A day to sleep in. Sam was relishing the simple joy of not having to move from her comfortable place under the covers. It wasn't a long weekend, so the covers were on a bed in Colorado Springs.

So, not a complete vacation. But still…

She rolled over, intending to hide from the rays creeping through the blinds in the arms of her husband, only to find a mass of fur instead.

"Well, Bongo, you're not the man I expected, but I'll take ya." A grunt from over the Labrador told her someone was in the process of being evicted from the bed.

A gentle shove of the dog proved it. Bongo reluctantly relinquished his "monkey-in-the-middle" position for the end of the bed as his parents found each other's arms and closed the gap.

"You're supposed to be sleeping, General," came the rough, mumbled morning greeting in her hair.

Sam grinned to herself, cuddling closer.

"I don't believe that was a stipulation in this agreement. I was ordered to bed. Sleep was not a condition." She rose up on her elbow to look him in the eyes, and finished with a sarcastic "Sir".

His head buried in the pillow, he still managed to press a finger to her lips.

"Retired, Carter. Don't you Sir me." Jack finally turned to look up at her, and was most assuredly on the start of a beauty of a mock scolding, when the phone rang.

Sam instinctively wheeled around to the nightstand on her side of the bed to reach for her cell. Her hand, however, grasped nothing but air just as the ringing cut off.

"Walter, the general is taking the weekend off. Tell whatever bad guy banging on the gate to skedaddle." Jack deftly deflected Sam's attempts at grabbing the phone as he continued. "What does Woolsey want now?"

Sam stopped grabbing for the phone and instead gave Jack a quizzical look. Woolsey? What could he want? Everything had been rather peaceful on Atlantis the last time we checked in. Fairly dull, if she remembered correctly. John was practically climbing the walls, and she had to insist he take time and come earth-side for a bit.

"What?!" Jack had sat up abruptly, startling her out of her thoughts. The look on his face was one she hadn't seen in awhile – and was hoping she'd never have to see again. He looked…concerned. Not gentle concern, or loving concern. This was "world-ending, butts-need-kicking" concern. A look solely owned by Jack O'Neill.

"Did she double check? Triple check?" He waved Sam off as she silently asked for information. "No, no. Alright. We'll both be in shortly."

As he hung up the phone, Sam again glared at him quizzically.

"Both?" As much as she knew Jack loved and missed the world of SGC, he had fully committed himself to his retirement. Now, suddenly, he was Lieutenant General O'Neill again.

Whatever that phone call was about, it could not be good.

The news had been passed to the SGC and the gate shut down as Sheppard walked back towards the room where Ellie was still sitting. Woolsey had decided the best move was to transfer the girl to Earth, letting SGC handle, well, whatever needed to be handled.

Sheppard figured he just wanted her off his hands. The suited, bespectacled man just wanted to keep Atlantis quiet. Calm. No trouble. And if that meant passing trouble off to big brother, so be it.

General Carter was notified and most likely on her way to base, if not already there.

Both generals, most likely. Retired he may be, but Sheppard knew that former-General O'Neill would want to know what exactly Woolsey was dumping on his wife's front step.

Lost in thought, John was startled to suddenly find himself in a darkened hallway. He looked around, just about to reach up and call to the command center when the lights flicked back on. As he continued down the short distance left to Ellie's room, the lights flicked off and on again. And again. And the door to the room, as well as two others next to and across from it, slid partially open and slammed close. He nearly got clipped as he managed to slip into the room.

Inside, Ellie was frantically pacing the room, round and round the table. She seemed to be talking to herself as she went, in quiet hushed tones. As John came completely in the room, everything stopped, including her. The door stood halfway open, lights fluttering hesitantly. Ellie stood in front of him, gnawing on a knuckle.

"Um…everything…ok…?" John asked as he looked back to the door and then to her.

"How should I know? I'm just a…visitor…" Ellie replied, as hesitant as the flickering lights, her hands now deep in the pockets of her pants. Her eyes were on him, but would waver around to look behind him and around the room.

"Yeah. Okay. Look, I know this is all, well… I mean, we know you're not- Well, I know you're not –" He wasn't sure exactly what he was trying to say, he just felt like he needed to reassure her, or calm her, or…something. I mean, I don't want to be the guy who made…

Yeah. That thought wasn't going to get him anywhere. A thought that was, somehow, confirmed by the shuddering of the lights.

He looked back up at her, but was saved from having to say anything by a blaring voice in his ear.

"Sheppard! Where are you? What's going on?!"

"Rodney! There's no need to scream. I'm with Ellie in the…in her room. Where are you?"

"I'm up at the command center. There's power fluctuations happening across the city. And we just lost gate control. It's completely down."

John looked back up to Ellie. She was definitely nervous, but more so scared. Practically shaking and on the verge of…tears?

"Ellie…?"

"I shouldn't go there. I shouldn't be here." She paused, again looking around frantically, like she was looking for an escape. "Something's just not…right."

He walked over to her and gently touched her arm, trying to direct her out of the room and down the hall. Rarely did he enjoy agreeing with Woolsey when the man made purely selfish decisions, but on this instance…

Damn. We need to get her out of here.

He looked over at her as they made their way to the gateroom in the flickering lights.

Please don't cry… It's bad enough as it is, but if you cry…

"Sheppard?! Where are you?!"

"It's alright Rodney. We're making our way to the gateroom now." He gently squeezed the young girl's shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm gonna go with you. It'll be okay."

Ellie just stared resolutely down the hall.

"Don't know how you plan on going anywhere with –" McKay was cut off by the unmistakable sound of the gate dialing.

"McKay…?"

"The controls are still down. We can't do anything!"

"Security teams to the gateroom, now!" John barked into the radio as he propelled Ellie faster into the room. They stopped just inside the doors as the security team took up position around the platform.

As the final chevron locked and the wormhole established, the lights blinked off and left the gateroom awash with nothing but the glittering blue of the event horizon.

Just as quickly as it went off, everything came on in a rush of activity.

"It's going out," McKay called from the control deck. The colonel and the scientist looked at each other, matching looks of astonishment on their faces. "We – rather, it, dialed out. It's connected to Earth. SGC is verifying receipt of our IDC and are standing by."

"I think you're right Colonel Sheppard." John looked down at the quiet whisper and found Ellie staring blankly at the gate. She turned to look up at him. "I think it's better if I leave."

And with that, she collapsed into his arms, revealing a shocked Doctor Keller behind her, empty syringe in her hand.