AUTHOR�S NOTES: I was inspired by the good news. This is for all of you who worked so tirelessly to keep the flame of hope burning, to all of you who didn�t give up on the show even when others did, and to all of us who are just stunned silly by the wonders of high ratings�and strange career moves�

Thank you, Sazz, for being the world�s quickest and most complete beta. I�ll think of you next time I�m at the Blarney Stone�

Blindly, Jack reached for the night-vision goggles above him on the shelf, and at the same time slid the safety off his side arm. When his fingers came in contact with the goggles, he slowly, carefully drew them away from the shelf, down through the closet and onto the back of his head.

The game just got more interesting, he thought.

He crept along the walls of his darkened room and reached for the doorknob. Damn, that door�s gonna squeak. Sidling up to the door, Jack pressed his weight onto the handle and pulled the door open, silencing the noisy hinges. Through his goggles, his room shone green, still, quiet. Turning his focus into the hallway, he found the same�green, still, but not as quiet. It wasn�t so much that there was a sound out there. More like a disruption, an energy.

He had been fast asleep, tired to the bone after a long mission, glad just to be in his own bed when he first heard it. A creak of a floorboard. He had dismissed it�old house, the weather�s changing. A thump of upholstery made his eyes spring open. That would be the dog, he said to himself. Which would be a really good trick if I had a dog�

In a quick moment, he was out of bed, grabbing his sidearm from under the mattress, and had moved to the closet as quietly as frost covering a leaf.

It was within two minutes of his first realization that someone was in his house that Jack found himself, weapon drawn, creeping down his green hallway, approaching his shadowy living room.

A smear of movement from the living room into the kitchen caught his eye, but it was gone in the split-second it took Jack to focus in on the spot.

The creaking of floorboards once again and a muffled "Shhh�" from the intruder�and Jack froze.

Okay, he thought, there�s more than one. Fine. The odds are almost even.

Jack placed each foot with precision and care, scooted around the corner of the dining room, around a dining room chair, around the edge of the oak table, gun poised, one shoulder out.

Three meters, tops, in front of him was the intruder--his back to Jack, tip-toeing through the kitchen, arms outstretched. Jack stopped, looked to his left, to his right, crouched down to make sure no one else was aiming a gun at his crotch. Found no one else in the vicinity, didn�t hear anyone breathing, but knew he had at least one of the perps dead center, primed to have open heart surgery the hard way.

The intruder, male, six-foot, 180 lbs--give or take--took measured, absurdly careful steps through the kitchen. Jack lowered his gun a hair. Hardly seemed sporting at this point. Still, what this intruder may have lacked in finesse, his accomplices may have in spades. Jack brought his weapon back to level.

Time for the fat lady to sing.

"If I were you, chief, I�d put your hands out where I can see them," Jack said, stilling the intruder, "and then I�d tell your friends to throw down their weapons, �cause you woke me up, and I�m a little jumpy. May just shoot you, oh, way too many times. And then I�ll kill ya."

The figure, suddenly rooted in its spot, pressed its hands out to the side just as Jack had instructed.

"Go ahead," Jack said, "tell your buddies to give it up."

"Um, no�no buddies, Jack," came the voice of the intruder.

The voice sounded strangely familiar to Jack, and hearing his name spoken with that flattened vowel sound registered a hazy inkling deep within the recesses of his mind.

Nah. Couldn�t be, he thought.

Jack shifted his feet, solidified his base. "Tell you what, since you know my name, why don�t you introduce yourself? I kinda like to be on a first name basis with those I shoot for interrupting my sleep."

"Well, I think�" he began, lowering his hands.

"Aht! Don�t remember saying �Simon says,� so keep �em in the air," Jack said. Two hands pushed into the open and wriggled their fingers. "Good. Now, who are you?"

"I think you know."

"Humor me."

"My arms are getting tired, which is�odd."

"My heart bleeds."

"Oh, come on! You know me!"

Again, Jack seemed to be up against an insistent memory, but he needed to stay focused. "Well, I�ve never been good with backsides, so why don�t you turn around, niiiiiiice and slow. Slower�"

And with that, the intruder cautiously turned and came face to face with a gun. "Uh, you want to, you know, kind of put that thing away?"

Jack peered into the shadowy green features of the man in front of him, rolled his eyes, and tore off his night vision goggles.

"Oh, for cryin� out loud. Daniel! Why the hell didn�t you tell me it was you?" he asked, tossing the goggles onto the table, securing the safety back onto his gun, and slapping the lights on in the kitchen.

"I didn�t want to alarm you. Can I�um, can I�"

"Put your arms down, for all that�s holy," Jack told him, slinking into a side chair "Do you know how close I was to shooting you? Not that it would have mattered." He placed his sidearm on the table and brushed his hand through his hair. "I�d�a shot you and taken out my refrigerator."

"Yeah," Daniel said, glancing over his shoulder. "That new?"

"Daniel!" Jack cried. "You wanna tell me why you�re here?"

"You said I could stick around, so�I�m around."

"In the neighborhood?"

"Yeah, sorta."

Jack glared at him, clucked his tongue against his cheek and pressed his fingers into his throbbing temples. "What�s going on this time? What, I�m being tortured again, only I�m so gonked I don�t realize it? Huh? Is that it?"

"No, no torture," Daniel said.

"So, go ahead and tell me."

"Tell you what, Jack?" Daniel stepped into the dining room and took a chair across from Jack. He sat down, felt a knobby pain in his hips, lifted himself from the chair and realized it was just the his bones coming in contact with the hard wood.

"Tell me why I�m seeing visions of�What is it you called yourself? Energy?" Jack asked, peering at Daniel�s being through narrowed eyes.

"Yes, well, it was energy," Daniel informed him. "These chairs�they�re, um, really uncomfortable."

"Next time, phone first. I�ll have my decorator take care of the furnishings before your arrival." He watched Daniel shift in the chair, and when it didn�t seem like Jack�s question was paramount on his mind, Jack crackled out his name again.

"What?" Daniel asked, focusing once again on Jack.

"What�s gone wrong in my life that brings you here? What major crisis has arisen that calls you to�arise?"

"No crisis," Daniel calmly said. "Do you have a cushion, or�something? A towel?"

"Come on! Out with it!" Jack demanded, flailing a hand at him. "Generally, when you show up, I�m at death�s door, and you�re trick or treating with me. So, what is it?"

"You�re fine," Daniel said, squirming. "Is it just me? Have these things always been this hard?"

Jack pulled the collar of his shirt away from his neck and tried to look at his chest. "I�ve been shot, right? In the infirmary? Coma?"

"No, no," Daniel insisted. "You�re�fine. Well, I mean, your cholesterol levels seem to on the rise, but other than that."

"My cholesterol levels?"

"Yes, and we should really discuss that, but there�s a different�"

"No, Daniel, let�s talk about this," Jack said, sitting up straight. "You�ve come from the great�over there just to tell me I need to be on Lipitor?"

"No, Jack," Daniel said.

"Because that just seems wasteful."

"That�s�that�s not why I�m here," Daniel said.

"Anyhow, I think I�d know if my cholesterol was bad," Jack said. "Fraiser keeps me informed about all my major bodily functions, and last I heard, my DHD levels were just fine."

"Yes, and speaking of bodily functions," Daniel said with a wry smile as he raised himself from his chair and stepped farther into the kitchen, "how do you like the Viagra?"

"Okay, that�s so not the point," Jack pointedly told him, grimacing, "and so not fair."

"You�re right," Daniel said, nodding. "But?�"

Jack glanced at him churlishly. "Oh, like I even have to tell you."

Daniel shrugged and lifted his brow, his mouth forming a hardly suppressed smile. "Well�"

"So," Jack started, eyeing Daniel with skepticism and a touch of embarrassment, "you�ve traveled all this way to see how my little soldier is bearing up under new command?"

Daniel ground his hand into his eye. "Not as a going concern, no."

"Then what?" an exasperated Jack cried.

"I didn�t come to check in on you," Daniel said, tossing his hands to his side. How could he make it clear? He threw his hands to his head and spun around once, twice, before coming to a stop and feeling the effects of his gyrations. "Whoa, little dizzy here."

"God, I wish it had been a breaking and entering. I�d be asleep by now," Jack said, slapping the side of his head.

Daniel�s head stopped spinning, and he began again. "I came�back. As in�I�m here. Again." He stared at Jack�s blank expression, frowned and then waved his hands in the air near his face. "Surprise."

Jack�s eyes flickered a moment before words came to him. And then he chose different, more articulate words. And then he chose words that actually made sense. "So, let me see if I got this�Nope. What?!"

"Let me try to explain," Daniel said, pressing a finger to his lips. "I�ve been�well, we call it�" Daniel paced without a specific destination in mind, stopped and went on. "Well, maybe more appropriately, under the circumstances, they call it�" He came to a halt again, shook his finger in the air, and said, "You know, if you�re being precise about it, I�m still a them--a we, as it were--but soon�"

"Dammit, Daniel!" Jack yelled. "Didn�t you learn anything at the Desilu School of Profundity? Huh? Weren�t you supposed to be all zen and�centered? Haven�t you found your chai?"

"Jack, see, it�s just that I�m kind of�" Daniel stammered, scratched his head and tried again. "It�s like this: Up until a few�okay, time being relative and all, up until a few minutes ago, I was�well, time didn�t matter to me, but now�"

"You know what?" Jack said, shaking his head quickly, almost frantically. "Why don�t I just shoot myself? Put us both out of this misery."

"Uhhhhh, I�m here!" Daniel blurted out.

"We�ve established that. You�your�energy signature is in my kitchen, and I swear to God, Daniel, if you screw up the wiring in this place I�ll connect a lightning rod to your�ascended being."

"Well, I�m guessing that would hurt. And I�m guessing your wiring is fine, unless you did it yourself, and then all bets are off, and it won�t be my fault."

Jack stared at him through pinched eyes. "Daniel, I�m nothing if not patient, but my head is ready to explode, so why don�t you just tell me, Daniel, why you are here in my�obviously imagined kitchen?"

"Nope. Not imagined. I�m�I�m really here," Daniel said, bobbing his head.

"Here we go," Jack said, running a hand across his jowl. "You�re here, as in really here, as in not flesh and blood, but energy, blah blah blah�I get it! Okay?!"

"No, I mean�" Daniel patted his chest, which made a hollow thumping sound. "I mean, I�m here. Wow," he murmured, thumped his chest again and enjoyed the tone. "You know, you forget the simplest things...."

Jack pitched forward in his chair and rested his elbows on his knees. "Damn."

Daniel took his hand away from his chest and tried to see what was bothering Jack. "What?"

"I�m not wearing shoes," he said, looking around the near vicinity. He picked up an apple from a bowl on his table. "This is where I throw things through you, you wince, and I sit back, resigned that those chemicals they said could lie dormant in my brain for years really can produce highly effective flashbacks."

"Go ahead," Daniel said, shrugging his shoulder.

Jack looked at Daniel, then looked at the apple. Tossed it in his hand and lobbed it at the figure standing in his kitchen, who caught it.

"Now that�s impressive," Jack said, pointing.

"What? I�ve always been good at catch." Daniel rubbed the apple against his sweater and then sank his teeth into the green skin, down deep into the crackling, succulent flesh. He pulled the fruit away from his mouth, dropped his head back, chewed and groaned. "Oh, my God!"

"What?"

"This is like the greatest thing I�ve ever tasted in my life!" Daniel crammed more of the apple into his mouth, opening wide to get the greatest purchase his jaws could afford.

"In your life, such as it were," Jack said, rubbing his eyes, wondering if he was just dreaming.

Daniel�s knees bent as if he were falling, his chest heaved, he threw a hand to the top of his head and moaned. "God! Fruit!" In an instant, he straightened, his eyes flashing around the kitchen. "Jack, cookies!"

"Can�t eat �em anymore. Cholesterol, remember?" Jack peevishly said, scowling.

"Oh. Right. Okay," Daniel said, rubbing his hands together, "well, then�anything. Bread. Crackers. Carrots. No, I can wait on those." His face shot up, and he stared at Jack with wild eyes. "Coffee!"

"Knock yourself out, Casper," Jack said, waving toward the refrigerator. "Just clean up after yourself when you pour it through your body and onto my floor."

Daniel tore the coffee out of the refrigerator, ripped off the top, raced it to the counter and pressed the can to his face. He breathed in the richness, the nutty earthiness. He held the aroma deep in his lungs, basking in the love, and smiled. "Oh, my God, I�ve missed you�"

"Yeah, I�ve missed you, too," Jack said, rubbing the back of his neck, tight with tension and fatigue.

Daniel turned toward Jack, confused. "What? Oh, yeah, I�ve missed you too, Jack." The sensual aroma danced across his palate, and Daniel sucked in another lungful of its beauty.

"Okay, when you�re done having your Mr. Coffee moment, would ya mind filling me in?"

Daniel put the container of freshly ground beans on the counter, giggled and stroked the can affectionately. "Ah, the best part of waking up really is Folgers in your cup. It�s not just an ad campaign, you know. It�s an absolute truth. I know that now."

"Daniel!"

"Jack, let me ask you something," he began, dipping one finger in the grounds and bringing up the darkened fingertip to his mouth. "Oh, my God�"

"You were asking me something?"

Daniel bounced up and down, sucking his finger, murmuring appreciative intonations. His eyes closed as if in java ecstasy.

"Okay, goodnight," Jack said, standing up. "Obviously, I�m vying for a Section Eight, and nobody told me. Typical�"

"Jack, wait!" Daniel called after him. "How did you see me through your night goggles?"

Jack stopped in his tracks and partially turned toward Daniel. "It�s rather complex, Daniel, but I�ll try to explain. I looked THROUGH THEM! You were there!"

"But night goggles show heat sources, not energy," Daniel said, looking at Jack with newly focused attention.

Jack stopped and thought about it, decided he was too tired for science, and waved him off.

"Jack, stop!" Daniel cried. "Listen, you�re not dreaming, and you�re not in a coma, and you�re not�whatever it is you might think you are. Add it up! You saw my figure in the goggles. You threw an apple at me, WHICH I caught. I made the floor squeak, Jack. I I I�I felt pain!"

"Welcome to my world."

"Jack�"

The colonel took in Daniel�s form, had to agree that he did look more lifelike. "So you�re here?"

"Yes!" Daniel almost shouted with relief.

"You�re here to tell me I need work on my flooring?" Jack questioned, closing one eye.

"No. No. No." Daniel shook his head. "Try to understand."

"Do you think I�ll be able to?"

"If you concentrate."

"Then the question becomes do I want to?"

"Yes, I think you do."

Jack stared at Daniel again, shook his head, and flipped a hand toward him, exhaustion winning over any sense of mind expansion. "I�m going to bed. I�ll wake up, and this will have been a very�weird dream." Jack padded his way down the hall toward his room. Daniel followed after him, close on his heels. "Goodnight, Spook," Jack said, stepping into his room and slamming the door behind him.

When he heard the resulting thud of a body hitting the door, Jack stopped, turned, and yanked open the door. "Daniel?"

"God, I think you broke my nose," Daniel said, his voice muted and full of indignation. He rubbed his nose and asked, "Is it bleeding?"

Jack turned on the lights, bent down and glanced up Daniel�s nose. "No."

"God, that�that hurt," Daniel said. "Okay, so that�s something I could have done without, still�"

"Daniel?"

"Yes, Jack," Daniel replied, looked at his fingers, saw that there was no blood, and dropped his hand, "it�s me. As in flesh and, thankfully, no blood."

"Daniel?" Jack said again, leaning his head to the side, utterly and completely nonplussed.

Daniel nodded, smiled a little and shrugged. "It�s really me." A low rumble from his gut sent his hands to the site, his eyes full with discovery. "Wow! Um, I guess that�s what Janet�s always talking about when she asks about bowel sounds. That�s, uh�maybe the strangest feeling I�ve had in�oh, about a year�"

Jack�s mouth slung open, speechless and stymied. His eyes moved over Daniel�s face, across his chest, down to his feet. "Daniel Jackson?!"

"Oh, well, now, when you ask that way, then no," Daniel playfully said.

"What?"

"Jack! It�s really, really me."

Jack raised his hand, slid it through the distance between them and poked Daniel in the chest. His fingers met with resistance, a thing his brain found highly disconcerting. "I�ll be damned."

"Ow. And, by the way, no you won�t," Daniel said, shaking his head. "You�ve got a pretty good reputation�over there."

Jack�s vision skimmed over the ivory sweater, the pristine khaki pants, the tan otherworldly shoes that looked suspiciously like Merrels. "So, how long you been wearing those clothes?"

"Long time."

Jack sucked in a deep breath, held it in his lungs and searched Daniel�s face for good measure. He jutted his jaw to the side, peered at Daniel some more, and let the air out. "So, you�what? Dropped in to say hi?"

"Actually, I�descended."

"As in fallen?"

"Sort of."

"Like Lucifer?"

"Not�not exactly."

"But you�re back."

"Yeah."

"Like the Prodigal Son?"

"I�m a little uncomfortable with the Biblical references."

"Okay, then like Lassie."

"Not fond of the canine references, either."

"ET?"

"Closer."

Jack�s mind whirled, his thoughts unable to slow down long enough to coalesce. "Home."

"That�s right," Daniel said, his lips curling into a smile. "I�m home."

Jack stared at him a moment longer, feeling a smile of his own forming. And then he shook his head and said, "Well, actually, this is my home, and, technically, you don�t really have one."

"Yeah, I realize that." Daniel frowned, nodded and patted Jack on the shoulder. "Thanks for taking care of my fish, by the way."

"Oh, sure," Jack said, looking at Daniel�s hand, still not completely convinced. "We lost a few."

"I know. Tropical fish and tap water�not such a winning combination."

"How did you�?"

Daniel motioned to the air, closed his eyes and shrugged.

"Right. Do all and see all," Jack said, stepping away. "Look, Daniel, not that I�m not just tickled pink that you�re here, but�"

"But you still don�t believe that I�m here," Daniel added.

"It�s not that I don�t want to believe it, but�well, why?" Jack asked, plopping onto his bed and dumping his head into his hands.

Daniel rested against the doorjamb and crossed his arms. "Would you believe I think my journey isn�t quite finished?"

"Please tell me there�s not another Harcessis child," Jack begged.

"No, nothing like that," Daniel said, pushing away from the door and stepping in front of Jack. "I talked it over with Oma�"

"How�s Oma?"

"Good."

"Family doin� well?"

"Yes, very. Look, Jack�"

"Daniel, I�m really trying to believe you, but," he said, lifting his throbbing head from its insufficient cradle. "Okay, for starters, where�s the incentive? That�s one helluva gig you got going. Why would you�lower yourself?"

"You guys."

"How�s that?"

"You guys." Daniel took a few short steps to Jack�s dresser, picked up a coin, lingered a while just to feel its weight, subtle and cool. He grasped the nickel in his hands, didn�t turn around, but went on. "You and Sam and Teal�c and�" And then he smiled, put the nickel back on the dresser. "Well, you know, everyone. Everything. Living. Breathing. Feeling. Tasting. Fruit. Coffee! You know�everything."

"And�Oma�s okay with this?"

"Oma understood it before I did." Daniel�s attention returned to the clutter of change and the pocketknife on the top of the dresser. "I tried to make it work, Jack. I really tried. I released my burden, I opened my mind. I�I�" Daniel glanced to the ceiling, gestured toward the imagined heavens. "I was at peace. I was at peace, and I was filled with a wisdom I never knew existed," he explained, turning to hold Jack�s attention with his compassionate focus, "and I was miserable."

"You�re telling me Heaven isn�t all that?" Jack asked. "Four years of Catholic school, down the drain..."

"It�s not�not really Heaven," Daniel said, separating the dimes from the quarters. "It�s just a different plane. A different existence." He lowered his face and began to smell a familiar scent emanating from his body. He crinkled his nose and said, "God, I stink."

"No other-dimensional deodorant?"

"Didn�t need it," he said, lifting one arm and then the other, rather proud that his body was producing scent again. "Guess descending was rougher than I thought."

"Can we, uh�" Jack stammered, motioning for Daniel to go on.

"Yeah, so�so, not Heaven, but merely a different plane."

"But it seemed like you were a recruiter for the place, last time I saw you."

"It�s great, don�t get me wrong, but it�s not�" Daniel�s features tightened and he crossed his arms across his chest. "It�s not home."

Jack wondered how much it must have taken out of Daniel to admit it. He quirked a smile and said, "Kind of like summer camp?"

Daniel laughed and thrust his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, a lot like summer camp. And I suppose I was the kid telling the camp counselors I just wanted to go home."

"All you needed to do was call."

Daniel�s head dipped in front of him and he smiled. "Well, I guess that�s what I�m doing now."

"So," Jack began, pushing himself up off his bed, "you just wanted to come home."

"Yeah, I guess I did."

"Didn�t like the crafts? The swimming lessons? Tell me you at least tried the archery range."

"Did all those things."

"But you still just�"

"�just wanted to come home. Yup."

"Homesick."

"Bad."

Jack closed the short distance between them and pulled Daniel into a slow, glorious embrace. "Then welcome home, Spacemonkey."

Daniel pressed his hands against Jack�s back, enjoyed the warmth, the tactile exhilaration of feeling again. He smiled and said, "It�s good to be back."

Jack held onto Daniel with greater ardor, feeling for the first time the depths of his pain at having lost his friend so many months earlier. He dipped his face into his friend�s shoulder, stroked the back of his head, and said, "You do stink."

Daniel felt bubbles of laughter floating up through his body. When the giggles finally surfaced, Daniel found the embrace too comfortable to disengage. He laughed, but felt he should at least apologize. "Sorry."

"I�ve smelled worse," Jack said, grasping Daniel�s shoulder, marveling at the solidity of him, the unquestionable reality of him.

"Yes, I�m sure you have." Daniel closed his eyes, quelled the laughter for a moment, took in the once familiar smells, felt the connection between nerve endings and meanings coming together. Felt the sting of tears rushing into his nose.

"Of course, you know what this means?" Jack said, listening to Daniel�s quiet sniffles.

"No, not anymore. Kind of gave up omniscience when I--"

"Crashed?"

"I think landed would be more suitable." Daniel pushed himself away from Jack, but didn�t relinquish his hold, not quite yet. "So, tell me, Jack. What does this mean?"

Jack cupped Daniel�s face in his hands and said, "It means we�re going to have some fun at the SGC tomorrow." A gentle chuck to his cheek, and Daniel began to laugh once again, his eyes mere slits.

Jack renewed his embrace around his friend and whispered, "Welcome home, Daniel. Welcome home."

The... beginning!