"Hey Daniel, Leigh" Major Carter greeted, as she sat down at their table in the commissary. She observed Leigh discretely for a moment before digging into her sandwich. After a few moments of silence, Sam decided it was as good a time as any to tell Leigh what she had been working on for the last day or so.
"So Leigh, I figured out a way to get you home" So much for subtlety Sam thought. Leigh looked up at her, eyes wide, Daniel's equally so.
"You did?" she barely spoke.
"Yeah, we figured out just the right amount of energy required to recreate the same conditions that were responsible for bringing you here. Great isn't it?" Sam looked at the girl excitedly.
"Yeah…great" Leigh said with false cheer, totally missed by Sam. Sam continued on explaining how the procedure would work to Daniel, who was questioning the safety of letting Leigh go through with it.
Leigh sighed loudly, pushing her food around the plate aimlessly. I finally get to go home she thought to herself, too bad there's nothing left. She pushed her plate away and looked at Daniel. He noticed her doing so and looked at her expectantly.
"I kinda tired, so I'm gonna go rest a bit, 'kay?" Daniel nodded and said he'd show her to a VIP room. Saying goodbye to Sam they left the commissary and headed for the elevators.
*~*~*~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~*~*~*
"So… are you happy about going home?" Daniel asked as they rode the lift up a few levels. Leigh simply shrugged her shoulders.
"I take that as a no. Don't you want to go home?" He didn't seem to get that there was nothing left for her in that time.
"What home?" She asked getting slightly angry. They entered the VIP room and Daniel shut the door before turning to face his future daughter.
"What do you mean?" He pried.
"What's your definition of home? Huh?" she demanded. Daniel was put off a bit by her sudden outburst. He opened his mouth to continue, but Leigh continued talking. "Is it living on some planet, God knows where, taking care of two little boys who have no idea what's happened to their parents," Leigh didn't notice that she'd just told Daniel he had two other kids, but Daniel sure didn't miss it and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Or is it living on a military base for the rest of your life, with only the brightest and best the good 'ole U.S. of A has to offer and knowing that's what your future is whether you like it or not?" Daniel didn't answer, just looked at her. She slumped down into a chair and resting her elbows on her knees, dropped her head into her hands. She groaned slightly at the pressure her position was putting on her broken ribs, and other injuries.
After a minute of silence, Leigh spoke up. "I'm sorry about that," she apologized for her angry outburst." …This whole thing it…it just totally sucks" Leigh's voice cracked, betraying her sadness and confusion of the situation. Daniel walked over to her and knelt in front of her. He pulled her hands away from her face, forcing her to look at him. He had absolutely no idea what to say to her.
"You'll be okay, and so will… uh... your brothers?" he said uncertainly, the words feeling foreign on his tongue. "That is who you were referring to before, right?"
"Yeah, sorry to ruin your future once again." She shook her head and looked Daniel in the eye. "At least it can't get any worse" she joked, earning a smile from Daniel and a small laugh.
*~*~*~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~*~*~*
"Major are you sure that it is safe to do this?" General Hammond asked Sam, in regards to sending Leigh back to her time. He leaned forward in his seat.
"Yes sir, as sure as possible."
"Well then, as soon as Leigh's ready you have permission to proceed."
"Thank you sir." With that Major Carter left General Hammonds office and went to find Leigh.
"It better work Major." He said to the closed door.
*~*~*~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~*~*~*
"Leigh?" Sam knocked on the VIP room door. "Can I come in?" Hearing a muffled 'yes' she opened the door finding Leigh sitting on the bed with a book in her lap.
"What are you doing?" Sam asked, genuinely curious. Leigh closed the book and set it on the bedside table. She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly,
"Just reading." Sam picked the hardcover book up and flipped through the pages.
"One of Daniels I see."
"Yeah, between my mom and my dad's book collections on archaeology, I never had a shortage of things to read…ever."
"Your mom was an archaeologist too?" Leigh frowned realizing what she'd said.
"Yeah," she sighed, "but don't tell my dad okay? I've already told him more about the future than I should have."
"It'll never leave this room" Sam smiled.
"So… why are you here?" Leigh cut to the chase.
"Um, well I've got the gate ready to send you back, anytime you're ready."
"Oh…" Sadness washed over Leigh's features, but was quickly taken over with impassiveness. Taking a deep breath and running a hand through her hair Leigh looked at Sam.
"No time like the present, right?" She forced a smile.
"Right…Okay, just let me get some things organized and tell the rest of SG1, alright? I know they'll want to see you off." Sam got up and walked to the door.
"I'll come by in about half an hour to get you."
"Okay."
Leigh lay down on the bed and fought the urge to scream. She didn't want to go back to her time where she'd have to live a military lifestyle and face a future in the military, not to mention being a parent to her brothers. Ahhhhh! This is so frustrating! She thought sadly. She felt a tear running down her cheek, but she quickly brushed it away and sat up. Can't be selfish, she thought to herself, "Gotta be strong for Matt and Will" she said aloud, trying to convince herself. She thought about how scared her little brothers must be, all alone, wondering what happened to their family. At least she knew the truth, no matter how horrible it was. In her opinion anything was better than not knowing.
"I'm coming guys, I'll be…home, soon." She whispered to the empty room. "I'm coming home."
*~*~*~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~*~*~*
"So, this is called a GDO, all you have to do is punch in the code and the iris should open on the other side."
"So why am I getting this…uh, GDO, if earth in my time is taken over by the Goa'uld?" Leigh was getting a headache from all of Major Carters' technical explanations. They were in the gate room, before Leigh left, going over a few last minute things.
"Well since you brought with you those plans for an earth size defence shield, earth may not have experienced that invasion, that ended up with you coming here."
"Oh." Leigh was sceptical of Carter's idea that what had happened actually wouldn't, but she just smiled and nodded, trying not to forget earths coordinates and the GDO code. If in fact there was nobody at the Alpha Site, she wanted to be able to get home.
"So you ready?" Jack asked Leigh when Sam had stopped talking. Leigh nodded, slightly unsure of what she was about to do.
"As ready as I'll ever be" she looked at SG1, General Hammond and Doctor Fraiser. Hammond looked up to the control room and nodded. The sergeant manning the dialling computers began the dialling sequence and in no time the wormhole was engaged and Leigh was saying her goodbyes.
Finally she came to Daniel.
"See ya in a few years?" she asked smiling a bit.
"Yeah, in a few years." He pulled her into a tight hug, and kissed her forehead. "You remember the codes?" he asked, worried she would be stuck on a planet alone for the rest of her life.
"Yeah, I'm good" she reassured him. She stepped back and with a small wave she turned and walked up to the horizon. Waiting for Sam's okay to go through she stood their watching the rippling surface of the wormhole.
"Okay Leigh, in five, four, three, two, one…" And she was gone, as quickly as she had come to them she was gone. Hopefully back to her time.
Hammond and Doctor Fraiser left SG1 standing in the gate room. The wormhole disengaged leaving them standing in silence, lost in their own thoughts.
"Anyone want dinner?" Jack asked, looking at his teammates. Sam smiled at her commanding officer. Life would go on as usual, maybe a little different now, but they would live everyday like any other, never knowing what the future may hold for them.
*~*~*~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~*~*~*
ALPHA SITE – Year: 2019The ancient stone circle came to life as a swell of blue liquid erupted form its centre. From the circle emerged a lone person. Leigh turned in a circle on the spot. This planet had picturesque hills, rolling to the sunset, and deep forests lining the fields. But there was no indication of a military installation at all. Leigh took this as a good sign and she turned back to the stargate, which had disengaged, and she went to the DHD and hoping it worked, she began pressing the symbols that Sam had told her. After the event horizon stabilized, Leigh moved closer to the stargate and pointed the GDO towards it. Entering the codes, she waited for the little red light on the device to flash, indicating that the codes had been accepted. Never had she known that a small flashing light could bring so much joy to her. Walking up on the dais, Leigh took one look back and stepped through, back to her home, where SG1, her family, were waiting with open arms.
*~*~*~*~~~**~~~******~~~**~~~*~*~*~*
THREE MONTHS LATER – PRESENT TIME"Welcome back SG1, I suspect negotiations went well" General Hammond welcomed back him number one team.
"Yes Sir," Jack said proudly, "Daniel got to take some rocks, Carter got to play with some flowers and dirt, and Teal'c…well he just…was Teal'c."
"I'm glad to hear it son," Hammons said with a smile. "Debriefing at O800 hours tomorrow morning."
"Yes sir" was chorused as SG1 went to the infirmary for their post mission physicals.
"Oh and Doctor Jackson," the General called after them. The younger man turned to face him. "That new archaeologist is here now, I'll tell her to meet you in your office if that's alright with you."
"It's fine, thank you sir."
General Hammond watched the retreating forms of his premier team. Shaking his head and chuckling to himself, he walked back to his office; amazed they hadn't gotten even one injury among themselves on a mission. Ah well there's a first time for everything he thought, as he sat down to finish some long awaited paperwork that had his name on it.
*~*~*~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~*~*~*
Daniel strolled out of the elevator and made his way to his office. He was eager to meet this new archaeologist that had come highly recommended from the President of the United States himself. He rounded the corner to his office and saw a woman with shoulder length blond hair studying an artifact of his closely. She didn't even hear him come in the room. Clearing his throat, he made his presence known.
"Uh hi, you must be the new archaeologist," he said kindly, offering his hand to shake. Taking his hand, she smiled,
"You must be the archaeologist." She stated, with a small laugh. He looked her in the eye, blue meeting a mesmerizing green,
"Daniel Jackson" he introduced himself.
"Anna Connor" she said, "it's a pleasure to have the opportunity to work with you Dr. Jackson"
"Call me Daniel."
"All right, Daniel" she said smiling once again.
"So do you want a tour of this place?" Daniel asked.
"How 'bout some coffee first, then a tour."
"Sounds good" Daniel chuckled, and he allowed her to walk by before following her out into the corridor. Sounds great he thought as he shut his office door, a small smile lingering on his lips, sounds perfect.
THE END