Disclaimer: 'Stargate SG1', 'The 4400' and all the characters associated with both shows belong to people who aren't me. As I doubt that the owners would be willing to trade their rights for some magic beans that aren't in any way magical, this is not going to change at any point in the foreseeable future.

Chapter Three

"Home sweet home." Jack commented as he pushed open the door to his house and led the way into the living room. "The lease for the people renting your house is up in about a month, but I figured that you wouldn't want to stay on the base," he added to Sam. "Not after being stuck in quarantine for six weeks."

"I don't want to impose…"

"You won't be." Jack cut her off firmly. "The guest room's already made up. I'm afraid your stuff is still in storage, but the doc said that she'd pick up some stuff for you before she came over – speaking of the Napoleonic power monger." He quipped, hearing the doorbell ring.

Janet may have been small in stature but she was definitely strong, as Sam found out when her friend dropped the shopping bags she was carrying and hugged her tightly.

"You're going to have broken ribs at this rate, Carter." Jack joked.

Janet ignored him. She smiled as she released Sam, picking up the shopping bags and passing them to her. "I thought that you'd need some clothes and things. Cassie wanted to be able to come tonight, but she couldn't get away from college until the weekend."

Sam felt a lump form in her throat at this fresh reminder of how many years she had missed out on. When she had disappeared, Cassie had been a few months away from her thirteenth birthday. Now she was finished high school and would be starting college.

Seeing her expression, Jack interrupted. "Where's the cake?"

"In the car."

"I will retrieve it." Teal'c volunteered, accepting Janet's car keys and leaving, returning a moment later bearing a large cake box.

"No pizza?" Jack looked disapproving.

"On its way." Janet responded. "And I made sure to get them with everything." She added to Teal'c before he could voice his question.

"Fair enough." Jack glanced at Daniel and Teal'c. "Did Mitchell say if he was coming or not?"

"I think he said that he had some work to do." Daniel covered. He smiled at Sam. "You'll have to wait to meet him another day."

"Who's Mitchell?"

"He is a member of SG-1 at present." Teal'c told her.

"The latest in a long line." Jack elaborated. "You left a tough act to follow, Carter. How many have we gone through so far? Eleven or twelve?"

"Major Mitchell is the fourteenth, O'Neill."

"Right, and so far Tobias holds the record – she was on the team for nearly seven months."

"Claire Tobias?" Sam asked. Jack nodded confirmation. "We worked together at the Pentagon for a while."

"She was okay… until she turned out to be working for Maybourne, stealing technology." Jack smiled at her look of astonishment. "I'm afraid things haven't exactly been quiet and peaceful since you've been away."

The doorbell rang a second time while Daniel was relating the story of Jack's undercover mission to track down a group of thieves nearly five years earlier and his unmasking of Claire Tobias for Sam's benefit.

"That'll be the pizza." Jack moved to answer the door, grinning when he saw who was waiting there. "Taken on a second job, sir?" he asked innocently, gesturing towards the pizza boxes the other man held.

"The tips are better." Hammond quipped dryly. "Where is she?"

"In the living room, through there." Jack took the pizza boxes and carried them into the kitchen. "T, Daniel, can you give me a hand with the plates?" He called.

"Hi, sir." Sam rose from her chair when the general entered, smiling shyly.

"Sam." He hugged her tightly for a minute before releasing her, studying her face intently. "Are you alright? There were no problems in quarantine? You were treated well?" He asked protectively.

"Yes, sir." She assured him.

"If you don't count six weeks worth of quarantine food – about the same standard as hospital food, right Carter?" Jack remarked, emerging from the kitchen carrying two plates of food, which he passed to Sam and Hammond. He gave a mock shudder. "Inhumane, I call it."

"It wasn't that bad, sir." Sam protested lightly, accepting the pizza.

"Have you decided when you want to come back to the SGC?" Hammond asked as Teal'c and Daniel carried in the remainder of the plates and the group sat down on the armchairs and couch to eat. "You're more than welcome to come back – it hasn't been the same without you – and your job will be waiting for you when you do," he assured her warmly. "But if you need time to adjust to being back, to visit your family and sort out your affairs, take as long as you like."

"Thank you."

"SG-1 is on downtime until further notice." He added to Jack, Daniel and Teal'c. "So you gentlemen will have plenty of time to fill Captain Carter in on what's been going on. They've managed to get into quite a lot of trouble without you." He told Sam.

Janet laughed. "I don't think that will come as much of a surprise."

Though both Jack and Daniel scowled at her, neither of them tried to argue.

Night

Sam had been lying awake for more than two hours without being able to fall asleep. After six weeks sleeping in a dormitory at the quarantine facility, the stillness of bedroom was almost disconcerting.

When her sheep count reached one thousand, six hundred and nineteen and she was still as wide awake as when she had begun, she gave up on the hope that it would lull her to sleep and pushed the quilt aside and got out of bed, donning the dressing gown Janet had brought for her and slipping out of the room, making her way to the kitchen as silently as possible.

"Carter?" Sensing more than hearing her approach, Jack looked up from his seat on the couch, muting the volume on the television before standing and joining her in the kitchen. "Everything okay? Did the TV wake you?"

"No, sir." She assured him. "I was awake, I just wanted to get a drink…" She trailed off, seeing the reproving look he was giving her. "Sir?"

"Tell me that we don't need to go through the house rules again, Sam." He chided in a mock-reproachful tone. "Come on, now," he encouraged, grinning. "What was the Golden Rule?"

"No technobabble before breakfast." Her response was prompt.

"Okay, the other Golden Rule."

She smiled. "No using the 'S' word in the house."

"Very good." He said approvingly, moving past her to open the fridge and peer inside. "Let's see, we've got beer – probably not the best idea at this hour – apple juice, milk, more beer, soda… oh, and another beer." He glanced up at her. "Hot chocolate sound okay to you?"

"Yes, s… Jack." She amended.

He half filled a small saucepan with milk and set it on the stove to heat before speaking again. "So what's keeping you awake?" She shrugged. "It has to feel weird coming back and finding out that you've been gone for years." He suggested sympathetically. "I'd say that there are going to be thousands of people who feel like that tonight."

"Yes." She agreed quietly.

"Any plans to visit your brother? He lives in San Diego, right?"

"I don't know…" She hesitated. "We weren't really keeping in touch before, not since I joined the Air Force."

"I'm sure that he'll want to see you." Jack said encouragingly. "Hammond called him when we found out that you were back – we weren't sure whether NTAC had let him know. He wanted to visit you in quarantine but he wasn't allowed. You should go – plus, since Hammond put SG-1 on downtime, you'll have three chauffeurs at your disposal." He added, remembering that her driving licence would probably be expired by now.

"Three? I didn't know that Teal'c could drive."

"Daniel taught him."

"When?"

"1969." He responded with a perfectly straight face. "We tried our hand at time travel a few months after you disappeared." He elaborated. "I don't recommend it."

"Sounds like I missed a lot." Despite her efforts to keep her tone cheerful and casual, an edge of resentment tinged her words. "Sorry, I know I shouldn't be complaining…"

"Yes, you should." Jack cut her off firmly. "You have every right to be angry, Sam. You were kidnapped, you lost out on six years of your life and you don't even know why. If it had been me, you wouldn't have needed to see me on TV to know I was back, you'd have been able to hear me yelling from here." He moved the hot milk off the stove and stirred in heaped spoonfuls of chocolate powder before pouring the steaming mixture into two mugs and passing one to Sam.

"That's one of the worst parts, not knowing." Sam said quietly, taking a sip of her drink. "There has to have been a reason, but I have no idea what it is."

"Maybe you've been sent back to save the world." Jack suggested, only half-joking.

"Or to destroy it." She countered bleakly. "That seems to be the most popular idea."

"That's not it." Jack responded immediately. "You and I both know that if destroying Earth is the goal, there are quicker and easier ways to do that than spending nearly sixty years kidnapping thousands of people to do the dirty work.

"Still, we can't know…"

"I can." He cut her off.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because if I was looking for people who were going to destroy the world, you'd be the last person in the galaxy I'd pick."

TBC.