As Sam continued her story, the women listened intently; she could see tears in their warm, sympathetic eyes. In spite of the tears, the gentle smiles of her friends urged her to continue.
"So did Jack make it home again, Sam?" one of her friends asked.
"He did," Sam responded softly with a smile of her own. "Our good friends, Daniel and Janet drove us home, or more specifically, their son Ethan did." Sam paused as more memories flooded her heart.
"Jack was glad to see everyone. Sick as he was, he wanted the chance to say goodbye, the chance to spend his last days with the people who meant the most to him," she said. "He was so happy to see his little girl…"
How Jack loved little Beth, she thought. Gentle feelings of maternal pride came to the fore as Sam remembered the beautiful relationship her husband had shared with their youngest daughter.
Jack was semi-retired for most of Beth's childhood. Because of this, father and daughter had been blessed with the gift of time, allowing them to get to know each other in ways that may not have happened otherwise.
The O'Neills' youngest was not the outgoing, athletically inclined child her older siblings had been. Fairly introverted, especially as a young child, she expressed herself largely through the creativity of art. Her father kept her supplied with boxes of 64 Crayola crayons from her earliest days and found nothing more relaxing than sitting with his little angel, happily coloring by her side. In fact, this was their preferred method of communication during some of Beth's more silent periods.
In years when his physical abilities were starting to wane and his older children no longer needed him quite so much, Beth had been his baby, the one Jack could still dote on and protect. Early on Sam had worried Jack would spoil Beth or encourage an unhealthy dependence. But as the wise mother she was, Sam realized the strong father-daughter bond forged in those early days would be a source of strength for their little girl.
Sam's instincts were good as gold. Before she knew it, their shy, gawky teenager had grown into a lovely young woman with an amazing artistic gift. Still, this youngest of the O'Neill brood presented some unique challenges in this family of well educated, high achievers. An intelligent girl whose aptitude and IQ tests were well above average, Beth struggled with academics throughout her high school years. If it didn't directly involve her art, she wasn't especially interested. It seemed no amount of persuasion, cajoling or punishment could make a dent in her determination to spend homework time sculpting figures of friends, teachers and family members. She passed all her courses, but sometimes just barely, much to her parents' consternation.
With the help of their older children, Jack and Sam gradually came to accept Beth's perspective on life. Their daughter had been given an amazing talent, one that had grabbed hold of her heart as surely as Sam's love of science and Jack's love of adventure had captivated them in their younger years. With that realization they'd let go of some unconscious expectations they'd held for all of their children. One of these had been that all the children go to college. Good thing they let go of that one; Beth had no intention of continuing her formal education after high school.
Instead, she set up a small studio in Denver. It was there she met Thomas Whitmire. From the start she was smitten with the man. Whether or not she'd admit it, part of the attraction had surely been the ways Tom's adventure loving personality reminded her of her father. Then of course, Jack's reaction to her moving in with Tom had settled her on the man. Tom quickly became the object of her father's well-meaning wrath.
Much to Jack's consternation, the O'Neill's youngest child gave birth to her first child without the benefit of marriage. Beth O'Neill and Thomas Whitmire had been a couple more than four years before TJ was born. Despite what many saw as a relatively long term commitment, Jack was not happy they hadn't married before his grandson's birth. In his mind, it just wasn't right. If this Tom character truly loved his daughter, he'd marry her.
That particular faux pas had nearly caused a long term estrangement. For awhile, Sam feared her husband would cut himself off from their little girl and their beautiful grandson. Fortunately, as Sam had hoped, Jack's love for Beth got the better of his stubbornness and the estrangement was short lived. Before they knew it, phone calls were traded on a daily basis and despite the long distance between the Whitmire home in Colorado Springs and the O'Neill cabin, the families visited monthly. Jack and Sam both became fixtures in little TJ's life and, wonder of wonders, Jack started to develop a grudging respect and even liking for Thomas Whitmire.
OoOoOo
The Jackson van, piloted by young Ethan Jackson, arrived at the cabin shortly after two in the afternoon. TJ was napping, so Beth, Tom and the visiting Jaffa welcomed everyone without the assistance of the enthusiastic pre-schooler.
Beth had seen her dad briefly on the way through St. Paul to the cabin. In the hospital, he'd looked gaunt and pale. But now walking through the front door under his own steam with a fashionable walking stick in his hand, he seemed back in his element. And his face lit up when he saw some of his favorite people waiting for him.
"Now this is my idea of a welcoming committee," Jack exclaimed, in the familiar voice he saved for those closest to him, in short for family. In one fluid movement he pulled his youngest child closer for a kiss and waved over the reluctant Jaffa who stood off in the distance.
He was delighted to see everyone, but especially Beth.
"Good work, young lady, getting these two here so quickly," he said. "How'd you manage it?" Hugging his youngest tightly to his chest, reveling in her nearness, Jack cringed to think of how close he'd come to alienating her in his stubbornness and anger.
"Comes with the territory, Dad," she replied with a smile, glad to see her father so pleased. "After all, I've learned from the best," she said, glancing at her mother.
"Yes, you have," he answered simply, turning slightly. Sam was standing beside him, as always, and he squeezed her hand gently in recognition. Then turning to everyone he admitted reluctantly, "You'll forgive me but these old legs have to sit down before they drop."
Zor'ac scrambled to bring over a chair for the older man, the honored friend of his father and Ry'ac moved to physically support him. Jack's protest was not far behind. Thomas had held his place realizing his relatively new father-in-law would not be pleased with all the fuss.
"Ak! It's not that bad you two," Jack shouted in his best outraged tone. "I tire easily, that's all. If I catch you guys treating me like an invalid, you're sleeping in the Tel'tak."
While his family and Tauri friends heard Jack's statement as the quip it was, Teal'c's sons weren't quite so sure.
"General, Sir, we were planning on sleeping in the ship; surely there is not room here," they answered. "After all, we are told your children are coming."
"Listen," Jack came back at them, in his best command tone, "when we lost your father, I promised to do what I could to keep an eye of you for him, especially you, Zor'ac," he said, looking at the young man four years Ethan's junior.
"Here, here," Daniel interrupted. "I think our revered General is trying to tell you you're part of this family."
"As you wish," Ry'ac and Zor'ac said, bowing deeply to the man who'd assumed a father role in their lives, as Teal'c had requested.
OoOoOo
The initial homecoming greetings lasted over an hour. It was mid-afternoon. With Jack's urging the young Jaffa had agreed to stay one night, having brought with them more than sufficient traditional Jaffa food to feed all the assembled family and friends at the evening meal. And Jack loved baked astenazzi!
Sam and Janet insisted that Jack take some quiet time to nap, a habit that had become fairly necessary over the past few months. As much as it irritated him to do so, Jack realized they were right and complied after a brief half-hearted protest.
As he entered the newly prepared bedroom, Sam saw his eyes widen in pleasant surprise.
"No hospital bed?" Jack queried. "How did they get our bed down here?" Jack had been dreading the prospect of finding a quasi hospital room set up for his last days.
"I'm sure having Zor'ac and Ry'ac around helped," Sam said with a smile, delighted that Tom and Beth had taken the initiative to make some changes in the hospital's discharge plans.
Before either one could say another word, their eyes fell on one more important item the moving crew had transplanted for them – their anniversary gift.
For her parents' thirtieth wedding anniversary, Beth, then at the beginning of her career as a world class sculptor, had created a stunning piece to commemorate her parents' love.
With great care, she'd sculpted what were basically highly detailed profile busts of both her mother and father, carved in bas relief, facing each other as on a marble frieze. How she'd managed to capture so much genuine feeling in marble, her parents would never know. They could only assume she'd seen them with each other often enough to recognize that look of utter devotion she so successfully portrayed in her work.
"It's still beautiful isn't it?" Sam asked.
"You betcha! It's stunning," Jack agreed as usual. "And you are beautiful, Sam, as always," he added, giving her a gentle kiss.
OoOoOo
Ninety minutes later …
"Papa sleep too long!" TJ exclaimed. He'd been up from his nap nearly an hour and his grandfather was still sleeping. He'd been as patient as a three-year-old could be and simply couldn't wait one more minute to see "Papa".
So without further ado, TJ ran to the door of the converted bedroom and opened it before any of the assembled adults could stop him.
"Time to wake up!" he called, seconds before leaping onto the bed.
Telling her story, Sam remembered the tremor of apprehension that hit her at that moment. They'd been told Jack would at some point, simply drift off when he was sleeping. What if he'd passed away during this nap and TJ found him like that? Or, on a simpler level, what would the little boy make of the oxygen setup Jack had been ordered to use when he slept?
As it was, she needn't have worried on either count.
By the time Sam and Beth reached the door, Jack had pulled himself into a half-sitting position, with TJ sitting on his lap. Jack was happily in the process of letting TJ try on his oxygen mask.
To Sam's delight, both TJ and Jack sported huge smiles. The sight lightened Sam's heart immensely.
A/N: This was a tough one to get together, hope it made sense. More questions about some of our favorite characters to be answered in upcoming chapters!
Please review, I look forward to your thoughts and comments.
