-1a/n: I wanted to edit this chapter a little before posting, but I forgot to do it Friday, and I don't want to keep holding off posting it, so you get it as is.

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Jack woke up with a sharp pain in his neck. Moaning, he bunched up his shoulders and twisted his neck around, trying to relieve the throbbing. Squinting his eyes open, the view of the living room greeted Jack.

Not yet ready to venture into Carter's room, Jack had opted, instead, to sleep on the very uncomfortable sofa in the living room. Daniel had spent the night and crashed in the guest room upstairs where Cassie had said they had all been sleeping.

Jack ran his hands over his face and then glanced at his wristwatch, surprised that it was already after eight o'clock. He didn't know what he was supposed to do now. Janet and Cassie had left last night after giving Jake a bath and putting him to bed, and Teal'c had left even earlier than that after he received a call from the SGC. Daniel had been more than happy to stay, but after a silent half hour, where neither Jack nor Daniel really knew what to say to the other, Daniel had yawned and made his excuse to hit the sack.

Jack stood up off the couch and stretched, his long, fit body tensing and burning as he pulled his muscles awake. He walked towards the downstairs bathroom and was greeted with, what was becoming, a very familiar growl.

Jack looked over at Cosmo, laying on the floor in front of the backdoor, growling, his teeth showing slightly as his doggy lips trembled with his snarl. Jack rolled his eyes, somewhat annoyed that there was a dog out there that didn't like him right away. He walked towards the dog, the growl getting stronger as he approached.

Without saying a word, Jack opened up the backdoor and the growling stopped immediately. Cosmo jumped up, wagged his tail, and ran out into the backyard.

Jack smiled. "I'll win you over yet," he said softly, and then hurried to the bathroom to relieve himself.

A few minutes later, Jack walked into the kitchen and took in the sight of his five-year old son, standing on the kitchen counter, reaching up for a glass on one of the high shelves. "Whatcha' doing, squirt?" he asked.

"Don't call me squirt."

"Oh, uh, okay," Jack stuttered out and then walked over to him. He grabbed the boy under his arms and lifted him down to the floor. "So then, whatcha' doing, Jake?"

Jake rolled his eyes and walked to the refrigerator, where he pulled out a carton of orange juice. "Getting breakfast, duhhhhh. What does it look like?"

Jack licked his bottom lip in contemplation and watched as the scrawny kid struggled to carry the full carton of orange juice to the table. Both of his little hands were wrapped around the handle, and the plastic, one gallon container bobbed against his stomach, while his face was scrunched up as he used all his strength to get the juice to its destination.

"Need any help?" Jack asked, humor evident in his voice.

Jake glared up at this strange man in his kitchen who claimed to be his father. "No, I'm not a baby!" Jake spat back, then unscrewed the top and poured juice into the glass he had gotten down from the cupboard.

He missed the cup at first, spilling juice all over the table, where it ran down the side and dripped in a steady stream onto the floor. After moving the carton a fraction to get it in the cup, Jake mumbled as the cup tilted over and fell on its side. He picked the cup up and tried again, this time making it into the cup.

Jack stood back and watched with his arms crossed over his chest. He could have intervened and helped, but something inside him told him that this was something Jake needed to do on his own. That the boy needed some independence in the wake of his mother's death. He needed to know that he didn't have to rely on someone else for everything.

A huge part of Jack was proud of his son. Proud of the independent, smart young boy before him. And then, an even bigger part of Jack felt extreme sorrow that this young, vulnerable, five-year old boy, felt like he needed to learn to take care of himself already.

Jake put the cap back on the juice and left it on the table while he took his seat in front of his already-made bowl of cereal. Jack noticed that there was also a nice puddle of white milk on the table, and assumed Jake had the same trouble pouring the milk into the bowl that he had with the juice.

Shaking his head slightly, Jack walked over and picked up both the milk and the juice and returned them to the refrigerator. Then, he grabbed the dishcloth from the sink and proceeded to clean up Jake's mess.

Jake completely ignored Jack and continued about eating his honey-nut cheerios.

"So, what do you want to do today?" Jack finally asked when he was done cleaning and took a seat opposite Jake.

Jake looked up at his dad with an incredulous look on his face. "What planet have you been on? I have to go to school."

Jack cringed slightly at the planet comment. His son didn't know about the stargate, and the comment had been completely innocent, but still Jack didn't fail to see the irony in it. "School?"

"Yeah, duh! What kind of dad are you?" Jake asked contemptuously.

"What time does school start?" Jack asked, ignoring the boys rude remarks.

"Nine," Jake replied as he spooned another bite of cereal into his mouth.

Jack's eyes widened. "Nine? It's almost nine now!"

Jake shrugged his shoulders. "Guess you should've gotten up sooner."

Jack sighed loudly in exasperation as Daniel stumbled into the kitchen.

"No coffee?" Daniel whined groggily.

Jack glared at his long-time friend. "Did you know Jake had school today?"

Daniel squinted his eyes, still obviously half-asleep, and cocked his head to the side. "Uh, yeah, I think he does. He's in kindergarten, right?" Daniel asked Jake, looking over at the small boy as a yawn escaped his mouth.

Jake smiled at Daniel and nodded. "Uh-huh."

"Well then, we need to get you dressed," Jack announced, standing up.

"I AM dressed," Jake argued.

Jack looked at the small boy wearing a red t-shirt and green sweatpants. "You can't go to school dressed like that."

"Yes, I can."

"Green and red don't match," Jack argued back.

"Yes, they do," Jake replied.

"No, they don't.:"

"Yes, they do."

"Only for Christmas!" Jack sniped, his hand going up on his hip as he squared off against the miniature version of himself and Carter.

"I like Christmas," Jake replied.

"It's no where near Christmas," Jack announced.

"I don't care."

Jack scrubbed his face with his hands, and then proceeded to rub them up through his already disheveled hair. Standing up to his full six foot three inch height, Jack glared down at the defiant child and barked in his best colonel voice. "You are going upstairs and changing into appropriate clothes. Do you understand?"

Jake glared his father down. "You can't tell me what to do!"

"The hell I can't! Whether you like it or not, I AM your father! You will obey me, do you understand?"

Jake glared heatedly at his father, his tiny body tense with anger. Jack stared right back, refusing to back down. Daniel watched from the coffee pot, completely awake and darting his eyes back and forth between father and son.

All of a sudden, Jake's face scrunched up and reddened and the little boy burst out in tears. "I want my mommy!" he cried like never before. The grief finally catching up with him after so many weeks of pushing it away.

Jack dropped to his knees, ignoring the pain that shot through them, and gathered his son in his arms.

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Needless to say, Jake was late for school. Almost an hour after school had begun, Jack and Jake walked into the large kindergarten classroom. Jack introduced himself to Jake's teacher while Jake walked to the back of the room and hung his backpack up on his peg. The boy solemnly walked to his desk and took a seat, ignoring all the other kids who were saying "hi," to him and asking why he was late.

After talking briefly with his teacher, Jack left the classroom, giving one last fleeting look at his son, and headed out of the school building. He was approaching Carter's car when he heard a woman's voice calling him.

"Colonel O'Neill?"

Jack turned around and greeted a pretty woman with curly brown hair and dancing green eyes. "Yes?"

The woman smiled. "Hi, I'm Carol. Julie's mom."

Realization dawned in Jack's eyes and he smiled. "Oh, it's a pleasure to meet you, Julie's quite a….character."

Carol laughed, her curls bouncing gently on her shoulders and Jack felt a sudden stirring in his groin. It had been so long since he had been with a clean, well-kept earth-woman, and his body was telling him that now. "Yes, she told me all about you trying to get them out of the tree fort."

Jack grinned back at the woman. "Did she tell you that she told Jake I had brainwashed everyone into believing that I was Jake's dad?"

Carol giggled and covered her mouth with her well-manicured hands. "Yes, but in her defense, the whole brainwashing thing was actually something that was started months ago by YOUR son."

"Oh?" Jack asked, his eyebrows lifting.

Carol took a deep breath, trying to stop the laughter that wanted to erupt. "Yes, well you see, a few months back, Jake got in trouble at school and when Sam came to pick him up…."

Jack's face fell slightly at the thought of Sam, only months ago being in the same position he was in now. Taking their son to school, talking with his friends' parents."

Carol continued, not noticing the grave look that had swept across Jack's face. "She talked with his teachers and then took him home. She didn't punish him like he was expecting, so he became convinced that Sam was an imposter and his mom was being held somewhere against her will. To make a long story short, Jake convinced Julie and in turn, they convinced the rest of the neighborhood kids that all the adults had been turned into pod people."

Jack laughed out loud. "Pod people?"

Carol grinned widely. "Oh yes, it took us weeks to convince them otherwise. In fact, it was Teal'c who finally convinced them. I don't know what he told them. He gathered them all up in Sam's backyard, and when they left, they no longer believed we were pod people."

Jack grinned proudly at the thought of his jaffa-friend being the one to get the children to see reason. "Teal'c huh?"

"Yes, well really it was his fault to begin with. Every Saturday he goes over to Sam's and he and Jake spend the night watching sci-fi movies. It's a tradition now, even Julie joins them once in awhile."

Jack smiled. "Yeah, Teal'c always did like those sci-fi shows."

Carol laughed and gave Jack a knowing look. "I can understand why."

Jack cocked his head at her. "Oh?"

Carol's smile spread across her face before she pursed it back and shrugged. "I was given clearance a year ago after I was witness to a few strange…..phenomena around the Carter house."

"Really?" Jack asked in surprise. "What happened?"

Carol smirked at Jack. "Sorry, I'm not allowed to say."

Jack cocked his head to the side. "You know who I am, right?" he half-pleaded.

Carol shrugged. "Let's just say that some of Sam's work followed her home and leave it at that, okay?"

Jack smirked this time and nodded. "Okay."

Carol sized Jack up one more time, admiring the handsome man before her. Sam was her friend and the two women had grown close in the years Sam had lived in the neighborhood. Would it be wrong if she asked Jack out? They weren't married. Jack was only back in town because of Sam's death. Sam had confided in her about Jack, and Carol knew that Jack had left her for another woman, and Sam had never truly gotten over the father of her son. But, Sam was gone now. It was okay for Carol to go after Sam's man, right?

Before she could come to a decision, Jack spoke up from in front of her. "Would you like to go someplace and have coffee?"

Carol smiled. "I'd love to."

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The battered and bruised woman ran as fast as she could through the brush. Her arm and chest throbbed with pain from the burning staff wound in her shoulder and her legs screamed for her to stop as her mind screamed to go on. Her bare feet were red with blood from the scratches and gouges of running through the rough terrain, but she would not stop. She would not give up. She had escaped, and she sure as hell didn't go through all that for nothing.

She didn't know how long she had been a prisoner. Her torture sessions and resurrections in the sarcophagus had dulled her mind, leaving her clueless as to how much time had passed, and even to all that she had endured at the end of a pain stick.

She clutched at her stomach as another stab of pain shot through her body. Damn addiction! She had only been out of the sarcophagus for two days and already her body was shutting down from withdrawal.

Shouts could be heard in the distance, and her eyes took on a look of pure determination as she ran with all her might towards the stargate. The naquada in her blood was pounding in her veins, showing her the way to her salvation.

The stargate loomed ahead and she didn't lessen her pace as she stumbled up to the DHD. Her mind rambled off different coordinates, different friendly planets that could help her get home even without her GDO. But, one set of coordinates flashed in her mind and refused to leave.

In all her misery, one man's face had continuously flashed before her, and as she frantically pressed the symbols, igniting the stargate into action, her mind and body screamed at her to go to him, that he would take all her pain away.

Running on pure adrenalin, she lunged for the open wormhole, her mind buzzing and shutting down the moment she crossed the event horizon.

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"Come quickly!," Jaron shouted from the edge of the village. "A woman has just come through the stargate and she is in need of the doctor!"

Several people in the village jumped and ran after Jaron. Sure enough, a woman's badly beaten body lay crumpled in front of the large ring. "Where's the doctor?" someone shouted just before the doctor finally pushed his way through the crowd.

He knelt down beside the woman and turned her gently over so he could assess her injuries.

A woman behind him gasped and he turned to see what was wrong. "What is it, Laira?"

"We must find Jack," Laira replied, her eyes wide in worry for the lifeless body of Major Carter before her.

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a/n: Don't hate me for the Carol thing. They won't become anything more than friends, I promise.