A/N: Oh thank you all so much for your kind reviews. I really wanted to do more chapters, but I think that I should probably end it in this chap and perhaps an epilogue because I'm not very good at writing long stories, I tend to run out of drive for them by the tenth chapter and then they go unfinished, which I don't want to happen to this one because I've enjoyed writing it and so many people took an interest.

roseofthegate: I had absolutely no idea Walter was enlisted, lol. I thought he just kept getting passed over for promotions or something. Thank you so much for pointing it out.

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Amanda and Jacob gathered their gear together in the locker room, preparing to leave for the planet whose continuum rift had caused them to jump back in time.

"I think I've gotten the calculations precise" Jacob commented as he leaned over a bench to tie on his standard issue boots, "I pretty sure that if we catch the rift that will be caused when the planet is in it's rotational phase on the opposite side from when we caught it the first time, we'll be sent back to our time"

Amanda seemed slightly distracted as she went through an automatic mental checklist of the supplies in her pack while answering him, "The first time we caught the rift was an accident, we had no idea how far back we'd go… how do you know just how many years into the future we'll be sent?"

"Well" he muttered, finishing with his shoes and moving on to secure his weapons, "like I told Cassandra before we left, the rift sends you either back or forward in time from the planet you're dialing to, depending on how much further away from that planet it is. And its distance depends on what hour of the day it is because that's the factorial difference in its rotational phase"

Amanda never understood much of what her teammate told her when he was speaking about astrophysics, but she normally got the gist of what he was trying to tell her…if she was making an effort to listen that is.

Right now, she was too absorbed in her own thoughts to pay much attention to his explanation, and Jacob picked up on this.

"I'd give you a penny for your thoughts but I'm saving up to pay back what I bet Lif'kel on last season's games" he said.

"Huh? Oh" Amanda mumbled in response…then paused in her preparations and sighed, "I was just thinking that we didn't do much by way of getting my parents together early" she noted.

Jacob shrugged, "I'm sure they'll come around. Shifu would be making us stay if it was that important" he smirked, "I think what we were really here for was the artifact, our ascended friend just thought it'd be funny to make us suffer by forcing our folks to go all lovey-dovey on each other"

When they finished getting ready, Amanda stood in the middle of the room and placed her hands on her hips. She had a contorted expression on her face.

Jacob knew that look…he didn't like it. It was the look she got when a mission wrapped up without any problems, when Jacob was happy with the easy outcome of negotiations with other species because he hadn't had to play complicated politics, when earth got what it wanted without any complaints.

When she got that look, SG-1 had to stay behind and uncover a whole truckload of crap that had been waiting to be dumped on them anyway.

Jacob hated that look because it meant they had to work harder at getting themselves into trouble instead of just getting in, out, and on their way.

"Something else is bothering me…" she began.

Jacob groaned, "Don't start, Amanda," he pleaded.

"Well…shouldn't fixing our futures be more difficult than this?" she asked, waving her hand in a huge gesture that encompassed the activities of the past week or so, "I mean, all we had to do was wade through some of Shifu's vague riddles, have lunch with your parents, and find an artifact. And the outcome is supposedly going to be that our father's avoid death and we have a better life"

She said the last part in her I'm-not-buying-it tone.

Jacob muttered under his breath about a bunch of random subjects, mostly having to do with all the complications Amanda just had to cause on every other mission that did not have them experiencing doomsday.

"Fine" he said when he had finished secretly ranting, "what do you propose we do?"

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Daniel and Vala sat together in the commissary, which was strangely void of other human life, probably due to the fact that when the pair had walked in together, everyone else had run out.

"People don't like you very much, do they?" Vala had stated before taking a seat.

Daniel glared at her, "Actually, people generally enjoy my company, the running and screaming only happens when I'm near you"

"Aren't you charming" she retorted.

"You tend to bring out the worst in me"

"You're sexy when you're annoyed"

"Then it's a wonder how you haven't tied me down and jumped me by now"

"The thought had crossed my mind"

Unbeknownst to the two, they were being watched by a heavy hearted Amanda Jackson at the moment, who was standing in the hallway peering through one of the entrances to the commissary.

Jacob watched his friend watch her parents and a revelation struck him, "It's not that things were too easy" he whispered to her quietly, "That's not why you're afraid we're missing something.

Amanda turned her gaze to him, and he saw the tears shimmering in her eyes. "I just had my hopes up" she muttered, "Seeing them again and having the possibility to make it so they never leave…"

She sniffed and a tear escaped down her cheek. She brushed at it but made no attempt to conceal how she was feeling, Jacob and Lif'kel had both seen her at her worst before, and she had seen them in similar states.

"I just don't want to get home and find nothing has changed because we didn't do enough…" her breathing was heavy with emotion and it yanked at his heart, "I can't go back if they aren't going to be there…I can't have them gone again…"

"Come here" Jacob said gently, pulling her into his arms and holding her as she let her tears run silently into his shoulder.

He could sympathize to some level. He had lost his father too, and longed to have him back if there was a chance. But at least he still had his mother.

Amanda was an orphan…and she was old enough when she had lost her parents to truly understand the meaning of death and pain. Jacob had only just turned eight when Jack had died, and his father was able to show up every now and then because he was ascended.

So Jacob had never truly felt the sting of loss like Amanda had. He even still had his father, albeit in an odd, apparition sort of way.

"Amanda" he said soothingly, "We wont know if it worked unless we see for ourselves"

She slowly pulled away from him and wiped at her eyes, "I know" she replied.

"We leave in five minutes" he added, glancing at his watch, trying not to sound hasty "We can call it off if you want…we'll stay if you need more time"

Amanda shook her head, "No…Cassie's probably ready to put us both on maintenance duty for a month as it is" she attempted a smile, "We should go"

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The Stargate activated as the last Chevron locked into place.

Amanda and Jacob headed up the ramp part way, and then turned to say their final goodbyes.

Vala, General O'Neill, and SG-1 stood in the embarkation room to see them off.

"Th-th-th-th-th-that's all folks," Jacob stuttered, giving a two-fingered salute to his parents.

Jack rolled his eyes at the bad impression of the old cartoon character before giving a half-hearted smile, "It's been fun, kids…freaky, a little disorienting, but…fun"

Sam grinned, "Take care of yourselves"

"Yea, um…I would say don't do anything we wouldn't do but that would probably make every mission you ever went on end in various forms of disaster" Daniel commented, "So, you should definitely do the exact opposite of what we would do"

"Only risk your life if you know there's a profit in it" Vala said, winking at Amanda.

Daniel opened his mouth to respond to that, but was interrupted by Teal'c, "It was a pleasure to get to know you both" the Jaffa said, bowing lightly.

Amanda and Jacob looked at each other, "Ready?"

"No, but are we ever?"

They waved at their parents before stepping through the gate.

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Seconds later, Amanda and Jacob were on the planet.

Jacob looked at his watched as they walked over to the DHD, "Right on schedule" he said.

Amanda tried to mentally prepare herself for the future that would be awaiting them as her friend dialed.

She crossed her fingers when the wormhole established.

Jacob took her hand and smiled reassuringly, "Let's go home, Dorothy"

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