A/N: I got several reviews from you guys and appreciate the enthusiasm for this story. This next one was a lot of fun to write, and if you'll notice I took a few liberties, but it's all stuff that could have happened in between the scenes that TPTB gave us. I tried not to write too many of the scenes from the episode because I figure you guys have already seen it and know what happened. Anyway, on with the show…

Spoilers: 317 "A Hundred Days"

Chapter 4: 108 Days -

Alexa stood in the gateroom, weapon at the ready and watching the shimmering blue of the event horizon. Every nerve was on end as she waited for whatever would come through the event horizon. Although only seconds passed, it felt like hours. The moment the first of the refugees came through, medical teams – and Korin – were paged and Alexa put away her weapon to help herd the refugees down the ramp and out of the way.

Moments after the first refugees came through, Daniel passed through the event horizon to help on the SGC side of the evacuation. Several minutes later Jack and Teal'c fell through the gate milliseconds before it was cut off.

"Dial it back up!" Jack yelled at the control room.

The SFs and three members of SG1 continued to herd the refugees down the ramp while the stargate spun into action.

"Colonel O'Neill, where is Major Carter?" General Hammond demanded as he weeded his way through the crowd of refugees.

"She went back to help some of the Edorans, General." Jack answered. "Just before I came through a meteor was heading straight for the gate. We got as many people through the gate as possible, but if that meteor actually hit the gate…" Jack trailed off as the sixth chevron locked.

All eyes focused on the gate, willing the seventh chevron to engage…

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Thalin was among the scientists that were summoned to the briefing room, even though he had no plan to say anything.

"General," Dr. Lee began, "Looking at Major Carter's analysis of the meteors, if one hit the gate directly, there's a good chance the metal in the meteor has formed a type of iris on the gate. Now our iris is set just off from the event horizon, so that the wormhole can form without allowing matter to reintegrate. My theory is that the metal formed on the Edoran gate is blocking the wormhole from forming…"

"Meaning what, Dr. Lee?" Jack interrupted angrily.

"Meaning there's no way to dial Edora. Dr. Lee swallowed nervously. "The Edorans are stuck here and…" he paused.

"…and Sam is stuck on Edora." Daniel muttered sadly.

"There's got to be something we can do!" Jack demanded.

"There are a couple theories, Colonel." Dr. Lee hedged. "But I'm afraid that's all they are; our science just isn't advanced enough to make them a reality…"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Why not just give them the answers they're looking for?" Korin demanded as Tem met in a storage room. "It would get Carter back and be a lot less complicated then jumping back again."

"Aren't you supposed to be the one who's a stickler for protocol and accuracy?" Alexa accused. "Yes, it would get Carter back," she acceded. "But the timeline would be altered in ways you couldn't possibly foresee."

"Alexa's right." Thalin said. "It's important that Major Carter make this discovery.

"Fine." Korin grumbled. "What's the plan?"

"Thalin will maintain his current role to make sure Carter completes her task." Alexa explained. "While you and I will be on Edora."

"Why does Thalin get the comfort of Earth?" Korin grumbled.

"Because you have no tact." Thalin teased. "The point is to aid minimally, not give her the answer because your patience has run out."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Alexa dialed the coordinates into the jumper while hovering invisibly in front of the gate. She looked over at Thalin.

"Ready?"

"This would be less complicated if we were all on the same planet." Korin grumbled.

Thalin shared a look with Alexa before nodding. "I'm ready, no one on either side will notice the temporary event horizon, just make it quick."

Once through, Alexa dropped Thalin off outside Cheyenne so he could be as legitimate as possible, before returning to the gate room via the silo entrance. Once there, she waited suspended above the gate room floor until SG1 dialed Edora and then quickly followed them through before the gate shut down.

In the chaos of trying to evacuate the Edorans, Alexa and Korin were able to swipe clothes and blend in. as SG1 headed toward the gate, Alexa elbowed Korin.

"Be lame."

"What?" Korin asked.

"We need a distraction for O'Neill." Alexa explained. "Pretend to be lame."

Korin rolled his eyes, but did as Alexa suggested. As Jack hurried past the two of them, Alexa reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Please, Colonel, my husband needs help. He can barely walk much less hurry to the gate."

Jack hesitated and eyed Korin. "Carter," he keyed his radio.

"Yes, Sir?"

"Lead these people to the gate; I'll take up the rear."

"Aye, Sir."

"Come on." Jack said as he supported Korin.

"Thank you, Colonel!" Alexa gushed as she grabbed a bag of supplies and hurried alongside them.

"Colonel!" Lara came up a few minutes later.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Thalin tentatively knocked on Sam's lab door. Only a couple hours had passed since they'd discovered that the Edoran gate had been sealed and Sam had been in her lab since, trying to find a way through.

"What?" Sam snapped in response to Thalin's knock.

"My apologies, Major, I'm relatively new here, but I heard about your latest dilemma and wanted to offer my help."

"Why?" Sam asked bitterly. "All the other scientists think I'm grasping at straws."

"What's the point of being a scientist if we're not willing to test the limits of possibility?" Thalin argued. "Or do we still believe that the earth is flat and the center of the universe?"

Sam smiled. "Thank you Dr…" She paused. "I didn't catch your name."

"Joseph Grace." Thalin smiled as he offered a hand in greeting. "Call me Joe."

"Well Joe, here's the problem…"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"It's been six weeks!" Korin exclaimed as he dropped heavily into his seat at the table. "What is taking so long?"

Alexa sighed as she put food on the table. "How many times do I have to remind you that O'Neill was stuck here for…"

Alexa's comment was interrupted by a knock at the door. She shared a look with Korin before moving to answer.

"Colonel!" Alexa exclaimed.

"Rena." Jack acknowledged. "I didn't mean to interrupt you."

Alexa waved him off. "Just reminding Korin that you wouldn't have been stuck here if you hadn't stopped to help him when he twisted his ankle."

"I've actually been thinking about that." Jack took the offered chair.

"Oh?" Alexa asked as she set one more place.

"Yeah." Jack said. "It really wasn't you that got me trapped here, it was Lara's son." He paused as he accepted the food from Alexa. "However, if I hadn't stopped to help you, I would have already been at the gate and Carter would have been the one to go after the boy."

"So I really am the reason you're stuck here." Korin interjected.

"Something I wanted to thank you for."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Is this going to be a problem?"

Thalin paused as he heard Dr. Frazier's voice coming out of Sam's lab. He'd gone on a coffee run and now stood outside the lab while the two women finished.

"Dr. Grace." Janet said as she came out of Sam's lab. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Not long." Thalin broke out of his thoughts at Janet's question. "I was working out equations in my head as I came around the corner and had to stop to figure something out."

Janet looked at him skeptically, but decided not to push the issue. "How many cups of coffee is that now?"

"Just today or since the last time she slept?" Thalin asked.

Janet sighed. "I didn't want to know that." She paused. "She'll kill me, but I want you to switch to decaf at least until she sleeps."

Thalin smiled at the doctor's concern. "One step ahead of you, Doc."

Janet smiled and nodded before allowing Thalin entrance.

"Thanks Joe." Sam said as she absentmindedly took the outstretched mug and drank it. She furrowed her brow and looked at the mug before looking up at Thalin. "Decaf?"

Thalin shook his head. "Contrary to popular opinion one can't actually taste the difference."

"Then what's that taste?" Sam frowned.

"My own special concoction." Thalin smiled.

Before ascending, Thalin had been a biologist – the closest thing Alterans had to a doctor since they had the ability to heal each other. And even though the Alterans were more evolved, their basic physiology was identical to the Terrans'. So when he realized that Sam was so focused on saving Jack that she'd forgotten to take care of herself, he quickly mixed up two recipes he'd had to use repeatedly for himself and fellow scientists: a liquid protein that took on the flavor of whatever it was mixed into and a sleep aid that he'd never managed to completely camouflage.

Before Sam had finished even half of her coffee, she'd fallen asleep on her keyboard. Making a quick calculation of her body chemistry and the amount of coffee she drank, Thalin figured that she'd get at least three hours of sleep, not great but it was a start.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Nearly twelve weeks had passed since the Edoran gate had been buried and the three non-
Edorans were taking the situation differently. Alexa, who had grown up on a farm had settled into life relatively quickly. Korin was a completely different story; he hated the quiet and simple life of the Edorans and kept annoying Alexa with his complaints about how long it was taking to "rescue" them.

"And this is exactly why Thalin was assigned to the SGC." Alexa grumbled while slamming pots around on the stove. "You have no patience whatsoever. You would have given Sam the answer by now."

"Damn right I would have!" Korin argued back. "Would've brought you all home by now."

"And changed history in the process!" Alexa demanded.

"I'm pretty sure O'Neill wouldn't mind!"

"I wouldn't mind what?" Jack said as he stuck his head around the door.

"Oh, Korin wants to play hooky from the fields tomorrow and drag you along." Alexa thought quickly, ignoring the glaring looks from Korin.

"Fishing?" Jack sounded like a little kid as he stepped fully into the kitchen. "There's a spot up the river I've been dying to try." He turned to Alexa and gave her his best puppy dog eyes. "Please, Rena?"

Jack was the hardest to read of the three. Although he loved a more laidback lifestyle, he was still mourning the loss of Earth: home and friends. So any time something could be done to improve his mood, Alexa couldn't resist the chance.

"Fine." Alexa mock sighed. "But if Lara finds out…"

"It was my idea and I dragged Korin against his will."

"Half-truth anyway." Korin mumbled so only Alexa could hear.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"I don't know…" Sam sighed.

"You've run hundreds of tests, Sam." Thalin argued. "It'll work, have a little faith."

"But if it doesn't?" Sam countered. "If it doesn't work, three months of my life are gone and we're no closer to bringing him home."

"Our lives, Sam. Three months of our lives." Thalin corrected. "But it won't matter because it will work."

"Doctor Grace is correct Major Carter." Teal'c interrupted from the door. "Your device will produce the desired effect."

"In other words, we all have faith in you." Daniel added. "It'll work."

Sam nodded and headed out of her lab to the gateroom, the three men following.

"It'll work right?" Janet asked as Thalin joined her at the door. "Because she won't survive if she keeps up this workaholic bit too much longer. I'm not even sure how she survived this long."

"It'll work." Thalin assured.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Korin!" Alexa yelled as she ran toward the house they'd been living in. "Korin, they're here! They finally did it!"

Korin didn't have to ask who was there or what they had done, this was the moment he'd been waiting one hundred days for. He was up and out the door in a flash and heading down to the gate. Alexa spared a moment to shake her head and roll her eyes at his antics before following him – she was ready to get home too.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Are you sure about this Thalin?" Alexa asked as the two moved toward the briefing room.

"Did O'Neill recognize you when you first asked to join the SGC?" Thalin asked.

"No."

"And who gets into the most trouble here at the SGC?"

"SG1." Alexa sighed. "Guess they'll start to question why we keep popping up all over the galaxy."

"Exactly." Thalin said.

The two walked into the briefing room in the middle of SG1's debriefing, garnering surprised and annoyed looks from those present.

"Dr. Grace this is a closed briefing." General Hammond barked. "And who is this with you?"

"General, although not Edoran, Rena was stranded on Edora with me." Jack interjected. "But I didn't realize she'd come through the gate."

"That's actually why we're here, Jack." Alexa said. "I'm sorry that we have to do this."

Without further ado, Thalin and Alexa telepathically modified the memories of everyone present. They couldn't completely erase their presence because of the extra problems that would arise, but fuzzying any memory of them allowed them to keep the memories intact although somewhat unclear. Just before joining Korin in the camouflaged jumper in the gateroom, Thalin dropped a file on the table in front of Janet.

"What was that?" Alexa asked as they moved down the stairs to the control room.

"Just a precaution." Thalin hedged.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Welcome back guys." Dave greeted. "I was beginning to wonder about you."

"How long were we gone?" Alexa asked.

"34 hours." Dave answered.

"How many days did we spend?" Alexa asked her team.

"108" Korin grumbled as he walked passed her and dumped his gear on the floor.

"108!" Alexa exclaimed. "That's…"

"20 minutes per day." Korin filled in.

"That's about what I figured." Dave jumped into the conversation. "One would think that time travel would be instantaneous, but for some reason about 20 minutes passes here for every day that you're in the past."

"Well that's annoying." Alexa pouted.

"You'd rather have people here worried because we're gone for long periods of time without communication?" Thalin asked.

"No." Alexa admitted. "But I'd also rather not be 108 days older when records show 36 hours older."

The three men stared at Alexa in bewilderment.

"I know they say some jobs age you prematurely but this is just ridiculous." Alexa continued with a hint of a smile on her face.

Dave busted out laughing. "So am I going to have to keep track of your tenth chevron age now too?"

Everyone joined in the laugher – even Alexa.

"Could you?"

They all laughed harder.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Epilogue(ish) Three months after Edora –

"You wanted to see me Janet?" Sam asked as she walked into Janet's office.

"Do you remember anyone named Joe who was stationed here during the Edora fiasco?" Janet asked without looking up.

"Umm…there's a Dr. Joe Grace mentioned in some of my notes, but I'm pretty fuzzy about him, why?" Sam replied.

"When I returned from the debriefing after Colonel O'Neill's return, I found an extra manila folder in my stack of papers. This letter was attached."

Sam took the offered letter and read it silently.

Hey Doc,

I wish I could explain to you why you're receiving this letter when you don't remember me. Suffice to say, you're getting this letter because I imagine Major Carter and even Dr. Jackson won't change and you'll be forced to constantly order them to eat, sleep, and lay off the coffee. I have the solution to that problem, in fact, it's the only reason Carter survived the Edora fiasco. You'll find two recipes attached – one is a liquid protein and the other is an herbal sleep remedy that will counteract the strongest coffee. I hope these help.

Joe Grace

Sam looked up. "A liquid protein and sleep aid?"

"I was skeptical at first too." Janet nodded. "But I spent several days studying the ingredients and they're all natural. So I mixed up a small batch and ran some tests…" Janet trailed off.

"You can't possibly be saying that you're going to use this stuff?" Sam exclaimed.

"The problem is that it's expensive and time consuming to make." Janet responded. "But yes, in extreme circumstances, or if I can ever find a way to mass produce…oh hell yes I'll use it."