March 4th, 0900 AM Washington DC:
"Gentlemen. Let's bring this meeting to order. Jack, you know why we asked you to meet with us in person. This isn't a tribunal hearing. you aren't in trouble but we need to know exactly what's been going on the last eight months with you and Colonel Carter." The head of the DoD said.
Jack nodded. Sam wasn't in his CoC. No one technically was. He could advise Hank or Brian Hickerson, the base commander at Peterson and he could override their orders if he really had to, but he had no real authority over them and therefore anyone under them. If it wasn't for the threats made against Sam he could have married her years ago with zero consequence to her legally. It had been a dirty play at blackmail that had kept them apart.
Jack sat down and opened his briefcase. He snorted out what would have otherwise been a sigh and looked around the table at the men who were his equal. Some of whom he called friend as well. "As most of you are aware, Colonel Carter left the Cheyenne facility for Groom Lake approximately nine years ago to take her out of my chain of command. They had been pursuing her services for several years and we had neutralized the Goa'uld threat by that time. We thought it a fair compromise that we did not pursue a personal relationship in spite of the desire to do so until she was no longer working directly under me in some capacity." That was… mostly true.
"After a few months, General Hammond made the decision to retire and to recommend me for his previous position as a member of this advisory board. While I don't pretend to understand what level of insanity he was experiencing at the time, I accepted the position."
While a couple of the Joint Chiefs chuckled, the head of the DoD made a winding motion for Jack to get on with it.
"As some of you may have become aware, not all of our congressmen and women are honest fellows and one in particular chose that time to insinuate that the military, and in particular the SGC would not be receiving their budgetary needs should I continue to court Colonel Carter. As I had already picked out a ring and was looking at catering services I was a tad… put out." Jack frowned. "I explained to said person that I had no interest in his manipulative tactics and didn't want this job anyway so he could shove his threats where the sun doesn't shine, I'd quit before I let him use me in that way." Jack smiled but it was a hard smiled. "Besides, it's pretty cold to make a man pick between his country and the woman he's in love with." There. He'd said it.
"It was at that point that our… esteemed… lawmaker chose to explain that even if I left my post he would torpedo any advancement on her part if I didn't 'play ball'." Jack looked around the table to gauge everyone's reactions but each of his collogues was as good at maintaining an expressionless face as he was.
"So, clearly in a bid to protect her from the situation, I ended my romantic relationship with Colonel Carter at that time. Life went on, Carter went back to her slimy snake in the grass ex-fiancé and had a couple kids. The… end." Jack raised an eyebrow. "Or is it?" He turned his head slightly sideways at everyone.
"About three years after we ended things to avoid problems she was unaware of at the time, I received an e-mail from her private address requesting my help with a situation. It seems unknown to him, her slimy snake in the grass at the time husband was shooting blanks. She was apparently pregnant when we broke things off but because she was only a couple days along at the time, she didn't know it wasn't his kid until she tried to have a second child and had his swimmers checked out without his knowledge. Several years ago after an unfortunate," he shook his head at the memory, "and headache inducing incident, our colleagues, the Asgard, the little grey guys who used to watch our butts for us until we could do it ourselves, recommended that I make a deposit in ye ol' sperm bank in the unfortunate event of my demise. They were very interested in my unique genetics and thought it might be best if I passed them on at some point. Yet another reason, Carter and I were… seeing each other." He looked thoughtful.
"Anyway, several as in all of my team were effectively orphans in the world. Dr. Jackson literally, then Major Carter logistically as her father was no longer with us on Earth and Teal'c because well, he's not from 'round these parts." He nodded as if to himself. "That in mind, each of us had one of the others listed as next of kin knowing the others would be notified, etcetera. We also had Durable Power of Attorney and Health Care Proxy forms for each other as well. I was on everyone's and Carter was mine. I couldn't really trust Danny with it. He'd mean well but then FUBAR something."
"When things ended with Carter and I, I never bothered to take her off my paperwork as I saw no real reason to. Even angry at me, she'd still pull the plug if I asked her to. Might do it out of spite, but she'd have done it." His expression had gone back to thoughtful. "So when she came to me and asked if she could use the paperwork to start the process to use my frozen, ah, stuff, I green lit the idea with the admonishment that if she was going to pass this kid off as her husband's, I can't be part of its life. I told her to mail me the paperwork and I'd sign it."
"You just signed off on this Jack? Why?"
"Oh I knew it might bite me in the ass some day but it was Carter. I've done crazier things for her in the past. This was pretty mild compared to getting a snake in the head and I got a lot shittier of a deal out of that trip I'll tell yah." Much, much crazier he decided. "Everything went swimmingly well, Carter had a baby, the snake was none the wiser and life went on or so I believed. About five years later I get a call from the man who would have been my brother-in-law had his snaky friend not married my girlfriend." Jack's eyes glittered. "Apparently he'd been running around on our Colonel in his spare time for quite a while. Carter caught him in the act and threw him out. They got divorced… the… end." He trailed off.
"Or so you thought." One of the other men suggested.
Jack put up a finger. "Yes, or so I thought. Until I received a phone call that her slimy ex has left her underwater on a home loan and not been paying his child support or taking care of his kids in any way whatsoever. I later found out he'd also taken out a second mortgage on the house, forged her signature that we haven't been able to prove yet and defaulted on it, probably intentionally in an attempt to force her to return to him or to force her to take up base housing and surrender the kids he didn't care about to him. Mostly the latter given what he told his attorney."
"Mark and I decided enough was enough. Mark doesn't know either boy is mine and until recently the ex only suspected Georgie is my boy and had no idea about Jake's parentage. Both of us are dark blond or were, brown eyes, about the same height. It would have been a while until he noticed how much the older boy looks like me and had no frame of reference that the younger boy looks like his older brother Charlie at the same age." His voice had gone soft at the mention of his oldest child.
"I initially went with the offer of free childcare a couple hours a day so she could work longer hours. The slimy ex had convinced her to trim back her hours to next to nothing and she wasn't making enough to cover the bills. That snowballed into renting her my old house that was otherwise sitting empty as she's considered a bad investment now. I've been sleeping on base." Jack quirked a smile. "Even if those weren't my boys, I wouldn't have let their father do that to her. He had every chance to co-parent and chose to force her into poverty instead. It was the least I could do."
"Do the boys know you are their father?"
"The oldest does now but he knows not to say anything. Carter succeeded in having her ex-husband's parental rights severed and I applied to formally adopt both boys the same day. Our attorney suggested I apply for legal guardianship until the adoption goes through and is getting that ready probably as we speak. I'll sign it when I get home. I just want to tell you, even if neither of those boys were biologically mine, I'd be doing exactly what I'm doing right now."
"We know Jack. Your past history with guardianship is noted with regards to Cassandra Frasier and Jon O'Neill. No one at this table questions your commitment to the welfare of children."
"So is that all guys?"
"We do need to know how you intend to proceed Jack."
"Well, that's going to depend on some things. I'd really like to stick it to the rat bastard that ruined my life. Barring that, I'm retiring for good when the adoptions go through. Probably recommend Landry or Hickerson for the position. I know I could marry her now but I'd like to see her get up a couple more rungs before I do so. She deserves to make General and I can keep things casual for a while. Might get a little awkward though if I get her in as head of SGC and I'm crashing on the officers' lounge couch."
There were chuckles from the other men.
"The reason we brought you in was because her recent actions have been recommended for review. We wanted your side of things first. Given your account of events, we'll move for the tribunal to dismiss any case they have against her should it come to that but not until you neutralize the problem. We don't want to tip our hands in this matter as we agree, this was an inappropriate abuse of power and had we known your reasons for balking at the time, would have exposed the situation for what it was."
"Ah, that just would have dragged Carter's name through the mud. I couldn't put her through that."
"We understand. Go ahead and head back to Colorado. I'm sure you have work to do. And Jack?"
"Yah?"
"Requisition some on base staff. Your reports are getting behind again."
"D'oh"
