Jack and Daniel had just returned from Honduras, the Ancient Healing device now secured in the lab for study. Daniel had been given a once over by the Doc's, and other than the gunshot wound to his leg and mild dehydration, he was doing well all things considered.

Dr. Lee was doing well also, though to hear him talk he was going to die any minute.

"Colonel," The Texan twang of General Hammond calling out to the leader of SG-1, "We just received word from the Tok'ra that Major Carter, Teal'c, and Jacob should be returning through the stargate within the next twenty minutes. Thought you would like to know."

"Thank you Sir," Jack replied. Turning to the nurse in the infirmary, "Mind if I spring the prisoner?"

The nurse gave a light laugh and nodded, handing Dr. Jackson some crutches to help him walk.

The two friends departed the room, maneuvering through the halls of the SGC to the closest elevator, proceeding down to sublevel 23 and the Gate room. As they stood there, waiting for the sounds of the gate to indicate it was connecting with a another gate in the universe, the tell tale whoosh sound as the event horizon breached and then retracted back to create a shimmering filed of blue, they were joined by the General.

"So," Jack started, his voice trailing as he tried to fill the silence with anything, "How do you think they did out there?"

"I think we will find out together Colonel," The General replied, his eyes not leaving the yet to activate stargate.

Before Jack could say anything else, the gate began to sound off, the chevrons lighting and locking with the incoming connection, Walter in the Control room making the standard announcement for scheduled and expected activations.

As the field settled, four bodies broke through the blue walking almost side by side. Major Carter with Jacob, Master Bra'tac, and Teal'c inches behind and each left of her. Jack immediately locked onto the white sling the contained Carter's right arm, her left hand almost cradling it from underneath.

As the four continued down the ramp, Jack forced himself to look away from his number two, locking on to the three men who were accompanying her step for step towards him. As he gave each man a once over, he was overwhelmed with their lack of apparent injuries. Dispite it all, they had returned from a dangerous mission and they were all safe. Jack found himself grinning, and glancing to his right was able to catch that both Daniel and General Hammond had little happy grins as well.

When the group reached the end of the ramp, coming to a stop before Jack and his entourage, he felt the need to again fill the silence with something, and without really thinking about it said, "So," with a pause adding, "Miss me?"

Sam locked eyes with him, giving the slightest of nod as she replied, "Of course sir."

Jack added on, "It couldn't have been that bad," glancing through the returned group, "you're all still alive," he finished the last word again looking at Sam.

"As are you and Daniel Jackson," Teal'c responded.

Sam looked over at Daniel, finally realizing that he was standing with the aid of crutches and asked, "Daniel?"

Daniel looked up and said, "I'm fine, and we got the device from Tel'Chak."

"Good," Jacob said to the group, talking business now that the he was aware of the real dangers they were all facing. "Hopefully we can engineer a weapon from it."

Master Bra'tac began nodding as he added, "You must, or we'll be left helpless to combat these new warriors," crossing his right hand over left wrist as he finished, involuntarily getting himself into a better position to reach the weapon on his forearm.

"We have some bad news sir," Carter said to General. "Anubis has an entire army of these super-soldiers," shaking her head with frustration, "There are thousands of them. The best we were able to do was delay his ability to manufacture more."

Still comprehending the information the Major had just told him, General Hammond just said, "We'll debrief fully in one hour." Turning to leave, wanting to let the teammate have an opportunity to reunite from their separate endeavors he added on, "Welcome home."

Everyone took that as a dismissal, Teal'c, Master Bra'tac, and Jacob each now moving towards the exit in the wake of General Hammond, Daniel just a fraction ahead of them.

Carter also started to follow, but as she started to pass in front of the still stationary Col O'Neill, Jack called out, "Hey," stopping her departure.

Sam turned to the man, looking back into his eyes, almost allowing herself to drown in the brown orbs smiling up at him as he smiled down to her. Jack continued, "So nice Command."

Dropping her gaze for a moment, looking away to allow herself to enjoy the compliment for just a fraction of a moment, before she looked back up unable to hold back her smile, "We did manage to make it out alive, sir."

Always fascinated with the woman before him, Jack was proud of her for completing the mission despite the odds against her. He knew she was by far the smartest person he had ever met, but her demeanor and professionalism, the warrior instinct she had been able to hone beside him over all these years was unparalleled. Still, he was not able to really get past the way a room always lit up when she walked into it.

Knowing he needed to speak, to find a reason to keep her engaged with him, Jack added on with his best smirk, "There's that."

Sam smiled at his response, her head dropping down in that way that told him she was a little embarrassed with his attention and praise towards her for a job well done. She looked back up at him, her eyes telling him a story that neither of them could ever voice with words, the glow from the smile on his face the icing on the cake.

Thinking about cake, Jack then asked, "Lunch?" and turned towards the door, Carter giving an overly animated turn as she joined him.

Shoulder to shoulder they walked out of the room. Jack could almost hear the happiness that Carter seemed to be excreting, sunglasses now required to look at the joy beaming from her face for fear of retinal damage.

Jack was keenly aware that it would not take much to make her laugh, a sound he found he currently needed more than even cake.

The devil on his shoulder prodding him, Jack turned his head to Carter and said, "So you wanna go steal Daniel's little box?"

It was far from his funniest line, miles from the types of quips and comebacks he had designed over the years to keep his team in good spirits and their enemies off balance. He was not sure it would get him the reaction he wanted. He was ready to tack on something about their ability to beat him in a footrace, but found it wasn't needed.

The sound of her laughter filled the corridor, Jack's ears ringing in pleasure, his soul full.

His job here was done, now for the cake.