"I've said it before and I'll say it again. You get yourself into the damnedest situations, kid." Brigadier General Jack O'Neill said to Captain Alexander Harris, once the expedition had installed the ZPM and made contact with Earth.

"And I told you, it's not like I try to. I went expecting to help explore a new galaxy, not get trapped 10,000 years in the past and convince and unite that galaxy to fight space vampires. These things just happen to me."

"Yeah, they happened to me too. I one-uped you on the having an entire civilization's accumulated knowledge downloaded into my head verses you getting one man's entire accumulated knowledge and part of another man's downloaded into yours. I get trapped off world for three months and Carter breaks the laws of physics to get me back and you get trapped 10,000 years in the past and convince and unite a galaxy to fight space vampires. It's the definition of one-upmanship."

"Yes, it's also the definition of love." Cordelia said. "Since Sam broke the laws of physics for you and I helped Xander convince and unite a galaxy to fight space vampires."

"Oh, by the way, you might want to give Sam a heads up. McKay was bragging that she flirts with him and I told him she tries to avoid assault charges when he's around because she can't stand him. He honestly thinks she likes him and being as arrogant as he is, might confront her about it." Xander told Jack.

"I'll let her know. Especially since we finally managed to get married. Sorry you weren't here for the wedding, being trapped in the past/and or another galaxy as the case may be. Any other bombshells we should know about before we clear you for leave?"

"Yes, other us had two kids before they died. One didn't survive her birth and they persevered her body. The message we were left, asked that we bring her body back to Earth and bury her in Sunnydale next to the remains of my best friend, Jesse McNally. Dr. Weir gave us permission to retrieve her body, which we've done. Also, the other us were Ascended by the Ancients. We have that on the word of an actual Ascended that we met here in Pegasus. The Ancients saw it as a reward. Apparently, other us didn't and have gone rogue and started their own group. They try to help out whenever they can, wherever they can. Their group is alot smaller then the Ascended Ancients, so they have to be subtle and rarely reveal themselves. We haven't, as far as we know, run into them, but now that they've caught up to us, time-wise, it's a possibility."

"Ascended? Rogue? One-upmanship, I tell ya. Now you're trying to one-up Daniel. He attacked the half-Ascended Anubis to protect Abydos and got kicked out of the Ascended club for it. Anyway, permission granted to bring your daughter home. We'll arrange a memorial service for her."

"Thank you. Any idea what we can tell our friends? Although, I think Faith could handle the truth. I'm damn sure Buffy and Willow couldn't. They'd both insist on being apart of it and Buffy would be trying to take over and Willow would be trying to micromanage me."

"I'll talk to Hammond about clearing Faith to know. I've met her several times and I agree, she can handle it. I also agree with you on Buffy and Willow. We'll come up with a cover story by the time you get here. Anything else?"

"Yes, I'm sending an encoded message thru, it's for General Hammond. I'm sorry Jack, but it relates to the Posse Comitatus matter from Sunnydale a few years back. General Hammond knows about it since Homeworld Security knows about it. It's nothing big, just other me used some specialized knowledge in regards to that, to safe guard the message and the ZPM he secured for us, so I need to let him know about it."

"No problem, kid. I'll pass it on to him. See you in a bit. O'Neill out."

"So, we'll be back on Earth soon. It's been what, nine months? I wonder what's changed."

"I think we've changed more then Earth would have. We've seen so much, Cordy. If Earth decides to continue the expedition, I want to come back, but only if you do too."

"Oh, I want to come back alright. I've still got a lot to learn about negotiating. I haven't soloed yet. And our counterparts are probably somewhere in this galaxy. I hope to meet them. She lost two babies, Xander. If it wasn't for you, I'm not sure I could have survived losing the one we lost. She got to experience an entire pregnancy before losing Kendra. Her pain must have been so - . But she had him, just like I have you. We can get each other thru anything, can't we?"

"I'd like to think so."

And they returned to their quarters to pack for the trip home.

Everyone was getting ready. Atlantis had a holiday atmosphere to it. These people had left Earth, unsure if they'd ever see it or their friends and family again. Now they would. Elizabeth was pleasantly surprised to find at least 99% of the expedition members had already filed requests to be allowed to remain with the expedition, pending Earth's decision to continue with it. It wasn't a certainty they knew, given the Wraith situation, but they were all prepared to fight for the chance to come back and continue exploring this new galaxy and making new friends. They could only hope Earth agreed that the rewards outweighed the risks. Only time would tell.