The laser sputtered and died as he carved the last letter. Daniel sat back on his heels and examined his work. These prophesies etched into the dark stone closed the circle. Here were the words that Maybourne would read to lead them to the time machine. Here were the words that stole his family. Here were the words that preserved the timeline they had given their lives to save.

"It looks good," said a familiar voice behind him.

Daniel turned around to face himself. The double vision made him blink as he saw both the reality and the projection: the glowing mass of light and energy and the ordinary man. His shirt was black like the ones they had started wearing around the SGC. It wasn't cream. Cream was for Jack.

"Surprise?" he told himself, uncertainly.

Daniel nodded. "What? How?" Daniel swallowed. "Who helped you ascend? Not Oma."

"You did."

"Me! But I'm not ascended anymore."

"You will be," he smiled," once I help you."

"You've come to help me ascend so that some time in the future I can help you ascend?"

He nodded.

"What if I don't want to go?" asked Daniel.

"You've finished this journey. There's nothing keeping you here."

"What about the others?"

"They'll be safe here," he said. "They're not us. Teal'c will start the Jaffa legends that we used to love and Samantha and Jack will have each other."

"What do you mean they're not us?" Daniel picked up on the odd phrase and felt a spike of curiosity.

"They're different. They don't belong to this universe. We both belong to this universe. We're the same person."

"How is that possible?"

"Time and reality doesn't affect us quite the same way it affects mortals."

"Is that why SG-1 died? Because only one of them could exist?"

"I don't know." He looked sad. Daniel wondered if he could remember them dying or if he was mourning the ones who lived. "Maybe. It would explain why we lived."

Daniel was quiet thinking about the friends he had lost and the imposters that Daniel had been forced to protect. He was right. They didn't need him anymore. He'd fixed the timeline. His job was done.

"What's going to happen when I ascend?"

"I don't know."

"Will I disappear?"

"No," he answered with a smile.

"Will we be separate?"

He raised an amused eyebrow. "We will be the same."

"OK. I'm ready."

Daniel closed his eyes.

"Hey," said Jack, poking him in the shoulder.

Daniel opened his eyes and smiled. The lightning bugs flickered as they danced in the twilight over the still pond.

"Are you ready to head inside? Sam wants to make Smores."

Daniel nodded and stood up.

"I'm glad we did this," he said, as they walked across the lawn to Jack's cabin.

"Yeah?" asked Jack.

"Yeah," he said brushing against his shoulder.

"Good."

And they went inside and made Smores. And Sam dripped gooey chocolate and marshmallow down her chin and they laughed and Teal'c smiled. And when Sam wanted to talk about the tape of themselves and quantum physics, he just smiled and changed the subject.

And Daniel was happy. They had died but they were here. This was perfection; this tiny slice of eternity where everything was right and the echoes didn't hurt anymore.