I got a few questions in reviews about why John hadn't told anyone about the fact that Elizabeth got sick in the future. Hodgkins Disease is a type of cancer, so when he went back to the present, she wasn't sick yet. As the kids said in the future, Elizabeth hid the fact that she was sick for long enough that they couldn't treat her successfully once they found out. So as long as John knows when it's going to happen, he can make sure she doesn't pretend that nothing's wrong. Hope that clears some stuff up. And now, on with the show...

It was really pretty annoying that a trip TO Earth took three microseconds and the trip BACK to Atlantis took three weeks. Being cooped up on the Daedalus for so long was made even worse by the fact that John knew what he was missing. A request from the Air Force that he return 'home' meant that he lost a month of his kids' lives.

He had been a changed man since Jonathan and Abigail had been born – yes, he'd managed to convince Elizabeth that they should keep the twins' names the same. The first night after they were born, he sat all night in the infirmary just watching them, wondering who they were going to grow up into this time and hoping he would be able to actually fix the things that had gone wrong. They were starting to get older now and he was constantly amazed by the little people that were a part of him. No matter how badly a day had gone, he could always count on the fact that sitting in a recreation room with his kids and watching football would make it better. Abbie was a Broncos fan solely because she liked pictures of horses, and John was pretty sure that Elizabeth had a hand in the fact that Jonathan liked New England.

"Colonel?" a voice brought him out of his thoughts. He was sitting in the Daedalus' mess hall, staring off at nothing with a full cup of coffee in front of him that had undoubtedly already gone lukewarm, if not completely cold. "We're approaching orbit, Sir."

"Thank you," he told the crewman, getting up to dispose of his drink. Finally, it was time to go home.

Upon beaming into the gate room in Atlantis, John could already hear the sound of little feet thundering across the floor. Jonathan and Abbie ran in from the hallway, heading straight for him with cries of, "Daddy! Daddy!" Laughing, John managed to pick up both of the four-and-three-quarters-year-olds (the three quarters were very important) at once.

"Whoa, were you guys sitting on a radio, waiting for us to get in orbit?" he asked them.

"They were indeed," Teyla told him as she joined them, having been following more slowly behind the twins with three-year-old Tagan on her hip. "We all spent the afternoon decorating your quarters at Jonathan and Abigail's suggestion."

"Uh-oh. Did you guys use glitter again?" John asked. Abbie smiled proudly. "And I'm assuming Mommy doesn't know about that, huh?"

"It's a surprise," Jonathan explained.

"I see. Where is Mommy, by the way?" The twins both pointed up the stairs. "Of course. Dumb question, right? Let's go see her. Thanks for watching them today," he told Teyla.

"My pleasure."

Up in the control room, John could see that Elizabeth was at her desk, going over something on her tablet PC. "Knock, knock," he said as he came into her office, setting Jonathan and Abbie down on their feet. Elizabeth looked up in surprise.

"When did you get back?" she asked him.

"About five minutes ago. You didn't hear all the noise these two were making?"

"The wonders of soundproof walls," she replied as she got up.

"Or when the Daedalus radioed down?"

"I killed the volume on my headset – Rodney's been bugging me all afternoon. I figured the guys in the control room would let me know when the ship was in orbit, but I guess not."

"Apparently." He kissed her, earning giggles from their pint-sized audience. "What, I can't kiss your mother without hearing from the peanut gallery?" They just laughed more.

"Did someone do a little jewelry shopping for you?" Elizabeth asked John as she realized that he had different insignia on the collar of his BDU jacket than when he had left.

"Yep. Apparently somebody thought giving me another promotion was a good idea."

"Well, congratulations, Colonel Sheppard."

"Thank you, Dr. Sheppard. I wish you'd been there for the ceremony."

"We can have our own celebration." They both looked down as a little hand pulled at John's pants leg. "Later, without an audience," she amended.

"What's up, munchkin?" John asked Abbie as he knelt in front of her. She held up a ring box.

"What's this?" she asked him.

John looked up at Elizabeth in shock. "Who's been teaching them how to pick pockets?"

She just smiled. "Long story. The crewmen involved have already been dealt with. What did you find, Abbie?" she asked her daughter.

"Hey, give that back," John told the little girl. Flashing him a grin that she'd inherited from her mother, Abbie handed Elizabeth the box. "I'm gone for a month and you turn them against me!" he complained.

"That was my plan all along," Elizabeth replied. "Should I open this?"

"Go ahead. It's for you; I was just going to wait until later." Inside of the little black case was a ring with a heart-shaped stone that nearly matched the color of her shirt. "Happy fifth anniversary."

Elizabeth smiled. "Happy anniversary."

"Things didn't turn out all that badly, did they?"

"Not at all," she agreed. "And I've got a surprise for you, too."

"Oh, really? When did you get the chance to go shopping?" he teased.

"I didn't have to. And actually, it was a pretty good surprise for me, too." John raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Let's just say that there are going to be some changes around here in about nine months."

Fin.