Epilogue

The gate flared, and Hammond watched as SG-1 emerged from the event horizon and walked down the ramp towards him. They all looked exhausted, he decided as he watched, and wasn't surprised really. They'd been gone several days, after all. But at least none of them were bleeding.

"Welcome back, SG-1," he said, smiling as they came to a stop in front of him.

"Thank you, sir," Jack said, doing his best impersonation of someone who was too tired to really get all the way to attention – or even parade rest.

"How did it go?"

It was Daniel who answered for the group.

"We should have a working relationship with the Inmaris before too long. They seemed very interested in trading with us."

"If we can get them to stop cringing every time one of them looks at Teal'c," Jack added.

Carter smiled.

"They are a little intimidated by him, sir. It might be best if he doesn't return with the negotiators."

Hammond nodded. A little intimidation was good – Teal'c kept many of the people they met for the first time from looking at SG-1 as an automatic target – but they didn't want to go into negotiations with things uneven. Even Hammond knew that.

"We'll have SG-6 take over the negotiations from here."

O'Neill's sigh was relieved.

"Then that means we're probably due a couple of days off…" he looked at his commanding officer hopefully. "Yes?"

Hammond smiled.

"Go check in with Doctor Fraiser and get cleared, Colonel."

"Yes, sir."

"And then report to my office."

The team exchanged glances, but Hammond was already walking away.

"What was that all about?" Sam asked as they headed for the door.

Jack shrugged.

"He's hiding something."

"You think?" Daniel asked.

O'Neill nodded.

"He's got that smug look about him."

"What do you think it is?"

"Who knows?" He led them around the corner and down the corridor to the infirmary. "One way to find out."

OOOOOOOOOO

"No injuries…"

"You're overworked, doc. We didn't want you to have to worry."

Fraiser smiled, and took off the examination gloves she'd been wearing.

"You're too kind. Go ahead and get dressed while I finish up with Sam."

He tossed her a sketchy salute and reached for his shirt.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Maybe he's going to give us a vacation…"

"Puhleeease…" O'Neill rolled his eyes in mock disbelief. "He'll say we just had one."

Daniel scowled.

"Going offworld isn't vacation."

"Tell Hammond, not me."

"Perhaps he intends to present us with a new assignment…" Teal'c said, throwing his own two cents worth in as they walked down the corridor towards Hammond's office.

"We just had one," Jack said – causing Sam to smile because it was almost a whine. Of course, after four days offworld, she was tired, too, and hoping that they could get a couple of days to go over the mission briefings and have a chance to take a break.

They didn't have a chance to say anything else, because they found themselves outside Hammond's office. The door was slightly ajar, so Jack simply rapped lightly on the door, knowing that the motion would cause the door to swing open a little – which it did.

Hammond looked up and waved them all into the room.

"Passed your physicals with no problem?"

"Yes, sir."

Hammond actually knew this, because if something had come up wrong, Janet Fraiser would have given him a call from the infirmary to let him know.

"An interesting thing happened yesterday, Colonel…" he said, motioning for them to all sit down. Daniel and Carter did, but Teal'c and O'Neill stood – mainly because there were a limited amount of chairs.

"Oh?"

"I was sitting here, in my office, minding my own business and talking to the President, when suddenly I was surrounded by an entire flock of owls."

"A parliament, sir," Sam corrected, automatically.

Everyone in the room looked over at her and she colored slightly.

"They're called a parliament, not a flock…"

"Anyways…" Hammond continued, "I was suddenly surrounded by a… parliament of owls..."

"Down here?" Daniel interrupted, surprised.

"Regular owls?" Carter asked. "Or wizard owls?"

They'd never heard of a wild owl getting loose in the SGC – and the only owl they'd ever seen was Hedwig. It was too much of a coincidence in Sam's mind.

"Since they were all carrying a package, I'm going to assume they were wizard owls," Hammond told them, leaning back and reaching for something behind his desk. A long, paper wrapped object. "It had your name on it, Colonel."

"Really?"

The general handed the package over, and Jack took it, confused.

"What is it?"

"I didn't open it."

Sam, however, was starting to get suspicious, and there was a partial smile on her face.

"Open it, sir."

He looked over at her, and then down at the package, and then shrugged and ripped off the paper covering it. After all, how many times was somebody ever going to get something delivered to them via a group of (a parliament of) owls? Then he frowned.

"It's a broom…"

Sam snickered, covering the sound with a cough.

"Three guesses who sent it…"

Hammond smiled, and reached into his desk.

"This came with it."

He handed Jack a piece of paper.

The others in the room watched as O'Neill opened it, and he smiled and shook his head.

"What does it say, Jack?" Daniel asked, curiously.

" 'Dear Jack, Thanks again for the lessons. How about coming over the pond and allowing me to return the favor before school starts up? Let me know. Harry.'"

"A non-magical person cannot learn to fly a broomstick, can they?" Teal'c asked.

Jack looked over at Carter, who shrugged.

"I don't know."

"Well, there's one way to find out," Daniel said, smiling. "I hear London is nice this time of year."

Hammond smiled – especially at the expression on O'Neill's face.

"You have several days downtime coming, Colonel. Let me know once you decide how you want to spend it."

That way he'd know if he'd have to find a bird to recall them if he needed them back or if a simple cell phone would work.

Jack looked over at the others, and shrugged.

"We'll let you know."

The End!

So, that's it! Just a little fun with the gang and Harry and them before I go back to torturing them. What'd you think?