"Why, Daniel?"
I sighed. I'd known this day was coming ever since I stepped through the wormhole. It had been a month since I'd given up Earth in favor of the one person I refused to give up at all. Now Jack, Sam, and Teal'c were here, on Kelowna.
Jonas stood behind them, having escorted them to my office from the Kelownan stargate. His negotiations were on hold while one of the other ambassadors was home celebrating the birth of her grandchild. He'd been called when SG-1 appeared.
"Because I was tired of having to give everything I wanted up, Jack."
He looks puzzled. So does Sam. Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow, Jonas smiles, knowing what I meant.
"So you gave everything up by coming to Kelowna?" Jack's trying to understand, and I don't blame him. He doesn't know the whole story, so my explanation made no sense.
"Not everything. Aside from Jonas, I'm the only other expert on the Goa'uld here." I smile at the other man, and he nods his head. His eyes are twinkling with emotion. God, they treated him like crap and refused to acknowledge that he was even smarter than I was. Given half a chance, Jonas could have given Carter a run for her money. "I've got a position here working on the Goa'uld artifacts they've found, translating and finding new ones. I even get to teach a few classes."
"Daniel, that doesn't explain why you just walked away from everything."
I hear the unspoken phrase in the echo of Sam's works. From us.
"Sam, I wasn't happy on Earth. I hadn't been happy for a long time. I'd thought ascension was the answer, but I was wrong. Coming back wasn't the answer either. I know it sounds odd, considering the Kelownans tried to brand me a saboteur, but I am happy here."
Teal'c glances from me to Jonas. I can see the understanding dawn in his expressive brown eyes. "You have found a mate."
Jack and Sam gape at me. I nod, raising my left hand to run it though my hair, showing off my wedding ring. We'd been wed a week, our honeymoon postponed until a less hectic time.
"You got married." Jack's voice was accusing.
"Happens when you fall in love, Jack. I married Sha're, too. It's taken me along time to find someone else I loved just as much, and I wasn't going to let anyone make me give that up, the way I gave up so many chances to save Sha're, the way I gave up all the chances to learn things to help up fight the Goa'uld because it was too dangerous or we weren't ready." I look at Teal'c. "I know you were saving my life, and I forgave you long ago for Sha're's death, but she was still one more thing I lost in the fight."
I look down. "I couldn't do that anymore. I couldn't stand by and watch everything I loved or wanted be taken from me for the good of someone else. I'd been selfless for six years, Jack. It was time for me to be selfish for once. I went for what I wanted, and I got it." I look over at the man I love, and he smiles back, a smile full of love and understanding. Jonas told me he would never let me go, told me when I came through the gate and again on our wedding day. I promised him the same.
"So, what, we're chopped liver?"
"God, Jack, this is part of why I left. The snarking, the egocentric quips. Like the SGC was all about you. It's about Earth, Jack. But an Earth that asked too much of me. I couldn't take it anymore."
He's gaping at me. So is Sam. Teal'c's eyebrow is raised. "I'm sorry Jack, Sam, Teal'c. But I'm not going back. I'm married here. I'm happy. And I have a class to teach."
"Now wait a god damn minute, Daniel --"
"Colonel, I believe it's time you left."
Jonas' voice cut into Jack's cursing like a knife into flesh. Jack turned on him. "Whose side are you on, Jonas?"
Oh, shit, Jack. You just asked the wrong fucking question.
"The side that lets people make their own decisions. The side that doesn't hunt down people and drag them back against their will. The side that spent a year feeling like a third class citizen on your team. But most important of all, Jack, I'm on the side of my husband. So I think it's time you left." Jonas ignored the stares of our former team and moved to the communication panel. "Quinn to Security. Colonel O'Neill and his team require an escort back to the stargate."
I love it when Jonas gets alpha on me.
Jack and Sam are sputtering, but Teal'c merely bows. "DanielJackson, JonasQuinn, I wish you all happiness together. Should you ever need my assistance, please let me know."
"Thank you, Teal'c." We both bow to him as the security team arrives.
I watch my friends leave the room, knowing that they may not return. Yet I can't feel bad, and the reason for that is now at my side, wrapping his arms around my waist.
"I would have gone back with you, Daniel, if you had wanted."
I pull my husband to me, looking down and smiling. "My place is here, Jonas. Our place is here. I told you I would not give you up."
He smiles at me, that grin he gets when he's about to show off some arcane bit of knowledge. "Never give up, never surrender?"
I throw back my head and laugh. "A year on Earth, and all you learned was movie quotes?"
His hand slides past my waistband. "Oh, I think I learned a few other things." He moves against me. "How much time until your next class?"
"None. I just said that to get Jack out of there."
His eyes twinkle. "Then lock the door, Dr. Jackson, and I'll teach you just what else I learned on Earth."
I hurry to obey. Jonas' lessons are always . . . stimulating.