly. “Just thinking,” was her succinct reply.

“Uh huh.” In contrast, Mitchell’s tone and smile were knowing. “Thinking about a certain Major General in Washington, are we?”

Her only reply was to blush harder, refusing to dignify the statement with a verbal response. Initially, when she was at Area 51 and Mitchell had been assigned to SG-1, she did not tell him about her relationship with the General. The news didn’t affect him, and they were supposed to be keeping it under the radar. However, when she rejoined SG-1, it became much harder to keep it from him—especially as Daniel and Teal’c had known from the beginning. It was a relief when the news finally came out and Mitchell found something else to harp on about.

Knowing that he was awaiting an answer to his non-question. Sam turned away from her fellow lieutenant colonel and into the cool breeze that wafted across from their right. “Mmm, smell the ocean breeze.”

“Ah, a good old-fashioned sea breeze. There’s something you don’t get back in Colorado Springs. You wanna check it out?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Teal’c, Sam and I are gonna take a walk and check out the surrounding area. Call us if there’s any trouble.”

“Indeed, Colonelmitchell.”

Mitchell gestured with his P-90. “Ladies first.”

Sam rolled her eyes and gave him a mock glare. There was a time when she would have taken offence to this simple gesture of courtesy, but things and changed in the past nine years. She knew that Mitchell meant no offence, and respected her; it was just his Southern Gentlemanly manners coming through. He had come to the SGC to join SG-1 under her command, and it was only her transfer to Area 51 that gave him that command. He was willing to turn the command back over to her when she came back, but she didn’t want to take it from him.

All of which did not stop her from giving him a good-natured shove as she passed him.

They could see the ocean ahead of them, and knew it was not far, yet they were upon the coast before they realised it. Literally. Instead of the gentle, sloping beach they were expecting to find, they came across a cliff; and the first they knew of it was when Sam nearly slipped over the edge.

In an instant, Mitchell reached out and pulled her back. “Oops, easy there, Sam.”

“Thanks.” Her feet on firmer ground, Sam leaned forward to look over the edge. “Wow, that’s a long way down.”

“Yeah. And I was hopin’ to find a nice beach, too.”

Sam smiled. “Not today, Cam. Of course, if you’re willing to hike a few klicks in each direction, you may find one.”

“Can we?”

His companion was about to shoot off a retort when something made her pause. “Did you feel that?”

A tremor was felt beneath their feet. Instantly Teal’c was on alert (not that he ever really relaxed), looking around for signs of danger. But there was nothing.

Daniel looked up from the ruins he was reading. “Did you feel that?”

“Indeed. Danieljackson.”

“I think it explains a few things here. It says here that the ‘god’ Poseidon had not been here in a thousand generations, but they still felt his wrath because the ground shook and the seas would swell. I don’t think the Goa’uld destroyed this place at all, Teal’c. I think it was destroyed by earthquakes.”

“Are you sure of this, Danieljackson?”

“Well, I could be wrong, but it would seem to make sense. The area is obviously seismically active, and the tablet here says that Poseidon hadn’t been here, though they still felt his wrath because ‘the ground would shake and the seas would swell’. Obviously that’s referring to the earthquakes and tidal waves that sometimes follow the quakes. Back in ancient times on earth, the people used to explain away earthquakes and volcanic eruptions as signs of the gods, and it seems to be the same here. Poseidon was the Greek god of the sea, do you know of a Goa’uld who posed as him?”

Teal’c thought for a moment as the ground trembled again. “There was once a minor Goa’uld in the service of Cronus who went by the name of Poseidon.”

“That would make sense; in some legends Cronus was the father of the Greek gods, including Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon. What happened to him? I know we’ve never come across him.”

“No one knows for sure. There were rumours amongst Cronus’ Jaffa when my father was First Prime that Cronus had Poseidon destroyed for insolence.”

“Nice, Goa’uld infighting.”

Teal’c merely arched an eyebrow. “Yet when I joined the ranks of Apophis’ Jaffa there were similar rumours—that Apophis had Poseidon destroyed as an attempt of undermining Cronus.”

“So no one really knows for sure what happened?”

“Indeed, Danieljackson.”

Then the ground really began to shake.

“Perhaps we should head back,” Mitchell suggested after the ground shook a second time. “I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not get caught in a landslide or something.”

“Maybe we should’ve headed for your beach,” Sam flashed him a quick grin as she moved further back from the edge of the cliff. Even from that vantage point, she could see the edge crumbling with the tremors.

“Aren’t coastal areas subject to turning into quicksand during earthquakes? Liqui-something-or-other?”

“Liquefaction. It can happen. How do you know about liquefaction?”

“Saw it in an old mini series once. The Great Los Angeles Earthquake.”

“We should head back to the others,” Sam said, bringing the conversation to an end before Mitchell could start in on the plot of the mini series. She suited action to words, and headed back towards the ruined village, with Mitchell on her heels. They had not gone far when they came across a long fissure in the ground, about four to five feet wide.

“That wasn’t here before,” Mitchell stated unnecessarily.

“Do we jump across it, or find a way around?”

But Mitchell was way ahead of her, already shrugging his pack off and handing her his P-90. “Toss them to me when I’ve made it across,” he said.

Sam did so, and tossed her own P-90 when it was her turn. It was when she started to slip her pack from her shoulders that it happened. The ground trembled beneath their feet, more violently than it had before. A dull roar grew louder in their ears as the trembling grew into a full-blown quake. Dirt crumbled from the edge of the fissure, and the side that Sam was on dropped a few inches, enough that it was visible to the two lieutenant colonels.

“Jump, Sam!” Mitchell called urgently. But before she could do so, her side of the fissure dropped dramatically, and she disappeared into a jumble of dirt and rocks. All Mitchell could do was watch helplessly as she vanished, calling her name in a vain hope that she would answer.

Both Daniel and Teal’c had the prudence to run clear of the ruins when the quake began in earnest. A good thing too, as some of the taller pieces broke off and crashed to the ground; and as Daniel watched this, part of him felt vindicated as to the cause of the ruins. Only part of him, though; for he had tried to raise Sam and Mitchell on the radio since the quake began, with no luck. Concern was eating away at him, even though Teal’c had rightly pointed out that the quake could be interfering with the radio signals, or that they just may not be able to answer. Nevertheless, it was for more than one reason that Daniel breathed a sigh of relief when the quake was over.

He immediately tried the radio again. “Sam, Mitchell, come in please. Are you guys okay?”

The radio buzzed to life. “Jackson? That you? You okay?”

Daniel breathed another sigh of relief. “Mitchell! Yeah, we’re fine. How about you and Sam?”

There was a pause on the other end, and a sound like Mitchell had coughed or cleared his throat. “I’m fine, Jackson. But Sam… there was a fissure… she was on the other side when the quake started… there was a landslide… she went under, Jackson. She went down with the landslide.”

Daniel’s eyes met Teal’c’s as the ex-Jaffa silently moved to get the digging implements from their gear. “We’ll be right there. Which way did you go?”

Mitchell told him. ”But there’s not much you can do here. You’d be better off going back to the SGC for help.”

Teal’c activated his radio. “Danieljackson can return to Stargate Command to appraise Generallandry. I will join you so that I may relay information.”

“That’s a good plan, guys. Jackson…” Mitchell hesitated. “You’d better tell the general that happened. He’ll want to know.” It was not General Hank Landry of whom Mitchell was speaking, and Daniel knew it. He was already planning to put a call into Washington. It was a call he was dreading.

Sam did know where she was, the darkness was that complete. She had no memory of what happened or how she got there. The only thing that told her that she was even conscious was the child-like voice singing “Here we go round the mulberry bush” over and over again.

His reply was to bed his head and cover her lips with his own.

Sam came to with a start, and her first thought was that she was stuck with a rocky wall at her back, a rocky ground beneath her, and what felt like a large boulder sitting on top of her. The darkness was complete; there was not a speck of illumination anywhere. Shifting position, she worked out that she was half-lying more than sitting, and that what was on top of here was more like a pile of loose rocks rather than a single boulder. This was good, because she was able to work her arms free and pull herself out of the rubble. She did this gingerly as she did not want to bring anything else tumbling down on her. Now that she was conscious she could remember the earthquakes and going down with the landslide; though the fact that she had not been completely buried told her that she had fallen into a cave of some sort. She prayed that when she pulled herself free her pack stayed with her.

She was in luck. Not only had her pack stayed on her shoulder the entire time, but when she investigated the contents she found that her torch still worked. The beam showed her that she wasn’t in a cave so much as a sort of natural tunnel. Perhaps she had fallen into a network of tunnels that led to a way out… or at least to an opening that she could get a radio signal through. At the moment her radio did not seem to be working, and she fervently hoped that it was just mineral content in the ground above that was blocking the signal, and not a fault with the radio itself.

No sense in thinking negatively, Sam, she told herself silently. Your first order of business is to get out of here. There was only one direction she could do, so she headed down the tunnel, hoping that she wasn’t heading to another cave-in, or a branch in the network. She just wanted to get out of there.

The alarms were going off back at the base when Daniel stepped through the Gate, as per normal with an unscheduled dial-in. The alarms stopped as the Gate shut down behind him.

“What are you doing back here, Doctor Jackson?” Landry asked as he walked into the Gateroom.

“There’s been an accident,” Daniel replied, and explained tersely what had happened. Landry immediately grasped the situation, and issued orders for a search and rescue mission. Daniel followed the general up to the control room and stood by as he told Walter to dial the planet. As the sergeant called the chevrons out, the archaeologist turned back to the general.

“General, if you’ll excuse me, I have to make a phone call.”

“A phone call, Doctor Jackson?”

“Yes, uh…” Daniel hesitated. “I believe a certain person would wish to be appraised of what’s happened.”

“Oh.” Landry was no fool; he knew exactly whom Daniel was talking about. “You may want to wait until I’ve talked to Colonel Mitchell. I need an accurate assessment of the situation, and I believe you would have more to tell him if you stay for this.”

Daniel could not fault the logic of that, so he waited while Mitchell filled Landry in. Fifteen minutes later he was excused and quickly made his way to his office. It was private, and privacy was something he wanted for this phone call. It was a delicate matter, even without the current crisis. Taking a deep breath, he picked up the receiver and punched in the familiar number.

Major General Jack O’Neill sighed as he tried to concentrate on the reports he was supposed to be reading. This was one of those times when he really wished he had not let himself be convinced not to retire. He had never really liked being stuck behind a desk, especially in a position of authority.

His intercom buzzed, “I asked not to be disturbed,” he told his secretary.

“Yes, sir,” came the reply. “General, there’s a phone call for you from the SGC. It’s a Doctor Jackson. He says it’s urgent.”

That did not bode well. “Put him through.” His normally tanned face paled as he listened to the call. He closed his eyes. “All right, I’ll be right there.”

Slamming the phone down, he hit a button on the intercom again. “Sarah, I want you to book me a chopper. I need to get to Colorado Springs ASAP!”

Sam breathed a sigh of relief when she felt fresh air on her face. She knew it meant that the tunnel opened up somewhere ahead of her. Sure enough, the tunnel began to lighten, and the distant sounds of waves crashing grew louder. Just as she blinked at the sudden brightness of the opening, she felt the tell-tale rumbling beneath her feet of an impending quake. Despite the stiffness she felt from being swept down the landslide she dashed through the entrance, not wanting to get caught in a cave-in. It was a good thing too—dust and small rocks started to fall on her as she ran; and when she skidded down the rocks to the water’s edge outside, she could see that there was indeed a cave-in.

“Well, can’t go back that way,” she said aloud. Not that she wanted to; but it was something that Jack would have said, and she found herself slipping into “Jackisms” more often of late.

Resting on a rock, she pulled her radio out, and mentally crossed her fingers. “Cameron, are you there?” No reply. “Daniel, Teal’c, anyone?” Still nothing. Frustrated, she hit the button again, “Hello, Is anyone reading me?” After several attempts with the radio, Sam gave up. Although there was nothing visibly wrong with the radio, obviously he was not working.

Looking up at the sky, she tried to get her bearings; but her experience with the landslide muddled her a bit. From the height of the sun in the sky it was near the middle of the day, which didn’t help her gain her bearings much. She could not stay there; she had no idea where the high tide mark was, and as she was right on the water line that was something she had to watch out for. Also, word of what happened to her would have gotten back to the SGC and a search organised by now. They could dig and sift through the land slip area for ages without even finding the tunnel she fell in to; so her best bet would be to try and make her own way back up the bluff. Easier said than done when the cliff face was almost completely sheer except where the tunnel entrance was. The blocked tunnel entrance proved to be too loose to climb, so she had to pick a direction to hike in. The ground was slightly easier to her left, so she chose that way; but before she headed off, she scratched an arrow in the rock, just in case.

Jack was impatient as hell when he got to the SGC. All he could think about was Sam, and it was all he could do to keep his feelings contained. Just turning up at the base after Sam had been in an accident was suspicious—there had been rumours about the relationship between them when he was still working here; turning up now was like validating the relationship they were supposed to be keeping discreet. But he could not just sit in Washington waiting for news; he needed to be there, whatever they found.

He was met by Landry when he stepped out of the elevator. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here, Jack,” the other general said.

“I couldn’t sit this one out, Hank” Jack replied softly. “Not this time.”

“She’s been in trouble before, you know.”

“I know. But I also know the statistics for finding someone alive after a landslide”

“But it does happen, Jack. We see it all the time on TV.”

Jack looked directly at the man who succeeded him in heading the base. “Has there been any word?”

“Not yet. But the Prometheus is on its way out there. If we don’t find here, they can locate her and beam her up. Alive or…” Landry trailed off.

Jack closed his eyes. “I’m gonna get changed and head out there. I… I need to be there what ever they find.”

Landry nodded. “I understand, Jack.”

Sam had been making her way along the water’s edge for hours. It was not easy going; there was no trail for her to follow, and occasionally she had to slip into the water and risk being smashed against the rocks by waves to get to the next passable dry point. She had long since passed the point where a landslide met the ocean; judging by how long it took her to get there she figured it was the one that swept her away. Briefly she tried climbing it to get up to the top of the cliff, but the attempts only served to make her muddy—a wet person trying to scramble up loose earth has that effect—and she kept sliding back into the water. She tried firing her 8mm into the air as a way of alerting any search party for her; but there was no answering report. So she trudged on.

She was aware as the time passed that she would have to find somewhere to rest for the night, however long that may be. But it was not looking promising. The rocky coastline simply offered no shelter whatsoever. There was not even an outcropping she could sit under. But she refused to give up, and her perseverance paid off.

Just ahead of here was a large, jagged boulder jutting out from the rocky cliff face. It jutted out far enough that Sam did not feel comfortable trying to go around it; so she decided to climb over it. The climbing proved to be surprisingly easy, and what was on the other side was even more surprising. Starting from the boulder she had just climbed, and leading away from it at what she estimated to be a 55° angle, was a man-made stone wall which stretched out to meet a stone/rock wall which almost looked natural. It had fallen into disrepair, whether due to the quakes or the fact that the inhabitants of the world had vanished there was no way of knowing. But the wall had been put there for some reason or other, and she figured that whatever the purpose, the area that had been walled in was bound to be easier to traverse than the way she had just came. So she clambered over the boulder and onto the wall and slid down. She landed with a jolt, for it was a good six-foot drop; but apart from jarred knees and grazed hands from over balancing, she was fine.

Looking around, she saw that most of the walled-in area resembled a quarry, one that had been completely used up. Apart from the small area closest to the cliffs, which was patchy dirt and grass, the area was flat stone ground. It was a large area that was encompassed by the wall; cliffs to her left, the sound of waves crashing on the walls to her right, and nothing beyond the quarry but more cliffs and rocky shore.

Thunder rumbled in the distance; and although it was extremely bright and sunny at that moment, Sam could see storm clouds rolling in; and she preferred to find some form of shelter before it hit. The cliff face was just as sheer and high as it had been, but quarries always had entrances, ways of getting in. And a way of getting into the quarry meant a way of getting out.

But exploration showed that any entrance to this area had long since eroded or wiped out by quakes; although she did see a few points that looked almost climbable. No time for that now, her more immediate concern was shelter from the rapidly approaching storm. A natural hollow in the cliff face about seven-foot up provided this, so she climbed up, pulled out a power bar, and made herself as comfortable as possible for the duration.

Lightening flashed, followed immediately by loud crashes of thunder. It was a spectacular storm, and all Jack and the rest of SG-1 could do was sit in tents that they hoped would stand up to the weather, watch, and wait. Indeed, the rest of the rescue team had retreated back through the Stargate to wait the storm out back at the base; but SG-1 refused to leave. Jack refused to leave. There was nothing he could do, trying to dig in a raging thunder storm would be suicide; but he was not about to leave. Sam was out there, somewhere, and he could not leave knowing that—even with the knowledge that being buried under tons of dirt rapidly turning to mud diminished the hopes of finding her alive.

Daniel braved the storm to dash to Jack’s tent. “Powerful storm,” he said conversationally.

“Yeah.”

Not the best way to start a conversation. Jack seemed intent on brooding, staring out at the storm. Daniel tried again. “She’s out there, Jack.”

“I know.”

“We’ll find her, Jack.”

“I know.”

Daniel sighed. He could not think of what to say to draw Jack into a conversation. When Sha’re had been taken to be host to the Goa’uld Ammonet, and later had been killed by Teal’c, he felt as though the bottom had dropped out of his world. Inexplicably, he had felt something similar several months before when Vala disappeared stopping the Ori Supergate. But it was nothing to what Jack would go through should the worst happen here. Jack and Sam had been through a lot over the past nine years; Daniel had watched them fall into a love that was as deep and pure as the love he had shared with Sha’re. And it was a love forbidden by the regulations of the United States Air Force they both served. After eight long years they were together, and Daniel hated the thought of it ending because of a stupid accident. But there was nothing to do but wait.

“We’ll find her, Jack,” he repeated.

This time Jack made no reply. He just watched a particularly vivid bolt of lightening strike not too far away.

Sam flinched as a bolt of lightening struck a tower-like protrusion on the stone wall. Almost simultaneously came a loud crack of thunder that practically shook the ground. The storm was almost literally on top of her, and the hollow she was huddling under gave scant protection from the driving wind and rain of the storm. She was wet through and cold; and her teeth were chattering so loudly that she imagined she could hear them over the storm.

Then it happened. Another bold of lightening struck, this time hitting the cliff above her head. Again the thunder came simultaneously, loud enough to reverberate around her. Dirt and pebbles rained down on her, and she realised that the strike may have dislodged the rocks on the cliff above her head, making it precarious to stay where she was. However, taking her chances in the open was just as precarious, if not more so. The quarry area that was walled in had filled with water, at least waist-deep by her estimate. As water was an excellent conductor of electricity, a lightening strike in there would be instantly fatal.

But when there was another lightening strike, and more dirt and pebbles rained down, she knew she had to take the chance. The minute she made an indecisive move out of the hollow the decision was taken from her anyway; the rocks were slippery and she slid right down into the water. Strangely, she found it almost warm compared to the fierce wind and rain. The ground sloped upwards towards the “corner” so she headed there; taking what refuge she could in the comparable shelter and shallower water. Then the ground beneath her feet shifted, and she went sliding into the water again.

Dawn broke to clear skies. The storm had passed, and Jack was raring for the search for Sam to get back underway. But as the morning wore on, the hope for finding Sam alive dwindled. The storm had turned the area where the landslip was into a quagmire of mud, making digging virtually impossible. Finally, they had to stop; the ground was just too muddy, the holes would just refill as soon as they were dug.

Jack exploded. “You can’t just give up! She’s out there somewhere! Every minute lost threatens her life!”

“With all due respect, sir, the likelihood of finding Colonel Carter alive now is zero. I’m sorry, sir.”

“You’re sorry?! You…”

Daniel and Teal’c pulled Jack away from the hapless marine before he could let him have it. “Jack, there’s nothing more they can do.”

The general wheeled on the archaeologist. “And you accept that?”

“I don’t like it anymore than you do, Jack. But they can’t do anything else.”

“And they don’t have to,” Mitchell came over to them. “The Prometheus is in orbit, and they’re scanning for her now.”

“I want to be there when they find her.”

“Yeah, I figured you’d say that. They’re ready to beam us up now.”

Almost as soon as they were beamed to the bridge of the Prometheus, the technician announced that they found Samantha Carter’s signal. “Should I beam her to the infirmary?”

“Can you?” Daniel frowned, “When she’s buried like that?”

“But she’s not buried. She’s on the surface.”

“What?!” several voices exclaimed.

“Should I beam her up?”

“No,” Doctor Carolyn Lam said as she made her way onto the bridge. “Beam me and my team down first. She may have a spinal injury.”

“I’m going down too,” Jack said resolutely.

Bright sunlight and a light breeze woke Sam in the morning. She blinked and looked around the bedroom she was in, confused. Her memory was hazy; she was not sure what had happened.

“What? I am awake.” As she spoke, the pup licked her face.

Sam awoke to water gently lapping over her face. She was lying face down on the stone floor of the quarry by the wall, and the water was coming in though a little hole at the base of the wall. The tide must be turning.

Stiffly she got to her feet. She had a hazy recollection of what happened the night before after she had slid into the water. She knew she had tried making her way back into the corner a few times only to end up in the deeper water again, and finally had to give up on that. Eventually she just sat on a submerged rock with her back to the wall, breathing a sigh of relief when the storm abated. She must have fallen into an exhausted sleep not long after that.

A bright light off to her left caught her attention, and she turned in time to see an Asgard beam wink out of view. In its place stood several people: Daniel, Teal’c, Mitchell, Doctor Lam and her medical team; and someone she was really not expecting to see… Jack O’Neill. She blinked. “Jack?”

The next thing she knew, Jack had dashed over to her and wrapped his arms around her in the biggest bear hug she had ever had. It was so tight that he was in danger of squeezing the breath out of her. She didn’t mind though. It meant that she was finally found and was going home.

Jack’s lips had just closed over hers when Doctor Lam tapped him on the shoulder. “I know you’re glad to see her, but I really need to check the patient out.”

“Oh, right,” the general stepped back to allow the doctor and her team in. “Sorry, doc.”

“You’re rather hale for someone who was buried in a landslide,” Carolyn Lam commented as she checked Sam out. “You’ve managed to make it quite far from where it happened, too.”

“I know,” Sam replied. “It’s a long story, one that I would gladly tell after I’ve had a shower and a good long sleep in a real bed. It was a pretty bad night.”

“I can imagine,” Carolyn put her stethoscope back in her kit. “I see no reason for us to stay down here any longer.”

“Hear hear,” Mitchell seconded, “Prometheus, we’re ready to go home.”

Sam opened her eyes to find herself in the infirmary back at the base. Blinking, she saw that Jack was at her bedside. “Hey.”

“Hey, Sleeping Beauty,” Jack smiled down at her. “You looked like you needed that.”

“Yeah. Hospital beds may not be the most comfortable, but it sure beats a rock in freezing rain.”

“I’ll bet.” He paused, placing his hand over hers. “I was worried, you know.”

“I know. What you did doesn’t exactly fall under the grounds of keeping things discreet.”

“Yeah, well, I’d do it again. I’d do anything to keep you safe.”

“That’s not always possible, Jack.”

“I know. And I know I can’t convince you to go back to Area 51, so I’m not even gonna try. I wish I could be here with you, but…”

Sam nodded. “I know. And I know that whenever I get into trouble you’ll be there for me.”

“In a heartbeat.” Jack leaned forward to tenderly kiss her on the forehead. “The good news is, you’re gonna be fine; and the doc says that I can take you home this afternoon.”

Sam grinned. “Really?”

“Yep. And as Hank’s given SG-1 down time for a week, I’m gonna take some time off and take you to the cabin. Minnesota, the land of sky-blue waters, loofahs…”

“Yeahsureyoubetcha snookums,” she finished with him. “Sounds great.”

“It will be, as long as I’m with you,” he closed his lips over hers again in a kiss. A long, slow, passionate, earnest kiss; a kiss that was a prelude for the week to come.

Much later…

“Jack, what do you think of the name Grace for a girl.”