Epilogue

The house wasn’t a large one. Situated just outside Baltimore, it was in a quiet neighborhood that boasted large green yards with a lot of trees and landscaping and with smaller houses that many times had decks that circled the entire structure and were actually more square footage than the houses themselves. Which was a good thing, in this case, because there was quite a party going on – and there were a lot of people in attendance.

Outside on the deck in the back of the house there was a large Bar-B-Q that was loaded down with steaks, hotdogs and hamburgers. Presiding over the food with a spatula in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other and clearly enjoying himself was George Hammond. Once CO of the SGC and more recently President of the United States, he was now fully retired from both and enjoying the fact that he was no longer so much in the public eye. At the moment, he had several hungry kids and dogs watching his every move, including his own great granddaughter and the current President’s daughter, who was hopping around excitedly while still being very careful not to burn herself on the occasional popping grease from the grill and playing tag with Carter and Michael Brooks.

The perimeter of the house – and the grounds – were carefully patrolled by secret service agents which told the observant that Hammond wasn’t the only high-level politician in the area. Which was exactly the case, since inside the house the President and Vice President were both cooing over the newest addition to the family and arguing over who got to hold her.

“You’ve had her all week, Jack,” Nathan told him, trying to be as reasonable as possible.

“I had to share her with Sam.”

And everyone else in the world, it had seemed.

“It’s been a week. Let her have a chance at someone who doesn’t smell funny.”

“Sam?” Jack turned from his first grandchild to find Sam. “Nate just said you stink.”

“Not her, you.” Nathan held his hands out to the infant, who looked at him with brown eyes that clearly marked her as Shawn’s little girl. “Come on, let me hold her.”

Jack rolled his eyes and handed the baby over.

“Don’t drop her.”

Nathan didn’t reply; instead turning his attention on the baby in his arms.

“He’s nuts about little ones,” Maggie said, softly, to Sam and Gina, who were standing at the edge of the kitchen watching Cassie teach Jim how to make an apple pie. The Ancient had expressed an interest in cooking, and had been nagging (politely) everyone he could for lessons.

“Why didn’t you guys have more than one kid?” Gina asked, curiously. Even she could see that Nathan was enjoying himself.

“Because Ian was a handful,” Maggie admitted. “Constantly into things and dropping things on his head trying to get to things he wasn’t supposed to be touching.”

As if mentioning his name had been a trigger, Jacob O’Neill looked up from the hand held video game he’d been playing. He looked over at the door that led to the back yard.

“Uncle Ian’s here.”

No one questioned him. They all knew that Jake knew when Ian was around him. It was something that was unique to just the two of them – because of the bond they’d shared when Jake had been born – and had only strengthened rather than faded as Jake grew older.

Sure enough, the door opened and Ian walked into the kitchen, a twin in each arm and Murray excitedly nudging up against him. He liked Ian!

“You’re three days late, Colonel,” Jack told him, getting up and walking into the kitchen. He pulled Carter from his father’s arms and held the boy upside down for a minute, making him giggle as Murray tried to lick him. “We expected you here for the press conference.”

Ian scowled, but lost the frown immediately when Michael giggled and squirmed to be let down. He ruffled his son’s hair and told them both to take Murray outside before he managed to eat the pie Cassie was making. Or the pan.

“I was busy.”

Cassie smiled, but held up her sticky hands to signify that she couldn’t have a kiss just then.

“Don’t listen to him, Ian. I told him you weren’t going to be there. He must have forgotten.”

“Well, he is old…” Ian said, magnanimously.

Sam laughed and hugged him tightly in greeting.

“Want to meet the baby?”

“Of course.”

Ian went over to the sofa where Nate was sitting and looked over his shoulder at the now sleeping child.

“Wow. Poor kid…”

Gina frowned, suddenly worried that Ian had seen – or sensed – something terribly wrong with her baby.

“What is it?”

“She looks just like Shawn. Poor kid.”

Ian shook his head, mournfully.

“Just for that, you have to change the next diaper.”

Ian rolled his eyes in mock terror.

“Let me hold her, dad.”

Now it was Nathan’s turn to scowl.

“I just got her.”

“C’mon.”

“For Pete’s sake…”

Nate gave up the infant, grudgingly, and Ian took her in his arms. She woke up immediately and looked up at him, owlishly.

“Dotty Jean Adams…” Ian smiled when she smiled at the sound of his voice – although he was pretty sure it was just gas. “You’re adorable.”

OOOOOOOOOOOO

“High Commander, we’re ready to drop out of hyperspace.”

Moran turned from the readouts he’d been looking at and nodded.

“Drop us out.”

He walked over and sat in the command chair that was in the middle of the bridge. The ship was huge and impressive – the flagship of the Corain nation. Bristling with weapons and shields, it was the lead vessel of a small armada that the Emperor had sent to chastise the people of the little planet who had dared rebel against the rule of the Corain. And had been responsible for the death of almost sixty men who had died in the last expedition. It would be a vicious attack, and the emperor had pretty much told Moran to kill anyone that gave any indication of rebellion.

“Exiting hyperspace… now.”

The ship suddenly slowed, and the front viewscreen was opened to allow them to see the planet below them. It was spinning idly, its population completely unaware that they were in mortal peril. Moran leaned forward, eagerly, but managed to keep his voice calm.

“Any contacts on the proximity sensors?”

The man he’d asked shook his head.

“Only our own ships dropping out of hyperspace behind us.”

They weren’t taking any chances.

“High Commander! There are several small satellites in orbit around the planet that weren’t there when we initially surveyed the planet. We-“

Before he could say anything else, Moran hissed with pain. It was almost as if someone had grabbed his head in a powerful grip and was squeezing him as hard as they could – just at the edge of intolerable.

You are trespassing… a voice said deep in the vaults of his mind. Leave now and you will not be injured.

He managed to open his eyes and saw that the rest of the crew were clearly being subjected to the same treatment, if the pained expressions they were wearing were any indication.

“Destroy the satellites!” Moran managed to spit out around the pain, which suddenly grew worse.

The ship’s weapons came online, and managed to even power up, but before Moran could give the order to fire, one of the satellites beat him to it. A beam of energy that he saw only long enough to register that it was a faintly greenish color shot out of the satellite, directly towards the ship.

“Shields!”

It was destroyed before they had a chance to comply, and as the other ships in the armada soon found out, shields didn’t do any good anyway. They all managed to get their shields up, but were all still destroyed without any effort at all. Within three minutes of dropping out of hyperspace the entire armada was gone, debris and emptiness all that remained.

OOOOOOOOOO

In the kitchen, Jim was putting the pie in the oven. Cassie had come to the living room and cuddled next to Ian, who had given the baby back to her mother, and Sam and Jack had joined them, waiting for Shawn and Andrew to return from the errands Gina had sent them on.

Ian suddenly froze, his head coming up and his expression growing distant, as if something was happening that only he could see – or feel.

Sam noticed immediately, as did Cassie. Both women frowned.

“Are you okay?” Cassie asked.

Maggie looked over with a mother’s immediate concern, but before she could get worried, Ian shook his head and his expression cleared.

“What? Yeah. I’m fine.” He grinned, hugging Cassie close and looking over at Jim, who had also been distracted – although no one had noticed. “Everything’s fine.”

And it’d stay that way, too.

The End!