Oliver looked up. "Incoming wormhole," he called out.

Mal appeared beside him with his gun raised. "Let's hope it's Lee and Van."

"Fingers crossed!"

Lee stepped through the Gate and immediately raised her hands. "Don't shoot, I'm too gorgeous to die!"

Mal grinned. "Good to have you back, Captain." He nodded to Van when he exited behind her. "You too, Van. Did you get the ZPM?"

Van held up the ZPM. "Got it!"

Oliver hurried forward to take it from him and went straight to the chair platform to install the ZPM. "All the circuits are intact, let's hope that means this is going to work. Lee, would you please." He gestured toward the chair.

"Right." She took a seat. "Okay, now what?"

"Just activate it, nothing fancy," Oliver replied as he stared at the screen of his computer.

The chair lit up and Lee released an excited squeal. "It works!"

Oliver tapped at the earpiece. "Henry, we're good to go here. Are the strike teams in place yet?"

"Give us a few more minutes, they're running a bit behind schedule. An Alliance patrol nearly tripped over them. They had to remain in one spot until the patrol left the area. Hold on."

Oliver waited in tense silence. He looked at Mal. "The strike teams aren't in place yet, they were delayed by an Alliance patrol."

"Everyone okay?" Mal asked.

"Yeah, they waited quietly until the patrol passed by."

"Oliver?" Henry asked.

"Still here."

"The teams are in place, we're good to go," Henry told him.

"Perfect." He nodded to Lee. "Take them out, sis."

"Gladly." She sat back, her eyes closed as she focused on discerning where the Alliance ships in orbit were. "Sending drones now."

"Drones are out," Oliver told Henry.

"Direct hit on all targets," Henry told him. "Atlantis' shield has gone up around the city. Strike Teams have a go."

Lee's brows drew together. "Another ship just appeared from behind the moon. I think it's Nesrin's, she's probably going to try and make a run for it."

"Blow it out of the sky!" Mal commanded.

"Already on it, sir."

They waited in tense silence as Lee sent drones after the new ship.

"A Jumper has left the city, it's heading for the Alliance ship," she reported.

"Take it out!" Mal shouted.

"We don't know who's on it!" she protested.

"Oliver?"

"Right." He tapped the ear piece. "Henry, is there any way to tell who is in the Jumper?"

"Strike Team Alpha has reported that Nesrin escaped the city in a Jumper, I think it's a safe bet it's her."

Oliver looked at Mal. "Henry says that one of the strike teams saw Nesrin escape the city in a Jumper."

"There's your answer, take it out, Captain!"

"Right, okay."

"Target has been destroyed," Henry told Oliver. A minute later "Nice work SG-1. Atlantis is once again under the control of Stargate Operations."

"We'll get back as soon as we can," Oliver told him. He grinned at the others. "Atlantis is safe."

"Great, let's get back to the research base and then get our butts home," Mal replied.

Oliver disconnected the ZPM and packed it away.

"What are you doing with that?" Van asked.

"I'm not going to leave it here for anyone to find. I'll give it to Henry when we get back. I'm not planning on taking it with me."

Van sent him a sheepish look. "Sorry."

"I'm not my sister, I don't barrel in and take what I think is owed to me."

"Hey, I heard that! I do not do that!" Lee protested.

Van snorted. "Remind me again, how did we end up with our ZPM?"

"Hey, that was a team effort," she told him.

"She has a point, we plotted that out together. Mostly," Mal told him. "Van wasn't involved, he has a strict moral code about taking things surreptitiously."

"You stole it. Straight out smashed the case and took it," Van said. "It wasn't right."

"Do we need to discuss again how it was a good thing we did take it or Nesrin would have ended up with it?" Lee asked as she stalked past him to the ring platform.

"Again, she's right." Mal grinned and stepped onto the platform beside her.

She smiled at him. "It's fun to outwit the nerds, isn't it, sir?"

He chuckled.

Van and Oliver joined them on the platform.

Sam looked up as SG-1 entered the war room. "It's good to have you back, even if it was only for a little while."

"We're happy that we were able to help out," Mal told her.

Oliver handed Henry the ZPM. "It doesn't have much of a charge left but you can probably use it if you need to send some more drones out from the outpost. Beyond that I think it's pretty useless. Take this too." He handed Henry the computer he'd brought with. "The bypass program is in here in case you need to override the Atlantis Gate for any reason in the future. I removed the program from the Antarctic Gate so you shouldn't have any issues. You're probably going to want to get a team out to the site to secure the outpost. I'm sure someone saw those drones go up."

"We'll do that. Thank you." Henry smiled at them.

Oliver grinned. "Hey, I was helping myself, how could I resist?"

Henry laughed. "I'm still grateful. I was beginning to believe I'd never find help." He turned and smiled sadly at Lee. "It was good to see you, even if you aren't my Lee."

"Hey, I'm awesome in any reality." She hugged him. "Wherever she is, your Lee, I'm sure she's grateful to you for freeing her from that Hell. I know I wouldn't want to be anyone's puppet. I'd rather die."

Tears filled his eyes and he nodded. "Thank you for that."

She nodded and turned to Sam. "General." She saluted and stepped back.

"I suppose we should get you home," Sam said.

"Yes," Mal replied. "We have our own universe to look after. If you need us, you know where to find us."

She smiled. "Indeed we do." She led the way to the room where the mirror was being kept and Henry turned on the control device. The mirror activated and the guards on the other side lifted their weapons.

Mal waved to them. The guards relaxed slightly. He turned and held a hand out to Henry. "Good luck. Remember what we've told you about Nesrin."

"I will and we'll do our best to make certain that information goes to good use."

He nodded and turned to the mirror.

Lee hugged him again and went to stand beside Mal.

He and Oliver shook hands. "It's good to know I'm smart in more than reality."

Henry chuckled. "Agreed."

Van sent him a wave and took his place with the group.

"Goodbye," Henry told them just before they touched the mirror and appeared on the other side. He waved, waited for them to return the wave, then he shut down the mirror.

Mal turned away from the mirror. "That was an adventure."

"Aren't alternate realities always an adventure?" Lee asked.

"No, not really."

She grinned at him. "Hey, look at it this way, we kicked Nesrin's ass in two realities."

"We haven't exactly kicked her ass in this reality. We just set her back a few steps," he pointed out.

"Do you have to ruin everything?" she groaned. "Okay, who is up for drinks and Karaoke?"

"No thank you, once was enough. Mal sounds like a drowning cat," Van replied.

"I do not!"

Oliver laughed. "I need to witness this."

"You be quiet," Mal muttered.

"Karaoke!" Lee shouted and ran from the room.

Van nudged Mal. "You know if it wasn't for her we'd never have any fun."

Mal grinned. "I'd be locked in my room going over mission reports."

"Instead, you hang out with us and have taco night."

Oliver shoved between them. "I want taco night."

"We can have taco night along with karaoke on the same night," Van said with a laugh.

"Lee does realize that we need to debrief with General Carter before we can leave, doesn't she?" Mal asked as they left the room.

"She'll figure it out," Van told him.

Mal grinned and listened as Oliver and Van planned out what songs they'd like to sing. He nearly dissolved into laughter when Van suggested Lee and Oliver do a duet of I've Got You, Babe. Van was right, if it wasn't for Lee their lives would be very boring. Her enthusiasm for just about everything was contagious. Before he joined the SGC he'd been leading a rather dull existence. He worked, he ate, he slept, and then he repeated that with nothing else to challenge his routine. Lee, and even Van, challenged him. He glanced at Oliver. And now that Oliver was here, there would be more challenges, Lee and her brother together was one huge challenge. He couldn't imagine having a relationship with Elias like Lee had with Oliver. The two bickered often, but they also loved one another and would do anything to keep the other from harm.

He thought about his hallucination when he believed Elias had been stalking him. If given the chance, Elias would do exactly that. He'd find a way to make sure Mal never returned to Earth. He was glad to have SG-1 on his side. They wouldn't back down and they would have his back no matter what happened.

This place, these people, had become home to him and he thanked his good fortune each day that he'd accepted this post. It was the best thing that had ever happened to him.