Disclaimer: Don't belong to me.

"I thought I told you to go and have some fun, we're on downtime!" Jack said from the doorway, before sauntering over to the table and leaning opposite her.

"This is fun, Sir. I really want to know what happens if ...", the telephone interrupted Sam's reply.

"Carter." she listened for a moment, then frowned, "put him through.", her fingers drummed the tabletop unconsciously as she waited. "Sir, I hope you are well."

Jack looked up from the doohickey he was playing with, curious as to who was calling Sam. He saw her go white as she listened to the person on the other end of the line, but all she said was "John?" before leaning back against her stool to steady herself as she listened again. "Can I ..., where ..., I'm on downtime, I'll be there as soon as I can. ... Thank you, Sir." She took a shaky breath as she put the phone down, then ran her fingers through her hair.

"What is it, Carter?" Jack queried, then as there was no response, "Carter?"

"Um, Sir." Sam blinked as she looked up at him, seemingly coming back from a long way away, "Sorry Sir, you were saying ...?"

"Are you OK, Carter? What's the matter?". He was worried now.

"Fine, Sir, just need to make some calls. Have to go to Orlando immediately." She started pulling out a pen and paper and waking up her laptop, almost dismissing him from her thoughts as she spoke.

"Don't give me that Carter, you are not fine! Tell me what you need and I will organise flights while you go and pack, ... and get some of Danny's coffee, I think you need it!", he shooed her out of her chair, grabbed the pad and pen, "Shoot!".

"Next possible flight to Orlando, transport to the airport, won't take me long to have a bag packed."

"OK, I'll meet you at the base entrance with the flight details and the transport, now shoo!"

She stood uncertainly for a minute, before moving off as if in a daze.

Jack dialed Daniel's office, "Sam is on her way up. Get her to drink something. Will you be ready to leave in half an hour for Orlando?"

"What? What do you mean Jack? We're on downtime, remember, and I have all these artifacts I want to ..."

"Daniel! Rocks are not important! Sam ..."

"They are important to me, ..."

"Will you listen, Sam just got a call that upset her and now she wants to leave on the next flight to Orlando! I think we need to be there."

"OK, no problem, do you know what ...?"

"No, got things to sort out, gotta go, bye"

Next on the agenda was a quick call to Teal'c, telling him to be ready to leave the base in half an hour, then he called the airline and booked four tickets to Orlando. After packing a flight bag, he headed for the entrance to meet up with his team.

"What are you guys doing, Sir?" Sam looked confused.

"We're coming with, Carter. We'll stay out of the way if you want, but the way you reacted to the phone call, I, we wouldn't be happy letting you head off on your own!"

"You don't need to Sir, but thank you," her eyes were shining a little with unshed tears, "I'll be fine, it was good news, just a surprise."

The rest of the journey was accomplished mostly in silence, Sam retreated into herself, barely acknowledging any comments made to her, while the rest of the team kept an eye on her as unobtrusively as possible. Daniel and Teal'c were now as worried about her as Jack was.

A driver picked them up at the airport, merely raising an eyebrow at the unexpected additional passengers.

Jack was at first relieved and then concerned, as Sam finally seemed to rouse from her introspection, but steadily became tenser as the journey continued. He was on edge as well, not knowing what awaited them at the journey's end, and unsure of the level of danger he needed to be preparing for.

They finally drew up to the gates of a large beachfront property. The guards scanned them all carefully, then withdrew to make contact with the house. Jack caught the words "unauthorised guests", it seemed Sam had too, because she jumped out of the car and walked over to the guard, motioning for the radio. She spoke quickly to the person on the other side, and then returned it to the guard. They were quickly waved forward.

At the house, an older man was waiting for them. The car had barely stopped before Sam was out again, and by his side. "It is real, isn't it?" she asked. He smiled and nodded. "I'll take you to him right now." He looked over at the rest of her team, and glanced down at Sam, "Would .."

She nodded, then seemed to realise something, "Sorry Sir, this is my team – Colonel O'Neill, Daniel Jackson and Murray. I am sorry I forgot to let you know they were coming with, I have been in a bit of a daze since your phone call." He smiled understandingly at that. "If it is alright with you, I would like them to come along."

"That's fine, I did a little checking and all of you guys have high enough clearance, for whatever reason." He looked at Sam, a little curious, then turned to the team. "Nice to meet you, if you would follow me."

He led them down the path next to the house, and as they rounded the corner they saw a man sitting on the pier, looking out at the ocean.

A strangled gasp drew their attention back to Sam. She had turned white again. Jack moved towards her quickly, concerned she was about to faint, but even before he could reach her, she took off with a broken whisper of "John!" torn from her throat as she raced towards the figure on the pier. A quiet "Leave her." from their guide stopped Jack from following.

The man by the ocean could not possibly have heard her cry, but somehow, he appeared to have felt her presence, because he turned sharply in her direction. After a frozen moment, he started moving to meet her.

"Sammie!"

It looked like they were going to run into each others arms, like a scene from a movie, but at the last moment they both stopped, just a handsbreadth apart. Sam raised a shaky hand and reached out towards him, tentatively, as if afraid her hand would pass right through him. She touched his cheek, and he leant into her hand, confirming for both of them that this was real. They stood for a long moment drinking in the sight of the other, before enveloping each other in a bear hug.

Chiana noticed movement through the window and went to investigate.

"Ooh, John has got a friend come to visit. Very pretty, with golden hair. Come see, and she has brought some verrrry nice looking men along! Maybe they'll come and play."

"Have they brought food?" Rygel was momentarily interested in the new arrivals.

Aeryn stalked over to the window, to be faced with the sight of John wrapped around a tall, slim woman as if he never wanted to let go. She felt as though all the air had been knocked out of her lungs.

Outside, Jack was experiencing a similar reaction to the scene. Whoever this man was, he was very important to Sam.

"Sammie, I am being glared at by three rather scary guys, who seem to be wondering what I am doing to you."

"Oh my goodness, my team. I didn't even tell them why we were coming, I couldn't believe it was really true until I saw you."

"Well I guess we had better go and make some introductions before I get shot for manhandling an air force officer ... you are still airforce, aren't you?"

Sam nodded into his chest.

"We are going to have to let go, otherwise getting from here to there could prove a little problematic!"

With a slightly watery giggle, Sam reluctantly moved out of his embrace, but clung to his arm, as if afraid to let go. John grabbed her hand and laced their fingers together, not really wanting too much distance between them either.

"It's OK, Sammie, I still keep checking to make sure it is really real. Introduce me to your team, and then I'll introduce you to mine. You're in for the surprise of a lifetime."

Together they made their way back up towards the spectators. Coming to a halt in front of her team, Sam pulled herself together and made the introductions.

"John, this is Colonel O'Neill, my CO, Dr Daniel Jackson, and Murray. Sir, guys, this is John Crichton, an astronaut whose shuttle disappeared four years ago, and was presumed dead."

John surveyed the men in front of him. The Colonel was tall and lean, his short hair shot through with silver, his brown eyes assessing John, judging him. He saw in them a fierce protectiveness for Sam and a trace of quickly hidden pain. He glanced down at Sam, and wondered if she realised how much she meant to this man. The Doctor was more solidly built, but fit, his face more open and easy to read. He looked at John with curiousity but also some questions, obviously concerned about Sam. The third man was huge, and seemed to be watching them with little emotion, but somehow John had no doubt, that if he proved to be any danger to Sam, he would not survive much longer. Sam was obviously an integral part of this very close knit team, and they were all looking out for her.

In turn, they were assessing him. A reasonably tall man, obviously comfortable in his skin, who could handle himself. The bond between him and Sam was obvious and deep.

"Nice to meet yall, any friend of Sam's ... yada, yada. I hope you guys can spend some time?" He glanced down at Sam, a question in his eyes. At her smile, he looked back up,

"I don't know how much my father told you, but I was thrown through a wormhole and ended up in a distant part of the universe. I ended up on a ship with a number of different aliens. Moya, the ship was recently able to find a way to earth, and so I am home. My friends and I have been staying here courtesy of the IASA, while they work out what to do with us." He paused and then gestured towards the house. "Well, come on in, welcome to our gilded cage, that is to say, our happy home, and meet the not so local crazies who have kept me company for the last four years! There are too many things to warn you about, but I will try to protect you."

They followed John and Sam into the house, a little apprehensive following that introduction, and were met with an interesting sight. A silvery blue girl was inspecting them with obvious interest and appreciation. A tall woman with long, straight black hair and clad in black leather was observing them with the attitude of a soldier, determining if they were friend or enemy. A wizened old woman with an extra eye in the middle of her forehead. A man, almost as big as Teal'c, obviously a warrior, with heavy brows, a long plaited beard and an elongated chin. And, especially freaky was a small hairy creature that appeared to be floating near the table, stuffing its face full of pizza, and showing no interest in them whatsoever.

"Meet Chiana, don't go anywhere alone with her, Aeryn, who has promised not to shoot anyone, haven't you?" glaring at her briefly, "the old crone, D'Argo, and the funny little fella is Rygel. Guys, this is my friend, Sam, and Colonel O'Neill, Daniel Jackson and um, Murray."

Daniel was fascinated, and eager to get to know something about the different cultures, and was quickly involved in questioning each of them. Teal'c and D'Argo had silently assessed each other for a few minutes then gone back to observing those surrounding them, exchanging comments from time to time. Aeryn had put up with a few of Daniel's queries, then excused herself and made her way to the other side of the room. She ended up near Jack, recognising the bearing of a fellow soldier and feeling more comfortable with him, "So how do you know John?"

"Huh, umm, well actually I don't. He is a friend of Sam's. We just came along for the ride."

"Oh! OK. They seem to be good friends."

"That they do."

They lapsed into silence, considering this last comment. Watching him, Aeryn realised how often his eyes strayed towards John and Sam, checking on her, making sure she was OK, and realised that this man was in a similar position to herself. Did either of them have a hope?

Sam and John had been catching up on each other's lives. Now after seeing him check on Aeryn again, she asked.

"So, what's going on with you and Aeryn? And don't try to tell me 'nothing', because I know you John."

"It's complicated Sammie." He paused "We were together for a while, then we split up."

"Well, since you obviously still care about her, why don't you get back together?"

"Not going to happen."

"Why"

He sighed "I have some very important information in my head.", he quirked a smile at her, seeing her expression, "Don't laugh, it's true! Anythings possible in space! Anyway, an enemy is desperate to get his hands on it, he has tried everything he can think of to get me to give it to him."

She reached out to him as she saw his eyes darken with the memories.

"Torture?" she whispered.

"Some." He pulled himself together. "Anyway, if he had any clue how I really feel about Aeryn, he would realise all he needed to do was threaten her. I can't let that happen, I can't give him the information and I can't put her in danger. It has to be this way."

"I'm sorry. ... Don't give up hope completely. Maybe one day circumstances will change for you."

"Maybe. ... Sounds like the voice of experience. Does this have something to do with Jack?"

"He is my CO. You know the regs!"

"You could transfer, actually I thought you would have done so by now anyway. You wanted to be an astronaut."

"That was my dream. Things change though, and the work I am doing now is important and fascinating! I'm needed there and I wouldn't want to leave. And the team we have built, we are so good together, I couldn't leave just for the possibility of a romance."

"Trust me Sam, it's not a 'possibility', it's a 'certainty'. But if this project is that important to you, then you will have to follow your own advice, and wait for circumstances to change."