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Casey had talked her family into being with her when she greeted her friends. She looked around her. Daniel had Nicholas in his arms, and was talking to Jack, Teal'c, and Sam…who was holding Amber. Carly was holding Richie and talking to Tessa. Duncan was conversing with her parents. Emmie and Evvie were running around the adults, laughing and squealing with glee. She sighed happily. Her family was present and accounted for.

When the 'gate came to life, the group moved to stand next to her, surrounding her physically, and emotionally. She was almost bouncing, she was so excited.

Two women, along with an armed SF, walked down the ramp. Their eyes were wide, and went wider when they saw the group of people waiting for them.

"Casey!" the redhead cried out, her arms already open for a hug.

"Kelley!" Casey dashed forward and wrapped her arms around a tall, lanky redhead. The other woman, a platinum blonde with ample curves, joined the hug as well. When she finally pulled away from her friends, she had to wipe a tear from her eye.

"Girl, you are looking good!" Kelley said, her own eyes wet with tears.

"You too, Kells. Gretchen, what did you do to your hair?"

The platinum blonde laughed. "Like it? I decided I wanted to do something radical."

"That's radical, all right," Casey agreed. She grabbed their hands. "Come meet everybody. This is my Husband, SGC hunk Doctor Daniel Jackson," she said, looking up at him.

He flushed slightly, and shook their outstretched hands.

"Definite hunk," Gretchen nodded.

"Extreme hunkiness," Kelley agreed. Both women were smiling at him. Casey was giggling.

Daniel blushed brighter. "Nice to meet you," he mumbled.

"He's really kind of shy, and gets embarrassed when you talk about how hunky he is," Casey whispered conspiratorially. "This is my son Nicholas," she said, running her finger over his tiny cheek. He gave her one of his brightest smiles, exposing his two bottom teeth. Emily was clinging to Daniel's leg, looking up at the two strangers beside her mother. "And this is my daughter Emily."

"Case, they're beautiful," Kelley said softly. She knelt down beside Emily and opened her large purse. "I thought you might like a dolly from Tacoma," she said, offering the small doll to the little girl.

Emily looked at the doll, then the redheaded woman. She shyly took the doll, then hugged it tightly.

"What do you say, Emily?" Casey coaxed gently.

"Thank you," the little girl said.

Kelley smiled. "You're very welcome, Emily."

Casey pulled the two women to where her parents were standing. "This is my mom Erin, and my dad Aaron. Mom, Dad, these are two very dear friends. Kelley and Gretchen."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, dears," Erin said, shaking their hands.

"I am honored to meet friends of my beautiful daughter," Aaron said. He raised their hands to his lips.

It was clear that the women were slightly overwhelmed at meeting real Ancients. They had read all about them. Casey tugged their hands and led them to where the MacLeod's waited. "This is my dear, dear friend Duncan MacLeod, and his wife, my best friend, Tessa, and their little boy, Richie. Be nice, Duncan is the prez here," Casey teased.

Again greetings were exchanged.

"Now, I want for you to meet the rest of SG-1. This is our CO and my buddy and pal, Jack, and his wife and my best friend, Sam, and their two little ones, Evelyn and Amber. And this is my best buddy Teal'c, and his significant other, another of my good friends, Carlotta Sanchez."

Kelley and Gretchen were totally overwhelmed by now. Everything that they could find about the SGC, and the aliens…both good and bad…that was known, the two women had read. The lanky redhead glanced at Casey. "All this time, you've been going out and getting shot at by freaky aliens, to protect the rest of us?"

Casey blushed slightly, and lowered her eyes. "Yep."

"Wow. You realize you are so my hero," Kelley replied.

She couldn't help but giggle. "Oh, puhleeze! You just want me to buy the first round of drinks!"

Easy laughter filled the room. "Come on, we're having a barbecue at our place, I figure everybody is probably there waiting on us by now."

Daniel smiled as the three women linked arms and headed for the elevator. Casey looked back over her shoulder and winked at him.

A  A  A  A  A  A

The party was in full swing, and Casey sat on the grass between Kelley and Gretchen…Sam and Tessa sitting across from her. The women of Gamma were filling the two visitors from Earth in on all the details of Casey's life from the moment she had been kidnapped by Wepwawet, to the present. As usual, Casey was telling the story with wit and humor, and they were all laughing loudly.

Daniel approached, stopped when he heard what they were talking about, listened carefully.

"Oh, god, Casey, how could you stand it? I mean, his life was in your hands!" Gretchen was saying.

"I was terrified, Gretch, I really was. If anything had happened to him, I don't think I could have gone on. I didn't know what to do, or how to get us out of there…I'm not the smart one on the team. Jack and Teal'c are the military experts; Sam knows everything about gizmos and doohickeys, and Daniel has the beautiful brilliant mind. I'm an extra gun, that's all."

"That is not true, Casey," he said softly. "You are just as intelligent as the rest of us. You have a special gift, Angel. We couldn't survive without you."

"That's right," Sam nodded, about to say the same thing.  She looked at the two visitors. "Casey has kept us out of trouble more times than I can count."

"You got that right," Jack said, wandering over. "Do you remember the time we were heading for some ruins, and Casey went in the opposite direction? It was the planet with all those weird looking trees."

Sam started laughing. "Daniel looked over at her, asked her where she was going. He told her the MALP said 'that way', and she said, 'yep, and I'm going this way'. So we asked her why, and she said big trouble. Well, we all hightailed it to where she was, and we found a place to set up a defensible perimeter."

"We found a place to shoot from," Casey grinned, looking at the confused faces of her friends.

"Gotcha," Kelley said. "Well, go on, what happened?"

Jack settled himself on the grass beside his wife. Daniel had moved to sit behind Casey, where he could hold her, an action not missed by her two visiting friends. Teal'c and Carly had joined them on the grass as well, and Duncan was standing nearby.

"Well, we saw a bunch of Jaffa coming toward the 'gate," Sam said.

"Bunch…lot…very many," Jack added with a grin, just before he finished off his beer.

"They noticed the MALP sitting there, and started looking around. Now, Casey always carries her portable CD player, and a couple of speakers. She said we needed a diversion. So she turned on Aerosmith's 'Walk this Way', strips down to her tee shirt and bikini's, and danced out toward them like she didn't have a care in the world," Sam said. "These poor Jaffa didn't have a clue as to what is going on! Then she dances up to the First Prime, the leader of the Jaffa, and grabs his hand, and keeps dancing, bumps his hips, you know. Well, these Jaffa are thinking they've found the party girl of the century, and she keeps dancing with them, they're getting more confused-"

"And horny," Jack interjected with a laugh.

Sam giggled. "Anyway, most of them have dropped their staff weapons by now-"

"I have to ask, " Gretchen interrupted, "what were you doing, Daniel?"

Daniel chuckled. "Trying to decide exactly how I was going to kill her, once we were safe here at home!" Laughter surrounded them.

"Go on," Kelley insisted.

"Casey started making up her own words, like, 'shoot 'em now and let's get home', something to that affect. Anyway, she pretends to hurt her ankle, drops to the ground, and we stand up and wipe them out."

"Wow!" Kelley said. She looked at her friend with amazement in her brown eyes. "I would have been terrified!'

"I was! I figured I was going to get blasted at any moment," Casey admitted. "But when the odds are almost six to one against you, it's time to try to bamboozle them. If you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bull, I always say."

Daniel pulled her close. "The mission that still haunts me is the one where I almost lost her forever."

"Percuese?" she asked softly.

He shook his head. "When Zinder's ship blew, and you almost went up with it. For over an hour I was sure she was gone. I just…shut down…I couldn't think, I couldn't breathe…"

She turned around and kissed him. "But it all worked out. You found me, and saved me, just like you always do," she said softly.

"I read the latest Time article about all of you," Gretchen said, looking around at the faces of a group of people she had not expected to ever meet. "What you do is amazing."

"Aw, shucks, ma'am." Jack grinned, "we're just doing our job."

She shook her platinum blonde head. "Putting your lives on the line day in and day out isn't just a job," she argued.

"It's an adventure!" Casey grinned. "Hey, cops and firefighters do it all the time."

"True," Kelley said slowly. "But they do it on home ground, and know what to expect. Even the unexpected for them isn't like what you guys face." She grabbed Casey's hand. "Okay, what's the most memorable mission for you, Case?"

Casey started giggling.

"Don't you dare say it," Daniel warned.

"It was so funny!"

"The mission where he peed on the leader of those hunters?" Kelley asked, her eyes dancing.

The rest of the team dissolved into hysterical laughter.

"My heart, only you could stand there and pee on a chief, and walk away with a treaty to mine naquadah!"

Jack was on his back laughing. "Case, I gotta know, what is your theory about that, anyway?"

Casey blushed. "I don't think I should say," she murmured.

"Come on, tell us," Sam begged.

She glanced back at Daniel. "Let's just say that the chief recognized a real man."

Now Daniel's face grew red. "That's what your theory is?"

She giggled. "Yep."

Daniel pulled her close. "Just like those prehistoric men recognized a good thing…couple of them actually, when they saw them."

Sam and Teal'c laughed loudly. Casey blushed.

"Oh, this is one story we've got to hear," Gretchen said.

"No you don't," Casey replied. Before she could protest further, Daniel was telling about the mission. Kelley and Gretchen howled with laughter.

Eventually the men drifted off, and even Sam and Tessa excused themselves, allowing the three women time alone to talk.

"I take it from your 'theory' that Daniel is…um…well built?" Gretchen said, grinning broadly.

Casey blushed and giggled. "Oh yeah." She made motions with her hands.

"Holy cripes!" Kelley exclaimed. "And it doesn’t kill you to have sex with him?"

Now the young Immortal laughed. "Nope. Our love life is…incredible. Out of this world. Unbelievable."

Kelley smiled. "I've never seen you so happy, Case. I guess getting kidnapped turned out to be a good thing, huh?"

"Best thing that ever happened to me," Casey replied.

Gretchen looked around the yard. "You have a lot of friends, Casey. I’m really happy for you. Now, point out which guys are single. I feel like doing a little man-hunting."

Casey giggled. "Okay, well, Texas over there is single…very shy, you'd probably scare him to death. Trenton is too young, hmmm…Tony is dating Becca now, well, Turk over there is single, and don’t let the Marine thing scare you off. He has a degree in English literature. Mike, over there, is single, he's an Immortal archaeologist, so is the man standing next to him, Terry."

The platinum blonde pulled herself to her feet. "I think I'll see what an Immortal is like," she said with a grin. "Wish me luck!"

Kelley shook her head with a smile. "She never changes."

"So I see. How about you, what's been going on with you?" Casey asked softly.

"Same old same old. Kenny called me a couple of times after he saw you in Silver Springs. I have no idea why. I told him that if he called me again, I'd get a restraining order. Haven't heard from him since. I…uh…heard from Sheryl. She said that she and…Helen…had visited here. That you knew that your…er…Frank had passed away. I don't know if you know this, but Helen is in a home now. She had a stroke, and she can't walk or talk."

"No, I didn't know. Kelley, this is going to sound very…cold…but I couldn't care less. That woman means nothing to me. Daniel fought and defeated the demons she created, healed the hurt she caused me. I'm free of her, Kells, because of him."

The redhead nodded. "I totally understand." She watched Gretchen flirting with Mike for a few minutes. "I think I met him," she said softly.

"Whom? Met whom?" Casey demanded with a smile.

"My Mr. Right. He's not a hunk, or brilliant like Daniel. But he's a nice guy, and he seems to like me," she replied shyly.

"Oh, Kells, that's great! Who is it? Tell me about him."

Kelley sighed happily. "His name is Charles Badwinger; do not laugh at the name. He's tall, and has brown hair, it's kind of thin on top, but that's okay, I don't mind. He has hazel eyes, and he's just about the sweetest man I've ever met."

Casey hugged her friend. "He sounds great." She pulled her lip between her teeth. "You understand I can't come to the wedding," she said softly.

"I know. It's not right that you, and the other Immortals, can't even feel safe on your own home planet! I watched the news coverage of the first meeting on the Prometheus. I heard what Daniel said about you being tortured. God, Casey, how have you managed to survive?"

"Daniel. If not for him, I would have curled up and died a long time ago," Casey said softly.

"I'm really happy for you, Case. You deserve the best. I’m glad you got it," the redhead said.

"Thanks. I am too!"

Emily ran up to Casey, stopped short and looked shyly at Kelley, then launched into her mother's arms. "Daddy says come eat now," the little girl said.

"Okay, Baby, go tell Daddy we're on our way." She hugged Emily tightly, then watched as her daughter ran back to where Daniel stood on the deck. "Come on, let's go get some food before the Marines eat it all. Daniel always fusses at me when he thinks I'm not eating enough.

"He loves you, Case. Even a blind man would be able to see that."

Casey smiled, felt her heart do flip-flops when he looked out over the sea of faces and winked at her. "I love him, Kelley."

"Yeah, a blind man could see that, too."

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