Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa. I blew it! No wonder some of you were confused. I skipped a chapter and posted chapter 38 as chapter 37, so here's the REAL chapter 37 and I'll repost 38, then 39 when I get it back from my beta.

Suddenly one of the Abydonian boys came bursting into the map chamber, chattering away so quickly that even Sha're couldn't understand him.

"Na'pu! Slow down and say it again!" Daniel turned toward the outburst.

"I said that Ra has come back through the Chappa'ai. He brings many Jaffa with him. Oh, Dan-yel, there is shooting and blood everywhere!" Na'pu collapsed to his knees, breathing too hard to speak any more.

Sha're ran to her cousin and grabbed his shoulders. "Skaara! Is Skaara all right?" She looked over her cousin's head into the face of her husband. Daniel was kneeling over Na'pu, offering him some water.

O'Neill had heard just enough to know that he needed to get back to his men in the temple gate room. "Okay! Every one back to the Stargate. And heads up! We have hostiles."

Maggie had a hard time keeping up with her running master and Daniel was the first one to reach the gate room.

"Skaara! Skaara!" He called out, desperate to hear his brother's voice in response.

He heard nothing. O'Neill's group came rushing in behind him and scattered about the room, checking for remaining hostiles and dropping down to attend to the wounded.

Daniel began groping around the room while Sha're dashed from body to body looking for Skaara.

Daniel literally stumbled over one of Skaara's friends. "Bolah!"

"There were so many... so many of them." Daniel knew from his voice that he was fighting for every breath, but he needed to know what happened to Skaara. Sha're and Kasuf would be devastated if anything had happened to him."It's all right. Just tell me what happened."

"It was Ra."

O'Neill moved to Daniel's side. "What's going on?"

"Ra is dead. Tau'pa Ra!" Ra was dead! He and O'Neill had sent up the bomb that exploded his ship. No one could have survived that! Not even a false god.

Bolah whispered, "No... Ra... I saw... He took Sha're. He took Skaara into the chaapa'ai."

O'Neill jumped up and moved to check on another one of his men.

"Did you see? Did you see?" Daniel pointed to his eyes, hoping that the boy had seen the symbols on the dialing device or on the gate as it turned, but Bolah's head went slack in Daniel's hands. Kawalsky marched up to Daniel and the dead Abydonian.

"What's going on, Daniel? Could there be another Ra?"

"How the hell should I know?" Daniel stood and struggled to regain his sense of balance. Maggie tried to force her head between his legs so she could shut out the sounds and smells of the dying people around them. "Should have left the barricade up. This is my fault."

Sam was administering first aid to Ferritti, but knew that he didn't have long with her limited knowledge. "Colonel, Ferretti needs medical attention now!"

Daniel moved to another Abydonian boy, Sha're dropping down with him. "Go! Help him! I can send you back."

O'Neill rose from the dead soldier he'd been checking on. "You're coming with us this time, Daniel. I've got orders."

Daniel rose and faced the man, anger in his voice, "I don't care about your orders, Colonel. Skaara is out there. It could have been my wife!"

"And the only way we're going to get him back is if you come home with us. Ferretti might have seen those coordinates." O'Neill turned to Carter, "Captain, do you have the video?"

"I got everything I need." She turned back her attention to Ferretti, grateful that he continued to breathe.

"Too many," the wounded man gasped.

Daniel clutched Sha're to his side and listened to the people who had been his family for the past year. Some were still, beyond mortal aid. Others were gasping, clinging to life. Still others are mourning. And Daniel could smell the stench of defeat in the air.

He leaned his cheek against Sha're, who was trying hold back hysterical tears. He knew he could never live with himself if he didn't do what he could to find Skaara. He'd become his little brother, always his shadow, eager to learn everything Daniel could teach him.

His decision made, he called out to his people. "Leaa. Leaa."

The people not attending the wounded gathered around him. "After we go through the chaapa'ai, you have to bury it like we did before and then leave this place."

"You come back?" A voice rose above the crowd's protests.

Daniel looked around at the fuzzy images surrounding him. "No. I can't. Nobody can, that's what I'm telling you. Not for a... long time. Now as soon as we're gone, I want you to close it. Bury it. Put a... big heavy cover stone over it. Nothing good could ever come through this gate, do you understand me?"

"You came through it, Dan-yer."

Daniel hesitated for a moment, feeling Sha're's erratic breathing against his side.

"Do you remember the story I told you? How the ancient Egyptians on Earth cut themselves off from Ra? Well, that is exactly what you have to do. Then in one year, one year from this day you take the cover stone away. I will try to bring Skaara home with me on that day, but if I don't make it back..." He swallowed hard, keeping back the tears, "if I don't... if I don't return then you must bury the gate again forever. Cho'qua?"

Daniel couldn't keep the tears back any longer and one trickled down his face, as he struggled to speak again.

"You tell Sha're's father... one year."

Daniel suddenly found that he and Sha're were completely surrounded by people reaching to hug them. Several of them reached over and ruffled his hair. He hated that! But he knew that his hair was very different and Sha're's people were enchanted by its fine texture and light color.

XXXXXXXXXX

Daniel and Sam came through the wormhole dragging a wounded soldier between them. Sha're had Maggie's harness in one hand and the other grasped her husband's robes tightly. Daniel heard weapons being cocked, booted feet scurrying about the room and a voice he didn't recognize yelling, "Close the iris! Close the iris!"

He heard the sound of metal scraping against metal and then Jack's voice, "What the hell is that, sir?"

A new voice responded, one that caused the hair to rise up on Daniel's neck.

"That's our insurance against any more surprises. It's pure titanium - hopefully impenetrable." General George Hammond noted Daniel among the small group of returning travelers, along with a young woman holding a dog. He turned his back on Daniel, briefly closing his eyes as he stuffed down the multitude of emotions threatening to burst forth.

He turned back to O'Neill. "What happened, Colonel?"

"Base camp was hit while we were on recon, sir."

"Same hostiles who attacked us?"

"That's a fair guess."

Daniel pulled Sha're and Maggie off to the side of the ramp while the medical team loaded Ferretti onto a stretcher. He leaned against the cement wall, with his arms around Sha're as he tried to sort through his emotions. George. Oh, god, how am I going to face him after all these years. He buried his face in his wife's hair, her familiar scent settling his nerves.

"Jackson's brother-in-law was kidnapped." Jack had really like Skaara and was ready to mount a rescue mission immediately.

Daniel turned to Sha're and spoke softly in her ear. "Wait here. I'm going to go talk to the general about getting Skaara back"

She nodded and knelt down next to Maggie, taking comfort in the dog's warm fur.

Daniel gathered his courage and made his way to the sound of Jack and George's conversation.

"George. It's been a long time." Daniel thrust his hand forward but pulled it back when George ignored it. "I'd like to be on the team that goes after them."

"You're not in any position to make demands, Jackson." George had never wanted to hit anyone before for personal reasons, but he had to walk away from Daniel or he'd be pushing his fist up the young man's nose.

XXXXXXXXXX

Jack had just left the infirmary. Ferritti was going to be okay and Kawalsky was staying with him. He was going home to try and sort through the mission before he had to write his report tomorrow morning. Slipping his arms into his jacket, he stopped when he spotted someone huddled against the cold wall of a hallway.

"Hey."

Daniel turned toward the sound of Jack's voice and nodded to show that he'd heard. "They don't know what to do with me... and I don't know what to do with myself."

"Where's Sha're?"

Daniel grinned widely. "Sam's showing her how to take an Earth shower. I'd love to see her face when the water comes pouring down on her."

Jack shook his head, not wanting the image of another man's wet, naked wife in it.

Daniel face took on the sorrowful expression he'd worn before. He patted his chest and Maggie took her cue to plant her front paws on his chest and lean against him. He leaned his face into her neck and scratched her head, both offering comfort to the dog and seeking it for himself.

"Come on. Let's get out of here."

"I can't. They won't let Sha're off the base and I'm not leaving her here alone."

Jack sighed. "They give you a room?"

"Yeah."

Jack stood, waiting.

"Oh, okay. You want to talk?" Daniel felt the man's frustration, but remember enough about the officer to know that when Jack wanted to talk you had to take him up on it because it didn't happen often.

Jack led him to the elevators and back down to level 22 where Daniel and Sha're were quartered in one of the isolation rooms. Daniel sat in a chair at the table and Maggie settled herself on the floor at his side.

Jack peeked into the small refrigerator and found a couple of sodas. No beer. Rats. He placed one on the table in front of Daniel and took a seat across the table from the Abydonian refugee.

"Thank you." Daniel sneezed several times. "Sorry. Gate travel always seems to make my allergies... Sorry."

"So... you were saying." Jack popped the top off his soda and leaned back in his chair.

"Anyway, um... as soon as you were gone and they realized they were free, Abydos was - was their world for the taking..."

"Had a little party, did you?"

"Oh, yeah. You know, big, big, big party. They treated me like their savior, it was, um... embarrassing."

"It's amazing you turned out so normal." Jack tipped the soda up, seriously regretting the lack of beer on the base.

"Well, if it wasn't for Sha're, I'd probably…"

He stood and began pacing. Maggie lifted her head to follow his movements, waiting to see if she was needed.

"She's the complete opposite of everyone else. She practically fell on the floor laughing every time I tried to do some chore they all took for granted, like grinding yuffeta flour. I mean, have you ever tried to grind your own flour?

"I'm trying to kick the flour thing."

"This is going straight to my head. Must be the lack of caffeine for a year. What time is it, anyway? I must have Gate lag or something." Daniel knew he was babbling, but his nervous energy needed some outlet.

"Daniel, for crying out loud, you've had one coke. You're a cheaper date than my wife was."

"Yes, when am I going to meet your wife?"

"Oh, probably, uh, never." Jack looked away from the archaeologist. "After I came back from Abydos the first time, she'd already left."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, so was I. I think in her heart she forgave me for what happened to our kid, she just... couldn't forget."

"And what about you?"

"I'm the opposite. I'll never forgive myself. But sometimes I can forget. Sometimes."

He took another sip of his soda and decided it was time to leave. He really needed a beer.