Jacob woke confused at first not recognizing where he had fallen asleep. As his eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness around him, Jacob realized he was in the spare bedroom of his daughter's home. With that realization the events of only a few hours ago came crashing down on him. Jack O'Neill was gone. After the light show, George had ordered the remaining members of SG-1 home to rest knowing Sam and Daniel at least were likely to bury themselves in work in a futile attempt to ignore what had happened. Hammond had found someone to take Daniel home while Jacob took charge of Sam. In the deeply spiritual way that was so much a part of him, Teal'c had retreated to his quarters to meditate. It wasn't his grief that had woken Jacob. though he did grieve for the irreverent colonel he'd befriended over the past few years. He pushed the covers off himself. Jacob moved quickly down the hall to Sam's bedroom knowing with a father's sixth sense that whatever had woken him, it revolved around her. He quietly pushed open the door to her bedroom to peek inside then pushed it wider as he saw the empty bed.
In only a few minutes, Jacob had checked the entire house. He had returned to the guest room and quickly dressed before returning to the last place he'd looked for Sam, the garage. Her car was still parked inside, but the motorcycle she'd lovingly restored over the past few years was gone. Jacob grabbed the spare set of keys from the hook where Sam kept them and backed the car from the garage. He had a fairly good idea where his daughter had gone.
Twenty minutes later he pulled in beside Sam's motorcycle. He pulled the key from the ignition of Sam's little sports car but sat there for several minutes debating with himself just what he should do. He knew Sam would be embarrassed to have him find her here. He didn't want to embarrass her, but he couldn't just leave her here by herself. With Selmak's urging, he got out of the car and approached the closed door. His first thought had been to go around back to the rooftop observatory, but he somehow knew that wasn't where he'd find Sam tonight. He quietly turned the handle then breathed a sigh of relief to find it unlocked. He'd only been here a few times in the past few years. The first time had been during his first visit with his daughter after his joining with Selmak. On each of the previous occasions he'd never ventured beyond the first floor. Jacob climbed the stairs as quietly as he could. He looked in each door in turn before finding what he was looking for at the end of the hall.
He wasn't even aware of the tears that fell as he looked into the master bedroom through the half open door. Jacob could vividly recall being where his daughter was now. After his wife's funeral, he'd retreated to their bedroom. He'd told the children he was still suffering from jet lag and was going to lie down to rest for awhile. He'd laid down, but not to rest. From beneath his wife's pillow, he'd pulled her practical cotton nightgown. He'd buried his face in it and inhaled his wife's unique scent. He'd cried like a baby until he'd finally given in to how exhausted he truly was and fallen asleep. The next morning he'd put the nightgown back under the pillow and gotten up knowing Mark and Sam needed him, but every night after he would pull her nightgown from beneath the pillow and drape it over his own so that as he fell asleep he could pretend, at least for a little while, that his wife lay next to him. Sam had taken over the domestic chores for her mother, but Jacob had insisted on cleaning his bedroom not wanting anything in that room changed. It wasn't until he was next transferred that his wife's belongings had finally been boxed up and placed in storage.
Sam lay in the center of the large king-sized bed cocooned in the cotton bedding. Her arms were wrapped tightly around a pillow damp with her tears. Jacob knew without looking that the black cotton covering his daughter's shoulders was that of Jack O'Neill's t-shirt and not one of her own. The bed dipped slightly as Jacob sat on the edge, but Sam didn't wake. He touched her shoulder lightly as he whispered, "Sam. Wake up, princess."
"Dad?" she murmured in confusion as she lifted her head from the pillow. Her voice was rough from crying. Jacob's keen eyes noticed her red swollen eyes and the tear tracks trailing down her cheeks. "How?" she asked still in the confused state somewhere between sleep and truly being awake.
"Anise," Jacob whispered in reply as he brushed a fallen blonde lock from her face.
"Dad, the colonel and I never..."
"I know," he told her lifting her by her shoulders into a sitting position. He wrapped her in a crushingly tight hug. "And that makes it even worse doesn't it, baby?"
Fresh tears poured down Sam's face as her entire body shook with the force of her sobs. Jacob rocked them both side to side as he murmured soothingly to her. When her tears quieted, Sam pulled back from her father's embrace. "He's not dead," she stated militantly.
"I heard the explanation," Jacob soothed.
"He spoke to me at the end," Sam admitted. "In my head..."
Jacob watched his daughter stare at him waiting for his response. The expression on her face made it more than clear she didn't expect him to believe her which to be honest would be the reaction of most, but then most people didn't have a sentient snake living in their head either. "What did he say?" Jacob asked.
Sam's expression turned to one of guarded relief that he hadn't dismissed her out of hand. "He said he knew you couldn't really heal him," she told her father.
"Selmak and I would have done our best," Jacob temporized.
Sam squeezed her father's hand between both of hers. "I know you would have," she assured him. "So did he, but it wouldn't have been enough. All you could have done was delayed his death a few months. Jack had training with nukes. He knew what he was in for if you'd managed to stop him from dying today."
Jacob nodded.
"He said he'd find a way to come back," Sam whispered. "He promised."
"Then he will," Jacob told his daughter. "Jack O'Neill keeps his word."
Sam nodded slowly.
Jacob swept an appraising look over her from head to toe. "Sleep, baby" he told her as he gently shifted her so that she lay on her side. He tucked the covers back around her. "You need to sleep," he repeated brushing a wisp of hair from her forehead. Jacob rose from the bed and padded quietly over to the rocking chair in the corner of the room. He pulled the throw from over the top and draped it over himself before closing his eyes to sleep.
In the corner of the room, a solemn figure took one last look at the woman in the bed then turned and stepped directly through the wall having done what he could for her by leading Jacob here.
