Major Samantha Carter listened in a state of extreme shock to the wan-faced Daniel's explanation.

"They recommend you go to P3X-106. T'Yanthon is certain that the forest will be able to heal you both. But they don't know how long you will have to stay there. Probably several months. Maybe years..." he trailed off, looking extremely miserable.

"Maybe forever," murmured Sam, her hoarse voice barely audible over the beeping of the many machines that surrounded her bedside and the steady drip-drip of the IV attached to her arm.

Daniel gave her an unhappy look. "It's a possibility you have to consider Sam."

"There's nothing to consider, Daniel," Carter sighed, "If I stay, I die. If I go I might survive. And the Colonel."

"We'll come and visit you all the time Sam," Daniel said, eyes suspiciously over-bright with tears he refused to let fall, his voice shaking.

"You'd better," she said, before voicing the one thing she had been hoping never to have to stay; praying, hoping against hope for Janet to produce some miracle cure that had not been forthcoming. "Will, uh, will you let Ben know I'm not going to be around any more?"

"Of course, Major Carter," replied Teal'c, also at her bedside.

"Let's get this show on the road, then," she said, trying to inject some happiness into her voice she certainly didn't feel.

Daniel nodded, helping her into the wheelchair and wheeling her towards the embarkation room, Teal'c at her other side.

"I'll send you some personal items," Janet reassured her as Daniel pushed her up the ramp to where the event horizon beckoned. Colonel O'Neill lay on a gurney, his face a sickening yellow colour; covered in a shiny sheen of sweat and twitching slightly beneath a thin blanket. She closed her eyes as they were wheeled through the Stargate to the brightly lit world on the other side.

*

Sam had felt the tiredness lift from her limbs the moment she had entered the forest, and Colonel O'Neill had regained consciousness about half an hour after they had arrived. Already the yellow colouring of their skin was receding as SG1 talked calmly in the shade of some of Eden's huge trees.

It was four hours later when a guide reached them, to take Sam and Jack to their new home deep in the forest. Despite her sadness about leaving Earth behind Carter couldn't suppress the tingle of excitement she felt in being able to see the houses hidden deep in the jungle. Colonel O'Neill had been joking exuberantly, but when the young man arrived (his name was Uran) he suddenly became much more subdued.

The reason soon became apparent; Carter and O'Neill would be escorted to their new home, the time for painful goodbyes had arrived.

Janet had already returned to the SGC after ascertaining that both her patients were returning to health, her duty beckoned. They had talked at great length and already said their goodbyes two hours earlier. A check-up had been arranged for a weeks time, and already Carter was looking forward to seeing her friend again.

Carter hugged Daniel fiercely; it seemed she had only just started to get to know the young archeologist again after he had returned to them and now she was leaving. "Hey, I'll come visit," he muttered, his voice thick with emotion. He kissed her on the cheek as he stood back.

She embraced Teal'c just as strongly and to her surprise he hugged her back. "We will miss your presence, Major Carter. I too will come and visit."

"Bye, guys," the Colonel added sadly as Uran lead them away through the trees. In a few moments the two remaining members of SG1 were out of sight. Carter tried to hold back the tears that threatened to erupt, almost succeeding; a single tear leaked down her cheek, already back to its normal colouration. O'Neill caught her eye but said nothing. They had spoken little to each other since he had regained consciousness.

Carter was unaware for how long they walked, although her limbs were not tired she knew that it had been for at least two hours when Uran came suddenly to a halt. Ahead of them was a large clearing. Carter felt her gaze drawn upwards.

"Wow," she murmured, unable to think of any other exclamation to express her wonderment at the sight before her. The houses of the Eden dwellers were high in the trees. Constructed of the same shiny material of the domes dotted on the rolling grassy plains near the gates, they had a similar rounded look to them. A wooden staircase was sunk into the tree so that the inhabitants could reach the houses. Wooden platforms formed corridors from dwelling to dwelling, the wooded supports all intertwined with vibrant flowering vines. It was like the tree-house she had always dreamed of her father building. In front of her a bird of paradise with fiery plumage landed unperturbed on a stair rail, quite unafraid of human presence.

"Sweet," agreed the Colonel, already heading for the stairs, "Reminds me of Lothlorien. You know. From L-"

"Lord of the Rings, yeah. I know sir." She followed him and Uran up the staircase.

"This is your dwelling," Uran said, indicating a slightly smaller dome than the ones on the edge of the settlement. "I will leave you to settle for a while. Then we will introduce you to some of the others here."

"Okay," replied O'Neill but the man had already disappeared.

Inside, the dome was a strangely phosphorescent green colour; it looked more like white walls with green light projected onto them. There was a thick what-O'Neill-assumed-was-carpet on the floor of a long corridor with rounded doors leading off it. Again they were strongly reminded of another Tolkien work, The Hobbit. The rounded doors were exactly as Carter had imagined them when reading the book as a child. She pushed the first one on the right open to find a comfortable looking chair and a workstation. The study.

"Hey. I've found the living room. Wonder if they get cable?" O'Neill said, poking his head out of the first door on the left. Carter moved to look inside. There were two more of the comfy chairs and some sort of cupboard which Carter opened to reveal... books. None of them were understandable but they were a nice touch all the same.

"Ah! I was hoping that was the TV cupboard." O'Neill moved away to open the second door on the right. "Bedroom!" he yelled. Then: "Another bedroom! I want this one!"

Carter pushed open the second left. "Kitchen!" The third door revealed: "Bathroom!"

"Wonder how the plumbing works in this place?" O'Neill mused as they both re-entered the corridor. Carter laid her hands on the door-knob of the last round door. "Wonder what this is?"

She opened the door to reveal a huge balcony. The vines were wound around the enclosing fence here, beautiful flowers releasing an intoxicating scent into the hot, heavy afternoon air. There was a table and four chairs, beautifully carved from a pine-ish looking wood.

"Garden?" O'Neill asked.

"Mmm." Carter replied, sharing a moment of beautiful calm before the awkwardness descended again.

"Well. I'll just be... um... in my room... uh."

And Carter was left alone again.