They had been walking through the tunnel for more than an hour and there was no end in sight. The town wasn't this far from the 'gate. Jack mumbled again.

Agreed.

Ready for a break?

Getting there.

Well I'm there, lets take a rest.

Sounds good.

The pair of them simultaneously stopped walking, causing the train of people following them to knock into each other and send accusing looks towards the front of the line.

What had started out as a direction to walk in a huge cavern had turned into a narrow passage, barely big enough for Teal'c to walk comfortably abreast. It was obvious that the jaffa was not pleased with the spacial situation.

"How's everybody doing?" Sam asked, going on her tiptoes to look over Ba'al's head.

"Daniel?" Jack called back to check on his friends.

"Oh, just great, Jack. Walking down a long dark tunnel for a few hours is my idea of fun."

"No, your idea of fun is staring at some wall of obscure characters for hours on end... oh! Sarcasm! Good one, Danny," Jack feigned ignorance.

Would you stop trying to get him all peeved? We're going to be stuck in this tunnel with him!

Yeah, but he's all the way at the other end of the line so I can say whatever I want and he can't touch me. Daniel looked like he would like to hit Jack but Vala answered for him.

"Shuttup, both of you! This is ridiculous," she looked around the dark passageway irritably. "Are we there yet?"

"Yes, Vala, this is exactly where we're supposed to be... welcome to the 'gate!" Mitchell said, uncharacteristically harsh and receiving a slightly hurt look from Vala for it. "Can we just keep walking?" He asked.

"All right," Jack started walking again and reached a corner a few seconds later. "Well, found the exit."

"Thank God!" Daniel called out from around the corner. Ba'al lifted an eyebrow at the expression, but said nothing.

Running out, remember?

Yes.

Ready, go.

Going. Jack set off at a run, bringing the torch with him. Th 'gate began dialing the second he left the mouth of the cave. Outside it was nearly as dark as the inside the cave, the pair of satellites orbiting this particular planet didn't reflect the light of the local sun very well. The air was cool on the skin, and the trees they ran past were dripping with the recent rain. I hate rain. Jack commented, nearing the event horizon.

What about the GDO?

We don't have one.

How will they know to open the iris then?

I'm just going to assume that, since Morgan told us to run for it, we'll be okay.

If you say so. I don't really feel like dying again.

Me neither. We just started living again.

She didn't get a chance to respond because Jack had passed through the 'gate. The Ori soldiers guarding the 'gate seemed frozen in place, though their eyes moved around, helplessly watching the former prisoners escape.

- - - - -

"Not again!" Rodney called out, looking down at the console in front of him. Whoever had dialed into the Atlantis 'gate was jamming their shield.

"What is it?" Dr. Weir hurried out of her office after hearing Rodney's complaint.

"The shield won't activate."

"Any sort of IDC?"

"If there was, I wouldn't be worrying about it," he pointed out with a condescending stare. He went back to pushing buttons on his keyboard, trying to get the shield to engage. "Damn it!"

"What?"

"I can't get it to work," the pair of them turned to watch the 'gate nervously. The defense team was standing ready, though there wasn't much they could do if a Wraith dart came through. To their surprise and relief, Jack ran through, quickly followed by Sam. They were not so relieved when Ba'al followed close behind Sam. The rest of SG-1 wasn't far behind. Jack, Sam, and Daniel all carried torches, and they all squinted at their new surroundings, adjusting to the light. "Did you die again?" Rodney called down to them. Jack chuckled and shook his head, Sam looked annoyed, the rest of SG-1 smiled slightly, and Ba'al just looked confused.

"Welcome back to Atlantis," Dr. Weir said, coming down the stairs to properly greet them; she raised an eyebrow towards Jack concerning Ba'al. Jack glanced at the man in annoyance before looking at Sam.

Why do we always end up here?

This is 'home' for the Ancients, this is where they'd have everything set to.

Thank goodness this whole thing happened after we established our outpost here.

I don't think this stuff would've happened if we hadn't.

Sure it could've.

If you say so, sir.

What are we going to do about Ba'al?

Stick him in a holding cell.

Can't I just kill him?

You just saved him!

Only because you told me to.

Don't kill him yet.

Yet?

Yet.

I can live with yet. Sam sighed irritably.

I wonder how we even got here... it would've taken one hell of a power surge to jump galaxies like this...

Let's not think about it, okay?

Well, you don't have to think about it, but I will...

Yeah, but if you do I have to listen to it...

"You two still living in each others heads?" Rodney asked bluntly.

"You could say that," Jack answered for both of them.

"What is this place?" Ba'al asked, looking around with interest. Sam and Jack glared at him.

"Why're you all wet?" Rodney asked, noticing that they were all thoroughly soaked and had stripped down to their simple black t-shirts and green fatigue pants.

"What's he doing here?" Shepphard asked, coming down the stairs with the rest of his team.

"Long story," Daniel mumbled.

"You didn't die again?" Rodney needed to clarify the point.

"Death isn't fun, Rodney, not planning on doing it again any time soon," Jack said crookedly, glancing at Sam. The memories of their deaths were odd things to bear, to say the least.

"So, short version?" Shepphard brought the conversation back to Ba'al.

"Found this Code thing..."

"...went after the grail..."

"...found the grail..."

"...got thrown in prison by the Ori..."

"...Adria got mad at us..."

"...it rained..."

"...a lot..."

"...the cell flooded, but we climbed out..."

"...Morgan visited again and helped us out..."

"...'gate dialed itself..."

"...we ended up here," Sam and Jack told the condensed version of recent events, alternating sentences. "Yeah, that about covers it," Jack shrugged.

"That's really weird," Ronan commented.

"Tell me about it," Mitchell glanced apologetically at his friends.

"Tell me what is going on," Ba'al ordered.

"No," Jack said flatly. Ba'al glared at him. "How about we just lock you up," he nodded towards a pair of soldiers, who came over and restrained Ba'al, leading him towards the holding cells.

"You owe me!" Ba'al shouted back at them.

"No we don't! We just saved your ass!" Jack retorted.

"So... not that it isn't great to see you, but... Why are you here?"

I know, this is short, and yesterday I promised the posibility of two (my bad)! Wasn't expecting any homework from class today and then, guess what! Plenty of homework to keep me busy... joy. Oh well, its part of the fun i guess... enjoy this chapter, I'll update as soon as I can :)