AN: Getting the band back together...

Home again home again

Some time passes before Jack checks in physically at the SGC. Hank did fine without being micromanaged and it was never Jack's style anyway. Daniel and Landry fill him in on the various goings on with the new threat of the Ori and Cameron expresses some insecurity. Jack knows the guy will do fine and yet… In the end, Jack decides to see how things play out on both ends. Sam is getting antsy sitting on her butt. Grace is losing her mind in traditional school and the only one who seems fine with the situation was the baby. He'd gotten a terse 'thank you for keeping me in the loop' reply from Shanahan. Jack had actually gone to the effort to write a fairly kind letter given the situation. He shrugged it off. He never could figure out what that guy wanted from this. He seemed to treat Sam like a possession in retrospect and Jack was glad Sam moved away almost right away and when she did move back to Colorado it would be to his house. They might need to think about someplace bigger though. He'd potentially have three kids living with him at least part of the year though one was a young adult and would only be home during the summer.

A couple more months pass. Jack keeps an eye on things until Hank really starts to get out of his depth.

"I'm not kidding, Jack, you'll have to handle the entire move yourself if I'm up to my armpits in this Ori mess." Sam confesses.

"I know that." He answers, defensively. "Grace is big enough to pack her own stuff and I'll hire a moving company for the big stuff. Piece of cake Carter."

"You're sure?"

"Carter."

"Yes Jack?"

"Let's go home."

Sam smiles and nods. "Okay." She tells him. "Dibs on telling Grace."

"No fair! You always get to be the big hero." Jack whines.

"Says the guy covered in so much fruit he can barely stand."

Jack looks down at his class As. They are sitting in the Groom Lake Air Force officer's commissary having lunch together in a corner where they won't be bothered. Jack's rank alone tends to make others wary of approaching him. His secretary was a mousy little lieutenant who was still intimidated by Jack's rank no matter how nice he was to her. She'd only softened when the nanny had once brought the kids by in an emergency because her mom needed to unexpectedly see a doctor. Lt. Moore had taken an instant liking to Jake and had been surprisingly chatty with his frighteningly smart daughter.

"Hey, just do me one favor."

"Sure?"

"Don't say anything to Hank about the reassignment." He grinned. "I want it to be a surprise."

"Sir."

"Carter."

"Are you certain Jon isn't the only one who's seventeen?"

"Hey!"

Sam walked in on Hank Landry arguing on the phone about the Mark IX. She nods at him when he turns around and sees her. "Reporting as ordered… sir." She says with an amused smile.

Hank sighs. "Yeah. She's standing right here. You're a funny man, Jack. Very funny." He tells Jack before hanging up.

Sam's smile is a little embarrassed. Sometimes Jack was a tad too easily amused.

"Well, come on, let's get you settled." He says. "No time like the present." He motions her out the door. "What finally changed your mind if I might ask?"

"I ah… decided my family obligations outweighed career advancement right now. You guys needed my help, and truth be told, depending on how this goes, it might become more permanent. Grace wasn't getting anything out of school out there."

"Yah, I'd heard about that. Probably didn't appreciate getting shuffled off to Jack and his new wife's place in DC for over a month either." He mused.

Sam bites her lip. Ah, so that's how you've been playing eh? She thinks at Jack who is not there. "No actually they enjoyed that part." Sam says with an amused smile.

"Well at least someone got something out of it." He says and waves an arm forward. "Kept your lab the way it was, kind of always expected you back honestly."

"Why do you say that, sir?"

"It was your longest assignment and not for lack of anyone trying to steal you away from here."

Sam smiled in amusement. "Yah… well, it always kept me on my toes." Sam admits.

He pats her arm in amusement. "That's not going to change any time soon." And leaves her to unpacking her lab.

"Yup, that's what worries me." She sighs.

So far the Ori had been unbeatable. Jack had her working on a bomb but honestly, Sam didn't share his confidence in its ability to wipe out the religious nuts. And people thought fifteenth century Catholics were difficult, she thinks with wry amusement.

She tells Landry it's only temporary knowing full well Jack was already writing up the transfer papers and getting the house in Nevada ready to put up for sale.

But Daniel tries to call her bluff while they try to dial Kallana. "Well, temporary or not, it's good to have you back." He says to her with a grin.

Sam just smiles back.

Cameron butts in with "How good is this? Got the band back together."

Teal'c gives him a long look. Sam looks back at Vala then leans closer to Daniel. "Yeah, so what's with the extra back-up singer?" She asks him.

Vala hears her though and slouches against the wall, sulking.

Cameron comes to Vala's defense. "Aw, she's good fun. Plus we figured if Jackson were to…"

"Die." Teal'c supplies with his usual deadpan voice.

"Yeah, that's the word. It would jeopardize the mission." Cameron says cheerfully.

Sam gives Daniel a worried look but Daniel's expression is resigned and put-upon. "When we spoke a couple of weeks ago, you said you thought the effect of the bracelets was wearing off." She'd called him to ask if she could crash on his couch for a few days. In reality it was because the moving company needed to put their things in storage so they could have someone come in and paint. Although, Sam suspected the service Jack would hire was himself.

"It was. I just didn't want to put it to a test from the other side of the galaxy. So…" Daniel hedges. Sam nods in understanding.

Behind them Vala coughs, her expression still sulky. Finally because she can't stop herself anymore, she pipes up, her voice taking on a definite whine, "Wow. You're just dying to get rid of me now, aren't you?"

"Noooo... Not dying to." Daniel dissembles.

Vala steps forward though and stands on the gate ramp, facing the four of them. She's clearly irritated when she says "Oh no, I know I'm not welcome here. Despite all my efforts to try and fit into your little stargating club, you can all rest assured that as soon as I can safely part Daniel's company without killing the both of us, I will." She then winks sarcastically at Cameron and Teal'c then heads up the ramp, only to spin and point at General Landry. "Oh, and you. You will wish you had listened to me when I said letting the Goa'uld come here was a mistake." She throws her scarf over her shoulder and flounces through the gate.

Everyone else just stands there looking at each other.

Hank finally jogs them out of their confused reactions. "Get to it. And good luck."

"Right. Let's do this." Cam tells them and they head up the ramp together.

Pendergast drops the ball on Cam's call sign and Sam expresses wry amusement at how uninventive it was. Vala teases that it's disappointing and she and Sam share an amused grin. Sam finds herself warming to the dark haired woman even if she is a bit dramatic.

Vala and Cam exchange innuendos about the size of Sam's bomb for a bit until Sam catches on that Vala means Daniel and she gives her best guy friend an odd look. Because first TMI but also seriously? Sam could already see how much Vala was like Jack, just more openly dramatic about it. When she thinks about it though, it makes some sense. They were inexplicably close even from the start in spite of the constant bickering. She supposed if both men were inclined that way they would have made a cute couple. And if she was honest with herself, she was more like Daniel than she'd like to admit some days.

Teal'c took the loss of the Jaffa well all things considered. The prior's force field was considerably larger than it was when it started. Sam really didn't share Jack's confidence regarding this gate buster bomb. Yes it could tear up naquadah parts in an enclosed lab setting but there hadn't been any field tests.

They gear up to take the bomb to the planet. Daniel and Vala bicker with one another making Sam roll her eyes. Who do you think you are fooling anyway, Daniel? You're loving every minute of her nonsense. Sam tells them what their window is and is glad that for a change, she's staying on the bridge.

To complicate things, the Jaffa show up to avenge their fallen brothers and start firing on the planet. Pendergast lets them know they are firing on SGC members and the Ha'taks back off much to Sam's relief. After they beam SG-1 back onto the ship, the Jaffa hail them. Gerak demands to speak to whoever is in charge and Pendrgast motions her forward. 'Oh great' Sam thinks. "It's an honor to speak with you, sir. My name is Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter-"

"By insisting that we cease fire on the enemy stronghold, you've allowed it to expand even further, and we've lost the element of surprise." Gerak snarls at her.

Sam glances back at Pendergast. "And quite possibly saved the lives of SG-1." She reminds the elderly dark skinned Jaffa.

He bickers with her about the situation until Pendegast suggests the other man engage his shields and get ready for an earth shattering kaboom. She needed to stop watching Loony Toons with Jack and the kids on the weekend. It was rubbing off at inappropriate times.

And there was... but it didn't work. The force field just got bigger until it covered the planet. More bickering about the situation ensued… and then Sam has a horrible realization "Colonel, we need to cease fire, now!" she tells Cam.

Cameron orders Pendergast who orders Marks to cease fire.

"The greater the intensity of our weapons' fire, the greater and more frequent their expansion phases. There is a direct correlation. They're using the energy of our own weapons to build their beachhead." Sam tells them.

"You mean they planned this?" Vala asks, sounding equal parts disgusted and impressed.

"There's no way to project the necessary power through a Stargate across galaxies. So they designed a force field that could be powered by our own weapons." Sam replies.

Teal'c glowers. "The Ori knew the Jaffa of Kallana would defend their homeworld and others would follow." Clearly pissed, they had used their own fire power against them.

Just as pissed off, Daniel adds "And Nerus made certain we'd join in."

With an angry nod, Cam adds, "Which means he's working for the Ori."

Furious that she and Jack had been manipulated, Sam told them "The Mark IX gave them almost 70% of the power they needed to envelop the entire planet."

Cam muses "Oh yeah, we've been set up."

Vala, her voice dripping with sarcasm, tells them all, "What a complete shock!" She ducks her head and makes a zipping motion over her lips though when Daniel and Cam glare at her. "Won't say another word." She tells them. Sam though, silently agrees with the other woman.

Once the shield covers the entire planet because Garak chooses to continue firing in spite of being told to stop, three oblong unknowns come through the Stargate and head for the Prometheus and Ha'tak ships. Pendergast starts evasive maneuvers as Garak loses a Ha'tak. One of the Ori missiles wings the bow and causes a small explosion.

Garak cuts and runs while the people of the SGC watch the planet spew out parts of a Supergate big enough to float an armada through. And Kallana is shrinking into a black hole.

Vala tries to give them an idea of how to stop the new Spacegate but everyone ignores her so she leaves the room. She rings over to the cloaked cargo ship Gerak left behind to spy on them and zats the Jaffa on it. Now Daniel notices she's gone off. Master of observation skills that one she thinks.

Vala's plan succeeds and she destroys the Gate but Daniel's upset look turns to him stumbling backwards against Pendergast's chair. Cam hustles him off to the infirmary and Sam follows after telling the ship's commander to let SGC know the Supergate is destroyed.

Cam spends his time walking with Sam trying to convince her to get on board with SG-1 again. When they get to Daniel's side, Teal'c tells Daniel that Vala will be properly mourned which doesn't seem to console Daniel much. Sam's comment that she might have wound up on the other side of the singularity though leaves him pensive. His expression clears slightly at the idea though. "Well…we wanted to send them a message." They exchange bemused expressions.

A hell of a message Sam thinks, and for Daniel's sake, she hopes she's right.

A few days later, she sits outside the Craftsman she and Jack own. Her heart flutters at that. This is her home now too.

Jack picks up on the third ring. "Hey beautiful wife of mine, what's up?"

"Has Daniel said anything to you about Vala?"

"Well other than she's crazy and a thief not much." He says, chuckling.

"So no mention of the fact that he's in love with her then."

"Ohhh… well now that explains a lot."

Sam grins. Her face falls nearly immediately though. "Jack…"

"Yah. I heard. If she's alive, I'll do what I can to clear the way to help you find her, Sam. You know that."

"Thank you." She tells him simply.

"You like her."

Sam chuckles in spite of herself. "I actually do."

"Want me to tell you why?" He teases her.

"No, I already figured it out. How are the kids? Behaving for you?"

"Yah… mostly…"