As promised, here's the next chapter for you to enjoy!

Thanks for all the lovely reviews you guys sent, much appreciated I can assure you. Don't worry, the end is in sight and the whole plot will finally be explained.

THIS OLD MAN.

By LetitiaRichards.

Previously:-

Daniel turned and left, while Patti felt really bad that she had shocked them like that, but also happy to have informed Jack that his Mom was okay, even if she hadn't yet given him all the startling details of her ill health.

Chapter 26

This old man, he played six,

He played nick-nack with my sticks,

With a nick-nack paddy-whack...

Daniel sat deep in contemplation as he waited for Jack to join him. Right now Jack, looking far too drawn and haggard from Daniel's point of view, was chatting with Patti Armstrong about moving his mother to a nursing home in Colorado Springs. Miriam's unfortunate intimacy with psychosis meant she was going to have to be institutionalised for some time, so Mrs. O'Neill Senior would need somewhere else to live. Jack knew he couldn't be there for her 24/7, and he was torn, wondering what to do for the best. It was actually Patti who'd approached Jack with the idea of moving her nearer to him where he would be able to visit her more often.

Now that Jack had been in to see his Mom, he had been in consultation with Patti for an hour already. Daniel volunteered to accompany him, knowing Jack was still reeling from the latest events, but he'd assured Daniel, rather tiredly, that he'd be fine. So Daniel had made his way to the waiting area and drunk his way through far too many cups of coffee while he passed the time chewing over the newer mysteries of Sam's disappearance and what role Miriam had played in all of this.

His gaze was rooted to the floor while his brain worked overtime, so he didn't register exactly when a pair of boots appeared in his sight. It was only when he felt the loose grip of fingers on his shoulder that he looked up.

"All done?" he asked getting to his feet.

Jack looked as if he'd aged even further, and only added to Daniel's concern when he merely nodded in response and started walking towards the exit, leaving him to play catch-up.

In silence they headed out of the hospital and into the parking lot where they climbed into the converted Dodge. Daniel drove through the unfamiliar streets with only a passing instruction to turn when necessary, making Daniel wonder if Jack shouldn't have stayed in the hospital another day. He cast a worried glance sideways to his silent companion. Jack was too quiet and far too still for comfort. This wasn't the Jack he knew at all; Jack was exasperatingly buoyant, either by making sarcastic comebacks, or by his ever constant fidgeting. At this moment, he was neither; if anything he looked lost as well as in pain.

"You okay?" Daniel couldn't resist asking.

Jack turned away to look out of the side window seeing nothing, and long seconds passed, by which time Daniel had assumed Jack was ignoring him. However, Jack startled him by replying in a voice bereft of any emotion.

"Not really."

"If you want to talk abou..."

"Which I don't!" Was his quick rejoinder.

Despite the meaning of the words and the manner in which they were spoken, Daniel was actually happy that he'd sparked just a little more feeling from his passenger to show he wasn't quite dead inside as he'd appeared.

"Maybe you should Jack! I mean...you know that we're here for you and that we only want to help get to the bottom of this and find Sam too. But if you don't tell us anything, then I don't see how we can be of any use?"

Beside him Jack released a heavy sigh while studying his lax hands as they lay splayed over his denim clad knees.

"I don't know where to begin Daniel. This is just one huge mystery which is..." he broke off in frustration, slapping his hand down on his leg. "Damn! I feel like I'm a dog running round in circles chasing my tail and getting absolutely nowhere!"

After another long silence in which Daniel kept his opinions to himself hoping that Jack would really open up, Jack brought his hands up and rubbed his face, wincing when he accidentally caught the healing wound.

"I blew it." he sighed, after dropping his hands down again.

Daniel shot a quick glance at Jack, only to see him blink several times and then turn away to stare blindly out of the side window, and his hand come up again to press the heels of his hands into his eyes. Daniel fixed his eyes on the road and waited for Jack to compose himself and elaborate on his comment, if ever.

"I should have known! I should have trusted my instincts and questioned everything, but I didn't. I just accepted things for what they were... and now..." he paused to swallow, holding back the flood of emotions that were trying to break free, but his voice was tortured and raspy with the effort of talking. "...now I've lost Sam. I...I should have questioned it, I should have trusted her knowing that she'd never pull a stunt like that. And now what? Where could she be Daniel? What the hell did Miriam do to her?"

Daniel swallowed harshly too, feeling his own emotions welling on hearing the bitter pain of guilt and remorse in his friend's voice amid the justifiable anger and the hopeless despair that now dwelled there. He'd never heard Jack talk like this and knew this was hitting him almost as badly as did Charlie's untimely and tragic death. He could only hope that Teal'c, Walter and General Hammond had found something useful from among the enormous pile of papers crammed inside the desk in Miriam's study.

Daniel reached out his hand and gave Jack's forearm a little squeeze.

"We will find her Jack!" he assured his friend, keeping to himself his uncertainties about her survival. Jack didn't need his negativity to add to his already burdened soul.

They drove on in a subdued mood, barely aware of the streets passing by or the traffic growing less busy as they neared Jack's old home.

OoOoOoOoO

The door was opened just as they pulled up on the drive, and Daniel spotted General Hammond standing on the threshold waiting for them.

Jack walked up the path rather stiffly, his bruising obviously still quite painful, though he would deny it if asked if it was bothering him. He nodded to the General as he took the few steps up towards the main door, only to be quietly led into the sitting room by a concerned General.

Jack hadn't so much as balked at the idea of being led as if he were a child, and had taken a seat meekly when ordered to do so. Daniel met up with Teal'c and was also ushered into the room along with Walter who had several papers in his hands. When they were all seated General Hammond began to explain things as they stood at this point in time, watching Jack for any kind of reaction to his news.

"...as I held her tight until I could be relieved by the Police Officers, she was screaming about retribution, O'Neill." Teal'c then elaborated. "She talked much about wanting to exact revenge on you and had waited for years in which to do so. She also disapproved rather vehemently on the fact that at each attempt on your life, you had somehow survived, and that this was to be her final crowning glory."

Jack had finally taken an interest in the proceedings, and was frustrated when the senior officer had waived away his questions until they'd finished telling of the things they had discovered. Walter passed the papers over to Jack who glanced down at them in disbelief.

"So, let me get this straight... Miriam was the one behind all those attempts on my life?" Jack was stunned beyond belief. "How? I mean, there's no way she has knowledge of weaponry, planting bombs in cars, poisons; let alone know anyone who does?" he paused trying to think straight. "There has to be someone else in this too. She has to have had help. But who?"

"How did she get Sam's car here too? I mean by the state of it, it must have been involved in an accident..." Daniel was fully aware of the consequences of what that meant and had unconsciously continued Jack's own line of questions, but was interrupted when Jack suddenly jumped up and ran out of the room.

They found him a few minutes later, rummaging through some drawers in what was his Mother's room.

"Jack? What're you looking for?" Daniel asked as he drew nearer to the frantic search his friend was carrying out.

"I gave them to Mom years ago for safe keeping. They should be here," he muttered mostly to himself but loud enough for the others to hear too.

Jack ripped the drawer right out of the chest and tipped the contents onto the bed, scrabbling around among the scattered items. When that yielded nothing, he did the same with the next drawer, and the next, until all the drawers were empty and nothing had been overlooked... or found.

Jack had been talking away to himself softly, letting loose the occasional curse, while the others had stood by in silence watching him and waiting for the explanation of his actions. Now he stood back, stretching his back muscles from stooping over the bed, and swore, locking eyes with the General.

"I think I know where Sam is!"

"What?" Daniel gaped in astonishment.

"Where?" General Hammond's inquiry was more a demand to know what Jack was talking about.

"Keys!" Jack said as if they knew darn well what he was thinking.

"To Sam's car?" Daniel was feeling slightly adrift of his friend's lateral thinking.

Jack fixed him with one of his patent 'what? Are you nuts?' glare before he added the words that would finally make sense to his audience.

"To the cabin," he stated, waiting for the penny to drop. "They're missing! Miriam knew where they were."

"Perhaps your sister removed them to a safer place O'Neill."

"Did you guys come across any keys with a big wooden tag about so big..." he held up his hands to show them the approximate size. "...which read 'Jack's Cabin' when you went through the house?" Jack asked, doubting they would have."

They all looked at each other and shook their heads. To which Jack took off immediately, grabbing his coat and his own keys to the truck. Until General Hammond stopped him with a sharp order.

"Stand down Colonel!"

Jack stopped and counted to ten before turning about face to meet his CO. His frustration evident in his eyes.

"General, I need to get to the cabin. She's there I just know it!"

"I know that Jack, and I can understand your urgency to locate Major Carter and assure yourself of her well-being, but have you considered it may well be a trap? Especially if you believe that your sister wasn't working alone in this. They could have planned on you heading there once you figured it out." He didn't add that he was concerned at what he might find up at that cabin miles from anywhere.

Jack blinked but held his gaze steady, locking his dark eyes onto the older man with resignation. His voice when he replied was soft, barely above a whisper but filled with a deep concern, open honesty and a last desperate hope.

"I know. But I have to go sir."

"Even if it could possibly result in your own death?" Hammond responded with equal sincerity. He was acutely aware of what state of mind Jack would be in if he was too late to save the Major. He'd read those reports and could see for himself the truth in them as Jack stood before him.

"Yes sir. If that's what it takes." Jack paused to utter a deep heart-rending sigh. He glanced down at his toes for a moment before bringing his glassy eyes back to the General's face. "I'll not leave her there with a madman, George. I'd never be able to live with myself if anything happened to her. God knows I let her down, but I'm damned if I'll ever do it again!"

George Hammond hadn't ignored the fact that Jack had changed the rules by using his first name, but it did reveal that the younger officer was asking him as a friend and not as his CO, to allow him to go after his wife and not just because she was a member of the USAF and it was job.

Hammond indicated that Jack should wait there for a few seconds while he disappeared into the back. When he returned, in his hands he held a hand gun, and a back-pack, and offered them both to Jack.

The Colonel gave a quick nod of thanks and understanding, taking the pack and then reached for the weapon and was stunned when the General laid his free hand firmly on top of his, stopping him from taking the 9mm out of his hand. Jack's head shot up in astonishment, but relaxed when the General gave him a small grim smile and a slight nod.

"God speed son! Bring her home!"

This old man, he played six,

He played nick-nack with my sticks,

With a nick-nack paddy-whack,

Give the dog a bone...

TBC

I'd like to use this space to thank you to all of you who sent in reviews for the final chapter of Past, Present & Future; my fic with a little Jack O'Neill.

I'm not sure if it was just my server or that ff was having one of those glitches again, but I couldn't see the final chapter listed on the update pages on the site, so anyone having the same problem should look at my profile page where you'll find the completed story.