Authors notes:

This story was originally published many years ago, but for some reason it was never posted here. I'm not sure why I never posted here. The only thing I can think of is stuff happens. If you've read it before, then I thank you. If you haven't read it, then I hope you enjoy. Then why, you might be asking yourself, am I posting it again? The answer is simple: the next part is finished. Well, almost finished. It just needs to be edited, looked over one more time and tweeked in a few places. But, it will make no sense whatsoever if you don't read the first one first. So, I'm making the first one available again. There are some very real reasons why it's taken me so long to get the next part of this story to you, but I'll go into that when I post the next story, hopefully in the next few days. I hope you like it.

CritterKid

Usual disclaimers here. Anything you recognize does not belong to me. It all belongs to much smarter and much more creative people. I'm just borrowing the characters, playing with them for a while, and putting them back.

This is set after Threshold but before the rest of Season 5.

I love my life.

That's what I'm thinking now. I love my life. Sure, things have been shaky before, but now they're great. I have a wife and kids who I absolutely adore. My job is perfect. And most importantly I have my family back. Now don't get me wrong, my family was never missing or anything. It's just, after mom died our family seemed to fall apart. Dad became the enemy, Sam the peacemaker, and me... I guess I became the antagonist.

Dad and I never could seem to get along after that. Sam and I did all right, not perfect but okay. At least until she betrayed me and joined the Air Force. Okay, so I know it wasn't really betrayal. I knew her dream was to become an astronaut, and one of the easiest ways to do that was to join the military. I guess I just hoped my hatred of that institution would influence her and she would grow to hate it too. Purely selfish reasons too, it's easier to totally hate something and someone if you're not alone. Well, at least our relationship didn't totally go down the drain. It did suffer though, but I never did totally hate her like I did 'Dad'. Dad. Just the thought of him makes me smile now. Ever since the day when he, no they, showed up unexpectedly at my doorstep.

Sam had brought him to my house. At first, I didn't know what to think. Was she going to turn her back on me like I turned my back on dad? Or was she here to gloat, bringing what I could never have as some sort of twisted trophy. It wasn't until dad pulled me into a giant bear hug that I understood. She was still playing the peacemaker. Our relationship has been better ever since. He and Sam would stop by every once in a while, or sometimes he would come alone. He was trying and so I started trying. The next thing you know we're going on a family vacation. Just dad, Sam, and me, our first since mom died.

I look at the airport where I'm heading. Next exit, almost there. I'm here to pick up Sam. Apparently dad still had some last minute stuff to finish before he could take off. Sam offered to stick around with him, but he insisted he was fine.

So Sam is coming out now. We'll have a couple days to catch up and decide what we want to do before dad joins us. I pull the car into the nearly empty parking lot. 3 AM is really one of the best times to get a good parking space. I park and quickly grab my jacket as I head off to the terminal. I get to the gate just as her plane is being taxied in.

"Mark. Over here."

"Hey Sam." I reply as I go over and give her a big hug. "How was your flight?"

"Pretty boring. What's say we go grab some dinner before heading out to the house?"

"Dinner? Don't you know it is definitely midnight snack time."

"No, it is definitely dinner time. I'm starved."

"Okay, okay, you win." We continue our small talk until she has her bag and we make our way out to the car. Just as we get there, there's a brilliant flash of white light and then darkness.