Author's Note: This is actually chapter one. Not sure where my brain was last week, but on the flip side you can read the next two chapters on my website. kellethmetheus. com


Where is my Emerald City?

Daniel Jackson watched as Brigadier General Jack O'Neill rub his temples. "Jack, you have to let me go-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the older man closed his eyes and stuck his fingers in his ears. "Na Na Na Na, I'm not listening."

Folding his arms across his chest, Daniel waited for Jack to stop acting like a four year old. A few minutes later when his friend took his fingers out of his ears, Daniel said, "Jack, stop it. All I want is to be considered for the Atlantis expedition. What am I going to do here? Jack, I want to go. There's nothing here for me, SG-1 is gone. You have Sam and Grace, with another baby on the way. Teal'c has Ry'ac as well as Ishta, not to mention the Jaffa nation. Let me go, let me do this, please."


Jack looked at his friend. They had been through so much together and he knew what Daniel was asking; it wasn't just to go to Atlantis, but to let him leave and to stop protecting him. The words were so close to the ones Daniel had uttered when he was dying of radiation sickness.

Although he tried to repress it, Jack sighed. His friend was right. It was time to let Daniel find his own way, but he wouldn't tell him quite yet. He needed Daniel here on Earth for now. They had three System Lords arriving tomorrow, supposedly to negotiate a treaty with Earth. Jack believed that about as far as he could throw Ba'al, but in the off-chance it might be true, they had to give the snakes the benefit of the doubt.

Getting to his feet, Jack said, "Daniel, I have to go. We'll talk about this later. I need to go push Sam out the door or we'll never get home. Once we've gotten rid of the System Lords, we can talk about this."

"Jack-" Daniel tried to start talking again.

"Later, Daniel," Jack almost ran out of his office toward his and Sam's quarters.

Daniel attempted to keep pace for a moment but gave up with a shrug. He watched Jack disappear and then turned and headed slowly off in the other direction.


Lieutenant Colonel Samantha O'Neill walked into the base quarters she shared with her husband, General Jack O'Neill. She nodded to the young nurse who had come to sit with Grace while she had dealt with a small, well, what was supposed to be a small problem, in her department.

Today had been a long day and she just wanted to rest and put her feet up. The problem was that the day wasn't over. Tonight, she still had to have dinner with her in-laws.

In fact she was supposed to be home hours ago to cook that dinner. This was the first time meeting Admiral John O'Neill and his wife Monica, and she had wanted to make a good impression, but now that wasn't going to happen.

Jack hadn't seen or talked to his parents since Charlie's funeral more than eight years ago. Sam hadn't heard the whole story of the estrangement, but it had to do with the death of Jack's younger brother, Patrick. There had been an accident; Jack had lived while Pat died. Jack said his father was angry that he was the surviving son. A week or so ago when Jack thought he might die from sticking his head in the ancient device, Jack called them so Sam would have their support if anything happened to him.

She and Jack had been married for a little over a month now and Grace was almost two months old, but their lives were anything but settled. Just yesterday, Jack had taken command of the SGC and Sam had been named head of a new department that dealt with all the alien technology that was brought through the 'Gate. It was her job to evaluate her team's assessment of the various devices and decided what would go to Area 51 and what would stay as her pet projects.

Sam now reported to General Hammond at Home World Security and General Peters at Area 51. Jack commanded the SGC like he commanded SG-1 for years; he said he wasn't going to chance anything now, just because he had a star on his shoulders.

The same day that Jack had taken command; a message had come through the wormhole in Goa'uld. What was left of the coalition of System Lords wanted to make peace now that Ba'al was trouncing them. The delegation was to arrive in the morning, giving Jack and Sam one night to meet Jack's parents as they stopped in on the way to San Francisco from D.C., where they lived.

Dropping down on the couch, Sam thought with Grace it had been so easy. She had only been pregnant for a few hours, most of it in labor. She rubbed the slight bump the new pregnancy had created; she had been very surprised that she had gotten pregnant so easily. She supposed that Grace had done something to her body's chemistry to make her plan work. However it happened, she was about a month or so along with their second child.

When everything had settled down after their last mission, they had Janet confirm the pregnancy, but she and Jack decided not to find out the sex of the baby. It was still too early to know anything, but Sam thought it was best to decided now so the decision was made.

This was probably their last chance to have a child. Jack wasn't getting any younger and neither was she. They had one chance to experience a normal pregnancy and so they wanted all the surprises they could get.

A cry sounded from the nursery. Sam was about to go get Grace when Jack's voice stopped her. "Sit down. I'll get her. I'm done for the day, well unless something else happens." He sounded as tired as she was, "You rest for a moment before we have to go again."

With a thankful sigh, Sam settled back into the chair. . "I knew there was a reason I loved you."

"It's my pleasure. I'll be back in a flash," Jack disappeared into the Grace's room.

Closing her eyes she rubbed her tummy like she seemed to always do these days. She had almost lost the baby, but Jack had saved her, saved the baby, yet part of her still worried. If it had happened once, could it happen again? Janet had reassured Sam that the stress form Fifth's torture had cause the placental separation and it shouldn't occur again.

Although she tried to think about something else, her mind wandered to the impending dinner with the John and Monica. Why would she be embarrassed after all she'd been through that the thought of meeting Jack's parents terrified her?

What would they think of her? She was younger than Jack, by a bit, well quite a bit. Technically, Grace had been born while she was under Jack's command, but there was extenuating circumstances. They hadn't been officially married until Grace was almost three weeks old. Not that they would ever know most of that.

Neither of Jack's parents would be able to know the circumstances of Grace's origins. That was part of a well kept secret known only by Daniel, Teal'c and General Hammond as well as themselves. It was too dangerous for too many people to know; dangerous for them and for Grace. What would they think about Grace because of the cover story they had been forced to tell? Would it stand up to scrutiny?

"Stop it, Sam, I can hear you thinking all the way clear across the room. They'll love you; it's me they hate."

Turning, she looked at her husband who stood in the doorway to the nursery with their daughter in his arms. She couldn't seem to get enough of the sight of them together. "Jack, they do not. If they really did, they wouldn't be taking the time to come here to see you and Grace. So, I'll stop worrying when you stop beating yourself up." she said as she crossed the room to take the baby..

He met her gaze sheepishly. "Deal," he kissed the top of her head, passing Grace to her. "Why don't you feed her and then we need to get going. We don't want to be late."

Sam sat back down on the rocking chair and nursed Grace. She tried to hide her apprehension but Jack could see it plainly in her body language. Then she looked down at Grace and she was calm once more. She looked up and met his gaze and smiled


Jack returned her smile as he mouthed I love you, then disappeared down the hall. He marveled at the change in his life in the past few months. Until Grace appeared, throwing everything into chaos, he'd all but given up hope Then Grace appeared, throwing everything into chaos. at a life with Sam. Sam deserved to be happy and Jack had decided not to stand in her way if she chose to move on.

He'd reached out to his parents for her; she would need someone to help her if anything ever happened to him. When the dust had settled, he was promoted and his parents had heard about it. Two days ago his mother called, asking if they could come and celebrate his promotion with him and his new wife. Jack had no reason to refuse, although he'd wanted to.

Checking his watch, Jack saw that they were out of time. "Sam, if your done feeding Grace; I'll take her so you can change."

Looking over at him, Sam laughed. "That sounds good to me; she's poopy. She's all yours." Jack couldn't stop himself from whistling when he headed into the living room to claim his stinky little girl. Life was good, poopy diapers and all.


Daniel watched the Alkesh vanish into hyperspace, a feeling of deep sadness crashing over him in waves. He looked around to see if anyone else felt the same way, but the crew of the Prometheus didn't seem to be effected as he was. He closed his eyes as a thought occurred to him; he had lost his chance to be happy, to find his place in this world. It had slipped through his fingers like sand.

Vala Mal Doran stormed into his life showing Daniel that he was ready feel again, to live again. Her sudden departure left him with a empty place where she should have been. Vala was a liar and a thief but Daniel understood why. As an ex-host she wouldn't have a had many options for feeding herself or making an honest living.

Her face would've been remembered as Qetesh more so than Vala. Especially when it was her home planet that Qetesh ruled over. Your friends, your family and neighbors would have been beaten by your order at the wave of your hand.

Daniel sighed, if that story held any truth, , most of what had come out of the woman's mouth had been lies and half truths, but part of that story had rung true. He wasn't sure what it was- the slight hitch in her voice or the tilt of her head, but something betrayed Vala's true emotions, if only for a second.

Loneliness, Vala Mal Doran, liar, thief and swindler wanted to belong somewhere again.

Sighing, he turned to leave the bridge. The story of his life - whats, ifs and maybes.

His eyes strayed to the place where she had kissed him and the pain was back. Pushing it away and burying it, Daniel continued on his way. Vala was gone and he was unlikely to ever see her again and his life would be dimmer for it.


Daniel jerked awake; trembling, breath hard and fast. He rubbed his eyes, feeling as though he'd just woken up from a nightmare he couldn't remember. Looking around the room, he tried to figure out what had happened.

His office came into focus and he realized that he'd fallen asleep at his desk again.

Dropping his head into his hands, he tried to push away the sense of loss he felt. These weren't his memories, but they were. The man he saw in the dream was him, but it wasn't. He saw it clearly as any other memory but he hadn't lived them. They were the other Daniel's memories, not his own.

A memory of a woman he had never met, but he found himself missing her presence. She annoyed him to no end, but he still missed her. Shaking his head, he didn't understand who this woman was and why he kept dreaming about her.

Why would the other Daniel share these memories with him? When he and Teal'c had first met the other him, the man had told him not to let Vala Mal Doran go once he met her, but Daniel hadn't had a chance to meet her. So why the dreams? He had dreamed of her every night since his return from Halla.

Trying to shake off the thought that he was missing something or someone, Daniel went back to preparing for the System Lords' visit the next day. Jack relied on Daniel to have the information needed to negotiate with the Goa'uld tomorrow and to watch out for whatever trap they had planned.

Pulling the book forward, Daniel tried not to remember how empty his life had become since Grace had appeared. SG-1, for all intents and purposes, was gone. Only Teal'c and himself were able to go off world. Sha're was dead; Sarah had left him after they freed her. One morning, she walked away and never looked back. About a week after she left a short email arrived asking him not to find her, and that she needed to find herself again.

He'd thought that his new purpose might lie in Atlantis, and Daniel had put his name forward to join the expedition, but Jack in his less than infinite wisdom, had squelched that. So, Daniel remained in limbo having nowhere else to go and hoping somehow he'd find his place in the world.


There you have it. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and sorry for the confusion. My website is kellethmetheus. com