Jack came through the gate with Harry, Daniel and Teal'c in tow. Hank was unusual to form, waiting for him at the base of the platform.
Jack tilted his had thoughtfully. "Problem?"
"Bit of one. Yup. Come with me Jack, this will only take a few minutes. The rest of you go to the briefing room. We'll meet you there in a minute."
Warning bells went off in Jack's head. Big honkin blaring claxons bellowing warning! Warning! Danger Jack O'Neill DANGER!
He wasn't wrong.
Hank waved his hand to Jack to shut the door. "There's been a bit of a snag." He waved Jack into a chair.
When Jack sank into the chair behind the desk he once occupied himself, Hank steepled his fingers. "The tribunal sent someone over to arrest Sam." He waved Jack down when he started to rise in alarm. "I couldn't directly stop them but I talked them down from the edge, she's under house arrest in one of the VIP rooms. She'd got her laptop and files to keep busy and the kids stayed on base over night with her. It was the best I could do on short notice. Jack, be honest with me, did Sam use a fertility clinic like she says to conceive Jake or were you two having an affair and covered it up?" He didn't ask out of judgment. He'd recuse himself before he'd testify against his superior officer. He had that right.
"Sam and I ended our physical relationship the night I badly tried to explain I was trying to protect her. I went to her wedding because it was the polite thing to do, I think I bought her a toaster to remind her of her dad and then we didn't speak again for years. We haven't been in each other's physical company for nine years Hank. Even when I came to the base here, she made extreme effort to avoid all contact."
"You didn't question the timing of the first pregnancy?"
"I had no reason to. Sam wouldn't have knowingly kept that information from me. She knows how I feel about kids." She had, but she'd been afraid and people do panicky things when they were afraid. It wasn't that he wasn't mad. It was that he understood. Had she told him he probably would have gone in guns blazing, demanded to be a part of their lives, declaring his love for her or the kids like a total idiot. She knew him well enough to know the result if she'd told him the truth at any point prior to her divorce. And ironically, she'd protected her kids from that butt munch power hungry state representative.
"Fair enough. I suggest you handle your problem child swiftly. Also call your attorney, get guardianship set up so the kids can go home. I don't mind them being here but seeing their mom this upset isn't doing them any good."
"Is she all right?"
"She's hiding it well Jack but you know what's going on in her head better than I do."
Jack nodded. "Let's go talk to my team about this latest snafu."
"Agreed"
"Jack, you're better off not seeing her right now." Harry warned him.
"Harry…"
"I'm serious Jack." They were in the briefing room and Hank and Jack had filled in the other men on the latest developments. "Anything you do is going to look incriminating right now. Once the charges are dismissed or dropped it won't matter but right now it does."
"I hate to say it Jack but he's probably right." Daniel agreed.
"Whose side are you on here Daniel?" Jack grumped.
"Yours Jack. Yours and Sam's and the kids."
"That's dirty pool and you know it Danny." He said frowning.
"He's probably right though Jack. It's better if you stay away for now. I'll get a note to Sam if you want me to though honestly, that's a bad idea too." Hank told him.
Jack's face settled into a disgusted snarl. "All right, let's get to DC and plug this hole so I can get back to my life."
They were on a flight out to DC within two hours. "So explain to me how you intend to not need the password?" Jack asked Harry.
Harry fished a small device out of his pocket. "This little doodad is an encryption scanner. Tollarian design. The handful of them left are pretty happy to trade away their secrets now. Life lesson learned, eh Jack?"
Jack frowned. He hadn't like the Tollarians per se but he'd liked a few of them and tolerated a couple more, even that nut job, Narim. Carter sure had attracted some doozies in the past.
Teal'c was eyeballing Harry. Jack couldn't blame the guy. The Jaffa's capacity to maintain a grudge without killing the other person was legendary.
"Daniel, do you think you could pretend to be a reporter if I got you a press pass?" Jack asked him.
"Sure, what have you got in mind Jack?"
"Ok, here's the idea…"
