I'm so happy to have heard from so many of you! I really didn't know what to expect after being gone for so long. It's been a pleasant surprise to wake up each morning to new reviews... you guys are so nice to me! :0) Special thanks to sbz once again for beta reading for me... and for helping push me off my booty to post. Also special thanks to samfan9 for being so generous with time and chocolate (and who also helped with the booty pushing). :0)

I had a request for a brief synopsis of "Do Not Go Gentle" for those who read it, but don't quite remember. No worries. I intend to clue you in on the important details within chapters.

Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Warning! No matter how you try, you will never convince me that Nutella is yummy or nutritious.

Once the Twilight

Chapter Two

"Come on! Is this really necessary?" Jack put down the blood pressure cuff he'd been fiddling with and watched Janet pull the thin curtain around his bed. "Shouldn't you be pestering Carter? She took a pretty nice tumble out there." The last thing he saw before he was surrounded by white fabric was the amused glint in Carter's eyes.

"I'm fine, Sir."

"Pre-mission, you asked if your booster could wait until you got back, Colonel," Janet said. He was sure she looked just as amused as Carter had. "You're back."

"You're enjoying this far too much."

She chuckled. "Don't flatter yourself." Her eyes narrowed at him before her attention shifted to the vial she held in her hand. She stuck a needle in the top of the bottle and drew up some of the clear liquid. "I have a lot more fun when I get to tell you to turn around and drop 'em." She looked back at him and lifted an eyebrow.

"That's sexual harassment."

Janet rolled her eyes. "Come on, Colonel. If you're real good I'll give you a lollipop."

Jack thought he heard a snicker from the other side of the curtain. "Daniel, wipe that smile off your face." He turned around and put his elbows on the cot, lowering the waistband of his khakis just enough. "Hurry it up. We have places to be."

"About that, Colonel," Carter said. "Were you able to make out who that was with the General in the control room?"

Jack shook his head and then remembered she couldn't see him. "Nope. Probably some hoity-toity bigwig from Washington here to big brother us to death." The thought of having to deal with another of Senator Kinsey's cronies was enough to put him in a bad mood. He pulled up his pants and hooked them shut. "T?"

"I was unable to make out his features, O'Neill."

"I'll bet Janet knows," Jack said. He wagged his eyebrows at the doctor.

She shook her head and pulled the curtain open.

"I'm always the last to know everything," she said, but Jack had a strong suspicion she was lying.

"You wouldn't be holding out on me, Doc?"

She threw him a warning look and turned to dispose of the needle.

He shrugged, reading her loud and clear. "I guess we'll just have to be surprised then, won't we?" He stepped past his team. "Let's not keep them waiting." He turned back to Janet. "If we're finished here?"

Janet nodded. "We're done."

He gave her a nod and led the way out of the drab infirmary into the equally drab hallway. Jack had grown accustomed to the plain gray cement corridors that made up the SGC. It had taken longer for him to push aside the claustrophobia that came from being more than half a mile underground.

He rounded a corner and ran into something unmovable and a little soft. He looked down into surprised blue eyes.

The young woman stepped back into attention. "Excuse me sir, I didn't know you were there."

Jack chuckled. "At ease, Lieutenant," he said. "I'm not quite that fragile."

Lieutenant Jennifer Hailey relaxed... a bit. The corner of her mouth lifted almost imperceptibly. "Yes, sir."

"Settling in alright?" Carter asked at his side. Jack recognized the fondness for the girl in her voice.

Hailey gave a quick nod and rewarded Carter with a full smile. "Yes, ma'am, I am. Thank you."

"Glad to hear it." Jack stepped around her. "Well, as you were." He gestured back the way they'd come from.

Hailey nodded and stepped around them with a quick farewell.

"I hope she finds a team soon," Carter said after she'd left and the team continued on its way toward the elevator.

"She shows promise," Daniel said.

"Still too green." Jack pressed the button and turned back to Carter. "Don't worry… she'll get plenty of off-world experience going out with the survey and science teams."

Carter's eyes lit up and Jack knew he'd stepped into something. "About that, sir, I think I have the perfect thing."

The doors in front of them opened and Jack stepped aside to let a member of SG-3 off. "Do tell."

"Now that we know P3R-141 is a bust, sir," Carter said as soon as the doors closed, "I'd like to see if we can go back to P4X-639."

Jack felt an involuntary shiver run down his spine. It may have been his imagination, but he thought he noticed Teal'c shift a bit. "Why? Three months of playing a lead in the sequel to Groundhog Day not enough for you?"

Carter shook her head. "The device on that planet is the closest we've seen to the one on Velona. I've wanted to get another look at it for some time now."

Jack felt his mood darken. "Yeah, well, the one on Velona didn't exactly pan out, either." He glanced at Daniel, who shook his head. Touchy subject.

"That weapon was capable of putting us ahead of the Goa'uld by leaps and bounds technologically. If we could somehow reproduce –"

"Your Ancient friend warned us not to use that technology. He even went so far as to build a Stargate in your basement to stop us."

Carter sighed. "He did," she admitted.

"And the device on P4X-639 didn't work, either."

"No. It didn't."

"And your egghead buddies... they spent months with that particular paperweight."

"They did." She hurried on before he could interrupt her. "But not since we found the weapon on Velona. Since the ruins on P3R-141 turned out to just be your garden variety ruins instead of the leftovers of another Ancient settlement, the first device is once again the most promising source –"

Jack put his fingers to his temples. "I get it. I get it." He looked up at the ceiling of the elevator. "P4X-639. Again." The doors opened and he stepped out. "And again. And again."

"It's not really that bad, Jack."

"Speak for yourself, Daniel," Jack said. "I think I just threw up in my mouth a little."

"I concur," Teal'c said.

Carter shook her head and opened the door to the control room.

"Dad?"

Jacob Carter turned toward them as soon as he heard his daughter's voice.

Carter stepped quickly toward him and accepted his welcoming hug. "When did you get here?" she asked.

"About an hour before you did," he said. He held her at arm's length and looked her up and down. "Are you okay? That landing looked a little rough."

She smiled. "I'm fine."

Jack stepped forward and extended his hand. Jacob took it and gave it a firm shake.

"Jack."

"Jacob. What brings you to our neck of the woods?"

"I'm playing taxi today." Jacob fell in line behind Jack and Carter as they started up the metal stairs that led to the conference room on the next level. Teal'c and Daniel followed them. "Two days ago a few of us were out scouting a potential rendezvous location for a future mission and we spotted a damaged transport glider. The environmental controls were malfunctioning and the man inside was barely alive. When he came around he asked for you." He looked at Jack.

Jack raised his eyebrows in confusion. "Me?"

Jacob nodded. "He said he needed to find the Tau'ri homeworld... that you were allies to his people and you would know how to help them." He frowned. "He said you owed him a debt."

"Ah, there, you see?" Jack slapped Jacob's upper arm with the back of his hand. "There's the problem. I don't gamble. If anyone owes him anything, it's not –"

They stepped into the conference room and Jack laid eyes on a tall bronzed man who stood on the other side of the long table. He looked very out of place in the generic field khakis he'd been loaned. Jack remembered him bare skinned and much more earthy.

Carter stopped dead in her tracks beside Jack. Her eyes narrowed, but she immediately hid her reaction with a stiff nod and what Jack thought to be a pretty good poker face. Her voice was steady when she spoke.

"Long way from home, aren't you, Galek?"

When sbz read this, she asked, "He's the skuzzy one who stabbed her, right?" or something along those lines. In case any of you are asking that question... yes. He is the skuzzy one. :0)

Chapter three is coming soon.

Reviews make me happy. :0)