"Dad, I haven't seen Daniel in a while," Deb says.
"We should probably have a team night," Jack says.
"Right, we should do that, too. But I think Daniel should pick me up from school tomorrow. That way, you could work late. You used to work late a lot more than you do now," she says. That's true, but she's far more surprised with how infrequently her mother works late. This Sam isn't quite like the mother she grew up with.
"Ok," Jack says. He knows perfectly well that his daughter is up to something. But he has no idea what. He figures that is the danger of having a child with a genius. "I'll give Daniel a call, and see if that works for him."
-0-0-0-
"So what is your plan here?" Daniel asks Deb as she sits down in the car.
"What makes you think I have a plan?" she asks.
"Oh, please, little girl, just spill," he says.
"Daniel, have you ever seen the movie 'The Parent Trap'?" she asks.
"Oh, this is a really bad plan," he says with a laugh.
"So you won't help?" she asks, slumping in the car seat, distraught.
"Oh, now, I didn't say that. What do you need?"
"We're going to have to work fast," Deb warns, leaning forward to share her plan.
-0-0-0-
"Sam?"
Sam's heart nearly stops at the sound of her worried daughter's voice. "What's wrong?" she asks.
"I just… can you come over tonight? I really need to talk to you," she says.
"Of course, I'll be right over," Sam says, closing her lap top.
"No… ah… not right now. Wait until six o'clock, ok?" Deb pleads.
"Sure, honey," Sam says. She hangs up the phone, her brow furrowed. She dials Jack's office. She knows that he is working late for the first time since Deb entered his life.
"Jack, what's going on with Deb?"
"I don't know, but something, right?" he says.
"For sure, she wants me to come over later," Sam says.
"And she definitely wanted to get rid of me this afternoon," Jack adds.
"Oh, no," Sam says.
"What?" Jack asks.
"You remember what movies we bought her, Sir?"
"Ah… Mary Poppins, and… crap."
"Yeah, 'The Parent Trap'."
"Just to be clear, there isn't a chance she has an identical twin sister, is there?"
"I'm as sure as I can be, not having actually given birth to her."
He laughs on the other end of the phone, "So are we going to put the kid out of her misery and tell her we're actually together?"
There is a pause.
"Carter?" he asks.
"I don't know… I think I want to be parent trapped," she says.
"Carter," he gasps, pretending to be shocked.
"It sounds… romantic, sir. And you have no idea how much an eleven year old girl would love to believe that she is the reason her parents got together. I think we should give her that."
"Or, give you that, Carter?" he ask.
"I'll see you at six, sir," she says.
"Maybe tonight, you'll prove you know my first name."
"We'll see how good our daughter is at trapping us, and we'll go from there, sir."
-0-0-0-
When Jack gets out of his truck in front of his house, he hears Sam's motorcycle in the distance. He stands in the driveway, waiting for her. When she arrives, she leans forward to take off her motorcycle helmet with a shake of her short hair.
"Carter," he greets, hoping that the way she has affected him doesn't get into his voice. He is disappointed when he can tell that it does.
"Sir, are you sure we should go in together?" she asks.
"You're making her work for the trap?" he asks with a grin.
"I suppose, it is just a coincidence," she says.
As soon as the open the door, Daniel looks like he's been caught, "I'd better go," he stammers, making a hasty exit.
Neither Sam nor Jack has much attention to spare for him, though. The living room is decorated with streamers and balloons. Daniel obviously took their daughter to a party supply store. The table is set with a fancy table cloth that Jack is pretty sure he didn't own before today. On the table is a beautiful dinner.
"Did you cook that?" Jack asks his daughter.
"No," she laughs, "I wouldn't trust myself with an Earth stove. We got it from a restaurant. Daniel wouldn't even let me light the candles."
"Why did you do this?" Sam asks, trying to keep a stern face so her daughter won't know how much she is enjoying this.
"It's just like your first date. Daddy made you dinner like this, with the candles and stuff. And then you fell in love," she says cheerfully.
"And you believe this will make us fall in love all over again?" Jack asks with his eyebrows raised.
"One can hope," Deb says, with a grin.
"You'd better set another place at the table," Sam says.
Deb laughs, "No, I already ate. I'm not going to interrupt your first date! Oh, and there is music. Daniel helped me download all the songs you used to listen to. The first one is your song. You played it first at your wedding and everything," she says, walking over and pressing play.
"Honey, I would really like it if you join us for dinner," Jack says.
"Nope, I'm going to do my homework, and then I'm going to watch a movie," she says.
"I bet I can guess the name of the movie that you are going to watch," Jack says.
"Sit, eat, fall in love," Deb commands as she walks out of the room.
Jack walks over and pulls a chair out for Sam. "Shall we eat, Carter?" he asks.
She sits down, "Yeah, I guess we're having a date, without our daughter."
Jack sits down, too, "So how was work today?"
"Pretty good," she replies, suddenly locking eyes with him. She reaches her fork over and stabs a piece of pasta off his plate, and puts it in her own mouth.
He grins. He stabs food off her plate, and then places it in her mouth. She giggles.
His eyes look at her with soft emotion in his eyes.
"He loved her," Sam says slowly.
"Yeah, he does," Jack says. A huge flower blooms in her heart with warmth for this man before her.
"She waited for happiness. Waited six years. But she already had some happiness. I've already waited four years," she says.
"We're not going to wait any more," he says, tucking a touch of hair behind her ear.
She leans forward, obviously going in for a kiss.
"Carter," he says, pulling away, "Let's let our daughter see our first kiss. Let her think she did it."
"Ok," she says, spearing a little pasta which she puts into his mouth.
"Jack, you never talk about your family," she says.
"Four older sisters, Samantha, four."
"You're kidding," she says.
But before any more conversation can happen, there is knocking at the door.
"I'll get it!" Deb screams, running toward the door.
"Ask who it is before you open the door!" Jack warns.
"Who is it?" she responds obediently.
"Jacob Carter, who are you?" he asks.
"Oh my gosh! This is so perfect," Deb says, turning to her parents to gush, "This is exactly what happened on your first first date!"
Jack stands up and opens the door. He somehow always pictured an angry Jacob Carter in this encounter, but as of now he just looks confused. Of course, this could simply be because he hasn't figured out what is going on quite yet.
"Hello, sir," Jack says.
"Hi, Jack, George said that my daughter was here."
"Yes, sir," Jack responds.
Jacob raises his eyebrow. Jack is never this polite. Something is up. "Ok, is it some kind of a team thing?"
Deb can't hold herself back anymore, and flings herself into his arms. He catches her and hugs her tight. She is almost crying in his arms.
"Hi," he says awkwardly.
"I missed you so much," she says.
"Um… ok, who are you?" he asks.
"I'm Debbie," she says with a slight smile.
Jacob's eyes go large, and he looks at his daughter who has walked into the small and crowded entryway from the kitchen. He knows this little thing isn't his wife. But he can see tiny bits of his wife in the eyes, and the proud chin.
"Dad, we should probably have a talk," Sam says.
"Debbie, sweetie, can you go to your room for a little bit," Jack says.
She nods her head.
"And maybe play some music, sweetie," Sam adds.
"Who is she?" Jacob asks.
"Dad, are you familiar with the quantum mirror?" Sam asks.
At the same time Jack says, "Why don't you sit down?"
Jacob obediently takes a seat, and the other two follow. "I didn't mean to interrupt your dinner," he says. But he gives a good scowl at the candles on the table.
"Dad, Deborah was my daughter from a parallel universe. Her parents died, and her Daniel brought her into this world. She's been raised by adopted parents for the last six years. We recently went to her planet, and…" Sam begins.
"We started a war that killed her parents. So she's living with me now," Jack finishes up.
"I don't understand why Sam's daughter would go to live with you," Jacob says.
"Well, sir, she is my daughter too," Jack says.
"I see, that would explain why you're here without the rest of the team," Jacob says. There is silence, and it is unnerving everyone in the room. "I'm concerned about the candles," he finally says.
"Dad," Sam says nervously.
"Sammy, I understand that some other Sam sacrificed her career in order to have a baby. But are you sure you want to do that? You can be a mother without…. without the candles!" Jacob rants.
"She didn't sacrifice her career. She was just not in the Air Force. She didn't break any rules, and she still got to go through the gate," Sam protests.
"But you are in the Air Force, and having a relationship with your baby daddy will ruin you," he says, locking her with direct look.
"Jacob, I switched jobs when Debbie entered my life," Jack says.
Jacob turns to him in surprise.
"I couldn't let her lose any more parents. She's lost too many already," Jack says.
"So you're not her CO anymore?" he asks in a deadpan voice.
"No, sir," Jack says.
"Good for you!" he exclaims, pulling Jack to his feet and giving him a hug.
"Has the girl eaten?" he asks.
"Yeah," Jack says, somewhat stunned by not only the fact that the hug has happened, but also by the length of the hug.
"I'll take her out for ice cream. You guys can have a little bit of privacy, and I can get to know my new granddaughter," he says.
"First room on the right," Jack says.
"Dad, if you wanted to stay…" Sam begins.
"I'm here for a week, Sam, we'll do some family things, too," he smiles.
"Let's say that we give them a first kiss?" he asks.
"You want to kiss me, in front of my father?" she asks, blushing.
"I think he likes our relationship," Jack says.
"You're crazy, but I like it."
The two of them come into the room, and Jack takes a step toward Sam. He grabs her face, and his lips quickly make contact. Then one hand slips around her shoulder while the other grabs onto the small of her back. He slides her down into a dip. She is surprised at first, but her arms wrap around her neck, and she returns the kiss with equal eagerness.
"Wow! It worked, I parent trapped them!" Deb eagerly explains to her grandfather.
"Well, that couldn't have been a hard job. It's like trying to trap Pooh into taking some honey," Jacob mutters.
Jack lifts Sam back up.
Jacob walks over, and gives his daughter a hug, and a kiss on her check. "Will two hours be enough?" Jacob asks
"You can come back whenever you want, Dad. You could even have ice cream with us, assuming Jack has ice cream."
"We'll go out," Jacob decides.
As the door is closed, Sam and Jack turn back to their dinner.
"Dad is happy about us," Jack says, "I didn't see that one coming."
"Oh come on, you know that dad likes you."
"Yeah, I know he likes me as your CO, not as your…." Jack suddenly panics. He's never really been ok with the 'girlfriend' word. It's not a pure commitment issue either. He had no problem with 'wife' or 'fiancée'. It's just 'girlfriend' that sounds weird to him. Although, it is early to use words like this. This is sort of their first date.
"Romantic interest," Sam offers.
"Something like that," he agrees with a smile.
"So these sisters of yours?" Sam asks.
"Ah… well, that is a long story…" he begins.
-0-0-0-
"I'll go and put her to bed," Jack offers hours later, once Jacob and Debbie have returned. Jack and Sam were sitting on the couch, watching the Simpsons. They're holding hands, but there is not as much contact between the two of them as Jacob expected.
"She's a great kid. I see a lot of little Sammy in her," Jacob says, sitting down in a chair to look at his daughter.
"I see a lot of Jack in her too. She's got energy," Sam says.
"I hate to tell you, daughter of mine, but all that energy isn't from Jack," he sighs, "I know it wasn't actually you who named her. But I can't tell you how much it means to me, how much it would have meant to you mother."
"Yeah, I'm glad she did that," Sam says.
"Are you happy, kid?" he suddenly asks.
She smiles, "I am."
"I'm glad. It's been a while since I've actually seen you happy," he says.
"I've been happy," she protests.
"You've been content," he corrects her. "You been settling for a long time. Are you still settling?" he asks.
"No," she says.
"Good," he says with a grin, "So does your daughter actually know how to fight as well as she claims?"
"How well did she say claim she could fight?" Sam asks.
"She seemed pretty convinced she could beat me," he says.
"That would be an exaggeration," Sam says.
Jack comes out of his daughter's room. "You want a beer, Jacob?"
"I should probably get going. I think I'll head back to base," Jacob says.
"Don't be silly. You'll stay with me like you always do," Sam says.
"I didn't know if… you'd be making it home tonight," Jacob says awkwardly.
"Oh, Dad, there is no way I'd be spending the night at Jack's. We have a daughter to set an example for," Sam says. "I'll see you tomorrow," she says to Jack as she stands up.
"I don't want to rush you," Jacob says.
Sam takes a step forward, and pulls Jack toward her to give him a mind-blowing kiss.
"Night," he says, stunned, as she pulls away.