See, the wait wasn't so bad now! Who knows you might even get a history end before the end of the month!
Enjoy!
M.
Choices Part II
He couldn't believe what had happened that night. He was floating as they scurried away with linked hands from the terrace and into the master room: their room, fully naked with their clothes made a ball in his free hand. She looked glorious in her birthday suit, more perfect than he remembered.
"Stop looking at me like that, Jack." She whispered feeling a bit self-conscious.
"Like what?" She raised an eyebrow
"Like you haven't seen better women than me."
"I haven't. You are the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on," he said embracing her, she sighed.
"I need to," she trailed, and he left her go patting her bum as she walked to the bathroom.
"Don't take too long!" he shouted, and she chuckled. Soon, she was back and joined him on his bed. They kissed, caressed and took their time to make love slowly, taking every second to relearn each other. She asked about the new scars, and he told him the histories about them, just like he did before with all the old ones. It was almost morning when she fell asleep curled in his arms, and he couldn't find it in him to fall asleep without taking all the time to watch her enjoying the feeling of being finally at peace and complete just by having her in his arms.
He had succumbed to tiredness despite trying his best to keep awake; when he woke up, the bed was empty, and the side where she was before was cold. If it weren't for his naked state, he would've thought it had all been a wishful dream. He was still in cloud nine as he showered and dressed and finally got out of the room.
"Dad! You are up!" One of the girls said, and for some reason, he thought she sounded a bit alarmed.
"Hey kiddo, you slept well?"
"Dad, are you okay?" The other girl asked, and he frowned.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"It's 10 am, and you are just waking up," Sami pointed. He then was able to identify them.
"Is it?"
"Yes. There might still be coffee; mom had the coffee day face."
"What's" he frowned
"Oh, when she doesn't get much sleep, she thrives with coffee," Jac shrugged. Jack smiled knowing exactly why she had that face. And then, she came out of her room with her carry on in hand.
"Girls, suitcases?" She said a bit too bitterly.
"We are all packed, but mom…"
"Sam?" Jack frowned
"We are only missing you to leave, Jack."
"Leave?" he asked, but Sam didn't answer, she just moved past them. He frowned, that was so uncharacteristically of her that he was confused. Jack followed outside where she was placing her bag at the trunk. "Sam? What's going on?"
"We are getting ready to leave, Jack." She affirmed avoiding his eyes.
"But I thought we would be here for a few days," she lowered her head.
"I'm leaving in ten minutes; I need to get in time to sort the flight. You can leave in an hour, and be there on time."
"Sam, what the hell is going on?" he asked, but she didn't answer. "I thought things were good between us," he whispered.
"Yes, they are. Which reminds me that I need to check if Jac's school will have a spot for Sami and then we can schedule as the scholar year goes."
"What are you not saying?" He asked confused remembering the last time he had seen her acting like this, the day after they had agreed to divorce and take a kid each.
"I'm saying what it needs to be said, Jack. Six months each unless something goes wrong, we agreed to it. If things go well, we can check the process for shared custody."
"Shared custody? Sam.. what has gotten into you this morning?" He asked confused.
"Nothing, I need to get back."
"Something wrong at the office?"
"Yes. Girls I'm going!" she shouted. The girls came out, and she opened her arms to embrace them. "Jack, you'll get an hour to leave."
They watched her jump into her car and drove away all having the same confused expression.
"What the hell happened?" Sami said looking at her twin.
"I have no idea; I am as confused as you are. I thought everything was good until she woke up this morning," Jac shrugged. They turned to their dad.
"Dad? Did she say something to you last night?" Jack frowned and shook his head no.
"Nothing of that sort," he said. "Okay, let's do what she ordered. Let me get some coffee, and then we can start closing the house."
When they arrived at the airport and Sam was waiting for them next to the car rental office. She waved at them, and the girls walked to her as Jack dealt with the car. Sam embraced Sami tightly before she placed a hand over Jac's shoulder.
"Jac, we must go. Sami, these are your tickets. Your flight leaves soon." Sami frowned.
"But mom…" she said her eyes filling with tears. "I don't want to go without you."
"Sami," Sam kneeled. "We all knew this was coming to an end sooner or later, but hey, your dad and I got to a better arrangement, if I can find you a spot in Jac's school. So don't cry, I'll fix this school issue, and you'll get to be together all year and have each of us for half a year."
"It doesn't sound so much better," Jac mumbled joining the embrace.
"Everything will be fine, girls. Trust me; we can deal with this," she cleaned Sami's teary face and stood up. "I'll give you both a moment to say goodbye."
"And Jac, you should say goodbye to your dad before we go."
"Sam," Jack said approaching them.
"Sami has your tickets, you'll be getting an email as soon as I have more information about the whole situation," she turned around and started walking, but he took a couple of steps and grabbed her arm.
"Sam…" he whispered.
"This is it, Jack. Like a band-aid… we were good at it at some point." She said. "Goodbye, it was… illuminating meeting you both again. Jacqueline… hurry up." Jack was torn between trying to use their last minutes to see what he could do to convince his stubborn ex-wife or use them to say goodbye to the child he had just met.
"Jac," he said kneeling and opening his arms to his baby. "I love you, I've always loved you, and I will continue to love you. We will see each other soon, I promise." He said cleaning the tears from her little face.
And then, he let them go… both of them. Sami joined him as they watched the two women hurry away towards a different part of the airport. The girl raised her hand to pass him the tickets bringing him back to some state of reality. He checked them and the screens before he turned them to the other side of the airport.
They reached home, and it was not only dark but cold, and he knew that let them go was one of the biggest mistakes of his life. He called Hammond to let him know he was back in town and then, he called Janet. The petite Doc was there in less than ten minutes and had him truly berated and feeling stupid a few minutes after. Yet, then… the phone rang, and in a wishful thinking move, he took it.
His expression told Janet precisely what had happened before he had hung the phone and dragged his feet back to the living room.
"SG-1 is on call, right?" She asked, and Jack nodded. "Then hurry the hell out and go back as soon as possible to fix the whole situation Jack. She works half of the year from here anyway; I'm sure you'll be able to come up with a solution you couldn't afford before… go get ready; I'll let Sami know."
Sami's nose was all the sign she needed to understand how badly affected the girl was, and know she was going to add some more weight to her little shoulders.
"Sami," she said softly, and the kid rushed to her side. "Sami, your dad is on call."
"NO!"
"Yes, Sami. You know how this works."
"No, no, no, no, no." She sobbed and rushed to Jack's room. "You can't go, dad! Not now!"
"Sami," he said placing an errant strand of hair behind her ear. "The sooner I'm out of this house, the sooner I'll be back, and I promise you, I'm going to fix this … really fix it for good."
"No, dad! You can't leave me too."
"I'm not leaving you, Sami. I'm going to be back before you notice."
"I'll notice," She cried. Jack looked up to see Janet's understanding eyes over them. He nodded, and the Doctor entered the room and managed to untangle Sami from her dad.
"Thank you," he mouthed.
"Sami, since you are having a difficult time… will you want me and Cass to move here for the duration of your dad's mission or will you want to go to my house?"
"I want to go to my mom," she cried.
"I know, honey. But that's not something that can happen now."
"But I want my mom! And Jac!"
And above Janet's berating, Sami's cries were the final piece he needed to decide that this time, he had to choose them over the practical thing. The reasonable thing had robbed them enough years as it was and he was going to fix it… he promised Sami he would, and he had never broken a promise he did to his daughter.
Five days later, he was done. Jack was bone tired, he felt muggy, and the planet was so damn hot that all he wanted was to bring them to the knowledge of AC. No matter how many interplanetary laws it would break to deliver power and AC to a renaissance period society.
Teal'c looked at Jack and nodded. They needed to stop and find someplace safe to keep themselves hidden until the menace of the Goa'uld finding them was gone. They had rescued SG-24 and SG-25 which to Jack's eyes weren't more than a bunch of kids too unprepared to deal with the consequences of Stargate travel. He had presented his complaints before the teams were created and he was certainly going to complain again at least hoping that SG-21 and up will get some proper training before they would be sent out.
The kids had fallen head first into a trap and took them a couple of days to track them into the current planet they were; they were lucky too. If it wasn't because someone was paying attention to the gate travels, they could've been forever stuck on a Goa'uld prison cell without hopes of being rescued.
And rescue had taken all their ammo, and even if they had managed to secure some staffs and some zats they were far outnumbered and too noticeable in their military uniforms. Daniel was the first to find them some shelter, a not so clean barn but far away enough from the town that wouldn't get checked soon. And close enough to the woods that would allow them to move out of it if inspection of it occurred.
Checking around, they had found some clothes; and after a quick debate, Jack and Daniel had left Teal'c taking care of the eight kids they were now responsible for. With shelter secured, food and water became a need, and they marched towards town hoping to learn more about the Goa'uld situation while getting some form of sustenance and whatever medical supplies they could find in there.
Thankfully they spoke a variety of Latin that didn't need much for Daniel to learn, and soon they were getting their asses back to the barn with enough food to last them a couple of days. Three more days went by with them hiding when finally the Goa'uld decided to get the security crew away from the Stargate. They knew it could be just another trap, but it was that or being discovered hiding. So they took their chance. And while SG-1 covered their asses, the kids dialed Earth and disappeared into the blue. The staff blast followed them and hit the concrete as they hit the metal ramp with a loud noise.
"Close the iris!" Jack shouted, and they heard a couple of thumps that made them all flinch.
"Welcome back SG-1. SG-24, SG-25. Get to the infirmary, and we have a debrief as soon as all of you have been checked." Hammond's voice came loud and clear from the PA System. Hours later, they were leaving the briefing room.
"Colonel O'Neill," Hammond called making him stop dead in his tracks, "I took the liberty to inform your daughter that you are back and safe." Jack turned around a grateful smile on his face.
"Thanks, General."
"She informed me that my mission came in the worst possible time ever and that she didn't like me too much at the moment." Hammond chuckled. "Something I should now?"
"Not yet, sir. However, sir… I might need your help with something," Jack's mischievous smile gave Hammond some hints of what could he expect if he continued that chat. "Can I have a word with you at your office?" Hammond nodded.
