Discovering Secrets Chapter 7

Colonel Sam Carter was slowly coming out of her unconscious state. The doctor had upped her meds to ensure a smooth transfer to the SGC and Sam was now awakening to the familiar noises of the infirmary at her second home. Only not everything was familiar; she could feel two hands holding hers. She slowly moved her head to the left and saw Jack, her heart beating a little faster just at the sight of him. She tried to smile but it came out as a grimace.

"Try not to move, eh, Carter, you have an impressive amount of plaster," Jack said as he smiled back at her.

Sam licked her lips a little and Jack fed her some ice chips. As she was becoming more aware of the room around her, she realised that her other hand was held by one very much smaller than hers. She slowly moved her head and saw the blonde hair lying on the bed beside her.

"Annie?" Sam whispered, then turned to Jack, trying not to wake the little girl who looked so peaceful. She had no idea what to say to the man beside her and, although she was fearful, she settled with making eye contact with him and hoped that he could see how sorry she was for not

telling him about her daughter before this. They communicated so well and she immediately felt the comfort of his gaze going through her.

Jack cleared his throat before whispering, "So, Carter, it seems we have a lot to talk about."

Sam's eyes filled with tears. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you, even after…"

"Shh, don't worry, we'll have lots of time to chat with all that plaster you got goin' there."

Sam smiled, grateful to see he still had total faith in her and would wait to hear her story. She was delighted that Annie was here. Her face suddenly frowned as she took in that thought. She was in the SGC, but Annie was here, how could that be?

"How did she get here?" Sam asked, but the reply came from the bottom of her bed.

"I brought her," a voice she recognised replied and she tried to look up but struggled.

"Mark! You're here, too?" Confusion was written across Sam's face. "Shouldn't I be in Nevada?"

Jack squeezed Sam's hand to get her attention and try to stop her saying anything too classified to her brother. "The doc wanted you back here in case there were complications with your recovery. I spoke to the President and got your family access to the infirmary. It was all in place from when Jacob was ill, he just… wasn't alive long enough… you know..." Jack finished quite clumsily, very glad that Annie hadn't yet awoken.

Sam smiled a watery smile, knowing that Jack would have put plans in place at that point but she'd never asked and he'd never mentioned it. She was constantly grateful that he was there to look after her. Just as she was about to voice her thanks the small body beside her moved slightly and Annie woke up.

"Mommy?" Annie asked sleepily.

"Hey, baby, I'm here." Sam smiled then winced as Annie rolled over onto her broken arm.

Mark saw the wave of pain on his sister's face. "Hey, munchkin, why don't you jump down so your mom can get into a comfy position." He moved to the side of the bed and helped Annie move without hurting Sam.

Sam smiled gratefully at her brother as the pain in her arm eased. She began the process she did every time she found herself in the infirmary, cataloguing her injuries by trying to move various parts of her body. She'd already discovered the issue with her arm and now she moved her legs and almost yelped in pain.

"Carter, what're you doing?" Jack asked, watching as she flexed various limbs.

"Sorry, Sir, just checking what still works." Sam smiled thinly through the pain at him.

"Well, don't!" Jack ordered. "It clearly hurts. Don't worry, we can tell you what's wrong."

"The doctor said you were lucky, Mom. You have a broken leg, a broken arm, two broken ribs, no punctured lung, and no internal injuries," Annie piped up, filling in the information required.

Both Jack and Sam simply stared at the little girl, Jack because he was sure she hadn't been part of the conversation and Sam because she was trying to match her pain with the catalogue of injuries. For Jack's benefit Mark tried to clarify things. "Uh, did I forget to mention that she has great hearing, and a very, very good memory?"

"Yeah, you might have forgotten that," Jack mumbled, desperately trying to remember whether he'd said anything that would be labelled as National Security in the girl's presence.

Annie was unfazed. After finding out her mom was ok she had really quite enjoyed her day and wanted to share it with her mom, face to face not on Skype as she usually did. "We came in an Airforce plane, Mom! You were out of it but I had a great time."

"Really?!" Sam exclaimed, smiling at her daughter's huge grin and obvious excitement.

"Yup. General Jack took me into the cockpit and I got to fly the plane for a bit. He said that his stars let him do anything!" Annie added, clearly impressed with Jack.

"He did, did he?" Sam turned to look at Jack, her smile turning to a glare that make Mark gulp, never mind Jack. "I thought we talked about just how much your stars can do?"

"Well… you see… you have to understand…" Jack stammered.

Sam was beginning to realise that a lot had happened while she'd been in surgery and asleep. "What exactly did you do?" she asked her superior, the informal way Sam had addressed the General not going unnoticed.

"Don't you call him 'Sir'?" Annie asked, having heard so many people that day address the General as 'Sir' and most of them had been saluting at the same time.

"Yes."

"No."

Came the responses simultaneously. The 'yes' was surprisingly from Sam but Jack was quick to interfere. It was about time their relationship was out in the open with her brother so, while keeping eye contact with Sam, he replied to Annie. "Your mom is a good officer and while we're on duty she will keep calling me 'Sir'. But away from work when we're with our friends she calls me 'Jack' because we're going out together now.

Annie looked up at the man who was clearly important to her mother if the look on her face was anything to go by. She had really enjoyed her day with him but was a little wary about whether this relationship would change the one she had with her mom. She looked at both of their faces and saw what she usually saw on her Daddy Mark and Mommy Chloe's faces when they looked at each other and in that moment she realised that if it did change it, it would only make it better.

Meanwhile, Sam was nodding at Jack's comment, lost in his eyes, then broke the contact to look at Mark and her daughter. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you all. I was going to…"

"Next weekend. Annie told us," Mark finished for her, taking her hand and squeezing it while coming to stand behind Annie. "Although I won't be responsible for the wrath of Chloe when she finds out you've kept this from her."

Sam grimaced, knowing how loudly Chloe could yell.

"Well, it won't be long until she finds out," Jack said with a smirk. I sent Danny and Murray to pick her and Dylan up from San Diego. They should be landing soon."

Sam looked at Jack. Clearly he'd taken his stars for quite a journey today so she got back to the topic that she'd been diverted from earlier. "Like I was saying, what exactly have you done today with your stars?"

"You really want to know?" Jack so hoped for a negative answer as he realised he could be in serious trouble with his 'girlfriend'.

"Yes," was Sam's short and sweet answer.

"Uh… well..." Jack stood sheepishly with his hands in his pockets as he ran through all the ways in which he had completely violated the agreement they had about what he could and couldn't do in relation to her and his stars. "I requisitioned transport from D.C., got the Doc from here to do your surgery in a civilian hospital, used the President's name to get us all here, got your family clearance to the infirmary, 'borrowed' another plane from here to San Diego, and, oh yeah, I spoke to the President and you can give the National Security speech when you're able to move around."

"Wow, you have had a busy day, haven't you?" was all Sam could say. Jack had clearly been very worried about her.

"Well, yeah, but it wasn't all my idea." Jack tried to defend himself.

"Oh, really?"

"No, first Landry got me the transport, then it was good ol' Henry who ordered me to do everything else."

"Ordered, you say? Really?"

"Well, I sorta asked if I could get some transport and he told me to ruffle some feathers, which I did." Jack stood proudly puffing his chest out deciding he might as well confess all, he then looked over and winked at Annie who was smiling watching their discussion.

"Uh, huh," Sam mumbled then yawned, her eyelids drooping. "We'll discuss this later." She started to settle back on the bed turning her head to see Annie, smiling at her and taking her hand as she closed her eyes, when they suddenly snapped back open as Mark began to laugh. His little sister, the lowly Lieutenant Colonel, was very much the boss in her relationship with a certain Major General.

"What?" Sam asked, frowning.

Mark leaned over and kissed her forehead. "Nothing. I'm just so pleased you're okay and that you've found someone who's totally your match."

Sam smiled. "Me, too." She yawned again.

"Go to sleep, Mom. General Jack said he'd take us for cake while you're sleeping. We'll all be back later." Annie leaned over and kissed her cheek then moved away from the bed to where her uncle was waiting for her.

Jack was last to lean over. "Sleep, Carter, that's an order! And when you wake up I'll apologise for abusing my stars and you can tell me the story behind your beautiful little girl, okay?"

Sam nodded, the medication she was on already taking her to a dream world where she was remembering the time when she'd had to tell another important person in her life about her little girl.

AN: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter of Sam's family, hoping to post the next chapter soon, once it has had any mistakes sorted. Thanks for all the reviews and support.