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Early morning birdsong woke Jack up. He stretched lazily in his sleeping bag. Despite the summer weather the night had been damp and cold and he could feel every muscle ache in protest as he stretched out.

Yup, Jack noted regretfully, he was definitely way too old for this sort of thing. Not that he'd ever admit it. He looked over at Daniel's empty sleeping bag and grimaced. He was actually going to outlive Daniel and the realisation that he'd have to go to Daniel's funeral – again – was not a pleasant one.

Jack found himself gripping the sleeping bag painfully tight. He unzippered it, ran a hand through his hair and started dressing slowly. Daniel deserved much more than an early death. He deserved a long, long life surrounded by family and friends and then grandkids and even great grandkids. He'd have been an awesome father, absolutely awesome. It would have helped pull him away from his work into real life and those moments of life that Daniel was only now realising that he had missed out on. It would have been something that would have made his life complete, something that Jack had suggested to Daniel more than once – before he had realised: Daniel had lost Sha're and his heart with her. It had taken Jack a while to realise that Daniel was simply too much of a one woman man to ever fall in love again.

For a while he'd held out hope that Vala would manage to do what no other woman had since Sha're. But Daniel was only remotely fond of Vala. He seemed more annoyed by her at times than anything else. Still, in some ways the girl had almost found a way under his skin. Daniel had been very quiet and lost once she had disappeared. He hadn't given up on searching for her either – not until the powers that be had intervened. And from the reports, Jack knew that Daniel had been asking after her each time he got to travel through the Gate - the same way he'd asked after Sha're, all those years back.

"Breakfast!" called Daniel.

Jack pulled on one boot. The other boot took more time, but he opened it up as wide as possible, jammed the thing into the corner of the tent against the tent peg and aimed his foot just right to get it into the damned boot. The laces were a pain but he was damned if he was gonna let someone help him with them. He thought longingly of his sheepskin lined slip on boots back at the home.

Carter and Teal'c we're already digging in when Jack finally got out. Carter waved her fork at him and scooped up her bacon and eggs with appetite. Jack noticed that her cheeks were rosy and she seemed more relaxed and happier than he had seen her be in a long time.

Daniel poured out a mug full of fresh coffee for him. "I thought you we're going to sleep all day," he said with a lopsided grin.

"I've done my share of the early morning thing. Sleeping in is a privilege of the retired ya know," Jack looked around and sat himself on the large mushroom shaped boulder that was just the right height so that he didn't have to bend his knee too much. He watched Daniel crouch by the campfire again and noted that he wasn't moving nearly as smoothly or gracefully as he usually did. Anyone who knew Daniel would know that he was in pain. Jack could see the bottle of pain tablets making a bulge out of Daniel's shirt pocket.

Daniel straightened with only a tightening of his mouth to show that the move had hurt. He handed Jack a plate. "Cam sent down some provisions and an extra tent. He's got a meeting or two to get through and then he'll drop in for a few nights. He says that he's really looking forward to it."

"Great," said Jack absently forking in some food.

Daniel settled back on a camp chair with his food. "You know, I'm really enjoying this," he murmured. "I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record but it has been ages since we all got together." He moved the eggs around on his plate a little. "When I got the news, I kinda … well. I thought of the things I'd like most to do while I could and this one, with you guys, was nearly at the top of my list."

"Nearly?" said Carter.

"Well, having Sha're with me or Vala or a family or one of a few other impossible things. This one was important to me though. It's -," Daniel huffed out a frustrated breath of air. "Camping with you all is – like you said Sam – it's a really comforting family moment," he blinked up at them with a slightly embarrassed but sincere smile.

Carter smiled back – one of her slow and touched smiles that had Jack concentrating on her face for all that he was worth. Damn, he wished he was thirty years younger.

"Hell, I think we all wish we we're thirty years younger," said Carter.

Jack blinked at her. Had he said that out loud? He must have. "I ah … have to agree there, Daniel. Some of my fondest memories involve just relaxing with this team – either on camp or at my old house. That's why I couldn't sell the place when I moved into the home – too many fond memories."

Teal'c nodded his head in agreement and gave one of his own rare smiles. "I have valued the friendship of this team above all others in my life," he murmured.

And Daniel smiled right back at them feeling the comfort and friendship that these three people shared with him thicken in the air with the unspoken love that that friendship had developed into over the years. But slowly Sam's eyes grew sad as she looked at him and Daniel knew what she was thinking. "On to other things," said Daniel briskly changing the subject before the mood darkened. "There's another reason for us being here in Wales at this particular place."

"Oh, do tell," said Jack with heavy sarcasm.

Daniel looked at him with his mouth open in surprise.

Sam laughed. "No-one gets beamed anywhere for free, not even the President, let alone us, Daniel."

"Close your mouth, Daniel," said Jack patiently. "We know you. You're not gonna go on vacation without going somewhere fascinating – although I was expecting more of your kinda rocks than these boulders that I'm sitting on."

Daniel grinned. "Actually, it's the boulder that you're sitting on that I'm interested in."

Jack straightened. "Oh?" he said giving the flat rock a nervous once over. "It's not gonna turn me into a bug or something is it?"

Daniel grinned at him again and shook his head. "Actually you and Sam weren't there when we found that sword in the stone that gave us the treasure and the book."

"The book that led you to Merlin and the search for the Sangreal," said Jack. "Cam's not the only one who reads files, you know."

"Yeah, that one." Daniel settled back into his camp chair. "I've been studying it on and off between missions and I found an interesting cryptic puzzle that took me nearly four weeks to solve. Myrrdin – Merlin gave me a few hints about how to solve the puzzle before he …" Daniel twirled his fingers in front of his forehead, "… you know. So I figured it was kind of important. Anyway, basically there are supposedly two gateways to the Isle of Avalon or Annwyn, to be used by the Ancients on Earth. According to the book, the one under Glastonbury Tor where the sword was was accidently destroyed by what was probably an Ancient scientist named Collen, but the other one is still supposedly operational, and I think it's here."

"Is this not the realm that King Arthur is said to have travelled to?" asked Teal'c.

"Yeah, King Arthur and his knights we're supposed to have travelled there and Morgan Le Fey and her sisters considered the place her home. In Welsh mythology, Annwyn was the world of milk and honey where you enjoyed perfect health and eternal youth. It's also supposedly the origins of the Christian legends about paradise. The book says that the Gate is shielded and locked down which is why we could never detect it, but if you speak a certain phrase in the language of the Gatekeepers then you presumably reactivate it and find the Gateway that will lead you to Annwyn."

"Wow, I'm guessing we're talking a Stargate here then, aren't we?" said Jack.

"Yup, that'd be my guess," said Daniel. "We don't need to go through it or anything, of course, but I thought it would be kind of cool to find another Gate and hopefully an operational DHD along with it."

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Hope no-one from Wales takes offence at me borrowing and slightly messing with the legend of Annwyn. Reviews are much loved ...