Archive of Our Own ^beta

Jack watched Daniel closely as he followed him tramping through the countryside on P2X-whatever-Carter-called-it. Beautiful man, he thought, no longer embarrassed that he so considered Daniel. Beautiful country, too, Jack supposed, although he missed the desert sometimes. But the stargate here was near the sea, or an enormous lake, hard to tell until they reached it, and he liked being near water. Behind them and around the lake were jagged peaks covered in what looked like redwoods. At the highest points, snow -- a lot of snow. It couldn't be more than five Celsius. At least they were up high; the gate had a good view of the beach curling off in either direction, disappearing into a misty horizon, through which the sun couldn't penetrate.

Teal'c was on point, with Carter next, and then Daniel, where Jack could keep an eye on him. Not that he really needed to these days. He wasn't nearly as inclined to dash off into trouble as he'd been when he and Jack first started working together. Trying to work together. No, he was a smart guy, and he'd figured out that some of the rules of engagement actually made a little sense. Those, he'd obey. The rest -- phht.

But Jack was happy with that, he admitted to himself. Daniel kept them on their toes, made them think about what they were doing and why. And as much as Jack disliked thinking, he had changed, too, just as Daniel had. Daniel had taught him how important it was to take stuff into consideration, stuff the military hadn't encouraged him to think about. But Daniel did.

And as pissed as he got at Daniel sometimes -- which was near nuclear in intensity -- he privately admitted that Daniel was almost always right. And even when he was wrong, things still turned out right. Not for Daniel; no, Daniel had had a string of bad luck that rivaled anyone Jack had ever heard of or known. But his judgment of situations, of people, was always sound.

I should tell him that, Jack thought, and dismissed it instantly. No telling what Daniel would do if encouraged. No, Jack would just keep his appreciation of Daniel to himself.

He glanced behind him, at the stargate. It was set in a glade, surrounded by more of the enormous trees, behind which it was disappearing as they moved away from it and toward the shore. Low greyish-white stones, cut into waist-high oblongs, were set in a circle before it; they were each marked with a single rune. Daniel had copied down each rune on a little map he quickly drew, mumbling to himself as he did while the others waited, patiently or impatiently. At last he'd lifted his head and smiled at Jack, who said, "Okay, kids; let's move out."

There wasn't much of a trail; clearly, whoever had cut those stones didn't come often to the gate. Teal'c was the best tracker Jack had ever known, though, and he was having no trouble leading them, while keeping a sharp eye out for trouble.

The trail seemed to be leading them to the beach, gently sloping down toward it. Jack wondered how far they'd have to walk to find someone or something; even some of Daniel's ruins would be good right now. And though it had been mid-morning when they left SGC less than an hour ago, the sun was disappearing behind the peaks to his right, and darkness gathered beneath the heavy trees under which they passed. He'd like to find something or someone before night fell.

A light wind stirred the trees above them, and the scent of resin was strong in the air. No snakes so far, or any indication they'd ever been here, but it was early days. The air was fresh and sweet -- higher in oxygen than earth's atmosphere, the MALP had indicated -- and he could pretend he was taking his friends fishing. He smiled at that. His P90 clutched firmly, Jack followed Daniel, watching him look around, eyes wide behind his glasses. Daniel liked it here, too, he could tell.

They crested another rise, puffing a bit at the steepness, and then Teal'c and Carter stopped, twisting back to look at Jack. "What?"

"Oh," Daniel said, and over his shoulder Jack saw a village. Set back a bit from the beach, with a stream running through it, and cultivated fields behind it. He could see several bridges crossing it; unnecessary, he thought. They could've have just built on one side, and have had better protection. Instead, the little township straddled the water, even followed its curve as it rolled into the sea or lake.

Pretty, but not built for defense. That might be good.

There were people out, too. Very human looking from this distance, wearing heavy skirt-like things and bulky leggings. Only women? Were the men out hunting or in a war party? Or did men wear skirts here, too?

Jack cataloged all this quickly, and then looked at Daniel, as did Teal'c and Carter. "The architecture looks Norse," he murmured, and Jack didn't know if he was speaking to them or himself. "Look at the peaked cupolas on the roofs. Must get heavy snow here in winter. And see how they're on raised foundations? Another sign of heavy snow." Jack nodded; he'd bet his boots the snow was deep here in winter. Which was probably most of the year.

"Well? Should we go down?" he asked. Daniel pursed his mouth and stared blankly out at the town beneath them, and then nodded.

"Yes, Jack. We should." He started off, and Teal'c long strides soon caught up and passed him, so once again, Jack was watching Daniel.

Before they went much farther, some of the townspeople had noticed them. A cry went up, and Jack reflexively checked his weapon, but the people seemed calm. Mostly curious, staring up at the strangers slowly climbing down toward them.

"Hello!" Daniel called, and Teal'c stepped aside so Daniel's smile could be seen. "We are peaceful explorers, and have come to exchange histories with you."

Personally, Jack thought if someone called that out to him, he'd shoot them on sight, but he must just be odd that way.

Then an old man said, "God dag," or so Daniel later told Jack. The crowd was beginning to resolve for Jack: the elderly man, clutching a heavily-carved cane; several old women, one carrying a wicker basket full of some dirt-covered vegetables; an obviously developmentally-disabled boy in his late teens, a bit pimply and very shy; two gangly girls who couldn't take their eyes off Daniel; and a herd of little kids racing around, laughing and looking at them. All of these people, Jack noticed, were very tanned in the face and had blond hair. Except for the elders, who were quite grey. No Lady Clairol here.

"God dag," the old man said again, his voice raspy and breathless. "Hvor er du fra?"

"Fra Midgard," Daniel said, and the crowd went "ooooh." Jack thought that was good. Oooh was good. Midgard, that was earth, he knew from his dealings with Thor. So if they recognized Midgard, they might know Thor, and he tended to like folks who knew Thor.

Then one of the grey-haired old women stepped forward, staring hard at Daniel. She carried some knitting or crocheting in her hand; Jack didn't know enough about stuff like that to recognize which. "Danny? Danny Jackson?" she asked.

Daniel's mouth fell open, and Jack pulled up his weapon. "Professor Farness? Kiersten Farness? Oh my god," and then Jack aimed the P90 at her as she dropped her knitting and grabbed Daniel by the shoulders, staring into his face.

"It is you! Danny, oh, my god, Danny," and she began to cry messily, her nose and blue eyes reddening. Daniel put his arms around her and she rested her head against his shoulder; she was as tall as Carter, but older than Jack, with short grey hair, not unlike Jack's own in length and color. "Jesus, Danny," she said, and leaned away, sniffing, then wiping her nose with a handkerchief pulled from a sleeve. "So now you're here, too. I never thought I'd see another person from earth again."

"Professor Farness, I don't know what to say. I thought you were dead. They told us you had died in Norway, at the dig. That you'd drowned."

She was shaking her head as he spoke. Jack watched her closely, wondering who she was to Daniel, and what the fuck she was doing here, light years from earth. He presumed they were light years from earth; he never bothered to ask anymore.

"Daniel," he said, and Daniel jumped.

"Oh, oh, Professor Farness, I'm sorry. This is Jack, and Sam, and this is Teal'c."

She eyed Teal'c curiously, but quickly turned back to Daniel. "Where were you taken? Are people often abducted now? And when in god's name did you grow up?"

Jack watched Daniel blush at the last question. "Professor Farness, it's been a long time --"

"I know, Danny." She smiled at him tremulously, tears filling her eyes again. "It has been a long time. I'm sorry you were taken, but I'm so glad you are here, my dear." She hugged him again, burying her face in his shoulder. He awkwardly patted her back and then put his arms around her.

"It's okay, Professor Farness. It's okay now."

Jack waited impatiently for a nearly a minute, then cleared his throat. Farness lifted her head and looked at him over Daniel's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she told him, wiping her eyes. "Come with me. You're probably not used to this cold, wet weather. Let me fix you tea, get you set up. You'll stay with me, until the next thing. Then we can decide where you'll settle." She started walking back toward the village and they followed her, Jack shooting Daniel insistent glances. "Danny, I can't believe you're in the *army*."

"Oh," he glanced down at the BDUs he was wearing. "No, no, it's the Air Force, but I'm not. I'm a civilian, but I work with them. Jack's my, uh, my CO, I guess." He glanced back at Jack, who raised his eyebrows. "Uh, Professor Farness. You keep saying we were 'taken.' That you were taken. What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you must know -- you're here. You know this isn't earth, don't you?" She stopped and peered at each of them earnestly. "I'm sorry. I've never had this happen before." She took a deep breath and sighed; one of the younger women put her arm around her, as if in comfort. The other villagers were watching them with great interest; the two pre-teen girls still eyeing Daniel lasciviously, or so Jack interpreted their giggles and glances.

The old guy with a cane said something to Farness, and she put her hand on his shoulder and gently shook it. He nodded, and gestured to the others, who followed him back down the hill and then toward the gardens where they'd been working. "He means well," Farness told them, smiling after the others. "That's Uisdean; he's eldest here in Hylestad. He was once a very wise man, but now," and she shook her head.

"Anyway," she lifted her head and looked at Daniel earnestly. "I'm sorry. You've been abducted by the greys -- a kind of alien being. They steal people from earth. They took me, Danny. I guess I was presumed dead because I was working on the beach in Aveldnes, and a big storm had come up. I remember that." Now she stared into space, at a point just beyond Daniel and years earlier, Jack knew. "It was terrible. I was soaked, and terrified that I'd be drowned. The waves were enormous, like nothing I'd ever seen. And then there was this light --" She swallowed.

"Anyway, you know the rest. A bright light, and then on a ship or something with the greys. They spoke to me in English, told me not to be afraid. That there was work to do. And then suddenly I was here. On Snor. Snow, they call it."

She paused again, and then looked at each of them in turn. "I know it sounds hysterical and ridiculous, but it's true. Little grey aliens abduct humans. I've seen them, talked to them. And it's the only way to explain your presence here."

None of SG-1 spoke at that; Carter bit her lower lip and Daniel glanced back at Jack again, trying to semaphore some message with his eyebrows. Jack shook his head firmly, and Daniel tilted his head to one side pleadingly, but Jack was unmoved.

Farness turned and began picking her way down the hill again. Jack touched Daniel's shoulder and mouthed: Need to know. Daniel grimaced at him irritably, so Jack tapped his shoulder again, more firmly. Daniel nodded. Jack looked up to find Professor Farness watching their dumb show with raised eyebrows.

"Ma'am," he said, and stepped past Daniel to walk beside her. "I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill of the US Air Force. We're here to uh, to . . . "

"We're here as peaceful explorers," Daniel said, and Farness stopped dead, her mouth falling open.

"I'm his commanding officer," Jack said bluntly, giving Daniel a look he hoped meant that they'd discuss this later. "This is Major Samantha Carter, also of the Air Force."

"And Mister Teal'c?" she asked.

"I have sworn allegiance to O'Neill and to his earth," Teal'c said imperturbably. Farness's eyebrows rose again.

"Well," she said, at last turning again toward the village. "This is going to be a story. Let's get some tea brewed and you can start."

Daniel elbowed his way past Jack so he would walk next to Farness, asking about the buildings and location. "How many people live here?"

"Well, right now there are only a few dozen of us. But as winter comes on, more will return from the mountains. They're out viking. Only us old folks and a few young ones stay here year round.

"Danny, this is incredible. I have so much to tell you. It's been so frustrating, not to be able to share the things I've learned here. The greys must've taken these people during the pre-Christian Viking era. My guess is around nine hundred CE. They still worship Thor!" She shook her head. "The language is similar to contemporary Norwegian, but with some significant shifts in pronunciation and of course new words for new things, like geographical features and weather that we don't have on earth.

"They have stories of earth, too, which they call Midgard. But there's no sign their ancestors knew anything of Christianity at all. It's a cultural anthropologist's dream. Too bad I'm an archaeologist," she added, and she and Daniel shared a complicit smile.

She led them to a small house near the shore, built above the beach in the midst of stiff grasses. It was of a greyish hardwood, with beautifully carved lintels and window sashes and a sharply peaked roof. They had to climb a steep stairwell; Jack assumed this would let the house sit above most of the snow when winter came. It looked like they got a lot of snow here.

Inside was cheery, with a firebox radiating heat, and oversized cushions, heavily embroidered, scattered over thick rugs. There were benches along the walls, a kitchen at the back. Snug, he thought approvingly as he looked around. To the right of the kitchen were two closed doors, both heavily decorated with carvings.

Farness put a kettle on to boil; he was happy to see she had running water and crossed his fingers for a shower later. Even a bath.

"Professor Farness, how long have you been here?" Sam asked, as she rested her P90 in her arms and looked around at the comfortable home.

"I was taken in eighty-seven. You were working on your master's degree, remember?" she asked Daniel, who nodded, eyes wide.

"That's fourteen years ago," he said, wonder coloring his voice.

"Is it? Here, it's only twelve. I guess this planet's revolution around their sun is a bit longer than earth's." Farness said this calmly, as if she'd thought about it many times. "I've often wondered," she added, bringing a pang of pity to Jack. Fourteen years here, with no expectation of ever going home.

"It isn't bad," she said, reading Jack's mind. "Well, at first it was. At first I was so angry. And then so, so homesick. Oh, Danny. The things I missed. Grocery stores. Things wrapped in Saran. Coffee." Sam laughed, and Farness glanced at her, smiling. "Even television, and I was never much for tv. Oh, and rock and roll. Boy, do I miss rock and roll."

Jack thought guiltily of the Walkman in his pack and decided then and there to give it to Farness before leaving. He had some opera with him; not exactly rock and roll, but surely better than nothing. Too bad he didn't have any Wagner; it'd be perfect for this place.

The kettle began to rattle noisily on the firebox and she quickly poured it into a large enamel teapot; a warm herbal scent rose temptingly. "Just let that steep a few minutes," she muttered, and then looked at her guests. "Sit, please. I have some cookies Julle made me; let me get them for you."

Out of respect for his knees, Jack chose a bench opposite the firebox, but his teammates settled on the cushions, Teal'c sitting straight-backed as if in meditation, Daniel and Sam lounging. "What's in these cushions?" Sam called out.

Farness returned carrying in one hand a platter of cookies, pale with pink flecks, and in the other a stack of small plates. Daniel leapt up and took the plates from her, then handed one each to Jack, Sam, and Teal'c. Jack examined his with professional curiosity. They were very well made; high grade pottery, delicately painted with small yellow flowers on an artfully smudged white background.

"These are beautiful," he told her, and she smiled.

"My friend Torvald made these. He's out viking now, but in the winter, he keeps busy this way. His partner Sigurd paints them. And there's a sweet grass in the cushions," she answered Sam, who bent over to sniff one appreciatively. "Try the cookies. Julle is a wonderful baker."

Jack cautiously licked at the cookie in his hand, and a burst of sweetness with a light lemon flavor shot into his mouth. "Wow," he said staring at it.

"Yes. Wonderful stuff. She stayed home this summer; she's pregnant, and spends all her time baking. The entire village of Hylestad is going to get fat."

So Jack found himself having tea and cookies on Snor. He could hear the sea outside, rolling regularly to shore, a soft sighing sound that complemented the noises the fire made in the firebox and the conversations around him. After another sip of tea, he began to pay closer attention.

"Danny, it's simply amazing. I can't tell you how happy I am you're here. You can help me. You were a brilliant student and a far better archaeologist than I ever was. You need to see the site. It's only a couple miles from here; we can go tomorrow."

Jack enjoyed watching Daniel blush and change the subject. "So you're saying these people were brought here by the greys over a thousand years ago?"

"Yes, exactly. They still tell stories about it, how the greys came to save them from evil monsters that wanted to steal their souls. The kin of Jormungand, the Serpent of Midgard. An enormous light fell over them, and when they woke up, they were no longer on Midgard, but here, on Snor. Thor himself is supposed to have appeared to them and told them to trust him, that he was their protector.

"And he has protected them, I guess. It's a good world. A lot colder than earth, of course, but not impossible. Wonderful soil, so we farm in the summer. But mostly fishing and hunting. The people are incredible sailors; you'll see tonight. That's where most of the village is right now. Uisdean will let them know you're here, so we'll have a steady stream of curious folks stopping by, but they'll let you be. As I said, you'll be introduced to the entire village at the first thing of winter."

"What's this 'thing'?" Jack asked.

"The Thing is an assembly. A democratic assembly," Daniel answered, but he looked to Farness, who nodded.

"Yes. There isn't a president or king or anyone like that here. The entire village meets and talks until some consensus is reached. Terribly time-consuming, but of course, we don't have much else to do in winter. And as an academic, I love to talk, so I enjoy the Things.

"You aren't to worry," she told Jack firmly. "A place will be found for you and your people. I'm sorry this happened to you, but you're in a good place. We'll take care of you until you get settled, and you are very welcome here."

There was an uncomfortable silence. Daniel looked hard at Jack, who knew he wanted to tell Farness that they hadn't been abducted by little grey men at all. It occurred to him that she wouldn't know that the greys who abducted her were Thor and his buddies.

"So, Professor Farness --"

"Danny. You are a grown man now. A military man, for god's sake. Please call me Kiersten."

He blushed again, Jack noted, and said, "Ah, thank you. Kiersten. Um, so you said there's an older culture here?"

"Yes, but Danny, not just an older culture, but a different species." Her face was alight now, and she picked up something from a clay bowl on the hearth. "What do you think these are?"

He stared at them, turning them carefully in his hands. To Jack's dismay, he tapped one against his tongue. It looked to Jack like a chicken bone.

"It's bone," he said at last, and looked up at Kiersten, who nodded.

"I've found many skeletons, Danny. And they aren't human. The people here on Snor, they're human, of course, but these bones aren't their ancestors. These I found *below* the first ones brought here.

"And the excavation sites -- Danny, it's incredible. Even though they're below the humans who were brought here and thus much earlier, the technology is incredibly sophisticated. Some of it I can't even identify. There are metals that can't be melted or broken. Objects I can't even guess at the purpose of. The layout of their homes, the contents of their middens completely different than the humans who were brought here later.

"I think," she said carefully, as if trying to persuade Daniel, "that the original inhabitants of this planet died off a long time ago. I don't have any way to determine the age of these sites, no carbon dating or anything like that, but I've made some guesses based on depth and layering of the excavation sites. I know I shouldn't be surprised; after all, the greys brought me here. But I think there was yet another alien race who lived here."

She stopped and stared at Daniel, almost holding her breath. Jack watched them both, sitting near each other and looking directly into each other's eyes. Slowly Daniel nodded. "I believe you, Kiersten," he finally said. "And I can't wait to see the site. We'll go tomorrow."

She sighed and stretched her back. "Thank you," she said quietly. "I'd like that.

"Now. Tell me how on earth you came to be in the military? Did you become an archaeologist? What happened to Robert?"

Jack tuned Daniel out; he knew the answers to those questions. He needed to think.

This poor woman. Stuck here in nowheresville for fourteen earth years. Nice enough place, and he was sure the people were as nice as she said, but Jesus. Maybe he should take her home. Back to earth. Although how the hell would they explain her reappearance? He'd talk to Hammond that night when he had to report in.

But she'd want to talk, give papers, all that stuff that Daniel missed so much now that he was in SGC and bound to silence. As Farness herself had said, the one thing academics loved was to talk. Shit.

At least the cookies were really, really good, he thought, taking another and settling himself back on the bench, a throw pillow stuffed between his back and the wall. Nice place she had.

"And Robert?" he heard her ask, and tuned back in. "I never thought he was good enough for you, Danny. I hope you found someone else."

"Kiersten," Daniel whispered, and jerked his head toward Jack, who watched with amused tolerance. Don't ask, don't tell, but Robert? Jesus, Daniel certainly could do better.

Before Daniel could be further embarrassed, there was a quick knock on the door and then it opened, revealing two sturdy women who smelled strongly of fish. "Kiersten?" they asked in near unison, and then the conversation became beyond Jack's linguistic abilities, although Daniel joined hesitantly in. "God dag!" they each greeted Jack, who studied their clothing with interest. Sleeveless woolen sweaters, fingerless mitts like his own, baggy trousers, and heavy boots.

"They've just got back from fishing," Daniel told him unnecessarily.

"Catch anything?" Well, that started another conversation, about fish and where to find them and how to dry them, and Jack joined in happily, with Daniel translating; he was finally invited to join them anytime on their boat the Petra.

"The rock?" he asked, looking at Daniel, who nodded, and asked the women, Line and Gorun. "A joke," he explained. "As in sinks like a." Jack smiled. He liked their sense of humor.

As soon as Line and Gorun left, a woman with two little kids came in, carrying a bowl of something that smelled very good, rich and meaty. Jack's mouth started watering. Then the baker Julle herself came in, heavily pregnant, carrying two loaves of bread, one light and one very dark and smelling a bit like pumpernickel. More people came in, in ones and twos and threes, all bringing something for dinner for Kiersten's guests. A little kid brought her flowers, obviously picked from the fields around them and crushed a bit in his small sweaty hand; Kiersten kissed him fondly and gave him a cookie before putting the flowers into a white pitcher. Then she recruited Daniel to set up a trestle table about a foot off the ground; Jack realized he was going to have to sit on the floor after all. Well, he'd take a couple ibuprofen tonight and be fine.

It was a goddamn good meal and worth a few aches. Kiersten was right; he liked it here.

"I'll clean up," Kiersten told them. "You go sauna. I have towels for you. Kind of rough, but they'll do the job." Carter and she carried the plates from the table and Jack folded it back up, clearing space in the room for the mats they were to sleep on. "Come with me," she said brusquely. Jack liked her more and more. As far as she knew, they'd just been delivered to her for the rest of their lives, and she was completely unruffled by the idea. Just fed them dinner and gave them towels and a place to sleep.

She led them out the front door and stood a couple steps down, pointing to the right, to the edge of the forest. Line and Gorun were holding hands walking away from them, but when they heard Kiersten's voice, they turned and waved. "Come, come!" Line shouted, or so it sounded to Jack.

"Just follow them," Kiersten explained. "The sauna is fed by hot springs. You can get a good soak, then sauna, then jump in the ocean, and then back into the sauna. By the time you finish, you'll be ready for bed, I guarantee it. Normally, I'd be there tonight, too, but I want to talk to Uisdean and his granddaughter Julle about you. Delfin passed away at the end of last winter and her house is still empty; maybe we can fix it up for you, so you can live there until you get settled."

She hugged Daniel again, who eagerly hugged her back. "Professor Farness, it's so good to see you again," he smiled at her. "I missed you so much."

"Oh, Danny." She patted his cheek fondly. "You were the best student I ever had. I've often wondered what happened to you. We'll talk more tomorrow, while we walk out to the excavation site. In the meantime, go on. You'll enjoy this." She smiled mischievously at him. "I promise you, you'll enjoy this."

So Jack stepped down and led the way to where Line and Gorun were waiting for them. Daniel hesitantly said a few words that opened a torrent of conversation from them; Jack watched as Daniel's head turned back and forth between them as if watching a tennis match. He glanced at Carter, who was smiling at the exchange.

"How ya doin' there, Major?" he asked quietly.

"Great, sir. I like this place. A sauna -- we should ask General Hammond to have one put in the locker room."

"Oh, yeah. I can use my knees as an excuse. Great use of taxpayers' money."

They wandered through the trees, following the two women and Daniel. Behind him, Teal'c strode, and behind him was a young mother carrying a baby who was obviously and painfully teething; it made a soft whining noise and drooled messily. Jack remembered Charlie's teething days and smiled sympathetically at her as she stuck her finger in the baby's mouth and rubbed his gums. He gnawed at her unenthusiastically, but quieted down a bit.

Then ahead of them he saw a sod-roofed building, long and low, built into the side of a bluff covered in the stiff saw-toothed grass they'd been walking through earlier. A totem-pole-like thingy stood in front; Jack was sure Daniel would explain its purpose and significance at some length later, so he didn't worry about it. Again the door and lintel were elaborately carved; he paused to notice they were covered in small people, all naked, many engaging in sexual acts. Maybe Daniel would explain that later, too.

Carter stopped to look at the door as well, then blushed and ducked inside.

When Jack stepped inside, he bumped into Carter, who'd frozen into place. He immediately saw why. Everyone was disrobing, including Daniel, seemingly without any thought as to who was watching or what was being exhibited. Line and Gorun were sturdy indeed, he thought; not fat, but heavily muscled over big bones. And everyone was a real blond here.

There were shelves and carved hooks for their clothes; he watched as Daniel hung up his jacket and folded his tee shirt, trousers, and underwear, talking nonstop to the two women. They eyed him curiously but not at all sexually; Jack suddenly realized who they were to each other. Carter was obviously trying not to stare at Daniel's ass while fiddling with the zipper of her jacket. Suddenly Daniel stood up straight and turned around.

Jack couldn't help it; he looked at Daniel's blue eyes, wide and young without his glasses, and then down below his waist. When he looked at Daniel's face again, he was red as Line's sweater, but stood bravely before his teammates. "Don't worry, Sam," he finally said. "It's just the way they do things here. When in Rome." Then he turned and followed Line and Gorun into another room to the left and deeper under the bluff.

Jack heard a noise behind him and turned to see Teal'c calmly undressing. The young mother was already nude, her baby sucking at her breast as she tried one-handedly to fold her clothes. "Let me," he said, and began folding her voluminous dress neatly while she hung up the tattered sweater she'd worn over it. There was a rack for shoes, he saw, under the shelves, so he bent over and untied his boots.

He glanced up; Carter had her back to him and was undressing. Good. She'd live, and he would, too. Teal'c followed the mom into the other room, and soon Jack was as naked as Daniel and left Carter to finish undressing alone.

The floor beneath his feet was warm, as if hot water was piped underneath the thin slats of pale wood. He walked through the door into a steamy darkness that smelled richly of cedar and something else; Daniel would know what. This was the bath part, he saw. A large, irregularly-shaped pool full of nude bodies of all shapes and sizes and ages, lit only by a light from under the water, giving them all a dreamy quality he liked very much.

He stood for a few seconds more watching, and then saw Daniel, at the far end of the pool. He lay on his back, his feet toward the center of the pool, floating. It was too dark in the room to make out any details, but Jack let himself look all he wanted before stepping into the very hot water. At first, his feet burned at the contact, but in less than a minute he was able to sink neck-deep, then push over to Daniel's side.

"All off-world excursions should be like this," he said quietly, and Daniel smiled, not moving.

"I'm never getting out," Daniel said, and finally opened his eyes to look at Jack.

"Don't blame you. Although I'm anxious to try the sauna."

"Well. Yes, actually, I am, too, now that you, ah, mention it. Jack." Here it comes, Jack thought. "We need to tell Professor Farness who we are, where we came from. We need to give her the option of going home."

Jack leaned his head back so it rested against the side of the pool, which sloped gently down and seemed to be formed especially for that purpose. Generations of heads resting against it, he supposed. "I know that's what you want," he finally said. "I'll talk to Hammond. If he okays it, we'll tell her who we are."

"We have to tell her. How will we explain when we leave?"

"We won't. We'll just go." Daniel started to object, so Jack put his hand on Daniel's shoulder. It felt strange, touching his bare skin, warm and wet under the water. "Daniel. I'll try to get permission. I like her, too, and I can see she means a lot to you. Don't worry about it yet, okay?"

Daniel hesitated, trying to read Jack's face, he knew, and then nodded. "Thank you, Jack."

"So who is this Farness, anyway?"

"Oh, Jack. She was so good to me. She taught the first archaeology class I ever took. Really inspired me. I knew I wanted to be an archaeologist; that's what my parents were, you know. But she made it so real, so possible."

"She thinks a lot of you." Daniel ducked his head and didn't say anything. "I'll do my best, Daniel," Jack repeated, wanting to comfort his friend. "Listen, why do you think Thor took her, anyway?"

But before Daniel could answer, a man Jack hadn't met said, "Thor? Kjenne til Thor?"

"Oh, ja," Daniel said instantly, and leaned across Jack to talk. His arm lay across Jack's chest, and Jack could feel his breath on his cheek as he spoke. The other man's age was between Jack and Daniel's, Jack estimated as best he could in this dark and steamy place; very fair, with a beard that glinted in what little light there was.

"Jack, this is Bjord," Daniel suddenly spoke in English. "Bjord, this is Jack."

"God kveld, Jack," Bjord said politely, but turned his attention back to Daniel.

"God kveld," Jack tried out, and Daniel rewarded him with a brilliant smile.

Bjord jerked his head toward Jack said to Daniel, "Din mann?" Even in the warm dark, Jack could tell that Daniel blushed.

"Er, ah," he said, and Jack jumped in.

"Ja," he said proudly, and Bjord hummed and nodded.

"Jack," Daniel hissed. "He asked if you were my, if we were --"

"Yeah, yeah. If I was your man. Well, he was gonna jump you if you said no, so I said yeah. Hey, I just saved your ass. Be grateful."

To his pleasure, Daniel glared at him. Bjord laughed and gestured; most of the people were climbing out of the pool. "Fremmede forlovede," he said as Jack moved past him.

"On to the sauna, Dannyboy," Jack said, and paddled toward the shallow end of the pool, ending up behind a large woman who rose majestically, water streaming off her. Her bottom was just at eye level, and Jack smiled. He really liked this place. Behind him, he heard Daniel grumbling to Bjord about something, no doubt about his troublesome man.

The sauna was twice as hot as the pool, Jack was sure. Sweat jumped out of his pores and ran down his sides, gathering in uncomfortable places. He saw Teal'c, his large presence gleaming in the spooky radiance of the small room. It was like any other sauna he'd ever been in, except for the mixed sexes, of course, lined with slatted wooden benches at different heights along the wall. He pushed past the naked sweating bodies until he sat next to Teal'c.

"Well, what d'ya think of this, Teal'c?"

"On Chulak, we have such places. They are reserved for men, however; women never attend. Often I have spent time in them, with the men I fought with and trained." He looked around him. "It is good here, O'Neill. This is a good place."

Jack nodded, and looked around himself. To his surprise, he saw Carter, laughing as she sat with Line and Gorun and another woman, closer to her own age. He realized the sauna was more segregated by sex than the pool had been, but everyone looked at ease, sprawled out, leaning against each other, sweating in the dark. Occasionally, someone threw a cup of water onto the stones in the center of the sauna, and the steam would billow up, smelling strongly of pine and cedar.

Conversation lulled; Jack thought he was melting. It occurred to him that no one had commented on Junior. "Teal'c," he murmured without opening his eyes. "Has anyone stared at your, uh, at your pouch?"

"I believe it is too dark for it to be seen."

"So you don't think these folks have seen Jaffa before."

There was a pause, and Jack reluctantly opened his eyes. At last, Teal'c said, "No, I do not. Do you wish me to have Daniel Jackson ask?"

"No. No. Let it go."

Teal'c inclined his head, and Jack closed his eyes again, only to open them when he felt a rush of icy air over his body. Bjord had opened an enormous door, and Jack realized the rooms they were in had led to the beach. Suddenly, Line jumped up and yodeled like Xena as she rushed out the door and jumped into the ocean, Gorun following her. Carter screamed like a banshee as she ran out; Jack heard her yell, "Jesus fucking Christ," when she hit the water.

The rule seemed to be let the women go first, which suited Jack fine. At last, the heavy woman he'd followed out of the pool cannonballed into the ocean, and Bjord followed. "I believe we must exit now, O'Neill," Teal'c told him, and Jack reluctantly stepped out into the night.

Steam literally rose from his body. He didn't run like Carter had, but let the other men rush past him. Daniel jumped up next to him, vibrating with pleasure. "God, I can't believe this place!" he said, and then followed Teal'c into the water.

The shore had been carved into an inlet that looked pretty deep; people had no fear of diving into it. Jack stood at the edge and curled his toes over the cold rounded stones that held the sandy soil back, and watched the inlet boil with laughing, splashing people. There was no moon, but the stars were thick above him, coiled in the sky, much brighter than on earth. He stood for another moment, staring up into the alien sky, and then heard Daniel call his name. He looked around the inlet and found him, standing chest-deep in water nearby, looking up at him anxiously. "Are you okay?"

Jack jumped in, shocked at the sudden cold of the water after the heat of the pool and sauna. "Fuck no," he spluttered when he surfaced, and Daniel grabbed his arm. "No, really, I'm okay, Daniel," he admitted, touched by Daniel's concern. "Jesus, it's cold, though." His teeth were already chattering, but the others lounged as if still in the sauna. He ducked his head under the water and pulled himself up using Daniel's hand. "Do you think it'd b-be okay if we wuh-went back inssside?" he stuttered, and Daniel led him to steps laid in with the same rounded stones that lined the inlet, and then back into the sauna and through to the pool, where he happily jumped in.

"Oh, fuck, this is *heaven*," he moaned, and Daniel jumped in next to him. Soon Teal'c appeared. Jack stared up at him and realized that everything about Teal'c was big.

"Are you all right, O'Neill?"

"He just got a little chilled," Daniel answered for him, and Jack let him. He was feeling nearly euphoric, floating in the warm water, the ghostly light glowing in the steam that drifted above the pool. To his surprise, Carter slipped into the room.

"Colonel?"

"Ah, Sam," he said, and closed his eyes. "I think when you're looking at us naked, we should use our first names."

"Yes, sir. Jack," she said, and he heard splashes. For a few moments it was just the four of them, bobbing in the water like corks. "This is delicious," he heard her say softly.

"It is, indeed, Major Carter."

"Sam. Colonel O'Neill's orders, Teal'c."

"Sam. Samantha."

Jack smiled. He liked this part of his job. But soon the rest of the village returned, subdued after their icy immersion and happy to return to the pool. Some sat at the edges and talked; the mother, whose name, Sam told him, was Merete, lay down, letting one leg flop into the water, and put her sleepy baby to her breast again. Jack watched, unembarrassed, and remembered Charlie nursing at Sara's beautiful breasts.

"They do this every night," Daniel told him, and he sounded awed.

"Was it like this on Abydos?" Jack asked, suddenly curious about Daniel's life there.

"Well, we didn't have a sauna, unless you count the desert," he said wryly. "But I know what you mean. Yes, it was, Jack. Every night we'd come together for a common meal, talk over the day, make plans for the future. Kasuf was a good leader; there wasn't a lot of dissension in the village."

"You were happy there," Jack told him with great certainty, and felt more than saw Daniel nod.

"I was happy there," he echoed. Jack touched his shoulder where he leaned against the edge of the pool, and Daniel looked down at Jack, still floating. "Are you happy, Jack?"

Jack gave it some consideration. At last he said, "Right now, I'm happy."

Daniel smiled at him, a sweet, sad smile that touched Jack's heart. Holy cow. He was happy right now.

Finally, Bjord helped Merete up, holding the baby for her, and started the slow exit. There were communal showers in yet another room; Bjord loaned SG-1 his soap, a round pot of something creamy that smelled spicy but not effeminate. It lathered up wonderfully, and Jack washed himself unselfconsciously, as Carter did standing next to him. The Hylestad women were hairy, he couldn't help noticing; they didn't shave their legs or under their arms here. But still Carter fit in, with her fair skin and blonde curls. Even though she didn't speak the language, she seemed at home with the other women. He was happy for her.

Daniel looked three-quarters asleep when they dried off, even though it was only afternoon at SGC according to Jack's chronometer. But it had been a busy day, and that sauna had taken a lot out of Jack, too. He decided to nap before contacting Hammond for their eighteen hundred hours sitrep. He checked his chronometer by the dim light of the dressing room, and then followed Teal'c and Sam back to Kiersten's home, saying god kveld to the others as they split off in different directions, heading to their own homes.

Kiersten had been busy in their absence. The main room was now one large bedroom, with thick mats laid out covered in layers of quilts. The fire was burning low, and there was a pot of something brewing on the firebox. Kiersten was dressed in a thick nightgown, heavily embroidered on the hem and bodice with pretty pink flowers. Sara would've loved that nightgown, Jack thought, and then wondered why he was thinking of his ex-wife so much tonight.

"Come in, my dears," Kiersten told them. "I've borrowed night clothes for you all, and there's tea ready. You'll be a bit dehydrated after the sauna, so drink up." She handed them each long robe-like things; Jack decided to pretend he was on Abydos, where all the men wore them. She seemed to expect them to change right there, so Jack pulled off his unlaced boots and tucked them neatly under the bench he'd sat on earlier. "Sam, you come with me," Kiersten said, and led Carter through one of the two doors at the back of the kitchen.

"Get undressed, Daniel," Jack told him, when he realized that Daniel was standing there staring after Kiersten.

He nodded, and kicked off his boots, then threw off his jacket and tee shirt. Jack shrugged his nightshirt over his head; it went down to his ankles. Obviously made for a larger man than he was. It was also embroidered, but with some kind of animal with antlers, like deer; they raced along the cuffs and down the front placket. Then he picked up the growing pile of Daniel's clothes and folded them. Daniel looked too sleepy to do anything but fall down.

He got Daniel under the covers but sitting up, and poured him a cup of the tea. "You, too, Teal'c," he ordered. Teal'c looked amazing. His nightshirt was a creamy white and embroidered with thunderbolts around the collar and cuffs. Daniel's was pale blue, and embroidered with abstract shapes curling around each other, like waves.

Finally, Jack was happy to settle onto his own mat, the covers as soft as down around him. The tea was mildly spicy, and creamy, and a bit sweet, and he drank it down happily, leaving his mug on the bench nearest him. He took Daniel's mug and placed it next to his, and then said, "Go to sleep, Daniel." Daniel looked at him, eyes at half mast, but didn't argue. Teal'c settled into his kel-no-reem position, and Jack at last felt comfortable falling asleep.

He dreamt he was swimming in a warm sea, the night sky above him filled with millions of stars swimming in their own sea, and that if he just knew how, he could swim right up among them.

He hated to get up when his chronometer beeped at him, but forced himself to quietly dress. Teal'c glanced at him, but Jack shook his head. He could make the trip back to the stargate alone. Daniel slept on, sighing and turning when Jack stepped over him, but falling right back asleep.

Outdoors, it was shockingly cold, a fine mist settling on his face and hair. He hadn't realized how warm Kiersten's house was. He was glad the team was sheltered there and not in the tents. The village was utterly quiet. He walked through it silently, not wanting to disturb their sleep. In one house, he could see a light gleaming, but the houses were all set up on high foundations, so he couldn't tell if anyone there was up.

He crossed a bridge and headed back up the hill toward the stargate. What a beautiful place this was. When he reached the crest, he stopped and looked back at the sleeping Hylestad, his eyes going straight to Kiersten's house. After a moment, he walked on.

"So we'd like to tell her, General," he was saying twenty minutes later. He couldn't believe it was only six in the evening at SGC. He'd still be at work, avoiding writing reports, trying to get Daniel or Carter to have coffee with him, plotting out the next planet they'd visit. Looking forward to a beer and a hockey game when he got home. Here, it was the middle of the night, and he was looking forward to climbing back into his borrowed bed in his borrowed nightshirt.

"Do you think she'll want to come back?"

"Hell, yeah. But I also think she'll want to stay here. I was thinking SGC could use another archaeologist; Daniel's told me it's hard to recruit them. And she's been working on this planet for fourteen years. We get her some tools, some assistants, the ability to do some carbon dating," and he felt quite proud of himself for remembering the terms, "and she'll be fine."

"And she's discovered the remains of yet another alien race?"

"Yeah. We're going out there tomorrow, so Daniel can verify that."

Hammond nodded thoughtfully. "Let me have a background check run on her, Colonel, before you say anything. I'll try to have an answer for you tomorrow."

"Thank you, sir."

"So you believe this is an Asgard-protected planet?"

"Yes, sir, I do. No sign of Goa'uld at all, no sign the indigenous recognize Teal'c for anything but another human being. Which he is, but --"

"I know what you mean, Colonel. Well, have Major Carter do the necessary soil samples, and let Doctor Jackson investigate when the people arrived there."

"Yes, sir."

"Anything else, Colonel?"

"If Professor Farness checks out, I'll have a long list of things, General. Until then, I won't pester you."

Hammond smiled, but declined the easy retort. "Good night, Colonel. Until tomorrow."

The MALP transmission ended, and a moment later, the shimmer of the gate disappeared. The night was quiet again. Jack sat for a minute more in front of the MALP's camera, and then rose to his feet and started the trek back to bed. The mist had turned to a fine drizzle and he was nearly soaked by the time he returned.

Daniel was still sound asleep, cuddled up to his pillow. Jack sat on a bench to pull off his boots and watched him sleep, pleased that his teammates could find peace here. Especially Daniel, who'd been through so much. He was happy to roll into his own bed. The next thing he knew, a wonderful smell was wafting through Kiersten's house. Fresh bread. Tea. And Carter humming tunelessly under her breath as she poured herself a cup.

"Morning, sir," she said brightly. Daniel groaned and pulled the covers over his head.

"Carter," he said, and grabbed his dopp bag. "Bathroom?" She pointed toward the kitchen, where Kiersten was chopping dried fruit.

"Through there, Jack," Kiersten whispered, pointing to one of the doors. He opened it to discover a large bathroom, with a round sink, an enormous tub, and an odd looking toilet, which he immediately and gratefully used and then spent five minutes figuring out how to flush.

When he exited, Teal'c was patiently waiting his turn, listening thoughtfully to Kiersten's questions, answering them with a polite nod. "So that's permanent, on your forehead?"

"It is, Professor Farness."

"Please, call me Kiersten. But how did it get there?"

"Uh, bathroom's free, Teal'c," Jack hastily interrupted her, and Teal'c nodded graciously at her before disappearing into her bath. "This is a great place, Kiersten. Beautiful house."

"Yes, isn't it? It's quite old. I was lucky to get it. Almost ten years ago, the owner passed away, and it came to me. I've tried to take good care of it."

"How old is this settlement?"

"Hmm." She bit her lip. "It's hard to tell for sure, but I think it's one of the oldest in the area. Probably five hundred years. This house is supposed to be two hundred years old.

"There're are other towns along the shore, and a few small villages inland. The capitol of this region, Hafrsfjord, is about a six day walk from here. It's truly a city. City of dreaming spires," and she smiled at Jack. "It even has a university. I was invited to teach one term, a few years ago, but I missed Hylestad. And I've never been a big-city girl."

"Kiersten, have you ever seen any evidence of other off-worlders here? Or are you the only one?"

"As far as I know, I'm the only one. Two towns south of here, there's a story about someone brought here by Thor -- that's who the people say brought me here. He was a natural philosopher, the story goes, which tells me he must've been here about a hundred and fifty, two hundred earth years ago. But in the capitol, they don't believe these tales. Some of the people I met there thought I was mad." She smiled sadly. "And I suppose I was, back then. But out here, in the hinterland, the belief in and love of Thor is strong. They tell me he brought me here because I was needed.

"And oddly enough, that's what the greys told me when they brought me here. That I was needed. I've never figured out why. I don't have any useful talents. It's not as though an archaeologist can contribute much to the economy of a small town that relies on fishing, hunting, and farming. But I do what I can.

"And I pray to Thor." She watched Jack's face carefully; he didn't laugh or even smile at her. "It's not that I believe in Thor, or in any god, actually. But I am grateful for my life here. I feel as though I have to thank someone. So I pray to Thor, and sincerely honor his holidays."

Jack nodded. He'd do the same thing, were he stuck here. And Thor deserved honor; he was a good guy. Jack's friend.

Daniel was making sleepy waking-up noises, so Jack poured them both cups of tea, something different from last night's. "Wake-up tea," Kiersten told him. "Not as good as coffee, or what I remember coffee tasting like. But there's a little kick to it, and I remember Danny always needed a kick in the morning." She grinned at Jack, who had to agree.

"Ohhhh," Daniel said, and sipped the tea gratefully, still huddled under the blankets. "I gotta pee."

"Kiersten's got indoor plumbing," Jack told him. "Soon as Teal'c gets out, it's all yours."

"How are you, Daniel?" Carter asked him, settling down on the hearth with her own cup.

"Good morning, Sam. Fine, and you?" Daniel rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked up at her.

Jack thought she looked very good this morning. Well slept, her scrubbed face shining and her curls neatly combed. "Fine, too. Can I go with you to the dig that Kiersten's been working on?"

"Whoa, whoa," Jack said. "You and Teal'c need to test for naquadah."

"Yes, sir," she said patiently, and Jack had the feeling that both she and Daniel were going to pretend he hadn't just said anything stupid. "But she mentioned some metals at the site. I'd like to see what they are. I'll also test the streams that run through town."

Jack nodded. "Okay, Carter. Sounds like a plan."

Teal'c appeared and began shaking out the bedding, so Jack helped him fold the blankets and quilts up while Daniel used the bathroom and kibbutzed with Kiersten. Carter got the trestle table out again, and they had a big breakfast of some kind of hot cereal with the chopped dried fruit in it, more tea, and toasted slices of bread with jam. It was a much bigger breakfast that Jack was used to, but it tasted great, and he figured they had a big day ahead of them.

Which they did. All four walked with Kiersten out to the excavation site she'd been working on for most of her years on Snor. The pimply-faced kid, Algot, was her helper. Not real bright, was Jack's assessment, but he obviously loved Kiersten and was able to do the simple manual tasks she assigned him, like cleaning the tools, keeping them sorted and put away, hauling buckets of dirt to a system of screens where she filtered it for little artifacts and rocks and stuff.

Jack was impressed by the size of the site. Well, fourteen years, he reminded himself. Lotta time to do this. "Beautiful," Daniel had murmured, and then explained to the others that she'd used a classic horizontal grid-type excavation. It looked like a chess board to Jack, with the squares dug down several feet, some deeper than others, and strips of untouched earth between them, to walk along and peer down from.

She took them to one of the deeper squares and jumped in, using a trowel to point to different layers, none of which could Jack make out, but Daniel nodded and hummed to himself as she explained her findings. "See, here, near the top, is a clay floor overlaid by wall rubble, but lower," and then even Jack could see the difference.

"What the hell is that?" he asked her, and jumped into the pit himself.

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "But I think it's some kind of flooring, with a heating system built into them." She, Jack, and Daniel peered intently at the different layers of sediment, but Jack was quickly defeated and stepped back to let Carter and Teal'c take a look.

"I have not seen floors like this," Teal'c said solemnly. "How long ago were they created?"

Kiersten paused, and took a deep breath. She seemed a lot less sure of herself. "Well," she said at last, looking at Daniel, "I don't know. But since this," and again she pointed to the upper layers with the trowel, "represents the earliest habitation I can find in the area that's consistent with the Norse style of construction, and since I'm fairly sure these people were brought here around eight hundred CE, I think this must be close to ten to twenty thousand years ago."

Jesus, Jack thought. "What was happening on earth then?"

"Nothing," Daniel and Kiersten answered in unison. Daniel continued, "The earliest carbon dated cities in Mesopotamia were about seven thousand years ago. Ten to twenty thousand years ago is considered prehistoric -- before written language."

Jack tried to imagine that. Cavemen walking around on earth, and someone here on Snor was building sophisticated plumbing and delicate floors.

"Plus, there's this," Kiersten added, and climbed out of the square. They followed her a short distance from the excavation and then down into a trench. There, Jack saw bones embedded in the earth.

Daniel took the trowel from her and delicately removed earth from around one, leaving it in situ. He stared at it, a deep frown creasing his forehead. "Kiersten," he said, and his voice trembled. He looked over his shoulder, first at her and then at Jack. "These aren't human."

"I know. But do you see --"

"Yes, I do. They're not animals. I don't know what they are, but --"

Then Kiersten interrupted him. "They were sentient, Danny. I know that. I've been digging them up for a long time. I've found them in contexts of elaborately worked metal. Things that might be radios or communication devices. I've found so much."

Jack looked at Carter, who nodded. "Where is this metal, Kiersten?"

"Oh, I have samples. There's a basket," and she spoke to Algot, who'd been following them. He ran to one of the sheds surrounding the excavation and returned carrying a wicker basket that he handed down to Carter. She stared at it, and then looked at Teal'c, who nodded.

"Do you recognize what it is?" Kiersten asked her.

"I think so," she answered hesitantly, glancing at Jack. "I need to make some tests, but I think so. I think you're right, Kiersten."

"I know you're right," Daniel told her, and hugged her. "My god, I wish I could've known. Could've helped."

Kiersten sniffed. "Well, you're here now," she said in a choked voice, and Daniel looked significantly at Jack, who shook his head. Come on, he thought at Daniel; give me a break. This isn't my decision.

They spent most of the day at the site, Daniel and Carter working closely with Kiersten while Teal'c and Jack explored the perimeter. There were signs of large animals, but this far out in the forest, that didn't surprise Jack.

He spent a fair amount of time watching and listening to Daniel and Kiersten. He didn't understand much of it, but he realized something catastrophic had happened on this planet that might have caused the death of the creatures who'd built warm houses when humans lived in caves. "In the capitol, I was able to have some testing done, but the technology is beyond me, and I didn't have anyone to teach me. But I found tektites and shocked quartz in unusual quantity in this layer of material, here." She drew a faint line with her trowel; Jack couldn't see anything difference between it and the dirt above or below it. Daniel, however, nodded seriously. "And here." She drew another one lower. "And here, too."

"Oh my god. You're thinking an iridium spike. Maybe like Chicxulub or Shiva. Only at regular intervals."

Kiersten smiled. "God, it's a pleasure to work with you, Danny. You never cease to amaze me." He blushed, and stared intently at the dirt. Jack watched him fondly.

By mid-afternoon, the sky had clouded up. Kiersten straightened her back with a series of pops, looking up at it. "Storm brewing," she told them. "We should get everything covered." So Jack and Teal'c joined in, along with Algot, Carter, and Daniel, and laid boards over the trenches, and then large tarps over them. Not unlike prepping a diamond for a rain delay, Jack thought as he weighted down one side of the tarp with heavy stones.

The wind was kicking up by the time they left, and Jack was happy to be heading back. It would be miserable checking in with Hammond tonight.

They spent the rest of the afternoon in Kiersten's house, bringing in wood for the firebox, and supplies up from the ground floor of her home. Line and Gorun returned early from a successful fishing trip, carrying an enormous something they seemed extremely pleased with, so Jack volunteered to help them clean it. Merete came with her baby, and Julle with her grandfather and more bread, and Algot stayed, and pretty soon Kiersten's house was wall-to-wall with people talking and preparing food and eating and washing dishes and talking.

The fish the girls had caught was excellent, Jack thought, picking his teeth with one of its bones. A bit oily, like salmon, with firm pink flesh. He settled back on his bench, full and content, trying to pick out the few words he'd learned of their language. Daniel was rattling on fluently now, moving from person to person, pouring hot wine into mugs. Kiersten sat on the floor and Line rubbed her feet.

When Daniel reached Jack, he sat next to him. His face was red and sweaty, and he was grinning broadly. "Wine?" Jack held out his mug.

"You like it here."

"Oh, sure, you betcha," Daniel replied, and they smiled at each other. "Listen, we're going to the sauna in a bit. Is that okay?"

"Yeah. Why not?"

Daniel shrugged. "I dunno. Just -- it's just so easy here. Thought you'd be wanting us to billet outdoors, away from the people."

"You think we're in any danger?" Daniel shook his head. "Neither do I. I'll watch out for you, Daniel." Daniel blushed, but set the pitcher of wine down next to him and sipped his own mug.

"Good stuff," he murmured, and Jack agreed. Good stuff, sitting here with Daniel, in a warm room full of congenial people, even if he couldn't speak their language. Outside, the rain poured down; he could hear it gurgling in the gutters and slapping against the shuttered windows, but they were safe and comfortable here.

"Listen," he said suddenly in a low voice. Daniel sipped his wine, holding the cup with both hands, and looked at Jack over its rim. "What's the significance of Kiersten's find? If any."

"Oh, Jack," and Jack realized he'd just wound Daniel up. "It's incredible. The worlds we visit are either inhabited by humans taken by the Goa'uld, or by the Asgard, or maybe even by the Ancients, or else inhabited by aliens still extant -- the Tollans, the Nox. But we don't know who these people were. Maybe they *were* the Ancients; Jesus, I just thought of that." He stared past Jack, who could practically hear his brain racing ahead. "Jesus," he said again, and shook his head. "All these years here working alone."

Jack nodded and leaned back. Was that why the Asgard had brought Kiersten here? Because she was an archaeologist with a specialty in Norwegian prehistory? If he ever saw those little grey guys again, he'd have to ask.

"And the Chiclets thing?

"Chicxulub. A crater in the Yucatan. It's generally thought to be evidence that an enormous meteor impacted there around sixty-five million years ago. The resultant dust, debris, fires, and volcanic activity nearly wiped out all life on earth, and threw it into an global ice age.

"The thing is, what Kiersten's found suggests this may happen here at regular intervals. Not as dramatically, in that a lot of life remains, but enough to throw this place into a small ice age. We're probably experiencing it right now -- the cold, the incredible sunsets, the heightened oxygen content."

"So it'll happen again."

Daniel nodded, looking more somber. "Yes. It probably will."

"And kill off all these nice people."

Daniel looked at Jack. "Except they have the stargate."

"Except they don't know what the stargate is. They think it's a church or something." Jack stared at Daniel, who slowly nodded. "We hafta tell them. Daniel, we need to tell them."

"Yeah. Or maybe you should ask Thor."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "It'd be fun to see the little guy again. Got a few questions to lay on him."

Daniel settled back next to him, their shoulders rubbing companionably when they lifted their cups to sip the warm and spicy wine. Around them, conversations ebbed and flowed. Carter was playing with Merete's baby, while Teal'c sat with Bjord. Jack idly wondered how they were communicating, until he saw Bjord's hand lightly touch Teal'c's knee. Well.

When it was at last time to sauna, everyone stripped right there in the living room and ran through the rain, squealing and splashing. Jack saw Sam ahead of him, running with Merete and the baby; she glanced behind her, looking at him. Her eyes dropped and then she looked back into his face and smiled. He could feel himself blush in the night, but it was so dark, he knew she couldn't see much.

In the pool, Jack floated, utterly relaxed. He felt porous, as if everything was flowing through him. The wine, he supposed, and a hard day's work. Eventually, he floated near Kiersten and Daniel, and stayed there to eavesdrop.

"So they laughed at you, eh, Daniel?" Kiersten was saying, but kindly. "You and your grandpa; I guess you take after him. Do you ever see Nick?"

"Yes, yes, I do. He's very happy." Well, that was an overstatement, Jack thought, but continued bobbing quietly in the hot water.

"He was the Lost Dutchman, you know? Talking about giant aliens and portals through space. Until this happened to me, I thought he was crazy. Now I'm willing to bet Nick knew what he was talking about."

"Oh, he did, Kiersten," Daniel reassured her. "And he's forgiven me for following in his steps."

"I'm happy for you. But tell me, please, how did you and Jack get together?"

"Oh, Kiersten. I'm so sorry, but that's classified."

"Jesus, Daniel. Who the hell am I going to tell? We're on Snor, for god's sake."

A long and unhappy silence from Daniel. Jack was trying to decide if he should intervene, when he finally said, "I know it's stupid. I think a lot of things about the military are stupid. But I did sign a confidentiality agreement, and Jack is my commanding officer, as strange as that is."

"Things must've really changed, if your lover is also your commanding officer."

"My -- uh, Kiersten. Wait. Why do you say that?"

"Well. Um. I guess he isn't?"

"No. No, and he'll kill me if I've done something to make you think so."

"Well, Bjord told me that Jack had told him that you were lovers. And certainly the way you act around each other. He's so sweet to you. Just like an old married couple. I love the way he takes care of you."

"Oh, Kiersten." Daniel sounded mortified; Jack couldn't decide if he was flattered or pissed. "Jack is, uh, kind of impetuous. He told Bjord that because he thought Bjord was, uh, ah, well, hitting on me."

"I'm sure he was. He's the original horn dog, our Bjord is. Almost a rite of passage in Hylestad, getting bonked by Bjord." Daniel burst out laughing and Jack had to grin as well. "I won't tell your secret. But you might want to be a little lovey-dovey with Jack in front of Bjord; he doesn't take no easily. Unless you don't want him to take no for an answer. I'm told he's an excellent lover. Might be fun. Just don't expect him to be faithful to you."

"Kiersten, please."

"What? You didn't used to pretend to be something you're not."

"I didn't used to work for the military."

"Oh. Well, yeah. I guess things haven't changed much back on earth."

"Well, not in the U.S., no, I'm sorry to say."

"Just remember, Danny. You're not on earth anymore. You'll never be on earth again. You can be whatever and whoever you want here. Jack isn't even your commanding officer here."

After a silence, Daniel said softly, "You know, Kiersten, I think Jack will always be my commanding officer. At least in some ways."

"Is he good to you, Danny?"

"Yeah. Yeah. We've had some rough times, but he's always good to me."

"Not like Robert?"

"No. Jack isn't anything like Robert." There was a pause, and then Daniel said quietly, "Kiersten, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but Robert is dead."

"Oh my god, Danny. I'm so sorry. How? When?"

"A couple years ago. He was working for the same branch of the military I do, and I can't tell you how he died. It's --"

"I know, it's classified." Kiersten sighed heavily, and there was silence. Then Bjord leapt out of the pool and opened the door to the sauna, so its sweet-smelling steam billowed out into the pool room. "Let's go," Kiersten said. Jack gave them a few minutes and then found his way to Sam's side as they climbed to the highest platform in the sauna.

"What d'ya think, Sam?"

"I think I've never seen this many naked people in one place in my entire life."

He laughed. It was dark in the sauna, but not as dark as in the pool area. He looked around at him, at the wonderful variations in the human body. Amazing, really. Bjord, of course, was stunning, a real Viking of a man. Jack wondered why he wasn't out viking, if there was something wrong with him. Uisdean was here, helping Julle, who sat near the doorway to the pool, away from the heat. Her breasts were swollen, the nipples deep rose, and Jack remembered again Sara's pregnancy. What a magic time it had been. He automatically checked for Merete, who was sitting near Daniel and Kiersten. Kiersten held the baby, whose name, Jack had learned that evening, was Ragnar; he was chewing on a rag and looking miserable. Daniel was leaning over him, tickling his fat tummy, while the baby stared somberly up into his face. Merete looked tired, and Jack wondered where Ragnar's father was and why he wasn't helping Merete during these difficult days.

Kiersten was moving beyond middle age, probably fifteen years older than Jack, he guessed. Still in good shape from all her work at the excavation, her body was nonetheless shifting in response to age and gravity. Her hair looked as though it had been cut with nail scissors and stood up in brown and grey spikes around her face. She was tanned and fit looking, with strong wrinkles around her eyes and mouth that reflected her smiles.

Next to her, Daniel was as tall and straight as a young aspen tree. His skin was smooth, the only wrinkles between his strong eyebrows. He was leaning back against the bench behind him, still talking to Kiersten and holding the baby's foot in one hand, studying the tiny toes. Jack wondered, as he had many times, why he and Sha'uri hadn't had children. A year was plenty of time to get pregnant. Maybe Apophis wouldn't have taken her if she'd been pregnant or nursing. He wondered if Daniel had thought of that.

Jack also took the opportunity to really study Daniel's body. Daniel's penis, actually. What a word, he thought, and smiled ruefully. Yet there he sat, peering through the billowing steam, checking out his friend's penis.

"Sir?" He became aware that Carter was talking to him.

"Sorry, Major." He blushed, wondering if she could tell what he'd been looking at, and then blushed again when he realized he was looking at her breasts.

"Teal'c and I did some preliminary testing. I think the naquadah here is of very high quality. I'll give you a sample to send back to SGC when you check in tonight."

He nodded. "Good work, Major." Then he realized he was violating his own rule. "Sam. You think there's enough we can put a permanent site here?"

"Oh, it's too early to tell, sir. Jack. But it's worth talking to the village about, seeing if they'll agree to some more significant testing than just Teal'c and I can do."

"We'll have to wait for the Thing to do that."

"Yes, sir. I asked Kiersten when that would be, and she said it would depend on the weather. Once the cold settles in, the people out viking return. When the village settles down again, that's when they hold the first Thing. She guessed it would be another two months till the next one."

"Hmph. Wonder if George would let us stay here till then."

She laughed quietly. "I wouldn't complain, sir. I wouldn't complain at all."

And neither would he, he thought, his eyes returning to Daniel again, who had leaned back and closed his eyes. Then Bjord opened the outer doors and everyone groaned. It was still pouring out; Jack could hear it clearly now, a real downpour, yet everyone stood and moved out. Not as quickly as last night, but pretty soon Jack was trembling violently in the gelid ocean water again, and then Daniel led him out and back to the pool, so for a while, they were the only two people in it.

"I love this," Jack told Daniel, who nodded. Impulsively, he reached out and pushed back the short hair from Daniel's forehead.

Daniel smiled shyly at him. "I know you were eavesdropping on Kiersten and me."

"She thinks we're lovers."

"Well, yes, thanks to you and Bjord."

"That's okay." He left his hand on Daniel's face, then lightly traced down the side of his cheek to his jaw, a gentle caress. Daniel's eyes widened and his lips parted slightly.

"It is?" he whispered, and Jack nodded, stroking Daniel's face again. Daniel's eyes drifted closed this time, and he relaxed into the touch. "That feels good." So he and Jack bobbed in the water, lying back against the side of the pool, and Jack continued to stoke his face.

Of course, all that warm water and steam was useless when they raced back to Kiersten's house. Jack was shivering again, ready to pull on his nightshirt and crawl under the covers, but the others wanted to sit and talk. Then he saw that his team was, in fact, dressing not in their BDUs but the nightshirts, and so he climbed into his and put on dry socks. Line started tea steeping, and Gorun and Sam and Teal'c began laying down the mats and quilts. Jack wondered if they'd all sleep there that night, but after the first cup of tea, people began drifting off, and by the time he drained his second cup, Kiersten was kissing the last visitor goodbye. Without ceremony, he curled up under his blanket and sleepily watched his teammates do the same.

"Good night," Kiersten called as she and Sam disappeared into the back bedroom, and he mumbled "god kveld" to her. He saw that Daniel was smiling at him and Jack reached out again to touch his face.

"God kveld, Jack," he whispered, and Jack nodded.

It was agony to wake a few hours later and have to dress and go out into the rain. There was no reason he couldn't have delegated this responsibility to one of the others, but Jack didn't work that way. Besides, he wanted to learn what Hammond's background check of Kiersten had uncovered.

"Colonel, I won't keep you in this weather," Hammond told him through the MALP. "You get back inside before you catch your death. But Farness checks out. If in your judgment she's a good security risk, there's no problem at this end. We'll have the soil samples you sent back analyzed as quickly as possible. And tomorrow we'll open the gate from our end so we can send supplies your way. Coffee is at the top of that list."

"Thank you, sir."

"Now, skedaddle, son."

"Yes, sir." And he was happy to obey the General's orders and skedaddle back to Kiersten's.

Daniel was waiting up for him, an anxious frown on his face. "It's okay," he whispered. "You can tell her tomorrow."

"Oh, Jack, thank you so much. I hated keeping this secret from her."

"I know, I know. But tell her out at the excavation site, some place away from the village, okay?"

"If it's still raining, we won't be able to go."

"Then we'll tell her here, but only when there's no one else around."

"Okay, Jack."

"Go back to sleep, Daniel." Daniel stared at him for a moment, and then obediently lay down, his eyes already closing. And again, Jack reached out to lightly stroke his face. Daniel sighed with pleasure and his body relaxed. Within minutes he was asleep, and then Jack rolled onto his side and followed him into a long night's sleep.

The rain had let up in the night, although it was cold and misty when Jack woke to find Kiersten and Teal'c in the kitchen, their heads together as they worked on breakfast. He was pleased to find Teal'c smiling shyly at Kiersten as she teased him about his size and appetites. Then he realized that Teal'c was telling the "humans battling in jello" story, and rolled his eyes. Time to get up and end that right now.

Carter rose when he did, so he went outside to water the bushes while she used Kiersten's bathroom. Each blade of grass was crisp with frost, and thick, curdled-looking clouds hung low over the village. Fog steamed from the water, obscuring the boats harbored there. But the air smelled fresh and sweet, and the lights streaming out from other homes were welcoming in the early morning. He was happy to return indoors and warm his backside against the firebox while sipping the wake-up tea Kiersten brought him. Daniel slept on, nearly invisible under the quilts.

This wasn't a bad life, he thought, staring out the window nearest him into the morning. Line and Gorun walked past, no doubt heading back out to sea. He'd love to spend a day out with them, bringing in fish for a feast for the village. He saw Bjord step out onto his front porch and call out to them, rubbing his hands together and stretching his back, before following them out to the pier where he was renovating an old boat. When Jack looked down, he saw that Daniel was awake and watching him sleepily, rubbing one eye and smiling. "Hey."

"Hey, Jack." Daniel struggled to sit up, yawning enormously and scratching his head. "God, I sleep well here. I can't remember the last time I've slept this well."

"Me, neither." Jack was a little surprised. Despite having to rise in the middle of the night to report back to SGC, he was sleeping well. Maybe it was the atmosphere, or the sauna, or the tea. Whatever.

Yeah, he thought again, watching Daniel climb out of bed and head toward the bathroom, not a bad life at all. One he could easily get used to.

After breakfast, the five of them met Algot and returned to the excavation site, to peel off the tarp, soaking themselves in the process, and uncover the trenches. Kiersten had done a good job designing the site and water tended to run off rather than into it. She and Daniel spent the first hour checking things, deciding what needed to be done first. Jack noticed that she deferred to Daniel repeatedly, and remembered her saying that Daniel was a better archaeologist than she was.

Daniel could do good work here, he realized. Important work. Not simply discovering what the lives of the first Vikings who'd been brought here had been like, but what the earlier aliens had been like. How they'd lived, what they'd eaten, where they'd gone. Work that no one else was doing except Kiersten, and she'd had no one to share with in all these years.

At that moment, Daniel raised his head and looked directly into Jack's eyes. He was muddy, with a stripe of mud across his forehead where he'd brushed back his hair, and one on his nose when he'd pushed up his glasses. His BDUs were spattered with mud and wringing wet from the knees down. Jack realized how happy Daniel was, and how happy he was to see Daniel this happy.

Like a bolt from one of Thor's lightning strikes, Jack suddenly knew he loved Daniel. A door in his heart that had been closed for many years had opened without him even realizing it, and he loved again. He felt flooded with dangerously tender affection for his friend. He smiled awkwardly and looked away, afraid his feelings would be reflected on his face.

Holy shit. Jack O'Neill loved Daniel Jackson. How's that for kick in the butt.

Jack wandered away to watch and then help Algot hang the tarps from bushes so they'd dry, and then stack the boards under the shed, propping them at an angle to let them drain and dry as well. Algot was painfully shy around Jack, unable to speak to him at all, but they worked well together, hefting the heavy boards and manhandling the tarps. Carter and Teal'c were taking more samples from the soil at various levels in the trenches, Carter carefully labeling each vial while Teal'c filled them.

Jack had actually forgotten that they were going to tell Kiersten about the stargate until Daniel called to him. The six met under the shed in which Kiersten and Algot kept their tools; Algot turned over a bucket and sat, looking expectantly at Daniel even though he couldn't understand a word he said. Daniel opened a thermos and poured Kiersten a cup of his coffee. Lukewarm and three days old, but still coffee.

She stared at it, then sniffed it as if it were the finest cocaine, before taking a sip. Her eyes closed. She rinsed it around in her mouth, swallowed, and took another sip. "Jesus Christ, Danny." She opened her eyes. "Thank you. Thank you so much. I can't tell you how much I've missed this."

"I think I understand, Kiersten. I went without for over a year myself."

"Where were you working that you couldn't get coffee? Surely the military can get coffee to you no matter where you are."

"Well, see, I wasn't working with the military then. It was after I first met Jack," and Daniel smiled at Jack in fond memory. Jack felt his face respond and he blushed. Shit. Everybody in the world was gonna be able to tell how he felt about Daniel. This could be a problem back on base.

"Kiersten, this is really hard to explain to you, but it's important you know. I've been telling you that our work is classified. Well, we got permission to tell you the truth. You have to promise not to tell anyone else, of course, but I think you'll find it good news."

"Who would I tell, Danny? And who the hell did you get permission from? Jack?" She looked at him, a little irritated. "It took you three days to decide I'm trustworthy?"

"No, no, Kiersten," Daniel interrupted. "Not Jack. Jack's boss."

"There's someone else on Snor? Where's he been staying? Why is he hiding?"

Jack stirred. "No, Kiersten. Let Daniel finish," he said gently. "You may want to sit down."

She stood straighter, and folded her arms defensively. Daniel said, "Kiersten. Professor Farness. The Asgard, I mean, the grey aliens, didn't bring us here. We came through the stargate." She looked puzzled. "The stone circle, a few miles from here." Kiersten shook her head, disbelieving. "I know, I told you it'd be hard to explain, but it's true. That circle, it's actually a gate to, to other worlds." He looked at Carter. "Sam?"

"The stargate, under certain conditions, creates a wormhole that permits almost instantaneous travel to other planets that also have stargates. You just have to know the address of the planets, dial it in, and a few seconds later, the wormhole forms. It's . . . " She trailed off, watching Kiersten shake her head.

"What are you telling me, Danny?"

"Kiersten. We can take you home. To earth. We can bring you all the coffee you could ever want. Computers. Tools to work with, people to assist you, technology. So much has changed, Kiersten."

"General Hammond, my superior officer, has authorized us to ask you to join the Stargate Project, Professor Farness," Jack interrupted. "The work you're doing here is important, vitally important to the project. We'll provide you with any convenience you want. You can return to earth and write up your findings, but of course, they would be used only internally, by the SGC and the Chiefs of Staff. No academic publications."

Daniel turned to her again, lightly touching her arm. "Kiersten, that's what I do. All the SG teams have a social scientist on them. I work with Jack and Sam and Teal'c as a linguist and cultural anthropologist and archaeologist, depending on the need. We travel to other worlds, looking for technologies that might help us in the fight against the Goa'uld."

"Against the what?" she said faintly, and Algot leaped up and pushed her over to his bucket, he and Daniel keeping their hands on her elbows until she was seated. "I can go home?" she finally asked, looking at Daniel and then at Jack.

"Yes, ma'am," Jack said firmly. "Right now if you want. You'd need to send Algot back to the village first, but whenever you want. You can come and go as wish.

"But we'd like you to stay here, to continue the work you're doing. To publish your findings for us."

Kiersten stared at him, obviously torn in her desire to believe him and her common sense telling her they were delusional. "Is that where you go at night? Home?"

Jack smiled a little, and shook his head. "Kind of. I report in to General Hammond, but I don't leave the planet. Tonight they're opening the gate from the other end, so they can send supplies through. Come with me, Kiersten. See for yourself."

She continued to stare at him, her mouth open, occasionally moving as if she were talking silently to herself. At last she closed her mouth and swallowed, and rubbed her hands through her wild grey hair. "Okay," she said, and stood. "Okay. This I gotta see.

"Daniel Jackson, you come with me. I have some personal questions for you." She gave Jack and the others a stern look, and then walked off into the mist, toward the forest. Daniel glanced apologetically at Jack and then trotted to catch up with her.

"Well, that went well," Jack commented to no one. Carter sighed and rubbed her own curls.

"It's a hard thing to take in," she said, but Jack already knew that.

"Get back to work," he told her and Teal'c, and then looked at Algot, who was watching Kiersten disappear with Daniel into the thick screen of trees. "Come on, Algot," Jack said. "Let's finish the job, ja?"

Kiersten and a subdued Daniel returned in less than thirty minutes. They jumped back into the deepest trench, the one with the alien artifacts, and began discussing the next step in the excavation. No word of stargates or going home, from what Jack could overhear, and he was blatantly eavesdropping.

They decided to head back to Kiersten's house for lunch rather than eat in the field. Not only was the drizzle getting heavier, but all of them were covered in the rich brown mud of the site; they also wanted time to process what had happened this morning. Daniel was still acting a little guilty; Jack tugged on his jacket and held him back so they were last in the line walking back.

"You okay?" he asked, cradling his P90, ear cocked for any significant sighs or silences.

"Yeah. I guess. I just wish we'd found Kiersten earlier, or that I could make her understand that we had to wait for General Hammond's approval to tell her. She feels deceived.

"And I can't decide if I should tell her about Thor. I mean, I've told her about the Asgard, but it's weighing on me that these people worship Thor and we know him, know who he is."

"Teal'c would say we should tell her. That we shouldn't let people worship false gods, the Asgard or the Goa'uld."

"Yes, yeah, he would," Daniel sighed. "But I don't know. Maybe it's all too much right now. Maybe we should wait."

Jack nodded. "Let her get used to the idea of gate travel. Maybe go back to earth for a while. She could tell the village she was taking us to the capitol or something."

Daniel nodded, but didn't speak again on the way back.

The afternoon dragged for Jack. Kiersten disappeared, ostensibly to help Uisdean with some task but probably to avoid SG-1 for a while. Daniel wrote in his journal, Carter pulled out her laptop and took notes, and Teal'c meditated, while Jack poked around Hylestad. He walked down to the pier at the far end of town, beyond the pool near the sauna, and inspected some of the boats there. Sweet, he thought, sucking on a stem of grass, staring down at a twenty-footer that he'd give his pension to own. Beautifully made, a real work of art, no fiberglass shit here, but real wood, with what Daniel would no doubt describe as Viking ornamentation along the hull, and a stern image of red-bearded Thor, hammer in hand, being pulled by his goat-drawn chariot, painted on the bow. Definitely not the Thor Jack knew and loved, but recognizably Thor.

He finally sat at the end of the pier, legs dangling over the water, and closed his eyes. He loved the smell and sound of the sea. This was a good place, he thought again. He could live here.

He thought about that for a while. Living here. He might not even have to retire, just get reassigned to the archaeological dig. Work with Daniel. Live with Daniel, in Delfin's old home.

Love Daniel. He could love Daniel here and no one would care or even think twice about it. They'd be safe, here. He wondered if Daniel could love him here, too.

The sun was falling behind the high peaks of the mountains behind him when he heard a shout and saw Line and Gorun returning in their fishing boat, Line visible far out at sea in her signature red sweater. He could hear their voices plainly, carrying over the water. The motors here were utterly silent and pollutant-free; no oil slick refracted light off the surface of the grey water beneath him. He stood up and caught the line Gorun threw him, and helped them tie off. Laughing and gesturing, they invited him on board, and he inspected their boat with pleasure.

It was a beauty. Tight and high, the cabin interior was warm and painted with an enormous ash tree, which years with Daniel had taught him was Yggdrasil, and all its kingdoms around it. Jack stared at it for a while, listening to the girls laugh as they unpacked the fish they'd caught, and then turned to help them.

They gave him a large fish, a fimbral, they called it, to take home for dinner; he cleaned it at the pier, tossing the entrails out to the sea birds that hovered above him, and then carrying it proudly through the village, greeting the people he was starting to get to know. "Phew, stink," Carter complained when he entered Kiersten's home, but Kiersten was pleased and had him rinse it and place it in a baking dish. She covered it with chopped vegetables of some kind and broth, and then slid it onto a shelf in the firebox.

"Excellent, Jack," she told him, and smiled, and he smiled back. He felt forgiven. He looked at Daniel, who was looking happier, too. "It's okay," Kiersten told him, lightly touching his shoulder. "I'm over my mad. Can't stay mad at Danny too long. He's too adorable." Daniel blushed, but Jack only smiled his agreement. "Dinner'll be ready in about thirty minutes. Julle was going to bring us some bread; maybe you'll run over to their house and see if it's ready?"

But the bread wasn't ready; Julle was ready. She was sitting in a chair looking stunned, and Jack could see the contractions right through the nightdress she was wearing. "Holy shit," he muttered, and then grabbed her arms. "I'll be right back," he promised, and dashed to Kiersten's.

"Daniel! Daniel, Julle's having her baby," he shouted as he burst into the main room. Kiersten looked up, shocked, and then all four of them followed Jack back to her and Uisdean's home, Carter carrying the medical kit and Teal'c an armload of towels Kiersten had given him.

"Hey, hey," Daniel soothed Julle as he knelt before her, taking her hands. Her blue eyes were wide, and she looked a little shocky to Jack. "Where's Uisdean, Kiersten?" She left, hunting through the house and then outside into the village, asking neighbors. "Come on," Daniel said gently, and then to Jack, "Help me get her to a bed or something."

By the time Kiersten had returned with Uisdean, Daniel had Julle lying down, a towel draped modestly over her upraised knees while he peered at her most intimate parts. "She's very close, Kiersten," he told her. "Is there a midwife in the village?"

"Yes, shit, of course. It's Liv. She'll be out working the fields." She darted back outside, leaving SG-1 alone with a frightened Uisdean and Julle. Daniel spoke soothingly to them both, in the almost-Norwegian that had evolved here over the centuries since their people had been taken from earth, while Jack paced and Teal'c observed. Carter was boiling water; probably she couldn't have told Jack why if he asked her, but he didn't.

"That midwife better get here soon," Daniel told Jack, looking up at him from between the young woman's legs, but he looked calm and very capable. Jack immediately calmed down himself.

"What do you need, Daniel?" he asked, but Daniel just shook his head.

"She's in good health. A good strong girl," he crooned to Julle, who smiled tremulously, and cried out a little at the next contraction. She was sweating heavily, Jack saw. He took a moist towel and, kneeling next to her head, gently wiped her face and pushed her hair out of her eyes. She grabbed his hand and said something to him. "She's scared, Jack," Daniel translated unnecessarily. Jack squeezed her hand.

"It's okay, honey. Daniel's here. He'll take good care of you."

She cried out again, and Uisdean began to cry, too. Carter and Teal'c took him into the kitchen; Jack could hear them making tea and comforting him. Julle began to toss and turn in her pain.

"That's good, that's good," Daniel reassured him when Jack looked to him for help. "Maybe let her stand up and walk a bit."

So they spent the next twenty minutes or so walking a heavily pregnant woman to and fro in the little front room where she'd decided to have her baby. Every five minutes, she'd grip Jack or Daniel or both of them, bend over a bit, and freeze. All her attention, all her focus was on having that baby. Jack marveled again at Daniel's calm; he really did never cease to amaze Jack.

At last Daniel said, "The baby's coming, Jack. Help me get her back down."

And so it was, with Daniel again between her thighs, murmuring to Julle and the baby, "Come on, come on, little one. It'll be okay, I'm here to catch you," while Jack held Julle's hand and wiped the tears and sweat from her face. Suddenly there was an enormous gush of blood and fluid, then another, and then Daniel was saying, "The head is out, Jack! Oh my god, oh my god," and Julle was gripping his hand so tightly he thought she'd break his fingers, and then the shoulders followed and Daniel was all of a sudden holding in his arms a tiny sodden baby with a very wrinkled face. Julle burst into tears.

"Carter!" Jack roared. "Bring the water and more towels!" So Daniel and Carter wiped down the baby, and cleared her mouth and throat, for she was a little girl, and then Daniel lay the baby on Julle's belly, near her breasts, and Jack turned his head to hide his own tears.

The midwife arrived in time to take care of the afterbirth and cutting the umbilical, and between them all they cleaned up Julle and got her and the baby to bed, then stayed to clean up the house and celebrate with Uisdean, who was shaking with pride and fear and exhaustion, so Jack and Teal'c put him to bed, too.

The midwife stayed behind when they finally left, hours later. "Oh, shit, the *fish*," Kiersten said, and Jack realized he was ravenous.

So the team was high on excitement and exhaustion and some kind of hooch that Kiersten broke out to celebrate the birth of little Dagny, the name Julle had chosen for her daughter to honor Daniel, and when it was time for them to stagger through a heavy mist to the stargate, Jack wanted nothing more than to lie down next to Daniel and sleep for a week. Instead, he chivvied the team into their jackets and boots and out the door, shushing them all, including Kiersten, so they wouldn't wake Kiersten's neighbors.

They sobered up, from the cold and wet and anticipation, by the time they reached the stargate. Kiersten stepped up to it, but Daniel gently pulled her back to safety. "We bring gifts to Thor out here each year," she whispered to them, as if in a church. "I've brought flowers and bread myself, to honor and thank him." Daniel nodded but didn't speak.

The gate whooshed open, its eerie blue light reflecting off their faces. Kiersten gasped in surprise and clutched Jack's hand, the same hand Julle had seized earlier that day. Then the MALP's speaker said in Hammond's voice, "SG-1, I presume this is Doctor Farness."

"Yes, General, it is," Daniel said clearly. "Kiersten, I'm sorry there's no video, but the general can see you, through that camera there. That's General George Hammond, commander of the SGC."

"Uh, how do you do, General," she said uncertainly, staring at the MALP.

"Very well, Doctor. More importantly, how are you?"

"Stunned."

"I can well understand that. It's good to talk to you. Colonel, I'm sending some supplies through now, including a large cache of coffee for Doctor Farness, as well as the things Doctor Jackson requested." Kiersten jumped back when a small utility vehicle popped through the event horizon, but Carter and Teal'c calmly started unpacking it.

"Doctor Farness," the general said again, "Colonel O'Neill and Doctor Jackson have explained to you the purpose of SGC, and what we're proposing for you?"

"Yes, sir, they have."

"I realize you haven't had much time to think over our offer, but do you have an initial reaction?"

Everyone paused and turned to look at Kiersten. She was pale in the shimmering blue light, clutching her cloak tightly around her throat. She bit her lip, and then said, "General Hammond, I want to go home. But my home is *here* now. I feel as though I don't have a home. I don't know what I want." Jack could tell she was near tears, and Daniel put an arm around her comfortingly. "Could I come back for a little while? Just to see what's changed? I understand that I have to stay dead, that I can't talk to anyone except, uh, SGC, but Daniel tells me things have changed so much."

"Of course you can, Doctor. It would be an honor. We'll put you up in the VIP suites here on the mountain. You can even go off base, as long as you don't identify yourself to anyone."

"I promise I wouldn't, General. No one to identify myself to, after all these years. I think that's why the greys took me."

"The greys? Oh, yes, the Asgard, of course. Well, perhaps so. They move in mysterious ways, in my experience. Well, then, Jack, let me know when Doctor Farness wants to come for a visit and I'll have everything prepared. Doctor Farness, it is my hope that you'll agree to remain on Snor to continue the very important work you're doing there. SGC will see that you're equipped with everything you need, including other scientists and assistants.

"We're going to close the wormhole now, Jack. Any last minute requests?"

Jack glanced around at his team. "No, sir. We're doing fine. Really fine. In fact, Daniel delivered another baby today."

"Did you, son! Congratulations. Four babies on four different worlds; I do believe you're the only man in the galaxy who can make that claim."

"Um, thank you, sir."

"All right, people. Good night, and god bless you all and the new baby, too. Hammond out." And the wormhole collapsed, so all they could see was the mist drifting through the stargate in the still night.

Kiersten still looked shocked, when Carter brought her a small package of something. "Open it," she smiled at Kiersten, who did so with trembling hands.

"Oh my god. Chocolate." She smelled it luxuriously. "What a day. Coffee, a baby, and chocolate. And a new job!" She smiled brilliantly at them all. "Thank you. Thank you so much." She broke off a piece and popped it into her mouth, then dropped her head back. "Thank you, Thor!" she shouted, and giggled. "Takk skal du ha!" Jack had to laugh; he was feeling a bit giddy himself.

"All right, kids. Let's get back and unpack there. Got everything?" he asked Carter and Teal'c, who nodded. Kiersten kept the chocolate bar in one hand but took Daniel's with her other and they started back, talking quietly between them.

Jack couldn't sleep that night. After all the excitement and exertion of the day, he thought he'd drop right off, but he tossed and turned. Kiersten had told the general that she didn't know where her home was, and Jack realized he, too, felt that way. He knew Daniel did as well, and Teal'c. Now that her father was Tok'ra and she'd been inhabited by a Goa'uld, Sam probably felt the same dislocation. Maybe it was a byproduct of working for the SGC. More likely, it was what made them friends. A kind of family.

He rolled onto his side and watched Daniel sleep. An old pastime, now, a way of comforting himself in strange places. Daniel was happy here, too, Jack knew. Happy to be working with his mentor again after all these years, happy to be doing the work he loved and did better than anyone else.

And I love him, Jack reminded himself. What a pain in the ass that discovery was. Don't ask, don't tell, Jesus, what the fuck was he going to do? Keep on working side-by-side with Daniel? Inviting him over for beer and hockey? Was it a secret Jack could keep? More importantly, was it a secret Jack wanted to keep?

He didn't know. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling, low, to keep the room warm in winter, made of pale grey slats of wood. Light and airy, like all the homes he'd seen here, in spite of the need to keep out the snow and cold.

They were having an early cold snap, Kiersten had told him earlier. There would be another month of warmth, and then the snows would begin their return. Instead of fishing and farming, the villagers would remain inside, working on their indoor tasks. Sewing fishing seines, mending clothes, taking care of their homes. Digging snow-tunnels to each other's homes and to the sauna. Meeting each night in its warmth and then dashing across the snow into the sea.

Kiersten would work on the artifacts she collected during the summer months. For every month of field work, Daniel had once told him, there are six months of lab work. Well, she had the time here, if not the tools, and that would soon change.

He twisted his head to watch Daniel again and discovered he was being watched as well. "Can't sleep," Daniel said, and Jack didn't know if it was a question or a comment. He shook his head.

They stared at each other. The only noises were the quiet breaths of Teal'c and the sighing of collapsing wood in the firebox. The mist had lifted and starlight gleamed through the uncurtained windows at the front of the house, permitting Jack to see Daniel's face quite clearly. "Would you like to stay here?" he finally asked. Daniel bit his lip and looked away. "Yes, then," Jack answered for him.

"Kind of," Daniel admitted. "I like it here. I love Kiersten, love working with her again. I like the village, and the sauna, and I'm dying to see Hafrsfjord." Jack nodded. "But I don't want to leave SGC. I don't want to leave SG-1." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Jack," he breathed, and tentatively reached out, putting one finger on Jack's biceps. "I don't want to leave you."

Jack's heart thundered in his chest, like Thor's hammer was said to do. After nearly a minute, he whispered, "I don't want you to leave me, either." He looked at Daniel. "I, uh. Daniel."

Daniel smiled at him. "I know," he said confidently, which annoyed the hell out of Jack at the same time relieving him of the responsibility of explaining himself.

"Well, thank god," he said. "What're we gonna do about it?"

Daniel stared at him, a smile still curling his lips. Then he raised himself on one elbow, leaned over, and lightly kissed Jack. He pulled back and waited for Jack's reaction.

Jack smiled. "Come on, Jackson; is that all you've got? I can teach you a thing or two."

So Daniel leaned over and kissed him again, more firmly, and Jack slipped his hand behind Daniel's head. Daniel's lips were soft and warm, and his tongue delicately touched Jack's, so Jack opened wider and sucked him in, his tongue and saliva and the wonderful flavor of Daniel.

When Daniel pulled away a second time, Jack rolled over onto his mat and against his body. "You gotta be sure, Daniel. There's no going back."

Daniel kissed him again, a sexy kiss, sloppy and wet, then lightly bit Jack's lower lip. "It's your choice, Jack. Your career. But yes, I want this. I don't want to go back."

"Cool." And Jack wiggled out from under his quilts and into Daniel's, and took him in his arms, even though Teal'c was no more than a yard away. He inserted himself between Daniel and the mat, so Daniel lay half on top of him, and began to kiss him again. Daniel wound his arms around Jack's head and kissed him back, slowing rocking his hips against Jack, who could feel his erection pressing into him, almost painfully hard.

"Oh, god," Jack gasped at last. "I wanna fuck you so bad."

Daniel nuzzled his face. "And I wanna fuck you so good."

"Not tonight. Not here."

"No. Not here." He pulled back yet again to look into Jack's eyes. "But soon? You won't change your mind? You're not supposed to, uh. You're not supposed to want this."

"Fuck that, Daniel. I'm old enough to know what I want, and I'm not gonna change my mind. No mind left to change."

"Cool," Daniel echoed him, smiling, and they snuggled against each other. Not now, but soon, Jack promised himself, and hesitantly stroked Daniel's hard-on under his nightshirt. Daniel groaned and pushed against his hand. Soon.

Jack woke Daniel before the dawn, bullying him out of bed and into his clothes and boots. He folded up a quilt and took it with them, holding Daniel's hand as he led him through the dark and sleeping village out to the pier. Without coffee and enough sleep, Daniel was clumsy and grumpy, but Jack figured this would pay off.

He got Daniel settled on the edge of the pier, where he'd sat just yesterday and watched the Petra sail in, then sat next to him, wrapping the quilt around their shoulders. From here, they could watch dawn on Snor.

Daniel lay his sleepy head against Jack's shoulder, which felt fine. Comforting. He kissed Daniel's whiskery cheek, and said, "God dag, meine mann."

Daniel raised his head in surprise. "Actually, the possessive should be --" but Jack interrupted him with a kiss.

"That was a question," he said when he could talk.

Daniel smiled at him. "Ja," he said clearly and without hesitation, and kissed Jack. "Oh, ja. Big-time ja."

"Good." Jack nodded and looked out to sea. The night sky was paler, the stars fading. Dawn on Snor, with Daniel in his arms. It was going to be a good day. "Fremmede forlovede." He looked back at Daniel. "That's what Bjord said. What's it mean?"

Daniel blushed a little. "Foreign fiance. Beloved stranger." He shrugged, obviously embarrassed.

Jack touched Daniel's face, pink in the coming dawn. "Beloved stranger. That what I am to you? That what you want?"

"Not a stranger, Jack. Never. Not since the first moment." Jack smiled at him, relaxing a bit at Daniel's reassurances. "But how are we gonna do this?"

Jack kissed him. "I don't suppose I could tell you not to worry your pretty head about that?"

Daniel rolled his pretty head back so Jack could kiss his throat, and Jack filed that information away for future use. He gasped when Jack licked just below his ear; more useful information. "No, no, you couldn't," he finally said breathlessly.

"Didn't think so," Jack whispered, and kissed his ear. Daniel shivered violently in his arms, and turned to face him, drawing one leg up and sliding it behind Jack, so his body was open to Jack. He scooted closer and Jack wrapped the quilt more securely around them. For a few seconds they stared at each other, their breaths fogging the air between them, and then Daniel leaned forward in clear invitation. Jack met him with a kiss that deepened and grew into something else entirely. Jack was boiling hot and cold all at once.

At last Daniel pulled away, his mouth wet and a little swollen from Jack's kisses. He looked a bit dazed, too, Jack thought with some pride, knowing he looked just as dazed if not more. "If Sam were to suddenly appear, what would you do?"

"What? What?" Jack wasn't sure he heard Daniel correctly.

"It's don't ask, don't tell, right? We can't do this, Jack. You know that."

"Daniel." Jack felt seriously annoyed with the interruption. "I brought you out here for a reason. This is important to me. Don't fuck with me."

"I'm not. Jack, I'm not. I just -- " Daniel bit his lip and frowned; Jack reached up and stroked his forehead, right between his eyebrows, to soothe the frown away. "I'm scared."

"Me, too, Danny. And Sam isn't going to suddenly appear. If she sees us, she won't say anything, and we won't say anything to her. That's the way it works."

"But Jack -- I want to live with you. I want to *be* with you, really be with you. Like you were with Sara, and I was with Sha'uri. I don't want to skulk around, hiding my feelings for you." He stared earnestly into Jack's eyes.

Jack kissed him again, to shut him up and to stop his own thoughts. But it was too late, too late. Daniel moaned into the kiss and began to move, pressing himself against Jack's thigh. When they stopped the next time, both men were sweating lightly, and Jack was nearly gasping for breath.

"Okay," Jack panted. "I know you're right. We have to be careful. We do. But Daniel, please. Tell me the truth. What are you going to do when we get back to earth?"

Daniel leaned his head against Jack's shoulder and relaxed there; Jack could feel his warm breath against his throat. "I don't know," he whispered. He raised his head and looked into Jack's eyes. "I'll do what you tell me to."

Jack stared back. What did he want? He wanted what Daniel did. He wanted Daniel, and he wanted all of Daniel, not just the bits he could get hiding behind closed doors and curtained windows. He wanted to acknowledge who and what Daniel was to him. At last he said, "We'll take everything we can. But we have to be careful. We have to, Daniel."

Daniel closed his eyes; the sun was sliding up over the mountains now, and Jack could hear the village coming to life. They wouldn't be alone much longer. Daniel's face was pink from the cold and his passion. His passion for Jack, part of Jack's mind said, and he couldn't restrain a smile. He pushed the short hair away from Daniel's forehead. "Don't frown," he whispered. "It'll be all right. I promise."

Daniel opened his eyes. "Can you promise that, Jack?" Jack nodded, still smiling. Daniel smiled back fondly. "You are such a liar." Jack laughed.

"Well, yes. You already knew that."

"So we'll lie."

"We'll lie. We have no choice, if we're going to do this, and I really, really want to do this."

"What is this?"

Jack's grin grew larger. "I'll have to get back to you on that, Daniel," he promised, trying to look sexy. Daniel laughed and kissed him, then laid his head against Jack's shoulder again. Bjord found them like that when he came down to the pier to work on his boat.

"God dag!" he called cheerily, and they waved at him.

"It's cold. You're cold. We should get back," Jack said, and Daniel nodded. They held hands as they walked up the pier, but separated when they stepped onto land. Daniel gave Jack what he could only classify as a simmering look of promise; he shivered and held the quilt tighter to his chest.

When they got back to Kiersten's, everybody was up and breakfast was about to be served. "Beautiful morning," Kiersten said to them, smiling enormously, and Jack felt himself blush a little. Were they that obvious? Maybe this lying and hiding shit wasn't going to work. He glanced at Carter, who smiled kindly back and poured him a cup of tea.

Before he'd taking more than two spoonsful of breakfast, though, Kiersten set her mug down firmly, rested her forearms on the table, and looked at Jack. "Colonel O'Neill," she said seriously, "I hereby formally accept SGC's offer." Daniel jumped up from his seat and hugged her; she hugged him back and kissed his cheek. "Will you be able to help me, Danny?"

"Of course, Kiersten. Anything."

"Not just on earth. Will you be able to work here for a while? I need an archaeologist of your caliber. Someone who knows the latest techniques, and to help me learn about how things are done in the military, at SGC."

Daniel sat back down and looked at Jack, who shrugged. "It'll be General Hammond's decision," he explained. "But I think we can spare Daniel a bit. Under these circumstances." Daniel smiled and looked back at Kiersten.

"Thank you, Jack," she said, and she picked up her spoon again. "I don't mind telling you that I'm pretty scared."

"Don't be," Carter told her kindly. "SGC is good people. I mean, you like us, right?" Kiersten smiled in agreement. "We'll all be there for you."

Jack kept silent, thinking. This could be good. He looked at Daniel, smiling at Kiersten and talking excitedly about carbon dating and neutron activation analysis and slow clay deposition. Happy Daniel: something Jack hoped to see often, now.

SG-1 spent the next two days helping Kiersten close up the excavation, prepping it for rain and snow. She wasn't sure how long she'd want to spend on earth, so they helped her winterize the house, too. The village thought she was taking the team to Hafrsfjord, so on the third day they set out in that direction, circling around to the stargate at night.

Hammond was waiting to greet her when they arrived. She was stunned, Jack saw, and was pleased that Daniel had kept one arm around her waist as they'd gone through the stargate. Janet Frasier was there, too, and they all, including Hammond, accompanied her to the infirmary for their post-mission examination. "Routine," Daniel murmured to her. "Don't worry about it."

Jack was disappointed but not surprised when Daniel told him he was staying on base to be with Kiersten. She needed him right now, and Jack had him for life. They couldn't kiss, of course, or even really touch, but Jack slapped him on the back and gave him the sexiest smile he knew how to, pleased to see Daniel flush and smile shyly back.

"We'll take her to dinner, when she gets a bit more acclimated," he promised Daniel, who nodded. They stood awkwardly together for a minute more, then Jack started to move away. He came back to Daniel and said, very quietly, "I'll miss you tonight."

Daniel nodded again, still not meeting his eyes. "Me, too," he finally said. And that was their first night back on earth.

Jack thought about that a lot that first night, and the second, and the third. Living alone. Not being able to hug and kiss Daniel hello or goodbye. Having to sneak surreptitious touches as they passed in the hallway, or sat down at a briefing, or handed the other a cup of coffee in the commissary. It was bullshit, he thought repeatedly, lying alone in his bed. He remembered lying next to Daniel on the floor of Kiersten's home, snuggling beneath the quilts. Kissing him. Holding hands on the pier.

The team was stood down for a while, too, while Kiersten was reintroduced to earth. She had a lot to learn, a lot to catch up on, and Daniel was happy to help her. Hell, Jack was happy to help her. But it meant no off-world activities to take his mind off what his mind was on, which was Daniel's absence from his side. He got caught up on paperwork and performance evaluations, cleaned his files, organized his computer desktop, and spent a lot of time in the gym. Went fishing for a couple days. And then showed up at Daniel's apartment, just before midnight, pissed, cranky, and really horny.

"Yo," he said when Daniel finally opened the door, fumbling with his glasses and the strings to his sweatpants. "S'up?"

"S'up? Is that actually a word?" Daniel wondered aloud, leading Jack to the living and half falling into the sofa.

"Yes, Daniel, it is a word. It means 'what's up'? Which means 'what are you doing'?"

"Oh." Daniel fumbled some more with his glasses; Jack leaned over and took them off, folded them, and set them carefully on the coffee table in front of him. "I'm really near-sighted, you know."

"Yes, I know. I figure that might a good thing right about now." He sat down next to Daniel and put his arm around his waist. "Is it a good thing? Not to know who's doing this to you?" He leaned over and breathed into Daniel's ear. Daniel shuddered.

"I always know who you are," Daniel whispered, turning to look at Jack, his eyes wide, the irises dilated in the low light. "Even if I were blind, I'd always know you." Jack leaned further forward, until his forehead was resting against Daniel's, his own eyes closed. They sat that way for several seconds, just breathing, relaxing into each other's arms. "Why are you here?" Daniel finally whispered.

"What, you don't want me here?"

"I didn't say that. I do. I have. Just why tonight?"

"I miss you. You're so busy, I never get to see you. We're not even on missions together anymore."

"Yeah. I know. I miss you, too." Daniel sighed heavily and relaxed further into Jack's embrace. Jack smiled to himself; Daniel missed him. He wasn't nuts. Well, he was nuts, to be doing this, wanting this, but he wasn't nuts alone.

"We, uh, we never. Uh."

Daniel opened his eyes and smiled up at Jack. Then he tilted his head and kissed him.

Jack kissed him back, lightly at first, and a little fearfully, he admitted to himself, but he'd been dreaming about this. Daydreaming about it, even, during some pretty inappropriate moments. After the first shock of Daniel's mouth against his, Daniel's tongue in his mouth, he remembered how much he liked it, and began to kiss Daniel so he'd know how much Jack had missed him.

They leaned back against the couch and Jack pulled Daniel toward him, so he was half-sitting in Jack's lap. But Daniel was too exhausted, Jack soon realized, and they ended up dozing there, Jack's legs falling asleep while Daniel did. But it was okay, he told himself, a little disappointed. At least he was with Daniel. At least Daniel wanted him here. He kissed Daniel's neck and rubbed it gently. Daniel sighed.

"Let's go to bed," he murmured, and Daniel nodded but didn't move. Jack had to move his leg for him, then help him up. "Jesus, what have you and Kiersten been *doing*, anyway?" But that information would have to come tomorrow. He led Daniel back to his bed, then stripped and climbed in next to him. It wasn't what he imagined when he thought of sleeping with Daniel. Except it was, really. It was. He rolled onto his side and watched Daniel sleep.

Jack lay awake most of the night, watching Daniel. Thinking about what he wanted. About what a pain in the ass it was going to be when he had to get up and leave Daniel, how they couldn't just drive in together.

He was tired, and more than tired. He wanted a long vacation. Preferably someplace he could fish and Daniel could dig. Someplace like Snor. So he was pleased when Kiersten came to him the next day, shyly knocking on his office door and peeking her head in. "Colonel?"

"I'm still Jack, Kiersten. Come in. What can I do for you?"

She sat hesitantly, then rose and shut the door. "I want to ask you something confidentially."

His heart sped up a bit. "Kiersten, nothing on this base is really confidential. There's a camera right there," and he pointed. "And of course, as an officer in the Air Force, I've sworn certain oaths. So be careful what you tell me."

She stared at him evenly, then rolled her head back. "What about on Snor. Are we that observed on Snor?"

"No, of course not. No cameras, no microphones. But I'm still an officer in the Air Force."

She nodded, and sighed. "Will you and Daniel take me back to Hylestad? I want to go home. I miss my own bed, and my own cooking, and my friends. I want to see how little Dagny is doing, and whether Uisdean needs anything."

He stood, then crouched next to her. "Are you all right, Kiersten? Are you being treated well here?"

"Oh, yes, Jack." She put her hand on his, folded between his knees. "Everyone has been more than kind. But I've been away too long. Earth isn't my home anymore. The United States isn't at all familiar to me. And I've never known anything about the military. I just want to go home, and I want you and Daniel to come with me. Can you do that, Jack? Should I ask your General Hammond?"

He squeezed her hand comfortingly. "I'll ask him, Kiersten. And I'm sure he'll say yes. I'll let you know when we can leave. You make a list of things you want to bring with you, now, okay?"

She nodded, smiling, and he realized she was close to tears. "Thank you," she whispered, and put her arms around his neck. He hugged her back, a little embarrassed.

General Hammond was, as Jack expected, very understanding. Daniel loaded up the supplies she wanted, and Carter and Teal'c stopped by to wish her goodbye and good luck. "Come visit me," she urged them, and Hammond, too, to Jack's amusement. "I'm a good cook, General," she promised. "I'll fix you a great dinner if you come."

"I'd like that very much, ma'am." They shook hands, and then turned to watch the stargate whoosh open. "Colonel O'Neill, I can give you two weeks. We'll expect a full report then."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

Hammond nodded, looking pleased with himself, and Jack followed Daniel and Kiersten through the event horizon. At the last moment, he turned to see Carter and Teal'c watching him, Carter smiling openly, Teal'c with his eyebrows raised and his mouth in the not-quite-so-disapproving position. Teal'c nodded, Sam waved, and then he was plunged into the wormhole.

Daniel was waiting for him at the other side. As soon as Jack stepped through, Daniel threw his arms around him and hugged him, laughing. Jack hugged him back, then leaned away, keeping his hands on Daniel's firm shoulders. "Nice to be back, eh, Daniel?"

"Very nice, Jack." They stared into each other's faces a few seconds more, and then turned to find Kiersten already swinging a heavy backpack over her shoulders.

"We need to get started if we're going to Hafrsfjord," she said. "It's a good six days walk from here. We'd better get going."

"Come on, Jack. Off to see the wizard," Daniel grinned over his shoulder, and Jack swung his own backpack up. Daniel dialed earth and sent the utility cart back through, and then they started walking.

That night, for the first time in their years working together, Jack shared his sleeping bag with Daniel. Kiersten had positioned hers opposite the fire from them, with her back to them. Still too close to really do anything, but they crawled in together, kissed for a while, and then fell asleep under the moonless sky of Snor. Daniel, Jack discovered, was a snuggler, and he was happy to oblige him, enjoying his weight and warmth.

During the day, they walked and talked. Mostly, Daniel and Kiersten discussed her findings and planned what to do next. She had been pleased to learn there were other archaeologists and paleontologists working for SGC, and more pleased to learn they'd rotate to Snor for brief visits.

But Kiersten also talked about them, as a couple. At first, Jack was shocked; the "don't tell" mentality was burned into him. But Kiersten didn't care. No, that wasn't accurate, Jack realized. She did care. She cared about Daniel and wanted him happy. For reasons Jack didn't understand, he made Daniel happy, and that meant Kiersten wanted him on Snor, too. So she made plans for them, plans Jack knew could never come to fruition but enjoyed hearing. How they'd live with her until Delfin's house could be repaired. A new stairwell, a new front porch. The chimney needed cleaning. Stuff Jack could do while Daniel worked at the dig or in the lab that SGC would build for them.

By the time they reached Hafrsfjord, Jack could envision his life here. Working on the house, its garden. Out in the communal fields. Maybe helping Line and Gorun fish, or Bjord repair his boat. There was good work for him to do here, real work that would benefit the community.

But he knew Hammond would never approve of it. He and Daniel were too valuable to the SGC to be farmed out to some remote planet, even one that worshiped SGC's friend and ally Thor. No way could it happen.

Yet each night when he lay down with Daniel in their chaste embraces, he could see it. Could see Daniel coming home to him, dirty from the dig, eating a meal they cobbled together, going to sauna, and then coming home to their shared bed. A bed in which they did much more than the hugging and kissing they felt comfortable doing with Kiersten only a few feet away, however discreet she might be. A bed not to be shared with anyone else ever again.

Five days out, Daniel was bearded again and happy to be tramping through the forest, his breath trailing behind him as he talked to Kiersten. Jack watched him closely, noting his relaxed stance, the smile lines bracketing his mouth, and wished he could ensure Daniel would always look like that. He was grateful to Kiersten for giving Daniel this.

When they'd stopped for a rest and Daniel had blushingly retreated behind some bushes, Jack touched Kiersten's shoulder. "Back on earth," he said, "you started to ask me something in confidence. I think it's safe here."

She looked at him very seriously. "You said you swore oaths. That what I say might have to be reported."

He kept his face blank for a moment, but then smiled. "Okay, I lied."

She smacked his shoulder, and shook her head. "Thank god. I thought I knew you. That really threw me."

He shrugged. "You never know who might be listening in back at SGC, Kiersten. But I will keep your secrets. Should you have any."

"Well, not really. It's just . . . " She peered over his shoulder, at where Daniel had disappeared. "Um. It's kind of embarrassing. I don't have any right to ask this, but I wanted to know, uh, well, what you're intentions are. With Daniel. For Daniel."

"Are they honorable?" He saw she was blushing as she nodded. "Well, I guess. I mean, I want to be with him." He shrugged again. "You know I can't really do that. Not openly. Not like here."

"Yeah. I, uh, asked around a little. You know, in the guise of finding out what had changed since I'd been gone. Doctor Frasier told me there was something called 'don't ask, don't tell.' But she also told me that more people than ever are being dishonorably discharged from the military for being, for, uh." She stopped abruptly, even redder in the face now.

"Yeah, she's right. So I can't. It'd be okay for Daniel; he's a civilian, but even then, it might be, uh, uncomfortable for him."

Kiersten nodded. "What will you do?"

He stared past her, into the forest, along the trail they were following. Then he heard the bushes rustle behind him and knew that Daniel was returning. "I don't know," he said honestly. "All I can do. Take care of Daniel in whatever way I can."

She smiled sadly and nodded, then lightly touched his cheek. "You're a good man, Jack O'Neill," she murmured.

"No, actually I'm not," he told her, but then Daniel was there.

"You're not what?" he asked, squatting beside Jack.

"Not tired. We can still walk a few hours more, don't you think?"

"Oh, yeah. Let's go." So they went.

The next afternoon, Kiersten suddenly said, "There," and Jack looked up. "Hafrsfjord." Jack remembered she'd called it the city of dreaming spires, and she was right. It looked like what Oxford should look like: tall towers, domes, spires, graceful pillars, all in a creamy sandstone-like material. "A university city, with the classic town-and-gown divide," she told them. "We'll stay at a little inn I know, near the Friflgeard, the college devoted to, um, well, I guess we'd say the social sciences. I have a couple friends there, to whom we can talk."

Jack wasn't looking forward to explaining to anyone that their gods were actually little grey men, but sleeping at an inn instead of in a sleeping bag sounded pretty good to him, so he followed Kiersten as she made her way from the narrow trail they'd been on to a wider, paved path, its stones worn by the many feet that had walked it. This led to an even wider road, filled with traffic -- mostly people on foot, like themselves, but some vehicles, as silent as Line and Gorun's boat, smelling of the supplies they carried instead of exhaust. They crossed a broad, slow moving river, and then they were in Hafrsfjord proper.

His feet and back were killing him by the time they reached the inn Kiersten was looking for. It was near the university; right across the street from the domed library and surrounded by grass and deciduous trees shedding their leaves. They climbed the steep stairs -- obviously, it snowed just as much in Hafrsfjord as it did in Hylestad -- and passed through a large vestibule or foyer into a lobby. More stairs, then; a lot more stairs, and then finally he could drop his pack and sit down.

"I'll be across the hall," Kiersten told them, and impulsively hugged Daniel, while Jack watched from the bench he'd planted himself on. "Thank you, thank you," she whispered, and kissed his cheek. "I'm going to have a long soak and then a nap. The bathrooms are down at the end of the hall, and there's a sauna in the basement, which is where I'm going. Dinner tonight is my treat. We'll eat late, though, so keep your strength up." She grinned at Jack when she said that, and then shut the door behind her.

Daniel turned to look at Jack, and then past him, to the bed. Which was enormous. Like something Henry the Eighth would use, Jack thought. Daniel flew across the room and plummeted into the bed, spread his arms and legs. "Oh, *god*, this feels good." He raised his head and grinned at Jack. "Get your ass over here."

"I can't believe you just said that. You didn't say that. You don't say things like that."

"I do, too. I just did. Obviously, your influence."

"Obviously." By then Jack had reached the bed and climbed up onto it, groaning. "Jesus. Are we ever going to get in bed when one of us isn't too tired, to, uh. Too tired."

"Too tired for what, Jack?"

But Jack lay on top of Daniel, fitting himself carefully to him, and kissed him for his answer. His eyes closed automatically, his breathing slowed, and he felt himself falling asleep. "Sorry," he murmured, and Daniel rolled him gently onto his back and took his boots off. "Sorry."

Daniel kissed him. "Go to sleep, Jack." And Jack did.

When he woke, it was dark, and Daniel was sleeping soundly beside him. He had to pee, and remembered that Kiersten said the bathrooms were at the end of the hall. By the time he returned, Daniel was awake, looking pensive in the starlight that fell through the window.

"Hey," he said, climbing in bed again and rolling against Daniel.

"Hey."

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Tired. Sad."

"Why sad?"

"We only have a little over a week left."

Jack kissed Daniel, as sweetly as he knew how. "A whole week with you. A week. With you. Some of it in this bed."

"Not long. It takes six days to get back to the stargate. Only two days here and we have to go. We won't even really get to see Hylestad again. I might not get to see Dagny."

"Hey," Jack said again, and sat up, leaning against the elaborately carved headboard. "You mean it, don't you. You want to go back to Hylestad."

Daniel rolled his head so it lay on Jack's lap, and looked up at him. "Don't you?"

Jack already knew the answer. He'd been dreaming about it for weeks now. He stroked Daniel's face, the way he had in the sauna at Hylestad, and in their shared bed in Kiersten's home. "Yeah," he whispered.

Daniel caught his hand and kissed his fingers. Neither spoke. In a while, they got up and got dressed and met Kiersten for dinner.

The next day they met Kiersten's friends from the university, an older couple. Abraham was a theoretical physicist and a science historian, Imilie a philosopher. They already knew Kiersten's story of being abducted from another planet, although Jack couldn't tell if they believed it. But they accepted with an equanimity that surprised him their story of the stargate.

"Wormhole," Abraham had repeated; Daniel had used the English word, not knowing a Norwegian equivalent. Daniel and Kiersten struggled with the physics portion of the explanation; Daniel had heard Sam explain it often enough to laymen, but never to another physicist. At last, Abraham said something like "Forvente," and they paused. Kiersten pulled from her pack a bottle of the hooch she'd served SG-1 to celebrate Dagny's birth and Imilie brought out four ceramic shotglasses. "Helse!" Abraham said, and threw his down. Jack already knew better than to try that, but he lifted his glass and said, "Bottom's up."

When Daniel had finished choking and wiping his eyes, Abraham began to talk again. Daniel and Kiersten shared the translation for Jack, occasionally getting caught up in the conversation and forgetting he was there, pitiful monoglot that he was. But he figured out that Abraham was inclined to believe them. Neither he nor Imilie believed in a literal Thor; he politely managed to imply that he didn't believe in a little grey Thor, either, but that he did believe Jack, Daniel, and Kiersten came from somewhere else.

"So?" Jack asked, after a silence. He looked at Abraham. "What do we do? Is there a government we make a treaty with? Send diplomats to?"

Kiersten smiled and shook her head, translating as she did, so soon Abraham and Imilie smiled, too. "Not like on earth," she explained. "That took me a while to figure out. There's a king, here in Hafrsfjord, and another in Mjollnir, but they're figureheads, really. I mean, you can take a dispute to them and they'll give you a hearing, but the only authority they have is the authority you invest in them."

Jack shook his head; too many years in the military, he supposed. "So who makes the big decisions?"

"The Thing," Daniel guessed, looking at Kiersten for confirmation. "Just like there are Things in Hylestad, there are Things in the regional capitols."

"Beyond that," Kiersten added, "there really isn't anything to be decided. Not enough people, for one thing -- remember, Snor's only been populated less than two millennia. Plus it's a cold, mineral-poor planet, so we have to be careful about our resources. We don't have the luxuries of earth."

Jack nodded. It was a bit beyond his imagination, but he saw it made sense to Daniel, and he trusted Daniel on stuff like this. "So. We tell Abraham and Imilie, and they believe us, and then what?"

Daniel spoke to the other couple for a few moments, and then listened intently as Imilie answered, Kiersten nodding in agreement. "They'll bring this up at the next Thing, once the snows have returned. Word'll get out. People will either believe or they won't."

"And that's it."

Daniel looked to Kiersten, who nodded vigorously. "That's it. That's all there is."

"So, as earth's first ambassador to Snor, I've fulfilled my responsibilities."

Daniel smiled brilliantly. "Ambassador O'Neill, you may retire now with full honors." Kiersten translated for Abraham and Imilie, but Jack could tell they didn't get the joke. They smiled politely, and Abraham looked pointedly at Kiersten's bottle, so they had another shot to celebrate whatever had just happened, and then they adjourned for a big fishy lunch of fish soup, fish salad with horseradish sauce, fish pudding with melted butter, fried fish in sour cream, and a sweet rice pudding called riskrim. Afterwards, Kiersten kissed Jack and Daniel goodbye.

"You can't really get lost in Hafrsfjord, because you can see the dome of Bilskirnir no matter where you are. Just head toward it, and then to Friflgeard, and then to the inn. Explore. Have fun. Don't wait up for me." The three of them set off, leaving Jack and Daniel to themselves.

Jack looked speculatively at Daniel. "Wanna explore the city?"

"Do you?"

"No."

Daniel smiled. "Me, either." They started back to the inn. Greatly daring, Jack took Daniel's hand. Nobody glanced twice at them. Nobody stoned them. Nobody reported them.

Jack knew what they were going to do. His stomach was tight and he was sweating a little, even in the cold air. He kept shooting glances at Daniel, who seemed oblivious, just looking around curiously at the city and its inhabitants.

But when they reached their room, Daniel turned a little shy. Jack was charmed. He touched Daniel's body, smiling and blushing as he did so. Daniel turned his head, then turned back and wrapped his arms around Jack. "It's okay," Jack found himself murmuring, "it's okay." He waited for Daniel to lead them to the big bed and they stood there, fingers linked, looking down at it. "We don't have to, uh."

Daniel let go of his hand and started unzipping his jacket, pulling off his black tee shirt. "We better," he said, sounding more like himself. Jack watched him undress, finally sitting on the edge of the bed to enjoy Daniel bending over to untie and pry off his boots. "I'm not on display," Daniel said without looking up at Jack, "and I'm not doing this alone."

So Jack stood up again and started undressing himself, wondering if naked men turned Daniel on. Then he remembered: he turned Daniel on. He'd had plenty of evidence of that. No need to worry. And when Daniel finally pulled off his trousers, Jack saw there really wasn't any need to worry; his dick was already starting to fill. Jack shivered, with anticipation and a little fear. He reached out and stroked Daniel, coaxing his erection. Daniel moaned and pressed against Jack, holding him tightly. "Get undressed, get undressed," he whispered, and started undoing Jack's trousers.

It took forever, Jack thought, to get naked and in bed, but finally, after the weeks he'd been waiting, he was there: lying in bed with Daniel on top of him, kissing him thoroughly. It felt very, very good, and then he didn't think anymore at all.

The friction of Daniel's body against his was sending violent shivers through him; he clutched at Daniel, trying to do everything at once: touch every part of him, kiss every part of him, be touched and kissed by him. It was too much, and if he'd been a younger man he would've exploded by now. Instead, he held Daniel as he came powerfully, humping against Jack's thigh and gasping for breath.

When Daniel lay sated on top of Jack's chest, Jack kissed him and stroked his back slowly. After a few minutes, he raised his head and looked at Jack, a sober look that threw Jack off for a bit, until Daniel scooted up and began to kiss him again. Jack felt him stiffen against his hip, and knew this time would be for him.

His dick sliding through Daniel's warm semen was almost unbearably pleasurable, and he found himself gasping as Daniel had. Then Daniel pulled away from his arms and wrapped one hand around Jack's dick before putting his mouth on Jack, and that, Jack thought before he closed his eyes, was pretty much that.

When he woke up, he was wrapped in Daniel's arms, his head on Daniel's nearly hairless chest. He felt protected, and loved, and sad that the time they had here was so short. He sighed heavily, and tried to roll off Daniel, afraid he was crushing him. "No, no," Daniel whispered, and held him still. "Please."

So he continued to lie in Daniel's arms and watched as the sunlight on the walls dimmed and extinguished and the evening came on. Their last night in Hafrsfjord. They didn't go to sauna that night, or eat dinner. Instead, they lay in the big bed, learning each other's bodies, mapping each other's desires. Jack felt desperate to hold Daniel and he gazed for hours into his face, spending slow, wet kisses as if he were a wealthy man. Daniel did eventually let Jack get up and clean them off, but that was all.

In the morning, they left immediately after breakfast. Kiersten respected their silence; she carried her own sadness, Jack saw, leaving her friends behind, and perhaps the university as well. However, Imilie's sister's man was a fisherman and his boat was leaving that very morning for Kristiannastad, so they sailed for two days and cut four days off their journey. Unfortunately, Daniel proved a poor sailor and spent most of that time vomiting, Jack holding him so he didn't fall overboard when the boat pitched. Both men were grateful to stagger off the boat and onto solid ground again, Daniel pale and sweating as if the ground beneath him were tossing like the sea.

Two days later, they were back at the stargate, and then past it, into Hylestad. Kiersten never said a word when they didn't pause, but quietly followed them into town and to her house. The neighbors who were home came out to greet her, and soon began lining into her house with food for their dinner, just as they had on SG-1's first night there.

"How was Hafrsfjord?" Daniel translated when Uisdean sat down heavily beside Jack. "Never been. Kiersten says it's pretty."

Jack nodded. "It is a pretty place. But too big a city for me. Too noisy."

Uisdean nodded back, happy to have his suspicions about such foreign places confirmed. "You and your man stay here," he told Jack seriously. "I won't be around much longer, and Julle and Dagny need help. Kiersten, too; she won't admit it, but she's getting old."

Jack looked at Daniel, not sure he was translating correctly. Daniel smiled and shrugged. "So you're my man?" Jack asked, genuinely curious, and Daniel nodded.

"I am here. It's what you told Bjord. Is that okay?"

Jack stared at him. Okay? Was he an idiot? "Ye-es."

In the sauna that night, Jack stayed near Daniel, not needing to hide his affection for him from these people. My man, he thought, feeling slightly ridiculous and a little proud. Daniel rubbed Jack's feet while he groaned with pleasure, enjoying the spicy-smelling steam boiling up around them, obscuring the others from his view.

Jack knew that they needed to make a decision. That he needed to make a decision. He studied Daniel in the dreamy light of the sauna; red faced and sweaty, his hair sticking up in wet spikes, he still drew Jack's eyes as no other ever had.

Daniel just looked back at him, blinking in the haze. He never stopped rubbing Jack's feet until Bjord threw open the big door and the race into the ocean began. He tugged at Jack's hand. "Oh, man, I *hate* this," Jack grumbled, but he cannonballed into the inlet along with everyone else, screaming as he hit the water. "Get me out, get me out, get me *out*!" he yelled as soon as he surfaced, and Daniel led him back to the heat of the pool, where they floated in isolation.

When he'd warmed up, Jack turned to face Daniel and backed him against a wall of the pool, wrapping his long legs around Daniel's waist. They kissed, long, unhurried kisses, stopping only when people began returning.

The next day, Jack woke up early, before the dawn, and bullied Daniel into getting up, too. "Another sunrise?" he complained, but followed Jack to the pier, holding hands the entire way.

"Smell that air," Jack told him, breathing deeply. Like salt water and cedar and something alien, something that told him that this wasn't earth, this was Snor. So they sat yet again at the end of the pier, huddled in one of Kiersten's quilts, and waited for the sun to rise.

When the sun first slid above the distant mountain peaks, sparkling on the ocean before them, Jack sighed. "Hey," he said, without looking at Daniel. "You gonna need an assistant for this oh-so-important archaeological excavation you got going here?"

Daniel's eyes widened, and he grinned. "Yeah. Yeah, I could use somebody like Algot to fetch and carry --" Jack shut him up with a kiss. When they broke apart, still smiling goofily at each other, Daniel said, "Do you want to stay? For sure?"

Jack nodded. "It's time, don't you think? After everything we've done? And this is Thor's world. I kinda feel like it was meant to be."

"Isn't this, ah, rather *sudden*?"

Jack looked at him, serious for the moment. "I don't know. Is it?"

They stared at each other, their faces become clearer in the growing light. At last Daniel said, "No. No, actually it isn't."

"No. Not for me, either."

"So we're gonna do this."

"Yeah. I'll tell Hammond this morning. I'll call home."

"Call home. Not go home."

Jack thought about it. Did he want to go back to earth? "I suppose I'll have to, if only to sign the paperwork. I've retired before; it's a bunch of bureaucratic bullshit. And I gotta do something about the house and truck. But other than that, no. I don't want to go back." After a few seconds, he asked, "You?"

"No. Not really. I do want to say goodbye to some people. Sam and Teal'c, of course. General Hammond. Nyan. Janet. Sergeant Siler. And I want the things in my apartment, if that's okay."

"Of course it's okay. Jesus. We're not running away. We're just -- moving."

"Moving really far away."

"Really really far. But you've done it before. You moved to Abydos. Now you're moving to Snor."

"It's the middle of the night at SGC right now. When will you talk to General Hammond?"

"Soon. Soon as I can." Jack smoothed Daniel's hair, then slid his hand to the back of his head and pulled him forward to kiss. He tasted like the night. "I want you so much," Jack whispered between kisses. He was seriously annoyed when Bjord shouted god dag to them.

"I want our own place," Daniel whispered, his eyes closed against the sight of the village coming to life. "I want our very own place, I want you. I want so much, and I never get what I want, Jack." He opened his eyes. "I'm afraid."

Jack stroked his face, seeing the yearning and fear in those blue eyes. "I know," he told him softly. "Me, too. But we'll try, okay, Daniel? We can try."

Daniel nodded, and kissed Jack's hand. "We'll try." He smiled sadly. "We'll try really hard."

Jack helped Kiersten in the kitchen, which he admitted to himself consisted mostly of getting in her way. But he washed up after her, and made her laugh when he pointed out that they had the same haircut, and juggled spoons while Daniel set up the trestle table. Then she and Daniel went off to the dig, wanting to work on it as long as they could before the snows set in, and Jack hiked up to the stargate. It was too early to dial home and reach Hammond; he'd be off-base and asleep. But something drew Jack to the gate. A way to prepare himself, perhaps. A place to think about the upcoming changes in his life.

At the crest above the village, he sat for a while, just looking out over the valley. At little Hylestad, straddling the creek that emptied into the ocean. At the fishing boats already disappearing through the inlet out into deep sea. And at the forest beyond it, all that room, all those trees, all those streams to be fished. Could he persuade Hammond to assign him here, at least for a while? "Shit," he murmured. "Come on, George. Just for a little while."

He turned toward the stargate; someone had placed flowers there, to honor Thor, he assumed. On impulse, he pulled from his pocket his Swiss Army knife, the little one on his keychain, and laid it before the gate. "Don't suppose you have any words of wisdom, hunh, little buddy?" he asked aloud.

There was a brilliant white light, and Jack had to shut his eyes for an instant. "I always do," Thor's instantly recognizable voice said, and Jack looked up to see the frail grey creature stepping through the stargate, blinking at him in the hazy sunlight. "Greetings, Jack O'Neill."

"Hey. Good to see you. Actually, really good to see you."

"Thank you. Why?"

"Uh." Jack stopped. He sighed heavily and said, "Need some advice. Maybe a favor."

"All right."

"All right? All right what?"

Thor blinked. "Is that not the correct expression?"

"I dunno. What are you trying to express?"

"You asked for advice, and a favor. I am agreeing. My advice is you should remain on this planet through their winter, along with Doctor Jackson. He can assist Kiersten in analyzing the clay depositions that will permit them to predict when the next volcanic activity will occur."

"That's your advice? I like your advice. What's my favor?"

"You may tell your General Hammond that I, on behalf of the Asgard High Council, have requested your presence here."

Jack stared at Thor. Little guy, very grey, big eyes slowly blinking at him. "You're kiddin' me, right? How'd you do that?"

Thor stared back at him for a few seconds and then said, "We have our ways."

Jack's jaw literally fell open. "Wait. You've been watching American tv, haven't you. You're making a joke."

"Was it a good joke, O'Neill?"

Jack smiled at him. "Yeah, Thor. It was a good joke. Seriously, how'd you know what I wanted?"

Thor's face was always hard to read. Inscrutable. He just blinked slowly, and sort of nodded his head. "I know you, O'Neill. I brought Kiersten here for a reason. I knew someone from your earth would open the stargate again one day. I'm glad it was you and your team."

Jack stared, frowning, trying to work this out. "So you planned all this?"

Thor shrugged. "I hoped."

Jack continued to stare at him, then rolled his eyes. "Nice job. Listen, can I do you a favor in return? What can I do for you while I'm waiting here for Danny and Kiersten?"

"I was also expecting such a response from you. I ask that you teach these people about the Asgard, and warn them against the Goa'uld, whom they know of as the Ettins. They are on a protected world, but the time will come when they must leave through the stargate, as all children must leave home. When that day comes, they must have legends and myths to prepare them for what they will find. You will provide them."

"I'm to tell them bedtime stories."

Jack thought Thor pursed his mouth, but it was hard to tell. "Not necessarily only before they retire, no, but that is one possible opportunity."

"And you think Hammond will agree to this?"

"I think General Hammond will acquiesce to my request that you and Doctor Jackson remain here for a while."

Jack shook his head, disbelieving his own ears. "Why? You that interested in my love life?"

"In fact, I am interested in all aspects of human life, no matter on which planet. The Asgard are friends to all and protectors to all, but we have been prevented from paying as much attention to our people as we should. You will help me. Teach them, but learn from them, too.

"We will meet again, Jack O'Neill. I look forward to it. I always find our conversations most stimulating."

"Uh, me, too." Thor waved his hand gracefully and a brilliant white light filled the sky again, so Jack had to turn his head. When he looked up again, blinking, Thor was gone, as were the flowers and the Swiss Army knife he had left. "Hey," he said softly, smiling. "Hope it's as useful to you as it was to me."

He hung around the stargate for a bit more; after all, he was in no hurry and had nowhere to go, but Thor was gone. At last, Jack took himself back to Kiersten's house, where he fixed a loose step at the back door, and then oiled a shutter that squeaked in a wind. He was shivering from the cold when Kiersten and Daniel returned.

"Gonna snow," Kiersten said as she shooed him inside, and he agreed. There was a taste of snow in the air. It would be damn cold when he got up to talk to SGC. The three of them cleaned up a bit and then had a hurried dinner before heading off to sauna, where the village could talk of nothing but the coming snow and the return of those out viking. Jack wondered what it would be like, once all those people returned. Strangers to him, now that he was feeling at home with the folks in Hylestad. He couldn't yet speak the near-Norwegian, as Daniel called it, although he was catching more words the longer he stayed her, but he still felt comfortable. At home, in fact.

He wondered if this is how it had been for Daniel on Abydos. A stranger at home. Beloved stranger.

Then it was time to jump in the ocean and Jack couldn't think of anything but getting out. He was Air Force, goddammit, not Navy.

When his chronometer beeped late that night, Jack seriously considered shutting it off but staying in bed. Snuggled next to Daniel, under the quilts, the starlight glowing coldly through the two big front windows, he couldn't imagine leaving. But he knew his reluctance also stemmed from his apprehension about asking Hammond for leave from SGC, for him and Daniel. He eased himself away from Daniel, kissing the back of his neck before slipping out from under the quilts, and quietly dressed. He carried his boots outside and sat on the front step while working them on. His breath frosted in the icy air, and the stars were like daggers in the sky. He stared up at them for a minute, ignoring the discomfort of sitting on the frosty wood, realizing that he would have a new galaxy, a new milky way, to learn. He decided to bring his telescope, next time he came.

Then he pushed off and headed toward the stargate for the second time that day. His boots crunched against the hoarfrosted grasses, and the air was so cold that the inside of his nose froze; he kept pinching it and sniffing briskly. Jesus, if this was late summer, what would winter be like?

The stargate gleamed in the night, starlight reflecting off it like a mirror. It was, Jack admitted to himself, beautiful. A work of art. He wondered if they'd ever meet the Ancients who'd created it, but decided he was a little afraid of them.

Checking his chronometer, he saw he was early, so he paced to keep warm, even jumping up and down a bit, rubbing his hands together briskly. At last, he punched in the address and, with a whoosh, the wormhole formed, and then the event horizon shimmered like the pool in the sauna. He stared at it for a few seconds; it was beautiful, too.

Then he turned his attention to the MALP and saw the little camera on top of it was adjusting to locate him. "General?" he asked, feeling a little silly as he always did when talking through the wormhole.

"Colonel O'Neill!" Hammond's voice was unusually firm tonight. "We had a visitor earlier today. Turns out the Asgard have requested your and Doctor Jackson's services."

"Excuse me? He stared at the camera as if he could see Hammond's expression.

"Yes. They ask if you two could be reassigned to Snor for the duration of one Snor year. Were you aware of their request?"

He shook his head. "No. No, I had no idea they were going to ask us to do that. Stay here? Why?"

"Major Carter?"

"Colonel, the Asgard tell us that Snor undergoes periodic intensive volcanic activity. However, the people they brought there to save from the Goa'uld haven't been there long enough to have experienced it. They say that Professor Farness' discoveries will help prepare the inhabitants for what's coming. Also, that you need to teach them about the stargate."

Damn. Jack smiled a little. "Shouldn't you be teaching them the physics of the wormhole, Major?"

"Not the physics," Hammond said. "The stories. What the wormhole is, how to use it, what's out there if you do use it. They asked especially for you, Colonel.

"I won't order you to do this. And Doctor Jackson is a civilian; I can't order him. But because it is the Asgard, I do ask that you both seriously consider their request. I hate to lose your services for the year or so that you'd be off-world. But the Asgard are powerful allies. I'd like to be able to do them a favor."

"Sir. I agree, and I know Daniel will, too. We would be happy to remain here. Could Carter and Teal'c join us? At least, some of the time?"

"I think that could be arranged. After all, this is only a temporary situation." Hammond sounded happy, Jack thought, trying to school himself not to smile too much. "Major? Teal'c?"

"It would be an honor to assist the Asgard in any way I can," Teal'c said, and Jack wondered if he were imagining the humor he heard in Teal'c answer.

"Ditto, sir," Carter said, and he did smile.

"Thank you. Thank all of you," he said softly.

"I'll draw up your orders," Hammond said. "In the meantime, I don't see any need to continue getting you out of bed in the middle of the night to report in. If you report in at sunset, it should be just about the middle of the morning here. Let you get your sleep."

"Thank you, sir," Jack said, and his gratitude was very sincere.

"That way, Doctor Jackson should be able to accompany you at least some of the time. I'd like to hear his thoughts on the Asgard's proposal."

"I'll bring him tomorrow."

"The day after that is time enough. You and Doctor Jackson think this over for the next day or so. It's a big decision, Colonel. And I think I can guarantee a pay increase for both of you for the duration."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "That would be very welcome, sir."

"All right, Colonel. Go back to bed. We'll see you again in thirty-six hours."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Carter, Teal'c."

"Goodbye," they chorused, and the little light on top of the camera went out. A moment later, the event horizon collapsed.

Jack flung his arms out and leaned back his head. "Thank you, Thor!" he shouted. Then he turned and ran back to Hylestad.

"Daniel, Daniel," he whispered urgently. Daniel jumped.

"Jesus, you're *frozen*," he said, and drew the covers over Jack. "Let me get you warm."

"Oh, you get me warm, all right," Jack said, rubbing up against Daniel's chest and legs. "Have I got news for you. You will not believe this. The Asgard have asked if we'd stay here for the next year."

Daniel pulled back. "You're right. I don't believe this. What? Why?"

Jack kissed him thoroughly, a bit roughly, trying to wake him up. He rubbed his hand over Daniel's chest, touching his nipples, then sliding down to feel his dick rising into his hand. "Oh, god, you feel good. Why? Because Thor's a softie. A romantic. He *likes* me, and he likes you. And I'm gonna go down on you now, so bite the pillow, and don't wake Kiersten."

"Oh -- oh, Jack!" Daniel's hips thrust up and he was lucky Daniel didn't knock a tooth out of Jack's head, then they were moving in unison, Daniel moaning: yes, yes, oh *yes*, while Jack worked hard, feeling a little stupid at the way he had to move to do this, but it was Daniel, and Daniel's pleasure, and they were celebrating, and it wasn't like anybody was watching, and shit, he wanted to fuck Daniel and wondered when their relationship would arrive at that pleasure, and then Daniel was coming in his mouth, and Jack didn't even try to swallow it all down, just reveled in the heat and delicious bittersweet flavor. "Christ," Daniel said clearly and a little loudly.

Jack pulled himself up to look at Daniel, whose eyes were half-closed with exhaustion and pleasure. "I liked that," he whispered to Daniel, who smiled and said, "Me, too." Then Jack bent his head to kiss him again, more gently this time, and laid his body on top of Daniel's, moving slowly against him, trying to draw out the pleasure. Daniel put his hands on Jack's shoulders and pushed and twisted; Jack realized he wanted him on his back, so he rolled over, and then Daniel was on top of him, taking charge, so Jack could relax now. Daniel kissed him everywhere: his mouth and eyes and chin; his throat and ears; his chest and belly; his balls and thighs, and then underneath his balls. To Jack's embarrassment, his thighs opened of their own accord. He felt open and exposed, but he tilted his hips and opened his legs wider, and wondered if Daniel wanted to fuck him as much as he wanted to fuck Daniel.

"Bite the pillow," Daniel advised him, and then brushed a moist finger over Jack's opening, rubbing softly and licking at him. Jack groaned and threw one arm over his eyes. Daniel kissed him, and then slid his finger inside Jack at the same time he began to suck his dick, and then Jack couldn't think anymore.

He slept well that night, cuddled up to Daniel, curling around his back, his thighs pressed against Daniel's. "I love you," he whispered when he woke to full daylight. Daniel twisted his head back.

"I love you, Jack. I always have."

"That Thor."

Daniel smiled brilliantly. "So we're really gonna stay here? A full Snor year?" Jack nodded, smiling back at him.

"In Delfin's house, just like Kiersten said. And we'll sauna every night, and I'll tell stories."

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, that's my job. Thor asked me to tell stories, about the stargate and the Goa'uld, only they're Ettins here, and in general get everybody ready for when they start going off-world."

Daniel stared at him. "Thor wants that? What am I supposed to do?"

"Just what you're doing. Help Kiersten. He said your work is really important, that it'll help the people here prepare for the next volcano. Whatever it is that caused all the destruction you told me about." Daniel shook his head disbelievingly. "No, it's true. The little guy had it all planned out, way back when he brought these people here."

Daniel didn't speak for a while, and then smiled. "I guess all that really matters is that we're here for a while. You don't have to retire. We can be together."

Jack kissed him tenderly. "That's all that really matters." They kissed more, Jack sliding his tongue into Daniel's mouth and pressing against him, then rolling on top of him.

"Kiersten will be up soon," Daniel whispered between kisses.

"Kiersten is a grown up. She'll figure this out and go back to bed," Jack reassured him, and then began rocking his hips, pushing his erection against Daniel's belly, straddling Daniel's hips. Daniel groaned and began pushing back, clutching at Jack's back and then sliding his hands down to seize his butt. Jack thought he heard a door open and then softly close; he smiled as he kissed Daniel and focused on the task at hand.

Just before he came, Daniel opened his eyes and looked at Jack. He looked almost in pain as he dropped his head back and cried out, shivering in Jack's arms. Jack held him firmly, waiting patiently for him to relax, gasping for breath, and then Daniel said, "When will you fuck me?" and Jack came with a shout.

"Jesus," he said when he could talk again. "Where'd that come from?"

Daniel rolled onto his side and smiled up at Jack. "So you're not thinking about it?"

"Of course I'm thinking about it. I can't think about anything else. I couldn't think about anything else the entire time we were on earth. I just didn't know you were thinking about it."

Daniel lightly kissed him. "Oh, it crossed my mind a time or two."

They stared at each other. Poor Kiersten, Jack thought briefly, stuck in her own bedroom. At last he answered, "In Delfin's house. When we're home."

Daniel smiled again, as brilliantly as the sun pouring through the windows. "When we're home," he echoed.

That Thor, Jack thought again as he rose and pulled Daniel to his feet. They went into the bathroom together; Jack paused to knock on Kiersten's closed door. "God dag!" he called out, and heard Kiersten giggle. Then he looked at Daniel, already brushing his teeth while he looked at Jack. Beautiful, wise, and knowledgeable man. Min mann. Because Jack knew the correct possessive now.

*****

Epilog

"My god, it's cold," Carter said, and was instantly sorry she'd spoken aloud. Her teeth ached from the cold, her breath fogged into crystals, her eyelashes clicked when she blinked. The readings from the MALP had been Antarctic, and she'd nearly frozen in the Antarctic, so she had supposed she'd know what to expect.

She hadn't known what to expect. They'd been underground, protected in a cave, when the misfiring of the stargate had deposited her and Jack in Antarctica. Here, they were above ground and a strong wind was swirling the snow around them. The ground was white, the trees were white, the sky was white.

"I begin to understand why they call this planet 'Snow,'" Teal'c said. She looked up at him to see his eyebrows and lashes were coated with ice. She just nodded, not wanting to open her mouth again.

Daniel was right, she thought as she stepped gingerly through the mounded snow, searching for the steps beneath it. The Ancients must have placed the stargate here because the winds scoured this hilltop nearly clean of snow. Only on the leeward side did much remain. But the wind cut straight through her gear; she ought to be wearing something designed for outer space.

Before the onset of winter, Jack and Daniel had set out little lights that glowed yellow, leading them toward Hylestad. "Follow the yellow brick road," Jack had told them the last time he'd been up to the stargate, and she saw what he'd meant. The landscape was entirely different buried under the snow; she was very grateful for the lights. They ran on tiny naquadah generators that she herself had invented, and even their low wattage melted the snow that settled around them. Teal'c strode off and she followed quickly, anxious to get under the tree line and out of the wind.

Once they reached the crest of the bluff overlooking Hylestad, she was even more grateful for the lights. There was no way she would have recognized it. She wasn't even sure she'd have recognized it as a village. The inlet was filled with grey and blue cracked ice, piled up crazily; the harbor was completely invisible. Either they'd drydocked all the boats or else built some kind of shelter over them, now buried in snow. Then she hurried to catch up with Teal'c, stumbling through the massy weight of the snow. She wondered what they'd find.

In the months that the Colonel and Daniel had been gone, she'd been off-world only a few times. General Hammond had reassigned her and Teal'c to various other SG teams, depending on their missions, but mostly she'd been able to work in her lab, revisiting old projects. Teal'c had assisted the linguistic team with translations and even taught a beginning class in Abydonian. They'd met frequently, for dinner off-base, where they could speculate about their teammates' new lives. She'd made sure Teal'c understood the U.S. military's position on fraternization and same-sex relationships. He disapproved strongly, his firm mouth turning down in disgust at the Tau'ri's primitive ways, but nodded his head. He was loyal to O'Neill, she knew, and loved Daniel Jackson.

She was, she admitted to herself, a little jealous that they had been chosen, by the Asgard no less, to remain behind. Although she wasn't sure what work she could've done on Snor, really. And she knew in her heart that they needed time away from the mountain and SGC to recover. That was the euphemism she used in the privacy of her own head: they were recovering from all the terrible things that had happened to them, over the years they'd worked together and even before.

Nearly thirty minutes later, she stumbled into a kind of bus shelter, a wooden-framed opening that led, she soon saw, into a tunnel, this one lined with much brighter lights than the little globes that had lit their way from the stargate. They stopped and rested for a moment; it had been hard work slogging through the snow. Her feet were absolutely frozen, numb from the cold. She'd need to report back that these new boots weren't adequate. And the insulated gloves could work better, too.

Teal'c looked at her, and she laughed. "Hey," she said, and reached up to wipe the snow off his scalp and face. His mouth twitched, and for a moment she thought he might laugh, so she rubbed vigorously at her own face, wiping her nose and eyes and eyebrows. Even her bangs were frozen. She probably had icicles hanging from her nose.

They walked on, a much easier task inside the tunnel, which was swept clean of snow once they'd gotten away from its mouth. She wondered how many feet of snow were above them, but dismissed the thought. These people had been digging snow tunnels and caves for a thousand years; she just had to trust they knew how to make them safe.

Ahead, they heard voices. Carter looked at Teal'c, who grasped his staff weapon more firmly. She checked her P90, wondering if the cold and snow had rendered it ineffective, and they moved more cautiously forward. Then she realized she was listening to kids' voices, shouting as they played some game. She'd studied Norwegian in the months away and recognized a few words: Stop. Me. No. Not enough to know what they were playing.

The light ahead of them grew brighter and then they turned a corner and saw a large open space. A snow-packed playing field, full of kids bundled up like miniature Santa Clauses, racing around with long sticks. Like hockey sticks. She and Teal'c skirted the game cautiously, not wanting to get hit with one of the sticks or the flat object -- a puck? -- being shot across the field from player to player. Some of the kids looked up at them, but were immediately engrossed in the exciting game again.

A familiar voice stopped them. "Major? Teal'c?" She looked up to find Colonel Jack O'Neill standing before them, a smart-alecky grin on his handsome face. He was wearing several layers of sweaters and a puffy coat that reached his knees, open to the gelid air. "Welcome to Snor!"

"It is good to see you again, O'Neill," Teal'c intoned, and her years of working with him let Carter know how happy he was to see Jack again.

"Oh, come *on*," he said; he rolled his eyes and embraced Teal'c, slapping him on the back. The effect was like slapping a barrel of wine. "Carter, ya got a hug for your colonel, or is that against regs?" She dropped her weapon to her side and embraced him happily; he lifted her right off the ground.

Then he stepped back, grinning. "Goddamn, it's good to see you. Come on, let's get you inside. This way. Daniel's cooking," and he rolled his eyes again.

The kids yelled something out to Jack and he waved and shouted something back to them, walking backwards for a minute. Long enough for Carter to see how relaxed and happy he was. She smiled to herself and glanced at Teal'c, to find him looking at her. She nudged him with her shoulder and he looked minutely affronted.

Jack led them around the field and into another tunnel, this one wider and obviously more traveled. "You probably don't recognize it, but that's Kiersten's place," Jack said, gesturing to their right. He was correct; Carter would never have recognized it. Only part of the top floor was visible; apparently, the tunnel was built high above ground level. "And that's Bjord's, and down here is Uisdean's and Julle's and little Dagny's, and you don't know these people, but they're Trigve and Helle; they were out viking when you were here. Good people. And here is Delfin's house, where we're staying." He practically sprang up the stairs to the front door and ushered them through the little foyer into the big main room.

It was a lot like Kiersten's house, low-ceilinged and very open, probably to retain heat, Carter thought as she looked around. But the kitchen was along one side instead of in the back, with a firebox and a long open counter separating the two rooms. Daniel was bending over the counter, peering into a casserole dish; he looked over the top at them and smiled. She couldn't help but smile back. Who could resist Daniel's smile?

"Oh my god. Daniel," she said, and he rushed around to her, embracing her firmly.

"Oh, I've missed you Sam," he said, and she felt tears start to her eyes.

"Me, too. So much." He kissed her cheek lightly and stepped back. "You look wonderful," she said before thinking, and blushed. But he did. He looked incredibly healthy and happy. His eyes shifted to Jack, and she thought that was an answer.

"It is," Teal'c hesitated and she looked up at him in concern. "It is very good to see you again, Daniel Jackson."

"Teal'c." Daniel looked at him for a moment, and then hugged him, too. To Carter's surprise, Teal'c's arms folded around him, and he bowed his head.

"Hey, hey, I'm getting' jealous," Jack said, but his voice was kindly, and Carter thought he was trying to hide how touched he was to see them again.

"Jack."

"Daniel. What's for dinner?"

"Fish pudding. Julle's dill bread. Ake's hot house tomatoes. And riskrim for dessert."

"Cool. You guys hungry?"

"Uh, yes, sir," Carter answered in surprise. That hike from the stargate had taken a bit out of her, and she hadn't had much of an appetite for breakfast.

"Sit down, Sam," Daniel told her, and led her to an oversized cushion near the firebox. "Take off your boots, both of you, and make sure your feet and toes are okay. That's really important. It's easy to get frostbitten and not even know it."

"Yeah, Daniel's right," Jack said, and Carter could hear him turn into a superior officer again, concerned about his subordinates.

"Jack, pour them some cider. It's okay, Teal'c; it's non-alcoholic. Listen, we only have one guest room. Do you guys mind sharing?"

Carter shook her head. How many tents had she and Teal'c shared over the years? He knew more about her than her closest girlfriends, not that she had that many. In some ways, they were practically married.

When her boots and socks were off and fresh socks pulled on, she looked around again. Daniel and Jack were both in the kitchen, staring at a quivering whitish mound of something that looked like a blanc mange. Dinner, she supposed. "Butter sauce?" Jack asked, slightly incredulously, and she wondered what that was about. She looked at Teal'c, who was watching them closely. Avidly, even. She felt a pang. As good a friend as she'd tried to be to Teal'c, she knew how much he'd missed his relationship with Jack.

What a weird little family they made, she realized suddenly, and couldn't tell if that made her happy or sad. Both, she supposed. She would give her life for any one of them, and yet knowing them had cast her into a strange isolation from which she knew she would never recover.

Well, so be it, she thought resolutely. Que sera, sera. Too bad she hadn't learned the Norwegian equivalent. Then her stomach growled loudly, and Jack beamed at her. "Perfect timing, Carter."

They'd gone through the gate at oh-nine-hundred SGC time, so it was early evening on Snor. She felt wide awake, and intensely curious about the life Jack and Daniel had created for themselves. She watched them banter all through dinner and the subsequent clean-up, noted how closely they stood and sat together, how their heads would touch when then bent over to review a book Catherine had sent for Daniel. Both men were wearing their hair a little longer; definitely non-regulation for Jack, although she assumed it would be warmer, curling around his ears like that. She wondered why they hadn't grown beards, and then blushed when she thought of one possible reason.

Really, Sam, she scolded herself. You have no insight into their relationship. Their behavior. Or anything. They could be just friends, sharing a house.

And she could be buying swamp land in Florida.

"So tell me how you fill the days here," she said, to interrupt her own thoughts as much as to learn about them. Daniel looked up, the light glinting off his glasses as he smiled at her.

"It's great, Sam." They left the kitchen, Daniel carrying four mugs and Jack a steaming pitcher of something that smelled both sweet and spicy. "Kiersten has a great lab set up on her ground floor, thanks to SGC, and we can finally do some serious dating of the artifacts. I've been plotting the findings on the computer so we can do some statistical analyses. We've also been exploring dendrochronology, even though it rains so much here."

"Daniel's been having a ball," Jack said, pouring what turned out to be hot spiced wine into Sam's mug, "while I stay home and take care of the house."

"Oh, please," Daniel said, rolling his eyes. "He's off ice fishing with Line and Gorun and Bjord and about fifty others. Repairing Bjord's boat, which is a never-ending project. Teaching the kids hockey."

"And telling stories," Jack added, raising his eyebrows as he stared sternly at Daniel.

"Ah, yes." Daniel smiled at him. "Telling stories."

"The Asgard Thor requested you do so, did he not, O'Neill."

Jack sat on a cushioned bench, his back against a wall near the firebox; Carter watched as Daniel sat on a cushion at his feet and leaned back against his legs. Completely unselfconsciously. She hid a smile in her mug.

"Yeah, he did," Jack said, and smiled fondly. "Great job, too. I tell them what we've been doing these past years, they think I'm this world's biggest liar. But the kids eat it up. Some of the adults believe me, of course. Kiersten is respected in the community, so that helps. And everybody's heard of the Ettins. I'm just givin' them a little more detail."

Daniel said, "Thor's theory is that when these people finally go through the stargate, they'll have these stories as a context from which to understand what they'll find."

"Why does he think they'll go through the stargate?" Sam wondered. "There isn't any Goa'uld influence on the planet. Not like on Abydos, where you found that cartouche room, Daniel, with all the addresses for other worlds with gates."

"They're smart," Jack answered for him, and Daniel nodded, sipping his own wine. "Really smart. Before the snows, we went back to Hafrsfjord and met with some friends of Kiersten's. They told other people, who came out here to see the gate and examine the DHD. We won't have to do a thing."

"And you've told them about the Goa'uld, I mean, the Ettins?"

"Many times," Daniel said, and Carter smiled again at how they answered for each other. "And of course, everyone on the planet has heard the story that they were brought here from Midgard to protect them from the Ettins. But the educated consider that a myth. As if you suddenly started telling us that the earth was on the back of a turtle. You can imagine how seriously this is being taken."

"By some, Daniel. By others . . ." Jack didn't finish the sentence, but the two men smiled at each other.

"So you think it'll help? Someday?"

Jack shrugged. "Thor thinks so. That's all that really matters, doesn't it? He looks after his people."

"Have you seen this Asgard recently?" Teal'c asked.

"He visited us not long after you left," Daniel told them, and he and Jack laughed in happy recollection.

"Yeah, he does this --" Jack waved his mug a bit -- "light thing and, pow, there is he, just standing there lookin' at you." He shook his head.

"I think he did that on purpose," Daniel said, and Carter had the feeling this was an old argument.

"Well, I can't believe that, but either way, he sure got an eyeful," Jack said, and drank down his wine.

"Should I ask what happened?" Carter said hesitantly, wondering if what she was imagining was true.

"No," both men answered simultaneously, and laughed. Teal'c looked at Carter and she swore she saw him wink.

"Time for sauna," Daniel said, glancing at his chronometer, and he tugged Jack to his feet. "Please come," he said, turning to Carter and Teal'c. "You enjoyed it last time, didn't you?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Carter answered honestly, and Teal'c bowed his head in agreement.

The pool and sauna were a lot more crowded, Carter realized, now that everyone had returned from viking. She actually had to rub up against nude strangers, which was so weird she couldn't wrap her mind around it. The language flowed around her the same way the steam and water and bodies did, confusing her a bit. She finally reached out, snaking her arm between people, to touch Teal'c's shoulder; he must've understood, after his years on earth, and came to her, impassively slipping through the intervening bodies.

"This is disconcerting, is it not, Major Carter."

"Jesus, I'll say. And it's Sam," she corrected him faintly. "Remember the colonel's rules."

"Ah. Yes. We are in fact clothes-less." She smiled and nodded, and felt better already.

"Where is the colonel?"

Teal'c nodded and she looked in that direction. She could just see Jack through the press; Daniel was next to him, neck deep in the water, relaxing against Jack's shoulder. Jack was talking a mile a minute to someone, Bjord, maybe. Some big Viking of a guy, who listened intently, nodding occasionally.

They had lives here, she saw. Full lives, with friends and co-workers. And full lives with each other. Don't ask, don't tell, but their faces and gestures shouted out the truth to her, attuned to them as she was after all these years. "Oh, I'm going to adore you," Jack had said when they first me, and he did. In his own way, he did, all of them. And she adored him, and Daniel, and Teal'c.

At some unseen signal, people began rising from the pool and moving into the actual sauna, which steamed mightily in the cool air. Teal'c, to her surprise, took her hand and led her to Jack and Daniel's side. "Sam!" Daniel cried out, almost as if he'd forgotten she was here, and he pushed Jack over to make room for them on the warm benches.

"My god, it's hot in here," she gasped, sweat streaming down her bodies, gathering under her breasts. She must be as red-faced as Daniel, from heat and embarrassment.

"Yeah, it's kind of extreme," he agreed. "But good for you, I'm told. The steam is called the loyly, a word of Finnish derivation. It's supposed to relax not only your muscles, but your mind and your emotions. Delicate negotiations should take place in a sauna." Sam tried to envision various heads of state sitting nude in a steam-filled sauna, but boggled. "So we talk, here. Make plans. Review decisions. Gossip." Jack grinned at that. "It's good." Daniel smiled and nodded to himself. "I like it."

"On Chulak, it is believed to restore health and harmony between symbiote and host," Teal'c said. "It is a very old custom, but reserved for male Jaffa."

"Not female Jaffa?" Daniel asked, ever the scholar.

"No. That would not be appropriate." Carter raised her eyebrows and looked up at him.

"Are you okay being in mixed company?" she asked.

Teal'c twisted his head in that way he had, one that reminded Carter how alien he really was. After a moment, he said, "Yes. I am not on Chulak. As I believe Daniel Jackson would tell us: When on Snor."

Someone threw water on the heated stones, and steam billowed up. "The loyly?" Carter asked, watching it.

"Yes," Daniel answered. "The spirit of the sauna. It helps you sweat and relax. You should flow with it. Watch it move through the sauna, and feel it move through you."

It all sounded very mystical to Carter, but she did feel as relaxed as boiled spaghetti. Even being nude in front of her equally nude teammates didn't seem too weird. Maybe a little funny, but naked men always looked funny. Except when they looked good, and all her teammates looked good.

"How long can you stay?" Jack asked her suddenly. She glanced at Teal'c.

"General Hammond has instructed us to report back in four days. We may be permitted to remain longer if we wish and if there is no urgency for us to return."

"Are you on vacation?" Daniel asked.

Carter hesitated. "I think so. We're supposed to report back to the general how you're doing, of course. But you could've done that through the MALP. I think he mostly wanted to be sure you're okay, and to give us some downtime. We've been pretty busy while you've been gone." She saw instantly that Daniel's guilt was triggered. "It's okay," she tried to reassure him. "I've had fun and gotten a lot of work done. Really."

"I believe Major Carter is correct," Teal'c said suddenly. "General Hammond was concerned about you, and about us." He sat straight, unlike everyone else listing to one side or another in the superheated room.

"What're ya gonna tell him?" Jack asked; Carter thought she caught a gleam of concern in his eyes.

"That you're doing terrific. That you're happy. What would you like us to tell him?"

Daniel turned to look at Jack, and for a moment, Carter saw them. Saw them as a stranger might, who didn't know their personal and professional histories. Saw two handsome men who respected each other, cared for each other. Loved each other, she admitted to herself. "Just that," Daniel finally said, turning back to Sam. "Exactly that."

Then someone opened the outside doors and the stampede for the ocean began. Carter grinned to herself; she actually liked this part. What a rush. And it was fun listening to the colonel scream.

Late that night, tucked into the guest room of Delfin's house, listening to Teal'c's breathing as he meditated, Carter remembered that moment of rushing from the crowded heat of the sauna into the icy ocean water. A metaphor for her life since joining SG-1, she thought, staring up at the ceiling. They'd left the door slid open and the glow from the firebox reddened the night. Daniel and Jack slept in the main room; she wondered if they slept there every night, or in here. She wondered what they were doing, if they would do anything with her and Teal'c present, if they ever did anything.

Don't ask, Samantha, she scolded herself. But oh, she wanted to know. She wanted to know.

It was an itch between her shoulder blades she couldn't reach. It was intellectual curiosity. It was sheer nosiness. But at last, she couldn't stand it. She had to pee, anyway. So she rose as quietly as she could and glided to the door. Peered out cautiously, not sure what she'd see. The bathroom was to her right, but she looked left, feeling guilty and a little ashamed. Finally, she straightened her back and walked to the bathroom, shutting door behind her without looking at anything in the main room. When she'd finished, she washed her hands, stood in front of the door for a few seconds, and then opened it.

Jack and Daniel were sleeping together. There was no doubt. Unlike her and Teal'c's sleeping arrangement, they shared quilts. They were both asleep, Jack's head rolled onto Daniel's shoulder. Daniel's glasses were on a low table on Jack's side, along with a thick book fringed with yellow stickies. She stared at them, and smiled, then returned to her bedroom.

"They are together, are they not, Major Carter."

Carter jumped and tripped over her boots. "Holy Hannah, you scared me, Teal'c." She put her hands out and carefully walked toward his voice, kneeling when her toes bumped into the mat and quilts. Crawling into bed, she snuggled deep into it; even with the firebox and the open door, it was a cold night. At last, she admitted, "Yeah. I'm pretty sure they are." There was a silence, and then she asked, "You remember what I told you, about the military and, uh, the policy on, uh."

"I do indeed remember, Major Carter. I find it insulting and demeaning, but I do remember. I will neither ask nor tell."

"Thank you, Teal'c. Me, neither."

"Are you not bound by your oaths to tell, now that you've seen?"

"Well, that's a grey area," she said, hoping she was telling herself the truth. "If someone, say General Hammond, were to ask me outright, I suppose I'd have to tell. But since I haven't *really* seen anything, and don't really know anything, it's only speculation, I could probably just say that. I don't know." Quibbling, a voice in her head scolded.

"Such a relationship would be respected on Chulak," he told her, not for the first time, as he grappled to understand these strange Tau'ri rules and regulations. She shrugged; they weren't on Chulak and Teal'c knew that.

"Go to sleep," she finally told him. In the firebox's glow, she saw him turn restlessly under the quilts, settling on his side facing her.

"Major Carter," he whispered, his deep voice vibrating in her chest. "It is difficult for me to sleep when you are so worried."

She reached out her hand and lightly touched his arm where it lay outside the covers. "I'm not worried. Honest. Just." She thought for a moment. "Oh, Teal'c. May I tell you a secret?"

"You may. I will never reveal it."

"I kind of had a crush on Colonel O'Neill. So I've had to sort of get used to the idea of him and Daniel."

There was a long silence, and then he slid his hand out from under his head and captured her hand where it lay on the mat next to him. "That is not a secret, Major Carter. But I will never tell."

"Thank you."

"You are welcome. Now, you must go to sleep so we can adjust to the circadian rhythm of this world. O'Neill and Daniel Jackson are the same people they were before they left earth. Nothing has changed." She lifted her head, puzzled. "Nothing has changed," he repeated.

Oh. She smiled. "Really? You know that?"

"Don't ask," he said, and she giggled.

"Then you shouldn't've told," she whispered, a little breathless.

"Go to sleep," he said again, and she squeezed his hand before drawing her own back and snuggling into the warmth of her bed.

In the morning, when she saw Jack and Daniel, she realized Teal'c was right. Nothing had changed. Or more accurately, only she had changed. They were exactly the same: teasing each other, playfully arguing, blowing up over something and instantly forgiving each other, challenging each other in every way. Why hadn't she seen this?

Because you didn't want to, she told herself. She'd been starry-eyed to meet Doctor Daniel Jackson, boy wonder who'd solved the riddle of the stargate, and starry-eyed to meet Colonel Jack O'Neill, pilot extraordinaire. She'd instantly been attracted to both men, and still was, really. So she'd blinded herself to their own relationship, the one developed on another world, one she'd never be privy to.

But that was okay, she thought, smiling at Daniel as he poured her a cup of the best coffee on Snor. Because she loved them. Because they were family, more than her brother Mark was family.

"What's on today's agenda?" she asked Jack as he accepted a cup of coffee from Daniel, too.

"Kiersten," Daniel said, and Jack nodded, closing his eyes as he inhaled the steam of the coffee. "She wasn't at sauna last night, and besides, we're anxious to show you what we've done."

"That's great, Daniel." She smiled brilliantly at him, the best smile she know how to give, and enjoyed his response. He was a very beautiful man. No wonder Colonel O'Neill loved him. She looked at Jack, who was watching her over his coffee.

"Happy, Major?" he asked, and his mouth twitched.

"Almost as happy as you are, sir," she answered, and heard Daniel laugh softly in the kitchen. Jack raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

Teal'c sat next to her, and she looked up at him. "Are you rested, Major Carter?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I finally got to sleep. Thank you."

He nodded, looking subtly pleased. "We will talk again," he promised her, and she nodded in agreement. Yeah, they would. Probably for years. She nudged him with her shoulder and this time, to her pleasure, he gently nudged her back.

When she looked back at Jack, he was watching them closely, a small frown on his face. You have your secrets, she thought smugly, and we have ours. And we'll keep yours safe forever.

"Indeed," Teal'c murmured, and she didn't know if he was responding to her last statement or if he had caught her thought.

"I'm glad you guys came," Daniel told them, as he sat down with them. "I've missed you both."

"Oh, me, too, Daniel," Carter said, and reached out for his hand. "It's just not the same without you around the mountain."

"No one to be geeky with?" Jack asked.

"Well, there's Graham," she said, but then shook her head. "Nobody like you, Daniel."

Jack laughed. "Yeah. That's true, Danny. Nobody like you."

Daniel glowed, whether from embarrassment or pleasure, Carter wasn't sure, but he ducked his head and smiled into his coffee mug. "Not many like you, either, flyboy," he muttered.

"I look forward to meeting Professor Farness again," Teal'c said, effectively cutting short the teasing. Carter was grateful.

"Yeah, she's looking forward to seeing you guys again, too," Jack said, no longer joking. "In fact," he glanced at his chronometer, "we should go. Ready, Daniel?"

"I'll get our gear," Daniel said, and all four of them stood up.

"Wait, Daniel," Carter said impulsively. He stopped and turned toward her, curious. She stepped up to him, paused, and then put her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Her fellow geek. Her little brother. "I really did miss you, and I'm really happy to see you again, and doing so well."

He hugged her back. "Thank you, Sam," he said, sounding surprised.

"Now you've hurt my feelings," Jack announced, so when she could let go of Daniel, she stepped to his side and hugged him with one arm, leaving her other hand on Daniel's elbow.

"Group hug, Teal'c," Jack said. Teal's stared at them, and then bowed.

"I, too, have missed my friends. I hope to see you more frequently than we have recently."

Jack looked at Daniel. "Does that constitute a hug?" Daniel nodded.

"Yes, definitely, in Jaffa culture, that would be quite an emotional hug."

Jack looked back at Teal'c. "Ditto."

They stood there, in Delfin's kitchen, for a minute more, then Sam stepped away to find her coat and gloves, Teal'c following her, and Daniel started pulling things off the carved pegs by the foyer. When Sam returned from their room, she saw Jack, hands on his hips, surveying his team, the way he used to just before stepping through the stargate.

"Everything okay, sir?" she asked.

"Oh, sure. You betcha," he said, and smiled at her. Then he transferred that smile to Daniel, who stopped still, as if the smile itself had knocked him over. "Off to see the wizard," Jack said, and took his coat from Daniel's arm. "Come on, kids. Shake a leg."

"My legs do not require shaking," Teal'c said.

Jack's jaw dropped open. "That's a joke, isn't it. You made a joke."

"Of course he made a joke, Jack," Daniel told him. "And at your expense, I'd like to point out." Carter watched them closely as they bickered, and as Jack wrapped a thick scarf around Daniel's neck. "We're only going to Kiersten's," Daniel complained, adjusting it, "not to Hafrsfjord."

But Jack just bullied him out the front door, Carter and Teal'c following more slowly, and she stepped out into the icy morning on Snor, the snow crunching beneath her feet and the air smelling clean and piney. Her eyes burned from the sudden change in temperature, and she had to stop to wipe the tears away. Teal'c handed her a kleenex.

"Are you all right, Major Carter?" he asked quietly as they followed Jack and Daniel.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Thank you, Teal'c."

"You are welcome. Now we must hurry." He glanced at her, and this time she was sure he winked. "Or we will miss the show."

She stopped dead, staring after him. Then she began to follow her teammates, as she had so many times before.