Jack, Teal'c and I were standing in front of the Stargate and the alarm on Jack's watch went off. It just beeped. We use beeps to signify so many things in our lives. The microwave beeps when our food is ready. Vehicles beep to warn others of danger, or just to get them moving. When you die, the heart monitor beep. This beep was for six billion people. Beep Beep Beep. If we could let it beep six billion times, we would.

Jack had put me in charge of assigning the evacuees to quarters. He said that I was the only one he trusted to do the job properly. It wasn't an easy job to show people their new homes. Jack had said to me that once everyone had time to grieve that we would start to build proper houses. There's so much that we have to consider now. We are the future of the human race.

Jack shuts off the alarm and turns and leaves without a saying a word. He wants to be alone. He doesn't want anyone to see him grieve.

Teal'c turns to me and says, "My presence may be required elsewhere, I will see you later DanielJackson."

I've been wondering if Teal'c is going to remain with us. I wouldn't blame him if he chose to leave and rejoin his wife and child. There is no reason for him to be here. We aren't going to be doing any Goa'uld hunting soon.

I stuff my hands in my pocket and decide to head upstairs to the control room. I find Sergeant Davis and Major Davis there. Jack's going to have to assign either Major Davis or Major Carter as the second-in-command of this facility. I wonder which one he'll choose.

"I have orders from General Hammond himself to lock out Earth's co-ordinates from this dialling computer."

My heart thuds in my chest. Lock out Earth. I hadn't even thought of returning. I had assumed that the gate would buried. What if it wasn't? Would we ever have tried to go back in the future? Would our children and grandchildren ever want to go back?

"Aye, sir, locking out Earth's co-ordinates."

We could still go back someday.

____________

Janet and I had sat quietly in her quarters as the Time came and went. We had cried and hugged one another. It's too much for me to take in right now. My scientific mind is telling me exactly what would be happening on Earth right now, but I don't want to hear it. I want to block it all out.

Janet is staring at the military issue comforter and picking invisible lint off of it. I think she wants to be alone right now.

"Janet? I'm going to go see if I can find Colonel O'Neill."

Janet nods and I take my leave.

I find the Colonel sitting in the empty gymnasium. He's wearing boxing gloves and I'm guessing that he's taken his frustration out on the punching bag. Better that than one of the airmen.

"Colonel?"

"Carter."

"Mind if I join you?"

"Do I have a choice?"

I shake my head and sit down beside him. I put my hand on his arm and rub it gently. I know he's hurting, but he'd never admit to that.

"Janet's not taking this very well."

"She had to leave Cassie. I'll get Daniel to talk to her. She seems to like him."

I chuckle slightly at that. Janet did like Daniel. A lot. He did spend an inordinate amount of time in the infirmary. I think that Daniel likes her too.

"What about you, sir? How you are doing?"

I know that I might be pushing it a bit to be asking him that, but I need to know.

"I'm fine Carter. I didn't have to leave anyone behind."

Oh but he did. He had more friends than he knows.

_____________

Jack's asked me to talk to Janet. He said that she was taking this whole situation pretty badly. Why doesn't Sam spend some more time with her? They are best friends. It's not that I don't want to see Janet, I just don't want to see Janet cry. She's always been so strong, even when one of us was laying on the bed dying, she kept her wits about her and never cried. The only time that I've seen her close to tears was when Cassandra was sick.

Janet is in the infirmary, setting up some equipment. She looks fine to me, I wonder what Jack was talking about.

"Hey Janet."

Janet sets a box down and turns around to face me.

"Daniel! Don't tell me that you've injured yourself already?"

"Well, I did stub my toe yesterday, but I think it will be fine without medical attention. That's not why I'm here."

"Oh?"

Janet looks almost disappointed that I'm not injured. I guess that she wants to feel useful, keep herself busy.

"Yeah, uhm, Jack asked me to talk to you."

Janet snorts.

I shrug, "He seems to think that you could use a sounding board."

"I'm fine, Daniel. Thank you for your concern. Now if you would excuse me, I have a lot of work to get done."

I leave the infirmary, feeling slightly ashamed of myself. I never should have listened to Jack. I should have waited for her to come to me.

_____________

Thank goodness the designers of this place had enough sense to make separate locker rooms for the males and the females. I'm still not fond of having to share my bathroom with 45 other women everyday, but it sure beats sharing it with the guys. We've been here for two weeks now. Jack and I organized a memorial service the other week. It was a very simple, solemn occasion. I would have liked to have sent a wreath through the gate to Earth, but those co-ordinates have been locked out.

I reach for my BDU's and begin to tug the pants on. SG-1 and Janet are going outside today. We need to search for edible plants and Janet wants to see if any of them can be used for medicinal purposes. We're running out of supplies at an alarming rate. This planet was chosen because of its likeness to Earth as well as because it's out of Goa'uld territory. I'd been outsdie a couple of times before, but never for a very long time. Jack had decided that it would be best to keep the people in the base for the time-being.

"Carter?"

That would be Jack banging on the door seeing if I'm ready to go yet.

"Just about ready sir!"

I started to think of him as Jack after the memorial service. It seems appropriate. There is no airforce anymore. We have a chain of command here and he is still my superior, but it feels different now.

I pull on my jacket and step out into the corridor. Jack, Daniel and Teal'c are waiting for me. Janet had finished getting dressed about ten minutes ago and had gone to the infirmary to pick up the equipment she needed.

"We're meeting the Doc outside. She wanted to get a head start."

I nod and follow the guys outside.

This is a really beautiful area that the base is in. There's a mountain range to the north, a river to the west and a lot of forest. Jack had made a quip about the trees the first time we toured this area. I don't think he'll mind them so much now that we need them.

We find Janet bent over a large bush, snipping off leaves. The air is crisp and I can tell it must be this planet's equivalent of autumn. It was late November when we left Earth, so I'm assuming that the seasons must be pretty much in sync.

"Do we know anything about the local wildlife?"

Daniel seems somewhat concerned. I had heard that he once had a bad experience with native animals while on the original Abydos mission.

"There are reports of deer-like animals, as well as bears and the usual woodland creatures. I imagine that most of them will be more scared of us than we are of them."

I've memorized all files pretaining to this site. It's good to know these things sometimes.

"Doc, we ready to move out?" Jack asks, looking somewhat impatient.

Janet nods and we begin to walk.

______________

Janet did come and talk to me. We talked for a long time about a lot of things. I think we have an understanding now. Jack has given her more influence over what goes on in this base than she did at the SGC. She's more than just the CMO here. She's been accompanying us on missions to explore the surrounding area and I think she appreciates that. Jack really shouldn't leave the base as often as he does, but he just puts Major Davis in command and off we go.

We're on one such mission right now. A couple weeks ago Janet discovered a plant that seems to be a 'miracle drug', as she put it, much like the one used by the Shavadai on P3X-593. She wants to go out and collect more of it. Jack's gotten it into his head that he can shoot a deer and Sam wants to collect more soil samples. Teal'c and I are just along for the fun.

I talked with Teal'c the other day, about him leaving us. He told me, 'I take my leave when the time is right' I don't want him to leave.

I'm sitting on a large boulder watching Jack prowl around in the underbrush while Janet busily hacks a bush to death. Sam and Teal'c have gone to the meadow that's about mile south of us.

"Find anything yet Jack?"

Jack stands up and glares at me, "Not if you keep yellin' like that!"

The bush to my left laughs.

I sigh and pull a journal out my backpack. I've been keeping a journal since I got here. I want to be able to pass something on to my children, if I have any. I've written about Earth and the experience of leaving it. Jack said that if he has any kids, he's gonna tell them all about the Simpsons. I'd rather tell mine about the Mesopotamian Ziggurats, the Egyptian Pyramids and the Roman Colliseum. Jack and I differ somewhat on our views of great Earth culture.

"Daniel, you wanna give me a hand here?"

Janet has gotten a branch caught in her hair.

I slide down off the boulder and begin to work the branch out of her hair.

"The poor bush never stood a chance against you."

The bush does look rather pitiful. Janet has stripped it of most of its leaves and braches.

"I think it's trying to get back at me!"

I chuckle and get her free of the offending bush.

Our moment is interrupted by a loud bang and hoots and hollers begin to come from Jack's direction.

"I got one! Woo hoo!"

Jack appears and waves me over, "Come help me with it Daniel!"

Janet rolls her eyes and I crash through the brush towards Jack.

____________

It's December 21st. Christmas is in four days. Jack insisted that we get a tree, so we took Teal'c and went off into the forest looking for the perfect tree. Luckily this planet has evergreens, so we were able to find one that looked almost exactly like a Douglas Fir. Jack and Teal'c dragged the tree back to the base on a makeshift sled. It turns out that this planet gets a lot of snow. There's probably about three feet of it on the ground right now. Someone had been outside and made snowmen. Jack's been letting people out of the building more lately. They were starting to get cabin fever. However, no one can leave alone and they have to sign out. One of the snowmen looks like it's waving and I find myself giggling at the absurdity of it all.

There won't be many presents this year, but that's okay, no one is expecting Santa Claus this year. Maybe next year. Jack's been making plans for housing come spring.

Daniel's been busy in one of the labs a lot lately. I asked what he was doing in there once and his only reply was to mumble, "I'm making something." It's probably something for Janet. It's no secret that they like each other. Janet told me herself that she and Daniel are "dating" I have to say that I'm a bit jealous.

"Hey Carter! Catch!"

A snowball hits me on the back of the head. And oh great, Teal'c's decided that this looks like fun and soon another snowball is lobbed my way.

I refuse to dignify this little game of theirs with a response. They can throw snowballs at each other.

"Hey come on Carter! Be a sport!"

I shake my head and then bend down and scoop up a handful of snow. It's perfect snowball snow. I pack it into a small ball and whirl around and whip it right at Jack's unsuspecting head.

"That was a very good hit MajorCarter."

"Thank you Teal'c, now we'd better get this tree inside so it can dry off a bit."

Jack, who is still wiping snow out of his eyes, grumbles as he and Teal'c force the tree through the door and into the elevator.

Hey guys!"

It's Daniel, sounding a bit breathless.

"Wow, that's a nice tree!"

"You think so? Carter picked it out."

"Yeah, where are we going to put it?"

I shrug, "We were thinking maybe in the commissary. Everyone goes there. We need to let it dry off a bit here though before we make anymore puddles."

The tree was making a large wet spot on the concrete.

"I'm gonna go get out of these wet clothes", Jack said, pulling on his pant leg.

Teal'c nodded in agreement, "Indeed."

Jack and Teal'c took off, leaving Daniel and I alone.

"So, Daniel, get that thing for Janet done yet?"

Daniel pretends to look confused, "What thing for Janet?"

"Oh come on, Daniel, I know that you've been making something for her in that lab."

Daniel scuffs his boot in the puddle, "Yeah okay, you wanna come see it?"

I nod and Daniel leads me to the lab.

He made her a necklace. He took pieces of scrap metal and fashioned them into a necklace. It's beautiful.

"Janet's gonna love this."

"You think so?"

"Yeah, for sure."

"You can't tell her anything though!"

I laugh, "Don't worry, I won't say a word."

Janet's so lucky.

_____________

Janet loved the necklace. She cried when I gave it to her. Christmas was nice, people really pulled together. Jack went out and shot a couple of deer, he's getting really quite proficient with that, so we ate well. Some people sang carols and others retreated to their quarters to remember lost loved ones. Jack watched it all with a smile on his face.

After Christmas, New Years came and went. It's 2002 now. Teal'c came by to see me yesterday. He's leaving tomorrow. I talked to Jack about it, and we decided not to make a big deal of it. He had sent a memo around with an open invitation to see Teal'c off. I'd been dreading this day since we arrived.

_____________

Teal'c is leaving, today, at 1300 hours. He's leaving us to be with his wife and son. I have no right to feel so upset, there's nothing here for him and we can't make him stay. Jack came by my quarters last night to drop off a memo. He stayed for a while and we talked.

Everyone has come to see Teal'c off. The gateroom is so crowded that I can barely move. Teal'c, dressed in robes, is standing on the ramp. Jack is beside me, and I feel him take my hand in his own.

"I wish you all the best of luck. And thank you, for allowing me to serve along side of you. I have learned a great deal. I will return some day."

The room burst into applause and Teal'c bowed slightly, then stepped through the Stargate.

After that, people began filing out of the room. I was close to tears, but not willing to cry in front of Jack. Jack, who was still holding my hand, pulled me closer to him and wrapped his arms around me. I'd forgotten how nice it was to be held.

_____________

It's been two months since Teal'c left us and now February has come and gone. We celebrated Valentine's Day. People are starting to pair off so it made sense. I gave Janet a card and a kiss, she said it was the best Valentine that anyone had ever given her. I had helped Jack make a pair of earrings for Sam. She loved them. It's only early March but already the snow is melting and the trees are starting to bud. Jack's been talking about building houses a lot more lately. I heard that he's got Siler and a couple of other guys drawing up plans.

Janet misses Cassie. We talk about her sometimes, late at night. Janet will tell me about the time that she and Cassie went to a lake and rented a row boat, and then she'll start crying. In the daylight, Janet pretends that she's so strong, that nothing ever bothers her. She pretends that she didn't leave a 16 year old girl behind to die. When the night comes, she's transformed into the Janet that I love, the one that lets me hold her while she cries.

"Warning, unauthorized incoming wormhole!"

The alert jars me out of my reverie and I take off towards the control room.

"Daniel! Wait for me!"

It's Sam, telling me to hold the elevator.

"Who do you think it is?", I ask after Sam's stepped in beside me.

Sam shrugs and the elevator deposits us into the control room.

Sergeant Davis is at the controls, Jack is behind him and Major Davis is standing beside Jack.

"Receiving Tok'ra IDC."

I hear Sam gasp and Jack gives the order to open the iris. As he does that, Sam's flying down the steps and into the gateroom. Jack follows her and I, deciding that all the excitement's down there, follow him.

A figure emerges from the wormhole and runs down the ramp towards Sam. They hug and I can see that it's Jacob, Sam's father.

______________

"Sam! I've been so worried about you!"

I'm crying as my father hugs me.

"We got your message about the asteroid, but there was nothing we could do. I'm so sorry Sam. I couldn't come until now."

My father lets go of me and turns to Jack. They make like they're going to shake hands, but instead he envelopes Jack in a hug. He then turns to Daniel, and they shake hands.

"Where's George?" he asks, looking around.

Jack looks at me and then says, "He didn't come. He stayed on Earth."

My father looks stunned and saddened by this news. He and General Hammond were old friends.

He recovers soon enough, "Then you're in charge of this place Jack?"

Jack nods, "And ain't she a beaut? Feel up to the grand tour Jake?"

He nods and we leave the gateroom.

Much later, dad and I are sitting in the commissary. I'm picking at something that tastes vaguely like chicken and dad had declared that he wasn't hungry.

"So Doctor Jackson and Doctor Fraiser. I never would have put those two together."

"They make a cute couple. Janet's really happy with him."

Dad pulls a face, "You know, if they ever get married, her name's gonna be Janet Jackson."

I laugh, "Janet and I have discussed that. We've decided that Daniel's going to take her name instead and become Daniel Fraiser."

Dad is strangely silent for a few moments.

"Dad?"

He looks at me and smiles, "Sorry about that. Selmak was curious as to who Janet Jackson was."

I laugh again and pop another forkful of the "chicken" into my mouth.

"So what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Is there anyone special in your life?"

I feel myself blush. Dad doesn't usually ask such forward questions.

"Should there be?"

"I just thought, since everyone else at this place seems to be pairing off, that maybe you had someone."

I put my fork down and reach for my glass of water. I might as well tell him, "Jack."

Dad grins, "I figured that he'd be the one."

I smile back at him, I knew that he liked Jack.

Dad stayed for two more days, then he left promising to return often. He said that next time he'd bring more Tok'ra with him. He knows that we would like visitors. Jack joked that maybe we could have a raucous party but Jacob didn't seem to think that the Tok'ra were big party animals. I think he's right. Before dad left, he'd pulled Jack aside and I knew that he was giving him the Speech that he always gives any guy that's with me. It made everything seem right. This place is almost starting to feel like home.