It took a bit to get Jack ready to go play in the snow with the boys. First, Shelby insisted that they gave his injured knee all the support they could, so she wrapped it tightly, first with an couple elastic bandages, then securing it with a ton of athletic tape to give it even more support. By the time she was finished, he could bend it just a little, but there was no way it would give out on him.

Then it was a little tricky getting him dressed in his snow pants again. He required a bit of help, since he couldn't bend his knee to put them on. It wasn't a problem, really, just a hassle. Shelby had David help him, and with a bit of support from Teal'c, who was already dressed in his own snow clothes, they managed to get him bundled up in a waterproof jacket, a hat and boots.

"You guys take care of him," Daniel said from the sofa when Jack slowly made his way to the door, leaning on Teal'c, although Shawn had offered a bony shoulder as well.

"We will, Daniel," Shawn said, grinning.

"Yeah, it's just sledding. You go up the hill, and then slide back down. What can go wrong with that?"

"I wish they'd stop saying that," Daniel told Darrin as the boys all hustled out the door after O'Neill and Teal'c.

Darrin laughed, and started asking Daniel questions about the last article he'd had published. One that Darrin practically had memorized. With the distraction of the conversation, Daniel soon lost his concern over Jack, and started telling Darrin what he'd been thinking of when he'd written the article, although he didn't tell him just how right he'd been.

~*~

It was mid afternoon by the time Sam had managed to find a place to turn around. There weren't a lot of places even during the summer season, but it was worse when there was a lot of snow tossed by plows covering the few spots that were reserved for just that purpose. Sam had ended up going all the way back to the nearest town and turning around there – after filling her car with gas so she didn't have to worry about running out. When she'd paid the bored gas station clerk, he'd made a little small talk – obviously pleased to have someone to chat with – and had warned her that the Colorado Avalanche Control Center had put out a warning to motorists to watch out for loose snow avalanches caused by the heavy snowfall the night before and the melting that the beautiful weather that day was causing.

"They're not as dangerous as the slab ones," The clerk had told her, as he gave her her change, "But they can bury you and your car if you don't get out of the way in time."

"I'll keep an eye out," She told him, smiling. "Thanks."

She left the store, wondering if they'd had any problems at the lodge, and got back into her car and went back the way she'd come. This time, she continually checked the map, and managed to find what she thought had to be the right road. There was a sign that was being dug out by a CDOT (Colorado Department of Transportation) crew, and Sam thought she saw a bright piece of paper that might have said 'Stephens' on it along with other writing that was impossible to see.

She turned off onto the road, and was waved to a halt by one of the men. Sam stopped and rolled down her window as he came up to the driver's side.

"You shouldn't go any further up this road, Miss," He said, when he saw that he had her complete attention. "There's already been a couple minor slides, and we're clearing things to get some avalanche control measures going. It's dangerous up here right now."

"I have some friends staying at a lodge up the road a ways," Sam told him. "The Stephen's lodge?" She showed him her map.

"We're clearing people out, Miss," he told her, smiling reassuringly. "I don't know if they've made it that far yet, because of the snow slides blocking the road, but they're definitely on the way to them."

Sam looked around, feeling the beginnings of concern. Jack, Daniel and Teal'c were all up there. And she was down here. What if they hadn't been alerted yet? She knew if anyone could get into trouble, it was Jack. Even with Daniel and Teal'c with him to keep him from making a faulty move.

"Damn. What do I do?" She asked the man. "I need to make sure they're okay."

"Not much you can do," he told her. "We lost the phone lines to the last slide – but that won't warn anyone since the phones are always going out up here. If your friends have a cell phone, you can use mine to try and call them – although the cell phones don't always work very well in the mountains on the best of days."

"I have a phone, thank you," Sam said, smiling. The man's idea was a good one. She pulled her car a little to the side to get it out of the way, and pulled her phone from her purse. Daniel and Jack both had cell phones. She dialed Jack's first.

~*~

In the Stephens lodge about 40 miles from Carter's location, a cell phone rang. It was a muffled noise, since it was in a travel bag in a bedroom at the top of the stairs. In the corner of the bedroom, a black lab raised her head, her maternal instinct automatically trying to figure out what the noise was, and where it was coming from, and deciding whether it was a threat to her newborn pups. It rang a few times, and she gave a low woof, as if to warn it away from her squealing puppies, but after a few more rings, it stopped. Shadow wuffled her puppies again, making sure the noise hadn't harmed them, then lowered her head once more with a contented sigh.

A couple minutes later, out in the parking area of the lodge another phone rang. This one was in the cab of a black truck, sitting on the seat where it had fallen when the owner had left the cab of the truck the evening before. No one heard this phone, either, and after about a dozen rings, it went silent as well.