Year Two
"SG-4 is on downtime until Friday and SG-6 is scheduled to go off-world in the morning," General Hammond said, rifling through the folders on his desk.
"Sounds simple enough to me, sir," Jack said, making mental notes.
George shot him a skeptical look then reached for a sheet of paper. "This is my contact information," he said. "I'll just be an hour away if anything comes up."
"It won't," Jack said, taking the sheet of paper and folding it. "With only two teams off-world, things will be quiet," he reassured the man. "In fact, I'm willing to bet that the biggest crisis will be which ball game is on and whether or not Siler can get it piped in down here."
In reality Jack knew that there was a hell of a lot that COULD go wrong. After all, Christmas meant nothing to the Goa'uld and the SGC would be vulnerable over the next few days with its skeleton staffing and distracted personnel. But he wasn't going to tell Hammond that. Not and risk ruining the man's time with his grandchildren.
"There is one more thing, Jack. Now that he's settling in with the Tok'ra, Jacob is hoping to make regular reports on any intelligence he can gather."
"Good thing we gave Marty a GDO then, huh?"
George shook his head. "Jacob doesn't think he'll have many opportunities to come back to Earth. His assessment is that it would be best if we met with him, sometimes at the current Tok'ra base but other times at a pre-arranged planet. In his last communication, he was fairly sure he'd be able to get away tomorrow."
"I take it the Tok'ra still need to beef up on their hospitality." Jack fought to keep the skepticism out of his voice. In one way, he was glad that they had made allies, there was no such thing as too many friends. But in another...they were still snakes, no matter what they claimed their attitudes were and he just couldn't whole heartedly trust a snake.
"You could say that," George said, his eyes suggesting to Jack that he shared his skepticism, even if he couldn't voice his opinion.
Jack shrugged. "Well, we're stood down until you're back, so Carter can go whenever she wants," Jack said, drawing the most logical conclusion. If the goal was to be discreet, what better cover story than a child visiting her parent.
"I was leaning towards Doctor Jackson being the liaison," George said.
Jack raised his eyebrows. "Sir? I would have thought that Carter'd jump at the chance to visit her dad."
"Unfortunately, no," George said. "Captain Carter and her father – despite recent events – have a very rocky relationship. One that's best served by distance."
Jack sat back and digested the man's words. Sure, he'd picked up on a little tension between the two, but he'd attributed it to the mission at hand. First Carter getting blind-sided with learning that her father was dying then with having to make the choice to offer him a chance to join the Tok'ra, not only to save his life but the lives of Daniel, Teal'c and all of SG-3. He knew that it hadn't been an easy decision for her, to risk exposing her father to the same experiences she'd had with Jolinar. But there was nothing like certain death to change a person's mind.
"You do know, sir, while I'm sure Daniel would love to go and play in the sand, if this information is going to be military intelligence, it could be too valuable of an asset to risk with a civilian," Jack said slowly, well aware that the military often put the good of the many over the good of the few. "Carter could actually be the best person for this assignment."
George shrugged. "I'll deal with that when it happens," he said. "For the time being, I'm not willing to push Captain Carter or force her to use her personal relationship with Jacob to benefit the US Air Force." George got to his feet, signaling the end of the briefing. "If Jacob happens to contact us tomorrow, perhaps Doctor Jackson wouldn't mind stepping in for the time being," he said.
"I'll ask him, sir," Jack said, also standing up. He waited until the general gathered the last of his belongings and left before sinking down in the man's red leather chair, rocking back and forth.
His fingers drummed on the desk as he craned his neck, studying the papers. He'd been a bit surprised when Hammond had called him to his office last week, not so casually asking him about holiday plans and O'Neill family traditions. It hadn't taken Jack long to figure out that, in his own round about way, Hammond was feeling out the possibility of him taking some time off and, like any good CO, was trying to find someone to run the place in his absence.
It took Jack about three seconds to offer, it was the least he could do for the man after all. In many ways he felt that he had a self-imposed 'duty' at the holidays. Since he really didn't have a family anymore, he would do what he could to help those that did have a little time together. And working the holidays was a small price to pay.
He heard a knock on the door and looked up, waving Sam in. "General Hammond already gone?" she asked, standing in front of his desk.
"Yep. Probably clearing the last guard post as we speak," Jack said, motioning for her to sit. "What's up?"
"I was wondering, umm, SG-6 goes out tomorrow, right?"
Jack nodded. "0800. Poor guys. Spending Christmas day on a tropical island with half naked natives." He shook his head. "The sacrifices we make for our country."
Sam smiled slightly. "I'd like to get permission to join them."
Jack frowned. "Really? That eager to avoid the turkey loaf?"
"Sergeant Keller's daughter has her first Christmas tomorrow. Colonel Wilson has no issue with me filling in if you don't."
Jack studied his second, easily seeing beneath her guileless expression. Oh yeah, she was being so nice to volunteer. Selfless and accommodating...and likely totally premeditated. What better way to guarantee not having to go see the Tok'ra if she conveniently wasn't on the planet at the time. "Still not into Christmas huh?"
She shrugged. "Doesn't seem fair for me to sit at home and watch movies while Keller misses his daughter's first Christmas."
"You know, your aah, your dad is probably going to call tomorrow," he said, studying her reactions.
"Really? I hadn't heard that," she lied.
"I woulda thought that you'd want to hang around for that. Have a perfectly bonafide excuse to take a little joyride through the gate," he fished, the uncomfortable look on her face telling him that his digging was hitting a nerve.
"The job comes first, my dad knows that."
"How many holidays did he miss?" Jack asked, honing in on the crux of the issue.
"How many did you miss?" she shot back, her eyes narrowing.
"Too many," he said honestly. "Request denied. You're not going out with SG-6 but you are going to be on call and when General Carter calls, you're going to go and receive whatever intelligence he has to share," Jack ordered.
"Colonel—"
"Orders. And don't even think about calling in sick tomorrow."
Her lips narrowed and her face took on a cold set. "Yes, sir," she bit out, her voice icy. "May I be dismissed, sir?"
"Yes," Jack said, nonplussed by her tightly reined anger. She left the room and Jack sighed, well aware that he'd definitely pushed the boundaries of their friendship. Usually, he wouldn't dream of interfering. A person's private life was just that, private. And it was a distinction that Jack himself cherished, the knowledge that he could go home and leave the rank – and its responsibilities – behind.
But he also knew that his captain had been through one hell of a year and that it hadn't left her unscathed. First being taken over by Jolinar and then almost killed by the Ashrak, an experience that, for a few horrible days, he thought she'd never recover from.
He knew that she still had nightmares and that she struggled to deal with the changes that she now had to live with. And their little run in with Apophis hadn't helped matters any. He didn't think that she knew that he knew that her nightmares had gotten worse in the past few weeks. He was worried about her, worried that she might be teetering just a little too close to the edge.
As her commanding officer, there wasn't a whole lot that he could do here on Earth, short of trying to get her to go see Mackenzie. Which he knew she'd resist. For a couple of reasons. First of all, Mackenzie was a hack. But most importantly, he knew just how damaging a psychological mark could be on her record. Fair or not, it'd be seen as a weakness and he couldn't do that to her. Not only because he cared about her, but also he knew just how much he'd hate it if someone tried to do the same thing to him.
But what he could do is, hopefully, get her a little pop-psychology, no pun intended. If he was lucky, her little trip to go see dad would accomplish two things. First, it'd give them a chance to mend a few fences. But, more importantly, maybe she'd finally find someone she could talk to about the whole Jolinar mess. Probably the only person in the galaxy that really understood her feelings and what she was going through.
He knew that she'd be pissed at him, and that he was definitely pushing the boundaries of their friendship, but it was something that he felt he had to do. If he had to piss her off to help her out, he'd piss her off. He'd very much rather have her angry at him than...well something worse.
/////
Sam sat in her lab, the fingers of her left hand drumming mindlessly on the table top while her right maneuvered the mouse quickly through the solitaire game.
Finishing one game, she sighed as she glanced at the clock in the corner of the screen. 1323. Great. She'd officially wasted half a day.
Ordinarily, she wouldn't dream of just hanging out and playing computer games. Not only was it against the rules but she always had more than enough to do. But these were not ordinary times and she was here under duress.
'Request denied.'
Bastard. What kind of game did he think he was playing? He had no reason to refuse her request other than pure spite. She'd already talked to General Hammond about the Tok'ra and foolishly thought that everything had been ok. Sure, the general was disappointed.
After all, he'd spent a good chunk of the past ten years mediating their cold war and she was sure that he'd expected this to be a golden opportunity for her and her dad to patch things up.
What General Hammond didn't realize was that no matter how much you dressed it up, a leopard never changed its spots. And no amount of alien intervention was going to alter the fact that her dad was an ass.
Do you want to be a captain forever?
Fathers have dreams too.
No one wins medals for pushing paper.
I was a major by the time I was your age.
"Yeah, right, dad. You're a man and you had two tours in Nam," Sam muttered, pushing away the mouse in disgust.
She knew that she should be happy that he was alive, happy that Selmac had saved him from certain death. And she was. She just hadn't thought things through. Hadn't realized that he'd have to go live with the Tok'ra. Hadn't considered that someone would have to go and make contact with him. Hadn't thought that her dad might want to change the status quo and decide to play the role of a parent again.
Not to mention the other aspect of this assignment – staying with the Tok'ra.
The last few months had been such a roller coaster that there were times when Sam felt like Jolinar was still there, that she was nothing more than a passenger along for the ride, out of control and un-consulted.
The terror of Jolinar's possession leading into Sam's joy at her death, then the chilling realization that the creature she'd hated so very much had sacrificed its life to save hers. Sam had been grateful to be alive, but she shouldn't be grateful to her captor. She should still hate her, but couldn't. Nobody'd ever done that before, sacrificed their life to save hers.
The colonel said that it was the least Jolinar could do, that saving Sam's life was far from adequate payment for the hell she'd put her through. But the colonel hadn't had a front row seat to the creature's death. He hadn't felt Jolinar struggle or listened to her scream as the Ashrak drove the life out of her.
He had backed Sam when she'd wanted to explore her dreams though. Which was something that still puzzled her. The colonel was a natural born skeptic and Sam knew that if he couldn't see it, touch it or hear it, he didn't believe it.
But he'd been oddly understanding about the dreams, never once suggesting that she was making it up or that she needed to go have a chat with Mackenzie. His support was the main reason she'd looked into her dreams, trying to find a way to remember them, to explore the alien memories that were now a part of her. To make sense of them before they drove her over the edge.
It was also about the only thing that kept her grounded when she felt that everything was spinning out of control. Hell, even her body wasn't her own anymore. Her blood was different, she got the creeps every time she got within ten feet of Teal'c, she could apparently use goa'uld technology, and she wasn't sure which of these things bugged her the most.
She was glad that they'd found the Tok'ra, that they now had a potential ally. And she was glad that her dad was alive, but there were aspects about the Tok'ra that scared her.
Martouf's behavior had shocked her. How could someone who Jolinar remembered so fondly, who talked to her quietly out on the dunes and with whom Jolinar had been mated also just calmly hand Apophis over for never ending torture? Was it just him? Or were all the Tok'ra like that? How could they be so dispassionate and so loving at the same time?
Was she like that now?
A thought occurred to her and her stomach lurched. There was another reason for her to go to the Tok'ra, and it didn't have much to do with her father. Everyone had been very interested when she'd found out that she could use goa'uld technology. Interested to the point that General Hammond had offered to give her time off to further experiment with the stuff, to practice and hone her control. What if this was some ploy to get her some 'expert advice' in the area? What if she was being manipulated? Would they do that to her? Ordinarily she wouldn't think so, but ordinarily the colonel didn't make a habit of flouting General Hammond's preferences...unless of course the world was ending.
The klaxons sounded and she looked up, instinct turning her attention to the source of the noise. It had to be him. SG-6 had departed earlier this morning and no one else was due back. "Captain Carter to the gate room."
Sam sighed and quickly shut down her computer. It didn't really matter why she was going. She was and barring a freak accident in the elevator, there wasn't much she could do about it. She shrugged on her TAC vest and picked up her pack that was lying in the corner of the room where she'd set it that morning.
It took her only a few minutes to make it down to the twenty-eighth floor, the slim staffing of the facility meaning that she encountered few obstacles. She walked into the gate room, doing her best not to look the colonel in the eyes. Much to her surprise, the gate was dormant. "Sir?" she asked, surrendering to the fact that she'd have to talk to him to find out what was going on.
"General Carter just called. You won't be going to the Tok'ra base. Seems they don't really want us to find out where they are right now. We suggested the Land of Light and he agreed. You ship out now and have twenty-four hours before you need to report back. If you need more time, we can arrange it," he briefed her.
"Yes, sir," she said.
He waved his hand, signaling Walter to dial the gate. Sam looked away, her eyes darting around the room, watching the gate spin, anything to avoid looking at her commanding officer. Eye contact usually led to conversation, and she still wasn't in the mood for that.
She could sense him beside her, rocking back and forth on his heels. Why the hell was he still hanging around? Didn't he have a base to run? Or maybe he was feeling all bossy and thought that he had to show her to the gate. Make sure she didn't trip and fall. It wasn't like she could disobey his order. Oh, she could, but there was about twenty witnesses. Not even she was that stupid.
The gate opened with its customary whoosh and she sighed with relief. She didn't exactly want to be going, but at least she wouldn't have to spend the day in a cave with a bunch of Tok'ra. And Tupelo was a good man. Added to that, his daughter was a good cook. Chances are the MRE's she'd packed would stay that way.
She stepped up the ramp, eager to make her exit. "Carter?" She turned, knowing that it would have been really unrealistic to have made a clean get away, especially with him standing three feet away. "Enjoy your day," he said, his voice uncommonly sincere.
Sam nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She walked up the ramp and through the event horizon without looking back.
/////
Jack leaned over Walter's shoulder a smile creeping across his face as he recognized the iris code. "Open it up," he ordered, pushing back from the console and heading down the stairs.
Just as he walked into the gate room the iris spun open and Sam stepped through. He studied her closely, looking for some clue as to how her visit had gone. She wasn't smiling, but she didn't appear angry either. Her expression was calm and her stride easy as she made her way down the ramp. "Have a nice trip?" he asked, feeling the need to say something.
"Yes, sir," she replied, handing her weapons over. "Tupelo sends his regards."
"What's up with ole Tupelo these days?" he asked, falling into step as she walked out of the gate room.
"His first grandson," she said. Jack raised his eyebrows. "His name is Danl."
"Umm, is this something I should know about?" he asked, summoning the elevator. "Or, more importantly, something Daniel needs to know."
"The baby was born a month ago. So, unless Daniel has been sneaking through the gate..."
"He's off the hook," Jack said, relieved. His team had done a lot of firsts but he didn't want to add intergalactic paternity suits to the list.
The elevator arrived and he joined her in the car, ignoring her questioning look. "Did you and your dad have fun?" he asked.
"Is this an official briefing?" she asked, her voice tight.
Jack gave her a look. "Does it need to be?" he challenged.
She sighed. "Everything's fine," she said. "Selmac didn't share a lot but I have a list of goa'uld names and planets. Places we might want to avoid."
"That's always good to know." The elevator opened and they got out on level twenty one. "Anything else interesting happen?" he fished, cursing the fact that his second was so tight lipped at times.
She stopped, turning to face him. "Was it supposed to?"
"Carter?"
"Stop fishing, sir, you don't do it well," she said, apparently not caring that she was flying in the face of protocol. "What do you want to know?"
Jack stared at her for a moment, not used to her being so up front and confrontational. "I was just curious if you and your dad had a nice visit," he said slowly.
"Do you want to know if we talked, or if I brought back any homework?" she said, her tone mocking. Jack frowned, not sure what she was talking about.
"Well, I presume you talked. Be a pretty boring day if you didn't," he said slowly.
"I'm not going to do it," she declared.
"Do what?"
"I am not going to do it and if you or the general are under orders to make me, then...I'll resign," she said.
"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked.
"Using the goa'uld stuff," she said. "I'm not going to do it," she declared.
"Carter, I didn't send you to see General Carter to take lessons in blasting people with that hand thingie," Jack said, her tense mood and bad attitude suddenly making sense. "As far as I'm concerned, it's perfectly all right with me if you never use that thing again. It kinda gives me the creeps."
"Then why—"
"Maybe so that you could spend time with your dad," he interrupted. "Maybe so that you could have a chance to talk to someone about this whole blending thing who actually understands. Maybe because I thought I was doing you a favor, even if you didn't agree with me at the time," he ranted.
Her shoulders slumped and he watched her temper fade to be replaced with something he interpreted to be remorse. "You honestly thought that's why I was sending you?" he asked.
"I know that General Hammond has been getting requests for me to learn more about goa'uld technology."
"Yeah, and they also want Teal'c to fly to Nellis so that they can 'fully examine' him. Neither of them is gonna happen," he said. He sighed and lowered his voice. "Sam, I sent you so that you could spend some time with your dad. No more, no less. And if you honestly don't want to go anymore, that's fine. I was just trying to do you a favor."
"That explains why the topic never came up," she muttered. "I acted so weird, he probably thinks I'm nuts."
"Maybe he just though you'd had too much egg nog," Jack said, hoping to console her a bit. He should have thought of this and tried to ease her mind. In truth, he hadn't realized just how much she knew about the whole Area 51 bit. He and Hammond had both agreed that she really didn't need to know about their efforts to have her transferred. They both thought that it was one more stress that she really didn't need to worry about.
In hindsight, their decision had probably been wrong. The base grapevine was a vicious thing and they should have realized that she'd hear things. Which probably had something to do with her tenser mood of late. He had a funny idea that her issues weren't just the stress of dealing with Jolinar, but also of worrying about being betrayed by the very folks that were supposed to be watching her back.
"Look, this job doesn't have many perks. Gotta take them where you can get them," Jack said, shrugging. "That's all I was trying to do. Give you and your dad some time together."
"Thank you." Sam smiled slightly. "I still don't want to learn how to use that stuff," she said. "I know that it could come in handy some time and that it might be a tactical advantage but..."
"But?"
She closed her eyes and looked down before looking back up. "I don't like how it makes me feel," she confessed. Jack raised his eyebrows. She glanced down the hallway, looking to insure that they were still alone. "When I use that hand device, I can feel it. Jolinar used it to kill, when I use it, I can remember her killing, I can remember ME killing and I just..."
"You don't want to use it," he interrupted.
"No."
"Then don't," he said. "We're not going to make you do anything that you don't want to do." Jack sighed. "I'll be honest, it probably would be a tactical advantage for you to be proficient in it, but only if you want to be." He looked her in the eyes. "And don't worry about the idiots at Area 51. Hammond and I can take care of them."
"Thank you," she said.
"Look, once you clear medical, Teal'c and Daniel were gonna come over for dinner tonight," he said, feeling the need to get the topic onto something better.
"Is General Hammond back? " she asked.
"No. But Castleman volunteered to keep an eye on things. SG-6 came back early and you were the last person off world so he's just here for the technicality," Jack explained.
"Dinner sounds good," she accepted. "What time?"
"How about you pick up Teal'c once you're done and be at my place at 1800," he suggested.
"Do I need to bring anything?"
"Just yourself," Jack said.
"I'll be there, thank you."
Jack nodded and turned on his heel. He strode down the hall, whistling tunelessly between his teeth.
/////
Sam walked into the locker room, her arm still stinging after the blood draw that was a part of the post gate examination. She glanced at her watch, grimacing when she realized that she'd have about forty-five minutes to shower, pick up Teal'c and get over to the colonel's house. It'd be tight but she could pull it off, especially since she really didn't have the need to primp.
She worked the combination on her locker and opened the metal door, intent upon grabbing her shampoo and other toiletries. Her eyes settled on a small white box and she stared, smiling at its familiarity.
Setting down her shampoo, she reached for the box and carefully opened it. Inside was a small figurine of a man, a little girl in his arms. A small piece of paper was nestled in one side and she pulled it out, unfolding it to read the message.
Never waste a second chance. They're rarer than you think.
Smiling, she replaced the note and figurine and carefully put it back in her locker for safe keeping. Maybe she'd be a couple of minutes late, make a quick trip by the liquor store and pick up the colonel's favorite brand of beer.
~Fin~
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