Sam hadn't prayed in a long time but she prayed now. Prayed for Teal'c who did not believe in gods but who would appreciate the sentiment. She prayed for Jack hardest. She prayed and she wracked her brain for a solution to this stupid situation they had gotten into in the first place. The 301 had been one of her ideas and now… now it might cost her a brother and the father of her daughter. Sam chewed at her lip worriedly.
When the missiles didn't work, she quietly spoke… "Digger One, this is Flight. We have no joy on the burn. I'm sorry, Colonel, but the missiles just didn't have enough thrust. Your current trajectory takes you out of the solar system and towards the Oort cloud, which you should reach in a…in a few months. We're all still thinking down here so…don't give up. 1813 Zulu." And Sam's heart shattered. It should have worked. Oh, please think of something Sam! She ordered herself.
When Daniel relayed Anise's information she didn't even need to ask. There was only one person important to her and Jack both that was a Tok'ra.
When the ring transports them, Sam isn't even surprised but she has her gun drawn anyway and trains it on the door.
Jacob Carter walked through exactly as she expected him to. "Are you out of your minds?! What the hell are you two doing here?!" He demanded.
"We were looking for you." She tells her dad.
"Well, you better have a damn good reason because I was twenty minutes away from detonating a weapons-grade shipment of naquadah that would have vaporized a sizable chunk of this planet! Now if I hadn't spotted you two coming through the Stargate…" he informed them.
"You saw us?" Sam asked him surprised.
"Yes, the ship was cloaked. 'Was' being the operative word. Now, they know we're here." He admonished his daughter for screwing up his op.
Not having time for an argument with her dad, Sam cut in, "Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c need your help." She told him, urgency dripping from her voice.
"What happened?" He asked them. This sounded serious and he knew Sam wouldn't let Jack die if there was anything left she could do.
"They're stranded in a disabled Glider headed into space." Daniel told him.
"This was the only ship within range." Sam all but pleaded.
"Good enough. Well, let's go." He told them and headed back to the cockpit.
Sam and Daniel shrugged at each other and followed him.
And while they flew back to Earth, Sam came up with an idea about how to get them into her dad's ship but Jack was going to have to trust her entirely and she told Daniel and her dad so.
And things went well until her dad gave her crap for Earth technology being infantile of all things. She had no idea her dad was trying to take her mind off her worry about Jack because challenging her scientific abilities was too much for her to just let slide.
They bickered for a bit until his ship started sounding like the beat up second hand hooptie it was. And to add insult to injury it broke down in the hood.
Jacob put Daniel to chatting up the local Goa'uld system lord. Meanwhile he and Sam went to the back to try to hotwire his ride. It was close but they got underway before the Goa'uld Daniel tried to convince he was the great and powerful Oz started shooting at them too much.
They got to the stalled out death glider and Sam toggled the com. "Digger One, this is Carter. Do you read?"
"Are we too late?" Her dad asked her.
Sam bit her lip with worry. "I think they're unconscious." She said hopefully.
"Well, we have to wake them up somehow." Daniel said
Sam gave Daniel a 'no shit Sherlock' look. "Dammit, Colonel! We haven't come all this way to take you home in a box, now wake up!" she barked at her desultory lover.
When they don't get a response, Jacob decides to get creative as the ships are nose to nose. "Let me give them a little nudge."
That did it. Jack woke up disoriented and oxygen deprived.
"Colonel O'Neill?" She called him, trying to get him to focus.
"Carter?" He looks out the window. "Carter?" He asks again in surprise to see her.
"Yes sir!"
He can hear the smile in her voice and a very sappy side of him took over. "Hi." He said grinning.
"Hi, sir. We're going to find a way to get you back home safe and warm. What's your reserve oxygen status?" She couldn't afford to indulge him much but she was so relieved to see he was still alive. She explained to them both once Jack unceremoniously woke up Teal'c with a chucked piece of metal. She and Teal'c argued about the feasibility of her plan for a few moments before her dad cut in.
"Teal'c, the only way we can bring you aboard is with the ring transporter. That means you have to be clear of the Glider. You got it?" He demanded of the other man.
Jack was really loopy and making very random observations like dad's ship is bigger that were making Sam choke back hysteria riddled relieved laughter.
She let Daniel run to them first and make sure they were okay. Honestly, she didn't want to be the one if they weren't.
As Jack reached out for Daniel to help him up he called forward to Jacob, "Hey…Jacob…Thanks for stopping by!"
"What the hell? I was in the neighborhood! Yah need a lift home?" he quipped, winking at Sam who bites on her smile.
"Yes sir, thank you." Jack says with relief.
They let SGC know everyone was okay and Davis leaves the com on so Digger two can hear the eruption of cheers. "Yeah! Well done, Digger Two, well done! Congratulations! Now come on home!" Davis said.
Daniel helped Jack over to Sam and they look at each other for a moment before he wrapped her in a hug. "Thank you." He whispered softly in her ear.
She hugged him back. "Let's go home Colonel." She tells him.
"Okay, but I am really cold." He admitted.
"Let's go get you warmed up." She tells him softly as she gently led him out of the room.
"Try to remember that's my bed Sam." Jacob admonished them.
"Dad!" Sam blushed which makes Daniel and Teal'c laugh.
"Oh… was that a secret?" Jacob asked with false innocence.
"No."
"It was not."
Daniel and Teal'c say together.
"Oh god." Sam muttered hanging her head as she helped Jack out of the room blushing furiously.
Jack chuckled softly. "It's not like you didn't know they knew."
She helped him sit down on the bunk. "I know but god... Jack…"
He tugged her hand so she'd sit with him. Once she did he wrapped his arms around her. "I expect a very big hug from that little girl of ours when I get home." He told her.
"Yes sir." She told him chuckling.
"Okay, that's just weird. I'm sitting on your dad's bed, hugging you and you're getting kinky."
"Jack!" She squeaked at him and he chuckled. She grabs her dad's pillow and wallops him over the head with it.
Jack's chuckle rolled into a full laugh. "Thank you for saving me again, Sam." He said once they both stop laughing.
"You're welcome. Get some rest, Jack. We're all right down the hall."
He wanted to ask her to stay and knows he shouldn't. He let her go without a word and huddled under Jake's rather nice pile of blankets and is out like a light within moments.
"Uncle Jack!" Grace squealed at him as she launched herself out of the house at the car door. Janet concluded he shouldn't go home alone but wasn't sufficiently out of shape to stay under her watch. Daniel had put his hands up and announced 'not it' almost immediately.
Sam had rolled her eyes and said she'd take him home that if worst case she could leave him in Marge's care while she went with her dad to Jack or Marge's house.
Jacob was still on base and would bring Jack's truck by later.
"Hey there monkey! I've missed you!"
"You saw me last week." Gracie told him laughing, Her chubby four and a half year old arms around his neck as he'd lifted her for a hug.
"You excited about school yet?" He asked her.
"I can count to ten and know all my colors." She told him.
"I don't know… in first grade you do division."
"Uncle Jack!" She said laughing and kissed his cheek. "No they don't!"
Sam stood with Marge, grinning at their conversation.
"I have a surprise for you." Jack whispered.
"What is it?" Grace whispered back.
"It's a secret. Don't tell your mom."
Grace giggled. Jack whispered something in her ear.
"Really?!" she shrieked.
Jack laughed. "Yah sure you betcha." He told her. "But don't forget it's a secret." He said winking at Sam who covered an amused smile with her hand.
"What's going on?" Marge asked.
Jack's truck rumbled up behind Sam's Volvo and when it stopped Jacob jumped out.
"Grandpa!" Grace shrieked and squirmed away from her father to get to her rarely seen grandfather.
"Jake?" Marge said shocked. She hadn't seen him since he'd said goodbye to her during his cancer treatments. Sam had told her that he'd become a liaison for a group of foreign nationals who had better cancer treatments than the US does.
"Hey Marge. Good to see you. Hey kiddo!" He said and scooped his granddaughter.
"He looks great." Marge told Sam.
"Full remission." Sam said simply as Jack joined her on the porch wearing a heavy sweater under his leather jacket even though it was warm.
Marge looked him up and down. "Again? How many times are you going to get buried in a snowbank before you learn, Jack O'Neill?"
Jack had the wherewithal to look abashed. "It wasn't my fault this time."
"Go inside and get warmed up. I just made a pot of coffee. The afghan is under the end table." She kissed his cheek and shoved him to the door. Marge shook her head. "I don't even want to know. Is he taking the couch or the guest bed or your bed?" She asked Sam.
"Aunt Marge!" Sam said, scandalized.
Jacob was laughing in the background. "Sam, it might help if the two of you weren't so transparent."
Sam threw up her hands and went in the house to plop down next to Jack on the couch with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Everything all right?" He rumbled at her.
"We may as well just shack up together at the rate this is going. Apparently everyone knows how we feel about each other and that other thing will probably be next."
Jack chuckled a little and kissed her temple. "Oh, it's not so bad. It's family, Sam. They were bound to notice."
Sam sighed.
Grace bounded in dragging her grandfather behind her and climbed into Jack's lap. "I'm going to go to school in a couple months, Grandpa, and I'm going to be smart as mommy."
"Yah you are." Jack said hugging her.
Jake smiled. They made an attractive family. He figured if he worked on Jack a little he might get the man to put his feelings ahead of his sense of duty. Or he'd have to talk to George about recommending Jack for General. Frankly, he didn't see a real problem here. Jackson[1] was an old friend of George's. He could probably get them a dispensation if he called in a few outstanding favors. They might have to wait until his rank changes so she's not his direct subordinate.
"Uncle Jack! Grandpa says he's going to get me a chemistry set." Grace told him.
"Can I play with it too?"
"No. It's mine." She told him.
Sam started to laugh. At first it came out a sniggering twitter but the more she laughed the funnier she thought it was and Jack's injured expression just made it worse until she was laughing so hard she was crying.
Finally after she calmed down a little she gave Jack and her dad a sheepish look. Marge was in the kitchen preparing dinner. "I'm sorry. It wasn't that funny." She admitted.
Jack and Jacob exchanged a smile though. Given the level of stress Sam was under the last couple days they both knew it was better than a crying jag.
"Mommy, what's so funny?"
Sam chuckled again. "I have no idea." She admitted which made Jack and Jacob laugh too.
[1] President Jackson Evans as played by actor Jeff Bridges in the Contender (Kinsey hasn't won the election yet) His brother Beau will later play Hank Landry in 2007