And now... the long awaited (haha) SEQUEL to: Of Leave and Baskets!!! Not sure if this one will be up to par... but I'm trying!!!

Without further adieu... Of Rocks and Minnesota

Chapter One

The Stargate engaged.

"And we're off," Jack muttered as he and the rest of SG-1 walked through the wormhole. They emerged on the other side and Daniel immediately got excited and ran over to a bunch of rocks.

Ahem. Artifacts.

"I'll never understand how he can get so excited over a field of rocks," Jack exclaimed.

Sam laughed. "They aren't just rocks, sir. They're tablets filled with historical documents about the ancients."

"They look like rocks to me."

Sam rolled her eyes. Normally, she'd keep it to herself, afraid of the consequences to her career, even though she doubted the Colonel would ever write her up on it. But now, ever since their experience with Grace, they had a more relaxed friendship. They could honestly say they were friends, not only co-workers.

Grace. The mere thought of that little infant made Sam's eyes start to water. It had been over a year since she'd been dropped in her life. Jack's life. Their life. Yes, for those few days, it really seemed like something would come of it.

If only he'd been able to keep her... maybe they'd be something more. Instead, they pretended nothing happened between them. And really, nothing much had. But she still wished they could've acknowledged what happened, if they couldn't actually act upon it. At least she could finally call him Jack – in her mind, at least.

Her thoughts were interrupted by an insistent "Carter!"

"Yes sir?"

"I was asking if you want to stay here with Daniel and study these rocks... er, tablets, or if you wanted to secure the area with me."

She wanted to go with Jack, but she knew she should stay with Daniel.

"I'll help Daniel, sir."

"Suit yourself. Teal'c. You're with me."

The stoic man followed him in silence. Sam walked over to Daniel.

"Find anything yet?"

"Yes, in fact. This tablet describes a replicator-like enemy and how they were defeated!"

"Really?"

"Yes! This is big."

"The Colonel will be glad to hear it."

Daniel went back to his translation. Once Jack and Teal'c came back, they all carried the tablets through the gate.

Daniel immediately took the tablets to his lab and furthered his translation. The other three members of SG-1 attended the debriefing.

General Hammond decided to take SG-1 off active duty until Daniel was done.

"And how long will that be?" Jack questioned.

"Dr. Jackson estimates 5-7 days."

"Yes, sir," Sam said.

"Dismissed."

Jack went home and started his plans to go to his cabin. I wonder if she'd go with me this time, he thought. No, probably not. He booked a plane and dozed off on the couch. He awoke to his cell phone and answered. He tried to sound awake as he said,

"Colonel O'Neill." A choked voice came through.

"Mr. O'Neill. It's about my mother, Hannah. She has... cancer."

The voice paused and held back a sob.

"She wants you and Samantha to see her before she dies."

Jack came out of his shock and said, "Of course, we can do that. What hospital is she in?"

"St. John's Hospital in Denver."

"We'll be there tomorrow morning, is that okay?"

"Yes," the voice choked out before hanging up.

Once he had gotten off the phone, he realized he had just volunteered Sam to go to see a dying woman whom they barely knew.

Okay, well they knew her. She was Grace's grandmother. She'd sent pictures every month and Jack had cried every month because Grace was so grown up already and it killed him every time because he knew that it had been another month since he'd held her.

And then he felt even more pity for himself because he realized it'd been another month since he'd kissed Sam. And another month that they hadn't talked about it.

Even though he knew they shouldn't had let it happen, he still wanted to talk about it.

To find out if she regretted it.

He decided now was better than later and called Sam. She answered her cell phone quickly. Too quickly, if you asked Jack.

"Carter," she stated.

"Sam."

Now she started to worry. The Colonel only called her Sam when there was something wrong, some sort of news he didn't want to break to her, when he was worried for her safety, her life.

"I have some bad news..." Jack began.

"Grace's grandmother, Hannah..." he paused.

"She has recently discovered that she has cancer."

Sam gasped and before she knew it, she'd started to cry. She wasn't sobbing, but her face was soaking wet.

"She wants to see us before... you know... and I kind of said we'd both go. Tomorrow morning."

"You did?"

"Look, I'm sorry, but her son was crying so hard and I couldn't put it off and tell him I had to ask you first. I'm sorry, and I'll go by myself if you don't want to."

"Don't be sorry. I'll go with you."

"All she has is Grace and her son. We're her only friends."

"Which hospital is she at?"

"St. John's in Denver. Since it takes an hour and a half to get to Denver, so we should leave around 7:30. Does that sound okay?"

"Yes, sir."

He sighed inwardly at the 'sir'. "Should I pick you up?"

"That sounds fine."

There it is! Short, I know... but the next one should be longer...

Please R&R!!! Reviews make my day brighter!!!

Chapter two will be up soon!