By the time they got back to the house it was well after dinnertime and Rachel was getting tired. Jack ordered Chinese food and Jack and Rachel sat in the living room and watched TV while Daniel changed his clothes in the guest room that Rachel whad beenstaying in.

Daniel emerged a couple minutes later and handed Rachel her cell phone.

"It was ringing," he said as he sat down. He watched her check her messages and she scowled as she heard the message. Sighing she punched in a phone number and waited for someone to pick up.

"Hey" she said in a low voice. She picked at her bandaged hand in a bored manner.

"Yes… no… …Fine… …he's fine too… yeah… …whatever… yeah… okay, bye" She hung up and turned the small blue phone off.

"Your mom?" Daniel asked, having seen the caller ID before in the bedroom.

"Yeah" her scowl deepened.

"What did she want?"

"She wasn't getting an answer at your place and got worried" Rachel turned her attention to the television.

"You should probably think about going to see her sometime" Daniel brought up. Rachel nodded slowly, her attention remaining on the TV show.

"I'm sure she'd like that," he added.

"Whatever" Rachel shrugged gently.

Hearing a knock at the door Jack got up and paid for their dinner. After dinner was finished Rachel went to bed leaving Daniel and Jack sitting in the living room talking about moving back into the apartment the next day.

---

The next morning after Daniel finally coaxed Rachel out of bed, they went back to the apartment and got settled in. It was late in the afternoon when the phone rang interrupting the television show Rachel was watching and the archaeology journal Daniel was reading.

"Hello?" Daniel answered.

"Hi is Rachel there?" a male voice asked.

"It's for you" Daniel said handing the phone to her.

"Hello?" she asked wondering who was phoning her on the home phone and not her cell.

"Hey girly"

"Ev man what's up?" she smiled into the phone. Evan James was one of her best friends and one of the few people that could make her smile by just talking.

"Where you been? I've been trying to call you for the last few days."

"I've been… busy" she responded knowing he wouldn't buy it.

"Dear ol' dad's being nice?" he asked lightly, but she knew he was making sure Daniel wasn't hurting her.

"Everything's cool Ev, don't worry"

"You're sure? You sound weird," he commented never one for subtleties.

"I had a bit of an accident," she said shrugging at Daniels curious look. What else was she supposed to say?

"Are you okay?" he sounded worried now.

"Yeah, just banged up a bit, no biggie."

"I want to see you." He stated leaving no room for argument. Rachel heard a voice in the background say something. "Derrick does too," Evan said, making Rachel chuckle. They were like two very protective brothers.

"Got to stay in man, doctors orders," she said. She was in all honesty feeling better, but still was in uite a bit of pain.

"You can have friends over Rachel" Daniel said.

"Yeah listen to the man," Evan said having heard Daniel over the phone.

"You guys wanna come over for a bit then?" she sighed. She wasn't sure that she wanted Daniel to meet her friends. Her mother had hated them thinking they were a bad influence on her.

"You bet. Be there in half an hour," Evan said before hanging up and going in search of her address she'd written down for him the week before.

"So who's coming over?" Daniel asked glancing up from his article.

"Evan and Derrick"

"The ones you went out with before?"

"Yeah"

"Well that's good… I have to go into the base for a couple hours for a briefing."

"You just want them to baby-sit me don't you?" she asked raising an eyebrow. She wasn't mad, just found itamusing that he was afraid to leave her home alone.

"Pretty much."

Rachel continued watching TV until she heard the hard knock characteristic of her friend. She got up and slowly made her way to the door. She opened it to the two familiar faces of Evan and Derrick. This week Derrick had blue hair… and a new eyebrow piercing, Rachel noted.

"Hey guys" she smiled at their frowns.

"Shit. What the hell happened to you?" Derrick said as they stepped in. His green eyes scanned the bruises on her face. He tilted her chin up to look at the fading bruise on it.

"Just an accident" she rolled her eyes.

"Bullshit" Evan said eyeing her carefully. He always knew when she was lying.

"Guys it's nothing" she said with finality in her voice. They knew that conversation was over.

"So lets meet Dad" Derrick grinned rubbing his hands together.

"Be nice" Rachel said looking pointedly at them. Evan brought his hand to his chest feigning hurt.

"Whenare wenot?" he asked. She didn't answer; instead she led them to the living room just as Daniel was getting up to leave.

"Hi" Daniel greeted, smiling at the two boys standing beside his daughter. One had green eyes and blue hair and was about as tall as himself. The other had dark hair, icy blue eyes, and was probably as tall as Jack. Both looked wary of him.

"Hey" they chorused.

"Daniel this is Derrick" she said pointing to blue hair, "and Evan" she pointed to the taller boy.

"Guys this is my dad Daniel" she said only just barely stumbling over the word 'dad', making Daniel smile and the boys raise their eyebrows.

"Well it was nice to meet you, but I've got to get to work," Daniel then looked at Rachel "Call if you need anything" She rolled her eyes before nodding. He left the room and Rachel gestured to the couch and her friends made themselves at home.

"I think we're in the Twilight Zone man," Derrick said to Evan. The other boy snorted in response.

"Yeah really"

"Shut up" Rachel stuck out her tongue and gingerly sat down on the couch beside Evan. Derrick was in the chair that Daniel had just vacated. Evan watched Rachel. She seemed happy, and actually was pleasant with Daniel. But not wanting to talk about her injuries was worrying him. She caught his stare and shot him a questioning look.

"You've got some explaining to do girly."

Thank you to all who reviewd the last chapter. I LOVE you guys!

There will be more SG1, aliens, action, adventure, etc. to come... i'm just establishing some new characters right now :-D

Please Review.