"It's the Tok'ra ICD, sir." They were informed as Hammond and Daniel entered the gate room.
"Open the Iris." Hammond ordered.
With the clink of the Iris opening, the event horizon came into view and out of the blue swoosh came Jacob Carter.
"Jacob." Hammond smiled.
"Hello George." Jacob greeted, the wormhole closing behind him.
"It's good to see you."
"It's good to see you too." He said getting to the bottom of the ramp. "The message said it was important."
"That message was sent over five months ago, Jacob." Hammond said amused.
"What can I say? There's a lot going on in the universe." Jacob smiled, he looked to Daniel and nodded in acknowledgement of his presence.
"A lot going on here on Earth." Hammond told him.
"You can fill me in later-now where's my baby girl?" Jacob asked. Hammond and Daniel shared an uncomfortable look between them "You're not telling me she's finally found her way off the base, has she?" Jacob joked.
"That's part of filling you in." Hammond said nervously.
Jacob's eyebrows went up interested. "Best get started."
"Jacob, Jacob wait-" Daniel said running after him towards the elevator.
"I'm going to drag her back here kicking and screaming if I have to!"
"I don't think that's going to work." Daniel objected.
"She is throwing away everything she has worked for!" Jacob objected.
"She believes it's for a good reason," Daniel started before he looked around and said quietly to Jacob. "And I'm not sure I don't believe her."
Jacob looked to Daniel and raised an eyebrow "You think she could be right?"
"I'm saying there is some questionable evidence coming forward. Jacob, uh, a bit of advice-" he said, holding out a post-it note in front of him. "Go there."
"This isn't Sam's address." Jacob said looking at the address. "What the hell is going on?!" Jacob asked. He knew that address. Why did he know that address?
"Sam will explain." Daniel said quietly before he walked away.
Sam was the one who answered the door and her eyes went wide seeing her father standing at Jack's door. "Dad!" she said surprised.
Jacob looked his daughter up and down her, where his eyes narrowed in on her slightly swollen abdomen; he looked up into his daughter's eyes whose nod only confirmed it. Their silence was broken by the sound of Jack calling through then appearing at the door. "I have the telescope set up. We should be able to see at least half the Milky Way-" he joked then abruptly stopped upon seeing Jacob. "Dad!" he exclaimed and smiled happily.
"You!" Jacob growled as he leaped forward into the house, Jack hot footing it through to his living room, his expression quickly having gone from delight to mildly terrified.
"Dad!" Sam called after him. "Dad, wait!" Sam objected as she shut the door rolling her eyes.
"It's not what it looks like!" Jack called from the other side of his coffee table.
"It looks like my daughter has left the Air Force and got knocked up by her loser commanding officer!" Jacob quipped.
Jack looked at Sam then shrugged. "Actually- then it is what it looks like." He joked, as he ran across the room, grabbed Sam, and held her in front of him like a shield. "Don't let him kill me, Carter, our Almond needs their father!"
"Dad!" She reprimanded him "Calm down!"
"I'm going to kill you with my bare hands Jack O'Neill, you… you zebala shol'va!"
"I want to talk to Selmak now!" Sam demanded.
A calm came across Jacob's face as his head dipped for a fraction of a moment followed by a familiar change of voice. "Jacob is in some distress, Samantha."
"Selmak." She smiled. "You need to talk some sense into Dad."
"Based on the evidence I can understand-" Selmak smiled.
"Did Uncle George not explain what's going on when Dad arrived?" Sam asked.
"General Hammond explained the situation. You believe the Aschen have ulterior motives because Colonel O'Neill-" Selmak looked round, catching Jack's eye with a less than impressed look on Jacob's face. "-believed it."
"No, I trusted Jack's judgment as my commanding officer. I was listening to his instincts. If Dad remembers anything of his Air Force training he'd remember we trust a senior officer's instincts, even over our own, that's what I was doing for three months before I found enough evidence to form my own opinion. Selmak, I am not being coerced. When I left the Air Force, the Aschen on Earth were implementing a vaccine program. I am still trying to prove that the vaccine is actually a worldwide sterilization programme instigated by the Aschen." Even Selmak looked surprised by this. "Now will he listen?" Sam asked impatiently.
Jacob's head bowed briefly as a worried expression came across his face. "Sterilization? As in..." Jacob asked, waving his hand at her abdomen, quieter and calmer.
Sam nodded. "Let us explain." Sam said quietly. "Dad, please?" she asked of him.
Jacob snarled at Jack around her "We aren't done yet!" he warned Jack.
"Yes Sir." Jack acknowledged obediently with a hangdog look on his face.
Jacob took a deep breath in and back out again, amazed at the narrative the two explained of the past (a little over) six months. They had their own file of research, most of which they obtained illegally, smuggling out of the mountain from their friends.
"These are extraordinary claims!" Jacob exclaimed.
"But you're listening." Jack observed.
"Your current predicament makes it hard to ignore." Jacob smart-mouthed Jack.
"Dad." Sam said, rolling her eyes.
"What?" he asked innocently.
"We need to know if you're on our side, not some snarky quip about Jack and I being together."
Jacob looked down and nodded "I'm not sure what to say," he said honestly "the evidence you have is preliminary," he said with a raised eyebrow "but not without merit. I just can't believe George has been pulled in this easily."
"It's not so easy at all. He's hoping for a way out of the mess with the System Lords, the war could go on for years yet. He's trying-" Jack said, throwing a scrunched-up piece of paper across the room "-to find a way out of that, and has tunnel vision about it."
"What I don't understand is why they haven't taken you both seriously?" Jake asked.
"They thought I was being difficult because they aren't the Asgard so I didn't trust them." Jack mumbled.
"They thought I was crazy for not trusting the vaccine without us testing it first. Kept telling us our own biology was too complicated for us to understand." Sam said quietly. Her tone clearly indicated what she thought about being told that.
Jacob looked between them. "Ummm," he smiled inwardly "So, when are you going to tell your old man just how far along you are, or when exactly you got married?" he asked them.
Sam looked at her dad wide eyed "How-?" she asked him.
"Your left hand, Mrs O'Neill." Jacob chuckled.
"Oh!" Sam said surprised at her own hand." "Yeah."
"I suppose you didn't want to wait for me because of the bump?" Jacob asked her.
"Dad, we would have loved it if you were there. It's just-"
"It's okay." he said, nodding. "I might not have given you away to that clown." he said, teasing Jack again.
"I'm sixteen weeks and 5 days. Janet printed us some pictures." Sam told her father, ignoring the comment and reaching for the printouts.
She handed Jacob the printout and smiled nervously. "Meet your new granddaughter."
"A girl?" Jacob smiled looking at the ultrasound "It's so clear." he remarked nodding his head. He looked at Sam then down at her neat little swollen stomach. "May I?" he asked her.
Sam was surprised but nodded all the same. Jacob was rarely tactile. but as his hand touched her stomach a huge smile came across his face. "My baby girl is having a baby girl," he said, moving his hand back again. He paused, his eyes down and he nodded gently. "You really believe this is some master plan to commit genocide?" he asked them, to which they both nodded. "Tell me how I can help?" he asked them.
"We need to slow down their influence, at least until we know for sure. We need you to go back to the Tok'ra high council and explain, get them on our side." Sam started.
"We know it's a big ask, freedom from Goa'uld is a tempting offer." Jack continued, "but we need to think about the bigger picture, do we want our races to continue to exist in a thousand years or so."
"This is why you both left the Air Force?" he asked them, admiring their convictions at last.
"Yes Dad." Sam said quietly.
"And all this, being married and a kid on the way, is a by-product, not the aim of this particular venture?" he asked them.
"Absolutely." Jack spoke for them both as Sam nodded in earnest.
He paused for a moment, a serious look on his face before he told Jack "You. A word outside. Now." he said standing and not waiting moved towards the kitchen.
"Yes Sir." Jack said, then he whispered as he walked past Sam "You better follow us; so, you know where to find the body." Sam chuckled at her husband, once again he made her smile.
Jack shut the door behind him and was surprised when Jacob stayed on his small patio just outside the door.
"She thinks I'm giving you a piece of my mind out here-" Jacob started, "maybe I should."
"But you're not?" Jack asked him
"You know she's my only daughter, above everything else I want her to be happy." Jacob told Jack. "That douche, Jonas, was everything a father dreads for their daughter and she was under his spell. I don't know exactly all the details, but I can imagine." He gave an empty chuckle "Can you imagine it? Twenty years from now your little girl is walking through the door with an abuser." Jacob turned and looked out over Jack's garden.
"Look, Jacob-"
"She worships you." Jacob interrupted. "I could tell the first time we met she was in love with you, and when you got stuck in the glider, she was frantic. I've heard a lot of what's happened over the past year or so, most of which I admit has been down to Tok'ra interference, you were willing to sacrifice yourself time and time again to make sure my Sammy is safe."
"She's worth a lot more than me." Jack said quietly.
"Ya she is." Jacob said, frankly. "As her father, I always wanted her to end up with someone like Daniel, someone who could match her intelligence, maybe not in the same field, but someone, nerdy and harmless." Jacob told him. Jack looked downhearted, he looked away, his head bowed and nodded. "But then I've come to realise a few things." Jacob acknowledged. "Did she tell you the day we first met I had her lined up for a job at NASA, I told her she could actually go out to space." Jacob said with a laugh.
"I, um, I couldn't believe she didn't want it, that she was so determined to stay, I thought it was because she was in love with her CO." Jacob shrugged. "That being true, it wasn't the real reason. She could have been with you sooner if she went to NASA. Sam knew what was best for her because she had more information then I did." Jacob shrugged "I do like you, Jack, and I might even grow to like you more as the years go by, as long as you continue to make my baby girl happy, I can accept that maybe, she has more information then me again."
"That's all I want to do, every day for the rest of my life, is make Sam happy."
"I know you do." Jacob acknowledged, "that's why I can let this slide." They stood in silence for a few seconds before Jacob piped up with, "If she asks, I threatened to murder you if you hurt her."
"It's not much of a threat when it's the truth." Jack shrugged and Jacob turned his head towards Jack, "Well, you would kill me, but no one would ever know you were the murderer."
"Damn straight." Jacob chuckled. Again, silence fell between the two men before Jacob looked at Jack "Did you say something about a telescope?"
"Do you need help getting up?" Jacob called down to his daughter.
"Sixteen weeks pregnant, dad, not an invalid." Sam growled as she climbed up the ladder.
Jack grinned and shook his head while Jacob growled back. "I was being a gentleman."
"And I was being the independent being you brought up, dad." she said, reaching the top of the ladder and stepping onto the roof and smiled sweetly at her father "that one is all on you."
Jack chuckled while Jacob rolled his eyes, he looked around the small deck "So this is how you wooed my daughter?" Jacob shrugged.
"No wooing was involved, dad." Sam said. Jacob looked up at them, Sam smiled and said, "what can I say I'm a cheap date. I just wanted to be happy." she sat down and looked at Jack who was looking through the telescope "He makes me happy."
Selmak convinced Jacob not to make any sarcastic comment and instead he shared it with her, Selmak gently reminding him he liked Jack, even before she became involved, Yes, on their first meeting Jacob believed his daughter was in love with her CO, but they had all been through too much together now to deny. Jacob liked Jack, a lot. For a Black Ops trained soldier, he was missing the lunatic fringe Sam usually went for, usually accompanied with a wide age gap. It didn't seem to bother her. Jonas had been nineteen years older, Jack was nearly sixteen years older, but there was something inherently different now.
He watched as Jack turned around from the scope and asked Sam something, she stood and looked through the telescope herself, she seemed to agree with whatever he was saying. Jacob then saw a look pass between them, and suddenly every doubt he had melted into insignificance. His Sammy was looking at Jack O'Neill the way her mother used to look at him; Jack's eyes had softened, and their noses rubbed together before he kissed her on the nose affectionately. This wasn't a longing lust anymore., This wasn't two lonely hearts finding each other anymore. This was love.
"Jacob?" Jack asked.
"Umm?" Jacob said his musings were interrupted.
"Beer?" Jack offered.
"No thanks." Jacob said.
Jack looked towards Sam. "Diet Coke?" he asked her.
"Thanks Jack, not that caffeine free coke crap you bought though, can you get me a sprite instead?"
"Sure thing." He kissed her on the head and wrapped the blanket around her which she didn't seem to have noticed had been tucked against her.
"I'll take a sprite, too." Jacob smiled as Jack headed towards the ladder. Jack nodded.
Jacob looked over at Sam and asked. "What were you talking about?"
Sam offered her father the telescope where he looked through it. "That's the way to P3X-797." Sam told him, he looked up at her and raised an eyebrow "Kind of." She chuckled at her dad's face. "We sometimes come up here and look through the telescope, trying to work out which stars we've been to in the galaxy." Sam explained "Jack says because he can't take me to the stars anymore, he'll bring them to me." she continued quietly.
"Do you regret it?" Jacob asked her, taking the seat beside her.
"I don't regret joining the Air Force or joining the Stargate program. I got to fulfill my dream, dad. I did travel in space!" she said with a smile. "I met some amazing people along the way, none of them I can imagine being without." she admitted "I don't regret listening to my instinct and believing Jack's gut feeling, because dad-" she said, stroking her stomach "I might have been well on my way to sterility, what if it's not this vaccine or the next but it is the next." she admitted "Daddy, I might have taken a vaccine and destroyed my chances of ever having-" she said welling up. "I'm sorry-I don't know how to-"
Jacob reached over and took her hands in his. "You're being so very brave, Sam. This whole thing has turned both of your lives upside down." He said a nod towards the ladder. "He loves you; you know?"
Sam nodded "Yah. Yah I do." she agreed.
"What you're both doing is brave, he'd do anything to keep you both safe." Jacob acknowledged. "And I'm happy for you. Both ." Jacob told her.
Sam looked amazed at him for a moment before she asked. "You like my choice?"
Jacob shrugged "I'd prefer one of those harmless nerds who follow you around the labs-" Jacob pointedly said, where Sam chuckled and shook her head "No, they were never your type." Jacob smiled. "I only ever wanted you happy, Sammy." Jacob told her "And he's not the worst guy in the world." Jacob conceded.
"Daddy?" she questioned him.
"Yah?"
"How are you going to get this past Uncle George?" She asked.
Jacob nodded. "I'll have to play the fool to your plan, and I'll need to convince the high council not to share it with Earth-" Sam rolled her eyes as Selmak took control. "Granted that part shouldn't be too hard."
Sam laughed. "No, I don't think so. So, you both believe us?"
"We know enough to have our suspicions. We shall attempt to contact the Asgard and inform them of your need." Selmak chirped up.
"Thank you Selmak."
"The fondness your father has for this world and, in particular, for certain residents of this world which I also share. Don't tell your father I said this; but he is more than happy at your choice of mate." At a bowed head Jacob came back "I should warn her what happens to mutineers on this planet." Sam laughed.
"You know, dad, those harmless nerds you keep referring to, they're usually really arrogant and usually condescending, and when they try to make a move, it's usually really unpleasant."
"Oh?"
"Well, they're socially awkward, and, um, are usually bad at pick-up lines."
"Oh, come on Sam, it can't be that bad."
"Oh, but it can!" she chuckled. "They come across really strong and often creepy."
"What?!" Jacob said, feeling Selmak's agreement from within.
"Dad, come on, nerdy lab guy, socially awkward, terrible pick-up lines. Holy Hannah. Do I have to spell it out?"
Jacob shook his head at what Selmak was telling him, no boys like that are harmless.
"Dad, they're horny." Sam told him.
"No, now come on-!" Jacob defended.
"Oh, you remember Richard Gethaway?" Sam told him.
"He was a sweet boy!" Jacob remembered.
"Who tried to feel up my skirt into my panties... on your sofa."
Jacob looked shocked, Sam had only been fourteen, he was barely fifteen.
"Yah, there was a reason I wouldn't stop calling him 'Dick' dad. And Luke Oliver?" she paused as her father remembered him "Pinned me to a wall in the chemistry lab and tried to get a little over the clothes to second base."
"That's how he broke his nose?!" Jacob remembered. "Did he?"
"Ew, dad! No! You taught me how to defend myself. I blocked him." Sam objected. "See horny as-"
"Don't finish that sentence, young lady!" Jacob reprimanded her. "Well can't be any worse than your choice."
Sam's nostrils flared even though she could tell her father was teasing her. "Blake was like Jack." Sam said quietly "he'd never-" she said quietly with a little shrug of her shoulders. Jacob looked surprised.
"You were only fourteen Sammy he was seventeen!" Jacob objected.
"He told me I deserved the whole universe at my feet, and he wouldn't stop me. He said that's what you do when you love someone." she shrugged.
Jacob looked down sadly "I didn't know, I thought the motorcycle and the leather jacket-he was leading you astray. I didn't know any of this."
"You didn't listen to what I was saying." Sam said quietly before she took her hand in his again and smiled "I'm glad you're finally listening." she smiled "You wanna stay here the night? The guest room beds are really comfortable. I know from when I've stayed here after team nights."
Jacob looked at her and chuckled "You two aren't loud, are you?"
"Ew! Dad!" Sam exclaimed.
"Because I might have to kill him if I hear that!" Jacob chuckled more seeing how uncomfortable it was making Sam.
"I really don't want to have this conversation with you!"
"Does he sleep in the buff? I'm not sure I want to run into that on my way to the bathroom in the middle of the night." Jake continued, still baiting her.
"We have our own bathroom, dad." Sam complained, clearly grossed out. She couldn't be more relieved when Jack's head could be seen at the top of the ladder.