Year Three - Mending Fences

Jack strode down the halls of the SGC whistling softly between his teeth. It felt good to be back. He'd missed so much in the past few months, first being stranded on Edora then doing his little rogue op. In some ways, he almost felt like when he'd returned from the Gulf - without all that pesky PTSD. Things were familiar, but they were also different. There were a few new faces and a few familiar ones were missing.

There were also the little things. Like a new coat of paint on the walls of the rec room on level twenty-three. Then again the handle on the urinal on level eighteen still stuck and dripped water on any who would use it.

He summoned the elevator as he glanced at his watch, confirming the time. 0730 - The semi-official breakfast time for SG-1. Presuming, of course, that that hadn't changed in the past few months.

The car arrived and he got in, taking the moment of privacy to lean against the wall. That was his one regret about his last mission. Not that he'd done his job. He could draw a certain amount of satisfaction from that. He'd completed his mission and brought down the rogue operation that was endangering the SGC's relationship with their allies.

No, his regret was, to do his job; he'd totally screwed over three of the most important people in his life.

He hated Thor and the Tollans for their damn anonymity clause. He could have told them that no one on his team was a thief. Hell, with Carter digging into things, they probably could have rooted out the rogues without all that damned cloak and dagger stuff.

In many ways, Jack found Carter's skills at hacking to be rather scary. It was definitely a good thing that she was on their side.

Daniel too. He may not quite have Carter's way with a computer, but he more than made up for it with his sheer pig headedness. And Teal'c. Hell, all they needed was to have Teal'c around and the interrogations would have lasted about 3.2 seconds.

He should have had his team with him. Should have insisted on it. Should have had them at his side instead of having to push them away. "Woulda, coulda, shoulda," he muttered as the doors opened. He pushed himself off the wall and walked out of the elevator, doing his best to not let any of his insecurities show. The past was the past and he couldn't change it. All he could do was hope to fix things between him and his friends.

He entered the commissary, surprised to find it relatively busy. Either there were a lot of people with empty cupboards at home or they'd really taken to heart the axiom that breakfast was the most important meal of the day.

The room was modestly decorated for the holidays, a few strands of tinsel and lights hanging high up on the walls. A three-foot Christmas tree sat on one table in the corner, a menorah standing at its base with too small candles crookedly perched in the cups.

The holidays were a time of balances at the SGC, and any military base. Yes, folks liked to decorate and have fun, but that decorating couldn't interfere with the normal operations of the facility. Which was why the commissary was the most common place to be decorated, along with a few of the rec rooms. People could enjoy the decorations while they relaxed, but didn't have to be distracted by them while they were working.

Carter, Daniel and Teal'c were in one corner, laying claim to their semi-traditional table. Teal'c looked up and Jack nodded, motioning towards the food lines. He picked up a tray and started to browse the offerings. He wasn't always a bacon and eggs guy, unless they were due to go off world. Then he'd usually splurge on the heavy breakfast, especially since you never knew when your next meal would be. And all that hiking required energy. Or maybe pancakes and waffles to really stock up on the carbs.

But he just couldn't get into Carter's rabbit food of yogurt and fruit. Lunch was way too far away for that. Realizing that if he didn't make his mind up soon he would be looking for lunch, Jack went for the tried and true, Froot Loops.

Balancing the box of cereal and carton of milk on his tray, he snagged a bowl and a mug of coffee before leaving the food area and making his way over to his team. Surprisingly enough, they were all still there. "Morning," he said, taking a seat.

"Sir." Carter looked up and smiled.

"O'Neill." Teal'c acknowledged him too while Daniel remained stubbornly silent. Jack sighed to himself, well aware that he would have some serious fence mending to do with his friends. Most especially Daniel who'd had the dubious honor of taking the brunt of Jack's deliberate bad temper.

"I need to get back to work," Daniel said as an excuse. He pushed himself up from the table and left the commissary.

Jack turned to Carter and Teal'c. "I did shower this morning," he said.

"Daniel's still a little…sore," Sam said, making a face.

"Ya think." Jack poured his Froot Loops into the bowl and opened the carton of milk.
"I'll talk to him," he said. "What are you two up to?"

"We were going to go back to P3C283 and retrieve our monitoring device," Sam said.

Jack frowned, the designation sounding familiar. "That was your last mission wasn't it?" he asked. "Where you went with Makepeace."

Sam nodded. "Yes, sir. We left a monitoring device behind to get a better picture of the weather patterns there. Teal'c and I were going to go pick it up."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "The two of you?"

Sam's face colored a bit. "Colonel Makepeace was to accompany us," Teal'c said. 
"However, since he is incarcerated, that will not be possible."

Jack stared at Teal'c, the man's rather cold tone making him pause. The last time he'd heard that tone of voice Teal'c was talking about Apophis. "Didn't get along well?" Jack fished, knowing that he was broaching a topic that he couldn't avoid forever. Teal'c merely glared at him. Jack looked over at Sam, silently asking her to clarify.

"Colonel Makepeace, umm, he wasn't very open to alternative ways of doing things," she said, struggling a bit to phrase things in a respectful manner.

"Ah," Jack said. "What'd he do?"

"Nothing…serious," she said, squirming a bit in her seat.

"Carter, do I need to throw rank around?" Jack threatened, alternately glad that she respected the man, but still frustrated by her reluctance to speak frankly.

"He kept calling him 'the Jaffa'," she said.

"The Jaffa?" She nodded. "Well, you ARE a Jaffa." Teal'c glared at him. Jack shrugged, his spoon splattering droplets of milk on the table. "What can I say? He's a Jarhead." Carter grinned slightly and Jack relaxed. Whether she realized it or not, her moods tended to steer how the others acted. And if she was willing to accept Jack's actions, Teal'c and Daniel would too, eventually. Jack paused a second, Carter's words sinking in. "Wait a minute, how come I don't know about this mission to get your doohickey?"

"General Hammond didn't know when you'd be back and we've already been to the planet so…he just said that we could go." She motioned at her and Teal'c.

"And Daniel?"

"He can go too if he wants but…all we're going to do is take a little hike and pick up the equipment. Two hour mission, tops." Her confident face fell a bit. "Unless, of course, you'd rather we waited for you, sir," she said. "If we leave the monitoring device there another day it won't hurt anything. The battery will die but the information should be written to the hard drive so it won't be lost."

Jack stared at his second, cursing silently as he realized he'd just discovered another casualty of his little escapade - Carter's self-confidence. It had to be eating at her to not have been given command - hell, it'd eat at him.

And she couldn't even ask why, not without risking sounding like she was complaining. Or without hearing the one thing she didn't want to hear - that she was unsuited.
In a way, she was. She still got too easily sidetracked, especially if there was some alien gadget lying around. But that could be fixed, with a little time. Once she got some distance she would likely see just why things had played out like they did. Just like she'd see that Hammond had deliberately not put her in charge so that things would be easier when Jack returned.

But distance took time and it couldn't hurt to slap a little super glue on the issue right now. "Hell, no I don't want to go back there," he said. "You know my rule: One trip per planet."

Teal'c raised his eyebrows. "I was not aware of such a rule."

"You're not reading your memos. You two want to go play, be my guest. Take your two hours, heck, tell Hammond I said that you could take three," he promised magnimously.

"A three hour tour?" Sam asked, grinning a bit.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Just watch out for rough weather," he quipped. "Seriously though, I have a week's worth of paperwork to catch up on. I can use the downtime."

"Thank you, sir," Sam said. "We're due to ship out in an hour or so and we should be back by lunchtime."

"Have fun," Jack said, setting down his spoon into his empty bowl. He pushed back from the table and got to his feet. "Just watch out for those white flowers, they're hell on the sinuses."

He dropped his tray off on the conveyer belt and left the cafeteria, relieved that a few of his bridges had been mended. He'd still have to work on a few things, but it wasn't something he could rush into. He had a fine line to walk. Yes, he had damaged their trust in him. And, yes, that trust did have to be rebuilt. But they also needed to understand that he was doing his job and he wasn't going to apologize for that.

The cup of coffee he'd drank before leaving home asserted itself and Jack changed course, slipping into the closest men's room. Eschewing the urinal, he stepped into one of the stalls, shutting the door behind him. He heard the hall door open and was glad for his choice when several voices echoed off the tile walls.

"All you gotta do is keep in mind a few ground rules and this place is a breeze," one voice said.

"The old man's word is law," a second voice said. "Don't cross him if you want to stay here."

"Don't lie to him either. His bullshit detector is first rate."

"He may come across as a hard ass, but he's not."

Jack smiled, listening to the two men brief what had to be a newly transferred man to the outfit. It was good that Hammond was held in such high esteem.

"What about the other one everyone is talking about?" he new recruit asked. "The colonel."

"Him," the first man said, his tone derisive. "Evidentially we can't trust him any further than we can throw him."

"You don't know that."

"Hey, he ratted out some of his own."

"He ratted out spies," the second man protested. "Besides, they're just Marines."

"Believe what you want, I ain't trusting him," the first one persisted.

The men flushed and Jack heard them wash their hands before they left the room. He opened the stall door and made his way over to the sink, washing his own hands.

'I ain't trusting him.'

Lovely. Just what he needed. He was the good guy in all this. The man in the white hat. He wasn't the one contravening orders and endangering Earth. He wasn't lying to and stealing from their allies. He was the one they came to for help, the only Tau'ri they trusted. He should feel good about what he did, not ashamed. What were they doing? Holding Makepeace up as some sort of modern day Robin Hood?

Slightly depressed, he left the washroom wondering if he could catch up with Carter and Teal'c before they left. All of a sudden going off world sounded rather appealing.


XXXXXXXXXX


Daniel hesitated outside Jack's door, taking a moment to study his friend before he knocked on the open door. Jack looked up and Daniel frowned, taken aback by the weariness in his Jack's eyes. "What do you need?" he asked.

"Umm, Sam said that you needed to talk to me," Daniel said, holding up the printed out e-mail that dropped into his inbox a half hour ago.

Jack blinked slowly. "That's pretty interesting seeing as how she's been off world for the past hour," he said dryly.

Daniel shrugged, crumpling the paper up in his hand. "She's sneaky," he said, stepping into Jack's office and claiming one of the chairs. Jack watched him but didn't say a word. "She said that we needed to talk," he explained. "I guess she wasn't going to take no for an answer." Daniel knew that he could turn tail and retreat back to his own office. But he needed to deal with this eventually. And the longer he put it off, the worse it'd be.

"Someone needs to revoke her busy-body license," Jack said, rolling his eyes. "Look, Daniel, you came, we talked, it's over."

Daniel studied his friend, not failing to notice the exhaustion on his face and the slump of his shoulders. The past couple of weeks had been tough on him, not just his mission to stop the rogues but also that he'd had to do it all on his own, no backup, no support.

"What are you working on?" Daniel asked, realizing that if anyone was going to take the first step it would have to be him.

Jack paused for a minute and Daniel was afraid that he'd be dismissed. "The last six months of SG-3's mission reports," Jack finally said, the scowl fading off his face.

Daniel frowned, then understood. "You're trying to see how badly he hurt us."

"Yeah." Jack motioned towards the six-inch stack of paper. "If we can cross reference the places SG-3 visited with the planets the rogues used as drops, maybe we can get an idea how much stuff they brought back."

"And where to return some of it."

"Yeah." Jack grimaced. "That's gonna be some fun missions."

"How bad do you think it is?"

"Bad. The Asgard claim that the rogues messed with at least six of their planets."

"We don't have to take that stuff back, do we?"

Jack shook his head. "Thor's gonna take care of that. The ones we really need to worry about are the goa'uld planets they hit."

"We're not going to, I dunno, give the goa'uld back any of their toys are we?" Daniel asked, mildly disgusted by the idea. They were supposed to be fighting the goa'uld and somehow re-arming them just didn't seem like a good thing to do.

"Only if the Asgard make us," Jack answered. "Which might or night not be a good thing."

Daniel raised his eyebrows. "How is not giving the goa'uld back their tech a bad thing? They already hate us so it can't get much worse."

"You know one thing that slowed Mayborne down? It took them a while to figure out how to work the goa'uld goodies without a goa'uld to run them."

Daniel shrugged. "Since they can't get through the gate then that shouldn't be an issue," Daniel said. Jack just stared at him. "What?" he asked, not getting what Jack was having a problem with.

"They don't have to go through the gate to find someone who can make the goa'uld stuff work," Jack said.

Daniel shook his head. "Who could they get to--Oh my god, Sam," he said, his stomach sinking as realization dawned.

"Yeah," Jack confirmed. "At least now we know why we kept getting transfer requests for her to go to Area 51 last year."

"Is Sam in danger?" Daniel asked, alarmed at the revelation.

"We don't know. Hopefully we put enough of a crimp in their plans so that she should be ok."

"Are you going to tell her?"

Jack nodded. "When she gets back."

"You might be worrying her about nothing," Daniel warned. In one way, he wanted to warn his friend, he wanted her to know about the danger. But in another, he didn't want to heap one more stress on her. The last few months had been tough enough on her already.

"Maybe, but I have serious doubts that we got them all." Jack's voice was low and defeated, something Daniel wasn't used to seeing. His friend always had a 'never say die' attitude, sometimes annoying the crap out of them with his insistence that they not give up.

"This was bad, wasn't it?" Daniel asked, finally comprehending the seriousness of Jack's mission. "I mean really bad."

"Anyone that didn't play along, got disappeared," Jack confirmed, making little quote signs in the air.

"Disappeared?" Jack just smiled grimly. "That's what would have happened to you if they'd have found out that you were spying on them?" Daniel asked. Jack stared at him, refusing to answer. "And that's why you needed to keep us as far away as possible. Give you one less thing to worry about."

"I was under orders, Daniel. Even as a civilian you can understand that."

Daniel sighed. "Yeah, I can. And I can understand why you'd want to keep us out of danger." Jack looked down, raising one hand to scratch his head. Daniel took that as a sign that, as far as Jack was concerned, the topic was closed. "You need any help with those?" he asked.

"What?"

"Four eyes are better than two. And there can't be anything in there that I'm not allowed to read. With both of us working at it, we can get it done in half the time."

Jack shrugged and picked up the pile of papers, dividing it roughly in two. He slid one stack over to Daniel. "Knock yourself out."

"What are we looking for?" Daniel asked, opening one of the folders.

"Any instances where they mention unrecovered technology. Or where Makepeace's reports differ from the others," Jack instructed.

"Do you think they were all in on it?"

Jack shook his head. "I don't think so. SG-3's had a lot of turn over in the past few months. Originally, Hammond and I just thought it was Makepeace being too much of a hardass, but in hindsight, I think Makepeace was getting rid of anyone he didn't think he could trust, or anyone who was asking too many questions."

"Or he was trying to surround himself with co-conspirators," Daniel said.

"Which is why none of the recent transfers are going to get the benefit of the doubt," Jack said.


XXXXXXXXXX


"Thank you, Teal'c," Sam said, stepping aside so that Teal'c could set the measuring device on her table. "I'll mess with it tomorrow."

"As you wish," Teal'c said. "What time do you desire to depart?" he asked.

"You're sure you're in the mood for this?" she asked, feeling the need to confirm his participation.

"Indeed. In fact, I believe this activity will be most educational."

"Educational?" she asked, wondering if her teammate was attempting humor again. They had spent most of the last two hours chatting, discussing everything from the latest Star Wars movie to the colonel's last mission.

She had a slightly different perspective on his actions now, even different than she had this morning. Yes, she was still a little miffed at him, or, more accurately, his words, but she could understand why he did what he did. He was just doing his job. The same way he'd been doing his job when he'd drugged her to keep Jolinar from taking her off world. Or when he'd stayed behind to detonate the bomb to keep the black hole from destroying Earth or when he'd ok'd them locking Daniel up in mental health.

"Indeed," Teal'c said, drawing her attention back to the present. "This is a part of the Tau'ri existence which is not easy to observe within the confines of the SGC."

"Ok," she agreed. "I doubt the general wants an official debriefing. We can probably clear medical and be ready to leave in an hour."

"I shall await your instruction," Teal'c said. He walked out of her lab and Sam stared after him for a minute before she started to chuckle. Oh yeah, this going to be a very interesting evening.


XXXXXXXXXX

Jack ambled down the halls, his mood a hundred times better than at this time yesterday. He and Daniel had spent several hours going over the mission reports finally coming up with three or four places where SG-3 could have defrauded the natives.

He and Hammond had yet to make a final decision on how to handle the thefts. Yes, they did have a responsibility to return the merchandise, but they also knew that the teams charged with that mission could face the wrath of the native people. Wrath that could be deadly for all involved.

They called it a night around 1800 and Jack tried to track down Carter and Teal'c, hoping to invite them to go out for dinner. Amazingly enough, Carter was already gone for the day and Teal'c wasn't in his room so Jack had just gone out with Daniel, the two of them choosing one of the local chain restaurants where the food was decent even if the atmosphere looked like someone's cluttered attic.

They'd talked a bit, clearing the air and catching up on some of the things Jack had missed during his time on Edora. He knew that he owed his friends a debt that he could probably never repay. They'd never given up on him, even after he'd long since given up on them. That kind of loyalty scared him.

It made him glad in a way that he had abused that trust in his undercover mission. He was glad that they doubted him, even just a little. That doubt just might let a little self-preservation come forth. They needed to follow him but they also needed to know when NOT to follow him. When to question, when to doubt.

He rounded a corner and stopped, staring at the large group of people gathered in the hall. Some of them were chatting back and forth, colorful napkins in one hand and a plastic cup of punch in the other. "Good morning, sir," they greeted, a couple of them mumbling past a mouth full of cookie.

"Morning," Jack said, smiling politely. He made his way to the head of the line, raising his eyebrows when he realized that he was walking into his now very crowded office.
His desk was free of paper and covered with several red and green plates of cookies. A large punch bowl sat on his credenza, flanked by a dozen plastic cups already filled with punch. Teal'c stood in one corner of the room while Carter served the punch, dipping it out of the bowl with a clear plastic ladle.

Personnel filed in and out, chatting with each other as they plucked cookies from the plates, a couple of the more burly ones struggling to keep a hold of a handful of the baked treats. "Thank you, sir. And Merry Christmas," one of the men said. Jack smiled back, recognizing him as one of the Marines.

"Carter," Jack said, turning to face his second. "Something I should know about?"

She flushed a bit. "Everyone seems to love your idea, sir," she said, handing him some punch.

"My idea?" he asked, taking the cup from her.

"Yes," she smiled brightly, her eyes daring him to say something.

"Do you have a minute, Major," Jack asked calmly, his tone suggesting that it was not a request.

She sighed and nodded. "Teal'c." He came over and took the ladle from her hands then she followed Jack as he led her out into the hall. They walked down the other direction and rounded another corner, finding the hall empty.

"Care to tell me why it looks like the Keebler Elves have taken over my office?" he asked.

"You're hosting a holiday open house," she said, her voice annoyingly perky.

"Why would I do that?"

"As a way to aah, to celebrate the holiday." Jack stared at her, silently asking for more clarification. "And to acknowledge just how difficult things have been for everyone with the whole NID thing." Jack raised his eyebrows. "And to, you know, kinda reacquaint yourself with everyone." Jack stared at her seeing more than a little uncertainty in her eyes. It was clear that she expected him to order her to shut things down. And he probably should. She had no right to requisition his office and turn it into some sort of party house, especially without his permission.

But he just couldn't.

He should feel angry that she'd violated his space, annoyed that she'd taken such liberties.

Instead, he was touched.

"How did you come up with this idea?" Jack asked, softening his voice as he sipped the punch.

"Teal'c umm…well Teal'c and I thought that it'd be a good idea."

Jack frowned, sensing that she was holding something back. "Why?" he pressed.

"It's Christmas," she said with a false smile.

"I thought you didn't do Christmas. You gonna make me go ask Teal'c?"

She sighed, clearly uncomfortable. "Teal'c has been hearing things."

"Things?"

"People don't realize just how good his hearing is."

"Let me guess, folks are pissed off at the ratfink in their midst," Jack said, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

She looked down, confirming his supposition. "Teal'c wanted to challenge them to combat, I convinced him that there were other ways."

"Cookies?"

"The way to a Marine's heart is through his sweet tooth. We spent most of yesterday baking. Teal'c is actually great in the kitchen," she said quickly.

"Do I even want to know how you got in my locked office?" Jack asked.

Sam shook her head. "You really don't, sir."

"Didn't think so." Jack stood there for a second. "I guess I should get in there, seeing as how I'm the host and all."

"That would probably be good." She moved to step around him, stopping when Jack reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her back. "Sir?"

"Thank you," he said, leaning in and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"You're welcome." She smiled at him, her hand tightening over his before she pulled away. She led him around the corner and Jack followed, the smile on his face genuine and natural.

XXXXXXXXXX


Sam got out of her car and locked the doors, struggling a bit to balance the empty containers she'd used to carry the cookies to the mountain in. All in all, the past twenty-four hours had been the best twenty-four hours she'd had in months.

Teal'c was fantastic in the kitchen, having just the right balance between curiosity and efficiency. He was one of the reasons she'd ended up baking six different types of cookies. It was far easier to simply show him what a no-bake cookie was than it was to explain it to him.

She chuckled, still remembering the bemused look on the colonel's face when he'd discovered their little plan. In one way, his words from the mission still stung, but in another, and especially after chatting with Daniel, she understood. Cruel to be kind. She could deal with that.

She made her way up the steps frowning as she caught sight of a small wrapped box sitting beside her front door. She set down the containers and picked it up, turning it over in her hands. There were no markings on the colorful wrap but she knew who it was from.

Unable to wait until she was inside, she found a seam and ripped the paper off, quickly opening the box. This time, there was no note just a small ornament. Sam laughed as she picked it up, holding it by the string attached to a ring in the figure's top.

Cookie Monster stared her in the eyes, one hand stuck in a cookie jar while another crammed cookies into his mouth. She traced his features for a second before carefully putting him back in his box for safe keeping.

She unlocked her front door and bent over, picking up her containers and going inside. Yep, this had definitely been the best day she'd had in a long, long time.