That was the number that Daniel Jackson kept coming back to while he pitched pebbles into the lake, the cool water lapping at his bare toes. He looked up at the sky and then away again because it reminded him too much of what had happened.

He heard gravel crunch behind and recognized the tread. He knew those footsteps so well because it took the man they belonged to an effort to make sound when he walked.

"Two thousand, three hundred and sixty four." Daniel said, by way of greeting and he heard the other man huff gently. Daniel stooped and trailed his fingers through the bank until he came up with some good-sized stones. He weighed them in his hand and then held out half, which were taken with callused fingers.

"I'm going to ring the neck of whoever thought it was a good idea to tell you the exact number." Jack said gently, skipping a pebble across the water. It hit once, twice and there was a plop as it went under. Jack harrumphed in annoyance because no matter how much he tried; he couldn't get the stones to skip like he could back home.

Daniel threw his next stone flat and it hit the water with a splash. "I'm just trying to get my mind around it." He protested mildly, knowing it didn't so much annoy Jack as disconcert him to hear Daniel obsess.

"So is everyone, including the poor kids who had never even heard of the SGC before it happened."

"But…two thousand-"

"Dammit Daniel!" Jack snapped, but a grin tugged his lip. "The only number that concerns me is four."

"Four? Why?" Daniel raised his brows.

"The number of people I expected to survive this and did me proud." Jack said, his grin still in place. Jack could feel Daniel's gaze but didn't meet it, still looking out toward the water. "Did they pick somewhere that looked this much like Earth for aesthetic reasons?"

"It's got to do with the environment. Similar environmental conditions mean a similar looking location. Trees are green and clouds are white because of the makeup of the landscape and the atmosphere. If you want a more scientific explanation, you'd have to ask Sam."

Jack grimaced. "When Sam has kids, I pity the day they ask Mommy why the sky is blue." Jack chuckled.

"Besides, this doesn't really look like Earth." Daniel looked up again and Jack followed his gaze. Although it was daytime, the faint outline of the twin moons could be seen, one with a slightly reddish tinge.

"Close enough." Jack sighed, clasping Daniel's shoulder and squeezing.

xxxxxx

Colonel Dixon was a patient as he could be, but finally escaped from the Doctor's ministrations with a promise that he would take the medication like a good boy and keep the bandaging on his neck clean.

He found Cameron Mitchell and Samantha Carter by the 'gate and joined them.

"… supplies to last very long." Sam was saying and when she noticed Dixon approach, she looked from his face, to his neck and back again. Dixon waved an 'I'm fine' hand and she smiled and continued. "We have four functioning MALPS but we should use them sparingly because then that's it."

"We going offworld?" Dixon asked, his brows rising.

"We're going to have to, eventually." Cameron answered, looking at Sam and shrugging. "The provisions we have can't last indefinitely and we have more people than we expected."

"Two thousand, three hundred and sixty four to be exact." Jack grumbled from behind them and Sam turned, grimacing.

"Sorry." She said and Jack blinked at her.

"You!" He exclaimed.

"He asked." Sam shrugged helplessly. "Then he asked again, and then again and by the twentieth time he'd worn me down."

"How long before we should try Earth?" Dixon asked and watched as Cameron and Sam's faces both fell, simultaneously. Jack noticed the shift in mood as well and knew exactly what it meant.

"You already tried." He said, not asking.

Sam nodded. "Twenty six times. We figure the 'gate's probably-"

Jack held up a hand. "I got it." He said, not wanting the horrible truth to be spoken aloud. He knew it was silly, but he could cling to some small vein of hope while he didn't hear Samantha Carter use the word buried. "Just don't tell Daniel how many times you tried or I'll never hear the end of it."

"So, what's the plan?" Dixon prompted, fingering the bandage on his neck until Sam slapped his hand away from it.

Both Cameron and Sam looked at Jack and after beat, Dixon did as well. Jack sighed heavily, knowing he'd just gotten one hell of a promotion, or demotion depending on the way you looked at it.

"Well, kids." He said, clapping his hands together and rubbing. "How about we eat?"

Dixon blinked, but Sam and Cameron both dissolved into hopeless giggles.

Jack turned from them and looked back toward the entrance to the Alpha base, built into a mountain just like their beloved SGC. A few personnel wondered by, most of the hockey kids sat on the ground under the shade of a cluster of trees, and Jack spotted Daniel making his ways towards them from the river, only to be headed off by the tiny but obviously smitten Mae.

"Then, how about we take our planet back." Jack said.

There was a rousing chorus of "Yes, Sir!"

-fin-