A/N: On, Dear Readers! Onward! The End is in sight!

Frank Cromwell was dead. He died saving Major Gibson and shutting down the Stargate. Sammie's attention turned to her next project: the little girl with a ticking time bomb in her chest. The CMO, Dr. Janet Fraiser, said that it was only a matter of half an hour before it exploded – taking Colorado with it.

John frowned at General Carter, "There's an abandoned nuclear facility not far from here. It's deep enough underground to minimize the damage."

"Let's go." Jacob said. When Sammie moved to go with them, he shook his head, "No, you're not coming with us."

"Dad, if this doesn't work it doesn't matter where I am," Sammie pointed out logically, picking the little girl, Cassandra, up from the stretcher she had collapsed on. "I'm going, so you might as well get over it!"

As Jacob, John, Sammie and Cassie made their trip to the nuclear facility John turned to Jacob, "Has she always been this stubborn?"

Jacob glanced at the other man with an indescribable look on his face, "No. When she was a teen it could get much worse."

"I can hear you two, you know!" Sammie said with a glare to her father.

"You were supposed to," Jacob said, turning his attention back to the road as the building came into view. "Here we are."

Sammie picked Cassandra up, "I'll take her."

"Sammie," Jacob started.

"Dad, if she's going to blow up it won't matter if I'm the one who takes her down or not! We only have ten minutes." But if my guess is right, she'll have a lot longer than that.

Jacob and John both saw Sammie's determination and knew there was nothing they could say to stop her. "Okay," Jacob said sadly. "Get her down there and at the very least you have to close the door between her and you, understand?"

"Yes, sir," Sammie said, moving into the elevator.

It would take a full four minutes to get down to the bottom level of the building, and then another two for Sammie to get to a minimum safe distance from Cassandra. One thing that none of them counted on, however, was Cassandra waking up half way down. That is to say, none of them besides Sammie – she had been hoping for it.

John shared a relieved and enraged look when they saw the elevator floor number stay at the basement level and not ascend up toward the top. "Sammie!" John said into the intercom system. For a few long moments there was no answer, but finally, after a, "Damn it, Sammie! Answer me!" the answer came loud and clear.

"I'm here! We're here! The explosion didn't happen."

"Get your butts back up here! Now!" Jacob nearly yelled into the intercom. Both men were livid that Sammie had stayed down there … but they were alive.

A few minutes later Sammie and Cassandra (very wide awake and cold) arrived at the surface level of the building where Jacob and John were waiting. Sammie looked chagrinned slightly at the glares she was receiving from the two men, but she couldn't keep herself from keeping an arm around the very much alive Cassandra as if it proved her point.

"What happened?" Jacob finally asked.

Sammie smiled down at the young girl as she explained, "Cassie has naquadah in her blood, right? That Goa'uld, Nirti, put it in her and it formed a bomb – only when she was near the Stargate. She only collapsed when she was at the base of the Stargate, and when she woke up half way down, I knew. Just keep her away from Levels 27 through 29 and she'll be fine."

John glared at her half-heartedly, "That was one hell of a risk you took."

Sammie's clear, defiant eyes met his, "You would have done the same, John, and you know it."

"That may be, but that doesn't mean I condone you doing it!" the older man snapped. Sammie raised an eyebrow at him and he looked down, realizing the 'do as I say, not as I do' parent attitude he was exhibiting.

Cassie just watched the interaction silently with wide eyes. These humans were strange!

"So, you're going back to Boston?" Jacob asked his daughter that night as they ate dinner in the commissary within the mountain as John caught up with some old friends named Ferretti and Kowalski.

Sammie nodded, "Yep. That's where my life is."

Jacob tried again, "Are you sure you don't want to stay and work here? Saving the world every other week?"

Sammie smiled fondly at the thought, "Working for Dr. McKay, who looks at all women like slabs of meat? Or would that be working directly for you, my father, and having a whole bunch of people claim that the only reason I'm here is because of you?"

Jacob acknowledged the validity of her claims. The grapevine would go wild if she started to work there. "What does that leave us with? Earth would probably still be being sucked into that damned black hole if you weren't here. Not to mention Cassandra's life would be over."

"The very rare emergency calls in when no one else can figure it out." She let out another small smile at her father, "And I'm thinking of taking Cassandra with me. John's become … attached to her, and I think I could help her adjust to everything."

"Boston's 'fine air' would do her some good?"

"Not to mention it's pretty far from the Stargate so she won't run the risk of being blown up any time soon."

The two ate in companionable silence for a few minutes before one question that had been nagging Sammie since she found out about the Stargate came to mind, "Why did you let John come with me?"

Jacob thought for a few moments before answering his daughter, "He was on the first mission through the Stargate three years ago. It was a suicide mission and … what they found on the other side was amazing."

"That's when Dr. Jackson started setting up relations with the Abydonians? John was on that mission?" This was incredible! John was a real life hero – of not only the United States but also the world. Sammie felt honored to even know him, let alone be allowed to love him and have him love her in return.

Jacob nodded, "Yep, that mission. After the mission he wanted to retire and start his life again … so Boston it was!"

Sammie grinned, "Yeah. Boston it was."

"Are you sure I can't convince you two to stay any longer?" Jacob asked half-heartedly. He knew that Sammie and John were eager to get back to their bar and their lives.

Sammie smiled and kissed her father's cheek, "Sorry, Dad, but we've got a bar to get back to. I have to buy a house – or at the very least find a bigger apartment. Cassie's going to be joining me in two weeks. Thanks for the help with that, by the way."

"No problem, kiddo."

John nodded once respectfully to Jacob, "Sir. It was good to see you again."

Jacob smirked, "Yep. We'll probably be seeing more of each other now, though. Take care of Sammie for me, okay?"

"Yes, sir."

Sammie leaned her head on John's shoulder as the flight took off, leaving Colorado Springs, alien incursions and all outer space mysteries behind. They were leaving behind the extraordinary to get back to the ordinary: Saturday night crowds; Sunday morning hangovers; dates; life.

It didn't really matter what lay ahead in their lives. Whether there was marriage there, with three kids and a white picket fence; or a messy break up and lonely nights spent remembering 'the one that got away'. None of it mattered as long as they had the bar.

Fin

A/N: Don't worry, there's still an epilogue on the way!