The tension in the chopper was already thick. Jack was sitting beside the entity, in its current incarnation as a much younger Charlie. Daniel could tell it was jarring for Jack, but Sam was clearly having a hard time with it too. She knew Charlie. Charlie was a big part of her life. But she had never seen him this young.

And no one could tell if this was really Charlie or just the way Jack remembered him from before the accident.

"When we get back, I'll take him home, to the planet," Jack said.

A moment of silence followed until Daniel broke it by saying, pointedly, "And we'll go with you."

"I think I can do this alone, Daniel," Jack answered, tightly. He was more rattled than he wanted to admit and at the moment his greatest desire was just to have this be over. His greatest failure and his deepest pain were on public view. Old scars were bleeding and he just wanted to patch them up on his own and then come back and pretend the whole thing hadn't happened.

"Like you were going to on Abydos?"

Everything Daniel ever thought showed up on his face. At this point in his SGC career Daniel was still all shiny-new-penny brightness and innocent determination, and it all showed up with surprising regularity.

Daniel was also the king of the slanted reference. It wasn't his way to just say when we first met, you were a suicidal maniac because of that time in your life and now it's all coming back up and we're worried about you.

Oh, no, not Daniel. Daniel would just start talking and then slip it in like a stiletto made of words. If words could kill, Jack had a veritable lethal weapon on his team.

Jack didn't know how a guy with that face could wind up with that mouth and that attitude.

To a certain extent this outburst was Jack's own fault. He had drilled into the guy that no one went anywhere alone, but that was more to keep Daniel from wandering off – as he was pretty wont to do. Jack hadn't considered that it would come back to bite him in the butt.

At least that was the excuse he had with Daniel. He wasn't sure if it was his fault that seated beside him, Sam was looking at him with an equal mix of professional excuse me, sir? and married oh hell no, mister.

At least she started with the professionalism.

"Sir," she began, "do you really think that's a good idea?"

He could tell by her eyes it wasn't going to take much to push her right over into 'married' mode.

"It's a cakewalk, Carter," he answered.

His wife answered, "I almost lost you on this planet once and the person I thought we came back with turned out to not even be you! How will we be sure the 'you' that comes back is really you when no one will be there to verify it?"

Jack hated when she used logic on him. At the same time it was one of the reasons he had her on the team. He needed someone to question his logic.

"She's got a point, Jack," Daniel said.

Okay, two people.

Next to Daniel, Teal'c stirred – like an oak tree disturbed by a passing breeze – and made a sound like a distant rumble of thunder.

Okay, three people.

"You'll know," Jack said to Sam, with conviction. "You already told me you felt something was wrong. You knew when no one did." Not even Sara…

"So how about I just come with you to make sure this time?"

"Because the more people who go through again, the more people might not come back as themselves!" Jack snapped.

His teammates exchanged glances. Jack felt a triumphant surge, even as he watched understanding dawn on their faces.

Yeah, idiots, I'm trying to protect you. Do you get it now?

"Samantha," Jack said, patiently, "I'm not risking all of SG-1 being duplicated, here."

'Charlie' spoke up. "We would not do that."

It stopped the argument, briefly at least.

"Look," Jack said, "give me fifteen minutes and if I'm not back, then come after me."

Sam and Daniel spoke at the same time. "Five," they said, in a spooky kind of unison. Jack was looking at Sam but he could feel Daniel's eyes boring into his forehead.

"Twelve."

"Six," Sam said. Daniel stayed silent, apparently surrendering their side of the fight to Sam. She was faster than he was anyway. Jack had watched Daniel come up with three different answers and discard all of them without speaking. When Sam spoke before he had a chance, Daniel got that calm set to his mouth that meant he would back her up until they got what they wanted.

Jack didn't bother looking at Teal'c. He knew what expression he would find there.

"Ten," Jack countered.

"You've got six minutes, take it or leave it," Sam said.

Jack turned to look out the window of the chopper so he could stare at the passing scenery instead of the emotion in her eyes.

He much preferred Sam's tears – even though her tears were gut-wrenching. But she much preferred the relief of yelling. It didn't happen in the field, usually. In the field, Jack wouldn't hesitate to dress her down, put her back in her place. But Sam would push him past the boundaries of rank when she was mad enough at him, no matter where they were.

It was fortunate she hardly ever got mad. It was really only when he scared the hell out of her.

Jack was suddenly exhausted by the last few hours – hell, by the whole damned mission and its unfathomable aftermath. He wanted this entity back where it belonged. He wanted to be able to go home with her - Someone who took him on as he was: neglectful, intense, difficult, covert, passionate, opinionated, stubborn, caring, shallow and deep, fragile and strong.

"I'll try to be back in five," he said finally, without looking back.

The tension in the chopper became noticeably lighter. His hand slipped into hers and he could feel the slight callus on her trigger finger, reminding him that Sam never aimed at anything she didn't intend to destroy. But her grip tightened on his and it was warm and soft and strong.

"Thank you," she said.

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