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Chapter Ten: Sibling War

The next morning, Sam woke up to two little dark eyes staring at her. "Hi," Sam groggily said, a smile lighting up her sleepy face.

The little girl frowned, but kept her position next to her big sister's bed.

"You must be Samantha," Sam continued when it was apparent the little girl wasn't going to say anything.

The girl nodded, her unbrushed brown hair bouncing with the movement. "Uh, huh," she finally replied.

Sam smiled. "Me too."

The little girl squinted her eyes quizzically at Sam. "You're Sam?"

Sam's smile grew to an open-mouthed grin. "Sure am. You and I, we've got a lot in common," Sam told her, sitting up and scooting over to let the girl climb up in the bed with her.

"I thought you died," Sammie said, climbing up on the bed with Sam.

Sam gritted her teeth briefly. "No, I had to go away for a long time, but now I'm back."

"Oh," Sammie replied, accepting Sam's words without question. "Cassie missed you."

Sam settled her arm around the girl, letting her cuddle into her side. "I know, I missed her too," Sam told her, a tear forming in her eye as she thought about Cassie.

Sammie looked up at Sam with a thoughtful, somewhat worried look on her face.

"What?" Sam asked her.

"Now that you're back, do I have to give you back your name?"

Sam chuckled. "No, sweetie. That's your name. You get to keep it."

"Then, how will people know us apart?"

Sam scrunched her face up as she pondered the girl's question. "Hmm, well, most people call you Sammie, right?"

"Uh, huh."

"Most people call me Sam….or Carter, so I don't think we'll confuse them too much."

"Okay, then." With that, Sammie hopped down off the bed in a swift move only a child could pull off. "You gonna make me breakfast or what?"

Sam grinned. "Sure," she replied and followed the girl to the kitchen.

It was there that Janet and Charlie found the two Samantha's twenty minutes later. Flour lightly dusting the air and the smell of eggs and bacon cooking on the stove.

"Geez, Carter, if I knew you were going to make breakfast, I would've got you out of that mountain sooner," Charlie teased, finding his way to the coffee pot.

Sam laughed. "Oh, wow, yeah, thanks for the back-up there, Kawalsky," she teased back.

"Mommy, why do Sam and daddy call each other by their last names?" Sammie asked, turning to face her mom with a confused, innocent expression.

"It's a military thing, sweetie. Jack calls daddy by his last name sometimes, too."

Sammie accepted the excuse and turned back to her breakfast.

Sam watched the adorable little girl with a smile on her face.

Charlie stole a glance at Sam as she watched his daughter, never expecting a situation like this to ever happen. "She's very inquisitive. Questions everything. Jack swears it's the name," Charlie announced, seconds later, grinning at the blonde woman.

Sam's smile grew as her cheeks flushed slightly and she lowered her gaze to the floor. Now that the alcohol had worked its way out of her body and her head was, once again, clear, Sam was ashamed of herself and how she had acted towards General O'Neill the night before.

She had flirted and touched him and sat way too close to him. Something she normally would never have done, no matter how much she wanted to. And, as she had sat at that table, playfully wrestling with him in front of all their friends, she knew she would have given herself to him completely that night, if not for the interruption of his girlfriend arriving.

She had been that drunk. She would have slept with him. And, even now, with a clear head, she felt a stab of disappointment that Kerri had showed up and wrecked her night of drunken confidence.

Breakfast came and went, and after nervously getting ready, Sam accepted Janet's car keys, and reluctantly left the warm, loving Kawalsky home and made her way over to General O'Neill's.

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Jack and Kerri had left the restaurant right after the rest of them. Jack's somber mood taking over and Kerri feeling like her place in Jack's life was being threatened. They had gone back to his house and he immediately crashed, not even giving her a passing glance. She could feel him slipping away from her and she was desperate to hold on to him.

She had known about Carter. She had always known. But, she could compete with a ghost. Now, that the ghost was flesh and blood, Kerri was much more worried. She knew this would be a hard battle to win.

She had crawled into bed with him, naked, expecting to at least get some sort of reaction from him by morning. However, the next morning, she awoke to an empty bed, Jack had never even made a move on her!

She found him on his back deck, scrubbing his grill. "What are you doing?" she asked him.

Jack stopped and turned around, wiping the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand. "Oh, I didn't know you were up," he greeted. "Uh, I thought I'd get some cleaning done before Carter and her brother got here. Figured we could have a barbeque."

"A barbeque?" Kerri repeated. Jack knew how much she hated grilling.

"Yup!" he replied, turning back to his grill. "Haven't used this in awhile, thought I should probably scrape it off a bit."

She made a disgusting face that Jack never saw. Kerri lightly sighed, giving up on him for now and going back in the house.

A few minutes later, she was shuffling through his refrigerator, trying to find something healthy to eat, when Jack walked in. "Uh, I was thinking…perhaps….you should go shopping or something. There's probably going to be a big confrontation between Sam and Mark and you shouldn't have to witness it."

Kerri replied in an irritated tone. "You're asking me to leave?"

Jack looked taken aback. "Well, just for a few hours."

Kerri sighed. "Fine. I need to buy some food to eat anyways."

"I've got food!" Jack defended playfully, trying to lighten the mood.

"Food that won't clog my arteries," she defined and then shut the refrigerator door.

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Shortly after Kerri left, a taxi pulled up and deposited Mark Carter on Jack's doorstep. Jack quickly opened the door and let him in. "Mark," he greeted with a smile, holding out his hand to shake.

Mark took the man's hand and shook it warmly. "Jack, how've you been?"

"Good, you?" Jack asked, showing him in and closing the door.

"Shit, like always," was Mark's downtrodden response.

"Sorry to hear that," Jack quietly replied, heading to the kitchen to get the man a beer. Even if it was only 10:00 in the morning.

"So…..where is she?" Mark asked, accepting the beer from Jack.

"Not here yet," came Jack's quick response. "Spent the night with Janet and Charlie."

Mark nodded. "I expected she'd be staying with you."

Jack shifted his gaze to several different spots around the room, unable to keep his eyes on any one thing. "Uh, yeah, she was going to, but then I had an unexpected visitor."

Mark gave Jack a funny look before asking, "The CIA agent?"

Jack frowned and lowered his head, his attention drawn to his hands, manipulating the wrapper on his own beer bottle in them. "Yeah," came his quiet response.

"Bet that was a smack in the face for Sam," Mark replied, almost gleefully.

Jack had the sense not to respond.

"Did you know?" Mark asked, walking into the living room.

Jack had been expecting this question ever since he filled him in on Sam's cover story. "Uh, no. I was in the dark as much as you."

Jack saw the man's body tense. He was pissed and Jack knew it. He wanted to calm him down. Talk some sense into him. Get him to see Sam's side before she arrived, but he never got the chance. Sam's knock on the door assured him of that.

Jack sighed. 'Showtime,' he silently said and walked to the door to let the newly resurrected lieutenant colonel into his house.

"Carter," he greeted, almost before actually seeing her on his doorstep. He knew it was her.

"Sir."

"Mark's already here." He saw her body tense at his words. She looked up in his eyes, nervous blues innocently pleading for his strength. He backed up and allowed her entrance.

Sam walked in and took the small steps into Jack's living room. Mark was turned away from her, looking at the photos on Jack's mantle. "Mark," she said, her voice wavering slightly as she tried to find the confidence to face her pissed-off brother.

Mark turned around, flashing his sister with an angry glare. "Sam," he snorted. "All safe and sound, I see."

Sam lowered her head, licking her lips and trying to find the right words to say. Her brother had always had an explosive temper, much like a certain general she knew well. Once he and their dad had reconciled, his temper had cooled significantly over the years, however in this reality, that reconciliation and healing never took place.

"Mark, I know you're upset, but I had no other choice. I did what I had to do to stay alive."

"You did what you had to do!" Mark snarled back. "It's always about you and what you HAVE to do! Damn it, Sam! Dad died and you weren't even there! He blamed himself for your death! Did you know that?" Mark let out a maniacal laugh. "And you weren't even dead!"

Sam gulped, no idea what to say.

"He told me he should have never pushed you to enter the military. Did you know that? His cancer was under control, then you died and it came back full-force, Sam! Your death made him give up. It's your fault dad died when he did!"

"MARK! Enough!" Jack's strong voice sounded out behind Sam. Sometime during Mark's rant, Jack had moved into the living room, coming up behind Sam for support. After warning Mark, Jack let one hand rest on the small of her back, giving Sam the confidence to stand up to her irate brother.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Mark," she replied, her voice strong, but vulnerable at the same time.

"Yeah," Mark snapped. "Me, too. Almost to the point of wishing you really were dead! Now, it's not just the military I hate, but my baby sister, too."

Sam felt Jack tense behind her and knew he was ready to defend her honor. It was touching in a warped sort of way, but Sam knew she couldn't let Jack get into it with Mark. The two men had grown close over her death, and she didn't want to wreck that for them. Leaning, just a little, towards Jack, Sam sucked in the confidence she needed. "Perhaps one day you'll be able to forgive me and get back to living your own life."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Mark sneered.

Sam squinted her eyes at her brother, standing up to her full height. "Whatever you think it means, Mark. My life is my life, whether you agree with it or not. So, get over yourself and go back to your own life."

"I AM living my own life!"

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure before I….left you were happily married."

"Don't bring her into this!" Mark raged, taking a step closer to his sister, his fist clenching at this side.

"Why not, Mark? Obviously you've allowed my death to wreck your marriage, why shouldn't we let your divorce wreck our relationship?"

"We don't have a relationship!"

"We will always be brother and sister! When you're ready to move past your hatred, Mark, give me a call."

Mark glared at his sister, fighting the urge to smack her across the face. Letting out a harsh breath he brushed roughly past her and walked to the door. Yanking the door open, he turned to see Jack watching him in the living room. "Thanks for the beer, Jack," he yelled before briskly walking out the door, slamming it behind him.

"You okay?" Jack asked, his hand still resting on the small of her back.

"Yeah, I feel bad for him."

"I know, but don't you dare feel guilty, Carter! You didn't betray him. It's all a lie, don't forget that."

Sam took a step forward out of Jack's touch and turned around to face him. "Thank you, I won't."

Jack grinned. "Good, cuz I was planning on invited the gang over for a BBQ."

Sam grinned. "A BBQ, really? Hmm, it has been ages since I've been subjected to an O'Neill BBQ."

"See there, you are way overdue, ma'am," Jack replied, playfully.

Sam's smile grew. "Can't wait," she quietly replied, her eyes dancing in merriment as she gazed into the loving eyes of Jack O'Neill.

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a/n: Sorry for the crappyness that was this chapter, but I had a hard time writing it. I actually wrote half of it days ago, and just now finally came back and forced myself to get it finished. It wasn't supposed to end like that, but it's all I can do at the moment. The next chapter will be better and will deal with Kerri and Sam. Perhaps a confrontation?