Scully hugged the wall, trying to keep out of the way of the military personnel going about their duty. She hadn’t offered to help find the psychic who had changed her and Mulder’s life. Yes, she was concerned for Annika, had seen the shock impact her friend, but the base was like a maze and Scully was pretty sure that if she started searching the halls, a second search party would have to be sent to find her. Besides, how precisely do you look for an invisible person? Especially when that person didn’t want to be found.

Mulder had left almost as quickly as the young woman. He wasn’t one to show his emotions particularly to a room full of strangers. She’d let him go, knowing that he needed time on his own to come to terms with not only what had happened in the mess hall, but with everything else that had transpired in the last few hours. She also knew where he would go. That was a no brainer. He would be drawn to it like a fly to honey.

So Scully had waited. She’d slowly sipped her coffee, every few minutes checking her watch, counting down until a good half an hour had ticked by and then navigated her way to the briefing room. It was the only room they had access to that gave a perfect view of the Stargate. A device that validated everything the X-Files stood for.

Mulder stood peering through the glass, watching the bustle of activity below. He was perfectly still, like he didn’t dare move in case shifting position would make the evidence before his eyes disappear. Scully hesitantly took her place by his side. The inner circle of the stone ring began to spin. One of the chevrons locked, glowed red and the ring spun in the opposite direction. The next chevron locked, the process repeating until the seventh rotation. The FBI agents instinctively reeled back on their heels at the billowing wave of silver-blue that shot out horizontally from the ring and then receded to the rippling wall of the event horizon. Though their eyes were wide with awe at the spectacle, they remained silent. They watched a team dressed in full combat gear stride up the ramp and step through the wormhole as casually as though walking through a door. A moment later it destabilized and the silver-blue shimmered away, once again revealing the concrete wall behind it.

"So, Scully," he said softly. "I hear that I’ve finally made a believer out of you."

She reached for his hand and gave it a tight squeeze. "Mulder, you convinced me a long time ago. I didn’t need to see this to believe."

His fingers curled around hers. When he next spoke his voice was barely audible. "I did."

She tilted her head, asking silently for an explanation.

Mulder took a deep breath. "All the proof that we had snatched away from us time and time again, we never had it long enough to really study it, to determine if it was real or a government hoax. I wanted to believe it was real but we never knew for sure."

"And now we do."

A smile touched his lips. "Yes. And now we do."

"And we can never tell anyone," she gently reminded him.

"That doesn’t matter." Mulder turned bright eyes towards her. "I’ve seen it. Touched it. Flown through space in a real alien spaceship. Two alien spaceships," he corrected. "And this time, my memory, your memory, won’t be repressed. We won’t have to go through regression hypnosis to get flashes of what happened and then question the truth of what we’ve seen." He pulled her into his arms and swung her around in a circle. "We’ve seen the truth, Scully. We’ve really seen it." As they spun around, a deep laugh burst from him. It held a mix of excitement, wonder and relief, and Scully’s own delighted chuckle joined in.

When dizziness forced them to stop, they leant against each other, automatically facing the Stargate, both of them wanting to keep sight of the alien technology.

"I still can’t quite believe what happened in the mess hall." His tone became raw. "To see Samantha…to know she’s alive…well, not alive…I don’t know what she is…But to know that whatever I discover regarding those missing years, that she’s okay now, that her soul survived whatever Spender put her through."

"Annika’s…abilities…are amazing."

"How does your scientific mind explain it?" he asked curiously.

Scully sighed. "I’m not even going to try. Let’s just call it a miracle and leave it at that."

"A miracle?" Mulder draped an arm around her waist. "Scully, you’ve come a long way since that first debunking assignment six years ago."

"I am a Catholic," she gave a self-conscious shrug. "Miracles are part of the doctrine."

He gave a low laugh. "I seriously doubt that sainthood was on Annika’s mind when she did what she did."

"She was pretty mad at the time," Scully grinned. "But that was nothing compared to how she was on the ship. That woman has the most impressive list of curses I have ever heard."

His arms tightened around her and Scully felt a slight tremble in his embrace. "When I think about what could have happened…" His voice broke off and his eyes conveyed what he couldn’t say.

"I know," she whispered, reading the fear, the what ifs. "But it’s over now." Tenderly she cupped his face and brought her lips to his, banishing the demons that haunted him. He clung to her until the shaking subsided. "What will you do now, Mulder?"

"What do you mean?" he murmured into her hair.

"Well, you’ve found your sister. You’ve found your aliens…"

"Not to mention finding the woman of my dreams in my arms." His smile was mischievous.

"Yes, there is that too," she agreed, resting her head on his chest. "So what’s next?"

"There’s always the original game plan of exposing that extraterrestrial life exists."

She missed his playful tone and drew away from him in horror. "Mulder, you can’t…"

"Did I forget to mention that these aliens and our aliens are not one and the same?"

She eyed him doubtfully. "You’re sure?"

He nodded. "Jack and Daniel determined that before we went chasing after you." He beckoned her back and she once again moved into the circle of his arms.

"Do you think we should enlighten them to our world?"

Mulder took a few moments, seriously considering his partner’s question, then shook his head. "Not right now. Let them battle the bad guys out there," he gestured towards the Stargate. "We’ll battle the bad guys here. There’s nothing stopping us from exposing all the conspiracies surrounding our little rogue group."

"Revealing the Syndicate for the slime balls they are is a tempting pursuit," Scully conceded, her voice catching when she felt Mulder’s warm breath near her ear.

"Sounds like a plan." He placed a light kiss in the hollow of her neck, smiling at the way her pulse rate increased beneath his lips.

"Er…for the immediate future, General Hammond has assigned us some temporary quarters." Her blue eyes darkened with desire.

"I’m too keyed up to sleep," Mulder teased.

"I’m sure we can find something to do to wile away the time." Scully began leading the way back to the rabbit warren of hallways. "Let’s hope we don’t get lost."

"Scully, we never get lost."

With a final glance at the Stargate the couple left, trying in vain to look like they were in no particular hurry to get to the privacy of their room.

A couple of hours later Sam found Annika in the corner of a supply room, her head resting on her knees, arms wrapped around her legs in an attempt to stop the tremors that assaulted her body. Masking her sigh of relief she sat down beside her friend, leaning against the wall. "You know you’ve got the whole base looking for you?" The major kept to herself that no one had dared to ask Daniel to locate her, the archaeologist was snapping at anyone who even glanced at him.

"Then aren’t you the clever one?"

The blonde woman flinched but remained silent.

Annika drew in a wobbly breath. "I’m sorry." She grasped for Sam’s hand. "You didn’t deserve that."

"It’s okay." Sam gave her fingers a comforting squeeze, showing she held no hard feelings.

"It seems my mouth is constantly getting me into trouble today." A stray tear trickled out and she gruffly brushed it away.

"So why did you…lie is too harsh a word."

"No, it’s not," Annika denied. "My omission was a lie, no matter how you dress it up." She kept her face lowered. "It’s all I’ve been thinking about."

When she made no move to continue, Sam prompted, "Did you reach any conclusions?"

After a few moments of silence, Annika eventually spoke. "Mainly it was an instinctive urge to protect Daniel. I didn’t want him to worry."

"You’d been kidnapped by a Goa’uld, he was already way beyond worried."

"I know, but…I guess I thought…oh, I don’t know what I thought." She rubbed her free hand over blood shot eyes. "It doesn’t matter. It was wrong and Daniel has every right to be furious. I manipulated him. I, of all people, know how much he hates that."

"But?"

The psychic’s sad eyes finally looked up at her friend. "Sam, do you know what it’s like to see a vision of what amounts to your own death?" Her voice cracked but she continued, "I needed someone to believe that I was going to be fine. It sure as hell couldn’t be me! I didn’t, couldn’t, believe I’d live any kind of normal life after what I saw. I think that was the whole point of the protective bubble. It kept Daniel and his wholehearted faith where I needed him to be. The entire time I was out of it I could sense his optimism even when I couldn’t form a conscious thought for myself. I used that faith. I used him."

"You should give him some time. Daniel’s not thinking clearly right now. His love for you is stronger than anything I’ve ever seen."

"I think I’ve destroyed it, Sam." This time she didn’t wipe away the tears that spilled over. "The truth is, Daniel’s faith in our love is…was…more secure than mine. You remember when that dwarf almost killed him?" She gave a rueful shake of her head. "Of course you do…even though Daniel shut down, he held onto the hope that I was alive despite what his drugged mind was telling him. I didn’t."

Sam frowned. "What do you mean? You never left his side."

"That last day, I was resigning myself to living without him. Before Lya turned up, I was practically drowning in despair, ready to give up. I didn’t believe Daniel would ever wake. My lie…it was to stop him from feeling what I felt that day."

"You should explain all this to Daniel."

She sucked in a ragged breath. "Perhaps. But how can I ask him to forgive me when I can’t forgive myself?" Annika released her friend’s hand. "You should go call off the search. I’ll be okay, I just need to be alone right now."

"You’re sure?" Sam was reluctant to leave her in her current state.

Annika nodded, visibly pulling herself together. "You don’t need to worry. I won’t do anything stupid, even if Daniel decides he never wants to see me again."

Sam gave her a tight hug. "Okay. But if you need me, just holler."

She returned the embrace. "Thanks."

Sam left, quietly shutting the door behind her. After a moment of deliberation a determined glint entered her eyes and she strode down the corridor to find Daniel. Annika had screwed up. No one was denying that, but dammit, all of them had made some royal mistakes over the years. It was about time Daniel got off that self-righteous pedestal he’d put himself on and showed some of that forgiveness he was so famous for.

Annika peeked out into the corridor after she heard Sam’s footsteps fade away. She needed to find another hideout. She had no doubt that the major would tell Jack and Teal’c where she was. At the moment she didn’t feel up to any more visitors, no matter how well meaning, and knowing her teammates they would be knocking on the door before Sam finished giving her location.

With a flick of her wrist she once more folded the air around herself, using the Nox trick that now came so easily to her. Content that she would be spared the sympathetic or gawking looks from the rest of the personnel, (depending on who had seen or heard which part of the last few hours,) she aimlessly wandered the halls. She eventually ended up in the briefing room that was blessedly empty. Darkness had fallen topside and unless there was an emergency there usually were no briefings held during the midnight shift.

She gazed down at the Stargate, wondering at the magnificence of the device, wondering if she would ever step through it again. Absently she fingered the shoe pendant that hadn’t left her neck since Daniel had given it to her. It was funny, (and not in a good way,) how quickly things could change. Less than a week ago her life had been practically perfect. Now it was crumbling before her eyes. If Daniel were unable to find it in his heart to forgive her, then she would leave. She couldn’t cope seeing him day after day knowing he despised her, not after experiencing the magic of his love. There was nothing she could do about their bond, that was permanent, however maybe she could find someway to shield him from feeling her. The last thing he’d want would to be constantly reminded of her for the rest of his life…

"Annika?"

She spun around at Daniel’s voice. He looked haggard. Annika ached to reach out and smooth away the pain she saw etching his face, but she remained where she was.

He hesitantly stepped into the room. "I know you’re in here."

She felt a tug on their bond.

"Please, let me see you."

Annika steadfastly maintained the invisible folds. If he were here to officially end their relationship, she wouldn’t let him see her fall apart. It was bad enough that he would feel her heart shattering, that sort of pain she wouldn’t be able to block. She wanted to keep a shred of dignity.

When it became clear that she wasn’t going to acknowledge him, Daniel thrust his hands in his pockets, shuffling his feet uneasily. "I…uh…heard what happened in the mess hall. Mulder’s practically walking on cloud nine." He paused, looking directly towards her. "It’s amazing what you did. It seems I always miss seeing your gift’s accomplishments the first time round."

Annika remained silent and turned back to the viewing window. She had no idea where he was going with this, when the axe would fall. Scared of what she would find, she didn’t dare search their bond. His tone however gave her a pinch of hope. He didn’t sound angry anymore.

"I would have loved to have seen Oma’s face when you told her to stick the rules…" He gave a short laugh that quickly died and he drew in a deep breath. "Annika, your ‘omission’ felt like a knife twisted in my gut."

"That wasn’t my intent." Her words were barely a whisper.

"I know. I guess I knew that right from the beginning, but I was so hurt, so angry, I couldn’t see straight." Daniel lowered his eyes. "The shock of finding out how close I’d come to losing you, made me lash out…"

"I deserved everything you said. You had every right to be angry, to still be angry."

"I heard your explanation to Sam."

"I figured she’d tell you."

A small smile played on his lips. "She did, with a few choice additions of her own. But I also heard it from you." He paused then reluctantly confessed, "I was searching for you...Admittedly I was looking for another fight and was about to burst in when you were talking to Sam…I’m eternally grateful that I didn’t."

Guilt hit her from both sides.

"I didn’t know how ‘low’ you were back then. You never said anything."

She sighed. "Because in the end it didn’t matter. Before I hit rock bottom Lya came and showed me how to tap into your mind. You were okay. I didn’t want to dwell on those fears, I was just ecstatic to have you back."

"Your feelings always matter."

Annika nearly leapt out of her skin when she felt two arms encircle her from behind. "You can’t hide from me." There was a gentle tickle beneath her heart. "Your wonderful gift saw to that."

"You’re not mad at me anymore?" Despite the tenderness of his touch and voice, she held herself stiffly. She had to hear the words before she would allow herself to truly believe.

"No, My Angel." He took an educated guess and rested his chin on her still invisible shoulder. "And I’m sorry for yelling at you, I handled the whole situation badly."

Finally she let herself relax into his wonderful embrace. "I’m so sorry about everything…"

"You’ve apologized enough. I just wasn’t listening."

She tilted her head back, needing to feel his lips on hers. When their mouths met she let the surge of her relief and love envelope them, cocooning them in a plane that existed for just the two of them.

Eventually they came up for air and Daniel smiled lazily down at her, only now seeing her for the first time since entering the room. "So there you are."

Annika smiled back then anxiousness creased her brow. "Daniel, I promise I’ll tell you everything that I see from now on, frame by frame, word for word."

He kissed the frown away with a low chuckle. "You can leave out the unimportant bits…you know, like the sky turning black, rivers turning into blood. Now you dying, that’s important, or Jack actually catching a real live fish in his lake."

Snuggling tighter into his arms, over the moon that things were back to normal, her laughter bubbled forth. "It’ll be hard to distinguish between the nonessential bits, but I’ll try."

Their hungry lips met again and they only relinquished their hold when the sound of familiar voices penetrated in their ears.

"…They gotta be here, I heard them talking."

"Can you not let Daniel Jackson and Annika Murdoch reconcile in private, O’Neill?"

"Nope. I want my team back together. Knowing how high strung they both are at the moment they’ll probably screw it up…I know they’re down here, the cameras saw Daniel talking to nothing…"

Their teammates appeared in the doorway.

"Well, they’re not here now, sir."

The newly reconciled lovers exchanged surprised glances until they realized that instead of releasing the air hiding her, Annika had brought Daniel into the fold. A mischievous grin touched both their faces.

"We’re over here," Daniel called out from their spot in front of the viewing window.

The three stared right through them as they stepped into the room.

Jack cleared his throat. "Ah…Marco?…"

Silently the hidden couple moved to the other side of the room.

"…Polo…" Annika finished the call from the children’s game.

Immediately the ‘hunters’ turned to the sound of her voice.

"…Marco…" Jack motioned to Sam and Teal’c to close in on the elusive pair.

By that time Daniel and Annika had snuck up behind them. Smothering a grin, Annika leant close to Jack’s ear. "…Polo…"

The colonel jumped a foot and spun around. "For cryin’ out loud, do you want to give me a heart attack?"

They shimmered into view, giggling like little kids.

"Sorry, Jack. We couldn’t resist," Daniel gasped managing to control himself.

"I’m taking a guess that you two have kissed and made up?" Jack eyed the couple tangled in each other’s arms.

"What gave us away?" Annika’s violet eyes were dancing and she reached up to plant another lingering kiss on Her Love’s mouth. The joy emanating from both of them collided and when they broke apart the goofy grins on their faces had the colonel rolling his eyes.

"Be nice, Jack." Annika impishly wiggled a finger and a tendril of air flicked his ear.

"Oy! I think I liked it better when you two weren’t speaking to each other," Jack grumbled, rubbing his lobe.

"Annika Murdoch, I would wish you could teach that procedure to me." Teal’c watched Jack retreat to the other side of the room, (like it would do him any good.) "It seems a most effective method to rebuff O’Neill’s humor."

Annika chuckled. "Oh, it’s easy, Teal’c. You just place your index finger inside your thumb…" She demonstrated the technique. "…And flick…"

Everyone ignored Jack’s yelp.

"But you don’t need my gift to do it," Annika said with a serious face. "You can use your physical hands as long as you’ve got a pair of lightning fast feet to jump back out of range."

Teal’c nodded his thanks then proceeded to approach the colonel to put his ‘training’ into action.

Jack backed away. "Sam, as your superior officer, I’m ordering you to protect me!"

Sam cracked up, unable to hold in her laughter. "Sorry, Jack, I’m off duty."

"That kind of attitude will not get you promoted, Major." He ducked behind Daniel.

The colonel was saved by General Hammond striding into the room. The base commander chose to ignore the fact that Teal’c was stalking Colonel O’Neill with his hand contorted into the universal sign of ‘A-Okay’, that the colonel was cowering behind Doctor Jackson and that the rest of his flagship team were practically rolling on the floor with laughter. SG-1 was back to normal and that was all that mattered.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Immediately the colonel straightened, though he shot the Jaffa a wary look. "Not at all, General. Perfect timing as usual." He made sure Teal’c and his long arm were a safe distance away.

"Annika Murdoch was showing us an effective method of…"

Daniel nudged the Jaffa in the ribs. "An effective method of reconnaissance. We found out accidentally that if more than one person is shielded by Annika, the hidden people can see each other and interact."

"It could be handy for future stealth operations, sir," Sam piped in.

The general took in the angelic looks on all their faces, (except for Teal’c who wore his usual impassive expression). Reconnaissance, my foot, but I’ll play along. "I’m sure it would, Major, but we can discuss Annika’s ‘stealth’ methods when you get back."

"Back, sir?" Jack poked his head around the archaeologist. "Where are we going?"

"Thor is waiting to take you and Agents Mulder and Scully back to Mooloolaba. This whole operation has fallen under the radar of the NID and we’d like to keep it that way. You’re all to finish off your ‘vacation’ as though nothing has happened."

"What about the women?" Annika asked.

"From what we can gather, none of them realized they were on a space ship, let alone abducted by an alien. They were all so drugged up by Bes’s pheromones that they think they were hallucinating the more bizarre incidents they witnessed."

"So what’s the cover story?" Sam was trying to hide her delight at having to maintain her lover ‘charade’ with the colonel by focusing on the matter at hand.

"One of our naval patrols in international waters boarded a boat reportedly acting suspicious…"

"How does a boat act suspicious?" Annika interrupted.

The colonel answered. "Failure to stick to the normal shipping routes, not logging a travel plan, traveling at abnormal speeds, failure to respond to the coast guard’s hail…"

"Okay, I get the picture."

The general continued, "The patrol was met with strong resistance from the boat’s captain, who they thought was the boat’s only occupant and were forced to open fire. The man was killed. Upon further investigation the abducted women were found below decks, locked in a lavish…‘boudoir’ is the term I think officially used."

"How convenient." A wry twist touched Daniel’s lips.

"Oh, it gets better, Doctor Jackson," Hammond responded with a grin of his own. "It was then discovered the boat was rigged with a home made bomb, they evacuated in the nick of time before the ship exploded."

"Destroying all the evidence and what remained of the ‘captain’s’ body was washed away by the strong currents so no identification could be made."

"Heard this story before, Colonel?"

"Just a lucky guess, sir." Jack had also perked up at the news of going back to Australia.

"The women have all been sedated again. Once they’re asleep Thor has already agreed to beam them and the nursing staff they have seen to the ship that supposedly rescued them. Naturally the ship’s crew is also SGC personnel. They’ve already made arrangements to meet up with the Australian authorities."

"What about the rocking motion of the ship?" Daniel pointed out the flaw in the plan. "Won’t they notice that they are suddenly bouncing on the water or rather that they weren’t for the entire time of their abduction?"

"Based on what we know of the pheromone drugs effects we know the details the victims are left with are hazy at best. If by chance the issue arises we can blame it on the drug."

"Right!" Jack clapped his hands, eager to resume his ‘vacation’. "So when do we…"

Everyone except General Hammond and Teal’c was blinded by a white light. When their vision cleared they were standing on the bridge of the Asgard ship.

"…leave?" Jack blinked, then smirked. "Now, that’s what I call service!"

A moment later the two FBI agents appeared.

The others stifled grins as they hastily drew apart. Thor had caught them in mid kiss.

"Doesn’t give much warning, does he?" Mulder tucked his hand around his lover’s waist.

"See Mulder? I told you your kisses moved me." Scully leant into his embrace.

"O’Neill, casual attire has also been beamed aboard for you all," Thor announced from his preferred place behind the control console. "General Hammond recommended you switch clothes before returning to your recreational activities."

"That man thinks of everything," Jack grinned. "I guess that’s why they gave him the gold stars."

They trooped off to change, leaving Annika alone with Thor.

"Thank you again for everything that you’ve done," she said bending down to hug the little alien. "Things could have been a lot different without your help."

"No thanks are necessary." Thor awkwardly returned the gesture. "It is I who should be thanking you. It was most satisfying to, as you say, ‘stick it’ to the Goa’uld. If you find anymore loopholes in the Protected Planets Treaty I would be gratified if you would share your discoveries."

"You can bet on it."

"Ah…Annika?" Mulder hesitantly approached her. "What you did…" His throat closed up. "I’ve been searching for so long…"

She laid a gentle hand on his arm. "I’m glad I could help." Her mind was bombarded with a series of images. The first made her smile; the second caused a frown. "When you get back to Washington, I think you’ll find General Hammond will have pulled a few strings. Your… X-files?…will be reopened."

The FBI agent’s face lit up and she was reluctant to tell him the rest of her vision. There had to be a way she could help him… "Can you excuse me for a minute?"

Mulder nodded and she left the FBI man peppering Thor with questions about his race. Passing a hastily changed Scully, Annika sought out the colonel. She found him with the others completing their costume change.

"Jack, I have a problem." She quickly outlined what the second part of her vision entailed. "Can we offer a day pass back to the Mountain?"

The colonel hesitated.

"Please, Jack, there’s nowhere on Earth that he’ll be safe. The people after him are worse than the NID."

"Alright. Give him your address and when the time comes we’ll sneak him off-world." Jack finished lacing up his boots. "Remind me to convince Hammond when we get back."

"Thanks, Jack."

When she returned she saw the two agents studying the ship’s console under Thor’s patient gaze.

Scully grinned. "Can you imagine what ‘The Lone Gunmen’ would give for five minutes on this ship?"

Mulder chuckled. "Well, I’ve already been promised Frohike’s first born."

"Er…Mulder?" Annika tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hi! I just gave Scully the good news about the X-files."

Taking in their exuberant faces, Annika was hesitant to continue. Then she caught sight of Daniel entering the room with her teammates. Nope, she’d learnt her lesson, no more hedging about her visions. "There’s no easy way to tell you this…so I’m just going to blurt it out. In about a year’s time, you’re going to get too close to whatever the Syndicate is hiding. If you don’t run, they will kill you." She saw Scully clutch at her partner’s hand and she hurried on. "When you run, come to us. We’ve got the best safe houses in the universe."

"What about Scully?" Mulder protectively encased his lover’s shoulders.

Annika shot a quick look at Jack who nodded. "Dana can come too, but from what I saw she won’t be with you, at least not to begin with. There’s something she needs to do while you’re gone, however you will be together again eventually."

The tension that gripped the two agents somewhat abated.

"Thanks for the warning."

"O’Neill, we are directly above the coordinates of your recreational facility."

Thor watched the Tau'ri automatically pair up as they moved to the center of the room. Doctor Jackson wrapped an arm around Annika’s waist, Scully and Mulder remained in each other’s embrace and after a moment of indecision O’Neill grabbed Major Carter’s hand giving it a tight squeeze. He did not understand the purpose of such an arrangement. It was totally unnecessary. The Tau'ri need for physical contact was an anomaly that he had yet to solve. Observing the happy smiles that each of them wore and the loving glances they shared with their respective partners he wondered if the Asgard should resume studies into the ‘old fashioned’ method of procreation.

"Okay, campers…" Jack paused eyeing the back of Daniel’s jeans. "Just one sec…" He plucked the cell phone clipped to the archaeologist’s waistband, then tugged Annika’s from her back pocket. He gestured to Sam who hesitantly handed over her phone from her waistband and then fished out his own from a side pocket. Jack slid them across the floor to land at Thor’s feet. "Thor, buddy, if the general rings, do us a favor and remind him we are on vacation."

"Do you really think that wise, O’Neill?" Thor’s big black eyes blinked in concern at the communication devices.

"Yep. We’re only following Hammond’s direct order." Jack replaced Sam’s hand in his. "And this is one order I plan to follow through to the end. Any objections?" he asked his teammates with an innocent grin.

Daniel tightened his hold on Annika. "None here."

"Sam?"

The blonde shook her head with a shy smile.

"Right! Thor, twist that knob and send us down. You know I’ve heard that Australia has some of the best fishing spots in the world."

The little Asgard almost smiled at the eye rolls the other members of SG-1 gave as he beamed the three couples down.