Jack pulled up outside his house.

A lot had happened in the last twenty-four hours, stuff he wished hadn't but he was thankful no one was killed because of it.

If he hadn't given her that damn disk she'd still have a home, the threat to her life wouldn't have been made or at least he wanted to believe that and they Sam, Teal'c and himself wouldn't be on the run now.

If he had his way after receiving that call the one that basically said the explosion at her house was just a warning, that they could get to her and her unborn child whenever they liked he would have turned his truck around and got her as far away as possible then. Dr Frasier on the other hand had to play doctor in this matter and insist that she spent at least twelve hours in the infirmary along with himself for observation. And since he didn't want to add anything that might cause further distress of any kind to the person who would probably be occupying the bed next to him he reframed from arguing his case further.

That gave him chance to speak to Hammond about the situation, discussing all that had happened since Maybourne had shown up, all that he had told him relating to 'Alex' and to find out how he and the rest of SG-1 were to proceed with the situation.

Hammond of course decided to make this his call seeing as he had voiced his opinion on telling her straight that possibly the NID would try and kill her and her unborn child before she came to term, even she didn't need that, not yet anyway.

So this was as close as he could get to a plan in such short notice, take her to his house, get a few things together and head up to his cabin for a few days along with Teal'c for extra muscle should it be needed, even not at his best through his little boxing match with Jonas he was still the best choice to act as bodyguard in a worst case situation.

It wasn't the best idea he'd ever had but it was an idea at least, using the gate to hide out somewhere till Hammond had the problem dealt with might have been better but that had been made a no go zone for her so it was out of the question.

She'd be perfectly safe there though, he knew the lay of the land which parts offered little cover and all that and Hammond didn't exactly let them go out there without the minimum necessities, a few Zats, P-90's anything needed, only thing they had to do was keep her from finding them.

Dr Frasier had voiced her concerns over the matter, since she had to be informed of the situation for medical reasons but provided Carter got plenty of rest she saw no reason why she wasn't up to spending a few days away from the base.

The problem was trying to keep the real reason for visiting the cabin from her, so it was agreed that Frasier would make it an order on medical grounds for the both of them, while Teal'c would go to make sure her orders were followed to the latter.

Jonas on the other hand would find himself suffering from medical complications as a result of his run in with Teal'c a few days earlier, which made him unable to join the trip to the cabin. But allowed him chance to study the text found on P5X252, they needed to know exactly what was in them and any stuff that was missed out in the briefing. He had personally requested that Hammond only to allowed Jonas and Daniel to work on the task, the less people, the better he thought. So Daniel would be shipped out on a mission apparently with SG-10 later that day, conveniently also making him unavailable.

There was something about them though, not something you could put your finger on but it was there, maybe because in seemed familiar because of the dream or something else, he felt it important enough to make the task top priority for them.

"Carter" he whispered trying to wake her

"Is it wise to wake Major Carter at this time O'Neill?"

"Probably not but since she has to borrow my stuff for a few days I figured she might want to choose given ya know"

"I see"

"And besides Teal'c I don't think we should leave her alone right now" he kicked himself as soon as he said it, she wouldn't be alone Teal'c would be with her but that was beside the point for now he wanted her where he could see her.

"Carter"

She stirred

"Hey Carter"

"Sir"

"How ya feeling?"

"Fine Sir, under the circumstances"

"Good...listen I thought you might like to grab your own change of clothes"

"Sir"

"What I mean is Carter...as hard as it may seem despite coming on this trip under orders.... ya never know you might like it and wanna stay longer...no offence but I'd think you'd appreciate it"

"Thanks Sir" she said climbing down from the truck with a little support from him

"Don't mention it"

Opening the door to his house they entered "alright kids knock ya selves out trucks a leaving for cabin O'Neill in precisely one hour thirty minutes" he said moving to the sofa receiving a questioning look from Carter as he switched on the TV.

"Late night Simpsons"

She stood silently observing her surroundings while O'Neill was joined by Teal'c to watch the show "Major Carter are you unwell" Teal'c asked a few minutes later seeing her still stood close to the door in a trance.

Jack's head turned at the questioning tone of the big Jaffa's voice and looked at the women in question.

"Carter" he said concerned

"Hhhhhmmmm"

"Your not joining us?" Jack asked making space for her"

"Oh.... er...no Sir.... thank you"

"Ya don't no whatcha missing"

"I'll take your word for it"

"OK"

"Sir mind if I grab something to eat"

"Help ya self Carter"

"Sir"

A few minutes later Sam was still fixing a snack and Jack for all the company of his friends and trying to keep things as normal as possible so not to get her thinking something was wrong found himself unable to watch the TV.

"I'm gonna check on Carter"

"As you wish"

"Major Carter has been unusually silent"

"Yeah she has I wanna put it down to the house though" he said as he stood and headed to the kitchen

"Carter" he said slightly cheerfully and a little louder than he wanted "you feeding the ten thousand in here or something"

"No Sir" she said with a little jump

"Want a spare pair of hands to help with anything?"

"No why?"

"Oh you know me, I get bored my attention goes and well I've seen that episode of the Simpsons a hundred times"

"Sure your not just check up on me?"

"Who me Carter? no why?"

"No reason, unless you count you haven't let me out the sight of anyone since what happened"

"We have"

"Really?"

"Sure"

"When?"

"I.... I don't know Carter, but ya know we only do it to look out for the newest member of SG-1"

"Oh please"

"It's true"

"Sir Alex is my responsibility"

"Yeah and until she gets here your our responsibility"

"You doing it again"

"What?"

"She"

"Oh.... sorry just got a feeling ya know"

"Sir can I ask you something off the record?"

"We're on downtime Carter"

"I know that, but this concerns Alex in part"

"Still no reason.... shoot what's bugging ya"

"How can you do it?"

"What?"

"This"

"Sorry"

"Tell me all that stuff about 'us' and then go on as if it never happened or existed?"

"It didn't"

"It was real enough though right?"

"Yeah I guess"

"So how can you do it?"

"Because"

"Not good enough Sir"

"Because I have to"

"Why? you could walk away right now"

"Won't do it"

"Oh come on we both know the regs, nothing can happen"

"And it won't

"How can you be sure of that?"

"How about your career for starters"

"Doesn't it even change the way things are between us though?"

"Carter I'm pretty sure we've done this before and as I said before no, what's changed if any its on my part and I'm not acting on it and won't unless you...and besides the only thing it really showed me is we.... I mean all of SG-1 look out for their own as a team, that's how we started, how we got this far and how we damn well better finish"

"Couldn't agree more Sir"

"Been at your place earlier just brought something's home ya know?"

How?

"Second chances"

A sound came from behind them.

"Hey Teal'c"

Jack spun around "T my man see ya come to help Carter and me with all this food"

"I have not O'Neill"

"Shame"

"I came to check on Major Carter's condition"

"I'm fine Teal'c thanks"

"Just serving up a snack fit for two" that got him a glare from her "so how about you two grab a seat been guests and all I'll finish up in here we'll eat get some stuff together and then head to the cabin"

"Sir"

"Ah no Carter, sit, rest, you know what Friaser said"

A/N OK, I'm glad people are still sticking with this, but as I said at the end of the last chapter RL stuff means I don't have a lot of spare time at the minute. To some extent I think this shows in what you are reading, that or it just feels off to me due to the large cut back on writing time.

So as you are the ones reading this I'll give you the choice. Is what you just read still up to scratch on my previous offering in which case I should keep up writing/posting as I am now or to improving the quality if its been lacking recently I can post say once a month and if you like even tell me to quit....Its up to you.

Please review, tell me what you want etc.

KP