Free Spirits

fifteen ships

Summary: It's a surprise for the SGC and supplies for the gang. But MIB have to face a dire prospect.
Usual thanks to Joy and Fabi for putting me right when I lost the plot. So to speak *gg*

I have a particular appreciation of the morning after a potentially dangerous mission. We were lucky this time. Damned lucky. Last time we blew up a sun, we ended up over a hundred years' travel from home. Never thought I'd be glad to see a bug, but at least the little bastards got us home that time and we did (we so did) get rid of Apophis, so that was a bonus.

This time was a lot easier. I'm still trying to figure out why. There's that nagging feeling about Hades that just won't go away.

In the meantime, I'm trying to forget him and simultaneously attempting to bring Daniel around with just the aid of a coffee mug and no safety net. I am so brave.

"Hmm?"

That familiar 'Daniel noise' emerges from under the covers, soon followed by the top of his head, then his eyes, his nose... Ah yes, mission accomplished. As soon as he smells the wafting aroma of his favourite blend, his body reacts and propels him in its direction.

"Morning," I say, probably in a most annoying way, but what the hell.

"Ug." Translation, 'Give me a moment, Jack. I'll talk when I've drunk this.'

"MIB are back," I say, waiting for him to get to the state where he can reply. "They've delivered all the ships. Turns out the Asgard High Council are in ecstasy about the pure neutronium. It's apparently a real bastard to get that pure. They're probably not very happy that we wiped out the source, but hey, they can't have everything. Well, they can't now.

"If it had been left up to them, I dare say they could have gone and retrieved the lot, but hell, they probably wouldn't have 'rescued' the ships at the same time."

He raises one eyebrow either in an effort to get me to stop talking, or to continue without a response. I'll go for the latter.

"They didn't want a great deal else from the cargo bay. A bit of naquada, a small bit of gold for some engineering parts or other and they pretty much left the rest."

He opens his mouth. Not sure if he's going to drink more or speak, so I wait. Eventually I realise he's going to speak.

"We need to work out what we've got, what we want to keep here and how much of each thing we're going to give to Earth. If we can give them figures, it might help."

"Good idea. We've got a few things to talk about over breakfast, by the way. So, when you're ready, there's more coffee waiting for you in the kitchen."

He puts his mug down, thinking about something. I find out what it is when he pulls me to lie next to him. We lie silently for a moment, then he asks, "Are they in a rush?"

"No, I think they can wait a while," I reply with a grin.

He might want to make out, but he's as likely to want to lie like this for a while. That will suit me, too. We don't often get a chance to just lie here.

A knock on the door spoils the moment but we remain where we are, calling out to whomever it is to come in. It's DJ.

"Hey," he says, sticking his head around the door. "Am I interrupting anything?"

"No, not really," Daniel sighs, not letting me go. "Just having a moment's..." His voice trails off as if he doesn't know what else to say.

"Sorry, didn't mean to barge in," DJ shrugs. "But Teal'c's mentioned that he has something on his mind and he really needs to pick everyone's brains."

"Okay, we'll be with you in a minute," I say, hoping my voice doesn't sound too frustrated.

DJ shuts the door and I tilt my head to look at Daniel.

"You okay?" I ask.

"Sure. Just a bit sleepy, I guess."

"Hmm. Know what you mean. You're warm."

He laughs a little, then I feel his lips, still warm from the coffee, as they touch mine. We're not going further now, but it's a good way to start the day. A couple of minutes holding each other, kissing, stroking... I will my cock to go back to sleep.

Maybe later, Daniel's voice breaks into my thoughts.

Definitely later.

-

We're at the table, Daniel's got more coffee and while we eat and drink, Teal'c explains his thought to us.

"I wondered, when we were at the shipyard, if Hades is now determined to take over any unclaimed Goa'uld territory."

"He might," I agree, looking at the others and getting nods from them, too. "So?"

"So, the pleasure palace was once under Goa'uld control. I would suggest that MIB are no longer safe there."

A silence falls as we comprehend his words. We either take a chance on him not going there, with the guys fleeing at the last minute if he comes, or we move them elsewhere, somewhere not on the Goa'uld map, taking everything they've got so they don't leave anything behind. Despite our lack of knowledge as to whether Hades would go there or not, the latter is probably the safest course of action.

"Where would we go?" DJ asks.

"You could come here," replies Daniel. "That way we could share all the technology and so on. Saves duplicating things, too. I don't see why we couldn't get the masons to build you a home. It doesn't have to be in our field if you'd rather live separately. There's another one on the other side of the gate with a small wood between the gate and it, just as we have, so you wouldn't be seen from there. That way we'd be close, but not on top of each other."

"I thought we'd agreed that living together wouldn't be a good idea," John states, but not too forcefully.

"That was before we'd gotten used to each other," Daniel counters. "The main reason was because we were afraid of a natural disaster wiping us out, or the Goa'uld finding us. But now that we have the ships, we stand a much, much greater chance of escaping pretty much anything. Even if Mia couldn't get us off the ground quickly enough, we could transport ourselves up to Gimli.

"Besides, we've been working together a lot recently and having to gate to you, or for you to come over here to work, is getting to be a pain in the mik'ta. I don't see why the Tok'ra wouldn't give us the crystals to extend our tunnels over to you. They could create living space there, too, till your own house was built."

"Or you could build a home in our field, if you want," I offer, probably surprising the hell out of John. "No point in extending the tunnels then; you could use ours. Live there till you're ready to move in above ground. The field is way big enough. Look how much there is of it beyond what we use as a garden. You could build yourself something really nice there."

I see them looking a bit stunned. I'm not surprised, really. They have made a great little home in the palace but now they've been told they might lose it. We know precisely how they feel and then some.

"Take your time," I say. "I doubt he's going to go on an empire-building rampage just yet. It might not happen. If we can take him out before then, you get to keep your home."

John shakes his head.

"Even if we take him out, whoever comes next will eventually want to do something grandiose, just to show how powerful he is. And now that the majority of the old System Lords are gone, who's to say someone like Nirrti won't start again? You can pretty much guarantee that if she does come back, she's going to do it big time. Probably starting it by doing something as simple as taking over all the unclaimed systems."

We all feel pretty lousy for MIB. They've gone home for a while, just to talk among themselves and make the decision. If they knew there was a real danger, it would be easy. A no-brainer. But when there is a possibility of the threat, and it's not one you can predict if or when it would happen... Not so easy.

They know the danger if they stay. They could lose what they have: which, while replaceable, would tie them to Earth to anyone that knows the Tauri, so it would be dangerous. They could even lose their lives. Coming here - or going anywhere else - is no guarantee of safety, but in theory, we should be less likely to be attacked by a Goa'uld, purely because they don't know where we are.

It's like saying, 'I live at the foot of a volcano that hasn't erupted in a thousand years. The chances of it erupting in my lifetime are slim to zero, but, there is a chance. Do I take that chance, knowing that there is that possibility, or do I move away from my home?' It's not an easy decision to make and one we're not prepared to persuade them on, one way or the other.

The guys were right to invite them here. Teal'c and I agree with them wholeheartedly. It would be great. I love having Frankie around and I know the others feel the same way about their counterparts, too, Daniel especially.

We finish breakfast in silence, not really wanting to talk. Every time we have something good happen, you can guarantee something like this will strike us and will send us back down again. However, we need to make plans, just in case they decide to come here.

"Where would be the best place for them?" I ask as we clear up.

"It's up to them," Jack sighs. "I don't mind where they go. Do you?"

I shake my head. "It doesn't bother me one way or the other. It would be great if they came here, though. I enjoy their company."

"We'd need to extend the tunnels if they come here," Daniel says as he puts the dried plates away. "Not just for spare bedrooms, but to enlarge our studies. It's a bit of a squeeze when DJ works with me and there's no point in duplicating the books just to work in different rooms in the same place."

"That shouldn't be too much of a problem," Jack agrees. "It'll only be a matter of two bedrooms and doubling the space for the studies. I can't see the Tok'ra saying 'no' after we deliver the ships to them." He smacks his head and says, "You know, the one thing we promised ourselves was a gym. We've never built one. Another tunnel room would be a good place to put it."

"I'll give Dad a call," I say. "He should have got the Tok'ra very excited about the ships by now. If they're in a good mood, they'll be more inclined to help us out quickly. We could do with more cold storage space down there, too."

"Good idea. Go do that," Jack agrees. "Don't tie up the gate too long though. MIB might want to get back through to us."

"I shall escort you," Teal'c says. "Perhaps it would be better if we pay them a visit, rather than speak through the wormhole."

Jack agrees to that, too, and I grab a VCD off the shelf before setting off to the gate with Teal'c.

-

The VCD shows nothing except for the beginnings of an above ground settlement being built, but then it is very early in the morning, Tok'ra time. We're carrying zats, of course, because we've learned to never go anywhere without them. At least Teal'c doesn't carry his staff weapon everywhere now.

A Tok'ra is coming. Oh, it's Erlick, the guy who synthesised MIB's internal liquid.

"Erlick, is everything okay here?" I call out.

"Everything is well," he replies, smiling at us. "Our human friends are much happier now that they are free to build homes above ground. In fact, we are all pleased by this idea."

"That's great. I'm so glad we were able to help you like that."

"We are very grateful. Tell me, is there a reason for your visit or are you just here to check on our progress?"

"It's a bit of both," I say, lying through my teeth. Well, I know how they're doing because I get regular progress reports from Dad. "We like to see how you're doing. It's a relief to us that our idea worked for you. But I do need to see someone about acquiring some crystals.

"We've decided that we want more storage, room for training and to extend two of the rooms we have in our tunnels. Frankie and DJ work closely with Daniel and myself and we're running out of desk and shelf space. Oh, and to make two more bedrooms for MIB to use should they stay with us."

"I do not see that as a problem," he responds. "We are not using our tunnels as much as we once were, so we have collected a reserve of the crystals. You would like two for rooms with beds?"

"Please. Double-sized beds for each couple."

"Of course. And the studies. Would you like the shelves to be part of the walls or are you putting your own in them?"

"We've been using a mixture, but more 'built in' shelves would be a great help."

"That is not a problem. I must, of course, check with the council first, but technically, it is not difficult."

I have to fight down a laugh at that, as I haven't a clue as to how they even started with the tunnel idea in the first place, let alone how they make the crystals. We follow him to the rings and then transport down to the council chamber, which is still underground. I think that some habits will never change for them.

Garshaw is the first to greet us and she seems very pleased.

"Your father has told us about the ships," she says, smiling from ear to ear. "They are going to make a great difference to our fight against the Goa'uld. Is there anything we can do to help you in return?"

"Well, we were hoping you could supply us with some crystals so that we can extend our tunnels," I say hopefully.

"Of course, of course. Please, Erlick, fetch them whatever crystals they require. I am sure you can use them without our help now?" she asks.

"Oh yes. I just need to know which ones are which and where to put them, and I'll be fine. Actually, I'm looking forward to seeing it again. There's something magical about watching a tunnel form."

She laughs out loud. I'm really thinking that the ships have sent them over the edge. I've never seen the Tok'ra smile so much! Are they on something? What is it? Why can't I have any?

I check Garshaw's mind, just in case. A surface scan to see if they've been taken over by some alien virus or something. It comes back clean. She's just in a very good mood. Amazing what a couple of ha'taks will do to a gal, ain't it?

Sam's back with the crystals and tales of giggling Tok'ra. Not sure what's going on there, but we think they've finally flipped. Whatever. They've given us what we wanted without any argument. The four of us are in the tunnels now and watching her as she creates the new bedrooms on the far side of our tunnels. That way MIB will be away from us but with us. Sounds good to me.

It's weird. I never get over seeing this. She puts a crystal into a tunnel wall (we're near the rings we use to go up to Mia from down here, but it's possible to use them to get to Gimli, too), and the wall opens out in front of us. With just one crystal, an entire room is formed, with a few shelves strategically placed, a double bed in the centre of the room and a small desk-cum-dressing table with shelves underneath it.

Moments later, and opposite this one (and slightly down the corridor so you can't see from one to the other), the other bedroom appears. Even if MIB decide not to come and live with us, these rooms can be used as guest rooms or just 'their' rooms if they ever stay overnight.

Now we move back up the corridor and halfway between the bedrooms and 'our' section of the tunnels, Sam opens up two more rooms, both with shelves over all of the walls. These we can use for storage, especially for things like our large cheeses, the olive oil and so on.

They have to be kept at constant temperatures and we're going to work out how to have one room at 'room temperature' and the other much colder. We don't want it to be as cold as the large refrigerator we have, but more chilled than cold, to store drinks such as the beer and wine we're planning on making. We also want to bring things like the root vegetables we currently store in one of the outbuildings down so that we won't have to battle through bad weather (and possibly a lot of snow) during the winter so that we can eat.

That reminds me, I need to add a few things to our 'request lists' from Earth. We've had the starter kits for the beer and wine we asked for, but we could do with a few extras. The more rooms like this we have, the more permanent this place seems. I can only hope that fate agrees.

The 'gym' room is between the storage and the studies, because we didn't think that MIB or any other guests would want to be disturbed by us working out. I'm actually looking forward to that. I've been limited to running (which I love) and wrestling (which I hate).

We were told we had to clear our studies out before expanding them, so we're now shifting things outside them, Jack helping me, Teal'c helping Sam. The alarm has gone off, but straight away, we get a call from MIB, so we tell them where we are. We keep moving things around as we await their arrival - and their decision.

We really want them to stay here. I think that especially since we nearly lost DJ, we need them close at hand. Unlike with our original counterparts, we've become very close to them, they're as much family as any blood relative we've had. Even Teal'c and Kar Shel are becoming inseparable, and they were the least likely pair to become so. I think we're going to be extremely disappointed if they decide against moving in with us.

Finally, we hear the rings operate and we look over to them. They look very serious.

"Hey, glad you came. You can give us a hand," I call out. "Seeing as we work together a lot, we asked the Tok'ra to give us some crystals to extend the studies."

I say nothing about the bedrooms yet, or even that we've planned this study extension in the hope that they will permanently work with us. We're just making out that we're giving ourselves extra room, that's all.

"We have to move everything out because we have to collapse the original rooms and then make bigger ones."

They come closer and pair off in the same way as us to help us out. I want to know what their answer is, but I dare not ask. I'm too afraid the answer will be 'no'.

With their help, it doesn't take us much longer to empty the rooms. Sam gets out the crystals and collapses the space that was her study. I can't get over how that happens and watch it intently, as do the others. Then she takes out a weird-shaped one and presses it into the wall.

We watch in amazement as it opens up before us. It's at least twice the size that it was before, and this time, instead of a desk on the side, there's a much larger 'table' in the middle of the room, big enough for four people to work around. All of the walls are filled with deep shelves, giving her plenty of space to store her books and equipment.

"Wow," Frankie says, the first word any of MIB have spoken. Sam looks at her and grins.

"It's going to be great working in there, isn't it?" she asks. "Much better than squeezing in as we were."

Frankie nods, her eyes twinkling just like Sam's.

"Your turn," Sam says, walking towards my study. She collapses the room and then creates the new one, which is the same as hers in design.

"Much more room for books," I say, mainly aimed at DJ. He grins and nods, but says nothing.

Jack and Teal'c don't need their 'studies' expanding as they don't tend to use them for much. Teal'c's is his room for meditating in, if he should ever need to do it down here. Jack's is just his for escaping to, if he wants to. It's big enough for him and John to use as a tactical planning area if they want to, but Jack rarely spends time down here anyway.

Without speaking, we automatically start to put things back in the rooms, again pairing up the same way. I'm bursting to find out whether they're going to stay, but I'm getting the feeling that the answer isn't going to be what I want.

The studies are completed, so we have all gone back up to the house and have naturally gravitated towards the kitchen. It is lunchtime already and Daniel is quickly preparing something to eat while Samantha prepares drinks. We wait for them before we are ready to speak. I can feel the nerves of my team building and feel most anxious myself, although I am not sure why. Where they decide to live should be MIB's decision alone.

Finally, we are all sitting together. I notice MIB looking around the table and perhaps it is registering on them that the table is big enough for eight, that we had included them in our home from the beginning. Eventually, John looks like he is about to speak.

"We're confused," he finally admits.

"About what?" O'Neill asks, trying to keep his voice calm.

"About what to do. I mean, we don't know that we're going to be a target. But what if we are?"

"Can you take that chance?"

John looks at O'Neill and shrugs.

"If we knew what the odds were, perhaps that would help. Don't get me wrong, it's not like we don't want to live with you guys, and it's not as if we're not grateful for your offer, but you have to understand, when we were created, we had the advantage over the original androids in that we knew straight away what Harlan had done. It only took us a moment to work out that we were the copies and you guys were the originals. So we automatically shut ourselves off from you in a way they couldn't.

"Sure, we were angry and upset, but we got over it pretty quickly. Meeting you guys after a few months wasn't as bad as we'd imagined it would be, because we'd already established our own identities. We still used your names, but we thought of ourselves as different. Initially, it was much easier on us to live at the palace. It was convenient, sure, but it was also somewhere we knew. Despite what happened the first time we went there - sorry, you went there - it was kind of comforting, ya know?"

We do know. Daniel speaks out. "It became your home," he says quietly. "Believe me, we understand. Better than most."

"We know that. So you know why we're so confused."

"We do. Go on," Daniel urges, wanting him to continue, but DJ seems to want to take over. John lets him.

"It's only because it's our home are we reluctant to leave it. We know that the practical thing to do would be to pack up and go. Unfortunately, Harlan designed us with emotions, too."

"Fortunately," O'Neill interrupts. "Fortunately, or else we wouldn't have got as close as we have."

DJ allows him a small smile.

"It makes this difficult," he admits.

"We understand. Look," O'Neill replies. "We don't think this is going to happen overnight. Give yourself time. Why don't you build yourselves a home here just in case? You don't have to move to it straight away. Use it if you want to stay overnight. Then, if it comes to it, it won't take you long to settle here."

"What about our studies?" DJ asks. "We won't be able to take everything from there in a hurry."

"Bring it here," Daniel offers. "Put it with our things in the tunnels. These days, we do most of our work together anyway which is why we expanded them. I mean, it was getting to be a bit of a squeeze, wasn't it? Moving your books and things here makes sense from a tactical and practical point of view, whether you ever move here to live or not. Just have your personal things at home. Things you can grab in a rush and transport to the al'kesh when you have it."

"Maybe, if we do that," Frankie says, "we'll have time to get used to the idea of living here. Of Annwn being our home, too. Perhaps that will help?"

"It will give us time to design a house we want," DJ puts in, sounding more enthusiastic.

Do we tell them about the spare rooms? Daniel asks.

Couldn't hurt, replies O'Neill. Do it.

"If you need to come here in the meantime," Daniel starts, looking a little nervous, "and because we were expanding the tunnels anyway, we kind of jumped the gun and asked the Tok'ra for extra crystals for bedrooms. They're already down there. You can use them if you want to stay overnight here, or you can have them if you need to come here in a hurry..." He shrugs, probably expecting a negative reply.

However, the look he gets is one of gratitude. I am thinking that as well as their reluctance to leave their home, they have a natural reluctance to 'impose' on us. By us having rooms ready for them, it is showing them that we do not see the imposition.

"That's great. Thanks," Frankie answers for them.

"I would recommend that you bring over your things as soon as possible," I say. "If all items are together in one place, there will be no need to keep wondering who has what and where it is."

"We'll do that this afternoon," DJ says. "I'll bring the books you brought for me from Minnesota over and we'll try to work out a system on the shelves," he adds, looking at Daniel.

"Whatever system it is," Kar Shel says, "you will both undoubtedly understand it. However, none of us will. Perhaps some system which is logical to us would be a good idea. That way we can assist you more easily when required."

"A classification system?" Daniel says, grinning at DJ. "Which one?"

"Either something simple like alphabetical order or a version of Dewey," DJ insists. "Lots of books come with the Dewey number in them anyway. But if you suggest Bliss, I'm going to kill you."

I believe there is an in-joke there somewhere, but the rest of us are lost.

"Bliss?" O'Neill asks.

"Misnomer," Daniel groans. "Least blissful classification system to learn, especially if you've been used to the Dewey Decimal all your life."

"Ah," O'Neill nods his head sagely, but he is convincing no one.

I, personally, have no idea of what they are speaking. Neither will I ask.

MIB looked a bit more cheerful when they went home. I guess they're feeling a bit more positive. I get that. Daniel has retreated to his study to make sure there's equal space for DJ, Sam's gone down to do the same for Frankie. The kids are pretty excited about having their 'twins' with them more often than they have been. I don't think it's going to be long before MIB design a home of their own.

Speaking of which, we'll need to figure out a way to pay for it. Seeing as we have a ton or many hundreds of various metals on board Gimli, I'm wondering if we can use some of that. Perhaps the silver. That's not really valuable at home but it's still a precious metal.

I'll pop up to the ship and see what we've got exactly. First, a pen and a piece of paper might be useful.

-

Phew. Didn't realise we had that much stuff. We have naquada, silver, gold, titanium, platinum, rhodium and palladium. About 700 tons in total, give or take a couple of hundred pounds. All in Goa'uld-sized ingots which probably are nothing like Earth-sized ones, weight-wise. I don't even know what an Earth-sized ingot is. Thinking about it, these ingots seem to be about half the size of the bars of naquada we tried to steal from Apophis' ship so they should be lighter, thank God. However, even I know that's a lot of very expensive metals; full-size ingots or not.

At a guess, the silver really is the cheapest one. Maybe the masons will be interested in having so much of it. After all, even a few tons of the stuff is worth a lot. I should go ask them if they're likely to take it in exchange for a new house. And maybe some more of those little naquada generators. Sam and Frankie would like them. Perhaps they'd like a bit of the naquada instead. I'll have to think about this.

-

"How much of the metal can we use to buy the guys a house?" I ask over dinner.

Teal'c cooked. We're always wary when he does. Probably because whatever he cooks has a distinctly unlucky look about it. Unlucky in the sense that it got caught by him, that is. Whenever he cooks something he's hunted, it always retains that 'just caught' air about it. Maybe it's because he doesn't always cut the head off. We've kind of gotten used to it and somehow manage to ignore it now.

"Whatever it takes," is the general reply.

"Yeah, see, the downside to that answer is it means we have to hang on to the whole lot until MIB design their house. I thought we were going to take a bit and then hand the rest over to the SGC sooner, rather than later."

I see the logic in that statement dawn on them. We need to hurry MIB up with the design.

"They'll be over here soon," Daniel shrugs. "DJ called and said that it was taking a while to pack up Frankie's equipment. I offered to go over and give them a hand when they're ready. We can suggest that they at least give us a preliminary design. I'm sure Calicus can give us an estimate of what we need."

"Should we offer the silver? Or something else?"

"I'd suggest the silver as the main exchange. I wouldn't tell them what else we've got, though, they might want things we're not prepared to give."

"I was thinking a bar or two of naquada might persuade them to give us a whole load of those little generators you like so much," I say to Sam.

Her eyes light up like she's been plugged into one.

"That might work," she says a bit breathlessly. Daniel's trying not to laugh.

"Technoslut," he accuses.

"Guilty as charged," she giggles.

I look over at Teal'c and see he's trying not to roll his eyes in exasperation.

-

"So you see, we need an idea of what you're going to want," I say to John as we drop off some of DJ's boxes of books. Only some of them. And I thought Daniel was bad. No wonder the cargo hold was so full of things. They were all DJ's books.

"Yeah, we get it. We could just cut up some more of that marble you've got. They seem to like using that," he suggests.

"Sure, and if it comes to it, we will. But this is already there. Less work on our part," I reply.

He nods, then his face screws up.

"John? What's up?"

"Wouldn't it be ironic," he ponders, "if Hades' new palace is full of your rather unique marble?"

I look at him in shock, then fall about laughing. Though the idea of blowing up what we spent hours cutting is kind of grating. We get odd looks from the others as we continue to laugh at the thought.

Eventually, we calm down and he says, "Okay, we'll sketch something out tonight. You're right, it's better to be overprepared than underprepared. I guess you could use the house as a place for guests to stay until we moved in."

"Sounds good. And just think, you get to plan the house of your dreams."

He laughs hollowly. "I'm thinking that the masons might wonder why we'd only need two bedrooms and a living room, though. That might lead to some questions."

I stop and think about his statement and realise that of course, they don't need to eat or... well, they don't really need bathrooms. At least not fully equipped ones, that is.

"If the house is going to be used as a guest house, a small kitchen might not be a bad idea. And don't you guys wash?"

"Sure, we could do with showers and sinks," he concedes. "But having toilets there is surplus to requirements."

"If you have at least one bathroom, fully equipped, it won't raise any questions. We don't want any of those, that's for sure. I don't see a problem in you having two, either. After all, if you need to wash, you'll want baths and showers. It won't cost much more to instal redundant things, will it?

"And maybe, it would be better if we went there by ship and picked up the materials ourselves. We can build a house between us, can't we?"

"Don't see why not. But why?"

"They'll have deleted our address from their database. I guess that I'm a bit nervous about giving it out again. Ever since we had them build our place, we've gone there to collect whatever we wanted."

"Fine, that's not a problem."

He gets my desire for secrecy. Between the eight of us, I don't see why we can't put together a 'kit-form' house. Building by numbers. Where's the problem?

"If we live here, would we still have the al'kesh?" Frankie muses as we sort out her things in the study.

"Don't see why not. I mean, we'll have Mia and Gimli at our collective disposal. An al'kesh would be useful, too. If you were living here, we could more easily access whichever ship was most appropriate for our missions."

I think about something which may be bothering them and say, "You living with us wouldn't mean that we'd continually be doing joint missions. I don't see that happening at all. You'd still be very independent."

She doesn't say much, except, "Yeah, I see what you're saying," then she continues to work silently. Perhaps she's conversing with the others, I don't know. She looks a bit happier, though.

I really understand why they're so reluctant to move here. Establishing their own identities must have been very difficult. Maybe, serendipitously, us meeting up and them taking the nicknames helped that mental jump from MIA to MIB. With new names came new identities. But that wasn't enough. Having their separate lifestyle was essential, too. I think they're probably more secure in their new identities than they maybe realise.

They're obviously happy to be around us. It's not like they could hide their feelings from the only people in the universe that know them as well as they know themselves. We couldn't hide our feelings from them in the same way. That measure of solidarity between us is possibly that last barrier they need to break down before they finally decide to stay here.

-

"There, it's all done," I announce as we walk into the living room. The guys are already crashed out on the sofas, sitting on bean bags on the floor and generally taking up the entire living space. I'm beginning to wonder if extending our home wouldn't be a bad idea! Actually, thinking about it...

"That's great. Thanks," John says. "We really appreciate your hospitality, you know."

We all shrug.

"Come on, John," Jack says, "you'd do the same and you know it. We want you here. We get that you want time, that you want to stay at your own place, honest we do. But you really, really have to get it into your skulls that you guys are a part of us. This is your home as much as it's ours. So if and when you choose to move here permanently, do it without thinking that it's our place, will ya? It's all our place."

The others murmur thanks, but know not to say it louder than that.

"Jack suggests we create a design for the house sooner, rather than later," John then says to his team, "so that we can see if they'll accept the silver or something else from the supplies in payment."

The others see the logic in that and before we know it, they're all sitting in the kitchen and discussing and drawing out plans.

"We'll go see Calicus in the morning," Jack says as they work on it. "See what it's going to cost."

Why do I get the feeling that it's going to cost a lot in blood, sweat and possibly tears?

-

The guys have gone home for the night. They've said they'll be back over in the morning with the final design. Their 'discussions' were getting rather heated and it's getting late, so we've all gone to bed. Unlike our super-selves, we need to sleep. However, like them, we're often distracted by other matters before we manage it.

Teal'c is extremely distracting. Especially when he does th-AT!

"You seem to be okay about MIB moving over here," I say as Jack starts to slide down my body. I'm guessing that this is 'definitely later'. That's cool.

He stops, looks up, frowns, then starts kissing my body again.

Sure. Why not?

Oh...

Before I answer that, I have to ask myself. Do I want to wind him up or not? Uh... Hell yeah.

It's just that I used to get the impression that you were very jealous of me spending time with John. I'm finding it hard to imagine you willingly encouraging us to spend time together. Possibly alone. From time to time, that is.

He doesn't stop what he's doing, but I can definitely sense a change in his mood. What that change is, I don't know. Don't care, as long as he keeps doing that.

Oh, perhaps I've gone past doing the green-eyed monster thing? he tries.

Try again, O'Neill. You're definitely better than you used to be, but if I so much as flirt a little with pretty much anyone that isn't you, I can see your eyes change colour rapidly. It just takes you longer to say anything, that's all.

Perhaps that's it, I reply, trying to sound soothing. That's a relief. I mean, I like John's company and I don't want you thinking there's anything more to it than that. After all, that kiss between us was just to comfort him, wasn't it?

He tenses up. If I push a few more buttons, I'm thinking my, eh hem, 'button' will be well and truly pushed before long.

Of course, of course... he says, licking a stripe from my balls to the tip of my cock, which is bouncing back and smacking him on the cheek in reply. I don't mind you two spending time together at all. As long as you don't mind me spending time with DJ.

Ah, here it comes. The 'let's try to beat Daniel at his own game' trick. Think again, buster.

Why would I do that? You can spend as much time as you want with him. I know he'd be happy to do the same with you.

He would?

Of course he would. Why wouldn't he?

He wasn't expecting that, so he replies by sucking me hard. Like I care.

Oh, I don't know. I suppose he would.

He's trying to distract me now, pushing my legs apart, running his thumbs up the insides of my thighs, apparently aiming for my ass and then pulling back. He intersperses that with bobs of his head, one moment swallowing me whole, the next he draws his lips and tongue over my cock, back up to the head where he's tickling the eye with the tip of his tongue. Admittedly, it's very distracting.

Ah ha. He's shown his hand. I'm getting the flashed image of DJ in bed, naked, fucking him hard while he simultaneously has my cock in his mouth.

That's a good idea, I tease. I don't mean it, of course. This just wouldn't happen, but hell, twin fantasies are not exactly new, are they?

I up the ante by showing him the same image, then panning back to where John is fucking me at the same time. He can't help it, he starts to laugh.

You really want that? he asks, still chuckling as he continues to work.

I'm not really sure how to answer that. I mean, sure, the real answer is 'no', but if I say that, I'll lose a great opportunity to tease him, and, possibly, lose a great fantasy. Shit. I shouldn't have thought of that word. That fucking fantasy is there again, the one I do not want for so many reasons.

No, I admit. In the end, that's got to be the easier option. It's not like the thought of being fucked and sucked by you at the same time doesn't hold an incredible appeal, but let's be realistic here, shall we?

He's silent. Oh God, I hope he didn't pick up on the image of Teal'c that flashed into my head for a brief moment.

Sure, he says quietly. Ain't gonna happen, right?

Nothing's going to happen with anyone, I insist. So you can just get rid of that idea of getting fucked by DJ from your mind right now!

He stops what he's doing and crawls back up my body, grinning at me as he arrives. I reach for the lube, hand it to him and then wait for him to take the hint. He looks at it for a moment, then he shakes his head.

"WHAT? WHY?!"

He doesn't say anything but hands it back to me, gets on his knees and says, "At least give me half of the fantasy, eh?"

I can so do that.

-

Oh yeah, this feels good. I'm not really jealous of his feelings for DJ, just as he isn't jealous of mine for John. But sometimes... Sometimes I just need to fucking nail him. Can't say why. And there I was earlier, wanting it to happen to me. Strange how moods change.

His head is buried in the pillow, knocked there by the force of what I'm doing to him. I'm not holding back one bit. He doesn't want me to and frankly, I'm not inclined to either.

Yeah, that's it. You do it like that, Danny.

I have no intention of doing it differently. To lighten the mood, though, I imagine us back at the SGC, him face down over George's desk, pants down, me fucking him hard while he yells out, urging me on. We have an audience, some shocked, some cheering as I do to him what everyone thought he was doing to me. Which he was. Regularly. Twice on Sundays. In-between the twice I was doing him, natch.

Jack's laughing as I think of this and he adds a few people to the viewing public, some of the 'phobes we knew. They're tied down to chairs, forced to watch it. The image is so damned real I can almost imagine them squirming - at least half of them for reasons they wouldn't want anyone else to guess.

We're both laughing. Which is a touch incongruous as my body is ignoring my brain and continues merrily fucking the life out of him. He stops laughing when I change my angle and start hitting his button again. His reaction stops me laughing, too. The only noise now is the squeaking of the bed as I move faster and faster. Oh fuck, I'm...

I pull out of him, panting hard. I'm not gentle as I flip him onto his back and duck my head down, sucking him so damned desperately that it takes him but a moment to come, too.

"Wow," he croaks when he gets his breath back.

I'm still on my knees, staring at him, still trying to get my own breath.

"C'mere," he orders, limply lifting his arms in my direction and then flopping them back to the bed.

I shift until I'm at his side and then flop down next to him, just like his arms. It takes all his remaining strength to just hold me. Using our feet, we manage to catch hold of the cover and pull it as far as our waists. We'll finish moving it when our arms regain some strength.

"I love you," I whisper.

He gets the meaning, the emphasis. Sure, I love John, too, but I love Jack. He doesn't reply, but he doesn't have to. Instead, he gently strokes my hair. Message received and understood.

MIB have returned with the designs and John, DJ, O'Neill and Daniel have taken them over to the masons to 'get a quote'. It has been decided that if Calicus enquires as to why each pair looks so similar, the androids will be described as the others' older brothers. Samantha gave O'Neill a piece of paper with an 'idea' on it, but I am not sure as to what it is.

In the meantime, Kar Shel and Frankie are with us, choosing a suitable place for them to build their home. I am under the impression that they have talked themselves into actually building it sooner, rather than later.

"We need to mark out the footprint of the house," Frankie states. "I don't know what the others will think but I think that this place will be perfect."

We are on the far side of the garden, close to it, and as close to the lake as our house is. I think that their home will be quite similar to ours. We can share the garden. I would not think that John's tastes in hobbies would be a great deal different from O'Neill's, so he may well enjoy gardening, too. Perhaps they will be competitive as to whom will grow the best flowers. I hope not.

Samantha looks at it and then paces out a gap between where Frankie is standing and the edge of the garden.

"Samantha. What are you doing?" Kar Shel asks.

"Well, I've been monitoring the prevailing winds since we moved here and I was wondering about moving the food store that we have at the end of the garden. Some of the things will go down to the tunnels for the winter, but other things will need to stay up here. If we move the building right here," she states, pointing at a space between the garden and Frankie, "and face the door towards our house, we'll stand less chance of it being snowed in if it comes to it."

"We have to move that shed?" Frankie asks.

"Uh, not a problem," Samantha answers.

"Samantha, how would you move a large wooden building easily?"

With a grin on her face, she says, "Watch."

We watch as she walks to where Mia is and she calls out the password to open the ship. Then we see the ship decloak and hear its engines start.

"Frankie, Kar Shel, I would recommend you move towards me."

They do as I suggest and we continue to watch as the ship hovers above the building. Then we see a blue light come from it, surrounding the entire building in one go. It must be the tractor beam. I understand what she is doing now. I can only hope that the building holds together and does not fall apart.

One thing that is amusing me about this is that when O'Neill and the others come back, they will be most surprised. That sort of thing is always fun.

The shed has been lowered into position and I now understand what Samantha meant. As soon as the building had landed, and we were on the door side of it, I noticed that the wind was no longer so apparent. This should mean less work for us if there is a large snowfall.

Unfortunately, now we must retrieve all of the things that were left behind. As there is no floor to this barn, we must move the large freezer and other things. The tractor beam would not work in this instance.

The ship is now back where it started and, as we habitually do, Samantha cloaks it again. We wait for her to come out before we start to transfer the things, but she does not appear. Instead, the things from the barn disappear.

Samantha?

Yes, honey?

Where are you?

On Gimli.

Ah. Of course. Should we do anything?

Start marking out the footprint to the house?

We shall do that.

She reappears next to us moments later as we start to put small stakes into the ground.

-

"Calicus says it'll cost twenty-five bars of silver and seven naquada bars to get everything we want," O'Neill states as we gather together. "That's the house, everything in it, those panes of glass you asked for and ten small naquada generators of the size you want."

"Sounds good to me," Samantha replies, and we all agree.

"That's great. 'Cause we've told them to get on with it. We'll go pick up the materials in a week or so."

"Why do you want panes of glass?" Frankie asks.

"Ah. Well, you know we made that shelter thing over the lakeside of our house so that we don't get too wet going to the rings?"

We all nod, waiting for her to continue.

"Well, when monitoring the prevailing wind, I noticed that the coldest ones come down off the mountains and over the lake. Which is why I moved the outbuilding to where it is now. Anyway, what that means is that any snow with wind behind it could well stack up on that side of the house.

"Teal'c's been having fun cutting down a lot of trees, and we have enough thin logs to make an extension to the house instead of the shelter. We already have a stone floor there, and it will be easy enough to just make it more permanent by driving some tall logs into the ground on the outside of the patio area, then using them to build up the sides. The glass will keep the wind out and the light in. There should be enough to put on the roof of it, too. You did ask for that toughened glass I asked for, didn't you?"

O'Neill nods. "Yes, and the glass door you asked for. They said it's not a problem."

"Great. We shouldn't take too long to get it up, I'm sure."

I somehow feel that we are becoming exceedingly domesticated. I know there is nothing we can do about Hades until the ships are ready, but planning extensions to the house seems somehow trivial. However, the others seem pleased by her idea so I will say nothing.

We've been pacing a lot. Not really pacing, but doing things we wouldn't normally do while we wait for the first ship to arrive, filling in the time with domestic stuff. John and I have been discussing tactics with Teal'c and Kar Shel today while the others really get stuck into the house changes. We're letting them get on with it. They'll tell us what they want us to do when they're ready. All four of us are well-trained enough to just do it without questioning. It's less painful in the long run.

Where was I? Yeah, tactics. We tried to figure out what Hades is going to do, now that a substantial amount of his fleet has disappeared. Of course, we have no idea if the ships that that Jaffa thought he had at his homeworld are the only ones he has left, but we can only go on what we know about.

The way we see it, Hades has been left with one of two options. Option one is to wait before he attacks Earth. Give himself time to build up more ships and acquire more Jaffa from ex-System Lords. If he wants to take Earth, to enslave it, that would be his best option. If he wants to make a point to the other Goa'uld that he's big and powerful, he might want to do that.

He should know that we're not just going to capitulate if he turns up with lots of ships. He'll need thousands, if not millions of Jaffa to control the population. That's with a whole load of mother ships in orbit. If he has as many spies out there as we think he has, he will know that the Tauri will put up a fight.

To gain all these ships and Jaffa, he's going to have to start by taking over the unclaimed sectors. Teal'c says that if he has many sectors under his control, he will look more powerful to unaligned Jaffa, whether the systems he controls are of any use or not. He'll get more respect for owning ten uninhabitable systems than one inhabited one. That respect will give him the chance to get the Jaffa on his side.

This option is the one we think he'll go for, as in the long run, it'll give him more kudos in the snake world. Unfortunately, it means that MIB need to evacuate sooner, rather than later. Hades may well want to go play with the light. Not that it works anymore, but there you go. He's gonna be a bit disappointed but frankly, I don't care.

The other option he has is to go there with the ships he has and take Earth out, once and for all. To him, the benefits of that would be that he'd have no more trouble from the Tauri - well, anyone that wasn't us, anyway - and would look good for doing what Apophis wasn't able to do.

The big downside to that would be that he'd lose the gate and the system, as well as being unable to say he was in control of the Tauri. Weird as it sounds, that's our best option of beating him. The fewer ships he has, the easier it's going to be on us. We just have to hope that he waits until we have all of our ships ready to fight him.

It really all depends on how pissed the guy is with losing his ships. If I were him, and was in a logical frame of mind, I'd go with option one. If I wanted revenge - and if he knows that it's us behind all his losses - two's a no-brainer.

Which doesn't really tell us what he's going to do, or what we can do to combat it. All we can do is wait for Thor to get back to us. We've decided that we'll take any finished ships to Earth first. The Tok'ra can have the last two ships. After all, Hades doesn't know where they are. The chances of a 'god' who apparently lived on Earth at some point not remembering the address are pretty slim.

John's looking pretty depressed by the idea of option one. He'd do it that way, too, and I know it. He knows it. They're going to have to leave the palace whether they want to or not.

At least we've started to make the plans, we've moved everything that needs to be moved from their home to here. When it comes to it, they can just grab the remainder and come. It's not like they even need to bring clothes if they don't have the chance, as our clothes will fit them. All they have to do is bring themselves.

"The house design looks good," I try.

He shrugs. "I guess. It's going to seem a bit cramped after the palace, though."

There's not a lot I can say to that, is there? Instead, I say, "Come on. The weather's good, we'll start digging out the foundations. The masons will give us the materials for the concrete but we'll still need to dig before we can mix it."

"Should we ask for a small concrete mixer when we go home?" he asks as we head to the shed with the tools in it.

"That would be good," I agree. "Sam's finally got that transformer working from the naquada generator to the US standard of power supply. I don't see why that wouldn't work."

"Cool."

He really is like me. Easy to distract with the thought of a new toy. Sheesh.

-

The others have joined in as best they can. Not that we have enough shovels, but those who don't have the tools to dig are doing other things. The ladies are shifting the removed earth in the wheelbarrows we brought with us and DJ and Daniel are softening up the ground with picks before the rest of us dig it out. We're managing pretty well, in fact.

I know it seems a bit soon to be doing this, but we're ready to run to Earth at the first opportunity and we know we might not have another chance to do this before the materials are ready for us to collect. The only thing we need to do before we go to Earth is to remove from the stores whatever we need to keep here and then we can go. In Gimli, we can do a four day trip in a matter of minutes. Not bad, eh?

"Time for a break," I announce.

We've done about three-quarters of it. I'm astounded. Sure, we've been working flat out for a few hours, but it's quite a hole we've dug. It's taken me a lot longer to get tired than I thought it would. Probably another side effect of the evolution thing; better oxygenating of our various muscles and lungs leading to better stamina. That's one side effect I can live with easily.

Of course, having robots on our team helps, too. They can dig real quick.

They all put down their tools, even though MIB don't really need to. Unless there's a need to emphasise the fact that they're androids, they tend to act pretty much the same way we do.

"Beer anyone?" I offer as I head to the house. I get yesses from Daniel and Sam and a request for juice from Teal'c. Wish I could get something for the others, it still seems odd when they don't drink.

-

As we sit down, making the most of the dry weather, we comment that the summer is definitely over. The trees are starting to turn brown and despite it being warm, we notice when the wind picks up that there's a chill in the air.

"Do you think we're going to have similar seasons to Earth?" I ask.

"Well, we'll have similar seasons to our latitude on Earth, for sure," Sam answers. "Annwn's about as far from our sun as Earth is from hers. And our tilt on the axis is similar, too, only about a half degree different. It might make a little change but probably not that we'd notice. At a guess, it'll be three months of each season, give or take a week or two."

"We should check out the various nuts and fruits ready for harvesting soon," Daniel says. "Fall is a good time to find things like that. Don't see why it should be any different here."

We start making plans for when all of the ships have been delivered and the house has been built, MIB joining in with our plans as if it makes any difference to them.

"Is there anything you guys want?" I ask, suddenly needing to know. "You know, when we go to Earth."

"Not particularly for us," Frankie replies. "I mean, Sam and I want the same equipment, undoubtedly Daniel and DJ want the same books and so on."

"Nothing at all?" I look at the others. John's got a look on his face. "John?"

"I was wondering," he says, "if we could get what we need to synthesise our internal fluids so we don't have to rely on the Tok'ra. Maybe some extra bits and pieces, just in case we're injured."

"Ah, medical supplies," I say sagely and he grins as he nods.

"Yeah. Medical supplies."

"Don't see why not. Frankie, you'd better make up a list of what you want. I don't see why they won't give it to us, especially when they see what they're going to get in return. God knows we'll be giving them way more than they're going to give us. Even the contents of Fort Knox wouldn't be enough in return if we were bartering on the open market."

"We could do with more medical supplies, too," Daniel puts in. "Bandages, Tylenol... basic things like that."

"Okay. When we've finished here, we head back to the house and finish our lists. Don't leave anything off it and don't feel bad about asking for even trivial things. It's not like we can pop out to the shops to get these things, is it?"

I ache. All over. Every single muscle is screaming at me for working flat out on the house. Jack was right to start it today, though. I noticed that by the end of the day, MIB were definitely looking a lot more positive about the idea of moving here. They've gone home to work on their lists and to get cleaned up, too. I'm currently in the bath, soaking away my aches and pains. It helps that Teal'c's in here with me, gently massaging my shoulders as I sit between his legs. It's hell being his woman.

Not.

I can't help it, I wonder what the guys are doing. It's no good, I've got to ask.

Daniel?

Hey, Sam. What's up?

Oh, nothing. Just lying in the bath, benefiting from Teal'c's magic fingers. What about you?

Oh, nothing, he teases. Done the bath thing.

And?

And what?

And what are you doing now?

You sure you want to know?

Yeah. Go on.

I can hear him laugh in his head - in my head. That's always the weirdest thing. Not the words, the sounds.

Currently, I am laying on my bed.

Yes. And?

And that's it.

WHAT? Why?

Jack's in the bathroom.

Didn't you share a bath?

Yup.

So...

So he's in the bathroom. Not using the bath. But definitely using something else. I'm thinking we'll be sleeping with the window open tonight, judging by the amount of time he's spending in there.

I have to force myself not to laugh.

You'd think he had a newspaper to do the crossword, I tease.

He doesn't need one. He has a book of them.

Ah.

Yeah.

So... you're just going to wait for him?

Pretty much it.

And then?

Samantha! Are you questioning my sex life?

Questioning it? No. Just...

Curious?

I guess.

Want some ideas?

Could be.

Okay. Well, you know the beds are four-posters.

Well duh.

I'm thinking we're going to make the most of that fact tonight.

How?

Sam. For a genius, you have a limited imagination.

The downside to being an astrophysicist. Tell me!

Okay, okay. Think a couple of bandanas. Or maybe more. One hand gets tied to one post, the other hand to another...

Ooh!

Hell yeah.

You like that?

Being tied up?

Yeah.

God, yes. Don't you?

Never tried it.

You haven't?

No! I privately add, 'At least not like that'. I don't want him to know that Teal'c and I copied their, er, 'actions' on Remoc with the tree...

Oh, you should, you should.

How in hell's name do I bring that up with Teal'c?

Hand him some things to tie you up with, put your hands where you want to be tied to and leave the rest to his imagination.

Ah. You said maybe more than two?

One for the eyes.

He laughs again. This time his laugh can only be described as filthy.

Blindfold?

Sam, trust me on this one.

But...

Do you trust Teal'c to take care of you completely? Body and soul?

You know I do.

Then trust him to know what to do. Gotta go, I'm hearing noises.

Better than hearing voices in his head, I suppose. We wish each other goodnight and sign off.

"Samantha, you have been very quiet. Is everything all right?"

I turn around in his arms and kneel across his lap before dropping a kiss on his nose.

"Oh, everything's fine," I say, in what I hope is one of those sexy, purring voices. For all I know it probably sounds like a cheese grater being run across some wood.

"You have something in mind?" he asks, his eyes twinkling.

"You could say that. Are you up for something a little different?"

He looks at me for a moment, then accuses, "You have been speaking to Daniel again, have you not?"

Okay, here goes nothing. I've already tied my left wrist to the one post at the head of our bed. I'm facing the wall, kneeling up and my hand is level with my head. Jack's just entered the room and even though I can't see him, I know that he sees that the other wrist has a bandana around it, but needs attaching to the post. On his pillow is a bottle of lube.

I've tied the final bandana around my eyes and all I can do at the moment is track his movements with my ears. Not easy, especially when he starts to walk in silent mode. It's only because our mental connection gives me a clue as to his whereabouts that I don't jump when he lifts my right hand and ties it to the post.

I feel incredibly exposed, here. I mean, I'm naked, blindfolded and tied up, kneeling up with my legs apart. I did think ahead and put a cloth on the pillow in front of my dick, just in case. Besides, I love the sensation of rough cloth on it. Don't ask why, I just do.

He's saying nothing, but I can almost feel his delight at this thought. Whatever hang-ups he used to have about tying me up have long gone. When he finally saw how much I get out of it, when he got how much I trusted him to do this to me, it damned near blew him away. We've spoken about it and he discovered that I've rarely trusted anyone to do this, only a very few of my exes - ones he knows were particularly trustworthy - were allowed the privilege.

Of course, I've done it to him the once, pushed him to trust me that much. He did, and he enjoyed it more than he thought he would. Since then, he's actually given me the bandanas on one or two occasions, which is more than I had hoped for. I was convinced he'd like it, but actually asking for it was something else.

For some reason, being tied up to the bed is actually more scary for him than our little escapade with the tree. I think it has something to do with the 'how' of being tied up. When you're captured, your hands are rarely tied behind a tree, but more often than not, they're joined closer together. Also, in a bedroom, it's closer to being in a cell.

Outside, you can feel the air on your body and it's easier to throw off any claustraphobic feelings. Inside can be pretty nerve-wracking if you've experienced captivity.

I don't know what he wants to do. I could ask him, I guess, but I don't want to break the silence. Although if I speak telepathically, I won't make a noise, will I?

Jack?

Yes?

Are you okay with this?

I'd better check. After all, he might not really be in the mood.

Sure I am.

I mean...

I know what you mean. I'm more than okay.

All right then.

Why?

Oh, nothing.

Daniel?

Okay, it's just you're not doing anything. I was wondering if I'd read your mood wrong tonight, that's all. If you want to do something else, or nothing at all, that would be okay, too.

I hear him chuckle, then the bed dips as he climbs on it, shuffling about until he's kneeling in-between my legs.

"Do you want to know what I was thinking when I walked into the room and saw you here like this?"

I nod. I still don't want to speak.

"I was thinking that I had never, ever seen anything as hot as you at that moment. I mean, I'm looking at you now, just as you were then. You're waiting for me, tied up... willingly... naked. Blindfolded. Just for me. I see all of those amazing muscles in your thighs stick out as they hold you up. The muscles in your arms. How tight the skin is across your back, the way it seems to barely cover the strength underneath. You look so damned powerful, yet you give yourself to me so fucking easily."

"No choice," I gasp as he drops a kiss on the back of my neck. "You fucking own me and you know it. I need to do this. Don't you get that yet?"

"I get it. I need to own you like this, too. But it never ceases to blow me away. Jeez, Daniel, I am the luckiest son of a bitch anywhere."

"Me. I am. Not you."

He shuts me up by grabbing my face and tilting my head until he can kiss me. While we kiss, his hands run over my chest and start to twist my nipples and then they go down to my groin. He takes my balls in one hand, my cock in the other, and he starts to stroke them and tug them... All the while he's kissing me like there's no tomorrow.

Damn. He's stopped.

"So fucking lucky," he whispers, then he bites down on my shoulder hard. So hard I gasp out loud. That doesn't stop him, he does it again and again, probably covering my entire neck with bites, but I don't care. I want this. Jack's mark.

He pulls away and then tugs at my hips and I move backward a little, as far as my body can go. It gives him what he wants; access to my ass with his mouth. I yell when he bites one of my ass cheeks, then the other. Fuck, that's going to make sitting a bit difficult tomorrow, but what the hell. He ignores my yells and continues doing what he wants to do, which is fine by me.

He stops for a moment and laughs when he hears "God! Teal'c!" coming from Sam. I don't laugh, I know what they're doing. Instead I push back a little further, encouraging him to get on with it.

"Pushy," he teases as he slaps my ass.

"Damned right," I growl. "Come on, you know where the fucking thing is. Do I have to paint a bull's eye down there or something?"

He laughs again and then picks up the lube.

"You want me to fuck you?"

"I want you to fuck me," I confirm. "Hard. Knock my fucking brains out. I don't care what you do but please, do it, Jack."

He's still laughing. Bastard.

Oh yeah, this is better. Fingers, pushing straight inside me, not taking his time but just doing it.

"Mine," he growls.

"Yours," I gasp back.

His cock pushes into me, slamming in.

"MINE," he insists.

"No argument from me," I pant.

He's laughing again, but there's no humour there.

He's moving, a good rhythm straight away. Damn, that feels good. Feels incredible. Want more.

"Mine," he snarls.

"God YES!" I yell. "Only yours. You know that, Jack."

"I know it. Mine all mine all mine all mine." He says it, with the same rhythm as his hips as he slams into me.

"Doitdoitdoitdoit!"

He's doing it. Working at it, hard. I'm pushing back as much as I can, frustrated by the fact I'm bound. Dammit, why do I have to think of stupid things like this?

Jack must have picked up that thought 'cause he's showing me what I look like. This is nearly a constant trick these days, mainly because it works.

"SHIT! Jack, please, end it. Gotta come now."

"Soon," he teases as he speeds up. "Patience, Grasshopper."

"Fuck!"

"I am. Didn't notice? I must be doing something wrong."

He stops.

"FUCK! Jack, don't you dare!"

"Tell me you love me."

"I love you. You know that."

"Tell me again."

"I love you, Jack. Only you."

"Again!"

Fuck that. I flood his mind with 'I love you' in every language I know. He responds by getting back up to speed. That's better. Now I change it to 'I'm yours' in every language. He knows some of them already, so he understands what I'm saying. I'm rewarded with his hand reaching for my cock and he jerks it hard. I'm not going to try to hold off, I need to come now.

Yeah, that's it, Daniel. Give it up for me. Want to come when you do. Make me come, Daniel. Make me.

That's all it takes. I let out a yell as I come all over his hand, my ass muscles clamping together hard and wringing the come out of him.

"Oh fuck," he whispers, his head on my shoulder. "Oh fuck, Danny."

"Untie me!"

He reaches up, removes my blindfold and weakly undoes the knot on my right wrist. I don't wait for him to undo the other one, I do it myself, then I turn around and frantically push him to the bed and kiss the shit out of him.

Finally, we break apart and I look into his eyes. He's sleepy, but he's smiling at me. I watch his lips as he mouths 'I love you'. All I can do is kiss him again. I need some sleep.

Thor has arrived with the first ship. MIB have returned and, after depositing some of the precious metals on Annwn, we have prepared to leave for Earth. Thor announced that the other ships are well underway and that the Asgard High Council has agreed that Hades could become a big threat to Earth.

O'Neill informed him of our thought that Earth may not be the first target, but the worlds once abandoned by the Goa'uld may become targets once again. We also mentioned that it is possible that as Hades has been away from the System Lords for so long, he may well not be aware of - or care about - the Protected Planets Treaty.

All spare capacity will now be utilised to adjust all of the ships, we are assured. The Asgard cannot be everywhere at once and we and our allies will need to have the best technology available to combat him. He has also promised to check that all the warning systems that the Asgard have placed on all of the planets supposed to be protected by the Asgard are functioning, so that he and his fleet will be warned if and when the Goa'uld turn up.

So now, we are all leaving. Samantha has left the code at the gate to tell her father where we are and is back up on the ship.

"Ready folks?" O'Neill asks.

"We are ready, O'Neill."

"Sweet. Let's go home."

-

"Are you sure you want us all to go to the SGC at the same time?" John's voice calls from Earth's first ship. We are on Gimli.

"Sure. Why not? I mean, at first, I wasn't keen on the idea, but what the hell. As long as Gimli's in orbit, there's nothing the NID can do against us anyway, even if they were strong enough to take us. One call to the ship and the transporters would lock onto us and take us away from them. We're as safe there as anywhere. Just make sure you keep your comms bracelets out of sight, okay?"

Thor, when we he brought the new ship to us, reset our bracelets so that we can operate both transport rings and Asgard transporters. Our ship is attuned to our life-signs and the electrical signals from MIB's brains. As O'Neill says, we are as safe on Earth as we are anywhere else in the galaxy, as long as we have our bracelets on us. We only need one between the eight of us, then that one person can find the rest, no matter where we are on a planet. The only difficulty would be if we were taken through a gate before the ship could find us.

Even though this means that MIB could operate a ha'tak at all times safely, as can we now, they have still chosen to give theirs to Earth. This gives us hope that they will move to Annwn soon.

"Hammond's going to blow," O'Neill announces as he goes over the precise amounts of the metals we have left.

"Jack, did you have to?" Daniel asks. "That is so not an image that I want to go there with."

O'Neill cannot help but laugh, something I feel is probably not conducive to his health. To try to make up for it, he moves to Daniel's side and wraps his arms around Daniel's waist, resting his head on his shoulder.

"Don't think you're going to get around me like that," Daniel warns him. "You've put me off for at least three nights."

"Only three nights?" O'Neill asks, sounding most amused.

"Depends on how hard you work. If you work hard enough, it'll only be three nights."

"How long if I don't bother to work at all?"

"Three months."

"Ah. I'm really in trouble then, aren't I?"

"Lots of it."

Somehow, I doubt they will last three minutes if they continue like this. I have not seen such sickening smiles between two men ever. Undoubtedly they had much fun together last night. I should not complain. So did I. I look over at Samantha and cannot help but remember last night for us. I have never before tried that. I should very much like to try it again. Soon.

Samantha looks at me and winks. To her surprise, I wink back. It surprises me, too. I am not normally inclined to do that. Perhaps the men are infectious. That must be it. I shall blame them.

As I turn to do just that, I see Daniel resting his head on O'Neill's shoulder, his arms around his mate. He looks so very happy that I cannot bear to spoil the moment.

-

We have arrived in Sol's system and my team are staring at Earth from the view screen.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Daniel says quietly.

"It sure is," O'Neill replies. "And with these babies, we can make sure it stays that way."

"Let's hope so," Samantha says fervently. We all agree.

"Are we ready to surprise them all?" O'Neill asks, calling to MIB at the same time. He gets affirmative calls back and then says, "So let's go."

He presses the button and we soon find ourselves inside the SGC's gateroom, surrounded by the security teams.

"Hey, don't you recognise us?" John calls out.

We can see that the security teams are confused. They continue to point their guns in our directions.

"Well, this isn't a nice reception," O'Neill complains. "We come here, bring you gifts and how do you repay us? Sheesh. If you don't want us here, you can just say so, we'll go home."

"Stand down!"

Hammond's voice comes over the loud speaker and the teams lower their weapons.

"Welcome home people," Hammond calls to us. "Why don't you come on up?"

"Sweet," John says, and the eight of us start to walk out of the room.

I see from the corner of my eye that for some reason, both Daniel and DJ have hesitated. Before I can say anything, both the O'Neills turn, wrap their nearest arm around their respective mate's shoulder and pull them along with us.

Daniel. Is something wrong?

I don't know, Teal'c. I'm just getting a funny feeling. Can't explain it.

You should let the others know.

I hear him tell Samantha and O'Neill and hear O'Neill say, Okay. we'll keep watching. Don't forget the comms, we can get out of here if we need to.

Daniel. Does DJ feel the same thing?

I guess so. He seems a bit off, too.

I wonder what is bothering them?

If Daniel tells me something's not right, I listen. He's not easily spooked. I could put it down to the fact that we're not used to having lots of people surrounding us anymore, but then we'd all be spooked if that was the case. It's not the telepathy thing. We've already adjusted to that, somehow. Apart from a few very loud - and surprised - thoughts, we haven't heard anything.

"It's good to see you again," George says as we enter the control room.

"Same here, General," I say. "It's good to be back."

"I take it you're not here just to visit?"

"Can't we come see old friends?" John asks.

"Of course you can, you're welcome anytime, you know that. But if you were inclined to visit, I'm sure you'd have done it before."

"You got us," I say. "We've got a reason."

"Come into the briefing room," he says. "We can talk about it there."

As we enter the room, we see someone we don't know sitting by the table.

"Not now, Mr. Resch. I've got visitors."

"I can see that, General, but you have to answer to the Senate Committee."

"Trouble again, General?" I ask.

"Same as ever, Jack," he sighs. "Not enough return for their money."

"Oh? Maybe we can help."

Resch, or whatever his name is, looks at us as if we're something the cat dragged in and says, "What do you think you're going to do? Hold a bake sale?"

"Hey, Daniel's a great cake maker. He'd make a fortune."

"I knew it," Daniel gripes. "You want me barefoot and pregnant again, don't you? How many times am I going to tell you, it ain't gonna happen, flyboy."

George is trying not to laugh and at the same time, he's guessed that we've got something for him. This idiot bean counter has obviously been pissing the old guy off and he's willing to let him have enough rope with which to hang himself.

A noise at the door has us looking up and we see a familiar face, accompanied by someone we don't know.

"Paul!" Daniel is up and out of his seat in a flash and over to his side. He's careful to do nothing more than shake his hand (rather vigorously). DJ's right next to him and taking over as soon as Daniel lets him go.

"Guys, it's good to see you again," Paul replies, smiling broadly.

"We're glad you're here, too," I say. "We've brought you something."

"You didn't?! Oh, you did! Where? How many?"

Paul makes his way over to the desk and as he's about to sit, he hears a cough from the guy next to him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Sir. General Parker, this is the original SG-1. Colonels O'Neill, Majors Carter, Doctors Jackson and of course, the Teal'cs."

He winks at us surreptitiously and we don't let him down by correcting him. I've heard about Parker. He's a pain in the ass.

"B.b.but... there are two of each of them!"

"We ain't deaf," John drawls. "None of us. In fact, we've all got perfect hearing. Probably better than you have."

"John," DJ hisses. "Hush."

John looks at him with a grumpy face but he says nothing more.

"Ladies and gentlemen," George says, his voice doing his 'general' thing - the one he does when he wants attention. "Why don't you explain?"

"Do we have to?" I whine.

"Have to? You don't have to do anything, but it might help."

I get what he's implying - he's giving us an out if we want it. I look at the others and get slow nods from them.

"Well, let's just say that we're SG-1 as it was originally. Only now there are two of us. As far as you're concerned, we..." I point to my team, "are Jack O'Neill, Daniel Jackson, Samantha Carter and Teal'c. They're John, DJ, Frankie and Kar Shel - all of the same surnames where appropriate, and considered by us to be our... twins. As to the hows and whys, that doesn't really matter. Put it down to alien intervention and leave it at that."

I'm not prepared to mention that the others are androids. No point in asking for trouble. Another look at them all and I see more slow nods, agreeing with what I've said.

I can hear Parker's mind in a spin. What the hell? How did Hammond ever get a straight answer from these people? Which team is the real one? Why does the one team look so young? Dammit, I want answers!

Those sorts of questions are literally flooding his mind and he's probably not even aware of the words.

Are you listening to him? I ask Daniel.

I'm listening to Resch, he replies. Very interesting, Jack. You should take a peek.

So I do and I don't like what I hear.

If we don't start getting answers soon, if I can't find any results from this so-called essential operation here, I am going to recommend shutting down this damned place. It goes against nature! And these... people. Who the hell do they think they are? This is my meeting time with Hammond. This is not acceptable.

"General Hammond," I say. "Could you ask Sergeant Davis to enter the room, please?"

George looks at me oddly but he picks up a phone and does as I ask. John's sitting next to me and I whisper in his ear what I'm up to, then let the rest of my team know, too. John passes the message on to MIB and before I know it, we're all fighting to hide our smiles.

Sergeant Davis walks in and he greets us.

"It's good to see you all again," he says, flicking his eyes over to the 'intruders' in the room, obviously wondering what's going on. "What can I do to help you?"

Jack's grinning as Sergeant Davis offers his help and we wait for him to speak.

"Have we got Internet connection in this room, Sergeant?"

"Of course, Sir. What is it you want to know?"

"I'd like some prices, please. For these."

Jack takes a piece of paper from a pile on the desk and scribbles down some words - the list of metals we have on board Gimli. The sergeant takes it off him and to his credit, says nothing, even if his mind was screaming 'Holy fuck! What have they done now?!'

"General," Resch growls. "I'm sure you must be glad to see your old team again, but we have to resume the discussions with General Parker." He turns to Parker and adds, "Surely you must agree, Sir?"

"Of course. Reunions do not take precedence over more important things such as the budget. General Hammond, we should move to another room. What we have to discuss is classified. Something these... people are no longer cleared for."

Ah, you've gotta love George. He's looking furious.

"General Parker," he snarls. "Mr. Resch."

How can he make 'mister' sound like an insult? Don't know, but he manages it.

"My friends here have just travelled from the other side of the galaxy to see me. Now, I don't know what hospitality is like in DC, but down here, we do things a bit differently. Budget meetings can wait. My guests cannot." He looks at Jack and says, "And don't you think it's about time you let us in on what you're up to?"

"Sure, in a moment," Jack agrees amiably. "But to be honest, I'm thinking that we should give what we've brought to the Russians instead."

We all know he's only saying this to wind up Parker and Resch. Paul and General Hammond are trying not to laugh.

"THE RUSSIANS?" Parker yells. "You traitor!"

"HEY!"

Daniel is up on his feet and leaning over the table, grabbing at Parker's collar and not letting him go.

"You do not speak to him like that. We have spent years fighting traitors. People like you who only want a financially viable military, not one which works. Peace costs! It costs money and it costs lives. We've given up our fucking lives for this country - for this planet. Don't you dare accuse us of treachery!"

Jack's up on his feet and pulling Daniel off of him. Don't know why Daniel was so upset there; Jack had been aiming for a reaction like that. Although it's funny watching Parker's response to it. He's gone as white as a sheet. I think he thought Daniel was going to haul him over the table and beat the crap out of him. Even though Parker's a young general, and looks pretty fit, he wouldn't stand a chance against an angry Daniel.

It's just as funny watching his reaction to how Jack's calming Daniel down - his reaction and Resch's. Neither man looks too pleased that Jack is doing one of his full body hugs. No way can their relationship be described as 'just good friends'.

"I've got the prices, Colonel," Sergeant Davis calls out.

"Thanks, Sergeant," Jack mutters, and then moves up to take the paper back from him. "Appreciate it."

"You're welcome, Sir. Anything else I can do, please, just shout."

Jack smiles warmly back at him. "I know. Thanks."

He brings the paper over to the desk and looks down it, whistling when he sees the numbers. We watch him scribble in a few other figures, the weights of the metals which he quickly converts to how much they're worth, and then he shows them to us and we all grin in a pretty manic way.

"Russia could probably use that for their SGC," Daniel says. "Or perhaps the UN. For relief organisations, education, health programmes..."

We all nod in agreement.

"The Tok'ra could have the extra ships," I suggest. "MIB gets one after all, they get the others."

"Ships?"

All of a sudden, we have Parker's attention.

"Yeah. What of it?" Daniel responds, looking as snarky as I've ever seen. "I'm sure you wouldn't want anything from traitors, would you?"

"Perhaps I was a little... hasty in selecting that term," Parker backtracks. We can see that this next sentence is going to cost him dear. "I apologise."

We say nothing, not letting him know if we've accepted his apology or not. He really did pick the wrong word. Jack just wanted a reaction, to see where this guy's loyalties lay. We're all reluctant to do more than a surface scan of anyone's mind as it just seems wrong. Our loyalties run deep.

Jack. We need to see if he's NID.

I know. Dammit, I don't want to do this.

Neither do I.

Okay. Well...

I'll do it. Daniel's voice interrupts our conversation and we let him get on with it.

Eventually, we hear Parker's just a prick, but he's harmless. He's a political player. So's Resch. Total bean counter, nothing more. No hint of NID involvement.

That's a relief.

Our conversations have only taken moments, so nobody suspects that anything's going on. Jack looks at John and gives him a nod. From inside his pocket, John takes out a couple of sheets of paper that we printed out before we left this morning.

"We need a few things, George," John says. "Just to make life that bit easier. Medical supplies, a few food items, some tools and equipment... That sort of thing."

We can see that the gruesome twosome are wanting to complain, but Paul - who's sitting in-between them - has indicated that they keep quiet.

George picks up the papers and reads, saying a few things out loud.

"3 mm clear flexible tubing?" he asks.

"Medical equipment," I say. "Spare veins."

"Ah. Of course. I don't see that's a problem. What about the gas spectrometer?"

"I have scanners on Mia but I really could do with one for my lab. It's a pain having to go from one place to another all the time."

"Understood."

George isn't kicking up a fuss. He knows we have something big for him and knows we wouldn't take him for a ride. So he's calling out a few things for clarification purposes, but we'll get the lot if he has anything to do with it.

"A sea-fishing boat with large outboard motor?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Jack and John want to go," Daniel shrugs. "Sam says she can convert a... what was it, Sam?"

"A 250 hp motor," I confirm.

"Yeah, one of those, at the very least, to run off naquada."

"Don't forget the rods," Jack puts in.

"Of course not, Jack. I wouldn't do that. Or the sea-fishing hooks, floats and heaven knows what."

"Or the fly-fishing ones," Jack says. "We could do with an extra rod or two."

"That should not be a problem."

Parker and Resch are going redder by the moment. They look like they're ready to burst. Paul's trying harder and harder not to laugh. Eventually, he touches Parker on the arm and asks him to accompany him outside the room.

I can't help it, I look at them through the door and focus on Paul's mind. I have to know what he's talking about.

"General, Sir, please listen to me. You know my job is to assist you in whatever way I can."

"Your job is to liaise with this goddamned lunatic asylum."

"That, too, Sir. But you are my commanding officer. It is my duty to... er, may I speak frankly, Sir?"

"For now."

"Well, it's my duty to stop you looking like an ass, Sir."

"Major?!"

"Sir, please. Daniel Jackson is one of my closest friends. He and I worked together a lot before they left. I know him. They've got something up their sleeves. Something I know a little about, but it's not for me to say anything because I don't know all the details. Anything they ask for. Anything at all. Give it to them, Sir. Without question."

"Why should we do that? Do you know how much this place costs to run?"

"To the cent, Sir. And I can guarantee that anything they ask for will be a bargain compared to what they're going to give us."

"Can you really guarantee that?"

I watch as Paul looks into the room. Daniel looks up, as if he knows Paul's looking at him. Which he probably does. They exchange small smiles.

"Sir, whatever they ask for is peanuts compared to what they've already given us. Anything else they give us will be a bonus. Please, Sir. Trust me on this one."

Parker doesn't say anything else, but they come back into the room.

I didn't listen in to Paul's conversation but I trust him to have said the right thing. We smile at each other when he re-enters the room and I make a decision; one that probably wouldn't go down well with the powers that be but I frankly don't give a fuck. My decision is made a little easier when John speaks out.

"And we want to see our families," he says. "Sam's brother, my mom, brother and sister. We want to tell them what's going on."

"Now just a moment!" Parker says. "What happens here is classified. I'm sure even you know that."

It's time to act. I look at Teal'c and nod, and moments later he disappears.

"What the...?" Resch calls out. But his words are cut off as we all appear on the peltac of Gimli.

"General Parker," Jack says. "Believe me, we can do whatever we want, to whomever we want. We are asking because we understand the concept of 'classified' better than most people. But trust me on this one. You won't be able to stop us, so it would help if you would just say 'yes'. As for those other things we've asked for? They're nothing compared to what we're prepared to give you. Inside this ship... er, Daniel, could you do the honours? Perhaps they should see with their own eyes?"

I set the transporter beam and we all go to the cargo bay without another word being spoken.

"As you see," Jack says. "Inside this ship, we have a lot of very precious metals. Currently, right here, in front of you, there are 199 tons of pure naquada. That is basically priceless because there is no Earth market for it. Teal'c? How much is that worth in galactic terms?"

Teal'c thinks for a moment and then says, "It would be sufficient to buy a large fleet of mother ships."

Parker looks impressed, but Teal'c hasn't finished. "Fully equipped with gliders. And all of the Jaffa to fly them. And at least one strategically important solar system."

Resch's eyes have bugged out, Parker's jaw's dropped.

"And that's only the naquada," Jack says. "We also have 33.5 tons of silver, 148.75 tons of gold, 25.4 tons of titanium, 65.2 tons of platinum, 94.8 tons of rhodium and 130.8 tons of palladium. At the current rates on the commodities market, that's worth approximately $8,604,019,862. Give or take a few hundred dollars depending on what the market does."

Resch is positively orgasming. Ew. That's the second bad image like that I've gotten today.

"That's only the beginning," Sam puts in.

George looks at her. I can tell he's dying to know what else we're up to.

"We should go back to the bridge," I say and press the 'return' button on the transporter link on my bracelet.

As soon as we arrive, I show them the view screen.

"Look there."

It only takes a moment for them to see that the other ship has decloaked, albeit briefly.

"We don't want anyone else to see it just yet," I say.

"There's about two hundred gliders on it," DJ adds. "And two al'keshes. The ha'tak and the al'keshes have been converted to full Asgard technology."

"Something that Earth will need if Hades comes here as we think he is going to do," Teal'c says.

"Sooner, rather than later," Kar Shel puts in.

Resch and Parker have just bought a clue. Pissing us off now would not be a good idea.

"How many ships will you have for us?" Paul asks. He's the only one who knows we have more up our sleeves.

"Not including the gliders, of which there should be about a thousand in total, you'll have five ha'taks and ten al'keshes. The gliders all have Asgard weapons and shields and all of the other ships will be fully Asgard equipped. Earth will have its own fleet."

Paul beams at me, so does George. They get it. Now all we have to do is hope that the others get it, too.

Jack dampens their enthusiasm when he says, "We'd better get back to the SGC. We've got a lot to tell you. Hades is coming and he's going to make Apophis' attack look pathetic."

fair swap