Marie stood at the door of the isolation room, having heard every word that Raddeus had uttered. She had underestimated her eldest. He had selflessly given everything he'd had to try and patch up the relationships in the broken family. Suddenly, she realized that he had grown up almost more quickly than even Nicholas. Raddeus had taken his father's deathbed instructions to heart and had quickly become the "Man of the House." And now she could see that it had taken its toll on his own emotional health.

Her thoughts returned to her dying son. She had just had the chance to talk with the young man who had received some kind of transplant from Nicholas and become very close to him…currently Daniel Jackson was off trying to get "clearance" for her to learn what had actually happened to her son.

Lena stood silently beside her, too overcome with emotion to speak. But she didn't need to. Raddeus looked over, his eyes moist and nodded. He patted Nick's hand, whispering a quick good-bye as he walked over to the women. "So…back already?"

Lena swallowed and nodded. Raddeus noticed the tears in her eyes and correctly surmised that she had heard his one-sided exchange with his brother. He coughed, quickly deciding not to mention his words. "I think I'm going to see if I can go and see the boys."

Lena walked over to resume her post, but Marie stopped her before she got that far. "Do you mind if I have a go?"

Lena was torn. She wanted to stay with her husband, but he and his mother both needed this closure. Especially if the end was near. She nodded. "I'll go with Raddeus…"

"Thank you." Marie said, a sad smile on her face. "But I should only need a minute…"

"Mum…" The delirious man on the bed cried.

Lena swallowed back tears and looked her mother-in-law in the eye. "You spend as much time with him as you need to."

Marie simply nodded.

--

The train was back…the whistle pierced through the fog in his mind…the last thing he remembered was that he was trying to get back to his family…and now…the train was back.

There was Thomas, playing on the tracks…the giant locomotive wasn't stopping, and Nick watched in horror as the train hit the boy, almost paralyzed from his feelings. His legs felt like slabs of rock that were cemented to the ground, making it impossible for him to move. That feeling slowly climbed over his whole body. His harsh whisper was the last thing he remembered before the darkness covered his mind as well…

"Thomas…"

--

Lena was walking up to the surface to head home for a little while, but she and Raddeus were stopped by Jack O'Neill. "Lena?" He asked, the look in his eyes unreadable.

"Yes?"

"I need to have a word with Raddeus and Marie Kosovich about the Program."

She nodded. "I'll sit with Nick while Marie comes…" She whispered, meekly as she turned back to the isolation room.

Raddeus hung back and stood with Jack. "How're you, Jonathan?"

The General heaved a sigh. "Well enough…"

"You seem to have been promoted since I've spoken to you last." He said, trying to lighten the mood.

Jack smiled, wanly. "Yes…Brigadier General."

"Congratulations."

"Thank you."

"So…this is your base?"

"Yes."

As an Australian Air Force officer, Raddeus knew enough to know that this was a top-secret facility…any facility hidden twenty-eight floors underground had to be classified top-secret. "Well…they couldn't have a better man heading this project." He said, honestly.

Jack looked at him gravely as he walked toward the isolation room that Lena had ducked into. "Yes, Raddeus, they could…"

--

Marie sat, holding her son's hand. "Nicholas, I…I don't even know how to begin this." She looked at his pale face, and took a breath. "Well, actually, I suppose I do know how to begin this…Nicholas, I have made a terrible mistake…I…but I don't even know what happened…Son, I know that as a parent, I should have known what to do, but…as a person, I…I didn't know…"

She felt tears slip down her cheeks.

"After your father died, I couldn't reach you anymore, Nicholas. I knew you were hurting, but…you wouldn't talk to me anymore. The only way I learned anything about you after that was through Raddeus, and…that wasn't a fair burden to place on his shoulders…by either of us…"

There was another quiet moment as she swallowed more tears. "Nicholas, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I let your silence keep me from reaching out to you."

Lena touched the older woman on the shoulder, tears shining in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Marie, but…General O'Neill needs to have a word with you…"

She turned to find the official-looking man, wearing dress blues, at the side of her eldest son in the doorway. "Thank you." She said, wiping her own tears from her eyes.

She stood and walked away as Lena took her place back at her husband's side. She could hear some introductory chatter come from the hallway as she took Nick's hand back into her own. "Don't be angry with me, Darling." She whispered. "You were calling for her…and…" She choked on her tears. "It was time."

There was no response from the man, and Lena found herself wishing that he would just say something…anything…even that he was so enraged with her that he could never look at her again…because if he was alert enough to say that, she would know that he would be all right.

She pulled his hand up to her face and let its softness caress her skin, tears running silently down her cheeks. "I love you, Darling…and I want you with me, but I don't want you to suffer, so…if it's time for you to go…I understand." She whispered, her heart breaking with each word.

--

Sitting at his desk, Jack rose as Raddeus and Marie Kosovich walked into the room. "Hello...please, have a seat." he invited.

"Thank you." They said almost in unison, gratitude clearly in their tones.

As he took his own chair, he folded his hands in front of him. "What I'm about to tell you will probably be unbelieveable...and most likely sound like I'm smoking crack but I swear it's all true."

Marie's eyebrow went up in skepticism, but her face continued to look absolutely concerned for her son's welfare.

Jack took a deep breath. "We travel to other planets through a device known as a Stargate."

"Other planets." Raddeus said, skeptically.

"Other planets in our galaxy, anyway."

Marie just stared at the Air Force general.

"Look...come with me." Jack invited, standing up and coming out from behind his desk. "I have something to show you."

"I'm not sure I want to see anything you want to show me." She said, somewhat seriously.

"It'll go a long way toward helping me explain what happened to Nick."

She stood, but not without a rather drawn out inhale and exhale.

Leading them down the halls, Jack stopped in the control room and watched as the gate opened and SG6 came back.

Marie's eyes widened.

"Welcome back, SG6." Jack said into the microphone. They waved before heading out of the gate room. "That's the Stargate...SG6 just got back from a mission off-world."

"I see."

He walked them through the dialing system and explained the history of the program before looking at them. "Nick...was injured off-world."

"He's a dancer. What was he doing on another planet?"

"He has an ethnomusicology degree and a doctorate...we encountered a group of people whose main form of communication was dance."

"You took a civilian into a military operation?" Raddeus asked, his gaze hardening.

"We needed to make contact with these people...there "warriors" were a bunch of kids with bows and arrows. We didn't bring Nick in until we'd tried to establish communication with them and they knew we wouldn't hurt them."

"Which is why he's in a hospital bed right now." Raddeus said, raising an eyebrow.

"This was the third time he'd been back...a Goa'uld had taken over their world in the 6 years it had been since we'd made contact with Kinsah."

"He's been doing this for six YEARS?" Raddeus asked, narrowing his gaze.

"No. It was a one-time deal until Kinsah came through the gate with his sister. He'd almost been beaten to death and Rihana would speak with no one but Nick."

"Great."

"We called him and he came out. A Goa'uld named Aten had taken over Kinsah's homeworld and kidnapped his wife Sauna and his son Nik'las."

"Nik'las?" Raddeus asked with a small hint of a smile.

"Kinsah thought it appropriate." Jack replied, his own small smile creeping out.

"So Nick went rushing headlong without thinking...as usual." Raddeus sighed.

"And you never did?" Marie asked, raising an eyebrow. Her elder son considered this for a moment, then nodded. "I guess I'll have to conceede that one, Mother."

"At any rate...that's what happened." Jack sighed.

Both of them nodded, trying to absorb everything they'd just been told. "Is he going to die?" Raddeus asked, his voice quiet.

"We really don't know...which is why we called you. We don't know how everything's going to end up."

"Can we go back? I think Elena could use some support." Marie declared.

"Sure. I'll show you back." Jack agreed, leading them back to the infirmary where Raddeus and Marie took their places next to Nick's grieving wife.

--

"Nicholas, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I let your silence keep me from reaching out to you."

"Nick, don't leave me as an only child."

"I love you, Darling…and I want you with me, but I don't want you to suffer, so…if it's time for you to go…I understand."

The sentences whirled around in his mind with feverish intensity. He couldn't make sense of them…who had said each of them? His mind was so hazy…it would be easy just to let go, but these were people who loved him…who wanted to see him alive and well…

Not very far in the distance, he could see the withering plant…there were no more leaves on it, and the stocky stem was starting to bend. Everyone that had been around it previously was now looking at the plant, a sadness in their eyes that was reserved for the mourners of the prematurely dead. Each of the mourners was someone particularly close to him.

Suddenly, it dawned on him. HE was the plant. He was slowly dying, and they were resigning themselves to his early departure from the Land of the Living.

He ran to the plant, feeling the rays of the hot Australian sun on his back, mocking him for trying to keep the inevitable from happening. He managed to reach the gathering, breathless from his long run. As he saw the looks of despair on the faces of his wife and sons, he knew that no matter what were to happen with his relationship with his mother, good, bad or ugly, it would never compare to the pain he would feel if he saw those looks on the faces of his young family.

"Lena, I'm here!" He cried, putting his arms around her. "I'm not leaving!"

She didn't seem to hear him, and he became more aggravated as he went around the circle, trying to get someone to notice his existence.

As he reached the members of his family who were already dead, his father and brother, he turned to look at the tree…it was in even worse shape.

"What do I do?" He asked, almost begging for his life.

"Tend the plant." Evan said, watching over the proceedings much as he had done while he'd been alive.

Nick's eyes widened. "That's all I have to do?"

"No…" Thomas interjected. "After the plant is restored, you have to prove that you were worthy of this second chance…"

"How do I do that?"

"Speak to your mother." Evan said, placing a supportive hand on his son's shoulder. "She's hurting too."

Nick nodded. "Anything."

He knelt beside the emaciated plant. He pulled away the dead leaves and debris. This was how he began to carefully tend the plant. It was his last hope of staying with his family.