"I wonder if the Ancients had anything to do with this," Jack pondered, they had got her home, everyone was still at awe and most of them didn't know what to say.
The Ancients: an advanced originally humanoid race, possibly originating on Earth in the distant past, credited with building the system of Stargates. Information rushed through Alex's head, so fast she had to close her eyes and put her hands over her ears to stop excess noise halting her concentration.
"Alex are you alright?" Sam asked worried at the pain etched on Alex's features. She opened her eyes to look at Sam and put her hands down when the flashes of data stopped.
"I'm fine, I just…can't cope with sound at the moment," Everyone was still staring at her, amazed that she was actually there, they had gone to her funeral, most of them had seen her body and Cian had watched her die…and surprisingly he was the only one not looking at her.
"You don't seem to have aged at all," Sam said looking at her "You haven't changed one bit…except for that," she said running her finger along a new scar, it almost looked like two people joining hands. Cian leant over to look and his eyes clouded over as he remembered stroking her hair away from that cut, being helpless just looking at her…dieing.
"She got that just before she died," he said simply and sat back up in his own place. Everybody still jumped when Cian spoke, they weren't used to it, he had spent a lot of time with them, training with Teal'c, learning with Daniel and Sam and sparring with Jack but he never spoke to more than one of them at a time. Cian had decided a long time ago that when he grew up he would work at the SGC and Hammond hadn't minded because after a few lessons with Daniel and Sam the general had found out that the young man was exceptionally bright even though Cian never spoke. Jack said Cian was a thinker not a talker which suited Cian fine.
Alex touched her temple felt the new scar with her fingers "I can't remember it…" she said.
"Remember what?" Sam asked
"Why I died," she said thinking about it "I remember a lot of fire and red, there was a red glow and…"
"Are you sure you can't remember what set off the explosion?" Sam asked.
"I'm sorry…I…can remember Cian," Cian looked up from twiddling his thumbs and set his gaze on her "You were sitting next to me…you were scared and I didn't know why…I wanted to make it better," Alex mumbled. Daniel was looking at her strangely and then opened his mouth to speak.
"Did you speak to anyone while you were dieing/dead?" Daniel asked.
Alex looked at him, bewildered, how did he know about the voice? Should she lie? "I don't remember actually being dead," she lied.
"What do you remember?" he asked.
"Waking up," she shuddered thinking back to the moments when she was buried alive, she had been so scared, it was terrifying; she thought she was going to suffocate, screaming for help.
"Where did you wake up?" Daniel asked intrigued.
"I don't think I want to remember waking up, Daniel," she said quietly. Daniel had a pretty good idea at where she woke up and gave an involuntary shudder as well. "Can I be alone?"
She didn't wait for an answer; instead she went directly to Jack's French doors and made her way to his rooftop. Cian looked indecisive; he didn't know whether to follow her or stay so he fidgeted and eventually just sat down on the sofa and sent Achilles off after her with a pat.
"I need a drink," Teal'c said and proceeded to get a glass of water. Everyone stared at him and gave a shrug, they all knew he didn't mean alcohol but it did sound hilarious considering the current situation. Jack frowned and gave Daniel a look.
"What?" Daniel asked.
"Where do you think she woke up?" Jack asked with a confused glare, now that Daniel took the time he noticed that everyone else was also looking confused, apart from Cian, he looked…sad.
"Jack did you bury her in those clothes?" Daniel questioned, hinting.
It only took Jack a second to realise and he did a double take at the door Alex had just walked out of. "Holy crap," he exclaimed. "How did she get out of that?"
The night went and the morning came, Cian had gone home to the Johnstons near midnight but Daniel, the clone and Teal'c camped out in Jack's living room. Alex had come down from the roof eventually and Jack set her up in the spare room while he and Sam took the bedroom. It was early morning when Alex woke up, opening her eyes to the reddish light on the ceiling.
Morning! A voice screamed in her head
"Argh!" She placed her hands over her head. She stared around her room looking for the owner but eventually dismissed it as her imagination then her door banged open and very excitable Jack and clone came jumping in shouting gleefully. Placing her hands over her ears once more, she glared at them until they became uncomfortable and stopped. "If you two make any more noise you'll wake the dead," she smiled taking her hands off her head again "Oh look, too late,"
Jack laughed as he picked her up out of her bed and carried her into the living room with her struggling to break free of his grip. "No struggling, you'll just make it harder on yourself," Jack (clone) called. Daniel, Teal'c, Cian and Sam were already there sitting patiently as Jack placed her on the sofa and Sam and Cian grabbed her arms so she couldn't escape. Cian had a playful glint in his eye and made Alex's spirits soar high, ever since she had come back Cian had just looked miserable apart from when he had found out she was alive and even then it was just for a second then he became thoughtful, he thinks too much she said to herself. She grinned at Cian and Sam while Jack placed a DVD into the machine.
"You are not going anywhere for the next two hours," Jack said sitting down next to Sam as the screen became alive with the 'Wizard of Oz' title menu "You never got to watch this and I promised you, you would," he said.
They spent the morning familiarising Alex with the Emerald City then Jack sat everyone in a circle in the living room to have a 'talk'. He had just gotten them all to quiet down when the doorbell rang, Jack jumped up from his seat and opened the door to a grumpy General Hammond and a slightly peeved Janet Fraiser.
"What is so important that you had to bring me down from Washington in the middle of the night, Jack?" George asked.
"Come and look," he said excitedly.
A/N: I know Janet's meant to be dead by this time but I don't want her to go! My AU :) By the way, Chapters are going to come more slowly because I'm back at school (Doh!), Sorry.