The handicapped spots had been taken. And the ones nearest the restaurant. Daniel gripped his cane tighter as he finally reached the door and stood back for an old man. A Senior Citizen. An Elder. Who had a doggy bag in his hand. He also had white hair and a wide, gentle, wrinkled smile. And he was spry. Sprightly. Not limping. Daniel Jackson was reasonably certain the old man was laughing at him as he hobbled past, forcing a toothy smile of thanks for having the door held open for his poor, battered body. "Thank you. Kind."

"No problem, son. I thank God it's you and not me."

Yep. Definitely laughing at him.

"Great," he muttered under his breath. "I'm the laughing stock of the geriatric community."

"Oh, you've been that since you joined my team." Daniel jumped, startled. Jack's warm, big hand grabbed his elbow and steadied him. "Whoa, tiger. Can't have you surviving . . .field exercises like that and then killing yourself falling down in a restaurant. It'd give the Air Force a bad name."

Daniel turned a big, bright, sincere smile on him. "Fuque toi, Jack."

"Ow, wounded!" The Colonel placed a hand over his heart and managed to paste a hurt expression on his face. It lasted about two seconds before it melted into a wicked grin. "So when did Janet cut you loose?"

"Three hours ago." Daniel paused as he carefully made his ungraceful way to a round table where Teal'c and Sam were waiting. "First thing I did was grab a VIP suite and get a shower that did NOT involve nurses selling lottery tickets."

"Yeahhh, I heard some of the don't ask, don't tell crowd seriously cleaned up on selling their options. When my hair went gray the sponge bath mafia let up on me a little and I tell ya, it made me wish I'd dyed it gray a decade before."

Daniel snorted. "What you really mean is you wish you'd stopped using Grecian Formula fifteen years ago."

"You know you CAN be dealt with. And even if both your feet worked you couldn't catch me."

"You have to sleep some time."

Jack's smile gentled. "Maybe in a week, Daniel. You look pretty sore today."

". . . a little." Daniel admitted.

"What'd Janet say? Is it broken?"

"Just sprained." Daniel winced as the leg twinged. "It's fine. Not like you and that road rash on your face."

"Right." Jack made a rude noise. "You're just jealous of my rugged good looks."

"Oh yeah, that's right." Daniel matched his rude noise. "Don't tell me. Have you been using that old line about falling off a mountain while you were free climbing, again? They don't buy that do they?"

"Envy is so unappealing." Sam and Teal'c were looking up curiously as they reached their table. Jack pulled out a chair. "And here, after you spent all that time in the company of a lovely aristocrat!"

"What? HER? Or is that him?"

"I don't think I want to go there, Daniel." Jack helped ease him down into his seat. "You know they've put a BOLO out for your sweetheart. I'll let you know if anyone spots her."

Daniel sighed heavily. "I know there wasn't much of a chance, but I was really hoping we could bring Natalie home."

"We will. One day." Jack nodded decisively. "She's one of ours, Daniel. We won't forget her."

"Yeah." He shook his head. "I suppose I should be thankful that . . . 'Zee' isn't the worst choice she could have made."

"Hey, I'm still hoping we can pick Natalie up on the rebound, if you know what I mean. I figure probably your Zee'll be dumping Nat fast. She had a thing for you. A quick change and she'll show back up on your door one of these days. Or that's how it looked from where I stood."

"You have a filthy mind, Jack. I can't believe you're thinking that." Daniel screwed up his face in disgust.

"One more notch in your belt." Jack shook his head. "I guess she counts as your type. Dark, dangerous and . . . all the rest."

"Is that another trampy princess joke?" Daniel eyed him narrowly as Jack slouched into the seat next to him. Sam and Teal'c exchanged a look and the Jaffa smiled toothily as she handed him a five dollar bill. Daniel leaned forward. "What was that?"

"What?" they chimed, looking innocent. Poorly.

"What was the bet?" He asked suspiciously.

Teal'c folded his hands on the table before him. "Major Carter felt that O'Neill would be expressing concern and asking after your health. I disagreed."

"Oh, that is so NOT what you said!" Sam wrinkled her nose. "You said he'd get a trampy alien princess dig in and okay, so you were right. But do NOT try to make it sound so . . . " she huffed. "DIGNIFIED!"

Jack snickered. "At my age, anything is dignified."

"That's what I say about artifacts in midden heaps, Jack." Daniel grinned and took a sip of his water.

"For that, you're paying the bill." The Colonel leaned back and caught the eye of a waitress who smiled broadly and made her way across the room with a speed that spoke of hope for a good tip. Daniel looked over at his teammates. "And for your information, he did ask about my health. Right before the undignified comments."

"Pay up." Sam held out her hand and Teal'c handed her money back.

Daniel pointedly ignored them and turned a smile he hoped was charming on the young woman standing beside him with her handful of menus. "Hi. Two scotches. Glenlivet if you have it. And . . . could we get another place setting?" He tapped the table to his right.

She looked puzzled but nodded, smiled back and handed him a menu. "No problem. In just a minute, if you can wait?"

"No hurry." Daniel smiled a little sadly. "No hurry at all."

She nodded, got the rest of the drink orders and scurried off, intent on her mission. He ran a finger across the fake leather of the menu and blinked hard, blinked again and looked up to find three confused faces turned towards him. "Are we expecting someone else?" asked Sam.

"You got a date?" Jack's eyebrows jumped with curiosity.

"Something like that." Daniel looked up and met their eyes in turn. They waited as the waitress put down a placemat, plate, and silverware, waited again as she brought their drinks.

"Well?" Jack's single word was dry, patient.

"Patience is a virtue, Jack." Daniel dimpled at him with a look he'd practiced in mirrors before hitting foster parents up for big orders of books. He smiled widely and ordered two steaks, one rare and one medium rare, and sipped at his scotch as the others ordered too.

Sam took her shot after the orders were given. "Uh, I guess 'well?' says it for me too."

Daniel shut his eyes. Smiled softly and shook his head. Sipped again. "So. You guys didn't tell me how you wound up cut off with a herd of Ph.D. ducklings. Just run across them?

Jack's eyes crinkled in a wince and Sam abruptly looked away from him. Teal'c met his gaze in a steady, neutral stare and answered. "We were called, Daniel Jackson. They asked for our help."

Sam looked back, visibly forcing herself to meet his eyes. "I tried," she whispered. "Oh Daniel. I couldn't do it. I couldn't get to you."

Daniel blinked, thought back and considered. "That was when we couldn't reach you? The contact dropped?"

Jack nodded. Started to speak and stopped, cleared his throat. "We didn't know if you were still alive, Daniel. We . . ." He trailed off and took a quick sip of his drink. Grimaced.

"I get it." Daniel sighed. Smirked in answer to Jack's skeptical look. "I do. Believe me. And I don't think I'd have dared say no to Elaine either. I KNOW her. She'd have chewed her way back . . home if she had to, and then you'd have been up shit creek, better believe it. I think they had to mop up the last assistant who screwed up in her lab." He shuddered and toasted his teammates. "You survived. In the end, that's what counts."

"We should have come after you." Sam blurted it, fingering her margarita and turning the glass around and around. "We should . . ."

"You couldn't." Daniel shrugged. "Sam, despite what you think, I am a scientist and I don't believe in Santa Claus."

"The tooth fairy on the other hand . . ." muttered Jack.

"Hey, hey, the tooth fairy is a known phenomenon well documented in anthropological research," Daniel shot back. "But I wasn't expecting a sleigh and eight tiny reindeer and I sure wasn't expecting you guys to come riding through the . . . well. You get the idea."

"Daniel Jackson," Teal'c's lips twitched upwards but his eyes were still solemn. "I accept your forgiveness and can only say that we would have found a way, somehow."

Daniel sat up straight and leaned forward. "Listen to me. All of you. There is nothing to forgive. I know you'd have reached me, if you could. Hell, you'd have done it even if you shouldn't have been able to. I know that. If you need to think I forgive you –" he ducked head head, looked back up to find Sam's pained gaze. "Then believe it. I don't need to forgive an offense that never happened, but you've got my forgiveness, my understanding, whatever you need. Most of all, you have my trust. All of you."

Jack cleared his throat and made a face. "God. This is awful. Did we have to do this in public?"

"I dunno, Jack, I remember you as an exhibitionist at heart. That bit on the campus of galactic clap sure wasn't private!" Daniel grinned and turned, happy for the excuse.

The sly, amused look he got in return was what he'd been waiting for, what he really needed. Daniel finally sat back and sighed in relief. Shook his head. "I'll tell you one thing. I really MISS my deserts now."

"I think I agree," moaned Sam. "I threw out all my houseplants."

"I believe that I would also have removed dead ornaments, Major Carter. How is this a hardship?" Teal'c's face was expressionless but his eyes creased just the tiniest bit at the corners.

She scowled. "You're making that up."

"No he's not, Sam. I saw that heap of dead stuff outside your place when I drove past the other night, too."

"Are you . . . Wait a minute! You two are scoping my PLACE?"

Jack shrugged. "Daniel was laid up. What else were we gonna do for fun?"

"You –" She had to cut off her comment as the waitress appeared again with plates laden with steaming steaks. She made a face at Jack. Daniel wouldn't have put money on it, but he was reasonably sure Jack had timed his comment to the food's arrival. It did provide a perfect distraction, he had to admit.

Three of the four leaned forward, and suddenly they were quiet. They were looking at the plate with its steaming filet mignon, sitting before an empty seat. A glass of expensive scotch sat untouched by the plate. Daniel sat up more slowly than his teammates and looked around at them, meeting each set of eyes in turn. Then picked up his glass and reached out, solemnly tapped the glass to the glass by the plate and took a sip, then put his drink down. "Rest well, Frank. I miss you. Thank you."

There was a long, long silence. Then Jack picked up his glass, and Sam. And Teal'c. And softly, each in turn repeated, "Thank you. Goodbye."

Daniel blinked hard, vision blurring and stinging for an instant, then smiled. "Let's eat."

A/N thank you so much for coming along on the ride, folks! And thank you for writing, those who sent notes. I'm very pleased you enjoyed the ride.

Goo