Imbroglio
Chapter 9
Sincerest apologies for the lack of timely updates- you all know I would have posted
sooner if it were at all humanly possible, right?
This chapter talks a little about a post-blended Jacob Carter and makes some
assumptions about how his daughter (and the Air Force) dealt with his departure
from the planet. There is no tie-in here with my story, 'Death and Taxes'. Just
another version of what might have happened. I'll shut up now so you can read…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Please tell me this is the first time you've done this Jack." Jacob Carter asked
uneasily as he watched his daughter's Commanding Officer blithely open the front
door.
"Doors? Been opening these for years Jacob." Jack replied dryly as he placed the
keys on the entry table.
"Yes, but have you opened *Sam's* door before." Jacob clarified.
Jack gave Jacob a funny look and shook his head. "Hey Selmak," Jack called out as
he entered the living room. "Tell Jacob to stop looking for things that aren't there
and to focus instead on Carter's meticulous filing system."
Jacob held up his hands in defeat. "All right, all right- I'll shut up. I just thought it
was strange you had Sam's apartment key."
"Would it make you feel any better if I told you that I actually got the key from
Daniel?" Jack said looking behind his shoulder as he ventured into the smaller
second bedroom that served as Sam's study. Although he had only been inside
Sam's apartment twice before, his military mind had made a note of where all the
major rooms (and exits) were located. Occupational habit.
"Yes Jack, it would." Jacob said resisting the urge to slap the younger man on
the side of his head. He was purposefully being obtuse and Jacob was way too tired
to play games. Both he and Jack had spent most of the night in the infirmary.
Although Dr. Frasier had assured both men that Sam would be fine, Jacob wasn't
going to truly believe that until Sam opened up her blue eyes herself and told him
so.
Jack had gotten it into his head that they should try and get that house Sam so
desperately wanted. And in order to do that, they needed money- preferably *her*
money. Jacob felt strange going through his daughter's house without her
permission and even stranger knowing they were looking for banking information
when he had plenty of money of his own. Well he had when he lived on Earth…
"You know Sam set me up with an account." Jacob said conversationally as he
opened his daughter's desk and carefully moved items about.
"That was nice of her." Jack replied as he opened up the closet and peered inside for
anything bank-like. "I take it, the account was with your own money?"
"Yes Jack, it was with my own money." Jacob replied wondering just how the hell his
daughter put up with this man. "Obviously, I couldn't keep it under my own name
so Sam set up a trust fund of sorts at her own bank."
"So what's the problem?" Jack asked turning back around.
"I forgot the PIN." Jacob said under his breath.
"You what?!" Jack retorted struggling not to laugh.
"I forgot the PIN number to the ATM card, ok?" Jacob repeated clearly embarrassed.
"Sam had offered to reset it to a number I would most likely remember and I told
her that wasn't necessary."
"And then you forgot it." Jack repeated.
"And then I forgot it."
"Jacob, you of all people should know that when Carter makes a suggestion, it's
probably a good one."
"Gee Jack, I didn't know that." Jacob replied sarcastically.
"Hey, you're the one without the cash card…"
After giving Jack his best can-we-please-just-drop-it look, both men went back to
sleuthing.
"Aha!" Jack declared triumphantly as he pulled out a hanging folder marked 'Bank'.
Inside were three smaller manila folders: Checking, Savings and Dad's. "Told you
Carter was anal."
"Jack, could you PLEASE refer to my daughter by her first name?" Jacob asked
clearly frustrated. "I understand using her last name at the SGC and in the field, but
it's very disconcerting having you call my daughter by her last name when the senior
version of 'Carter' is standing right in front of you."
Jack shrugged. "Habit." He paused as if considering something. "How long has
Car..SAM gone by the name Sam anyhow?"
"A long time!" Jacob said with a chuckle. "Sam couldn't have been much older than
8 or 9 when I returned from a tour in Germany and presented my baby girl with a
new Barbie doll. Her mother and I were both shocked when Sam grabbed a pair of
scissors and promptly chopped off most of the poor doll's hair. It was so strange,
because Sam herself had long hair and didn't seem to mind it. The next day she had
me drive her to a mall where she bought Ken doll clothing and dressed Barbie up in
these really silly looking fatigues. She declared Barbie's new name to be "Barb" and
said that from now on we should call her "Sam".
"So it had nothing to do with the whole trying to fit in thing?" Jack asked. He had
sometimes wondered if Carter went by Sam so that people wouldn't dispute anything
she said (as if they possibly could) just because she was a woman.
"Nope." Jacob said turning his head. "That was just an added bonus."
Jack handed Jacob the folder marked 'Dad's' and took a look at the one marked
'Savings'. He gave a low appreciative whistle. "Nice!"
"Jack." Jacob admonished as he opened his own folder. "We're looking for specific
information here, not trying to spy on Sam's net worth."
"But she's loaded!" Jack declared holding up the savings book as Evidence A. He
was clearly shocked that Sam had saved up quite a bit more than he despite the
obvious disparity in rank and pay. He looked questioningly at Jacob hoping for an
explanation.
Jacob sighed and wished he still actually got headaches so he could excuse himself
and take an Excedrin. "In Graduate School, Sam invented some sort of device that
became quite popular with Physicists. I sure as hell can't explain what sort of
microscopic something or other it measures, but Sam patented the thing and still
collects royalties.
"Cool." Jack said clearly impressed glancing down once again at the savings book.
"Jack, we've got what we've come for, can we just get this over with?"
"Jacob, quit being such a pessimist!" Jack said brightly as he closed Sam's filing
drawer.
"This isn't going to work Jack." Jacob replied in a defeated voice as he followed Jack
back to the car. He grimaced as Jack handed him the freshly pressed and laundered
uniform.
"Sure it will General." Jack said giving Jacob a wide grin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Jack, have I mentioned lately that I don't think this will work?"
"Frequently Jacob." Jack replied slightly annoyed as he gripped the steering wheel a
bit tighter. He pulled up to a red traffic signal and turned to face the older man
sitting stiffly in a General's Class A uniform. Although Jack didn't like wearing his
Colonel's uniform any more than Jacob did, he knew the uniforms were going to be
important if they were to pull this off.
"You thought it was a good idea last night." Jack reminded him.
"SELMAC thought it was a good idea last night. I was too busy being overwhelmed
that my daughter was still alive." Jack had nothing to say to that and turned back to
stare at the signal. Yesterday had been one of the longest days of his life. Carter
really had come close to dying and if she had, it would have been entirely his fault.
Jack really didn't think he needed more nightmare fodder, but such was life. The
light turned green and they rode another few minutes in silence.
"Tell me again Jack," Jacob said in a resigned voice. "Why this great plan of yours is
going to work?" Jack flashed Jacob a thankful smile.
"Sam banks at the Wells Fargo in downtown Colorado Springs, right?" Jacob
nodded. "Well, not only is my account there as well, but that whole bizarre probate
thing we did for you last year was also done at a Wells Fargo."
Jacob could only shake his head. "Problem number one Jack; how can I play the
father trump card if I'm supposed to be dead?"
"You're not dead Jacob!" Jack said clearly frustrated.
"I had noticed." Jacob replied in a deadpan voice.
"Jacob, you gotta work with me here at least a little!" Jack grumbled.
Jacob held out his hands. "Apologies. But explain to me again how my being Sam's
dad will help considering this is the very bank that went through the onerous task of
settling my estate?"
"You had an estate?" Jack asked interested.
"Jack.."
"Wow, you sound just like Carter when you say it like that. Well, actually Carter just
uses that tone of voice when she 'Sirs' me. Bordering on insubordination, don't you
think?"
"Jack." Clearly Jacob Carter was not amused.
"Tough crowd." Jack muttered.
"We never said you DIED Jacob, Carter wouldn't let us do that. Although you and
your son weren't on the best of terms at the time.."
"No kidding." Jacob interrupted.
"Sam didn't think it was fair to say that you were dead when clearly you are not."
"I appreciate that, but what about Probate?" Jacob asked.
"Although we hoped you'd come back and visit on occasion, we didn't think you'd be
needing to draw social security anytime soon and the whole AARP* membership had
really lost it's appeal, don't you think?"
Jacob gave a dry chuckle. "Think there's better discounts after you hit 125?"
"You'll live to be 125?" Jack asked truly impressed.
"Selmac is hoping for 150, but considering we didn't blend until I was 65, I'm a little
more realistic."
"You're going to outlive me Jacob." Jack said more troubled by that notion than he
wanted to admit. Humans just aren't meant to live much past 100. But then again,
Jacob wasn't truly human anymore was he?
"Jack, with your lifestyle, I'd probably have outlived you anyhow." Jacob said with a
sigh. "Which reminds me, would you *please* try and not provoke every alien you come
across while you have my daughter in tow?"
"I mostly just piss off the Goa'uld." Jack said defensively. "Most aliens like me just
fine. Hell, the Asgard chose ME to represent the entire planet!"
"You nearly gave away your Stargate Jack."
"An option I was whole-heartily against I might add." Jack said hotly.
"Probate Jack?" Jacob reminded the temperamental Colonel.
//You sure you don't want to come out here and entertain Jack?//
//You're doing fine Jacob.//
//I'd really rather take a back-seat to all of this.//
//General Hammond insisted I remain hidden outside of the SGC, and I concur with
his decision.//
//What George doesn't know won't hurt him.//
//Colonel O'Neill would know.//
//You're no fun at all, are you?//
"Jacob? Are you listening to me here?"
"Sorry Jack. You were saying?"
"We knew you weren't dead, but seeing as you weren't around, it was decided to
gather all your finances and stuff in a central area and make certain the government
didn't try and track you down with social security checks or Medicare or something
like that."
"You had actually helped up out loads by completing a will and signing over all your
liquid assets to Sam and Mark."
"I thought I was going to die Jack, of COURSE I had a will. But seeing as I hadn't
actually died, how did any of you see it?"
"That's where the whole probate thing comes in." Jack said as he pulled into the
parking lot of the bank. He turned off the car and unbuckled his seat belt.
"Look Jacob, I don't really understand it myself, but Hammond and the Joint Chiefs
pulled some strings in order to list you as MIA but not dead. MIA status is all banks
and lawyers need to get the ball rolling on the probate thing."
"But I'm obviously here Jack. It's the Missing in Action part that's lacking."
"Simple tap of the keyboard by the Pentagon and suddenly you're found Jacob."
Jack said smugly. "Military ID is all you need. According to databases around the
world, you're now alive and kicking. The moment you're gone we'll just go back and
say your MIA again."
Jacob just shook his head and grabbed the three folders by his side. "This isn't going
to work Jack, but we might as well try."
"That's the spirit Jacob!" Jack said clapping his hand on Jacob's shoulder. "Let's go
get Carter some money."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N- I know it's too much to ask if it was worth the wait, but are you still enjoying
the story? We're about ¾'s of the way through now, and I'm hoping to finish this up
in two or three more chapters. Drop me a line if I'm still holding your attention, ok?
Chapter 9
Sincerest apologies for the lack of timely updates- you all know I would have posted
sooner if it were at all humanly possible, right?
This chapter talks a little about a post-blended Jacob Carter and makes some
assumptions about how his daughter (and the Air Force) dealt with his departure
from the planet. There is no tie-in here with my story, 'Death and Taxes'. Just
another version of what might have happened. I'll shut up now so you can read…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Please tell me this is the first time you've done this Jack." Jacob Carter asked
uneasily as he watched his daughter's Commanding Officer blithely open the front
door.
"Doors? Been opening these for years Jacob." Jack replied dryly as he placed the
keys on the entry table.
"Yes, but have you opened *Sam's* door before." Jacob clarified.
Jack gave Jacob a funny look and shook his head. "Hey Selmak," Jack called out as
he entered the living room. "Tell Jacob to stop looking for things that aren't there
and to focus instead on Carter's meticulous filing system."
Jacob held up his hands in defeat. "All right, all right- I'll shut up. I just thought it
was strange you had Sam's apartment key."
"Would it make you feel any better if I told you that I actually got the key from
Daniel?" Jack said looking behind his shoulder as he ventured into the smaller
second bedroom that served as Sam's study. Although he had only been inside
Sam's apartment twice before, his military mind had made a note of where all the
major rooms (and exits) were located. Occupational habit.
"Yes Jack, it would." Jacob said resisting the urge to slap the younger man on
the side of his head. He was purposefully being obtuse and Jacob was way too tired
to play games. Both he and Jack had spent most of the night in the infirmary.
Although Dr. Frasier had assured both men that Sam would be fine, Jacob wasn't
going to truly believe that until Sam opened up her blue eyes herself and told him
so.
Jack had gotten it into his head that they should try and get that house Sam so
desperately wanted. And in order to do that, they needed money- preferably *her*
money. Jacob felt strange going through his daughter's house without her
permission and even stranger knowing they were looking for banking information
when he had plenty of money of his own. Well he had when he lived on Earth…
"You know Sam set me up with an account." Jacob said conversationally as he
opened his daughter's desk and carefully moved items about.
"That was nice of her." Jack replied as he opened up the closet and peered inside for
anything bank-like. "I take it, the account was with your own money?"
"Yes Jack, it was with my own money." Jacob replied wondering just how the hell his
daughter put up with this man. "Obviously, I couldn't keep it under my own name
so Sam set up a trust fund of sorts at her own bank."
"So what's the problem?" Jack asked turning back around.
"I forgot the PIN." Jacob said under his breath.
"You what?!" Jack retorted struggling not to laugh.
"I forgot the PIN number to the ATM card, ok?" Jacob repeated clearly embarrassed.
"Sam had offered to reset it to a number I would most likely remember and I told
her that wasn't necessary."
"And then you forgot it." Jack repeated.
"And then I forgot it."
"Jacob, you of all people should know that when Carter makes a suggestion, it's
probably a good one."
"Gee Jack, I didn't know that." Jacob replied sarcastically.
"Hey, you're the one without the cash card…"
After giving Jack his best can-we-please-just-drop-it look, both men went back to
sleuthing.
"Aha!" Jack declared triumphantly as he pulled out a hanging folder marked 'Bank'.
Inside were three smaller manila folders: Checking, Savings and Dad's. "Told you
Carter was anal."
"Jack, could you PLEASE refer to my daughter by her first name?" Jacob asked
clearly frustrated. "I understand using her last name at the SGC and in the field, but
it's very disconcerting having you call my daughter by her last name when the senior
version of 'Carter' is standing right in front of you."
Jack shrugged. "Habit." He paused as if considering something. "How long has
Car..SAM gone by the name Sam anyhow?"
"A long time!" Jacob said with a chuckle. "Sam couldn't have been much older than
8 or 9 when I returned from a tour in Germany and presented my baby girl with a
new Barbie doll. Her mother and I were both shocked when Sam grabbed a pair of
scissors and promptly chopped off most of the poor doll's hair. It was so strange,
because Sam herself had long hair and didn't seem to mind it. The next day she had
me drive her to a mall where she bought Ken doll clothing and dressed Barbie up in
these really silly looking fatigues. She declared Barbie's new name to be "Barb" and
said that from now on we should call her "Sam".
"So it had nothing to do with the whole trying to fit in thing?" Jack asked. He had
sometimes wondered if Carter went by Sam so that people wouldn't dispute anything
she said (as if they possibly could) just because she was a woman.
"Nope." Jacob said turning his head. "That was just an added bonus."
Jack handed Jacob the folder marked 'Dad's' and took a look at the one marked
'Savings'. He gave a low appreciative whistle. "Nice!"
"Jack." Jacob admonished as he opened his own folder. "We're looking for specific
information here, not trying to spy on Sam's net worth."
"But she's loaded!" Jack declared holding up the savings book as Evidence A. He
was clearly shocked that Sam had saved up quite a bit more than he despite the
obvious disparity in rank and pay. He looked questioningly at Jacob hoping for an
explanation.
Jacob sighed and wished he still actually got headaches so he could excuse himself
and take an Excedrin. "In Graduate School, Sam invented some sort of device that
became quite popular with Physicists. I sure as hell can't explain what sort of
microscopic something or other it measures, but Sam patented the thing and still
collects royalties.
"Cool." Jack said clearly impressed glancing down once again at the savings book.
"Jack, we've got what we've come for, can we just get this over with?"
"Jacob, quit being such a pessimist!" Jack said brightly as he closed Sam's filing
drawer.
"This isn't going to work Jack." Jacob replied in a defeated voice as he followed Jack
back to the car. He grimaced as Jack handed him the freshly pressed and laundered
uniform.
"Sure it will General." Jack said giving Jacob a wide grin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Jack, have I mentioned lately that I don't think this will work?"
"Frequently Jacob." Jack replied slightly annoyed as he gripped the steering wheel a
bit tighter. He pulled up to a red traffic signal and turned to face the older man
sitting stiffly in a General's Class A uniform. Although Jack didn't like wearing his
Colonel's uniform any more than Jacob did, he knew the uniforms were going to be
important if they were to pull this off.
"You thought it was a good idea last night." Jack reminded him.
"SELMAC thought it was a good idea last night. I was too busy being overwhelmed
that my daughter was still alive." Jack had nothing to say to that and turned back to
stare at the signal. Yesterday had been one of the longest days of his life. Carter
really had come close to dying and if she had, it would have been entirely his fault.
Jack really didn't think he needed more nightmare fodder, but such was life. The
light turned green and they rode another few minutes in silence.
"Tell me again Jack," Jacob said in a resigned voice. "Why this great plan of yours is
going to work?" Jack flashed Jacob a thankful smile.
"Sam banks at the Wells Fargo in downtown Colorado Springs, right?" Jacob
nodded. "Well, not only is my account there as well, but that whole bizarre probate
thing we did for you last year was also done at a Wells Fargo."
Jacob could only shake his head. "Problem number one Jack; how can I play the
father trump card if I'm supposed to be dead?"
"You're not dead Jacob!" Jack said clearly frustrated.
"I had noticed." Jacob replied in a deadpan voice.
"Jacob, you gotta work with me here at least a little!" Jack grumbled.
Jacob held out his hands. "Apologies. But explain to me again how my being Sam's
dad will help considering this is the very bank that went through the onerous task of
settling my estate?"
"You had an estate?" Jack asked interested.
"Jack.."
"Wow, you sound just like Carter when you say it like that. Well, actually Carter just
uses that tone of voice when she 'Sirs' me. Bordering on insubordination, don't you
think?"
"Jack." Clearly Jacob Carter was not amused.
"Tough crowd." Jack muttered.
"We never said you DIED Jacob, Carter wouldn't let us do that. Although you and
your son weren't on the best of terms at the time.."
"No kidding." Jacob interrupted.
"Sam didn't think it was fair to say that you were dead when clearly you are not."
"I appreciate that, but what about Probate?" Jacob asked.
"Although we hoped you'd come back and visit on occasion, we didn't think you'd be
needing to draw social security anytime soon and the whole AARP* membership had
really lost it's appeal, don't you think?"
Jacob gave a dry chuckle. "Think there's better discounts after you hit 125?"
"You'll live to be 125?" Jack asked truly impressed.
"Selmac is hoping for 150, but considering we didn't blend until I was 65, I'm a little
more realistic."
"You're going to outlive me Jacob." Jack said more troubled by that notion than he
wanted to admit. Humans just aren't meant to live much past 100. But then again,
Jacob wasn't truly human anymore was he?
"Jack, with your lifestyle, I'd probably have outlived you anyhow." Jacob said with a
sigh. "Which reminds me, would you *please* try and not provoke every alien you come
across while you have my daughter in tow?"
"I mostly just piss off the Goa'uld." Jack said defensively. "Most aliens like me just
fine. Hell, the Asgard chose ME to represent the entire planet!"
"You nearly gave away your Stargate Jack."
"An option I was whole-heartily against I might add." Jack said hotly.
"Probate Jack?" Jacob reminded the temperamental Colonel.
//You sure you don't want to come out here and entertain Jack?//
//You're doing fine Jacob.//
//I'd really rather take a back-seat to all of this.//
//General Hammond insisted I remain hidden outside of the SGC, and I concur with
his decision.//
//What George doesn't know won't hurt him.//
//Colonel O'Neill would know.//
//You're no fun at all, are you?//
"Jacob? Are you listening to me here?"
"Sorry Jack. You were saying?"
"We knew you weren't dead, but seeing as you weren't around, it was decided to
gather all your finances and stuff in a central area and make certain the government
didn't try and track you down with social security checks or Medicare or something
like that."
"You had actually helped up out loads by completing a will and signing over all your
liquid assets to Sam and Mark."
"I thought I was going to die Jack, of COURSE I had a will. But seeing as I hadn't
actually died, how did any of you see it?"
"That's where the whole probate thing comes in." Jack said as he pulled into the
parking lot of the bank. He turned off the car and unbuckled his seat belt.
"Look Jacob, I don't really understand it myself, but Hammond and the Joint Chiefs
pulled some strings in order to list you as MIA but not dead. MIA status is all banks
and lawyers need to get the ball rolling on the probate thing."
"But I'm obviously here Jack. It's the Missing in Action part that's lacking."
"Simple tap of the keyboard by the Pentagon and suddenly you're found Jacob."
Jack said smugly. "Military ID is all you need. According to databases around the
world, you're now alive and kicking. The moment you're gone we'll just go back and
say your MIA again."
Jacob just shook his head and grabbed the three folders by his side. "This isn't going
to work Jack, but we might as well try."
"That's the spirit Jacob!" Jack said clapping his hand on Jacob's shoulder. "Let's go
get Carter some money."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N- I know it's too much to ask if it was worth the wait, but are you still enjoying
the story? We're about ¾'s of the way through now, and I'm hoping to finish this up
in two or three more chapters. Drop me a line if I'm still holding your attention, ok?