Home

I was sitting on the couch watching my daughter do her homework on the coffee table. I mean our daughter. I have raised her for almost ten years on my own. Well, I cannot truly say that because Daniel, Teal'c and Cassie have been a huge part of our lives. My daughter Grace Janet O'Neill is eleven and she is so smart and beautiful. Grace has big blue eyes that are a cross between her mother and I and her hair is light brown and falls below her shoulders. She has pale skin and she has freckles that sprinkle across her cheeks and nose. She's tall for her age. That doesn't surprise me, her mother and I are tall. Daniel and Teal'c tell me that she is the best of both worlds. I don't know, she does have my wit and deviousness. Her ability to read situations and people is almost uncanny. But, all I see is her mother, especially when she smiles. Her whole face lights up. She can technobabble's like her mother too, but it's her ramblings about whatever she learning in school or a book she is reading. She's not a genius per se, but she has a high IQ and has a love of science.

Sam has been missing with the Hammond all this time. We don't know what happened. I stayed head of Homeworld Security for a couple more years until I retired back to Colorado Springs to raise our daughter. She needed a full time parent. Even though I am retired, I have full access and consult from time to time with the program.

That was the deal.

Today it paid off. All this time I have believed her to be alive, now we finally got some intel.

"Hey, Grace."

Her pencil stilled and she looked up at me just like Carter used to do when I walked into her lab. It made my breath hitch.

"Yeah, Dad?"

I leaned forward with my elbows on my knees, "Let's go take a walk around the park."

"I need to finish this first."

Another attribute of her mother, it must be genetic.

"You can finish that later. I need to get out of this house and I need to talk to you about something."

She laid her pencil down and sighed, "Okay, let me get my shoes."

It was a short drive before we arrived at the park. It's spring in Colorado, warm and there is a light cool breeze. The trees all have their leaves and flowers are in full bloom. Grace and I are hand in hand while we walked the path, something she hopefully never outgrows. We have been walking for about ten minutes now and a concerned look appeared on her face as she interrupts the silence, "Dad, what did you want to talk about? Did something happen?"

Looking ahead, not wanting my eyes to betray me. "Why do you think something happened?"

"You're full of nervous energy. You look pensive and you have that far off look like your deep in thought. You have looked that way since I been home from school."

Doh! Like I said before, she reads people well. I cleared my throat before I could begin, "We got some huge intel this morning in regards to the Hammond. It's on its way home and will be arriving at the alpha site tomorrow. I haven't received any specific details, so I don't know what happened or where it has been all this time."

I looked over at her to gauge her emotions. She looked deep in thought. She was just a toddler when Sam went missing, so she has no recollection of her mother, just me missing her and wanting desperately to find her. Not to mention the family pictures with her and all the stories that we all have told.

"If the Hammond has been found, why are you sad? Did Mom not make it?"

I took a shaky deep breath. "She made it and is still in command."

"I don't understand…"

"Gracie, it's been almost ten years. To be honest, I don't know how to feel. I'm ecstatic and at the same time…"

She squeezes my hand tighter when she interrupts, "Who is she? Is she the same woman you married? Does she still love us?"

She does understand.

"Yeah," I pause before continuing, "Although, I do believe she still loves you. A love for a child never dies." With a small grin, "She's probably been fighting with everything she had to come back to you."

She looked up at me, "And you. You never gave up on her."

"No, I didn't, but like I said, it's been a long time. She may have moved on from me."

Her eyes became sad. She is very aware of my insecurities. "Dad, you can't think like that. If your stories are true…"

"Honey, I am almost 70 years old. She is 53. I wouldn't blame her if she moved on not knowing if she would ever return to us and if she did, whether or not I would still be alive."

She huffed in disapproval. "I have to believe she survived for the both of us. We're a pair Dad. To get one, you have to get the other."

I smiled and chuckled to myself. "How do you feel? You ready to meet your mother?"

She stopped and looked up at me, the tears are welling up in her big blue eyes. I pulled her in to hug her tight and she whispered, "I am, but Daddy, I am more happy for you. You can fully rest now, she is finally coming home."

Great now tears are welling up in my eyes. My daughter has a heart of gold. I never hid my love for Sam from her. She has been raised to understand that she was the best thing of her mother and that she was a gift that I would always cherish to my dying breath.