A/N: Thanks to all who have reviewed and started following this story. It means a lot!
It has been brought to my attention that some of you may not like my Britishisms. I'm Scottish and I just type them automatically. If it bothers you and you would like me to use Americanisms so it's more in character, please let me know and I will try my best to remember to use them.
Thanks again guys.
7
"Colonel?" she whispered as her left hand went to her cheek, soothing the burning skin.
"Sam, I'm sorry, so sorry!" he told her, wanting her to understand.
"You hit me," she stated, while moving out of his grip and off the bed. She grabbed the bag she had brought with her and escaped into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.
Tearing the towel from her body she got dressed in record time. Once she was fully dressed she threw the clothes she had left in the bathroom into the bag. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the bag.
As quietly as she could, she unlocked the door. She knew he would be waiting for her on the other side. All she had to do was get out. Easy, right?
He stood by his bed as she opened the door. He looked guilty, and torn. She could see the fear etched across his face and his eyes were full of sadness.
With speed she had long forgotten she had, she bolted towards the door. But didn't quite make it before his arms snaked around her waist, pulling her to him.
"Sam!" he called in to her ear as she struggled. Suddenly she stopped, and he felt her go limp in his arms. Gently he lowered her to the floor, keeping an arm behind her shoulders.
He looked at her peaceful face as he felt her neck for a pulse. After a few seconds he found it, strong and steady. She moaned when he tapped her chin lightly, not wanting to touch her red cheek again.
"Jack?" she whispered as she came around, squinting against the light flooding in the window.
"Sam, you okay?" he asked as she struggled to sit up before scrambling towards the bathroom. He jumped to his feet and followed her, finding her with her head over the toilet.
Silently he walked over to her and gathered her hair back into his hand. Once her hair was secured at the nape of her neck he rubbed her back in soothing circles.
When she was confident she was done, she sat back and wiped her mouth with the cloth that Jack held out for her. After flushing the toilet he sat down next to her and wiped away her tears with his thumbs.
"I'm sorry," she said, refusing to look him in the eye.
"You have nothing to be sorry about," he told her, while tucking some of her now free hair behind her ears.
"I have a lot to be sorry about," she said to her hands.
"No, you don't. If it wasn't for me, none of this would be happening."
"Then I wouldn't have Jake. I need him Jack."
"I know, so do I."
"Jack, I need help," she said, finally looking him in the eye.
"I know," he said sadly, knowing he was the cause of all her pain and troubles. "And I'm gonna help you get it. We'll get through this Sam, just like we always do. Together. And I think we should call Dad."
Sam nodded mutely as more tears ran down her face. She reached over to Jack, and he took her in to his arms, finally realising what she went through on a daily basis. He wished she had told him sooner.
SJSJSJSJ
Jack stood at the bottom of the ramp, hands in his pockets, shifting nervously on his feet as the iris opened and Jacob Carter stepped through. It had been four months since he had last seen the older man. And he was scared.
"Jack!" Jacob greeted him, shaking the younger man's hand. "Why so nervous?" his smile faltered. "Is it Sam? Jake? What happened? Are they alright?"
"Jake's fine. It's Sam I'm worried about," he said as Jacob let go of his hand.
It wasn't until they were both buckled in to Jack's truck that Jack started to explain what was going on.
"I slapped her Jacob. I'm sorry, I didn't know what else to do," Jack sighed, his voice full of guilt.
"Why did you slap her Jack?!" Jacob's voice rising with every word, making Jack cower.
"We were talking, and I kissed her-"
"You what?!" Jack flinched at his pseudo-father-in-law's outburst.
"Thing's have been going very well recently Jacob!" he shouted back, defending himself. He watched the older man back down and wait for an explanation.
"Okay, you kissed her, then what?"
"You know, you were the one that talked her in to letting me in. And she has. And now you're yelling at me for kissing her? What's that about?" Jack asked as he continued to drive to Sam's house, where he had taken her and Jake before heading to the mountain.
"Sorry, my over-protective side came out a bit there. Continue."
"I don't know what happened. We've kissed before and nothing like that happened. She just stopped kissing me back and started begging me to stop. She went in to a trance and I tried shaking her out of it, but it didn't work. I slapped her and she seemed to come around, but then she tried to run then passed out."
"God, not again," Jacob sighed as he ran a hand over his face.
"Again? What do you mean again? This has happened before?" Jack's voice got more worried with every word. He felt his heart speed up and constrict.
"What happened when she woke up?"
"She ran to the bathroom and threw up."
"Same as last time," Jacob whispered.
"Jacob, what's going on?" he was halfway to Sam's and he still had no idea what to do.
"When Jake was one, Mark decided that she needed to get out more. She was always with Jake. Never let him out of her sight. He eventually persuaded her to go out with his wife one night. Just for food and a movie. So she went, and this guy started to come on to her. It was a disaster. She had a panic attack when he reached for her hand. Mark had to pick them up an hour after he had dropped them off.
"After that she started to go in to these trances, like the one you mentioned, every now and again. Jack, I swear to you, you done nothing wrong by slapping her. Believe me, it's the only way to wake her up, I've tried every other way. Nothing else works," he sighed regretfully, "I thought that she'd gotten over them. But then again, she's confronting new fears now that she's back in the Springs. I'm sorry, I should have warned you."
"She mentioned that she still has nightmares about that night, and sometimes wakes up physically sore. Now she has a voice in her head. This is so messed up. And it's all my fault."
"No, it's the alien's fault. They were the ones who drugged you remember?"
"Doesn't change the fact that I'm Black Ops trained and I should have been able to handle it."
"Black Ops doesn't prepare you for alien drugs Jack, you know that."
"She wants help Jacob. And she needs you. I've managed to get her an appointment with MacKenzie tomorrow."
"Good. But you know this isn't going to be easy Jack. This is gonna take a long time for her to sort through." Jack nodded in reply. "You said things were going well. How well?"
"Well, the three of us eat at least one meal a day together, we do things as a family - like going to the park - and Jake stays with me every Friday that I'm on earth. All her suggestions. And on Thursday, she sat on my knee and invited me to stay over. She made me share her bed," Jacob's eyebrows raised, "that was when she first kissed me. And last night, she stayed at mine. She asked for a beer, and stupidly I gave her two. I won't tell you what happened then."
"She try to seduce you?" Jacob asked, his eyebrows raising higher, as he laughed a little.
"How do you know all this stuff?" Jack asked in bewilderment as he turned on to Sam's street.
"I know my daughter and they way her messed up mind works. I've been dealing with it for the past four years, you've just been allowed in to it for the past five months," Jacob replied as Jack stopped the truck.
They both got out and walked up the path to Sam's door. Jack pulled out his keys on the way. Jacob raised his eyebrows again when he put the key in the lock and let them in.
"Sam's idea," he shrugged in response.
"I'm guessing Thomas was all Jake's idea?"
"Yeah," Jack said proudly as they walked into the living room to see Jake play with his trains on the floor at his mother's feet.
Sam was curled up on the chair, wrapped up in a blanket, watching Jake play with a far away look in her eyes while she chewed on her nails.
"GRANDPA!" Jake called as the two men entered the room. He jumped to his feet and ran at full speed into his Grandfather's waiting open arms.
"Hey there squirt. When did you get so big?"
"I eated all my veg-bles Grandpa," Jake laughed before he turned serious. "Mummy not well Grandpa. I been really good boy today for mummy."
"I know squirt. I've come to help," he said as he watched Jack walk up to his daughter, who then threw herself into the other man's arms and held on for dear life.
"Can Jake show Grandpa Jake's new train later? When Mummy's better?"
"Of course," he smiled at his beloved Grandson.
In a twisted way he was glad that Sam's antibiotics had messed with her birth control and that she had gotten pregnant after the assault. If she hadn't he knew she would be in a much worse place than she already was. Jake was the only bit of her life that was constant and it was only him that was holding her together.
There wasn't a day that went by that he didn't wish that his daughter wasn't on antibiotics at the time. Then she too would have drank the same drink as the three men on her team had. It probably wouldn't have messed with her birth control and she wouldn't have gotten pregnant. And like the three men on her team, she wouldn't have remembered what had happened.
But he loved his Grandson, and he wouldn't trade him for the world.
"I've managed to get you in to see MacKenzie tomorrow," he heard Jack say as he rubbed his daughter's back.
He saw her nod, and grip Jack's jacket tighter. He knew that the younger man loved his daughter, and had done for a long time. He also knew of Sam's conflicting feelings towards him.
As he held his scared Grandson to his chest, he was thankful, and not in the least bit surprised, that Jack had taken full responsibility for his actions that night and was trying to help his daughter in any way that he could. He knew that Jack would be there for her, no matter what she said or done to him.
He was glad that while he was away with the Tok'ra that someone was looking after his little girl. And that it was someone he trusted with his life.
He knew that Jack would be able to put her together again. Given time.
And he knew that Sam knew that too.
