I have been so crazy busy – worked 30 days straight then there was Christmas and New Years and then I went on the best road trip ever. Just got back and now here is the next part!

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Sometime later – I have no idea how long – I do finally get my eyes open and someone is sitting by my bed. It's not Daniel but the sight of him still shakes me. It's Harper. God. He's alive. I'm really back.

Harper grins at me, all teeth and crinkly eyes. He's looking better rested than the last time I saw him. Back on the planet, I remember. They must have been there that whole time I was gone. Searching for a way to bring me back. I feel my heart clench. My family were worried.

"Hey kiddo." He's still grinning and if I didn't know better I'd think his eyes were suspiciously bright. "Thought you were gonna sleep forever. Lazy ass."

"Sir?" My voice comes out trembly. All little girl and no marine. "Oh my god..."

He leans forward and pulls me into his arms. "It's okay, Dax. You're home. You're safe. Everything is gonna be okay."

"How long have I been out? Days?" I ask hopefully into his shoulder. He doesn't answer immediately and I continue. "Weeks?"

He pulls away and considers me seriously. "Coupla months." He says it calmly as if it's no big deal but then he scrubs a hand across his face. "Took ten years off my life, Dax. Don't do anything even remotely like that again. Ever."

"I'll try not to." I grimace. "Very hard."

"Alt realities suck, huh?" Harper sums it up so nicely with a shrug. It makes me feel better. No need to dwell on the fact that Harper was dead there and that everything was all wrong and upside down. That Daniel was... Alt realities suck indeed. Just another day at the SGC. Been there, done that.

"Colonel?" I have to ask. I really do. I'm scared of the answer but I have to know. "I thought... before, when I first sort of woke up... that... um... Daniel..." I trail off.

Harper puts his hand on my shoulder and I feel almost like he's bracing me. His voice is gentle and calm. "Daniel is back, Dax. We found him on that planet you were talking about when we got you back. I don't know how you knew but he was there. Descended or something. Without his memory – but he's pretty much got that back now." Harper is watching me carefully but continues when I say nothing. "He's spent a fair bit of time in here sitting with you. Been as worried as us, I reckon. But then, that doesn't surprise me because you two were always pretty tight."

I stare at him and his lips curl up.

"What?" He asks, innocently. "I'm not freaking blind. Just a pity that Jackson is."

"What can I say?" I reply casually, hiding how I really feel. Unsuccessfully of course because Harper can read me like a book. "The boy ain't that bright."

"So... don't you think you need to spell it out to him? Perhaps in one of his favourite languages even? Or a few of them?"

"Is it that simple?"

"You're the one who is all 'I see. I want. I take.' or whatever. What's the big deal with Jackson?" Harper is still talking casually but I know he knows why. He just wants to find out if I do.

"But what if..."

Harper interrupts me. "No. You've done the 'what ifs' for too long now. Plus you've been in an alt reality – definitely too many 'what ifs'. All that matters is what is. We don't get many second chances, Dakota. You should take yours."

Harper blurs as my eyes fill with tears that I hurriedly blink away.

He continues even more firmly. "If that man can't see what me, Harris and Osborne see then he's a first-class idiot."

"I've never been in…, you know…" I can't get the words out. God knows how I'll ever admit it to Daniel if I can't even tell Harper.

"There's a first time for everything." Harper knows what I'm trying to say. I wonder if everyone except Daniel knows that I love him. The Colonel leans forward more seriously. "All of us know that every step we take through that 'gate could be our last. We can't let this constant danger stop us from living our lives but we also have to constantly make sure our house is in order. Nothing left unfinished. Nothing left unsaid. I think you learned that lesson the hardest way."

I remain silent. He's given this lecture before. I don't know if I ever really took it that seriously before. However, I'm not thinking of Daniel. I'm thinking of Harper's wife in the alternate reality. Her sad eyes and calm dignity as she told me of his death. I think that the other Mrs Harper will never remarry. She knew she had been loved and that was somehow enough. No unfinished business except to miss him and remember him. My eyes fill with tears and I find it hard to breathe.

"Dax?" Harper has his hand on my arm again.

"Your wife loves you very much."

He looks a little taken aback but then smiles softly. "Yeah, she really does. Who the hell knows why, eh? I'm hardly a catch." His grin lights up the room then, burning away the tears I am having trouble holding back until it is a relief to simply be able to smile at his happiness. He looks like a kid who has just been given an all-access never-ending pass to Disneyland. As he always does when he talks about his wife.

"If anything ever happened to you, I…" I break off. Marines aren't big on the discussing of feelings. Even girl marines it seems. However, I continue. Things left unsaid are unacceptable. "You, Harris and Osborne are my family."

"And you are ours." He squeezes my shoulder gently. "However, if you ever do something so stupidly heroic again, you will be scrubbing the latrines with a toothbrush every day for a month."

Two men enter just as I'm grinning like an idiot at Harper. It's Harris and Osborne. They both look better than they had the last time I saw them – when they'd been as grey-faced with exhaustion and worry as Harper had been. As I watch, they both start slightly as they realise I'm awake. Harris' ready grin slips up his face a moment later than it normally would and Osborne's mysterious eyes actually glisten for a second. Seconds later they are teasing me as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened but both have already shown me the signs of strain that my long sleep has caused them.

Harris plops himself down on the bed near my feet. "So… alt reality, huh? Just out-of-phase and time travel to go and you'll have the SG-1 trifecta. Been there, done that and got the upside-down back-to-front t-shirt."

Osborne considers me quietly. Everything the man does is quiet. "You okay?" He asks.

"Yeah." I respond.

He nods. "Good to hear." Osborne pauses just a moment before also adding. "You were missed."

Coming from Osborne that was as much as another man holding me close and whispering savagely that he would hunt down and kill anyone who ever even thought of taking me away from him again.

"I missed all of you too." I reply and the moment we share, none of us actually touching is as meaningful to us as someone else's group hug. I am loved. No matter what some fool archaeologist decides in the end. This will be enough.