Epilogue

"Mommy! Mommy, guess what?"

Sam started from sleep to find Nick about two inches from her face. She glanced at the clock. The bleary numbers told her that it was only a little after five o'clock in the morning. Not that she hadn't expected this, it was Christmas morning after all, but she had been hoping Nick would let them sleep in a little. She looked into her little boy's glowing face. "Morning, buddy."

"Mommy, it's snowing!" he shouted, running around to the other side of the bed to make sure Jack was up too.

Sam smiled at his exuberance. The little boy's excitement was contagious, despite the early hour. "Hey, Nicky, you better not have gone downstairs yet," she said, pulling back the covers and getting out of bed.

He looked up at her, big blue eyes sparkling. "I didn't, Mommy. I pwomise."

She grinned and swept him up into her arms, giving him a tight hug. "Good boy. Are your cousins up yet?"

"Nope," he said, squirming to get down. "I'm gonna get them up wight now!"

She caught him, tickling his tummy until he collapsed in a fit of giggles. "How about we wait and let them wake up on their own?"

Over Nick's giggles however, she heard excited shouts coming from the guest room, and knew Elsie and the boys were already awake. Nick knew it too, and dashed from the room. Sam followed him, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Jack was getting up. He was sitting up and rubbing his eyes, and she figured that was good enough for the moment.

Reaching the guest room, she found all four kids standing on the bed so they could see out the window. Nick had been right, it was snowing. The kids stood there, captivated by the little flakes, until they suddenly remembered that Santa Claus had come, and there were presents waiting downstairs. They all scrambled off the bed, giggling and discussing the possibilities of what their presents could be.

"Hold on, guys," Sam said, blocking the doorway. "We need to go make sure Jonas is awake before presents."

None of them objected, and they raced past her to go downstairs and wake him up.

"Better hurry, Jack!" she shouted as they ran down the hallway. She followed the kids downstairs to the other guest room and stopped in the doorway, watching as the twins jumped up on the bed and shouted in their father's ear. Jonas came awake with a start, and looked around in surprise.

"It's Christmas, Daddy!" Elsie said, tugging on his hand. "We hafta see what Santa Claus brought us, remember?"

Jonas nodded, still looking disoriented, but got out of bed and let his children drag him into the living room. Sam caught his wince, knowing he was still a little tender from his injuries, but decided not to bug him about taking his pain medication until after presents. Jack was waiting with the video camera as the kids came in and saw their stockings and the presents brought by "Santa."

The kids rushed forward, Elsie helping the twins figure out whose stocking was whose, and the adults sank down onto the couch. Sam watched the kids pull things out of their stockings with little exclamations of surprise and happiness, and felt her mood lift even higher. She glanced at Jonas, trying to fathom what the man must be feeling right now, and was relieved to see a faint smile on his face as he watched the kids. It had been a rough week-and-a-half for the man – he had only come home from the infirmary a couple days ago – but he was handling things well, considering. And, to everyone's relief, he and the rest of the Kelownan refugees had decided to stay on Earth. They could only take their settlement being destroyed so many times, and now that their population had been cut almost in half, it would be difficult to rebuild. The SGC was helping them find homes and food and clothes, and Cassie and Andrew had put their new fostering license to good use, taking five Kelownan orphans into their home. Sam thought everything had turned out for the best, though she knew Jonas might need some time to figure that out for himself. She touched his arm.

"You okay?"

He glanced at her, smiling a little. "Actually," he turned his gaze back to the kids. "I'm . . . I'm good."

She smiled and patted his wrist. "I'm glad."

Just then, Nick leaped into her lap to show her the toy he'd discovered in his stocking, followed by the twins and Elsie. It was then, with all of them squashed on the couch, talking and laughing, that Sam knew with a sudden surety, that everything was going to be just fine. She grinned at Jack, seeing the same sentiment in his eyes, and then at Jonas. To her surprise, he was grinning. A grin that reminded her of when she'd first met him. Yep, she thought. Home. We're all home for good.

THE END


Well, that's it, folks. This chapter was almost in time for Christmas in July! I hope you'll excuse the holiday sentiment even though (at least where I live) it's about 100 degrees outside.

Anyway, thank you so much for sticking with me through the whole story! I just realized I started posting this over a year ago. If I had known it was going to be this long and involved, I might not have ever started! It was all of you who reviewed that kept the story going. I really wouldn't have finished it without your encouragement!

Also, I just have to give credit to my six adorable nieces and nephews who were the inspiration for most of the things the kids did. I feel bad for taking all the credit when this story wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for their fun little personalities.

One more thing. Stay tuned for a story about how Ethan came to the SGC, and their early adventures with him. I have a lot of it written already, and I also have lots of one-shots that I'd like to get on here. So yeah, basically, shameless self-promotion. :)

Thank you all again for your kind reviews! See you at the next story.