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Someone pounding on the front door brought them from the bed and to their feet. Daniel grabbed a pair of sweats and went to the see who was making all the racket, Casey found her robe and pulled it on. When she got to the living room, Duncan, Jack and Teal'c were sitting on the sofa. Methos was leaning against the mantel. "The three of you are either very brave or very stupid," she said softly.

The men sighed silently to see the smile on her face, one that lit the depths of her eyes.

"We thought you should know just exactly who was calling the shots on this mission," Jack said, looking at Methos.

The three men on the sofa had told him that she hadn’t handled the news of Daniel’s ‘defection’ well; that seeing him with Neferteri had nearly killed her. Methos could see for himself that they had not been exaggerating. He looked at her, noted the dark circles under her eyes. She’d lost weight, too, he could see it in her face. She was smiling, but he could still see the haunted pain, deep in her green eyes. Duncan had told him her eyes had been dead when she'd walked into the control room before she'd disappeared. The light was there now, but it wasn’t as bright as it had been before. He had just learned of her suicide attempt. He'd rarely seen a love so strong that one could not, would not, live without the other. Being on the Tok’ra base, he had been completely unaware of her condition, or how this mission had affected her. Had he known…

"Well? I’m waiting," she said.

"The Tok’ra council and the Immortal Council believed that this was the best…the only…way to get the information we needed. The Tok’ra have had…did have…a spy among Neferteri’s servants for some time now, but she was never able to get close enough to really learn anything. When she found out that Osiris was…obsessed…with Daniel, and that Neferteri had taken on this obsession as her own, it was the perfect way to get what we wanted. It was easy enough to plant the story of the failed Tok’ra procedure, and then it was just a matter of getting him there," Methos said.

"My mother and father knew about this? Oma knew about this?" She was stunned that her family would allow her to go through the hell she had suffered.

The young/old man shook his head. "They knew about the mission, but none of the particulars."

"Okay, so you and the Tok’ra were calling the shots. What did that have to do-" she broke off, looked over at Duncan and Jack. "They forced you to keep this from me, didn’t they?"

"They basically told us that if you found out and if you did…lose it, and jeopardized the mission, that they would pull their operative out and let Daniel fend for himself," Duncan told her.

"They couldn’t be bothered to give me a chance? Those rotten weasels! Those damned yellow-bellied…lily-livered…donkey licking…camel sucking…goat fucking…pole cats!" She ranted, her eyes full of flames once again. Never had any of them heard her use such language before.

"How many animals was that?" Daniel asked, a wide grin on his face.

Jack and Duncan laughed, Methos chuckled. Teal'c just grinned, one eyebrow raised slightly.

Casey turned to face the men on the sofa. "I’m still pissed that you didn’t give me a chance to show you that I can control my temper. I’ll forgive you. Don’t know that I’ll ever forget." She turned to Methos. "I don’t understand. Why didn’t you stand up for me? Why did you let me go through ten days of absolute hell?"

The young/old man’s eyes flashed for just a moment. "What makes you think I didn’t? But suppose, just suppose, that for one brief second, you couldn’t have controlled your temper. Just suppose that knowing what Daniel was…expected to do…was more than you could take? We would have lost both of you, and who knows how many more. Casey, you’re an incredible woman. Under any other circumstances, trusting you with the truth would never have been an issue. But the love that you and Daniel have, that Fire, is sometimes more than even you can handle. There was the chance, even though it was a slim one, that the Fire would have made it impossible for you to have waited patiently for his call."

She dropped down onto the arm of the upholstered chair by the fireplace. "I can’t believe that all of you have so little faith in me. When have I ever jeopardized a mission? I can understand the Tok’ra, but it hurts that not one of you had the guts to trust me."

Not one of the men responded. There was nothing that they could say. She was right, and they all knew it.

Jack looked at Daniel and then at Casey. It was blatantly obvious that they had been in bed. "Are you two…uh…is everything all right?"

Casey smiled, held out her hand. Daniel took it, pulled her into his embrace. "We’re fine, Jack, really. Just to let you all know, I do understand about the mission, what was required. I don’t like it. Actually, I hate it. But I understand. We’ve all had to do some things we didn’t want to, in order to get the job done. Would have been nice to know about it before I almost lost my mind." She turned to Methos. "You tell those bastard Tok’ra that I can indeed control my temper, and the Fire that makes it so hot. Those three still have their heads on their shoulders, and my Husband is still in my bed. Got it?"

Methos grinned. "Got it."

"Now, all of you get out of my house. I want time alone with my Husband."

Jack, Duncan, and Teal'c all hugged her before they left, each whispering an apology in her ear. Methos hesitated at the door. "Just so you know, I did argue with them. But it seems that they haven’t forgotten a little incident where you shot one of them," he grinned.

She looked at him. "Tell them to get over it and move on."

"I will. Goodnight, Brat."

"Methos! Here to eternity!"

She could hear him laughing as he walked out to Jack’s crew cab pick-up. She closed the door, leaned against it. "Daniel, how about we call Mom and have them bring Emmie home?"

His face lit up. "Angel, that’s the best thing I’ve heard since your sweet voice told me you were on the way."

She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Love you, my heart," she whispered.

"Love you, my star," he replied. He pulled her close, held her tightly.

Within thirty minutes Emily was home with them, and the three of them were on the floor, playing with the new blocks she had just received from Teal'c and Carlotta. Daniel was stretched out on his side, Casey sitting beside him, her back against him. Emily was happily clapping two of the blocks together.

"I missed both of you so much," he said softly.

"We missed you too, didn’t we, Baby?"

Emily jabbered, crawled to Casey, sat back on her round little bottom. "Mama-mama-mama."

"That’s me, Baby," she grinned. She ran her fingers over the light blonde head.

The baby smiled at her, then looked at Daniel. She crawled to his face, tugged at his hair. "Dadadada!"

Daniel felt tears in his eyes. "When did she start saying that?" he asked, his voice a soft whisper. He pulled Emily into his arms, rolled onto his back, holding her above him, watching her smile, listening to her jabber and laugh as he lifted her up and down in the game they played almost daily.

"About three seconds ago. That’s the first time she’s said it," Casey replied softly. "She was waiting for you to come home." She reached out and caressed his bare chest. Suddenly nothing about the mission mattered. What mattered was that the three of them were safe, together, and that the love that filled their house was still there, stronger than ever. "Welcome home, Sweetheart. We missed you," she said.

"Thanks, babe. It’s good to be home where I belong." His eyes searched her face, saw only love there.

"Are you hungry?"

"Now that you mention it, yeah, I am."

"I’ll see what I have…"

"Punch five, babe. Pepperoni. Large," he replied.

"Are you sure? I can find something in the freezer," she said quietly. She thought there was still food there. She hadn’t been to the grocery store since…that day.

"I’m sure. We’ll sit here and eat pizza and maybe watch the History Channel. Amazing that we have a station that gets copies of all the Earth network programs," he said with a grin.

"Isn’t it though," she teased, knowing how much he enjoyed watching the programs on that particular network. She went into the kitchen and ordered the pizza.

They were still laying on the floor, the TV on softly behind them, the pizza box empty, when Emily crawled to the sofa and pulled herself up to her feet. She stood, bouncing up and down, squealing at the top of her lungs, a wide grin on her little face.

Daniel crawled over beside her. "Hey, Princess, just what do you think you’re doing?"

Casey was on the other side of the baby. "Tell Daddy not to be so silly! You’re getting your legs under you. Then you’ll be walking!" She looked at him and gave him a wicked smile. "Then, before you know it, she’ll be in school, and then she’ll be dating-"

"Not my daughter! Not until she’s at least thirty!" He exclaimed, shaking his head.

She laughed. "She didn’t listen about being born in May. Think she’s going to let you keep her from dating?"

"I’m getting a shotgun," he grumbled, although his eyes were full of laughter.

A  A  A  A  A  A

Emily was asleep, they had made love again, and were laying in the sweet afterglow of that lovemaking.

"Daniel?"

"Hmm?"

"I’m okay now." She felt his arms tighten around her.

"You’re sure?"

"Yep. Being with Emmie tonight sort of put everything in perspective. Love you, Sweetheart," she whispered.

"Love you, Angel."

She yawned. "Now maybe I’ll actually be able to sleep!"

"That makes two of us, babe. Close your eyes, My Star. I’m right here. I’m not letting you go anywhere, and I’m not going anywhere."

She snuggled closer to his chest, his hand still behind her neck. Within minutes she was relaxed against him and breathing slowly and steadily.

He closed his eyes, saw Neferteri flash in front of them. He jerked, opened his eyes and just laid there for a minute. He took Casey’s hand, lifted it to his lips, then tried once again to go to sleep. This time, all he saw was the door to the Goa’uld’s rooms fly open, and Casey opening fire, throwing Neferteri back against the wall, her body torn by the hail of bullets. He smiled. She was definitely taking care of that Goa’uld bitch. He drifted off into peaceful sleep.

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