A Good Match
Chapter One: The Fifth Wheel
A/N: This is set after 'Show and Tell,' but the ending is fudged a bit. Instead of Jacob taking Charlie back himself, another Tok'ra comes through the gate and accepts the boy while Jacob takes a few days to hang around the base with Sam. Okay? Okay!
References to: 'Secrets,' 'Emancipation,' 'The Broca Divide,' 'The Nox,' 'Singularity,' and 'There But For The Grace Of God.'
ENJOY!
A soft rap on the door made Sam look up, eyes unnaturally huge behind her magnifying glass. "Dad!" She smiled as she stood up, carefully placing the sliver of raw trinium back into its lined case. "I didn't think you'd be awake so early."
"Yeah, well, Selmak likes to get an early start." Jacob gave a little half-shrug, looking around Sam's lab.
"How's that going, by the way?" Sam settled herself back into her chair as she watched her father peruse.
"What, Selmak? Fine, actually." He stopped and looked closer into her glass cabinet. Tugging on the door, he reached in and pulled out a mini snowglobe that contained the Washington Monument. "A keepsake from when you were assigned there?"
Sam hesitated for a fraction of a second, but she was mostly-pretty-kind of sure her dad didn't notice. "No, actually. The, um, colonel got it for me when we were there for the, ah, medal ceremony a few months back."
"Ah." Jacob stared at the little offending object for another minute before replacing it in the cabinet, shutting the door just a little too firmly. He paused as Selmak whispered, 'Do not overreact, it is not your place.' Taking a deep breath, he turned to his daughter, shoving his hands deep into his BDU pockets. "Have you even slept yet?"
Sam rolled her eyes. "Yes, dad."
Jacob narrowed his eyes. He knew his daughter better than she could ever imagine. "Really?"
"Yes." Sam widened her eyes earnestly at her father, who only raised his eyebrows. "Alright, I was ordered to."
Jacob felt torn; on one hand, he was glad that someone had finally found a way to get his daughter on a relatively normal sleep schedule…but, on the other hand, who the hell was ordering his daughter around like that? Before he could reply, another voice had joined the conversation.
"Hey, Carter." Jack didn't bother knocking. "Up for breakfast? I hear they're serving something that looks mostly like pancakes."
"Ah-," Sam started, but Jacob moved into the center of the room and, consequently, Jack's field of vision.
"Morning, Jack."
"Morning, Jake." To his credit, the colonel didn't look the least bit fazed at the general-turned-Tok'ra's sudden appearance.
"Man, your names are similar." It wasn't until the words were out that she realized what she'd said. They both turned to look at her, identical looks of inscrutability on their faces. "Well, they are." Sam cleared her throat awkwardly before shooing them both out of her lab and towards the commissary.
…..
"So, Jacob," Jack began as he dropped his tray unceremoniously onto the table. "How's the whole snake in the head thing going?"
"Careful, Jack." The older man warned, taking the seat next to his daughter who had seated herself across from the colonel. "The Tok'ra don't take kindly to that comparison."
Glancing quickly at Carter, who had ducked her head to hide her grin, Jack cleared his throat. "Sorry. How's the two souls, one body thing going?" He raised his eyebrows as if to say, "better?" and Sam almost choked on her sort-of-pancake.
"Fine, Jack." Jacob narrowed his eyes at the colonel, but there was no heat in it. "How's the whole half a brain, one body thing going?"
"Dad!" Sam reproached, but Jack just laughed.
"I just know I'm gonna like you." Jack smirked as he shoved a forkful of pancake into his mouth.
"You can imagine my relief." Jacob shot back, also shoving a forkful of pancake into his mouth.
Sam looked between the two chewing men, unsure of whether this was a good thing…or a really bad thing. As she thought about the best way to change the topic, the two best distractions in the SGC walked in.
"Hey guys!" Daniel waved as he and Teal'c made their way over to the buffet line, piling food—or in Teal'c's case, Mount Everest—onto their plates before plunking down at SG-1's preferred table; Daniel next to Jack and Teal'c on the end in between Jacob and the archaeologist. "How're the pancakes?"
"Just this side of concrete." Jack waved another forkful in front of Daniel's face, nearly splattering syrup all over the other man.
"Great." Daniel frowned at Jack over the rim of his glasses before tucking into his own breakfast.
Jacob glanced to his left, watching as Teal'c dug in, barely pausing to breathe. He hadn't been "in the know" for all that long, but he was pretty sure the Jaffa were still an aerobic species. Almost like he could sense Jacob's thoughts, Teal'c glanced up, fork halfway to his mouth. "Is something the matter, General Carter?"
"Uh, nope. No." Jacob grinned as Teal'c went back to his plate. He kind of reminded him of Mark, his son. Man that kid could pack it away.
"So, Sam," Daniel finished chewing and looked up at his friend. "I've been going over SG-2's latest mission findings and I've got something I think you should see."
"Oh?" Sam took a large swig of orange juice. "What is it?"
"I'm not really sure. But the pictograms on the artifact lead me to believe it has something to do with that culture on P3X-595." Scooping up some rehydrated eggs, Daniel ignored the sharp look Jack shot him.
"595?" Sam frowned as she sifted through her mental mission files. "Was that the one where…" She trailed off and glared at Daniel. "Haha."
Looking at least a little guilty, Daniel shrugged. "Sorry. But, I think the artifact might help us figure out why you were affected and none of the rest of us were."
"I swear, Daniel, if this a 'because you're a woman' thing-,"
"Wait, wait, what's going on?" Jacob looked from Sam to Daniel, thoroughly lost.
"On P3X-595, we drank a substance that caused Captain Carter to remove her outer garments." All eyes shot to Teal'c as he continued to shovel his breakfast into his mouth. "It was a great deal of time before O'Neill was able to cajole her into getting off of the table."
"Teal'c!" Sam instinctively went to kick Teal'c under the table, but ended up hitting Daniel instead. Oh well.
He deserved it.
"Sam?" Jacob turned back to his not-so-little girl.
"It was nothing, dad. One of our first missions." She glared at the rest of her team, who had all seemed to gain a very intense and sudden interest in their breakfast.
"Uh-huh." Jacob's tone very clearly said he wasn't buying it. "You know, Sam…I'm starting to realize that I really don't know anything about your time with the SGC before I came around."
"Oh, you're missing out, Jake." Jack's grin widened when he felt his captain shift under the table, very clearly itching to kick him and rank only just holding her back.
"Am I?" Turning to his daughter, he felt Selmak niggle a little. Nope. He was going to get to the bottom of all this with or without Selmak's approval.
"No, dad, really you're not." Sending one last glare around the table, Sam went back to her breakfast, satisfied when everyone else remained blissfully silent.
For all of ten seconds.
"Hey, Carter, remember that time you had to sit in a tent all night because the natives only liked men?" Jack thought for a second. "Wait, that didn't come out right."
"If I remember correctly, sir, I ended up getting kidnapped and then traded—twice."
"What?" Jacob looked between Sam and Jack, alarmed. "Traded?"
"Indeed." Teal'c shoved his plate away and looking surreptitiously at Daniel's unfinished meal. "The chieftain's son found Captain Carter to be most beautiful and used her to regain his betrothed."
"And the second trade was actually Jack." Daniel interjected, edging his plate slightly closer to himself.
"What?" Jacob's eyes shot to Jack.
"Yeah. For a gun." Daniel added helpfully.
"Jack!"
"Hey!" Jack threw his hands in the air. "Got her back in one piece, didn't I?"
"Well, I suppose." Daniel paused and Sam cringed, knowing exactly what was about to come out of his mouth. "Even if she did have to fight that Mongol bare handed."
"Mongol!" Jacob felt Selmak physically restrain him as he tried to stand up.
"Okay, enough." Sam very carefully put her knife down, lest she feel tempted to stab any of them. "Dad, I had it completely under control the whole time. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
Before Jacob could respond, Daniel made a little excited noise. "Oh, and remember that time we were all turned into Neanderthals?"
"I was no such thing, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c decided to punctuate his statement by reaching over and successfully hijacking the rest of Daniel's breakfast.
"Hey!"
"But I recall the incident well. You were all most…amusing." Teal'c batted at Daniel's search and rescue fingers with his fork.
"Gee, thanks buddy." Jack rolled his eyes. "Though, Daniel, you should consider the monkey-look—it did wonders for you."
"Well, I don't remember you complaining when Sam jumped you." Giving up his plate as a lost cause, he stole a strip of bacon from Sam's. Who very seriously considered stabbing his hand.
Maybe her dad just…didn't hear that?
Ha! Nope.
"When Sam what?" Jacob turned burning eyes to Jack.
"In her altered state, Captain Carter believed O'Neill to be the strongest choice for procreation." Teal'c supplied.
"Teal'c, stop being helpful." Jack cleared his throat and tugged uncomfortably at his collar. "Is it getting warm in here?"
'Breathe, Jacob. You wished to know what went on in your daughter's life. You must accept these answers; you cannot have it both ways.' Jacob took a deep breath and forced a smile on his face. He knew that colonel was going to be trouble from the moment he so cavalierly called his daughter 'Sam' in a room full of highly ranked officers. He was just Sam's type too—dangerous, a little rough. And older. 'You have no evidence of anything untoward, Jacob. Do not jump to conclusions.'
"Dad, let's go check out the, um, that thing I told you we should check out." Sam made to stand up, but Jacob laid a deliberately gentle hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay, Sam. Your old man wants to hear about your missions. " Jacob forced a smile, but he was pretty sure he only succeeded in looking like he was having a stroke.
"Dad, I don't think that's-,"
"Really. I want to know." Folding his hands in front of him—the perfect visage of earnestness—Jacob looked at the three suddenly sheepish men in front of him.
"Ah, maybe Carter's right, I-," Jack started, but was cut off when Jacob turned his full attention on him. "Uh, okay. Well, there was that time we met the Nox."
"The Nox?"
"An incredibly advanced race, though you wouldn't know it to look at them." Daniel summarized.
"I think that was the first time we died…right?" Jack's brow furrowed as he counted backwards on his fingers.
"I believe you are correct, O'Neill."
"I've started to lose track." Jack shrugged one shoulder and finished his coffee.
"Died?" Jacob looked to his daughter, the stroke-smile still firmly in place.
"Yeah, but it was only for a few minutes." Sam pressed her lips together in what she hoped was a casual smile.
"I see." But Jacob clearly did not. Before he could ask the next obvious question -"Well, how many times has my daughter died, Jack?"—Daniel jumped in.
"And when we found Cassie? That might be our most successful mission yet, comparatively speaking."
"How so, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c glanced at the buffet, but remained in his seat, wanting to see how this played out.
"Well, Cassie lived and Janet got a daughter." Daniel shrugged and shared a "yeah, I guess that did work out" nod with Jack.
"I felt certain that you, Captain Carter, would adopt young Cassandra as your own." Teal'c bowed his head slightly as Sam flushed.
"Who's Cassandra—Cassie?" Jacob asked, interest genuinely piqued.
"A young girl we found on one of our missions. Her entire planet had been wiped out by Niirti's experiments." Jacob stiffened at his daughter's words. Selmak knew that name and Jacob didn't like the feelings that surfaced along with the recognition.
"My level of respect for you tripled with that mission, Sam." Daniel shifted in his seat when Jacob looked questioningly at him. "I just mean, um, well, the fact that you risked getting blown to bits—not to mention, defied a direct order—just so Cassie wouldn't be alone…that was…that was really amazing."
"Yeah, except for the defying a direct order part." Jack looked pointedly at his captain, heart thudding just a little too fast when she looked right back just as pointedly.
"You would've done the same, sir."
"I wouldn't be so sure, Carter. I always obey orders from my direct superiors." There was a moment of silence at the table before everyone, including Jacob, burst out laughing. The tension that Jacob had felt steadily creeping up began to recede ever so slightly. Maybe he didn't need to feel so protective over Sam; her team seemed to hold her in a place of the highest respect. In fact, it was a little hard not to feel like the fifth wheel when they all started talking. It seemed his daughter, while wholly capable of handling herself and her team, was in good hands—
"Hey! Remember when the Goa'uld almost blew up the SGC?"
-Or not.
Daniel continued. "And Teal'c was still first prime to Apophis, but he had this weird hair thing going on? Oh, and you and Sam were-ow!" Daniel jumped as both Sam and Jack kicked at his shins.
"What?" More confused than he'd been in the whole conversation, Jacob held up his hands. Even Selmak was lost.
"I believe Daniel Jackson is referring to the alternate reality he visited last year." Teal'c's fingers itched to take Jacob's quickly cooling plate, but he resisted. He did not know the man well enough yet.
"An alternate reality?" Jacob searched Selmak's memory, but came up with only a handful of references. All he knew for sure was that the Tok'ra didn't mess around with that stuff.
"Yeah, spacemonkey here felt the need to touch that—what was it?—that Q-tip mirror thing and ended up…" Jack made a little flying away gesture. "Somewhere else."
"Quantum mirror, sir." Sam smiled in spite of herself, looking down when he gave her the minutest of smirks in return.
'He did that on purpose.' Jacob thought to Selmak. 'He did it to make her smile.' After a moment, Selmak responded, her own feelings in the matter making Jacob's heart quiver. 'Is that so bad, Jacob?'
"Wait, wait," Jacob waved a hand to gain their attention again. "You went to another reality where Teal'c was still first prime-,"
"With hair." Daniel nodded.
"And Sam and Jack were what?" Jacob continued as if Daniel had not interjected.
Another moment of silence as everybody looked around the table at each other, sensing the tenuousness of the situation. A tenuousness they sought to ease. Which probably explains why they all answered at the same time.
"Dead." That was Jack's entirely helpful suggestion.
"Not military." Well, Sam was only half-lying.
"Not there?" Daniel blurted the first thing that came to his mind.
Which left only Teal'c, who, among them, had the deepest, loudest voice. So, of course, it was his answer that Jacob focused on first. "Engaged."
Sam closed her eyes and dropped her head. Damn that Jaffa honesty. Though she couldn't see him, Sam felt her colonel's discomfort increase tenfold. They never talked about what Daniel had seen, mostly because they both knew it would open doors that had to stay closed. And locked. Pad-locked, to be sure.
"Engaged?" Jacob wasn't sure if he was going to burst out laughing or start puking. Well, Selmak would take care of the puking part, so that kind of just left laughing.
But Jacob suddenly did not feel like laughing. Actually, he quite felt like crying. Sam- his only little girl- had never seemed older to him…had never seemed further away from him. Here she was, second in command on a flagship team that was going to other planets, saving the world on numerous occasions, breaking the laws of physics daily, commanded the respect of the best and brightest the United States military had to offer…and who had been engaged to her commanding officer.
So what if that last part happened to a different Sam Carter? She was still technically his daughter. And even though Jacob knew she'd been engaged once before, he'd known it would never stick. She had done it to upset him, to get back at him for everything she blamed him for.
But Jack was different. He knew that. He knew it and he hated it.
Abruptly, Jacob stood, nearly tripping over his chair in his desperation to be anywhere but at that table. Anywhere but surrounded by the family that had taken his daughter in and given her the support system he'd failed to provide. Anywhere that was away from the men that had replaced him, but especially away from the man who went out of his way to make his daughter smile.
TBC
A/N: Whoa this story has a mind of its own! Part two up soon!