When Teal'c returned to his quarters two days later he found O'Neill and Carter still in residence. "Where's Danny?" Jack asked as he slipped from the chair he'd been sitting in to take a seat on the bed next to Sam. He gestured for Teal'c to take the seat he'd just vacated.
"DoctorJackson and Skaara have gone to speak with GeneralHammond of protection for Abydos," Teal'c said. "DoctorJackson has convinced the people of Abydos to re-open the mine so they may barter with the Tau'ri for an iris device for the chapa'ii."
"Chapa'ii?" Rabb asked. "You mean the Stargate?"
"Indeed," Teal'c confirmed. "They also wish to speak with Selmak of bartering with the Tok'ra."
"We could use the naquadah," Jacob said.
"So your mission was successful?" Sam asked forcing a calmness into her tone she didn't feel.
"We accomplished all that we sought," Teal'c confirmed as he held Jack's gaze.
Jack nodded in return then turned the conversation back to what they'd been discussing before Teal'c's return. "So you turned up the four missing men?" he asked Webb.
Clayton nodded. "Two of them. Airman Calder was in the morgue," he said. "Sergeant Iza was found trussed up in the trunk of his car outside some bar called O'Malley's. I did some checking on the other two. Rogers and Gaerte were fakes. No record of them other than in the computers. They were assigned to base security. I tried to get some information out of the people at O'Malley's but when I mentioned your name the guy threw me out."
"Carter, Daniel, and I treed the place a few years ago," O'Neill explained as both he and Sam blushed.
"You trashed a bar, Jack?" A.J. asked with a laugh. "You?"
"Daniel threw the first punch," Jack blamed his friend. "What did Iza have to say about how he ended up in the trunk of his own car?"
"Rogers and Gaerte took him out for drinks," Harm told them. "Doesn't remember anything after the first drink. From a stain on his shirt they picked up traces of rohypnol."
"I'm trying to track down missing shipments of the drug," Clay added.
Jack sighed running a hand through his hair. "The date rape drug? It'll be a dead end," he predicted.
"Cassie called from school while you were busy being interrogated by General Moore," Sam told Jack as she set aside the laptop that had been balanced on her outstretched legs. "G. Gordon left a message in her locker at school. He says he's picked up intel that the NID are after something at Area 51. He's gone to check it out."
"What could they be interested in out there, Jack?" A.J. asked remembering what Jackson had said about Area 51 being used for research on artifacts brought back through the Stargate. "Why would it be important enough for him to go check it out?"
"Something that shouldn't be played with," Jack predicted answering the first question. He could only shrug in reply to the second.
"Like rebuilt death gliders," Jacob muttered earning himself a glare from not only Sam and Jack but Teal'c as well.
"There's too much out there to even take a guess," Sam added as she shifted on the bed to give Jack room to scoot back against the headboard. "Is there anyone in D.C. you can trust to do a little checking?" she asked the CIA operative.
"On what?" Clay replied cautiously.
"These addresses," Sam replied handing him the piece of paper she'd been holding in her hand. "They were with the note. I think they're NID owned property, but I can't be sure."
"Gunny could do that," Rabb suggested to Chegwidden who nodded. Harm took the list Sam handed him. "Come on, Webb" Harm ordered.
"Where?" the other man demanded warily.
"Up top," Harm said. "I need to borrow your phone. It's the only one we can be sure is secure." Harm pulled his erstwhile friend from the room leaving the others to talk for a few more minutes before Major Carter's scheduled interview with General Moore and Colonel Rivers.
Without thinking Jack draped his arm across her shoulders, and she let her head fall back against it like a pillow. The movement was so natural compared to the boundaries they'd carefully put in place before they went missing it caused Teal'c to raise an eyebrow.
"What Teal'c?" Sam asked noticing his action.
"Your ordeal has been good for you," Teal'c observed of his two friends. "I believe Master Bra'tac would say 'The demons of your heart have been conquered.'"
Sam and Jack looked at each other in stunned surprise as they considered Teal'c's words.
"You're right, T" Jack admitted finally. "Problem is we have some new demons to take their place."
"You will face these new demons together," Teal'c replied with steadfast conviction.
Sam smiled at him. "Yes, we will, Teal'c," she agreed.
"You're going to resign aren't you?" Daniel asked from the doorway where he stood still dressed in the desert robes of Abydos.
"Yeah," Jack admitted. "I'm tired, Daniel."
"I may stay with the SGC, but not on a team. Our kids deserve to have their parents," Sam added. Daniel could read so much more than that simple statement in the expressions on their faces as they looked at him. Daniel understood they didn't want J.D. and Gina to suffer through the kind of childhood he'd had. They all knew that if Jack and Sam stayed with the SGC their luck would eventually run out leaving the twins without one or both of their parents. In Jack's eyes, Daniel saw the lingering grief for Charlie. Daniel knew Jack regretted how much time he'd spent away from his son. It appeared Jack had no intention of repeating that mistake this time around.
"What are you going to do with your retirement?" A.J. asked.
"I wanna be a house-husband," Jack confirmed as he squeezed Sam's shoulder. A.J., Jacob, and Daniel chuckled lightly as Teal'c's eyebrow crept skyward again. His joke even brought a small smile to Sam's worried face. 'Mission accomplished,' Jack told himself pulling her close.