A/N: This is it, the end of the road. Thanks so much to everyone who read and reviewed this story. A few quick things before we get on with the show: yes, debcole, yes it was - I'm so glad somebody recognized it! And whoever asked if my name comes from that Meg Ryan movie: EW! GOODNESS NO! Sorry, it's just not the first time that's happened, and sadly it won't be the last. And to everyone who expressed disappointment that it's ending: thank you, I take that as a huge compliment. But I do think it's best to end something while it's good rather than drag it out indefinitely (see "The X-Files" for a good cautionary tale against that sort of thing.) So this is absolutely it, but there are plenty of other good stories out there to read as well)

Epilogue

"Sam?" Cassie asked, concealing a yawn as she knelt on the bed and nudged Carter's shoulder. She was smiling in her sleep. "Sam? SAM! Wake up!"

Carter reluctantly turned towards Cassie and opened her eyes. "What?"

"Your alarm was going off. Didn't you hear it?"

"No, sorry... oh good, you got up by yourself." She sat up and surveyed the person she was supposed to be in charge of. Luckily, Cassie had gotten herself up and ready for school, because a glance at the clock told Carter five more minutes and she'd have missed her bus, and another ten and Carter would have been late for work.

"Thanks for waking me up."

"Sure. Thanks for letting me spend the night."

"Anytime."

"I had fun... with you and Jack."

"Good."

"Maybe next time I come over... he'll be here too?" she asked in a tone too innocent to be authentic.

"You need to work on your subtlety. And you need to move your butt down to that bus stop," Carter said as she got out of bed and headed to her closet to throw some clothes on.

"All right... see you later."

"Bye, Cass. Have a good day at school." Carter quickly hugged her and got ready as fast as humanly possible. She raced up to the base and was miraculously there on time. With the distraction of Cassie and being late, she didn't have time to worry about how things might be weird today at work after what had happened the night before. As she pulled into the parking lot, it hit her in a wave of uncertainty.

It was potentially a serious situation. Not to get overdramatic, but potentially the future of SG-1 could hinge on whether or not they were able to keep working as usual after what had happened. Well, for her part, she was determined to do everything in her power to make sure that things were as good or better than ever.

With that thought in mind, she headed to Daniel's office, expecting to find both Daniel and Teal'c there. She was half right. Daniel was there, but he was talking to Colonel O'Neill, and Teal'c was nowhere in sight. She stopped just short of the doorway, knowing she shouldn't listen to them talking, but she couldn't help it.

"So what exactly happened?"

"Nothing, Daniel. We talked about what's been bothering her. Why, what did you expect?" her CO said in a convincing tone.

"I don't know, I guess... so everything is... resolved?"

"As far as I know," he answered, sounding nonchalant.

"I tried to call you last night to see how it went..."

"Cassie showed up at Carter's right when I was about to leave. She had a fight with Janet or something. I don't know, a girl thing. She wanted me to stay though. We watched 'Happy Gilmore.'"

"Sam watched 'Happy Gilmore?'" Daniel asked incredulously.

"Unfortunately yes," Carter called, deciding to interrupt the conversation before Daniel could interrogate the Colonel any further.

They both smiled at her, her CO with perhaps a little-more-than professional enthusiasm, but it was not completely unprecedented.

"Hey, Sam. Good weekend, sounds like?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah. Cassie and Janet had a fight but everything's fine now."

"Good," Daniel said slowly, looking back and forth between them carefully. Both were being deliberately obtuse, he knew it. They were hiding something, that was for certain. The only trouble was, they were very, very good at it. Frustrated, he looked at his watch and said, "We're supposed to meet Teal'c in the commissary."

"Save me a seat, Spacemonkey," Colonel O'Neill said casually. "I need to fill Carter in on General Hammond's latest tactical advantages... strategy."

"Um. Okay," Daniel said, grabbing his button-down shirt and pulling it on as he headed out the door. "If you wanted to be alone you could have just asked," he called just as he was out of the target range of small projectiles being thrown at him by the Colonel.

Blushing slightly at Daniel's comment, Carter busied herself with Daniel's computer.

"So," the Colonel began. Carter was getting very tired of conversations beginning with that not-so-innocent little word. "Cassie got off to school all right?"

"Yes, sir. She actually woke me up. I slept right through my alarm. She was up and ready though... I'll have to tell Janet, she'll be proud."

"I told you Cassie was a good kid."

"I never said she wasn't, sir. Janet's just... a little overprotective."

"Yeah. That's understandable. Still, Cassie's tough. Hey, maybe it would make the doc feel better if Teal'c and I gave her a few self-defense... hey wait a second!" he interrupted himself, looking surprised. "You slept through your alarm? That means you were sleeping."

"What an amazing discovery, sir," she deadpanned, trying to end the conversation, as she was afraid she knew where it was heading.

"So that means you... solved the... issue then?"

"The issue you agreed never to bring up again?"

"Hey, can't a guy ask his 2IC if she had a good night's sleep? There's nothing wrong with that. Unless he asks her in the shower."

She couldn't help blushing and laughing at that one, and she sincerely hoped nobody had overheard that.

"I looked it up. That's what it says in the handbook. Word for word."

"Really," she said in the perfect definition of skepticism.

"Yup," he said smugly, shoving his hands into his pockets. "So... did you?"

"Yes," she said frankly, flashing a small smile before turning her attention back to the computer.

"Good. That's... good." The room was silent for a few moments, aside from the small clicking sound of typing. "What are you doing over there?" her CO finally asked out of curiosity.

"Installing a new screensaver on Daniel's computer, sir," she said with a grin. "I found it last week but this is the first time I've been left unsupervised in his lab."

"Unsupervised? What about me?!" he asked indignantly. "I'm in charge here, Forcryinoutloud..."

She laughed at her own mistake and said, "Sorry, sir. I had a feeling you wouldn't have a problem with it."

"Let's see the screensaver."

She typed in a few more commands and a conga line of dancing mummies popped up. They danced their way across the screen. One of them gradually became completely unraveled and ran after the others with his naked mummy butt showing. Carter tried hard not to giggle, while her CO was laughing loudly and appreciatively.

"I wish I had thought of that!" he said enthusiastically as she got up from the computer and headed for the door.

Still chuckling, he hurried after her. She could hear him muttering possible excuses to be in Daniel's office when the screensaver first presented itself. Yup. They were all going to be just fine.