A/N: Okay, so so so sorry this took so long, i feel terrible about it. i hope you like it, but it's a little short, sorry.

Going Home

23:33, nine and a half hours after they sent the MALP through the wormhole, we were going home. I don't mind this place so much, a little on the quiet side, but the Goa'uld are pretty much defeated here. My counterpart has a family, a wonderful one at that.

My life's the military, the Stargate program. I don't think I could ever hold down a desk, or just sit in charge of the program itself. I'm a man of action, but this universe has shown me how wonderful life could be.

And now we have to go home.

I had to let go of Sam… er, Carter. Had to stop showing her how I feel. Return to being her commanding officer. The asshole I normally am.

Damn, this sucks!

Lt. Simmons locked in the seventh chevron and the familiar Kawoosh! could be heard over anything else. I stood there, facing the event horizon. Knowing it was sending us home made me reluctant to step forward.

I turned and faced the rest of the Gateroom. The O'Neills, minus Sam, were all standing there, watching us. I had gotten to know them all since I'd shown up here. I thought the were up a little late when I remembered they were four hours behind us. Well, actually twenty hours ahead of us.

Carter and John had been working on the reason why we weren't suffering that whole distortion thing. It was the main reason we tried staying in these alternate universes as short as possible. Never once the whole 14 hours I had been here did I feel like I was being pulled in a thousand different directions.

They still hadn't quite figured it out, but I was ordering us home. Carter was showing serious signs of fatigue. She'd been doing a lot of naquada and naquadria testing over the past month and I know she wasn't sleeping. I want her to rest. Daniel had informed me on oh so many occasions that I was pushing her too hard. Why can't they see it's my way of showing her how much I trust her and believe in what she does. Even if she never accomplished anything she had been striving after, I'd still be there for her and believe in her.

The Daniel's had spent the entire 9 hours talking about the cultural differences and similarities between the two universes. Space Monkey had even cornered Major Jackson and badgered him about his reasoning behind joining the military. That had been a wonderful philosophical debate to walk in on. I could only take it for about 30 seconds.

Thankfully, Jack had decided to relieve the kids' grandfather, Mike, and brought them to the base to meet their new little brother. Fortunately for me, Mike couldn't come onto the base.

When Sara and I had divorced, Mike and I had sort of, fallen apart, I guess. To put it nicely, I'm still scared about the future of my career. In this universe, he had a civil relationship with Jack and his second family. It nearly floored me when I heard that Jack and Sam's kids called him "Grandpa" along with John.

After the kids were done saying hi, I took them to the commissary to get them out of everybody's hair. The cook had made just about every type of Jell-o possible, knowing the O'Neill's would be in. I knew having the children on base would allow Jack and Sam some time with their new son without worrying or having to check in with anybody.

Kate and Maddi had decided they weren't going to let "Uncle John" go no matter what. Well, unless Daddy called. Sara hadn't been asking too many questions or really saying too much. She excused herself once she was done with her Jell-o, saying she was running to her mother's lab and would return shortly.

John had stopped in to check up on us and sat down next to me. "What's up with Sara? Does she not like me or something?"

"Mmm, no. She's always like this on base. Mom can't figure it out. She just draws. She'll come back with a roll of paper and any sort of drawing utensils she can find. Sometimes she's real calm and draws just pictures. Other times she gets real worked up and her mind starts over working. When she was six she drew out the plans to a new Naquada reactor that didn't have the same flaws we were trying to work out." He took a huge bite of red Jell-o and smiled.

"Wow, wish I was as smart as all you guys," I joked. It was so easy and yet so hard to talk to this kid. He was smart and mature, it was just like talking to another member of the SGC. He was smart like Janet and Sam, but he had my military bravado.

"Eh, you are, but if your Sam is anything like my mom, and if you're anything like my dad, just keep playing dumb." He grinned at me over his bowl and continued eating. I shifted uncomfortably under the napping Kate and Maddi.

"Dad loves listening to Mom and he always remembers what she says. Mom loves explaining things t him because it keeps them in the same room longer."

Sara came back through the door with her arms laden with everything she needed. I noticed she pushed most of the tables and chairs out of the way and settled herself on the floor.

John looked over at Jake who had started turning around in his chair.

"Leave her alone, Jake," he scolded sternly. I could hear myself in his voice. Jake lowered his eyes and turned back around.

"Here, maybe you could get some use out of this." I pulled my yo-yo out of my pocket and handed it to him. I watched his eyes light up as he stood on the chair so it wouldn't touch the floor.

"That's Charlie's yo-yo," John said softly, leaning into me, looking straight into my eyes. "Nobody touches it."

"I've only had Charlie, and Sara and I got divorced shortly there-after. I figure, seeing Jake happy, well all of you happy, is the closest to happy I'll ever be. It'll keep him happy for a few hours at least." I hugged the little girls on my lap tightly. "What I wouldn't give to have this again."

"Don't sell yourself short." John stood and picked up his bowl. "I think somone's got something for you." He nodded towards where Sara was sitting.

I turned my head to see Sara approaching me with a section of paper rolled up in her hands. She held it out for me to take so I motioned with my head for her to put it on the table.

"So, what have we got here?" I asked her. She quietly unrolled the paper on the table in front of me.

"This is so you can come back and visit us again," she whispered, and promptly waked away from me, leaving me dumbstruck. I tell ya, not many women can do that.

I looked up at the paper and groaned. I'd been hoping that maybe she had been in a "Just Drawing" mood, but that just wasn't the case. It was a schematic for something. I'm usually pretty good with electronics, I mean like my stereo equipment 'n' stuff, but this was definitely beyond me. It looked just as foreign as some of the stuff I'd come up with during my time as an Ancient database.

I felt a hand touching my shoulder, I knew that grip.

"Eh, don't worry, she does stuff like that to all of us," Jack told me. He looked down at his sleeping daughters in my lap. I could see what he was feeling through his eyes.

"They're great kids, Jack," I said as he took Kate from my lap. As I stood with Maddi in my arms I couldn't help but think about how relaxed I felt here, in this universe. Every piece of my personality felt different.

"Yeah, I know."

I followed Jack to the section of the base designated for Officer's quarters. He had told me of the rooms built for himself and J.J., so I figured that was where we were headed.

He carefully opened the door to his quarters and led me back to a small room that held a crib, two twin beds and a cot. He motioned for me to lay Maddi on one of the twin beds.

We covered the girls and snuck out of the room. He gently closed the door as we slipped into the hall and wandered back to the commissary in silence.

"So," Jack spoke up. "I guess you guys are leaving in a few hours?"

"Yep. Whether Carter figures it out or not, we have to get back. Wish we could stay longer, but don't see how that's possible," I said sitting down with my cup of coffee.

"Never imagined there'd be other universes out there. It's kinda creepy if you ask me."

"Well, just don't try to explore them, there's a few that are just far too dangerous."

So, here we are, standing in front of the Gate, ready to go home, and all I wanna do is stay. I mean, they have no conflict with the Goa'uld, all their families are still intact, for the most part, and I'm technically not under the watchful eye of the Good Ol'e USAF.

I turned to glance back at Jack's happy family. It's not fair. All these other Jacks get to have her. Damn! I hate the regs. I'm willing to break them, but I'm not willing for her to give up her career for me. This means too much to her.

I watched as Janet rolled his Sam into the Gateroom. Jack rested his newborn son in her arms and approached me.

"Here, this is from all of us," he said, handing me a small white envelope. He patted me on the shoulder and walked back to his family.

I tucked the envelope into the breast pocket of my jacket, patting it gently. I looked up at my team. Daniel's facing the Gate, fidgeting from foot to foot. Teal'c's staring forward, waiting for me to issue the order. Sam… er… Carter walks up and stands next to me. I noticed she had Sara's diagram tucked into her pack.

"All right, Campers, let's go home."

A/N: Okay, so how'd you like it? Next ch. ATTACK will hopefully get done sooner. after that each ch. will be a viewpoint from jack and sam, maybe some daniel and teal'c. please review! oh yeah, and i know i probably changed tenses a bit, i tended to forget what i was writing in. sorry if it gets confusing i didn't mean to.