Knowing it would be suspicious if he didn't, Jack plastered as big a smile as he could fake onto Carter's face and went down to the gate room floor to greet her father.
"Dad!"
"Samantha!"
Jacob opened his arms wide, and Jack reluctantly went to him for a big daddy/daughter hug. God, just shoot me now. The surprising thing was that it actually felt kind of good. He had never gotten hugs from his own father, and while he did not hesitate to give and receive hugs from his friends, like Daniel for instance, it was odd, in a nice way, to have the other person be bigger and stronger. When this was all over, he decided, he was going to have to get Teal'c to give him a hug every once in a while.
"Ahem." Carter interrupted the moment. "Hey, Jacob," she said, sounding like she was reading from a script, "What's up?" She held out her hand and Jacob took it, but he gave her an odd look.
Great, thought Jack. Carter had to be the worst actor on the planet. She was so going to get them caught. Fortunately, Hammond was right behind her, and it was to the general that the elder Carter addressed himself.
"George, we need to talk."
A short time later, SG-1, Hammond and Jacob convened around the conference room table. Initially, Jack and Carter had gone for the same chair and had looked like two inept dance partners for several moments as they tried to sort it out, but now they were all seated and listening attentively to Carter's father. Nevertheless, Daniel kept giving them sidelong glances.
"Three days ago," Jacob began, "one of our scouting parties discovered an ancient ruin on a Goa'uld occupied world. There was a great deal of writing on the walls, most of which we were not able to translate, except for this…" he held up an electronic note pad. "…which appear to be mathematical formulas. We were hoping Dr. Jackson and Sam might be able to make something of them." He handed the tablet to Jack, who furled his brow in his best Carter-studying-something imitation. He could tell Carter was about to jump out of her skin—make that his skin—trying not to grab it from him. He gladly handed it on to Daniel when the linguist reached for it.
"I've see this before." Daniel exclaimed. "Sam, don't you recognize it?"
Jack shrugged.
"You know. From Ernest's planet."
"Ernest?" Jacob asked.
"Dr. Ernest Littlefield went through the stargate in 1945 during an experiment conducted by the U.S. military," Daniel explained, speaking so quickly he rendered himself breathless. "The DHD on the other side was damaged and so he was trapped there for over 50 years. This…this writing is like one of the inscriptions on the wall of the palace where we found him."
"Can you read it?" Jacob queried.
"Uh, no. Not yet, anyway."
"What I don't understand, Jacob," General Hammond broke in, "is why you feel this is important. I mean given that you don't know what any of it says. It could be a grocery list for all you know."
Jacob gave the general an indulgent look. "Granted, we can't read the writing, but the math is another matter. Sam, take a look at it again…I can't believe you didn't see the significance."
Time slowed down while Jack's tactical mind took over. He was clearly trapped, and he needed a strategy to get out of this situation. A distraction perhaps. Carter was way ahead of him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her reach for her water glass. The next moment the contents of said glass were in his lap. He jumped up with a yelp.
Carter's "oops, sorry" was drowned out by Jack's "HOLY SHIT!" which was followed by an eerie silence.
Jack looked up from Carter's soaked pants to find that all eyes were on him.
"I mean…golly, sir."
"Sam," Daniel asked gently, "are you okay?"
"Colonel O'Neill just dumped an entire glass of water on my lap."
"I know. I mean before that. You seem a little…off, today."
"Captain Carter." General Hammond spoke, "Doctor Jackson is right. You missed this morning's briefing, you've been distracted this whole meeting and now…well you just don't seem yourself."
"Honey, is there something wrong?" Jacob asked, clearly concerned. Jack resisted the urge to glare at him.
"Uh.." he started.
"Captain Carter hasn't gotten much rest the last couple of days," he heard his own voice offer by way of an explanation, "due to her diligent efforts in resolving the issue of Daniel and Ma'chellos's body switching device." Oh my god, he would never talk like that. Why didn't anyone think she was acting strange?
"Captain Carter is indeed fatigued." Thanks, Teal'c.
"Captain, perhaps you ought to go find a change of clothes."
"Yes, sir."
"And then, I want you to report to the infirmary." Doh. He knew it, he had so predicted this. "And," the general continued, "if Doctor Fraiser says it is just fatigue, then I want you home and resting for 24 hours. Whatever these inscriptions are, they can wait that long, can't they, Jacob?"
The older man appeared torn, but his concern for his daughter's well-being won out and he nodded. "Maybe Doctor Jackson could study it in the mean time."
"Yes," Daniel piped up. "I'd be glad to."
""""
"Seriously, Janet," he began, trying very hard to sound more curious than annoyed. "What does shining a light in my eyes tell you?"
The doctor looked at him quizzically. "Sam, you know the answer to that as well as I do." She chuckled. "You sound like Colonel O'Neill."
"Yeah, I was just kidding." Damn. One of these days he was going to have to ask Carter about the whole light in the eyes thing.
"Well, your physical exam doesn't reveal anything alarming. Although, you do look tired. I'm guessing your blood work will reveal anemia, as usual." She jotted some notes on Carter's chart. "How was your last period?"
"Excuse me?"
"Was the cramping still as bad as it was on your last mission to Cimmeria?"
What? Really? No wonder she had been so crabby. "I…uh…"
"Okay, we'll try something stronger." More writing on the chart. "And I assume you have not been sexually active since we last chatted."
Okay, she asked all of them that routinely. No big deal. "I wish," he responded with what he hoped came off as a girlish giggle. Janet chuckled in response. Then she looked around as if to assure they were alone and whispered, "Did you see that new SF? Finley, I think."
Jack had seen the enlisted man, but he had only noticed the ridiculous gorilla because he had biceps that were bigger than Teal'c's and Jack had felt compelled to point this out to the Jaffa. Surely intelligent women didn't find that attractive. The guy's IQ had to be the same as his shoe size.
"He's a little overbuilt don't you think?"
"Are you kidding? Since when don't you like the muscles?" Janet asked in mock (he hoped) astonishment. "Now you know me, I like the tall, lanky types. Like a certain full-bird colonel we know." She waggled her eyebrows suggestively while Jack tried not to choke on his own spit.
Just then, a nurse came into the room and handed the doctor a form on a clipboard. The doctor perused it briefly. "Yep, I called that one. I guess it's an iron shot and we send you home to get some sleep."
"Shot?"
"It's your own fault, Sam. If you ate properly this wouldn't happen to you. I'll be back in a minute."
He couldn't believe it. He was being lectured and he was getting a shot and it was all Carter's fault. In fact it was her fault he was in the infirmary to begin with. The only thing that wasn't her fault was his touching the thingy that got this all started, but come to think of it, if she had warned him he never would have.
"This is so unfair."
"What's unfair, baby?" Jacob had snuck up on him.
Resisting the urge to slug the man, Jack replied as naturally as he could. "Janet's sending me home."
"So you're just tired."
"I guess so. I'm fine really."
"You need to take better care of yourself."
"I know." Really he did. How many times had he said that exact thing to Carter?
"I know you know, but you get so caught up in things. That CO of yours needs to be paying closer attention."
What? "It's not Colonel O'Neill's fault, Dad," he defended himself. "He tells me to get more rest all of the time."
"And you ignore him?"
"Pretty much."
Jacob shook his head. Jack got the feeling he was still not off the hook.
"Well, I'm paying attention. And I am going home with you to make sure you follow orders."
"Home. With me?"
"Sure. You don't mind having your old dad as a house guest for a day or so, do you? You can sleep and I'll just catch up on the sitcoms."
"Great." He tried to smile, but he was pretty sure it was more of a grimace.
"Okay, kiddo. I'll get out of the way while the doc finishes up. I'll be in George's office when you're ready to go."
Jack glumly watched Jacob go, just as Janet returned, huge honk'n needle in hand.
So freak'n unfair.
