This is a busy chapter and I hope it makes up for the super short last one. As much as I jump between points of view, I probably should have broker this up into two or three small chapters, but I didn't want to draw it out that long.

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"What the hell are they doing over there?" Pete snarled as he watched Jack run his hands over his fiancee—he refused to believe she'd thrown him out. If O'Neill didn't take his hands off of her, Pete was going to remove them himself.

"Sammy fell hard," Jacob said in an irritated tone. "Jack's checking her out. Standard mission protocol. How about you; you alright?"

"I'm fine," Pete reigned in his anger so Sam's father wouldn't see how badly he wanted to punch something. Right now he didn't know who he was more mad at, Sam or O'Neill. If she wouldn't have ran off with her CO yesterday, they could have worked out their issues. All of this was her fault. The bitch really needed to learn not to push his buttons.

Pete realized Jacob was watching him closely. He wondered if Sam had already lied and told her father the fight was all his fault. Maybe he should play nice and do some damage control. "I just love her so much, ya know?"

"Sure," Jacob replied.

Pete forced a half smile. "Sam makes me crazy sometimes. I react without thinking. I know she enjoys her work, but I worry she's in too much danger. I just wish she wasn't so stubborn about all of this."

"Being on SG-1 is dangerous," Jacob conceded. "But Sammy can take care of herself. She loves being a part of the SGC and she's saved all our backsides. Earth wouldn't be here today without her. I'd never ask her to give that up, would you?"

"Of course not," Pete lied; inside he was cursing. Jacob didn't care if his daughter risked her life? Apparently that snake in his head wasn't allowing him to think straight because no sane father would be okay with allowing his daughter to go galavanting across the universe. Maybe he needed to drive some distance between Sam and her father. He'd done a pretty good job distancing her from her team until yesterday. It was only a matter of time before she came crawling back to him. Until then, it was apparent she didn't have any good influences in her life, and it was his responsibility as her future husband to change that.

OoooOoooOoooO

"Does stuff like this happen very often?" Mark asked Daniel, slightly hyperventilating.

Daniel had been calmly talking with Sam's brother for the past several minutes, trying to prevent the shock he knew was threatening to overwhelm him.

"More often than I'd like to admit," Daniel said, placing a hand on Mark's shoulder and guiding his head between the man's knees. "Take a couple more slow breaths," he directed. "We're safe here."

"And you're ok with almost getting blown up?!"

"I admit it's dangerous out here," Daniel conceded, "but you're only seeing one side. There are many more good guys than bad guys."

"The bad guys just have the fire power," Mark said, finally breathing normally.

"Don't they always," Daniel agreed, happy to see the man was slowly coming out of his state of panic.

Mark stood up and looked around, his eyes settling on his sister and her CO several yards away. Daniel followed his gaze to see Jack slowly checking Sam for injuries. The way his hands ran across her skin under her shirt was almost sensual; certainly not how an officer usually checked a subordinate. It was something Daniel had witnessed at least a dozen times, but each time he felt like some sort of voyeur.

"Is Pete right?" Mark asked softly. "What's going on with Sam and O'Neill?"

Daniel weighed his options, but finally settled on the truth. "Sam and Jack have never crossed the line."

Mark turned to him with a disbelieving look. "That wasn't my question," he looked back at the couple.

"How are you both doing?" Jacob asked, walking up with Pete beside him.

"Uninjured," Mark said, tearing his eyes away from his sister, "but definitely shaken up."

"Sounds about right," Jacob clapped him on the back. "Just so you know, it's not like this all the time. Some days we're the ones doing the shooting."

"That makes me feel so much better," Mark rolled his eyes, causing Daniel to laugh. Sam's brother might be a civilian, but he definitely had some of that Carter fire running through his veins.

OoooOoooOoooO

"There's good news and bad news," Jack announced as he and Sam rejoined the group. He made sure to keep himself between Sam and the slug. She had to play nice, but at least he could run interference whenever possible. "Good news is we got away. Bad news is we can't gate back home."

"Why not?" Mark asked, looking a little panicked. Jack had to hand it to him, not many people could handle their first Stargate experience immediately followed by almost being blown up, and come out of it not shaking in their boots. Regardless of his feelings about the military, Mark was a Carter through and through.

"This is an IDC," Sam held it out to him. "When I was thrown backwards, it broke. I need to fix it so the SGC knows to open the iris."

"That thing you said kept enemies out?" Mark's eyebrow quirked. "The one that keeps people like us from rematerializing?"

"That's the one," Jack said gleefully.

"Oh," Mark paused. "Can you fix it?"

"Of course she can," Jack bristled in her defense. "Carter is the foremost expert on everything Stargate related, and besides, she can fix anything."

"Thank you, sir," Sam smiled as Mark sent her an 'in awe' look.

OoooOoooOoooO

Jacob looked up as Jack sauntered up next to him. Daniel and Teal'c had taken Pete and Marc to clean up in a nearby creek. Sam was diligently working on the IDC, which left Jack with not much to do besides annoy dad. "So where'd ya bring us?"

"A small, supposedly uninhabited planet," Jacob replied without taking his eyes off the virtual map displayed in front of him. "The Tok'ra used to stash weapons and technology at a hidden outpost four clicks north of the Stargate on this planet," he pointed to the map.

"Looks like pretty rough terrain between here and the outpost," Jack said calmly.

Jacob watched SG-1's leader digest the information in front of him. The first time he'd met Jack, he hadn't been impressed by the young and overly sarcastic Lieutenant. Over the years, however, the name O'Neill kept popping up on several impressive briefing reports that crossed Jacob's desk. When he'd finally met him again as a seasoned Colonel and the commander of SG-1, Jacob had to admit his opinion had greatly changed. The man before him was one of the best officers he'd ever met, and he was pleased Sam was serving under him. That was until Jake noticed Jack noticing Sam.

"You ever known the Tok'ra to do anything the easy way?" Jacob replied with a self-depreciating laugh.

"Nope," Jack answered, popping the 'p' in the same way Sam had earlier.

Hiding his smile, Jacob wondered, not for the first time, how much Jack had to do with Sam calling off the wedding. From what George had told him, Pete was more than a little upset with her. If he hadn't been assured that Jack was with Sam the entire time after the assault, Jacob probably would have done more than let Selmac scare the crap out of the coward who'd struck his little girl. Of course he knew his little girl would wring his neck if she could hear him call her that.

"Sam alright after that blast?" Jacob changed the subject.

"She's got a couple of bruised ribs, but she's had worse," Jack answered in a dark tone. "You really should have given us a heads up about the glider attack."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jacob asked. "The Death Glider was your people."

"No, it wasn't."

"Yes, it was."

"Jacob, I swear it wasn't us," Jack said seriously. "If it was one of my men, I would court martial them for injuring Carter."

"Then who the hell tried to kill us?" Jacob practically yelled.

"The better question is who the hell knew we were going to be there," Jack growled. "Did you inform the Tok'ra High Council about our plan?"

"No one knows," Jacob admitted. "I had just finished an undercover mission when George contacted me. I left without telling anyone."

"Fantastic," Jack cursed. "Then the SGC probably has a mole."

"So are we actually cut off from help?" Jacob realized.

"It gets better," Jack sighed. "The IDC really is damaged. Carter found it strange that it broke so easily in her fall, but I'm beginning to wonder if it was tampered with to begin with."

"Damn," Jacob said under his breath as a thought suddenly crossed his mind. "We're sitting ducks here."

"My thoughts exactly," Jack agreed. "The only saving grace is we had no idea where you were taking us, so neither does the mole."

"It won't take whoever is after us long to figure out where we went," Jacob said, "not if they know how to download the data from the DHD control crystal."

"We need to let Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c know the situation has changed and come up with a plan B," Jack turned to gather his team.

"Jack," Jacob waylaid him, "George filled me in on what happened with Sam back home."

"I assumed," was Jack's only reply.

"He also told me you showed up at the perfect time."

"A little too late I'd say," Jack gritted his teeth.

"I know we haven't always seen eye to eye, but for what it's worth, thank you for protecting my daughter."

Jacob expected a glib remark or sarcasm from the younger man, so he was surprised when Jack just nodded before heading off toward the others