Chapter 2

Daniel liked nothing better than an afternoon spent deep in his books. After returning from Atlantis, he had lots to study in the search of Merlin's anti-Ori weapon. Humming to himself, he earmarked another passage in a book, and shuffled around the many papers on his desk, searching for one that was blank.

A slip of his hand, and papers came tumbling off his desk, along with a few other things. With a sigh, Daniel crouched down to pick them up. Papers were scattered all over the floor, and several pens had rolled under his desk. Pens collected, Daniel began to sweep up the papers that lay around.

Lying underneath the papers was a framed photograph, which always stood on his desk. The picture showed a dark haired woman, her dusky complexion glowing with health, her black eyes twinkling with laughter, smiling at the camera. She looked so happy, so relaxed. Daniel smiled a little sadly at the picture, tracing her face for a moment. He remembered the moment the picture was taken. She had been so fascinated by the camera, but had been scared to get her picture taken. Even when he had explained out it worked, she was nervous about it. But Daniel had said something that she found funny- he couldn't remember what now- and she had laughed, and he had snapped the picture. Now, it was all he had left of her.

He gently placed the picture back on his desk, before moving on to the papers scattered everywhere. Just as he had sat back down at his desk and picked up his book once again, the phone rang. Growling in frustration, he picked up the phone. He was never going to get any work done at this rate.

"Jackson."

"Dr. Jackson, this is General Landry. I need you to come down to the briefing room immediately," came the General's voice from the other end of the phone.

"Sure, General. Anything wrong?" Daniel asked.

"I'm not sure. Just come right away."

Daniel cast one last longing look at his book, before heading to the briefing room.

--

On the way to the briefing room, Daniel met Sam. She looked tired, and a little messy, and Daniel suspected that Landry's call had woken her up.

"Hard at work?" he asked her, smiling.

She shoved his shoulder lightly.

"I've been going through Dr. MacKay's reports from the Atlantis mission. They've found some fascinating stuff there."

"You fell asleep again, didn't you?"

With a sigh, she nodded, running her fingers through her short hair.

"As soon as I get through all the paperwork I'll go home and get some proper rest." She promised.

Daniel just smiled. Sam was always busy, hardly ever letting herself rest. He knew as soon as she was done this project she would immediately move on to the next one.

They walked into the briefing room, taking their usual spots on either side of the long table. Teal'c was already there, sitting silently with his fingers laced together on the top of the table. He nodded to his two team members as they came in.

Sam sat down with a sigh and put her head down on the table. Beside her, Teal'c raised an eyebrow.

"Is anything the matter, ColonelCarter?" he asked.

Sam raised her head.

"Hmm? No, Teal'c, everything's fine. I just didn't get much sleep last night."

"I do not believe you went home at all last night, ColonelCarter," Teal'c replied.

"Why does everyone assume that every time I'm tired?" Sam said, ruefully.

"Because it is most likely to be true," Teal'c said, without any change in his demeanor.

"Not all the time," Sam said defensively, but the edges of her mouth turned up in a hint of a smile.

In the momentary silence, the three original members of SG1 heard clearly the sound of voices coming down the hall.

"No, you can't take my gun apart, no I won't let you drive my car, and I don't care how bored you are I am not teaching you to play the guitar!" came Colonel Mitchell's annoyed voice.

"Come on, Mitchell, it will be fun. You're always harping on about team bonding time, and this would be a good opportunity," said Vala's voice.

"First of all, need I remind you once again that you are not part of my team? Not only that, but every bonding thing you suggest benefits you and you alone." As Mitchell said this, he entered the room shooting the rest of the team an apologetic look as Vala followed him. She was pouting slightly.

"You are never any fun. Any of you." She said, slouching in her chair.

No one had time to reply to this accusation, because General Landry walked in from his office.

"Oh good. You're all here," he said, "At 0500 this morning there was a break in at the Groom Lake Facility in Area 51."

"Isn't that the most secure place on your planet?" Vala interrupted.

"It's supposed to be," replied the General patiently. He seemed to have infinite patience when it came to the irritating alien woman.

"There were two people who broke in…" the General halted his narrative, and glanced at the briefing in front of him, "Sorry, three people. One of them was… ah… deemed not a threat."

"Not a threat?" Sam asked.

"It was a baby."

"Somebody broke into the Groom Lake Facility with a baby?" Mitchell asked incredulously.

"That's the least of the strange things that have happened," Landry relied, raising his bushy eyebrows. He paused, seemingly for dramatic effect, before continuing, "the two we are concerned about were questioned, but they both demanded to speak to SG1 and General O'Neill, and said they would speak to no one else. Which is why you are here. I need you to see if you can identify these two people."

Landry picked up a remote from the table, and turned on the video feed. The image of a man jumped onto the screen. Daniel stiffened, and Teal'c's eyebrow shot up.

"Sir, it's Major Kawalsky!" Sam gasped.

"Then he is who he says he is?" Landry asked. "He says he is Colonel Charles Kawalsky, and he wants to speak to General O'Neill. Other than that, he hasn't said much."

"There is a problem, GeneralLandry. MajorKawalsky died, ten years ago." Teal'c said.

"Oh?" the General raised his eyebrows again.

"He was infected with a premature Gou'ld, that didn't have hold of him all the time. We couldn't remove it, we didn't have the technology back then, so he sacrificed himself rather than be controlled by it." Sam said, her face serious at all the memories the incident brought back.

"Then he is dead? For sure and certain?" General Landry asked.

"He is," Teal'c acknowledged. "I was the one who neutralized him."

"Well, it seems he's back," said General Landry, pointing to the screen.

"How is that possible, if he is dead?" Vala asked, "people just don't come back to life, do they?"

The three original members of SG1 shared a glace. Sam smiled to herself, wondering what Vala would say if she knew just how many times Daniel had come back to life before.

"We can throw theories around later," Landry said, heading off the discussion of possibility that was sure to go on for a while, "Possibly with Colonel Carter direction it. But there's another person I want you to see if you can identify."

Again he pressed a button, this time turning on the video.

Sam stifled a gasp at the person who appeared on the screen. She shot a quick glance at Daniel.

The moment the image appeared on the screen, Daniel froze. It was impossible. It had to be impossible.

Daniel sat, shell shocked, his eyes as big as saucers, glued to the image on the screen. The face that he had gazed longingly at just a few minutes before in his office was now projected on the screen.

Author's Note: I know, it's taken me a long time to post this. I wrote it at Christmas, and then forgot about it. But it is found! This is the fic that started it all, the fic that I have been planning since before I knew fanfiction existed. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have in writing it.