Commander Adama saw his son walking down the corridor and called to him. 
"Apollo!"

Captain Apollo turned to his father. "Yes, Father? What is it?"

"I have something to show you. You too, Starbuck," he added, seeing that his 
son's wingmate was with him.

Looking at each other curiously, the two warriors followed Adama to his 
office.

The Commander showed them a pile of books and scrolls. "These were some of 
the things we were able to salvage from the museums in the Colonies after 
the Destruction," Adama explained. "Ironically, much of it was stashed away 
in basements and underground storage rooms, which is why these items survived 
when so much else didn't. I don't think anyone has even looked at these 
scrolls since they were discovered almost a hundred yahrens ago. I forced 
myself to make time to study them, finally."

Apollo carefully picked up one of the scrolls and examined it. "I can't read 
this."

"It's in Old Tongue," Adama told him. "I know some Old Tongue, but I'm still 
having trouble deciphering some of it. It doesn't help that much of the
writing is blurred." He waved his hand over the pile of books and scrolls. 
"Some of these even predate Old Tongue. They're written in hieroglyphs. In 
some ways, that's easier to read. I can get the general idea by looking at 
the pictures."

"What's it all about?" Starbuck asked.

"I haven't read all of it, by any means," the Commander answered. "Much of it 
concerns the Lords of Kobol. There are stories here that never made it into
the Book of the Word."

"Stories like what?" Apollo asked, intrigued.

Adama picked up a scroll. "Apparently, millennia ago, the Lords came up against
a race -- I can't quite make out the name -- who lived in symbiotic 
relationships with some sort of reptilian creature. In fact, if I read
this correctly, at one time this race was allied with the Cylons. Now, 
we know that the Cylons were not always an exclusively mechanical race..."

"We do?" Starbuck asked.

"Yes, we do. You've seen pictures of the Imperious Leader, haven't you?"
Adama reminded him.

"Oh, yeah, right," Starbuck answered. "Go on."

"Well, at some point in their evolution the Cylons were a combination of
mechanical being and living being. The mechanical bodies carried these
reptilian creatures inside them."

"Biomechanoids," Apollo said.

Adama continued. "I found these star charts" -- he indicated a stack of papers
--"and it seems the Lords had a colony on this planet here." He pointed
to a location on the chart. "If they left anything behind, maybe more 
hieroglyphs, we may be able to find more information about the thirteenth 
tribe there. It's not far away. If we change direction just slightly, we 
should be there in three days."

Meanwhile, on Earth....

SG-1 were in a briefing with General Hammond.

"What do you have for us, Dr. Jackson?" Hammond asked.

"I've been studying the writings we found on P3X-913," Daniel answered. 
"They concern some beings known as the Lords of Kobol."

"Goa'uld?" Colonel O'Neill asked.

"If they are, I have not heard of them," Teal'c put in.

"Using the name 'Lords' does sound like Goa'uld, but I don't think
they are. Or were. In fact, I think they fought the Goa'uld. There's
reference to a group of Goa'uld who, because they were had been 
defeated by the Lord of Kobol, were forced into exile. They couldn't 
find hosts for the symbionts. They created biomechanoid warriors 
in alliance with a race called the Cylons. The hosts were machines -- 
mechanical Jaffa, you might say."

"Are we talking Daleks or Cybermen?" O'Neill asked.

Carter and Teal'c stared at him. Daniel smiled. "I didn't know you
were a fan of Doctor Who, Jack."

Jack looked down at the table. "Well, which ones are they?"

Daniel explained the differences between Daleks and Cybermen. "In this case, 
I'm thinking they would be more like Daleks -- living beings travelling 
inside mechanical shells."

"Thank you," said the Colonel. "But why didn't they just use the Cylons
for hosts, instead of building these mechanical thingies?"

"The Cylons weren't appropriate hosts, apparently. There's reference to 
some sort of supreme being the Cylons followed. They called it their
Imperious Leader. I think the Imperious Leader was a Goa'uld."

As Carter and Teal'c were still trying to figure out Daleks and Cybermen,
Hammond changed the subject.

"This is all very enlightening, Dr. Jackson, but what exactly does it have                
to do with us?"

"I haven't finished translating all the writings, but if these Lords of
Kobol really did defeat the Goa'uld, then we have to find them, or at least 
find out more about them. They'd be very important allies. There may 
be written records of exactly how they defeated the Goa'uld. But what's even 
more important...."

"There's something more important than defeating the Goa'uld?" Jack 
interrupted.

Daniel ignored him. "What's even more important is that these Lords of
Kobol may be the Ancients, the ones who built the Stargates."

"I agree with DanielJackson," Teal'c said. "I think we should find the Lords
of Kobol."

"But where do we find them?" Carter asked.

"That's the hundred thousand dollar question," Daniel sighed.

"Why is MajorCarter's question worth a large amount of money?" Teal'c 
asked.

Sam grinned and explained the reference.

"Well then, DannyBoy," Jack said, "you'd better get on with your reading."

"Maybe the Tok'ra know something about the Lords of Kobol," Sam suggested. 
"Or the Asgard."

"Major, contact the Tok'ra and find out what they know," Hammond ordered.
"Colonel, you talk to the Asgard. Teal'c, I want you to help Dr. Jackson.
We'll meet in three days to discuss your findings. Dismissed."

Back on the Galactica....

Apollo and Starbuck arrived on the bridge, summoned by the Commander.

"This is the planet I was telling you about," Adama said. "The one that was
settled by the Lords of Kobol after they left Kobol itself. I'm sending a
group down to do some preliminary exploration, and I want the two of you to
escort them in your vipers. Hopefully the Cylons are far enough behind us 
that we won't have to worry about them."

"And if we do run into trouble?" Apollo asked.

"Protect our people as well as you can. Use your judgement as to how you
do that. I trust the two of you to do whatever is necessary."

As the two warriors headed to their vipers, Apollo turned to his wingmate.
"Is everything all right, Starbuck?" he asked.

"Sure," Starbuck answered with a shrug. "Why do you ask?"

"Lately you've seemed, I don't know, distant. Are you sure nothing's
wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Apollo."

"But...."

Starbuck interrupted him. "Nothing's wrong," he said, giving his wingmate
a look that said *Stop asking.*

At the SGC....

Daniel presented the information that he and Teal'c had discovered to
the rest of the team. "The discovery that I'm most excited about is this
set of symbols." He showed the others the symbols he was referring to.
"They look like signs of the Zodiac. I think they refer to colonies: Leo,
Sagittaria, Caprica.... Unfortunately none of the colonies, if they are
colonies, appear to have stargates."

"Doesn't that mean that your theory about the Lords of whatever building
the stargates is wrong?" Jack asked.

"Not necessarily," Daniel responded. "They may have had stargates at one
time and buried them, or even destroyed them, so that the Goa'uld 
couldn't find them.

"But I believe I have found a set of gate coordinates, and I really
want to check them out -- with your approval, General Hammond."

The general turned to the rest of the team members. "Major, Colonel,
have you been able to find out any more about these Lords of Kobol?"

Jack shrugged. "I tried to get in touch with Thor, but he wasn't
answering his page."

"TheTok'ra have never heard of the Lords of Kobol," Sam told them.

"Dr. Jackson, do you have reason to believe that you'll find the Lords
of Kobol at these coordinates?" asked the general.

"I don't know," Daniel answered. "From what little I could decipher,
the Lords of Kobol definitely were there once upon a time, but I
can't say whether they're still there. You know that the planet where
we found these writings had been devastated in some sort of attack.
A fairly recent one, by the looks of things. What must have been
beautiful structures had been reduced to rubble. We were lucky to find
the things we did. Hopefully we can find out more by going to the
world that these coordinates lead to."

"Is SG-1 prepared to go to this world?" Hammond asked.

"We're good to go, sir," Jack answered. "Just give us an hour or so to
suit up."

As the members of SG-1 prepared for their mission, Daniel found himself
alone with Jack in the locker room. He took advantage of this opportunity
to ask a question that had been on his mind for some time. "Jack, is
anything bugging you?"

"You mean besides the Goa'uld, the NID, my knees, and the Cubs blowing
their chance to go to the World Series?" Jack asked.

"Uh, yeah, besides all that."

"No, nothing. Why?"

"Well, lately you've seemed kind of preoccupied," Daniel said. "Is
anything wrong?"

"Wrong how?" Jack wanted to know.

"Wrong between you and me," Daniel blurted out. He hadn't intended to say
it, but somehow he managed to anyway. "You've been distant lately. Have I 
done something to upset you?"

"No, Daniel. Nothing's wrong. You're imagining things. Don't start
seeing things that aren't there, or they'll lock you up in that 
padded room again."

On an unnamed planet....

"You know, Apollo," Starbuck said, "you can go exploring if you want.
I know that old tombs and things fascinate you. You don't have to stay
here with me. I'll hold the fort."

"We should stick together," Apollo replied. "It's safer that way."

"Safe from what?" Starbuck snorted. "You heard the Commander. The Cylons
are a long way behind us."

"It's never a good idea to underestimate the Cylons," Apollo told his
wingmate. He tried not to remember a time when he thought he'd lost
Starbuck to the Cylons.

"Suit yourself," Starbuck said, lighting up a fumarillo.

"Why don't we both go?" Apollo suggested.

"Huh?"

"Let's both go exploring. It'll be like old times."

"What old times?" Starbuck asked.

"Remember when we were in the Academy, and we skipped classes to go and 
explore the ruins of Old Caprica?"

"I remember the felgercarb we caught from the administrators for it."

"But it was worth it. Wasn't it?"

A smile crept slowly across Starbuck's face. "Yeah," he said. "It was 
worth it." He hadn't known Apollo for very long when they'd done it.
He'd dared Apollo -- who was known for his strict adherence to every
single rule -- to skip classes and go with him to Old Caprica. To his
surprise, Apollo had accepted. They had fun, and that day marked the
beginning of their lasting friendship.

Apollo was pleased to see that smile. He hadn't seen many smiles like
that from Starbuck lately -- genuine smiles. Starbuck smiled all the time,
but it was usually just an expression pasted on to hide whatever he was
really feeling. Starbuck was good at keeping his emotions hidden, which
made him good at Pyramid.

Apollo held out a hand to pull Starbuck up from his seat on the ground.
Before he let go of Starbuck's hand, he gave it a small squeeze. The
shocked look on Starbuck's face when he did it made him instantly regret
it. He should know better. Sometimes he thought that maybe, just maybe,
Starbuck felt more for him than friendship. But then he saw Starbuck
with Cassiopeia, or Athena, or another of his many female conquests, and
he changed his mind. He also had the impression that Starbuck distrusted
physical affection from anyone other than his female companions. Apollo
knew from what little Starbuck had told him of his childhood before they
met at the Academy that in Starbuck's world, everything had a price
attached -- affection included. Starbuck believed that people were
only affectionate when they wanted something from you.

Starbuck stole a look at Apollo. Why had his wingmate squeezed his hand
like that? Maybe he hadn't. Maybe Starbuck was imagining things. He hoped
he was. Contrary to what he'd said earlier, he was trying to put some
distance between himself and Apollo. Not that long ago, Count Iblis had
killed Apollo. Some people in a bright white ship had brought him back 
to life, but Starbuck would never be able to forget how it had felt
to see his best friend die. And what had made it worse was that Starbuck
hadn't been able to prevent it. As Apollo's wingmate, it was his job
to keep Apollo safe. He couldn't forgive himself for not being able
to save Apollo, and he was afraid that if Apollo got killed for real,
he himself would die too. He just wouldn't be able to live with himself.

Therefore, it would be better to just stay away from Apollo, put some 
distance between them, emotionally if not physically. It would be
hard to avoid being with Apollo; after all, they were wingmates and
Triad partners, and Adama had practically adopted Starbuck as another
member of the family. So he'd just have to try to put some emotional
distance between them, try not to care so much about Apollo. That way,
when the day came -- and Starbuck was sure it would; they couldn't
outrun the Cylons forever -- that Apollo went on a mission and didn't
come back, maybe it wouldn't hurt as much as it had the last time.

"Look at that." Apollo's voice brought Starbuck back to the present.

"What the frack is that?" Starbuck asked as he looked in the direction
Apollo was pointing.

"I have no idea." Apollo walked closer to the giant ring. He walked 
around it. He walked through it. "Nothing to stop me walking through
it. There's nothing to indicate what it was used for." He shrugged.
"Maybe there's something in those books and scrolls my father found
that will tell us what it is."

"Apollo, maybe you should move away from it," Starbuck warned.

"Why?"

"I'm not sure, but I think it's making some sort of noise."

Apollo walked a few feet away from the ring. "Happy?" he asked.

"Uh, Apollo? What exactly is that thing doing now?" Starbuck asked
as the ring suddenly filled with what looked like a pool of water.
The problem was that water doesn't hang in the middle of the air.

"I have no idea," Apollo answered. "But I don't think I like it."

There was suddenly a burst -- of light, water, whatever it was -- and then
four people suddenly appeared, coming out of the circle. The matter from
the centre of the ring vanished and the ring was empty again.

"Apollo, am I hallucinating?" 

"Only if I am too, Starbuck." Apollo took a few tentative steps toward
the newcomers. "Hello?" He had no idea if they spoke or even understood
the Kobolian language. "I'm Captain Apollo of the Battlestar Galactica.
Who are you?"

Daniel saw the two humans as he stepped out of the Gate. They were
wearing some sort of uniform, which must mean they belonged to some
sort of army or military force. The dark-haired one spoke first,
identifying himself as "Captain." Daniel stepped forward. "We're
explorers. I'm Daniel, this is Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, and Teal'c."

"Explorers from where?" Apollo wanted to know.

"A planet called 'Earth,'" Daniel answered. "We travelled here through the
Stargate."

Apollo turned to Starbuck in excitement. "Starbuck, they say they're from
Earth!"

Starbuck approached the newcomers. "If you're from Earth, how did you
get here?" He couldn't quite make himself believe that he'd seen them
step out of the giant circle. "I don't see a ship."

"No, we came through the Stargate, like I said," Daniel repeated.

"What's a stargate?" Starbuck asked.

O'Neill pointed behind them. "That round thing there," he said. "So, we
told you where we're from. Where are you from?"

"The Galactica," Apollo answered. "Not originally. Originally we're from
a group of colonies that were wiped out by the Cylon Empire. All of
the survivors of the destruction of the colonies are travelling in a fleet
of ships, heading for Earth. That's why we're so interested in how you
got here. I don't understand how you can walk through that circle and
land on another planet."

"The stargate uses energy to create a wormhole," Sam explained.
"Every planet that has a stargate on it has its own set of coordinates.
We use a dialling device to program the coordinates into the gate, and
the gate makes a wormhole. We step through the wormhole, and here we are."
She looked around. "Uh, guys, I don't see a DHD around here."

"DHD?" Apollo asked.

"A Dial Home Device," Daniel explained as Sam and the others searched 
the area around the gate. "It's what we use to program the gate to take 
us where we want to go. Without one, we can't get home." He described
the DHD.

"I haven't seen anything like that anywhere around here," Apollo told
him. 

"I haven't either," said Starbuck.

The two Galactica warriors joined SG-1 in the search, but they found
no trace of the DHD. Apollo fetched the archeological team and asked
if any of them had seen such a device, but none of them had.

Apollo wanted to question the Earth visitors as soon as possible, so 
he decided that he and Starbuck would ride on the shuttle back to the
battlestar. Fortunately two of the members of the archeology team
were also trained Viper pilots, and they agreed to return the Vipers
to the Galactica.

Seeing that O'Neill was the head of the team, Apollo peppered him with
questions about the Stargate, about the planets SG-1 had visited,
and, of course, about Earth. Jack answered the questions as well as
he could, but he was worried about the missing DHD. But he had a
few questions of his own to ask the Captain.

"What, exactly, is a battlestar?" he wanted to know.

Seeing that they were approaching the Galactica, Apollo turned Jack's
attention to the view port. "That," he said, "is a battlestar."

"Holy shit," was Jack's reaction upon seeing the ship.

"Wow," was Sam's reaction.

"It is an impressive vessel," Teal'c commented.

"That's the understatement of the century," Daniel said in response
to the Jaffa's comment.

Starbuck said to Carter, "I take it you've never seen a ship like
the Galactica before."

"Not like that, no," Sam answered. "I've seen Goa'uld mother ships,
and they're impressive, but they're nothing like this."

Turning on the charm, Starbuck offered to take Carter on a tour of
the battlestar.

"I'll see what the Colonel has in mind when we get to your battlestar,"
Sam responded. "We have more important things to think about right
now, like how we're going to get home."

Once they were aboard the Galactica and had gone through decontamination
(Starbuck tried to convince Carter that she had to go into the decon
chamber naked, but Apollo quickly jumped in to correct him), Apollo and
Starbuck took SG-1 to see Commander Adama.

"Visitors from Earth?" Adama asked in astonishment. "But how did you get
here?"

The Stargate was explained, as was the lack of the DHD. 

"Why did you choose to visit this particular planet?" was Adama's next
question.

"To find out about the Lords of Kobol," Daniel told him.

"The Lords of Kobol!" Adama's face broke into a wide grin. He showed Daniel
the books, scrolls and tablets collected from the ruins of the Colonies,
and also took out a copy of the Book of the Word. "Son, all you could ever
want to know is most likely contained in these writings. But why are you
Earth people interested in the Lords of Kobol?"

"Earth is under threat from a race known as the Goa'uld. On the last planet
we visited, we found writings that indicate the Lords of Kobol may have
encountered the Goa'uld at some time in the past. We want to know how
the Lords of Kobol handled the Goa'uld. It may help us defeat the Goa'uld
as well."

"You're welcome to study all the information we have," Adama told Daniel.
"There is some mention about the Lords of Kobol encountering a race
of people who lived with implanted symbionts; are those these Goa'uld
you mention?"

"Yes!" Daniel exclaimed in excitement. He knew he should be worried about
the missing DHD, but right now he was itching to get his hands on the
books and papers Adama had shown him. 

"Where did you find writings that mentioned the Lords of Kobol?" Apollo
asked.

Daniel explained about the planet SG-1 had visited, where the buildings,
tombs and sculptures had apparently been demolished in some form of
attack.

Apollo looked at his father and Starbuck before turning back to Daniel.
"You were on Kobol." 

"Kobol?" Jack asked.

"The ancient home of the Lords themselves," Adama explained. "Unfortunately
the Cylons discovered it at around the same time we did, and they destroyed
it."

"They were trying to kill us at the time," Starbuck explained. "See,
we got on the bad side of this fellow named Baltar. He's a human working
with the Cylons, and he was the one who engineered the destruction of the
Colonies. As you can probably tell, we're not big fans of his either."

"May I say something now, Daniel?" Jack asked, seeing as how Daniel 
seemed prepared to discuss the Lords of Kobol with the Galacticans 
for at least the next several hours.

"I'm not stopping you," Daniel replied.

Jack turned to the Commander. "We need this thing called a Dial Home
Device to program the coordinates of our home base into the stargate.
We couldn't find one on that planet down there. Do you have any
scientists or engineers who might be able to help us work out a way
to fix it so that we can get home? Not that we're not enjoying your
company, of course," he added.

"Of course," Adama answered. "Starbuck, take them to see Dr. Wilker."

"I'll stay here," Daniel volunteered.

"Why does that not surprise me?" Jack asked rhetorically.

Sam, Jack and Teal'c followed Starbuck to Dr. Wilker's lab. He tried to
explain to Wilker what exactly SG-1 needed, then decided to let them
explain it themselves. He turned to Jack. "Colonel, maybe you should
explain it."

"Carter's the technical expert," Jack replied. "Carter, explain 
the DHD to the nice man."

Carter launched into the kind of long, technical explanation that made
Jack's head spin.

Seeing the Colonel's discomfort, Starbuck said, "My interest in mechanical
devices is more on the military side of things. Ships, especially. Vipers
in particular."

"Ships!" said Jack. "I know about ships. Sort of. I mean, it depends on
what kind of ship. Teal'c knows more about Goa'uld ships than I do. I know
more about Earth ships than he does."

"Would you like to see our vipers?" Starbuck asked. He saw Jack's face 
light up at the offer.

"If it's all right with Major Carter," he answered. "Major, will you be 
all right if we leave you here for awhile with your computers and, uh, 
other stuff?"

"I'll be fine, sir," Samantha told him.

Starbuck turned to Jack and said in a low voice, "Don't worry about Wilker.
He's more interested in machines than in women."

"Carter can take care of herself," Jack told Starbuck.  "She knows about 50 
different ways to kill a man using her bare hands."

"Colonel, you're exaggerating again," Sam scolded him. "It's only 30 ways."

Starbuck got the idea and shelved his plan to ask Carter to have dinner
with him.

In the Commander's office, Adama and Apollo peppered Daniel with questions
about Earth and its people.

"I don't know where to start," Daniel protested. "There are billions of people
on Earth. It's a big planet. There are parts of it that are extremely
cold. There are parts that are very warm. It's divided up into different
political units -- countries, each with a different government. There are 
many different races of people, many different religions and different
cultures. The population is incredibly diverse.

"Some countries are very wealthy. Some are very poor. Some people are
free. Some are oppressed. Some countries suffer war and famine. Some do not.

"But I can tell you that the people of Earth aren't really prepared for
visitors to come from space, even if they're human visitors."

Adama and Apollo looked at each other. "Earth has never had visitors
before?" the Commander asked.

"Not that most of Earth's inhabitants are aware of," Daniel answered. 
"Not in modern history, anyway. Millenia ago, the Goa'uld visited Earth in 
the guise of gods. They took people back to their own planets as slaves. 
That could be how your people ended up in the Colonies."

"You said that there haven't been visitors that most of Earth's inhabitants 
'are aware of.' What does that mean?" Apollo asked.

"A Goa'uld named Apophis made it through the Stargate to Earth several years
ago. After that Stargate Command installed a very strong metal shield on
the gate to keep other Goa'uld out. And then of course there's Teal'c."

Meanwhile, in the viper bay....

Jack was fascinated by the vipers. He questioned Starbuck extensively.
He learned everything there was to know about vipers, or at least
all that Starbuck could tell him.

"I bet I could fly one of these babies," Jack announced.

"Not without a pressure suit," Starbuck warned.

"What is a pressure suit?" Teal'c asked.

Starbuck explained the design of the suit. "Without it, the G forces
generated from the launch of the viper through the tube would flatten you.

"The nice thing about pressure suits is that they're form-fitting. If
you'd ever seen some of our female warriors wearing them, you'd understand
what I mean."

Teal'c gave Starbuck a quizzical look. "Lieutenant Starbuck, do you talk that way
around your female warriors?" he asked.

"Talk what way?" 

"Talk in a way that makes them sound like sex objects," Jack put in.

Starbuck shrugged. "I talk the same way pretty much all the time," he said. "Doesn't
matter who's around."

"Why do you talk that way?" Teal'c wanted to know.

"It's the way men talk," Starbuck answered.

"On Chulak, where I come from, men respect women. They do not talk that way
about them."

"Do men talk that way on Earth?" Starbuck asked Jack.

"Some do," Jack shrugged. "There are places it's considered inappropriate. Most
men save that kind of talk for the locker room, or other places where it's just the
guys, you know?"

This conversation was making Starbuck uncomfortable, so he changed the subject.
He turned to Teal'c. "You said you're from Chulak. I thought you were from Earth.
What's Chulak?"

Back in the Commander's office....

Adama wanted to continue questioning Daniel about Earth, but he could tell that the
archeologist was dying to dive into the pile of books, tablets and scrolls.

"Apollo, can you look after our guest? Answer any questions he has about the Lords
of Kobol, if you can. I should go tell the Council of Twelve about our visitors."

"Council of Twelve?" Daniel asked.

Apollo explained about the council. "Father, you remember what happened when
the Terrans were here. Can't you avoid informing the council?"

"No, Apollo. I can't keep information like this from the council. I'll be back as soon
as I can. Oh, and make sure the Earth people have food and drink if they want it,
and places to rest."

After Adama left, Apollo explained who the Terrans were and what had happened
when their ship had been brought aboard the Galactica. "Originally we thought that
Terra was just another word for Earth, that we'd found people from Earth. But
Terra isn't Earth. It's just another planet with human inhabitants."

"Speaking of planets," Daniel said, "when you were talking about Kobol, it seemed
like you were uncomfortable. I hope that my friends and I didn't say or do anything
to upset you. We try to be careful around other peoples' sacred sites when we can."

"Oh, no, it's nothing like that," Apollo assured him. "It's just that Kobol is where
my wife was killed."

"I'm sorry," Daniel said immediately. "My wife was killed not all that long ago."
Of course, she tried to kill me first, Daniel thought.

"I'm sorry for your loss, too," Apollo said. "Do you have children?"

"No, we didn't have children. I actually lost her to the Goa'uld a couple of years
before she was killed. I joined the Stargate program in the hopes of finding her
when she was abducted. After she died I was going to leave the program."

"Why didn't you?" Apollo asked.

"My friends convinced me that Sha're would have wanted me to stay with the
program." He decided not to try to explain about the Harcesis child, the child that
Sha're  (who was controlled by Amonet) and Apophis had had together.

"Do you have family on Earth?" Apollo wanted to know.

"No. I'm an orphan. SG-1 is my family. What about you? I heard you call the
Commander 'Father.' Do you have any other family?"

Apollo thought immediately of Starbuck. He thought of Starbuck as family. He
wondered if Starbuck considered himself to be part of Apollo's family. "My sister
and my son. But I like to think of all of us here in the fleet as family."

"And the Commander, your father, is responsible for everyone in the fleet?"

"Well, each ship in the fleet is in the charge of its captain, but my father is
responsible for decisions that affect the fleet, so yes, in a way he is."

"General Hammond is the person in charge of the SGC. He's a lot like your father. I
think they'd like each other. I hope they can meet one day." Daniel's stomach
growled. He smiled in embarrassment. 

"How long has it been since you last ate?" Apollo asked.

Daniel shrugged. "I tend to lose track of time when I have something new to interest
me. And your Lords of Kobol definitely interest me. All of you here on the
Galactica interest me." Apollo interested him the most, but he didn't say that out
loud.

"Come on. I'll take you to get something to eat. Let me just tell Starbuck what
we're up to." Apollo moved to the Stellar Com on the wall and paged Starbuck.
When the Lieutenant answered, Apollo said, "I'm taking Dr. Jackson to get
something to eat. We'll probably be back within a centare. Will you need me for
anything before then?"

Starbuck told him that Carter was with Dr. Wilker and that he was giving Teal'c
and Jack a tour of the viper bay, and that he didn't need Apollo for anything. He
relayed Apollo's information to Jack, just so that he would know where Daniel was.

"If the Captain is getting Daniel to eat instead of read, then he has more influence
over him than I do," was Jack's comment upon hearing that Daniel and Apollo
were going to get food. He realized that he felt a bit jealous of Apollo.

Starbuck wasn't too concerned about Daniel and Apollo. He didn't think there was
anything particularly enticing about the officers' mess. He'd had meals there with
Apollo lots of times, more than he could count. No big deal, he told himself.
Besides, wasn't he supposed to be putting distance between himself and Apollo? He
was supposed to be, but up until now he hadn't been succeeding.

O'Neill turned to Teal'c. "Teal'c, do you think you can find your way back to the
lab on your own?"

Teal'c indicated that he would have no problem doing so.

"Then go see how Carter and the doctor are doing. The Lieutenant and I will catch
up with you. I just want to go over the specs of this viper a bit more closely."

The Jaffa left, and Jack addressed Starbuck. "Lieutenant, you know that
conversation we had about the way you talk about women?"

"What about it?" Starbuck asked, immediately on the defensive.

"I was thinking there might be a reason for it," Jack said.

"What kind of reason?" Starbuck wanted to know.

"I've known a few men who seem to go out of their way to make sexist remarks
about women, talking about their appearance and what they're like in bed and so
forth. Usually it turned out that they were covering something up, something they
didn't want anyone to know about."

"And this reason would be...?" Starbuck asked.

"That they are attracted to other men," Jack stated bluntly. He could tell by the way
Starbuck immediately paled that he'd hit the nail on the head. "Now, where I come
from, men who are attracted to other men aren't allowed in the military unless they
don't tell anyone about it. Do you have any rules like that? Is that why you're
covering up your feelings?"

Starbuck shook his head. No, that wasn't the reason.

"Then is there someone specific that you're hiding your feelings from? Someone
you don't want to find out? Someone you have feelings for?"

Starbuck leaned against the viper. "You could put it like that. How did you know?"

Jack leaned against the viper beside him. "I have the same feelings myself. But like
I said, I'm not allowed to talk about them or I'd be summarily discharged from the
Air Force." He knew that he'd have to deal with these feelings sooner or later. If
they weren't able to create some form of DHD, then it wouldn't matter what the
rules were in the Air Force back home. They wouldn't be going home.

"If you don't mind my saying so, Colonel, your air force has some pretty stupid
rules."

"I've said the same thing many times," Jack answered. "Sometimes I think that all
these rules were created just to give the bureaucrats something to do."

Starbuck snorted. "Remind me not to introduce you to the Council of Twelve. So,
who is it?"

"Who's what?"

"The one you have these feelings for. It's obviously not the Major, so who is it? Is it
Teal'c?"

Jack shook his head.

"Then it must be the archeologist, Daniel. I saw the look on your face when I told
you he was having a meal with Apollo. You're jealous."

Jack didn't say anything.

"Don't worry, Colonel. The officers' mess isn't exactly a place designed for
seduction. If it were, I'd have had Apollo in my bed yahrens ago." He blushed
slightly. "I guess I just gave myself away, didn't I?"

"Why haven't you told him how you feel?" Jack asked. "I mean, I could tell that the
two of you are friends. You call him by his name, not his rank. That kind of
familiarity wouldn't be tolerated in the Air Force. You don't have the same kind of
rules we do. And I could have sworn he was trying to flirt with Daniel, so it's
possible he feels the same way about men that you do."

Starbuck stared at the deck under his feet. "He died."

"Pardon me?"

"I was supposed to protect him, and he died. It was a miracle that I got him back.
But we're warriors, and warriors don't necessarily have a long lifespan. If it
happened again, if he died again, I don't think I could stand it. I've been trying to
put some space between us, trying to stay away from him. Maybe then it won't hurt
so much if and when he does die."

Jack had seen enough strange things since joining the SGC that he didn't bother to
ask how Apollo had apparently come back from the dead. Maybe they'd found a
sarcophagus somewhere. "I have the same problem with Daniel. I'm the
commanding officer of SG-1, and it's my job to look after my team. But Daniel....
I've lost him a few times, and each time I've somehow gotten him back. But it was
my fault for not protecting him."

"What happened?" Starbuck asked, wondering if the beings in the white ships had
visited the Colonel and his people as well.

"One time an alien just made me think Daniel died. We had a memorial service for
him and everything, but we got him back. Another time he got shot by a Jaffa
warrior. Another time he got crushed in a rock slide that I caused. Each time we go
through the gate I can't help but wonder if this will be the time I lose him for good.
I lost Teal'c once, and got him back, but it didn't affect me the way it did when it
was Daniel. Maybe it's because Teal'c is a Jaffa, a soldier. So is Carter. But
Daniel's an archeologist who's been forced to become a soldier. I think I've
unconsciously been doing the same thing you've been doing   trying to push Daniel
away because I'm afraid I'll lose him."

"Sounds like it was his choice to join you," Starbuck commented. "It wasn't
Apollo's choice to be a warrior. None of us had any choice, not with a war going
on."

"It was his choice. He asked to join us. But that was only because he was looking
for his wife. She was taken by the Goa'uld. He almost quit the team after she died. I
didn't want him to quit, but at the same time I wanted him to. I knew he'd be better
off. But he loves being part of the team. It's like a dream come true for him to study
all these different societies, meet different races, learn new things. He loves it."

"Is he as stubborn as Apollo?"

"I don't know how stubborn your Captain is, but yes, Daniel is stubborn. I can't
change him, and I don't even want to try. I love him just the way he is." There, he'd
said it. He'd said he loved Daniel. That was a good start. Saying it to Daniel in
person, however, was another thing entirely. There was still that fear of losing him,
and not just the fear of losing him to the Goa'uld. There was also the possibility that
Daniel wouldn't feel about him the way he felt about Daniel. There was also the
very real possibility of being thrown out of the military if anyone found out how he
felt about Daniel. But he'd faced danger before, and he'd dealt with the possibility
of losing Daniel before. It would be worse if he lost Daniel without ever telling him
how he really felt.

"Tell me something, Lieutenant," Jack said. "Do you think it would hurt less if you
lost your Captain after you'd distanced yourself from him? If I know anything, I
know that you don't just abruptly stop loving someone."

Starbuck thought about this for a few centons. "No, I don't think it would hurt less.
If anything happened to Apollo, it would hurt no matter what. I think I'd die
without him, but that would happen no matter how hard I tried to stay away from
him."

"Then I think you should do something about it," Jack told him. "I think I should do
something about my, uh, situation too."

Starbuck stood up and offered a hand to the Colonel. "Come on, Colonel. Let's go
find my Captain and your archeologist. I think we have some things to say to them."

Elsewhere....

"Where are we going?" Daniel asked Apollo. 

"Shuttle launching bay. I'm taking you to the Rising Star."

"And the Rising Star is...?"

"Entertainment ship," Apollo explained. 

"And we are going there why?" 

"Because the only place to eat on the Galactica is the crew mess. I don't want you to
think we eat food like that all the time. There's a dining room on the Rising Star
that I hope will be more to your liking."

"Oh, I see. Crew mess means what passes for food in the military."

"You must have experience with that, then," Apollo observed.

"Oh, yes," Daniel sighed. "Technically I'm not part of the military, but I work on a
military base, and that means I eat there and sometimes even sleep there. I'm either
there or on assignment more often than I'm at my apartment. I was going to say 'at
home' but my apartment isn't really home." Daniel wondered why he was telling
these things to Apollo. He'd never told this to Jack.

"Why not?" Apollo wanted to know.

"My home was on Abydos with Sha're. My apartment is nice, I suppose, but there's
no one there to make it home. I can't even keep a dog or a cat because I'm away too
much to care for a pet. What was it like for you when your wife died?"

"It's different for me because I have Boxey. I live in crew quarters, and they're
rather sparse, but having Boxey there makes it home, for now."

Once they were in the dining room on the Rising Star, Daniel looked at the menu
and said, "I have no idea what to order here."

Apollo smiled. "Let me order for both of us, then." He gave the server their order.

"Do you come here a lot? Bring dates here? I mean, before your wife."

"Serena was with me from the time we started our journey to Earth. I tried to date
after I lost her, but I haven't really met anyone who interested me." Before I met
you, he thought but didn't say. Changing the subject, he said "Look, you and your
team are going to need somewhere to stay until Wilker can figure out some way of
helping you get home." Part of him hoped that Daniel and the rest of SG-1 didn't
get to go home, because he was strongly attracted to Daniel. He loved Starbuck; he
would always love Starbuck first and foremost. But he knew Starbuck loved
women, not men. Daniel he wasn't so sure about.

But if they found a way to get SG-1 back to Earth, maybe that would lead to a way
of getting the people of the fleet to Earth as well.

"How long do you think it will take?" Daniel asked.

"I have no idea. I don't know what exactly your people are working on with Wilker.
But I'm assuming that one of them would have contacted us if they'd come up with
something. So you're going to need a place to sleep."

"I can sleep just about anywhere. I've  had to sleep in some pretty strange places
since joining SG-1. Don't go to any trouble for me. I'm sure that Jack, Sam and
Teal'c will say the same."

"I'm sure we can find places for all of you. You could sleep in my quarters," Apollo
offered.

"What about your son?" 

"He can stay with my father, and that will free up a bed for you. Don't worry; it's a
full-sized bed. Officers' quarters aren't normally equipped to house children, so I
had to give him a regular-sized bed. And Major Carter could probably stay with my
sister. She's a bridge officer," he added.

"What about Jack and Teal'c?"

"I'll come up with something," Apollo promised.

Meanwhile....

After checking in with Teal'c and Sam at the lab, where Wilker had provided food
for them so that they didn't need to interrupt their work, Starbuck and Jack went in
search of Apollo and Daniel at the officers' mess. To Starbuck's surprise, they
weren't there.

"Is there anywhere else they would go to eat?" Jack asked Starbuck.

The lieutenant shrugged. "They could have taken the food back to the commander's
office with them, I suppose."

But Daniel and Apollo weren't in the commander's office, either. Starbuck sighed.
"There's only one other place they could be," he said. He didn't want to think about
Daniel being with Apollo on the Rising Star, but he supposed he'd have to.
"Entertainment ship, the Rising Star. There's a dining room there. It's nice.
Expensive, but nice."

"It's probably expensive because it's nice," Jack observed. He was beginning to
wonder if Captain Apollo was trying to seduce Daniel. He'd caught the Captain
giving Daniel a few significant looks when they had been together in the
commander's office. He knew that other people besides him  both men and women
  found Daniel attractive. But Daniel hadn't responded to attempts to seduce him
unless the person in question was someone like Hathor, who used mind-control, or
someone like that princess who got Daniel addicted to the sarcophagus. Jack
figured that was because of Sha're. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Starbuck answered. Why was Apollo behaving this way? If
Apollo liked men, then why had he never made any moves on Starbuck? For that
matter, why had he married Serena?

Starbuck checked a wall chronometer. "It's getting late. You and your friends are
going to need somewhere to sleep."

"First things first," Jack said. "Let's find Captain Apollo and Daniel first. Then we
can pick up Carter and Teal'c, and we'll worry about sleeping arrangements after
that."

"I assume you want to sleep with Daniel," Starbuck said. The look Jack gave him
made him shut up.

On the Rising Star....

"Frack," Apollo muttered to himself when he saw Jack and Starbuck approaching.

"So, DannyBoy," Jack said when he arrived at the table, slapping Daniel on the
back and making him spit out the ambrosa he had just sampled, "how come you're
sitting here having a fancy dinner while the rest of us are working on getting us all
home?"

Daniel glared at him. "Because I was hungry."

Jack sat down next to him. "And you couldn't eat on the battleship?" he asked.

"Battlestar," Daniel corrected him. "Captain Apollo thought I would like the food
here better."

"Captain Apollo thought so?" Jack picked up the glass of ambrosa and took a sniff.
"He knows a lot about you, does he?"

"Enough," Daniel answered quietly. Jack had never taken him out to a fancy dinner
like this, he thought to himself. Jack's idea of a good meal was a hot dog with 'the
works' while watching a baseball game.

Starbuck, meanwhile, had seated himself  between Apollo and Daniel. This meant
that Jack was on one side of him and Starbuck on the other. Starbuck saw the bottle
of ambrosa. "Drinking on duty, Apollo? I'm surprised."

"I'm not on duty," Apollo muttered. Trust Starbuck to show up at the most
inconvenient time.

"Isn't a warrior always on duty?" Starbuck asked rhetorically. He knew that Apollo
could turn that right around on him, knowing that he himself enjoyed a few glasses
of ambrosa when he was entertaining dates, so he changed tactics. "You're acting
as host to one of our guests. Isn't that a duty?"

"No," Apollo replied. "It's a privilege." 

Starbuck didn't have a snappy comeback to that statement, so he turned to Jack.
"Since we're here, Colonel," he said, "we may as well have dinner too. I'm sure the
Captain won't mind paying. After all, it's his privilege to act as your host."

Apollo was not too pleased to hear that. "Starbuck," he said, "you're their host too,
you know."

Starbuck took this in his stride. "You're absolutely right, Apollo. Colonel O'Neill,
may I buy you dinner? Let me get a waiter to take our orders."

Apollo didn't know what to think then. On the one hand, he hadn't appreciated
Starbuck volunteering him to pay for dinner. On the other, he wasn't sure he liked
the way Starbuck had cheerfully offered to buy dinner for the Colonel. Daniel was
not the only attractive member of SG-1, though Apollo had thought Starbuck would
be more attracted to Major Carter than to Colonel O'Neill.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Jack accepted. "That's very nice of you to offer."

"My privilege," Starbuck answered with a grin. "And please, call me Starbuck."

"Then you can call me Jack." Jack made a mental note of the expression on
Daniel's face when he said that. Daniel was the only member of SG-1,and in fact
the only person in the SGC, who called him by his first name. Everyone else called
him by his rank and his last name. He hoped he was making Daniel jealous, and
Daniel did appear to be surprised, at least, if not jealous.

After they had all finished their meals, the subject of sleeping arrangements came
up. "There's room in officers' quarters for everyone, I think," Starbuck said.

"I was thinking that since these people are our guests, it would be more hospitable
of us to let them sleep in real beds rather than the bunks in officers' quarters,"
Apollo said. "Dr. Jackson can stay with me. Major Carter can stay with Athena."
He tried to think of who Teal'c and Jack could bunk with. Starbuck was the
obvious choice for the Colonel, but Apollo wasn't so sure he liked the idea. Still, if
Daniel was bunking with him.... "Starbuck, you wouldn't mind playing host to the
Colonel, would you? After all, you seem to have become friends quite quickly."

"Where's Boxey going to sleep?" Starbuck asked.

"In my father's quarters," Apollo answered.

"Maybe it would be better, Apollo, if you spent the night in my quarters. That way
Dr. Jackson and Colonel O'Neill can both sleep in your quarters. I don't have a
spare bed, and I hate the idea of making a guest sleep on the floor."  Starbuck
hoped that this way, Jack could have a 'talk' with Daniel, and he with Apollo.

"Then why don't you sleep on the floor, Starbuck?" Apollo asked. "Dr. Jackson and
I still have lots of scrolls and books to go over, so we'll probably be up quite late. It
would be better if he spent the night with me."

In the end, after a meeting in the Commander's office, Sam chose to sleep in the
women officers' quarters and Teal'c in the bachelor officers' quarters, while Daniel
agreed to spend the night in Apollo's quarters and Jack in Starbuck's. 

Daniel and Apollo both took armloads of reading material to Apollo's quarters. Just
as Apollo had predicted, they were up very late studying the material, and Daniel
tried to save as much information as he could on his handheld computer, a device
that Apollo found fascinating. He was glad Boxey wasn't there to see it, because he
suspected that if his son got his hands on it, Daniel would never get it back, at least
not in one piece.

When they were finally too sleepy to keep their eyes open long enough to read, they
reluctantly decided to turn in. Apollo showed Daniel Boxey's room, but then he
said, "You know, you could spend the night in my bed."

Daniel had been expecting this. He shook his head. "I'm sorry, no. I can't."

"Is there someone else?" Apollo asked.

That, Daniel thought, was a good question. Did Jack count as someone else? Not
when they didn't have that kind of relationship. "Not exactly."

"Is it because I'm a man?"

"No, no. That's not it. I can't explain it." He wasn't even sure he could explain it to
himself. He knew he loved Jack. That went without saying. He found Jack very
attractive, and he even felt jealous when he saw Jack flirt with other people, male or
female. But attraction and jealousy did not necessarily provide a foundation for a
relationship. He'd been happy with Sha're until she had been taken from him.
Could he be happy with Jack? 

It wasn't any use speculating, he thought. He didn't even know how Jack felt about
him.

"I'm sorry," Daniel said again to Apollo.

"Don't be," Apollo said sadly. "I should be the one apologizing. I'm sorry if I came
on too strong." He smiled slightly. "May I at least kiss you goodnight?"

Daniel returned the smile. "All right." He opened his arms to Apollo, who came
into them and kissed him with as much passion as he could put into it.

Daniel felt himself responding to the kiss, in spite of his earlier protestations. He
parted Apollo's lips with his tongue. He felt Apollo tighten his grip on him. He
parted Apollo's legs with his knee and pushed his thigh between them. He could
feel the heat radiating from Apollo's groin as Apollo rubbed against his leg, creating
a delicious friction. When they finally came up for air, Daniel asked, "Is it too late
to change my mind?"

"Not at all," Apollo answered with a grin as he led the other man into his bedroom.

Meanwhile....

Jack and Starbuck spent a few centares shooting the felgercarb, talking (and
sometimes complaining) about their respective objects of unrequited affection.
Eventually Starbuck looked at the chrono. "It's getting late. We should get some
rest." He was not looking forward to spending the night on the floor. Then he had a
thought.

"You know, Jack, we both have the same problem. I can't have the one I want, and
you can't have the one you want. I know that you'll probably be going back to
Earth soon - -at least, I hope for your sake you will   and then we may never see
each other again. How about we work off our frustrations together?" He
approached Jack so that he was in the other man's personal space, and kissed him.
He knew he was taking a big risk. He was quite sure that Jack could hurt him if he
wanted to.

Fortunately, Jack returned the kiss. "What the hell. We're both lonely old bachelors.
Why not have a little fun?"

He and Starbuck headed for the bedroom.

In another part of the Galactica....

Since Jack and Daniel were occupied elsewhere, and Teal'c was off doing his kel-
no-reeming somewhere, Sam was bored. Someone in the women officers' quarters
offered to show her to the Officers' Club, an offer Sam was happy to accept.

As the 'visitor from Earth' Sam was the centre of attention. The male officers were
lined up to buy her drinks. This made the other female officers jealous, but at the
same time they were too curious to protest. They wanted to know about the air
force, how women were treated in the armed forces on Earth, what kind of ships
they flew.

One woman in particular was interested in talking to Sam. "Lieutenant Sheba," she
introduced herself. "You met my fianc‚ Captain Apollo, earlier."

"Your fianc‚?" Sam asked in surprise. "He never mentioned you."

"Well, nothing's actually official yet," Sheba hedged. 

Sam was pretty sure that Sheba was staking her claim to Apollo, just in case Sam
had any designs on him. "How long have you two been together?" she asked.

"Oh, more than a yahren," Sheba answered. "His father and my father are both
battlestar commanders, and our families were two of the most well-respected on
Caprica before the destruction. My marriage to Apollo will be a happy event,
something for the poor refugees to celebrate."

Sam had her doubts that the 'poor refugees ' would have that much interest in a
marriage between the children of what were probably wealthy families. "So, you
haven't actually announced your engagement yet," she noted.

"No, not yet. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I was just surprised to hear that Captain Apollo was involved with someone.
He was acting a lot like a single person when my friends and I met him."

"Acting like a single person how?" Sheba demanded.

"He seemed quite infatuated with my friend Daniel. The two of them haven't been
apart for more than five minutes   er, centons   since we arrived. Daniel's spending
the night in Captain Apollo's quarters."

"Is your friend a warrior?" Sheba wanted to know.

"He's an archeologist, actually. We were looking for information about your Lords
of Kobol when we arrived on the planet where we met Captain Apollo and
Lieutenant Starbuck."

"Then that explains it," Sheba said, satisfied. "Apollo loves to study ancient history
and the Lords of Kobol and the Book of the Word and all that. He and your friend
are probably examining those musty old scrolls the Commander found."

Sam was pretty sure that the looks she'd seen Apollo giving Daniel had nothing to
do with scrolls, but she decided not to press the issue. Let Sheba have her illusions.

The next morning....

SG-1 met with Adama, Apollo and Starbuck in the Commander's office. "The
Council of Twelve wants to meet with a representative from your team," Adama
told them.

"I think that would be you, Jack," Daniel said.

"Why me?" Jack grumbled. "Why not you?" he asked Daniel.

"Why me?" Daniel asked back.

"You're nicer," Jack answered. "And prettier."

"If 'pretty' is a requirement, then we should send Sam," Daniel shot back.

"Not me," Sam demurred. "I have to go back to the lab with Dr. Wilker and work
on finding us a way to get home."

"It cannot be me," Teal'c informed them, "because I am not from Earth. And I am
not pretty."

"Perhaps Colonel O'Neill and Dr. Jackson should both go," Adama suggested.
"Colonel O'Neill can represent the military, and Dr. Jackson can represent
civilians."

"I can't represent three billion people," Daniel complained.

"Too bad, Dannyboy," Jack said cheerfully. "You're going. That's an order."

Daniel mumbled something about not being in the military, but followed Jack and
the Commander.

Teal'c went to Wilker's lab with Sam, which meant that Apollo and Starbuck were
left alone. It was the first time they'd been alone together since they'd met the
members of SG-1. Starbuck decided to take advantage of the situation. 

"Apollo, do you have a few centons? There's something I've been meaning to talk
to you about."

"Sure," Apollo said, sitting down with a yawn. He and Daniel hadn't had much
sleep the night before. "What's up?"

Now that he actually was going to tell Apollo of his feelings, Starbuck had no clue
what to say. "The other day you asked me if anything was wrong. You said I'd been
acting distant."

"And you denied it, as I recall."

"Yeah, well. I lied. Sort of. I mean, nothing was wrong exactly, but I was being
distant," Starbuck said.

"Why were you being distant, and why did you deny it when I asked you?" Apollo
wanted to know.

"One question at a time, Pol, please! This is hard enough without having to answer
questions left and right."

"All right. I'm sorry. Please go on with what you were saying," the Captain
apologized.

"I was being distant because I was afraid of losing you again," Starbuck blurted.

"Again?" Apollo asked, bewildered.

"I know you don't remember it, but you died, Apollo. Iblis killed you, and I wasn't
able to stop him. I failed you. Do you have any idea what it felt like, knowing that I
couldn't save you?"

"Yes," Apollo answered quietly. "When Baltar captured you. I thought you'd been
killed. I wasn't able to prevent it. I was too fracking preoccupied with Serena to
realize what was happening until it was too late."

Starbuck remembered how Apollo had thrown his arms around him after Baltar had
released him. Apollo had said, "I thought you were dead." Maybe Apollo did know
how he felt. "Anyway, when you died, nothing mattered anymore. You were gone.
For all I knew, you weren't coming back. And I just couldn't see myself going on
and living my life without you being here. It just hurt too much.

"Then I got you back, thanks to whoever those people in the white ships were. But I
couldn't stop thinking about what it was like when you were gone. I was afraid that
I would lose you again, that something would happen and I wouldn't be able to
protect you. I'm your wingmate, and it's my job to look out for you. I thought
maybe if I tried to stay away, tried to keep my distance, then it wouldn't hurt so
much if something did happen to you. But I can't stay away from you. Staying
away from you hurts almost as much as your not being here would hurt."

"Starbuck, I'm glad that you've decided to stick around, and I'm glad you're being
honest with me. But I get the feeling that there's still something you're not telling
me."

Starbuck took a deep breath, leaned against a wall, and closed his eyes for a few
microns before he said, "This may come as a shock to you, but I wanted to tell you
that I think I'm in love with you. No, I don't think I'm in love with you. I know I'm
in love with you."

In another part of the battlestar....

The Council of Twelve finally finished questioning Jack and Daniel. What they had
been most interested in was the possibility of using the stargate to get to Earth. Jack
had explained that right now they weren't even sure if they could use it themselves,
unless Sam and Dr. Wilker came up with a functioning dial-home device.

Adama had to stay and talk to the Council, so Jack and Daniel were left to their
own devices. Jack really needed a place where he could talk to Daniel in private. He
remembered that Starbuck had given him the lock code to his quarters. As long as
Starbuck wasn't using them, they would suit Jack's needs quite well.

Daniel was planning to return to Apollo's quarters to do some more work
translating the scrolls he and Apollo had worked on the night before. When they
arrived at the part of the battlestar reserved for officers' quarters, he was just about
to leave Jack and return to Apollo's quarters when Jack said, "Uh, Daniel, could
you come with me for just a few minutes? There's something I want to talk to you
about."

Daniel didn't know what Jack wanted to talk about, but he agreed to follow the
Colonel to Starbuck's quarters. "What's up?" he asked.

Jack sat in one of the horrendously uncomfortable chairs that were apparently
standard issue for officers' quarters. Shit. This was going to be hard. He wasn't
good at words. Words were Daniel's area. That was why he always let Daniel do
the talking when they made first contact with people on other worlds.

"Daniel, you remember a few days ago, before all this happened, you asked me if
something was bothering me?"

"Yeah, I do. Why?"

"Something is bothering me," Jack said. He wasn't sure how to explain it. He didn't
want to say 'you're bothering me,' because that would give Daniel the wrong
impression altogether. He got up and walked across the room to where Daniel was
sitting on the longseat. "Something's been bothering me for quite some time now."
He squatted on the floor in front of where his friend was sitting so that they were
face-to-face. It was a bit awkward, but easier on his knees than kneeling would be.
Then, before he could talk himself out of it, he leaned forward and kissed Daniel.

Daniel was completely stunned when his best friend kissed him. He felt himself
responding. Then he pushed Jack away. "No," he said. "I can't do this."

Jack fell backwards on to his ass. "Why not?" he asked.

Well, for one thing, he'd just had sex with Apollo last night. "I don't know. Maybe
it's too soon after Sha're. And there's also the fact that you're in the military   you
know, 'don't ask, don't tell.' I don't want to be the cause of you losing your
career."

"Isn't that my decision?" Jack asked.

"Have you even thought about the consequences if anyone discovers you have...
feelings ... for another man?"

"Yes," Jack said. "Yes, I have thought about it. I know what could happen. I don't
think General Hammond would want to give up one of his best officers that easily.
If we began a relationship and were discreet, I hope that there wouldn't be any
negative repercussions. If it was discovered that I had a same-sex relationship, I'd
probably be allowed to retire quietly. But I'm prepared to deal with any fallout that
might take place."

"You'd accept being kicked out of the Air Force, just like that?"

"For you, yes. I would."
                              
It dawned on Daniel that Jack wasn't just talking about sexual attraction. Jack
didn't just *want* him. "Jack, are you trying to tell me that you love me?"

Jack got up from his awkward sitting position on the floor and sat on the longseat
next to Daniel. "Yes. I love you, Space Monkey."

Space  Monkey. Daniel had never understood that term of endearment, which Jack
had used only once before. It had been when Jack had had to leave him behind   to
die, Jack had probably thought   on a Goa'uld mothership where he had been
mortally wounded by a Jaffa with a staff weapon. Unbeknownst to Jack and the rest
of SG-1, Daniel had managed to crawl to Apophis' sarcophagus, which had healed
his wound, and then he'd dived through the Goa'uld's stargate seconds before the
ship had exploded.

At the SGC, when Jack and the others were being given heroes' welcomes, General
Hammond had said to Jack, "There's someone here who wants to see you." The
General had apparently wanted him to make a dramatic entrance. He'd felt a bit
shy, pushing through all those people who were cheering for them. But Jack had
grabbed him in the biggest hug he'd ever felt and held on to him for a few moments
before saying "Space Monkey! Yeah!" and releasing him. Sam had hugged him too,
and Teal'c.... Well, Teal'c wasn't much of a hugging person. Probably a good thing,
since a hug from Teal'c would most likely break a human's ribs.

His memories were interrupted by Jack's voice saying, "Daniel? Are you ever going
to say something, or are we just going to sit here in silence for the rest of our natural
lives?"

"Can you give me some time? You have to know I wasn't exactly expecting this. I
need to think about things."

Well, at least Daniel wasn't rejecting him outright. "How much time?"

"Hell, I don't know!" Daniel answered. This was a decision that would change his
entire life. Jack was willing to throw away a distinguished career to be with him. If
he agreed to a relationship with Jack, how would they act at the SGC? If he refused,
how could he continue to work with Jack as a part of SG-1? If Jack did lose his
career in the air force, how could he, Daniel, live with himself knowing that he had
been the cause of it?

Then again, they still didn't know if they'd ever make it back to the SGC.

In another part of the Galactica....

Teal'c had temporarily left Sam and Dr. Wilker to work on the DHD while he went
to the mess to get something to eat. On his way back to the lab, he ran into a small
boy. "Excuse me," Teal'c said politely.

"Who are you?" asked the boy.

"My name is Teal'c." 

"My name is Boxey. Are you one of the Earth people?"

"I came here from Earth, but that is not where I am from originally."

"Really? Where'd you come from, then?" Boxey asked.

"A place called Chulak."

"Where's that?"

"Far away from here," Teal'c answered. The boy reminded him somewhat of his
son.

"My dad says you came through a big ring that takes you to different planets in the
wink of an eye," Boxey informed him.

"Your father told you that? And who is your father, Boxey?" Teal'c asked.

"Captain Apollo," Boxey said proudly. "Do you have any kids on Earth?"

"I have a son, but he is not on Earth."

"Where is he?"

"With his mother on P3X-797," Teal'c answered.

"Is that a planet?" Boxey wanted to know.

"Yes, it is. It is also known as the Land of Light."

"Why is he there, and not on Earth with you?" Boxey asked.

Teal'c began to feel like he was being interrogated. "There is a very bad person who
would hurt Riy'ac and his mother if he found them. Therefore they must stay very
far away from this bad person."

"Is the bad person on Earth?"

"No, he is not."

"Then why can't Riy'ac and his mother be on Earth with you?"

"The bad person would try to send his soldiers through the stargate to find them."

"But he can't find them in the Land of Light?" Boxey asked.

"He does not know how to find the land of light."

"Do you get to spend time with your son?" 

"Not as much time as I would like," Teal'c admitted.

"If I go to Earth, would I be allowed to come visit you?" Boxey asked.

"If you make it to Earth, I will come visit you. I do not think you would be allowed
to come to the SGC. It is a very secretive place."

"Oh, secrets. Secrets are things grownups don't want you to know."    

"Sometimes, Boxey, they are simply things that grownups want to protect you
from," Teal'c told him.

"Yeah, that's what they all say," Boxey muttered as he headed to the learning
centre.

Back at the Commander's office....

"You love me?" Apollo was stunned. He'd wished that he would hear those words
from Starbuck, but he'd given up on ever hearing them.

"Yeah," Starbuck said simply. "I do. I can't tell you when it started. I think I've
always loved you, really."

"Why are you telling me now?" Apollo wanted to know. If Starbuck had always
loved him, why had it taken him so long to say something?

"Because I saw the way you were looking at the archeologist, and it made me
jealous."

"Daniel? Oh, frack," Apollo swore. "That was a fling. It didn't mean anything." He
hoped it hadn't meant anything to Daniel.

Starbuck raised his eyebrows. "You mean something did happen between the two
of you?"

"Yes," Apollo admitted reluctantly. "If I'd known how you felt...."

"Don't worry about it now. It's over, right?"

"You'd better believe it's over. Starbuck, I can't believe this. I.... I don't know what
to say! I've loved you for so long, and I never.... I never thought you would feel the
same way."

"You love me?" Starbuck asked hopefully.

Apollo crossed the room so that he was standing in front of the one he loved. He
pulled Starbuck to his feet so that they were standing face to face. "More than
anything, Star. More than anything. I only realized it when I thought I'd lost you
forever." He saw that Starbuck had tears in his eyes. "Star, are you all right?"

"When I thought I'd lost you, I didn't think I could go on without you," Starbuck
said quietly, almost in a whisper.

"You didn't lose me," Apollo said, taking his wingmate into his arms. "You won't
lose me."

"You can't promise that," Starbuck reminded him.

"All right, no, I can't. But I have you on my wing, and I know you won't let me
down. No, don't say anything," he added when he could tell Starbuck was about to
contradict him. "I know you. We've been wingmates for yahrens, and you've never
failed me. If anything ever does happen to me, it will be because of the Cylons, not
because of anything you did or didn't do."

"I love you, Apollo."

"I love you, too."

They kissed then, and were lost in each other for several centons. They were
interrupted by someone coming into the office.

"Oh, uh, excuse me," Daniel said, and took off.

"Daniel? Daniel, wait!" Apollo ran to the door, but Daniel was already gone.
"Frack. I guess I have some explaining to do." He turned back to Starbuck, "But
that can wait." He reached for Starbuck, but the blond warrior stopped him.

"Go talk to Daniel. He deserves to know what's going on. I've waited all this time; I
can wait a few more centons."

"You're sure?" Apollo asked.

Starbuck kissed him. "I'm sure. Go, before I change my mind."

Daniel headed back to Apollo's quarters. Since Apollo was in the Commander's
office with Starbuck, he figured it was a pretty safe bet he could be alone here. He
hadn't expected to run into Apollo and Starbuck like that. He didn't even know they
were a couple. But if they were a couple, then what had Apollo been doing with
him the night before?

He was confused. He'd wanted to talk to someone about Jack, but he didn't know
who to talk to. He was pretty sure Sam had a thing for the Colonel herself. He had
no clue how Teal'c felt about same-sex relationships. He certainly wasn't going to
talk to Apollo. That left exactly no one.

What the hell was his problem, anyway? Hadn't he wanted to hear Jack say he
loved him? He had. Didn't he love Jack? He did. Then why hadn't he jumped into
Jack's arms the moment Jack kissed him? Because he was scared. He hadn't had
much luck with relationships before Sha're, and that had technically been a
marriage arranged by her father. And of course, there was Sara   now the Goa'uld
Osiris. Their relationship hadn't lasted long after he'd started spreading his theories
about the Egyptian pyramids being landing sites for spaceships.

So, both his wife and his former girlfriend had fallen victim to the Goa'uld. That
wasn't a very good track record. Not that it had been his fault that the Goa'uld had
taken either Sha're or Sara. He couldn't protect Jack from the Goa'uld. Jack had
done a pretty good job of looking after himself and the rest of SG-1. 

What was he afraid of?

He heard the door chime ring. He didn't think Apollo would bother ringing the
chime at his own door. He opened it to find Adama. "Commander."

"Dr. Jackson. Is my son here?"

"No, he's not," Daniel answered. "I think he's in your office, actually. But he was,
uh, rather busy when I saw him last."

"In that case, may I wait for him here?" Adama asked.

"Sure, go ahead," Daniel answered. "Since you're here, maybe you can answer
some questions for me about the Lords of Kobol. I've been thinking that maybe you
have your history backwards   that the tribes of humans originated on Earth.
Teal'c's people, the Jaffa, call Earth 'Ta'ree.' According to their mythology,
humans originated on Earth and then spread through the galaxy from there, thanks
to the Goa'uld."

Adama was intrigued by that theory, and he and Daniel were discussing it when
Apollo showed up.

Daniel had hoped Apollo would be too busy with Starbuck to bother coming after
him. He tried to make an excuse so that he could leave. "I want to discuss the Lords
of Kobol further with you, Commander," he said. "Maybe we could continue this
discussion in your office, where you have the books and scrolls."

"I'd like to talk to you first, Daniel," Apollo told him.

Adama looked at his son and at Daniel. There was something going on between
them, but he couldn't figure out quite what it was.

"Please," Apollo added.

Daniel sighed and agreed to catch up with Adama later. When the Commander had
left, he waited for Apollo to say something.

"About me and Starbuck," Apollo began. "I hadn't intended for you to discover us
like that."

"Had you been planning to tell me that you and Starbuck were together?" Daniel
wanted to know.

"We weren't together until about a centare ago. A short time ago," he added,
knowing that Daniel and his friends hadn't figured out the Galactica time system
yet.

"You looked pretty together when I saw you."

"I know. Starbuck had just told me that he's in love with me. I was surprised, but
I've been in love with him for a couple of yahrens. He's the one I want. I'm sorry if
I misled you into thinking I wanted something permanent with you."

What was this   "True Confessions Day"? What had prompted both Jack and
Starbuck to confess previously hidden romantic feelings for their friends? "You
never led me to believe anything other than that we were together for that one
night," Daniel admitted. "Are you happy?"
                                                  
"Yes. I'm happy," Apollo told him.

"That's good. Being happy is better than being miserable any day."

"Is something wrong, Daniel?" Apollo asked, wondering why Daniel had
mentioned being miserable.

"Well, when you were having your little chat with Starbuck, Jack came and had a
chat with me."

"What about?" Apollo wanted to know.

"He says he's in love with me."

"He's in love with you?" Apollo asked, just as surprised as Daniel to find out that
both Jack and Starbuck were declaring their previously hidden feelings at the same
time.  "How do you feel about that?" 

"Surprised as hell," Daniel answered. "Confused. I mean, Jack never showed any
signs of, you know, being that way."

"Neither did Starbuck," Apollo told him. "How do you feel about Jack?"

"I don't know. Sure, I love him, but it was always more of a platonic thing. Brother
to brother. Comrades in arms, fighting the Goa'uld. Honestly, if we become lovers
and it doesn't work out, what will it do to our friendship? How will I be able to go
on missions with SG-1?"

Apollo had been wondering similar things about himself and Starbuck.  He'd
decided that he would take the risk. Obviously Daniel hadn't decided that for
himself yet. He couldn't think of anything to say to make the decision easier for
Daniel. It was something he'd have to decide for himself.

"I don't know, Daniel," Apollo finally said. "I don't know either of you well
enough to have any idea what will happen."

"Then, of course, there's the fact that Jack would be risking his career if we became
lovers," Daniel continued. He explained the American military's policy toward
service members in same-sex relationships.

Apollo was impressed. Jack would take the risk of being discharged from the
military just so that he could be with Daniel? He hoped that Daniel recognized the
magnitude of that.

"He's risking his entire career for me. He came out of retirement just to join the
Stargate program. But he'd give it up   for me," Daniel said, thinking out loud. 

"So what's really bothering you, Daniel?" Apollo asked.

"I don't know if I'm worth it."

"Worth Jack giving up his career?"

Daniel nodded.

"Apparently Jack thinks you are. I know that I'd do anything for Starbuck. Our
being together won't have any effect on our being warriors, but if for some crazy
reason I had to give up being a warrior to be with him, I would do it in a heartbeat."

The Stellar Com handset beeped, indicating someone wanted to talk to Apollo. He
answered it and listened for a few centons. "I'll tell Daniel. He's right here."
Hanging up the handset, Apollo turned to Daniel. "Major Carter wants to meet all
of you in the Commander's office. She has some news for you."

Arriving in his father's office, Apollo saw Starbuck talking to Colonel O'Neill. He
suppressed a sudden twinge of jealousy at how Starbuck and O'Neill acted like
long-time friends, rather than two people who'd just met a couple of days ago. He
wondered how the Colonel had managed to get through the defences Starbuck
normally put up between himself and other people. Maybe it had something to do
with the fact that both men had confessed at the same time to being in love with
their close friends. Maybe they'd planned it that way.

His gaze met Starbuck's, and the blond warrior smiled at him. That smile was one
of the things Apollo loved about Starbuck, and it made everything all right,
instantly. He crossed the room to be at Starbuck's side, and Starbuck reached for
his hand, holding it for a moment just to have some physical contact with him. 

"What have you been up to for the last couple of centares?" Apollo asked.

"I was teaching the Colonel how to fly a Viper," Starbuck answered. "He made it
through the simulator trials in record time. I let him take a quick flight in my Viper,
and he handled it like an expert. If it turns out that you're staying with us, Colonel,
you'd be a welcome addition to the fleet."

"Thanks, but I'm not planning to stick around here any longer than I absolutely
have to. I'm hoping that Carter called this little meaning to give us a progress report
on the DHD."

Sam walked into the room then, and seeing the expectant looks on everyone's faces,
immediately told them what they'd all been waiting to hear. "Dr. Wilker and I think
we've managed to create a workable DHD," she told them. "All that's missing now
is a power supply. If we can come up with one, then we can be on our way to
Earth."

This, of course, led to the unspoken question: would the people of the Galactica and
her fleet be able to use the Stargate to get to Earth? They'd have to leave their ships
behind; there was no way to fly them through the gate and into the SGC. If they
couldn't send everyone through the gate, could they send a few people to help
prepare for the day when the fleet finally reached Earth on its own?

There was no time to discuss the issue, however, because at that moment the Red
Alert klaxon sounded, indicating the Galactica was under attack. The warriors
immediately headed to the Viper bay, with Starbuck calling over his shoulder,
"Jack, you coming with us?"

Jack started after them, but Daniel grabbed his arm to stop him. "Jack, you're not
going to go out and fight an unknown alien enemy in a ship you're barely familiar
with!"

Jack removed Daniel's hand from his arm. "These people have been good to us, and
they're being attacked. I'm going to help them in whatever way I can, and that
means flying a Viper." 

"Jack...." Daniel started, but Jack had already left.

"I have to be on the bridge," Adama told the three remaining members of SG-1.
"You can join me if you want to."

Sam, Daniel and Teal'c headed to the bridge, where Omega was directing the Viper
launch. Daniel approached him and asked, "Can you communicate with the Viper
pilots?"

"Yes," Omega answered.

"Can you patch me through to Colonel O'Neill's Viper, please? Just for a second  
a micron," he corrected himself.

Omega opened the channel to Jack's Viper. "Colonel O'Neill, there's someone here
who wants to speak to you before you launch."

"Put him through," Jack said, knowing who it would be. "What is it, Daniel?"

Daniel didn't ask how Jack knew it was him. "I just wanted to say 'be careful,'
Jack."

"I'm always careful," Jack answered.

"No, you're not," Daniel muttered.

Omega gave the command to launch Blue Squadron, and the warriors, Jack
included, went out to meet the Cylons.

Sam had been walking around the bridge, familiarizing herself with the equipment.
It was similar to late twentieth-century Earth technology from around the late
seventies or early eighties. The SGC had equipment more advanced than this. She
sat at one of the consoles.

"Excuse me," came a voice from behind her. "That's my station."

Sam looked up to see an attractive brunette standing over her. She could see the
resemblance to Captain Apollo. This must be his sister. "I'm sorry. I was just
getting to know your instruments. I'm Major Samantha Carter, from Earth."

"I'm Athena. Do you know how to use them?"

Sam examined the console. "Yes, we have computers on Earth that are kind of like
this." She refrained from adding that they were a few decades out of date. "What do
you do here at this station? I see figures on the screen, but I don't know what they
are."

"It's collecting information from the Vipers. Here I can see the movements of each
of the ships in range, both ours and the Cylons. Each Viper has its own unique
energy signature. That one," she pointed to a figure on the screen, "is my brother
Apollo. That one is Starbuck, and that one is Lt. Boomer." She named each of the
members of Blue Squadron. "Wait, there's an extra one."

"That's Colonel O'Neill," Sam told her.

"Your Colonel is flying a Viper?" Athena asked in surprise.

"Yes, Lieutenant Starbuck taught him how. So, what do you do with this
information once it's collected?"

"Colonel Tigh goes over it with the warriors in post-mission debriefings. Your
Colonel is flying a Viper in a fight with the Cylons when he's only just learned
how?" Athena sounded incredulous. Sam couldn't blame her.
                                 
"Yes, the Colonel learns how to fly new machines pretty quickly."

Daniel paced back and forth across the bridge. The bridge crew ignored him,
having their jobs to do. Teal'c finally approached him and stopped his pacing.
"DanielJackson, you are concerned about Colonel O'Neill," the Jaffa stated.

"Yes, Teal'c, I am. Aren't you?" Daniel asked.

"O'Neill is a very good pilot," Teal'c said.

"Yes, he is, but he's flying a machine he only learned how to fly this afternoon, and
he's being shot at by Cylons."

"He is accustomed to being shot at."

Sometimes Daniel found Teal'c's habit of stating the very, very obvious to be
comforting in a strange sort of way. This was not one of those times.

"Do you not have confidence in his abilities?" Teal'c asked.

"Of course I do!" Daniel almost shouted. "But that doesn't make me not worry." He
waved a hand in the general direction of the view screen. "I can't be out there with
him. I can't do anything to help him. Apollo and Starbuck can protect each other,
but I can't protect Jack." Daniel almost wished he believed in a higher power so
that he'd have something to pray to. But he and the others had had enough
experience with false gods to turn them off religion.

"DanielJackson, do you love Colonel O'Neill?"

Daniel's mouth dropped open. He closed it and swallowed hard before asking,
"What.... What did you just ask me?"

"I asked you if you love Colonel O'Neill."

"Why are you asking me if I love Jack?" Daniel wanted to know.

"Because you are acting as if you do," Teal'c told him.

"Acting like it in what way?"

"The way you are acting is the way Riy'ac told me his mother, Drey'ac, acted
whenever I had to leave her to carry out possibly dangerous orders from Apophis.
He said she paced like you are doing now."

"That doesn't mean I love him!" Daniel objected.

Teal'c smiled his inscrutable smile. "One time Drey'ac was very ill. I paced like
that for several nights until she recovered. It is what you do when someone you love
is in danger and you cannot help them."

"Teal'c."

"Yes, DanielJackson?"

"I hate you."

Teal'c just nodded, and continued smiling. The smile annoyed Daniel more by the
second. He turned his back to Teal'c and continued to pace.

Out in space, Jack was enjoying himself. As an Air Force colonel, flying should be
in his job description, he thought. While he enjoyed the stargate missions, he
missed flying. Now he was flying and shooting Cylons, and he was having the time
of his life. Okay, the Cylons were shooting back. That wasn't so great, but so far
he'd managed to avoid being hit.

"How you doing, Jack?" came Starbuck's voice over the radio.

"Just fine," he answered. "Watch out, Starbuck. You got one on your tail." He
fired, and the Cylon fighter was gone. "Never mind. He's taken care of."

"Thanks," Starbuck said.

"Thanks from me too, Colonel," Apollo added.

"My pleasure," Jack replied, shooting down another Cylon craft.

The squadron managed to dispose of the first wave of Cylon attackers, but the
warriors knew that another attack could come at any moment. They had to stay on
the alert, but they took advantage of the temporary down time to exchange banter
and trade jokes and friendly jibes at each other.

Maybe it was deliberate, or maybe Apollo had just forgotten he was on an open
channel. He said, for everyone to hear, "Starbuck, have I told you how much I love
you?"

A chuckle came from Starbuck. "Yeah, you have, but you're welcome to keep
saying it. I love you, too."

There was a brief moment of stunned surprise from the other warriors, then one of
the Vipers suddenly took off, away from the squadron.

Sheba.

"Frack," Apollo muttered, this time on a private channel that only Starbuck could
hear. "I forgot I was on an open channel."

"More than that, you forgot to be honest with Sheba," Starbuck replied.

From her station on the bridge, Athena had to put aside her shock at having heard
Apollo's declaration to Starbuck being broadcast on an open channel where
everyone could hear it. She quickly turned to her screen. "That was Sheba who just
took off," she told Omega.

Omega radioed Apollo. "Blue Leader, why did Lt. Sheba leave the squadron?"

"No time for explanations right now," Apollo answered, taking off after Sheba's
Viper, Starbuck right behind him.

"I think I can explain it," Sam announced. "Lt. Sheba thinks she's engaged to
Captain Apollo. She's probably not too happy about what she just heard."

Adama had been surprised by what he'd heard his son say, but he wasn't displeased
by it. However, he wasn't happy to hear that his son hadn't broken off his
relationship with Sheba before making his declaration to Starbuck. He signalled to
Omega to open a channel to Apollo's viper. "Blue Leader," he said, "this is the
Commander. I want you to go after Lt. Sheba and explain what she just heard."

There was a brief silence on Apollo's end, then a sigh of resignation. "Yes, sir. I'll
go after her." He opened a channel to all the Vipers, "Lt. Starbuck and I are going
to go after Lt. Sheba. Boomer, I want you to take command of the squadron.
Everyone, do what Boomer says. He's in charge."

Starbuck and Apollo took off in the direction Sheba had gone. Then they discovered
a third viper following them.

"Colonel O'Neill, go back to the squadron," Apollo ordered.

"Sorry, Captain," Jack said. "I outrank you."

"As long as you're in my squadron, I'm your commanding officer," Apollo told
him.

Jack ignored him and continued on his course. "Look, Captain," he finally said, "Lt.
Sheba is going to be royally pissed at both of you. From the gossip I heard in the
Officers' Quarters, she considered you the catch of the day. She had your future all
planned out. Now she's just heard you tell Starbuck you love him. She's not going
to want to listen to anything you have to tell her." He wished that Carter was with
them. This sounded like the kind of problem best taken care of woman-to-woman.
Then again, he might be incredibly sexist for thinking that way.

But Carter wasn't here, and he was, sexist or not.

Starbuck spoke up. "Look, Pol, we're not going to get rid of him. You can lecture
him later. For now, let's concentrate on finding Sheba and getting her back to the
Galactica."

"All right," Apollo agreed reluctantly. "Let's stay in radio contact with the
Galactica. I have no clue where we're going to find Sheba, and I don't want to get
lost."

Fortunately, after her first initial blast of speed to get away from the squadron,
Sheba had slowed down, because she didn't know where she was going any more
than Apollo did. She'd just wanted to get away, and she'd succeeded, but now she
had to figure out where to go from here.

Her radio came to life. "Sheba, this is Apollo. I'm ordering you back to the
Galactica."

"Forget it," she replied before closing the channel.

Apollo's voice again, on a universal channel this time. "Sheba, I promise I'll explain
things to you, but I'd rather do it on the Galactica." He was using the channel that
connected all the pilots to the battlestar. Fortunately for him, Sheba had left it open,
but it meant that the bridge crew could hear every word they said.

"Do the words 'forget it' not mean anything to you, Apollo?" Sheba asked.

Starbuck tried talking to her. "Sheba, how about we all go back to the Galactica.
You don't have to talk to Apollo if you don't want to. You don't even have to see
him. For that matter, you don't even have to see me."

No response.

"Sheba, I realize that Apollo and I aren't your favourite people right now...."

"That's the understatement of the millenium."

"Believe it or not, lady, we didn't plan this to hurt you. We don't sit around plotting
how we're going to embarrass the Hades out of ourselves and you by suddenly
declaring our undying love for each other where everyone can hear us."

The only response from Sheba was a snort of suppressed laughter, but there was no
humour in the laughter.

Then a third voice, one that Sheba didn't recognize, joined the conversation.

"Lt. Sheba, this is Colonel Jack O'Neill, from Earth." Jack tried to use his best 'I'm
in command here,' voice.

"And what can I do for you, Colonel?" Sheba asked, her voice dripping with
sarcasm.

"You can stop acting like a spoiled child and grow the hell up," Jack answered.

"Excuse me?" Sheba asked in shock. No one talked to her that way, not even her
father.

"Lady, you are a warrior. Start acting like one. Yes, you got your heart broken. The
man you love" -- at least, Jack assumed she loved him -- "doesn't love you. Guess
what? The world isn't going to come to an end. Yes, it sucks. Yes, you probably feel
completely and totally miserable and you don't want to deal. Too bad. The Cylons
aren't going to stop attacking just because Lt. Sheba is feeling bummed."

"What do you know about how I feel?" Sheba demanded.

Jack sighed, feeling as if he was about to strip naked in front of Sheba, Apollo and
Starbuck. "Because I've been there, lady. I love someone who doesn't love me back.
But that doesn't mean that everything around me grinds to a halt. I'm a soldier, and I
have a job to do. Stargate Command is not going to accept 'heartbreak' as a reason
for me not to do my duty."

Standing on the Galactica's bridge, leaning over Omega's shoulder, Daniel heard
what Jack was saying. It made him want to find whoever it was who had broken
Jack's heart and pound them into little tiny pieces. Then he realized something.

He realized that Jack was talking about him.

Sam must have seen the sudden look of shock on Daniel's face, because she came
over to him, leaving her position at Athena's station."Daniel, is something wrong?"
she asked in concern.

*Yes, everything is wrong,* Daniel wanted to say. "I, uh, wasn't expecting to hear
what Jack just said."

"Do you have any idea who he's talking about?" Sam asked.

Daniel shook his head. "No, I don't have a clue."

Starbuck and Apollo listened to Jack's conversation with Sheba. They were both
surprised by the way he spoke to her. "I think I could learn some things from him,"
Apollo muttered to himself. He'd never dared to speak to Sheba that way, and he
was her squadron leader.

Finally, without saying anything, Sheba turned her Viper around and headed back
to the Galactica with Starbuck, Apollo and Jack following. They caught up with
Blue Squadron, who were also returning to the battlestar, having satisfied
themselves no more Cylons were coming.

When they arrived, Sheba went straight to decontamination, ignoring the others.
When she was finished, she headed for her quarters, not bothering to acknowledge
Apollo's attempts to reprimand her for her behaviour.

Starbuck told Apollo not to bother with Sheba. "She'll get over her hissy fit
eventually," he said, "and you can ask Colonel Tigh to discipline her. Frankly, I
don't think she'll accept any punishment that comes from you. You've already
punished her enough just by choosing me over her."

"I guess you're right," Apollo sighed.

"Of course I'm right. I'm always right. Let's go through decon and then we'll take
Jack to the Officer's Club for a drink. Sound good to you?" he asked Jack.

"Sounds great to me," Jack answered. "We should get Daniel and Teal'c and Carter
to come, too."

"Why do you always call Daniel by his first name, but you call Major Carter by her
surname?" Apollo asked Jack.

Jack shrugged. "Daniel's not military. He's my friend."

"And Major Carter isn't?"

"I like to think she is, but I'm her superior and it wouldn't be appropriate for me to
call her by her first name. Anyway, for awhile now I've suspected she might have
feelings for me, and I don't want to encourage those feelings."

Thinking of Sheba, Apollo said, "No, I guess you don't."

Starbuck used the Stellar Com to contact the bridge and tell Daniel, Teal'c and Sam
to meet them in the Officers' club. He, Apollo and Jack went through
decontamination, then headed to the OC, where they were given a warm welcome,
Jack especially. There were several female pilots who wanted to cure Jack's broken
heart, but he tactfully refused them.

Sam arrived, accompanied by Athena. She congratulated Jack on his performance
in the Viper, then headed off to join some of the women warriors.

"Looks like Carter's made a friend," Jack noted, referring to Athena.

"Maybe more than a friend," Apollo said. He knew his sister.

This was not something Jack had been expecting. "You think so?" he asked.

"I think so," Apollo answered.

"I think so too," Starbuck added. He also knew Athena.

"I just never thought Carter was interested in women," O'Neill told them.

"Women in the military tend to stick together," Apollo explained. "And sometimes
that sticking together leads to....sticking together."

Starbuck rolled his eyes. "I thought I was the crude one around here."

"You are," Apollo told him.

Teal'c was the next one to arrive, and he also had praise for Jack's handling of the
Viper and the Cylons.

"Teal'c, have you seen Daniel?" Jack wanted to know.

"He was on the bridge. When Major Carter and I left the bridge to come here,
DanielJackson did not accompany us."

"Do you know why not?" O'Neill asked.

"I am not certain, but it may have been because of what you were saying to
Lieutenant Sheba."

"Daniel heard that?"

"Everyone on the bridge heard it, Jack. We were all on an open channel,
remember?" Starbuck reminded him.

"Oh...frack," Jack swore. He didn't like to use Earth swear words around Teal'c for
fear the Jaffa would pick them up and use them at inconvenient moments, like
during briefings with General Hammond. He pushed his chair back and stood up. "I
have to go find Daniel," he announced. "Anyone have any clue where he might
be?"

"Try my quarters," Apollo told him, giving him the lock code. "That would be the
most likely place."

In Apollo's quarters, Daniel was deep in thought. He wandered from one end of the
room to the other, trying to figure out what he would say to Jack when he next saw
him.

'I never said I didn't love him,' Daniel said to himself. 'Then again, I never said I
did love him, either. No wonder he thinks I don't love him.'

He hadn't wanted to make Jack think that way. And he certainly hadn't wanted to
hurt Jack, let alone break his heart. But he'd heard what Jack had said.

'What's that expression that Jack uses   something to do with fishing?' Daniel
thought. 'It's time to fish or cut bait. Something like that. It means no more waiting
around. Do something or get out. But what can I do?'

He thought for a few more centons. How did he feel about Jack   how did he
*really* feel? He thought about what he and Jack had been through over the last
few years. The time he'd been brainwashed by the sarcophagus, and had tried to kill
Jack. But Jack hadn't run away or tried to hurt him. Jack had waited until his
'sarcophagus rage' was over, and then had held him in his arms and tried to
comfort him.

He'd felt incredibly guilty about that for a long time afterwards. But Jack seemed to
have forgotten all about it. Jack hadn't blamed him for what the sarcophagus had
made him do.

Daniel remembered the anguished look on Jack's face when Jack had realized he'd
have to leave him behind on the Goa'uld ship, and the brief touch of Jack's hand on
his face that had said more to him than words ever could. The way Jack had gently
removed the glasses from his face when they were on the prison planet, saying that
they could not show any sign of weakness while they were there. The nicknames
Jack had given him   "Danny Boy" and "Space Monkey" among them. No one else
in his life had ever given him a nickname; no one had even called him "Danny"
since his parents died. He was always "Daniel," never "Dan" or "Danny."

He thought of how affectionate   physically affectionate   Jack had always been
with him. Jack often hugged him. Jack was not shy or hesitant about touching him.
He realized that Jack had actually shown his love many times before he'd actually
said it out loud. How could he have missed it? It was obvious that Jack loved him.

Did he love Jack?

Yes. He loved Jack. 

Now he had to talk to Jack.

Jack hoped he hadn't had too much ale to drink as he headed for Apollo's quarters.
He had the lock code, but he didn't want to just walk right in. He rang the door
chime instead.

Hearing the chime, Daniel knew that it was Jack. He wondered what Jack would
have to say about his earlier words to Sheba and the others. He opened the door.
"Jack," he said, trying to sound surprised. "What can I do for you?"

"Can we talk?" the Colonel asked anxiously.

"About what?"

"About what I said when I was talking to Lt. Sheba. Can I come in   please?"

Daniel stepped aside and let his friend enter. "So, about what you said...."

"You weren't meant to hear that."

"I see. The fact that everyone on the bridge could hear you never crossed your
mind?" Daniel asked.

"Sheba wouldn't open a private channel. I had to use the public one."

"Then you did know."

"Well, kinda, I guess. But I didn't mean anything by it."

"Then you don't love someone who doesn't love you," Daniel said.

Jack had no clue what to say. Somehow everything he'd said since arriving had dug
him deeper into a hole he couldn't seem to get out of. "Uh...."

"I'm assuming you meant me when you said that."

"Yeah," Jack admitted.

"I guess you don't love me after all."

"Huh?" Now Jack was completely and totally confused.

"You love someone who doesn't love you. I love you, so that means I can't be the
one you love."

"I've definitely had too much to drink," Jack muttered. "I have no clue what you
just said."

"If you don't understand what I'm saying, how about I show you?" Daniel crossed
the space between them and wrapped one arm around Jack's shoulders. He gently
pulled Jack forward and kissed him softly.

Shocked, Jack pushed Daniel away. "What do you think you're doing, Daniel?"

"Uh, I was kissing you."

"That much was obvious. Why did you kiss me? You didn't want me to kiss you,
yet here you are practically jumping me."

"It wasn't that I didn't want you to kiss me. Hell, I've wanted you to kiss me for a
long time. But I was scared. I wasn't expecting it. I didn't know what to do. It
hasn't been that long since I lost Sha're. I wasn't sure if I was ready for another
relationship."

"So what changed?" Jack asked.

"When you were out there flying that viper, I was absolutely terrified that you
weren't going to come back. The worst part of it was that there wasn't anything I
could do. I couldn't help you. I was afraid you were going to get killed, and I hadn't
had a chance to tell you how I really feel. I told you to give me time. I suddenly
realized that it was quite possible there was no more time."

"What are you trying to say, Daniel?"

"I'm saying that I love you, Jack."

"You love me?"

"Yes, Jack, I love you."

"You're sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"You're not worried about my career, or General Hammond, or the SGC, or any of
those things anymore?"

"I admit that I'm concerned about them, but not enough to stop me from wanting to
be with you, preferably on a permanent basis."

"You're sure?" Jack asked again.

"Yes, Jack, like I just told you, I'm sure. Now, can I kiss you again?"

Jack broke into a grin. He pulled Daniel close and kissed him. Then Daniel kissed
him back. They continued like that for a while until they were interrupted by the
sound of the red alert signal. Jack swore. "Anyone ever told those Cylons they have
lousy timing? Come on." He grabbed Daniel's hand, pulling Daniel with him as he
ran to the viper bay.

In Apollo's quarters, he and Starbuck also cursed the Cylons' lousy timing. They
too ran to the viper bay. There was a message waiting there for Apollo from the
Commander. "Frack," he said as he read it.

"What is it?" Starbuck asked.

"Colonel Tigh is stuck on the Rising Star. No shuttle traffic during red alerts. I have
to stay here and take over his station. You'll have to take over as Blue leader."
Apollo hated having to send Starbuck out there without being on his wing, but his
duty came first. He hugged Starbuck tightly. "Don't do anything stupid, okay? I
want you back here in one piece."

Starbuck laughed, then kissed him. "I'll be back as soon as I can. I love you."

"I love you too," Apollo said. He watched Starbuck get into his viper and pull into
the launch tube before heading to the bridge.

When they reached the male officers' locker room, Jack told Daniel, "Wait right
here. I have to change into a pressure suit."

"A pressure suit? What for?" But Jack was already gone.

When he came out of the locker room, Jack was wearing a colonial warrior's
uniform. Daniel realized what he was doing.

"You're going out in a viper again, aren't you?" he demanded.

"Yes, I am. The Galactica is under attack, and they need all the people they can get
out there, especially since Captain Apollo has to stay here."

"But, Jack...." Daniel wanted to tell Jack not to go, but he knew Jack wouldn't
listen. He followed Jack to the viper bay. "I wish you weren't going."

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me, Space Monkey." He quickly hugged Daniel,
then boarded his viper and pulled into the launch tube.

Apollo saw Daniel standing staring forlornly after Jack's viper. He approached the
archeologist. "You look like I feel," Apollo said.

"I should be with him," Daniel said "But I can't be.".

"I know. I should be with Starbuck." Apollo patted Daniel's shoulder
sympathetically. "Come on. Let's go to the bridge."

As they rode the lift to the bridge, Apollo tried to reassure Daniel. "Starbuck is
Jack's wingmate. He'll make sure nothing happens to him. He's done a pretty job
of keeping my astrum out of the fire all these yahrens."

Daniel didn't say anything. He knew that Starbuck and the others in Blue Squadron
were fine warriors. But that didn't make any difference to his desire to be with
Jack, or his worry about Jack being out there without any of the other members of
SG-1.

Sam and Athena were both at Athena's station, and Daniel wandered over trying to
look nonchalant, as if he were simply curious and not worried to death about Jack.

"Hey, Daniel," Sam said. "What can we do for you?"

"Show me which Viper is Jack's," Daniel answered.

Athena moved over from her position next to Sam so that Daniel had an
unobstructed view of the monitor. She pointed out Jack's and Starbuck's vipers so
that Daniel could follow their progress.

This group of Cylons was smaller than the last, and the warriors did a good job of
taking care of them. The Cylons that hadn't been blown out of the sky by the Vipers
turned and began to retreat. Starbuck decided that the squadron would follow the
Cylon ships for a short distance in order to make sure they didn't decide to return
for a surprise attack.

Just when it seemed that it would be safe for the squadron to break off their pursuit,
one of the Cylon fighters turned abruptly and headed toward the Vipers at high
speed. Starbuck and Jack fired on it, but even though they both scored hits, the ship
was close enough to their Vipers that its explosion impacted both of them.

"What just happened?" Daniel demanded as he watched the viewscreen.

"It looks like the Cylon tried to ram Colonel O'Neill and Lt. Starbuck," Athena told
him. "They fired at it, but the shock of the explosion buffeted their Vipers. They
may also have been struck by some debris."

Daniel tried to control his panic. "So what can they do?" he asked in a voice that
belied his calm demeanour.

Athena tried to sound professional. She was worried about Starbuck, but she had a
job to do. "The vipers can still fly. The other members of the squadron will escort
the two damaged vipers back to the Galactica."

Almost before she had finished her sentence, Daniel was on his way to the viper
bay.

Apollo wanted to follow him, but he also had a job to do. He had to stay on the
bridge. He desperately wanted to be there to meet Starbuck's viper and see if his
friend and lover was hurt, and if so, how badly. But he had to stay put until Colonel
Tigh returned.

Adama saw his son trying to remain calm and professional. He knew how worried
Apollo must be about his wingmate. Taking pity on him, he said, "Apollo, you
don't have to stay here. Go down to the viper bay. I can manage here on my own."

The Captain shook his head. "No. I have a job to do. I can't let my personal life
interfere with it."

"Apollo, I order you to go down to the viper bay and find out how badly those
vipers were damaged, and if their pilots were injured."

"You're ordering me?" Apollo asked.

"You heard me," the Commander said. "Go."

Apollo went.

Sam turned to Athena. "I should find out if the Colonel is all right," she said.

Athena nodded in understanding. "Let me know how he is," she said. "And
Starbuck, too." She gave Sam's shoulder an affectionate squeeze. They had already
agreed to no public displays of affection on the bridge, and limited themselves to
small pats and touches   nothing that would obviously say 'these women are
sleeping together.'

Blue Squadron's members escorted the two damaged vipers and their pilots back to
the Galactica. They had to go slowly in order to accommodate the damaged vipers.
Starbuck radioed Jack. "Are you all right, Colonel?"

"I'm a little shaken up. I wasn't expecting a Cylon craft to blow up in my face. But
otherwise, I'm fine. What about you?"

"I'm fine too," Starbuck answered. "But I'll bet that Apollo's out of his mind
worrying about me."

Jack figured that was true about Daniel as well. He wished he could talk to him, tell
him he was all right. He'd radioed the Galactica, but Omega had told him that Dr.
Jackson was not on the bridge. Starbuck had had the same thought about Apollo,
and he had been told that the Captain was not on the bridge, either.

Daniel waited impatiently in the viper bay for the vipers to land. He couldn't wait in
the actually landing bay; it was too dangerous to be there when the vipers were
coming in. So he had to wait a bit farther back, where he couldn't see the individual
ships landing, though he could definitely hear them.

There was a movement at his side, and he turned to see Apollo standing there. He
knew why the Captain was there, of course.

"You're waiting for them to come in," Daniel said, just for the sake of saying
something.

Apollo nodded.

"I'm sure they're all right," Daniel said with a confidence he didn't feel.

"Starbuck's the best wingmate anyone could have," Apollo stated. "He'll have kept
your Colonel safe."

"I'm sure Jack will have kept Starbuck safe, too," Daniel said.

After Apollo and Daniel had waited for what seemed like an eternity to both of
them, the pilots began to emerge from Decon. 

Jack appeared first. Daniel immediately ran to him and threw his arms around him,
giving him a hug that Jack was certain would break his ribs. 

"I'm all right," Jack whispered to Daniel. "I'm all right, Danny. You can let go of
me now."

Reluctantly releasing Jack, Daniel said, "Don't you ever do that to me again."

"Do what to you again?" Jack asked.

"Scare me   make me think you've been killed."

Jack slung an arm around Daniel's shoulders and gave him a gentle squeeze as they
left the landing bay. "I could say the same thing to you. Stop getting crushed by
rockslides or shot by Jaffa staff weapons or jumping off your apartment's balcony
or being kidnapped by Unas or being burned alive, and I'll try to stop getting myself
blown up by Cylons."

"That's a pretty tall order," Daniel observed.

"Yeah, but I'm sure you can handle it."

Meanwhile, Apollo had finally found Starbuck. He tried to act as if it was no big
deal to see his wingmate, that he hadn't been worried about him at all. But his
father had sent him down here to check on Starbuck and Jack, so he allowed
himself to ask, "Are you all right? You don't look any the worse for wear,
considering you almost got blown to pieces by that Cylon you and O'Neill shot
down."

"I'm all right, " Starbuck answered. "Are you?"

"What do you mean? I've been safe here on the Galactica all the time you were out
there risking your neck."

"Apollo, you're shaking."

"No, I'm not," Apollo objected. Then he said, "Frack, I am shaking." He tried to
wipe the tears from his eyes, but they kept coming. He felt Starbuck's arms go
around him.

"It's all right, Apollo. I'm right here. You haven't lost me. You're not going to lose
me. I'll always be here for you, whether you want me to be or not."

"I'll always want you to be here, Starbuck. I'll order you to be here, if I have to."
                                             
Starbuck grinned. "That won't be necessary, Captain."

As they left the viper bay, Jack and Daniel ran into Sam and Teal'c. They were both
obviously concerned about him. Jack wasn't sure what they would make of the fact
that he had his arm around Daniel, but he decided not to worry about it. He often
showed affection toward Daniel, and it would probably look more suspicious if he
suddenly stopped touching him.

"Are you all right, sir?" Sam asked.

"I'm fine, Major. The viper took the brunt of the damage."

Daniel tried to ignore the look Teal'c was giving him that was obviously saying, "I
told you so."

"Sir, we should meet with Captain Apollo, Lieutenant Starbuck and Commander
Adama to talk about the DHD that I jury-rigged with Dr. Wilker," Sam said.

Jack and Daniel had seen Starbuck and Apollo going somewhere together, probably
to Apollo's or Starbuck's quarters. "I think that the Captain and the Lieutenant need
some time to themselves right now," Jack told her. "I think we can wait one more
day. What do you think, Daniel?"

Daniel was pretty sure he knew what Jack was getting at. "Oh, I completely agree,"
he said. "In fact, I think you need some time to yourself as well, after what you've
just been through."

"That sounds like a good idea," Jack said. He removed his arm from Daniel's
shoulders and turned to his team. "I'm going to go back to quarters and get some
rest. Daniel, would you mind coming with me? I think someone should keep an eye
on me for the next little while, in case I suffer from, uh, post-traumatic stress or
something."

"You're right, Jack. Of course I'll come with you," Daniel answered at once. They
excused themselves to Sam and Teal'c and headed for the crew quarters.

"Where exactly are we going?" Daniel asked. "We have no way of knowing whose
quarters Apollo and Starbuck are using."

Jack stopped in his tracks. "You're right," he said. "Now what?"

"I have an idea," Daniel told him. "Apollo showed me a place the other day, an
observation dome. It's nice. I think you'll like it."

"Lead on," Jack said.

Daniel and Jack climbed into the observation dome. Jack commented on the view  
it was spectacular, after all   but the view he really wanted to see was Daniel.
Preferably naked. But this whole "couple" thing was still new to them. They should
probably go slowly.

The two men sat, not saying anything, for awhile. Finally Daniel spoke up.

"Now what?" he asked.

Jack raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean, 'now what'?"

"Where do we go from here? We're finally alone  together, but I have no idea what
to do now that we are."

Reaching out, Jack pulled Daniel close. "We don't have to do anything," he said.
"We can just sit here, if you want." He was enjoying just being there with Daniel
and being able to hold him like this. Anything else could wait. He could tell Daniel
was anxious, and he didn't want to do anything to add to that anxiety.

"I don't want to do nothing," Daniel objected. "I want to do something, but I don't
know what."

"How about kissing me?" Jack suggested.

"I can do that," Daniel answered, and did. Then he did it again, and again.

Jack, of course, kissed Daniel just as much. The two men kissed, then tentatively
began to touch each other. Hands explored places that had previously been out of
bounds for men who were 'just friends' to touch.

Soon, though, Jack called a halt. "Whoa," he said.

"What's wrong?" Daniel wanted to know, suddenly worried.

"Let's not rush into anything," Jack suggested. "We can go slowly. We have lots of
time."

"As long as neither of us gets shot by a staff weapon or blown up or taken as a host
or...."

Jack pressed a hand to Daniel's lips. "Stop that," he said. "Stop thinking of things
that might not happen. I intend to be around for a long time, and as long as I'm
around, I expect you to be around. Got it?"

Daniel smiled, and Jack pulled him close again. "I got it, Jack," he said.

"Good," Jack stated. He yawned.

"Tired?"

"It's been a pretty rough day," Jack admitted.

"We could try going to Apollo's quarters and seeing if they're empty," Daniel
suggested.

"Nah, I don't feel like walking in on anyone having an intimate moment," Jack
said. He leaned back against a wall,  settled Daniel against him and closed his eyes.
"I've slept in worse places, and I didn't even have you for company in some of
them. I'll be fine. Is this okay with you?"

Daniel snuggled close to his love and closed his own eyes. "I'll be great," he said. "I
love you, Jack O'Neill."

Jack opened his eyes long enough to kiss Daniel's forehead. "Love you too, Daniel
Jackson."

Next day....

"Good morning," Starbuck said to Apollo as he woke in Apollo's bed.

Apollo kissed him. "Good morning yourself. Sleep well?"

"When you let me sleep, I did."

"I didn't hear you objecting," Apollo answered.

"Hey, I'm not going to worry about sleep when reality is ten times better than
anything I could possibly dream about."

Apollo stretched and reluctantly got out of bed. "We'd better get going. We're
meeting SG-1 in my father's office in less than a centare."

Starbuck grinned at him. "That should be enough time for a shower, don't you
think?"

 "Depends on how long you take in the shower," Apollo said as he went into the
wash room to start the shower. 

Starbuck got into the shower and pulled Apollo in with him. "I'm sure that two
people showering at the same time is much quicker than two people taking
individual showers," he said.

"I have a feeling we're going to be late," Apollo said with a mock sigh. "Not that
I'm complaining, mind you...."

After spending the night in the observation dome, Jack and Daniel showered in the
officers' quarters and ate breakfast in the crew mess before meeting Sam, Teal'c,
Apollo and Starbuck in the Commander's office. Jack and Daniel had the
impression, judging from the sleepy but happy expressions on the faces of the two
colonial warriors, that their friends had spent a pleasant night together.

"We have to talk about the Stargate," Daniel announced, starting the meeting. "Sam
says that she and Wilker have MacGyvered a DHD for the gate on the planet where
you found us. The question now is: what about all of you? You've been trying to
reach Earth, but I don't know if we can keep the gate open long enough to get all of
you through.

"There's also the fact that Earth is completely unprepared for the arrival of
hundreds of space travellers from a distant galaxy, even if you are human."

"Has Earth not been visited by beings from other planets before?" Apollo asked.

"Yes, but most of Earth's people aren't aware of it," Sam answered.

After they'd discussed the possibilities of the fleet's refugees coming to Earth for
awhile, they were interrupted by Boxey's arrival. The boy greeted Teal'c before
going to climb on to his father's lap.

"Boxey, now's not a good time," Apollo told him. "We're discussing some
grownup things right now."

"Let him stay for a bit," Jack interrupted. "He's not bothering us."

Apollo shrugged and continued the discussion. 

Boxey soon got bored and started wandering around the room. He discovered
Apollo's laser pistol in its holster and pulled it out, examining it closely before
pointing it at various people around the room and making "Pow! Zap!" noises.

"Boxey," Jack said sternly, "put that down."

Boxey ignored him.

"Boxey, I said 'put it down,'" Jack repeated.

Boxey continued to ignore him, so Jack got up and took the pistol out of the boy's
hands. He handed it back to Apollo. "Keep this away from him in the future," Jack
admonished.

Apollo took the weapon and put it back in his holster. "Boxey, go to your aunt's
quarters. We'll talk about this later."

"No," Jack said. "Talk about it now. There may not be a later."  He rose from the
table. "I'm going to go get something to eat." He left the room.

Daniel got up to go after him, but first he offered an explanation for Jack's
behaviour. "Jack lost his son, Charlie, a few years ago. Charlie wasn't much older
than Boxey when he shot himself with Jack's gun."

Daniel was pretty sure Jack wasn't in the crew mess, but he checked anyway, just
to be sure. Then he checked Starbuck's quarters. No Jack there, either. Finally a
thought occurred to him. He went to the observation dome, and sure enough, he
found Jack there.

Jack knew that he shouldn't have just walked out on the meeting the way he had,
but seeing Boxey with his father's gun had brought back too many unwelcome
memories. He knew that he wouldn't be able to hide for long, and he was right.
Daniel arrived about ten or 15 minutes   centons?   after he'd left the meeting.

Daniel sat down on the floor next to Jack and didn't speak for awhile, waiting to
see if his partner would open up. When Jack didn't, he finally said, "So, do you
want to talk about it?"

"No," was the Colonel's immediate response. Seeing the look Daniel gave him, he
added, "But I guess you think I should."

"Not if you really don't want to," was Daniel's answer. Jack seldom talked about
Charlie. Few people even knew that Jack had once had a child. Charlie's death was
what had prompted Jack to volunteer for the first Stargate mission; he hadn't been
planning on surviving it.

"Fuck it," Jack replied. "Don't these people know any better than to let their kids
play with guns   real guns?"

"For what it's worth, Apollo told me that he always keeps the safety on when he's
not on duty. Boxey would have been safe even if you hadn't taken the pistol away
from him."

"Yeah, well, I kept the safety on my gun too. But I didn't switch it on that one time.
One time. That was all it took. You don't let kids play with guns, and Apollo should
know that."

"I think he had other things on his mind," Daniel said.

"Other things like you, maybe?" Jack asked.

Daniel took a deep breath and mentally counted to ten before he responded to his
lover's comment. "Like the fact that a group of people have suddenly arrived from
Earth, a planet he and his people only know through legends. And also the fact that
he's just started a relationship with Starbuck. If he's preoccupied, it's with
Starbuck, not with me. That's not an excuse for being careless," he quickly added.
"Just a possible explanation."

Jack sighed and hugged Daniel. "I'm sorry," he whispered. He had regretted his
words as soon as he'd said them. He was still finding it hard to believe that Daniel
actually wanted him. "I shouldn't have said that. I know that Apollo and Starbuck
are together."

"I'm sorry too," Daniel said. "I'm sorry that I never got to meet Charlie. I think I
would have liked him." He kissed Jack, guessing correctly that his partner would
appreciate the intimacy.

Jack returned the kiss, and they spent a few centons just holding each other and
kissing. Finally Daniel called a halt. "As much as I enjoy this, there's a meeting we
should be attending."

"They can get along without us," Jack protested.

"We should be there," Daniel answered. "You're the team leader, remember."

"Let Carter be the team leader for once."

"Jack...."

"I know," Jack said as he got up. "But we are definitely going to continue this
later."

Daniel smiled and took his lover's hand. "You better believe it."

"And Daniel?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for being here."

"Where else would I be?"

Back in the meeting room,  apologies were exchanged and the group got back to
business.

"We still have to figure out what we're going to use to power the DHD," Sam
reminded them. "It doesn't have to supply the power for very long, but it has to be
enough for us to dial back to Earth."

"How about a Viper?" Starbuck suggested. "A laser burst from a Viper should be
enough to power your gate, shouldn't it?"

"Are you suggesting we shoot the DHD?" Daniel asked. "We want to power the
DHD, not destroy it."

"You're right." Starbuck told him. "Forget it."

"No, it's a good suggestion," Apollo said. "We just have to figure out a way to
channel the energy from the Viper blast to the DHD without harming it or
overloading it."

"I'll talk to Dr. Wilker," Sam announced, getting up from the table. "I'll tell him
your idea about the Vipers, then I'll let him work on it. I think he'd appreciate
having the lab to himself." She left for a few centons, then returned.

For awhile the talk turned to other matters, family and children among them. Jack
assured them that he didn't mind talking about Charlie, as long as they didn't talk
about how Charlie had died. "I'd rather remember how he lived, not how he died."

Soon Jack, Apollo and Teal'c were all sharing stories of their sons, while Sam
threw in some stories of Cassandra, the child SG-1 had rescued after the Goa'uld,
had massacred her people. Sam was co-parenting Cassandra with Dr. Janet Frasier.

"I wish that my wife and my son could be with me on Earth," Teal'c said. "I wish
that I could be involved in my son's day to day life rather than just visiting him
when I have free time from my duties with SG-1."

"I'm sure your son is grateful for the time that you do spend with him," Apollo
assured Teal'c. "He's fortunate to have both his parents, even if you're not together
all the time."

"How do you manage being a single parent with your duties on the battlestar?" Sam
asked.

"I'm fortunate to have the help of my father and sister, and Starbuck   especially
Starbuck," Apollo answered. "As long as you don't take any stupid risks and get
yourself blown up or anything," he added as an aside to his mate.

"Don't you go taking any unnecessary chances yourself," Starbuck riposted. "We
can't count on those people in the white ships bringing you back again."

"What people in white ships?" Daniel asked.

Apollo explained about Iblis, and Starbuck explained about the white ships and the
beings who had  brought Apollo back to life.

Daniel listened with rapt attention. When the story was finished, he exclaimed,
"You ascended!"

"I did what?" Apollo asked.

"You ascended. You moved to a higher plane of existence. What I can't figure out
is why they let you come back."

"Who are 'they'?" Apollo wanted to know. "Or, let me put it this way. What do you
call them?"

"The Ancients. The ones who built the Stargates. They learned how to move to a
higher plane and shed their corporeal forms." Daniel explained about how he had
met Oma Desala and learned of the Ascended Ones, whom he later discovered were
the Ancients.

"We call them the Lords of Kobol," Apollo informed Daniel. "They let me return
because it wasn't my time."

"Do you know why they chose you to ascend in the first place?" Daniel asked. He
was excited; this was the information he had wanted to discover when he met the
Galacticans.

Apollo looked at Starbuck before he answered Daniel's question. "It was because
Starbuck offered to take my place, to trade his life for mine. I guess the fact that
someone loved me enough to want to take my place was enough to intrigue them, to
make them want to know more about me, about us."

"I don't understand why they would bring you to them, only to send you back
again. Usually they only make a person descend because that person has chosen to
interfere with the lives of mortals. If it wasn't your time, they wouldn't have
ascended you in the first place."

"I think it was because Iblis was the one interfering with the lives of mortals. I think
he was one of the Lords, the Ascended Ones as you call them," Apollo explained.
"Since they couldn't stop him, they tried to undo what he had done."

"That would make sense," Daniel agreed. "I thought that he might be a Goa'uld, but
the way you describe him makes it more likely that he was an Ascended One run
amok."

"Why didn't they just un-ascend him, then?" Starbuck asked.

"They don't always succeed," Daniel told them. "They tried it with Anubis, but he
managed to stop them. He's both a Goa'uld and an Ancient."

Seeing the looks on Starbuck's and Apollo's faces, Jack said, "Yeah, it confused
the hell out of me, too. Ancients and Ascended Ones and all that are really more
Daniel's department. Though I did get to have the library of the Ancients
downloaded into my head once."

"And it almost killed you," Daniel added. "If it hadn't been for Thor and the
Asgard...."

Jack squeezed Daniel's shoulder. "It didn't kill me," he said.

Apollo was intrigued about what was contained in the library of the Ancients, but
Jack couldn't enlighten him. "I'm afraid I couldn't tell you. The Asgard took it all
out of my brain. Seems we puny humans aren't developed enough to handle that
kind of information overload."

Then Jack had to explain about the Thor and the Asgard, and the ensuing
discussion took some time. Finally they returned to the subject of the Stargate and
the DHD. Wilker kept popping in and out with his latest proposals for modifying
the DHD to use a shot from a Viper for power. Sometimes Sam went back to the
lab with him to work on it. By the time all the kinks were worked out, it was very
late into the ship's sleep cycle.

Apollo got up and stretched. "Let's all go get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a
big day." He looked at the visitors from Earth. "Part of me wishes I were going with
you," he said. "I really wonder if I'll ever see Earth in my lifetime, or if Boxey will
in his lifetime."

"We could take one or two of you with us," Daniel told him. "But that's all. The
gate will only stay powered for so long. If you and Starbuck wanted to come...."

"No," Apollo quickly answered. "I can't leave my family."

"If he stays, then I stay," Starbuck said. "I have to keep him out of trouble."

Apollo looked like he was going to correct his wingmate, but he only said, "Come
on. Let's go back to my quarters and get some rest."

Starbuck had a knowing smile on his face. "If we're both going to be in your
quarters, I don't know how much rest we'll get." He turned to Jack and Daniel.
"Feel free to use my quarters. Somehow I doubt I'll be needing them anytime soon."