Carter wept, wept harder than she had ever done in her entire life.

Rumours flew around the SGC that O'Neill and Daniel had been KIA (killed in action). She stormed down a corridor and came close to giving Emmett Bregman a sample of her combat skills, when he tried to find out what had happened. She had shouted at him instead, shouted at him to switch his camera off and get out of the way.

Had she not been a serving Air Force Officer, she would have almost certainly incorporated a number of expletives, both Anglo-Saxon and French.

She changed out of her BDUs and showered, sobbing all the while. Vivid images of the horrors she had witnessed passed through her head. She blamed herself wholeheartedly for not protecting her fellow scientist, and for not being attentive enough to prevent her CO from being hit.

She barely managed to dry herself off and change into her fatigues before darkness fell over her, and she collapsed to the floor, the back of her head impacting the floor rather hard.

Her eyes opened and all she could see was blurry faces, before her eyes focussed onto the face of her friend, Fraiser.

Carter asked her, "Where am I?"

Fraiser replied, "Sam, you're in the Infirmary. You took a pretty nasty fall in the locker-room and lost consciousness. Can you tell me the last thing you remember?"

Carter closed her eyes and the horrific belligerent images returned to her.

Tears ran down her cheeks and she said between sobs, "I lost Daniel and Colonel O'Neill. I could've saved them both but I didn't."

Fraiser attempted to console her friend as she said soothingly, "Sam, what happened wasn't your fault. It was a combat situation and we took heavy losses. Get some sleep, Sam."

Carter awoke sometime later and after a number of tests, was discharged and assigned to light duties.

Fraiser informed her that O'Neill had been bandaged and had just been discharged. When she heard that, she sprinted to O'Neill's room, much to Fraiser's eventual amusement, and found her CO just putting his T-shirt on, over his bandage.

With a look of relief on her face, she asked him, "How're you feeling, Sir?"

O'Neill chuckled a little and replied, "I've been better but I'll live."

Tears ran down her cheeks as she said, "I'm sorry, Sir."

He looked at her curiously and asked, "Why?! What happened?"

"I messed up. I saw that Jaffa but I got distracted. I lost Daniel and I nearly lost you."

"Jesus Carter! It was a combat situation and if my memory serves me correctly, you rocked. There was nothing you could do."

She looked away as she continued, "When I thought you were dead, I..."

She could barely squeeze the words out as she began to sob uncontrollably. He wrapped her in his arms and soothed her with meaningless words.

Preparations were being made for Daniel's memorial service. Hammond had managed to pull a few strings and reserve a plot at Arlington, while Fraiser and Carter were both wracked with guilt for not being able to save their friend. O'Neill and Teal’c were dealing with the loss of their friend in their own way, which was in reality only one way - privately.

Fraiser and Carter intermittently visited Daniel's office when they each needed some alone time. Hammond assigned them to pack away the eminent Archaeologist's belongings, which really hit home that they had lost their friend. Since his body was still on Earth, they eventually realised that he was finally dead, which understandably hurt a lot.

Airman Wells' wife had given birth to a daughter, whom he had named Danielle Janet, which paid tribute to the fact that because Daniel had saved Fraiser, both she and Wells were alive to tell the tale.

The night before his body was due to be moved to Arlington, Carter paid him a visit.

She sat next to him, held his lifeless hand, and talked to him: "Daniel, I never really got the chance to tell you that I love you. Quite frankly I never realised fully until I lost you. I admit I do have feelings for the Colonel, but you are a different kettle of fish. Remember I told you about the hallucinations on the Prometheus? I only told you about seeing you, Teal’c and the little girl. I also saw the Colonel and Dad. 'Dad' told me that I wasn't truly happy. I thought that perhaps I would be happy settling for the Colonel, even if it meant resigning my commission, but he visited me too, and told me that he couldn't give me everything. The point I'm making is that I realise now what really matters. I have feelings for him but my mind was telling me that he isn't right for me. I realised then that perhaps my mind was hinting that you were the one, but I was scared, scared that perhaps you were still hurting from Sha're, and scared that perhaps you wouldn't want to be my friend any more if you said 'no'. Now I really wish I had seized the moment. All my other hallucinations were telling me to survive or telling me that I was unhappy, but you told me to look around at my surroundings and that perhaps the cloud was actually sentient. That should've rung alarm bells there and then. Oh Gd, I'm sorry Daniel, sorry for everything. I should've seized the moment; I should've been a better friend, and I should've saved you."

She lightly kissed his forehead and was about to leave when she thought she heard him say, "It wasn't your fault, Sam."

She paused but thought that perhaps this was another hallucination. She resumed walking when she definitely heard him say, "Sam?"

She turned around and her heart leapt in her throat when she saw her seemingly dead friend sit up.

Her feet were rooted to the spot, her heart pounding like a sledgehammer, as he asked her, concern in his voice, "Sam, what's wrong?"

She couldn't fight the natural instinct to run. She ran out of the room, and straight into her CO, who held her shoulders and remarked, "Olympic fever getting' to ya?!"

Tears ran down her cheeks as she just about managed to say, "D-Daniel's alive!"

He raised an eyebrow and said seriously, "You need to rest, Carter. He's gone."

She shook her head and said firmly, "No, Sir."

She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into the room, where he froze on seeing Daniel looking back at them.

SG-1 were at a party hosted at O'Neill's house. Cassandra had come home from College and joined in with the jollity.

Fraiser thanked Daniel profusely for saving her life, and she hugged him in relief and gratitude.

He had told them all that Oma had guided him to ascend and descend in a different way, in order to heal his injuries. This led O'Neill to remark, much to everyone's amusement, "You can't keep a good Archaeologist dead."

Carter had tried to avoid Daniel, not sure as to whether he had heard all of her speech when she thought he was dead.

O'Neill had sensed awkwardness in her so he took her to one side, and told her quietly, "Carter, carpe diem; he won't break your heart."

She blushed noticeably and replied, "Sir, how did you know?"

"Well, you know me with my instinct, and my instinct says that you should go for it."

"What about...?"

"No, Carter. He can give you the Universe; well, he already has, to all of us. I heard you talk to him. Ok, eavesdropping is bad, but hear me out. I heard you pour your heart out, and I really do think you should act now before it's too late. You've been given a second chance."

She nodded, tears glistening in her eyes as he gazed back at her, a hint of sadness in his own eyes.

Carter, beer bottle in hand, sat watching O'Neill, Teal’c, Fraiser and Cassandra playing football (the proper game), when Daniel sat down next to her.

They watched the game together in silence for a few minutes, before he said to her, "Sam, I heard what you said."

She thought to herself, "Oh, this is it. He's going to say he's married to the sand or something."

She exhaled as he continued, "And I just want to say that I love you, and even if I didn't love you that way, I'd still be your friend. We've faced death together, and been through hell and high water. I would never be so childish."

She turned to look at him and his blue eyed gaze met hers. They didn't notice that the football game had stopped, the players staring at the two scientists in anticipation.

Carter smiled and said, excited, "Oh wow, this seems so surreal. I love you so much, Daniel. I should've told you years ago, but..."

She couldn't find the words to continue so he held her hands. They reddened profusely when the football players cheered raucously.

Everyone laughed when O'Neill called out, "Teal’c, you owe me $20 - they hooked up."

Later on at Daniel's house, the two PhDs laid in each other's arms, talking.

Daniel asked her, "How did Pete take it?"

She replied as she stroked his arm, "He was upset but it was that understanding upset. He kind of realised that the other man is you."

Suddenly she laughed. He peered down at her and said, "What?"

She said with a chuckle, "Oh nothing. It's just funny that we had all those cameras hooked up to watch you in this bed, and that it was Pete that got involved in the fire fight."

She sobered up and said seriously, "On further reflection, that's more funny-peculiar than funny-ha-ha."

He ran his fingers through her hair as she continued, "I'm sorry for not being able to save you on 666."

He smiled as he looked down at her and said, "You saved me more than you will ever know, Sam. To tell the truth, I wanted to give up and cancel the healing process, but I heard you talk and it gave me the impetus to keep fighting. You've done more for me than you would think possible."

She looked back up at him, her eyes glistening with tears, and she asked, "You were ready to die?"

He nodded and said, "I was just so tired but you gave me strength."

She wept into his chest and he carried on caressing her hair, whispering declarations of his undying love.