Chapter XIX: Home Again

A/N: Wow. What a ride this has been. Nearly two years later, I'm finally posting the last chapter of The World Goes On. It doesn't seem that long. Thank you very much to everyone who's read, reviewed, favorited, and alerted this story. Annelantis and blackwidowmistress thanks a million for everything you've helped with. And last but certainly not least, IzzieStar. She was the first person to reply when I asked for help with this story. She helped bring this story to life. From the initial planning stages of TWGO, she's been here a lot. I don't think I could've done this without her or any of you. Now let's get on with the last chapter of TWGO. Sparky She-Demon.

As Elizabeth opened her eyes, she heard two loud, happy voices yelling,

"MOMMY!"

Her kids nearly knocked her to the ground in their rush to hug her. Elizabeth hugged them tightly in return. She thought that she would never get to see them again. At first she thought that they might be hallucinations, after days of imagining their faces and hoping she would see them again, but hallucinations wouldn't have any weight. Clutching them closer to her body, she smiled in their hair taking in everything that she'd missed. Slowly she pulled back and smiled at them before looking up to John, whose smile reflected her own. Letting go of the twins, she straightened up and looked into his eyes.

"I didn't think I'd ever see any of you again, never mind Atlantis," She confessed, fighting the tears that were forming in her eyes.

John stepped forward, gently taking her hand, "I let you go once before and I've never forgiven myself for it. I wasn't about to let it happen again, especially with so much more at stake."

He lifted his hand from hers, but the pressure remained. Blinking away her tears, she looked down and saw something she had never expected to see again. It had been so long that she'd almost forgotten, she realized, as she stroked the face with her thumb. And he'd kept it. He'd kept her father's pocket watch, knowing what it meant to her, even when he thought she was dead. In some ways, this, and what it symbolized, meant as much to her as the rescue itself the tears that she had so far managed to restrain, suddenly spilled from her eyes and he pulled her into his body. The moment was interrupted by the twins clamoring at them both simultaneously, forcing them to pull apart both laughing slightly.

"I'm sorry; we're ignoring you, aren't we?" Elizabeth commented.

"Mommy, this is the place in your adventure stories!" JJ said.

"I think it's time for Mommy to tell you the truth about those adventure stories once we are settled in," Elizabeth said, looking around the room with appreciative smile before turning to John and raising an eyebrow.

Olivia, who was staring at her Mom picked up on this and tugged at Elizabeth's shirt, "Are you and Daddy going to get married now?"

Both John and Elizabeth chuckled affectionately at this question, daring the other to respond with their eyes. Cheekily, John nodded his head to Elizabeth who looked momentarily affronted before turning to their daughter.

"We'll be working that out, Olivia. Give us some time."

"Besides, you have no idea how hard it is to find a decent church in space," John commented, stroking a disappointed-looking Olivia's hair.

Unable to resist, John leaned forward and kissed Elizabeth gently, much to the disgust of both twins who immediately shouted "eww!" whilst attempting to push their parents apart.

"Alright, keep it G rated you two. We still have to get out of here. You can do whatever you want later." Said Jack with a smirk on his face.

Elizabeth asked,

"Who's flying?"

"Mitchell is doing the flying for now."

"I didn't realize he had the Ancient gene."

"He didn't. Carson gave it to him with that gene therapy of his. I offered to fly it, but the doc vetoed it. He didn't say why, other than the fact that it was a good idea that the person flying didn't have family members to worry about."

Immediately after that, Rodney shouted,

"We're ready to make the jump to hyperspace. Grab onto something if you can't get to a seat."

No sooner did the rest grab hold of something, there was the fast lurch into hyperspace.

John turned to Elizabeth, cupped her face and said,

"We did it. You're free."

Elizabeth kissed him like there was no tomorrow, ignoring the loud noises of disgust that the twins were making.

As she took hold of his hand and led him to the doors of one of the balconies in the room, Sam felt her heart pounding uncontrollably. She squeezed Jack's hand for comfort before realizing he was the reason she was so anxious.

She knew John and Elizabeth were watching them walk away in confusion, since she had interrupted Jack's tickling of Olivia. She noticed Nick leave Vala's side and run past them, presumably to see the twins. She briefly made eye contact with Daniel, his concern obvious. Carson was observing them out of the corner of her eye and stepping away from a conversation with Rodney.

Yes, she was behaving strangely. But then, the circumstances were rather strange. How was she going to do this? Her mind was whirling with the ways in which she could tell him and the different ways he could react. This was going to be difficult. But why? This should have been an exciting and joyous thing to announce – right?

The balcony doors opened on their approach and they stepped out onto the balcony. The view of the city as it flew through hyperspace, the shield glowing against the backdrop of the blue streaks was quite breathtaking, something she was used to seeing on the various ships she had been on, but not comparable to this.

"What's goin' on, Carter?" Jack asked, curiously. Sam smiled at the use of her surname, something he still did, even after all these years of working together and living together and being married to each other. It was endearing and she loved it.

She took a deep breath. "Okay," she started, noticing the shakiness of her voice. "I…uh… I need to tell you something and –" she laughed, nervously. "Wow, this really hard and I don't know why it is, and I need you to not be mad with me." She was rambling and she knew it. She blinked to keep from shedding the tears that had already formed and looked down when no more words would come out.

Jack took a step forward and gently cupped her face with his hands. He raised her head and she saw the worry she was causing him. "Sam, what is it?" His thumbs stroked her cheeks.

She gripped both of his wrists as if her life depended on it and inhaled again, placing them on her stomach, "I'm pregnant. I've known for about six weeks."

Dropping his hand from her stomach in shock, Jack turned to look into Sam's eyes which were full of trepidation. Six weeks she had been hiding this secret from him, knowing just how much pressure he'd been under and now she had finally admitted it she had expected something more than the open-mouthed silence she was facing.

"Say something," she said, shakily.

Still he said nothing, shaking his head...but there was a smiling forming and he reached out to place his hand on her stomach where their baby was growing. He was going to get another chance, another chance to make it work and do well by his child. Staring at their hands entwined over her stomach, he thought of Charlie and how much he missed him, but now wasn't the time to be sad and he kissed Sam gently, silently vowing to spend the rest of his life caring for her and their child.

They walked back in and

"Congratulations," Carson, muttered as he drifted past them clutching a bottle of champagne.

Pulling away, realization dawned on Jack, "So that's why you two kept disappearing for those chats."

"I didn't want to burden you," Sam confessed, biting her lip.

"Burden me? I'm...I'm happier than I've ever been. O'Neill Junior is one lucky kid with all these aunties and uncles on hand, not to mention his beautiful mother." "O'Neill Junior?" Sam asked, with raised eyebrows trying to look cross, but secretly she was delighted.

Laughing, Sam leaned in to kiss Jack once again, continuing to smile as she felt his lips on her own. It was okay. For now anyway; there were so many twists and turns to come, but what mattered was that the little person inside of her had loving and committed parents, and an extended family that would never let them down. The moment was interrupted by Cassie offering two mugs of champagne, but, somehow she didn't mind. Instead, she pulled Cassie into an unexpected hug, leaving Cassie looking slightly confused. This wasn't the moment though; first of all they had to make sure they were safe. Turning back to look at Jack she noticed him holding his hand out and frowned slightly before realization dawned on her and she passed her mug of champagne back to Jack.

"I'm sure the twins and Nick will be delighted to have an OJ companion," Jack said with a smile.

Taking the mug, he walked across the room, patting Cameron who was flying the city with frowned concentration on the shoulder, as he went who murmured some form of recognition before returning to his concentration. When he reached the carton of OJ and began dividing it into mugs, he was interrupted by Nick who had sidled up to him with a smile.

"Hey big guy," He said fondly.

"Can I have some of the grown up fizzy?" Nick asked politely.

"Not a chance," He said, passing two mugs of OJ to him, before returning to Sam.

As he passed the mug of OJ to Sam, who still couldn't keep herself from smiling, he realized that all eyes were on him.

"If you're expecting any speeches, you're looking at the wrong person. This was John's idea."

Each set of eyes in the room shifted to John who opened his mouth indignantly, "I'm not really one for the grand speeches."

"Well I happen to have a bit of experience, and given how much I owe to all of you, maybe I should say a few words," Elizabeth said, "When I joined the Stargate program all those years ago, I had no idea what I was letting myself in for. I thought it was about cultural and scientific discovery, but I was so wrong. I've seen things that most couldn't dream of, but nothing compares to the feeling of knowing what you have all done for me, and for each other. I can never thank you enough. To family."

Everybody in the room raised their glass; even Rodney although his eyes remained fixed on the console, and said, "To family!"

After they finished their drinks Carson said,

"Come on; let's take a picture to remember this."

John and Rodney groaned, but when Elizabeth gave John a sultry look, he got a goofy look on his face and started towards to the chair area.

When Rodney hadn't come, Sheppard said,

"Come on McKay, don't you want to miss out being in the picture that commemorates your genius plan?"

Since that appealed to his ego, Rodney joined the picture.

Elizabeth took in all the people assembled in and or around the chair waiting for the picture to get taken. There was Carson who was messing around with the camera with Cadman's "help". She figured that those two would be together within a year, 18 months tops. Rodney and Zelenka were already arguing about how much power would be wise to use once they got to the Pegasus galaxy. Mitchell was flying the city; she would have to thank him later for completely uprooting himself at a moment's notice. Daniel, Vala, and their son Nicholas were also there. Elizabeth had seen some early interactions between Nick and the twins and it seemed that they would be good friends. Sam and Jack only had eyes for each other, then again given their news she wasn't too surprised. She owed Jack a lot, since he'd told John everything.

Elizabeth then looked at John with their children. Though it had been a little rocky at the beginning, he'd really grown into the role of being a father. And the twins absolutely adored him.

They would face the future together as a new adventure unfolded. They had each other, their family, and their friends.

A/N 2: And that my readers, is the end. It's been a wild, enjoyable, ride that I would do again. There is a planned sequel, titled A Family Affair which will take place roughly ten years down the line. I hope to have the first chapter up before the New Year. Certain SGA characters that didn't appear in TWGO will appear in AFA.

Sparky She-Demon