Recalled

"What do you mean, you're recalling me to active duty?" John Sheppard half rose out of his chair.

"You should have taken General Linford up on his invitation." General O'Neill calmly regarded the younger man over the desk. "It would have saved me a trip to Ohio."

"I was promised a new life!"

"You've gotten that." O'Neill chuckled. "How is your wife?"

"Sally's fine." John had no idea how he was going to explain all this to her. She only knew him as Jason Danville. He'd never told her anything about his previous life with the SGC or living in Atlantis.

"I hear you're adopting four children." O'Neill shifted a file in front of him. "Congratulations."

"Thanks." Silently, John fumed. He'd been offered a full-time professorship at Kempell School of Engineering and Technology, which would more than pay for his expanding family. He'd still get to design engines for the military part-time, a favor the man in front of him had gone to great lengths to arrange several years back. "What is this really about? Some security issue on Atlantis you think no one else can handle? Or is there some new alien danger bearing down on Earth?" He held his breath, almost afraid of the answer.

To his credit, the general didn't flinch. Instead, he half-turned in his chair, watching the men outside the huge window.

John followed his gaze. The men outside all wore light gray uniforms and were repairing various aircraft, most of the latter he knew by name. He'd certainly spent enough time flying as a test pilot and then improving the engines. His MIT education had been courtesy of the SGC.

"I understand you have an above average IQ." O'Neill returned his attention to Sheppard.

He half grinned, remembering how surprised McKay had been when the scientist had learned John had qualified for Mensa. "What of it?"

"It's going to help with your new assignment." O'Neill closed the file, placing his hands on top. When had general gotten so gray? "I'm sorry to ask you to uproot your wife and family, but we desperately need you."

"Until we adopt the children, we can't move them out of the state." Dorothy, their social worker, had made that very clear.

"Someone in legal is working on that."

"What am I going to tell Sally? Her music career is very important to her." He could almost hear her objections and he groaned.

"You tell her you got recalled and reassigned."

"What else can I tell her?"

General O'Neill gave him a sympathetic look. "You can tell her the whole truth."

John blinked, unsure of what he'd just heard. "What about all that top secre,t non- disclosure, security stuff?"

"Your wife and children have a right to know."

"What aren't you telling me?"

"You're going back to Atlantis."

***

The limo that had picked John up at Kempell, taken him to Willsburg Air Force Base, now dropped him off in front of the stone-covered town home he shared with his wife and soon-to-be adopted four children. His fingers rested on the gate, almost afraid to go inside. Their new red minivan was parked out front and he hoped his Cheville would be repaired before it was time to leave.