AN: So sorry about the wait, I have so much work on at the moment, it's difficult to keep up.

Chapter 5

Janet looked around as she walked into Sam's house, ushered by Jack. All of Sam's furniture had been shifted slightly, arranged now as it had been in the other reality, for optimal movement for Sam. Having lived in their house for the last year and a half the adjustments had been easy for Jack to make and he had already been to his old house to move one or two essentials into 'their' house.

General Hammond had quickly accepted the situation. Both houses had been left as they were, Teal'c now inhabiting Jack's home and the General explaining that they hadn't ever found the time, or anyone with security clearance high enough to clear out Sam's house. So it had been an easy enough transition for them both to move back into Sam's house. General Hammond had explained that no regulations had been broken with their relationship, as they had effectively been under an alien influence at the time. And, with the likely-hood being that Sam would still find herself subject to an honourable discharge after her situation had been evaluated, they were free to continue with their relationship.

To celebrate everyone had come around for a welcome home/house re-warming party. Janet presented Sam with a bottle of wine as she entered the kitchen.

"Hey! Is Cassie with you?"

"Yeah, she's in the other room. Are you sure you're OK with this?"

"Janet, we've been missing for two years, the least we can do is have you over for diner. All the time I've thought I've spent with Cass in the last two years, and I haven't seen her once. I need to know her real reactions to this. Have you told her anything, about why we were missing?"

"Everything."

"You're paranoid. Watch this, don't let it boil." She pointed to a pan on the stove and headed out into the living room. Stopping at the door she looked in to see Daniel an Jack sat in one corner playing chess with Cassie sat beside Jack trying to explain the game to Teal'c. She realised that the girl had grown a lot more than she had in the virtual reality. They had found, when they had looked closer, that the experiences that they had over the time spent in there matched perfectly with similar experiences one of the four had had at some point in their lives. The reality of the lives that they had been living had come from their own minds. The teenager had barely seemed to age beyond the age of thirteen, her age when they had left, because none of them knew any fourteen-year-olds or fifteen-year-olds. They couldn't provide the information needed.

Hoping to observe a while longer she sighed as she was spotted.

"Sam!" The youngster cried, running over. She skidded to a stop in front of her, not quite sure how to continue.

"Don't I get a hug?"

"Mum said I should be careful." She frowned. Sam grabbed hold of Cassie's hand and pulled her into a hug. Without drawing back Sam spoke into her ear.

"I want to talk to you, do you mind?" Cassie shook her head, mingling blond and brown hair on Sam's shoulder. She squealed as Sam spun her around, landing her on her lap and pushing both of them around the corner.

"Don't mind me." Sam called to Janet as they passed her. "I'm just abducting your daughter." Both of them were giggling uncontrollably as they entered the large dining room, away from everyone else. Sam set Cassie down and gestured for her to take a seat. Cassandra sat for a moment and just looked at Sam, it was only moments before the tears started falling. Gathering her back up into her arms, Sam hushed her, holding her tight.

"You were gone so long Sam. I thought you were dead."

"I'm not Cass, I'm right here, OK?"

"We all missed you so much." Sam just nodded, trying to keep control herself.

"I missed you too." Cassie looked up at this.

"But Mum said you had another version of me, a fake one."

"It wasn't you Cass. And I'm so sorry I couldn't realise that. But being here with you, the real you, I'm amazed it fooled us for that long. I wanted to talk to you, for lots of reasons but I wanted to know if you had any questions, because I'm sure Janet told you not to ask questions. Ask me anything, anything at all."

"What happened?"

"We're not sure, but we think that the aliens had some way of reading our minds and they made a virtual reality which matched what we remembered so we thought we were still at home. We think they might have been testing us, to see how we would react to certain situations."

"Oh." Cassandra nodded quietly, thinking it through. "Why was Mum so upset the other day? I mean, she came home and she wouldn't tell me what was up." Sam turned to the doorway where she knew Janet was listening in.

"Janet, did Jack talk to you the other day." Appearing in the door, Janet nodded quietly. "Can I tell her?"

"She doesn't need to know, Sam. It isn't something she needs to know." After a minute she continued. "Jack just told me something that made me worry about Sam, honey. I didn't mean to upset you."

Half an hour later, when the teenager had exhausted her supply of questions and Janet had asked one or two more, it was announced that the 'stuff in the pot' was beginning to boil.

After a decent meal everyone was sitting in the living room nursing full stomachs. Janet smiled at her friends. Following his instruction by Cassandra, Teal'c was playing Daniel at chess, Cass watching them closely. The three had become very close over the two years that Sam and Jack had been missing, the men often watching over the teen or taking her out on trips. Sitting on the other side of the room Sam and Jack sat together, looking like a perfect couple, Jack's head on Sam's shoulder, his arms around her waist, hers over her head and around his neck. Sam smiled as Jack whispered something in her ear, she leaned back to kiss his forehead in response and they turned back to the chess match.

Her friends were home, and they were here to stay.

TBC