George paced back and forth in his small office, attempting to rid himself of the nervous energy that had been building inside of him ever since he'd learned that the Dr. Daniel Jackson had been a part of that first mission to Abydos was his Daniel. The needy child he'd taken into his home and heart and had loved as much as he loved either of his children by birth. Until then, he'd feared that something had happened to him. Daniel had always been a good kid, loving toward his family, and George had assumed that only the worst could keep him away for so many years.

But he was alive and well. Damn him to hell for that! There was simply no reason on Earth that was good enough for him to have hurt Ruby as he had. All those months in the hospital and she never stopped asking for him. By the time he'd located Daniel, it was too late. She had left him. He would never forgive him for that.

He grabbed his briefcase and headed out of his office, calling to Sergeant Harriman that'd he was leaving for the day and to rearrange his afternoon meetings for tomorrow. Walter's jaw dropped in surprise. General Hammond had never the mountain early before.

He drove carefully to Rachel's home on the other side of Colorado Springs. Her husband was a professor at the university in town, while she was busy at home raising his granddaughters. He needed to talk to her. Next to Ruby, she'd always been the one who could calm him down and make him see reason. Besides, he knew he wouldn't do anything rash with his granddaughters watching.

As he pulled into her driveway, he sucked in a couple of deep breaths, deliberately willing his heart to slow down. It sure wouldn't help the situation if he had a heart attack in front of Rachel's girls. He walked slowly up the cement walkway to her front door and pushed the doorbell.

By the time Rachel answered the door, George was able to greet her with a genuine smile.

"Dad! What are you doing here in the middle of the day?" Her eyes widened a bit. "Is everything all right? Did something happen to Julie?" Her younger sister had followed their father into the Air Force and was teaching aerodynamics at the academy in town. She knew it was a blessing to have her military family all in one town.

"No, no. Julie's fine." George glanced down for a minute and then looked back into his daughter's blue eyes. "I need to talk to you. Are the girls around?"

"They aren't due home from school for another hour. Come into the kitchen and I'll make a fresh pot of coffee." Julie led her father into the sunny room that looked into the backyard. She'd fallen in love with this house because of the kitchen and the yard and she had to pinch herself every time she saw the view.

George sat heavily into a chair, slipped off his jacket and loosened his tie, unbuttoning the top button of his shirt. Might as well get comfortable. This wasn't going to be an easy conversation.

He watched his eldest as she bustled around the kitchen, so like her mother. They both believed that a good cup of coffee and some homemade oatmeal-raisin cookies could solve any problem. He began to relax for the first time that day since Daniel had burst through the event horizon.

George looked up into her face, a duplicate of her mother's, as she finally sat down.

"So, why are you here? Something important must have happened for you to leave the base early." She poured the fragrant, dark liquid into a mug for each of them and pushed the cookie filled plate toward her father.

He closed his eyes briefly and decided that ripping the band aid off was the best method. "Daniel's here."

Rachel froze for a moment. "Our Daniel? Dad, that's great! We thought something terrible had happened to him! Is he all right? What happened? Where's he been for the last ten years?"

This all rushed out so quickly that George had to give her a small grin. "You sound like your little sister when you get excited." He chuckled and then sobered. "I don't know exactly where's he been, except for the past year and that's classified. He's come back with a wife, who speaks very little English. He appeared to be well enough."

Rachel tried to assimilate this. "He didn't have amnesia? He knew how to find us! Why didn't he call us or drop a note – something?"

"I don't know. I couldn't bear to talk to him. I'm still so angry at his neglect and how that affected your mother when she was..." George took a sip of the coffee to wash down the lump in his throat. "I didn't want to say or do anything I might regret later."

"He's staying on the base?"

"Yes. Because of regulations, his wife has to be kept there for a while and he won't leave her."

Rachel watched the reflection of the ceiling light in her coffee. Her brother. She'd adored and worshiped him when they were children. Even though she was a year younger, she'd always felt responsible for him because of his vision, although he certainly didn't appreciate being coddled. The last time she'd seen him was when he left for California to work on his PhD. He written a few letters, sent a few cards for birthdays and Christmas and then – nothing for ten years. Her daughters were missing out on an uncle they only knew from photos.

"How's he look? Has he changed much?"

George thought about the way Daniel had looked in his Abydonian robes, deeply tanned from the sun. "You might not recognize him. Physically, he's older. His hair is sun streaked. He's very tanned, unlike the pale little boy he was when he first came to us. I actually think he's grown since we saw him last. Still too thin though." George sighed; the anger was seeping from him as he had known it would when he talked to Rachel. She had the same talent her mother had had of getting past the unimportant stuff and really digging out what was important: Daniel was safe.

"When can we see him? I know Julie will be excited and I'd love for Scott and the girls to meet him. He's the only uncle they have since Scott only has one sister."

George sighed again. "It's not that easy. Because of where he's been, what he's done, and his wife's history… Well, I may be able to get special clearance to get them off the base in the near future."

Rachel's eyebrows flew up in astonishment. "What in the world could a blind archaeologist have been doing that's so top secret?"

George snickered. It wasn't what "in the world" he'd been doing, but what "out of the world" he'd been doing. "Sorry. Classified."

"His wife? What can you tell me about her? She must be very special for Daniel to have committed to her. As I remember it, he wasn't too keen on the idea of marriage." She remembered Amy and how special she had been. Rachel couldn't imagine anyone who'd been better for Daniel than Amy.

"I didn't see much of her. She's a bit taller than average, dark coloring, very exotic looking." George didn't want to say too much more. They hadn't developed an official cover story for Sha're yet, so if he said too much, he might have to back track. "Her name is Sha're."

"Sha're. That's beautiful. I hope, Dad, that you'll be able to get them off the base for a few hours. I'd love to have them over for dinner to see Julie and meet the rest of the family."

"I'll see what I can do." George leaned back in the chair and relaxed for the first time that day. Julie had worked the magic she'd inherited from Ruby and George was finally feeling that he could look at Daniel without exploding in anger.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sam had shown Sha're how to work the facilities in the bathroom adjoining the main room and had dropped a tape into the VCR. She'd wondered who had gathered these tapes, all three Back to the Future movies – no, that would really confuse Daniel's wife – all three Star Wars movies – again, not the best for introducing Earth to Sha're, a couple of Rocky movies, the Godfather series, until she finally found something that seemed the least offensive – The Lion King.

She watched the young woman's face with amusement as the cartoon figures danced across the small screen. Sam judged her to be no more that twenty, if she was even that. She was uneducated, by Earth standards, and totally unsophisticated. She wondered what it was about her that could keep a man like Daniel interested for a year. Here on Earth, he'd probably never take a second look at her. Well, maybe a second look. She was, after all, a beautiful woman and Daniel was a man. Sam decided that it must have been the mystery of an unknown society mixed with a beautiful, and willing - if that mind-numbing kiss in the Abydonian temple had been any indication – woman.

After about twenty minutes, Sam began to wonder what had happened to Daniel. She knew General Hammond enough to know that'd when his anger was stirred, it took a long time for it to settle back to a simmer again. She didn't think that he'd speak to Daniel just yet.

"Sha're. Will you be all right for a few minutes? I'm going to go look for Daniel. There's an airman just outside the door if you need anything."

Sha're tore her unbelieving eyes away from the TV briefly to nod at Sam. Her brain was working on overload with all the new sights and sounds she was receiving. She could use Daniel to ground herself again.

XXXXXXXXX

Sam took the elevator down to General Hammond's office to begin her search for Daniel. She figured he couldn't be too far away. She never made it to the base commander's office once she spotted Maggie laying with her head on her front paws, staring sadly at the door to the men's head. The airman who'd been assigned to escort Daniel was nowhere to be seen.

The captain walked over to the shepherd. "Hey, Maggie. Daniel inside?"

The guide dog responded by shifting her eyes briefly over the officer's body and then quickly back to the door. She gave a soft whine, which Sam took to be a doggy hello, and then ignored Sam completely.

Sam stood beside the dog and waited for several minutes, becoming increasingly uneasy about the amount of time Daniel was spending in the bathroom. Finally, she stepped over the dog and knocked on the door, "Daniel? You in there?"

Maggie stood, her ears thrown forward listening for her master.

Sam chewed on her lip and finally knocked on the door again. "Female entering," she called out loudly as she slowly pushed the heavy door open, ready to back out if a male voice protested. But she didn't hear anything. Maggie pushed past, shoving Sam aside and wedging the door all the way open with her pointed nose.

Sam entered cautiously only to see Maggie wiggle her way under a stall door, whimpering loudly.

"Daniel? Are you decent? I'm coming in." Not hearing a response, Sam slithered under the locked door into the already crowed stall. Daniel was curled fetal-fashion on the floor and Maggie was slurping his face. She quickly unlocked the stall door from the inside ran into the hallway. Seeing an airman walking down the hall she called to him to get a med team into the bathroom ASAP.

She scooted back into the bathroom and knelt down next to Daniel and Maggie. Daniel had begun to awkwardly bat at Maggie as she continued to slather him with doggy kisses.

"Daniel? Are you all right?" Sam laid the back of her hand against his forehead, the only thing she knew to do at this moment because that was what her mother had always done. She had a bit of first aid training for emergency situations, but he wasn't bleeding and nothing seemed to be broken.

"Sha're? Watz hapn?" He tried to sit up, but the dog nuzzled him back down.

The med team arrived and Sam stepped outside while the professionals dealt with Daniel. She had to go back and drag Maggie out because she didn't want to let the strangers handle her Daniel. They finally got him onto a stretcher and Sam followed with Maggie up to the infirmary.

A/N: This is the last chapter that's completely written and beta'd. Can't promise when the next will be up - hopefully, next week.