Jay turned in his gear and weapons, then headed for the locker room, where he washed up, and sat for a few minutes on the bench, his head back against the wall, breathing. Two years away from this life was a long time. He hadn't lost his instincts, but he had gotten used to a more peaceful existence; being back took some adjusting. His body felt great, though; stronger and faster than he'd felt since his early years of black ops, his reactions at their peak.

After a few minutes he straightened up. He needed to go and see how Hailey was doing. He went into Jack's locker and found a clean tee-shirt, and put it on. Then he took the elevator up to the infirmary.

The place was a circus of activity, and he stood near a wall observing, half expecting Janet Fraiser to come barreling around a corner; Hammond had told him about her death of course, but it was hard to picture this place without her. After a few minutes one of the nurses stopped and asked if he needed medical assistance.

"No, thank you," he told her. "I'm looking for Lieutenant Hailey. They brought her up a few minutes ago."

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant O'Neill, you can't see her right now. She's still being evaluated. I can let you know the results, though."

"Thank you. I'd appreciate that. Maybe you can tell me where Daniel Jackson is?"

"In room 2." She pointed down the corridor, smiled and hurried away to her duties.

The door was closed when he reached it; he knocked and Daniel's voice called him in. Daniel was sitting up in the bed. Bear Nash was seated in the visitor's chair.

Nash came to his feet with a wide grin. "O'Neill! You're really alive!" He shook Jay's hand warmly. "I couldn't believe it when they told me. I'm very glad to see you."

"Thank you, sir. I appreciate your coming here."

"I don't think I had much choice, actually. But now I'm very glad I did. This is just incredible."

"Yes, sir. It is kind of." Jay looked over at the bed. "Daniel. How're you feeling?"

"Getting there. What's going on out there, Jay? Sam told me you got Jack out. But it sounds like there was trouble."

"We were attacked by Goa'uld death gliders as we were coming back through the gate," Jay explained. "Hathor's daughter must have arrived at the planet. A couple of people got hit, but everybody's home. One shot hit the gate platform and some of the blowback came through to the SGC. It's a good thing we didn't hang around any longer."

"Yeah, I'll say," Daniel agreed. "Where's Jack now?"

"The docs are looking him over. He's pretty beat up, probably a concussion. Nothing that won't heal, as he'd say."

They talked for a while, answering some of Bear's many questions, discussing what had happened. Fifteen minutes later there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Daniel called.

It was the nurse Jay had spoken with earlier. "Lieutenant O'Neill, I said I would let you know about Lieutenant Hailey."

"Yes? How is she?"

"The scans showed some internal bleeding. Dr. Lam will be taking her into surgery shortly to take care of that. It's pretty straightforward; we've gotten to it quickly enough."

"Thank you," he said after a moment. "You know that her heart stopped when that staff blast hit her?"

"Yes. That looks good now. There should not be a problem."

"Thanks for letting me know."

"You're welcome." She smiled and left them.

"What happened to Hailey?" Daniel asked.

Jay explained quickly, then added, "She's the one who really saved the day out there." Then went to tell him how she had saved their lives on 998.

"I hope she's going to be all right," Daniel said.

Jay nodded. "Yeah. Me, too." He got to his feet. "Look, I'm going to go and see if I can find Sa—Colonel Carter. And find out where we're staying tonight," Jay said. "Either of you have any idea what time it is?"

Bear glanced at his watch. "It's 2315 hours—oh, wait a minute. That's central time. 2215."

"Less than eleven hours since Thor beamed Jack and me up to his ship?" Jay said in surprise. "Feels like a lifetime."

xxxxxxxx

He couldn't find Sam but he found Harriman instead. The sergeant was just going off duty, but stopped long enough to let Jay know which quarters had been assigned to him and Major Nash for the night.

After Harriman had gone, Jay headed for the elevator. On the way back up to the infirmary, he realized he was hungry. He thought perhaps Nash might be also. Maybe they could stop by the cafeteria for a late supper.

They found the cafeteria filled; nearly every person who'd been on 998, and wasn't in the infirmary, was there. The SGC ran a 24 hour food service; teams returning from missions were hardly ever on local time, and were often hungry.

Hailey's teammates, SG-5, were crowded around a corner table with Al Reynolds and SG-3; they waved Jay over once he and Nash had their food. Bosworth and Cruz got up and dragged over an unoccupied table and chairs, enlarging their space.

Jay introduced Bear Nash to the teams, and explained that he was a guest at the SGC. "Just like me," Jay added.

"Well, you're not really a guest, O'Neill," Reynolds told him, clapping him on the shoulder. "By the way, thanks for the save today."

"Yeah," the others echoed.

"Not me," Jay said. "Hailey made the big save. You guys know she's in surgery, right?"

"Yes," Colonel Sharp, her CO, told him. "Dr. Lam filled me in. It sounds like she'll be okay once they stop the bleeding."

"That's what I heard," Jay agreed. "So tell me about this new doctor; Dr. Lam."

"Seems to be very competent, so far," said Lieutenant Sam Douglas, Hailey's teammate.

"The General picked her out himself, and went all the way to California to interview her," Reynolds said. "Must have made a good sell, too, because she came back with him."

"She's a little bossy, tho," Airman Eaton put in.

"Isn't that a requirement for the job?" Cruz asked and the others laughed.

"Yeah, remember what everybody called Doc Fraiser? Little Napoleon?" added Airman Bosworth.

Everyone sobered for a minute, looking momentarily sad and nostalgic.

"I wonder what nickname this doc will get." Joe Libby's comment brought back the good humor.

They talked more as they ate. The teams were curious about Jay's life the last two years, and asked him and Nash quite a few questions. There were also a few things that had happened at the SGC that Jay hadn't known about. Most of the conversation was about the day's mission, however. It ended on a sober note when Colonel Barnhart's name came up.

"A good man," Sharp observed. "He and his wife live in Colorado Springs. They have a couple of teen-age sons. It's going to be hard on his family."

"And they can't even really tell them what happened," Reynolds added.

It was well after midnight when the group broke up and everyone headed for their beds.