"So what do you make of this Daniel?" Dr. Daniel Jackson did not know where to start. He distinctively remembers being at the bottom of the ramp along with the other team members ready and willing to walk up and into the blue shimmering pool but now. Now they were all standing at the bottom of the ramp but the gate was gone and its place were what looked to be two videotapes? General Hammond ordered all personnel back to their stations and all the individuals inside the gate room to the doctor's office for a quick medical check-up. General Hammond sent a separate team into retrieve the tapes and have them examined just in case they were bombs.

Three days later Daniel Jackson and Jack O'Neil were in General Hammond's office, doing nothing. They both shrugged their shoulders because they had both been in quarantine for the past three days and today they were escorted to the General's office for a private meeting. The General entered with two videotapes, which prompted Daniel and Jack to sit-up straighter in their chairs. "Gentlemen. These are the two tapes left behind in place of the Stargate. One tape is directed to Daniel Jackson and the other to you Jack. I have seen the tapes and so have two experts in whom I have total confidence. Due to the sensitivity of the information contained in these tapes it was necessary to ensure total secrecy." Jack and Daniel's curiosity was peeked and it could be seen in their postures as they tried to peer closer to what the General was holding. "Jack if you can come with me you can view the tapes in my private room and Dr. Jackson you can stay here and view your tapes. There are instructions for the proper disposing of these tapes but these are decision you men will have to make on your own, I can't order or force you to do anything you don't want to do." With that General Hammond stood and opened the door to his private room and let Jack in. When Jack turned around General Hammond handed the tape to him and closed the door behind him. General Hammond then stepped out of his office and headed up top. He needed to head home and call his daughter; he needed some time off to cherish these moments with her.

"Jack if your watching this then our prayers have been answered. Sorry let me introduce myself to you. My name is Samantha Carter-O'Neill. As you can see from the pins on my uniform I am a member of the Air Force and at one point directly under your command. God there is so much I want to tell you but your probably already skeptical of just the few things I've said. Let me start with some basics, the year is 2009 and we have made a mistake. When you and your team went across the Stargate for the first time it set-off a chain of events no one could have foreseen. Friends were made and so were enemies. The latest enemy is a group called the Ori. They are powerful, they are strong, they are relentless and they are on the verge of destroying earth. I am sitting in what is left of NORAD and as you can see from the background there isn't much left. I've added some personal footage into this tape and anyone on the base can confirm it as authentic. I've also included personal data only I would know so that you can locate me and confirm that the information is real and only known to me." Jack paused the tape and had to breath a couple of times. This woman introduced herself as an O'Neill, had he married her? She was wearing a wedding band but she could be married to any other O'Neil, might as well let Samantha finish talking.

"Hello Daniel, my Daniel is what I believe Sharee always called you. I'm so horrible at this but Sam says it is a good idea, that it'll give me, us closer. My name is Vala Maldoran-Jackson. I am your wife and I have been your wife for the last six months that is until you died yesterday in my arms protecting me. I wished so hard to take that moment back and it plays in my mind all the time. But let me start by saying I'm sorry. I'm sorry that now that the Stargate is no longer with you I will not get to meet you. Now that the gate is no longer with you, you won't be able to discover all the wonderful people and things that you would have discovered, one of them being your first wife, her name was Sharee. I'm sorry but she died a couple of years into your marriage due to the first enemy that you encountered when you went across the gate. I'm getting ahead of myself again. The year is now 2009 and the reason the gate is gone is because you and the rest of the Stargate program have come across an enemy that you couldn't defeat and in the end took you away from me. We have made new friends here on earth and they helped us with ensuring that what you did never happened. That you never crossed the threshold of the gate and as such start the chain of events that have brought us to this point of desperation. I have many regrets in my life but ensuring your life even if it is away from me, us is enough to ensure my happiness wherever I may be now." Daniel paused the tape and looked at the woman in the video. She was so radiant, full of life and so much of woman that he would never think that someone like her would look at him twice. In addition, when she said us she touched her obvious very pregnant mid-section. These tapes had to be false but General Hammond had assured him that they had proved to be authentic. Daniel got more comfortable in his chair and pulled a piece of paper and pen close to him so he could make notes of what she was saying. Maybe he could research what she was saying in order to locate where the Stargate had been taken and bring it back.

Six and a half hours later Jack and Daniel were still sitting in their respective spots watching the video finish telling it's story.

"Our time together Jack has been wonderful and difficult but I have traded every minute of it to ensure that not only us but everyone else on this earth has a future. I know that what we are now is meant to be and that we will come together once more. You will go back into retirement after this, which is where you were before you got dragged into this mess anyway and I know we will be together again some day. I leave you now with some footage of our wedding. You said it had been your happiest day and it will always be mine as well. Remember I love you and if there had been another way we would have taken it but this, this was our last choice. Good bye Jack."

Daniel clicked his TV off and removed the tape from the VCR. Jack walked out of the General's office at the exact moment and both men stared at each other. What were they to do? Should they believe what was being told to them or ignore it and go on with their lives. Jack and Daniel left the tapes on General Hammond's desk with a note asking him to dispose of them for them. Both men new that if it were left up to them just as the video asked they wouldn't be able to do it so they asked the General to do it on their behalf. Both men stepped out and headed topside. Their luggage was waiting for them by the elevator and when they exited with their belongings they stood under the fading suns rays wondering if it had been their choice would they have given up personal happiness for the world, for humanity's sake.

Sam and Vala sat on the floor while the walls were rocked from the bombing onslaught the Ori were inflicting on the mountain, or better said what was left of the mountain. They held hands and in hushed whispers Vala asked Sam, "Do you think it worked?" Sam turned to look at Vala, "Whatever the outcome it has to better than where we are at now. Now everyone is gone and with this new alternative we may all just have a chance. I'm sorry Vala." Sam had already lost Jack and their son so she had nothing left but Vala. Vala who had suffered first at the hands of her family, then at the Gould's, society in general had finally found happiness, friendship, love and motherhood. She still had everything but had given it up to ensure life for everyone else. She who had never had anything good happen to her had to give up her last bit of happiness to save the world. Three little words that carried so much weight but where ever they wound up they knew that it had been the right choice, no matter how much their hearts were breaking in the process.

Vala stood in a white abyss and immediately recognized it for what it was. Her new friends had told her about such a place and it was a good place but it was riddled with tough choices. A bodiless voice spoke in front of her, "Hello Vala." Vala smiled she hoped she would like their question. "You may or you may not Vala but ultimately it is your choice. We know that the final sacrifice had to be yours. All other new what they would be loosing and were willing to do it with out question. You who had no reason to agree to this option still choose humanity over your own mortality and for that we have a gift but it has limitations." Vala nodded her head in understanding and patiently waited for their question, "You can be with Daniel. We can make it possible for you to cross each others paths and you will have some of your memory's or you can stay here with your son, Nicholas." Vala stopped smiling when she was asked to choose but she then smiled and agreed to be by Daniels side. The voice said goodbye to Vala and she awoke standing in a darkened alley.

"So what's a boy like you doing in a place like this?" Daniel turned to look at the voice that spoke to him but he couldn't tell who it was the young lady was wearing a mask but very little of anything else. The gentleman's club that Jacks buddy's had dragged both of them to this Halloween was not what Daniel or Jack were in the mood for but they had little choice in the matter. Daniel looked over the woman's shoulder and he could see Jack headed his way. Jack had told Daniel to wait for him by the bar and give him five minutes because that's all it would take for him to detangle himself from their captors, or so called friends, and head back out the door. "My friend is coming and were leaving but it was nice meeting you." Daniel stuck out his hand to shake the young lady's hand she took it but then pulled him close for a kiss. "Goodbye don't be a stranger real gentlemen like you are always welcome." Daniel nodded and blushed at her forwardness as he trailed behind Jack.

It had been six months since the gate's disappearance and since then Daniel had taken up residence in Jacks spare bedroom. They had created a bond of sorts, men in love but with their loves no longer part of their lives. Jack's love though was an attainable goal and he had even looked into Samantha Carter's life but found she had a fiancée and so he never walked in and introduced himself. Instead he went back to his cabin and enjoyed his fishing. Daniel's love though was unattainable so he spent his time free lancing his research abilities to the R.W.C. and their Sunnydale, CA branch.

Daniel went to the fridge and noticed they were low on some essential breakfast items so he told Jack he was going to head on into town and pick them up. Daniel had purchased a car and paid rent to Jack because as much as they had become friends he didn't want to take advantage of it. The RWC paid him well for his translations so he wasn't hurting on the money front anymore like he had before but couldn't bring himself to leave just yet.

Vala was debating between Chunky Monkey and Moose Tracks. She didn't need the extra workout sessions if she bought both of them but they both tasted so good. She dropped the Moose Tracks when she bumped into a warm body, "Chunky Monkey it is then." Vala turned to see whom she had bumped into and apologize for her inattentiveness when she had to smile; it was the gentleman from last night. "We really have to stop running into each other like this." Daniel was on the floor trying to locate his glasses, which had fallen when he had been bumped into to. Daniel looked up and saw a fuzzy figure, which proceeded to come down to his level, and he landed on his bottom and predictably on his glasses. Daniel closed his eyes in heartache. He couldn't see without his glasses and while they were plastic the frame would probably be to shot for him to be able to do anything with them.

Vala felt bad when she heard the scrunch of the glasses. "I'm sorry for the bump and your glasses, here let me help you get up." Vala took Daniel's hand and then reached down to pick up what was left over of his glasses and the Moose Tracks she had dropped earlier. "I'm Vala we met last night at the club." Daniel was squinting to get a better look at the woman in front of him and Vala noticed this so she decided to be nice and give him a better look. She put his glasses in her purse and the Moose Tracks in his cart and stepped so close to him that she was breathing his same air. She put on her most dazzlingly smile and Daniel's heart stopped. He wanted to hug her so bad but he stopped himself. How had this happened, Vala was supposed to have been unattainable but instead here she was in front of him