You've sought the truth,
Found a lie.
You've given up, but that
Doesn't make it right.
Jack stopped by his office on his way to the briefing room to spend the remaining fresh-up minutes calming down. He collapsed in the little-used chair in his surprisingly well-organized office. Well-organized did not equate to empty, he realized, glancing over the many piles on his desk: mission reports to write and unread memos, among others. On a whim and as a half-hearted attempt to take his mind of Charlie—at least for now—Jack slipped the top paper from the memo stack and blinked, making sure he read the subject right.
" 'God missing'?" he murmured incredulously. "Oh, for crying out loud!" He glared at the second paper in the stack, the subject of which read "Russians to Visit". Patience running short, he snapped his attention back to the "God Missing" memo and held the page up to the light to check for the official SGC watermark.
He had tried the whole God thing back when Charlie was growing up, because Sara had been raised in a church-going home. Jack even bought into it for a while, starting about six months before Charlie… That was when he knew it did not work, that God or whoever did not exist or did not care about him. Any Almighty Being would not let an innocent child die, especially not Charlie.
The seal was there, the print as official as any other memos he had ever received, perhaps more. Sighing, Jack skimmed over the message, becoming increasingly alarmed as he did.
Subject: GOD MissingA GDO was found to be missing from your team upon your return from P3X-118 this morning. Please report to General Hammond any details as to its whereabouts.
His eyes wide, Jack hustled out of his slightly-less-organized office to speak to General Hammond. He had heard something drop just before he, the last team member left on the planet, entered the 'gate, but thoughts of '118's boy had distracted him from thoroughly checking his gear upon arrival.
Four fresh O'Malley's steak dinners settled on the table in front of SG-1. Nearly immediately, Teal'c dug into his, an Atlanta Braves cap bobbing with his bites. Carter likewise ate as she normally id, but Daniel and O'Neill both took their time, dawdling in their thoughts.
Sensing their sullen moods and anxious to hold a conversation, Carter glanced around to see that no one could hear them. "I can't believe we dropped a G—garage door opener," she commented, glad that the name of the device sounded so commonplace, despite its out-of-the-ordinary purpose.
Jack repositioned some of the mashed potatoes on his plate, likewise glad for the normal-sounding terms. "I heard it hit the ground before I came through the 'gate. At the time, I didn't worry about it; I didn't realize what it was."
Daniel shook his head. "We understand, Jack, but we have to go back. We have to see if it's still there. If the…" He paused, looking for a word that would sound less suspicious than "Goa'uld". "If the people behind us found it and figured out the… frequency… they'll be able to get in any time we leave."
The colonel finally looked up from his meal only to glare at one of his best friends. "Daniel, if we go back there, there's no telling what we'll find…" He stopped mid-explanation as the other three stared at him like cows watching an on-coming train. "What?"
"Sir, you…" Sam began, only to find that there was no good, easy way to tell him.
"Your behavior seems most uncharacteristic," Teal'c stated. "You, most of all, realize that we must return."
Jack pointed his fork at the Jaffa, ready to burst out with a more than reasonable excuse for why they should give up on the GDO. "T, I'm not gonna—" He cut himself off, unwilling to reveal his true motivation for objection, the boy. Finally, after several seconds of incredibly awkward silence, his mind clinched around something they might accept. "That pl-lace is still overrun with unfriendlies. The moment we go back, we'll be shot to pieces."
"I don't think so," Sam replied. "After all, reconnaissance is good for something."
Daniel's brow furrowed, and he turned to his friend, the one person at the table he had known the longest. "Jack, is something bothering you?"
O'Neill's eyes widened for barely a split second. Did Daniel know? Had he picked up something on '118 that allowed him to read minds? Surely, that was not the case, but how could one be sure? "No. Why?"
The other shrugged and assessed the others' equally surprised expressions before turning to the commanding officer. "You wouldn't usually let us sleep until we returned, but now you're trying to keep us here. As Teal'c said, you're not acting like yourself."
Jack rolled his eyes. "If you think it's so important, we'll go," he consented, still glad to have the time away from the SGC. Talking about it was not helping him forget, however. "I'm fine, really."
Note: I own nothing. The song at the beginning of the chapters is by Plus One and entitled "Start to Fly". It is my inspiration for this fic. Please pray that I get more inspiration, or else there will be very few new chapters. Reviews help almost as much as prayer!
