Mac pulled his wife into an embrace when Jack had climbed the stairs. He knew she was feeling the same horror he felt at Jack's loss and he hoped to give her some comfort. God, he couldn't bear to even think of losing one of his own children.

He held her for a few minutes, kissing her hair and stroking her back, until she pulled back and looked into his eyes. "Are you okay with this brother thing?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think I am. I'm not as positive as you are, but if it is true then…, well; it'll be nice to have a brother."

"He lives in Colorado Springs," she said teasingly. "We could go visit him when we visit Cyndi in Grand Junction. You love visiting my sister, or should I say the mountains, seeing as you leave me on her doorstep and head out to the nearest forest the minute we get there," she said her eyes sparkling.

"Have I told you lately that I love you?" Mac said, as he hugged her again. He kissed her and she put her arms around his neck, returning the kiss with fervor.

"Mmmm," she said when the kiss ended. She put her forehead up against his and smiled at him, "Not often enough."

"I say it at least six times a day," he said smiling back at her. "You just don't hear it."

"Uh huh," she said sounding totally unconvinced. "Nice come back, though."

He laughed as he pulled her back into another hug before telling her, "I'll go take 'my brother' to his meeting. You going to be alright?"

"Yes," she said with a grimace. :"Another day in paradise cleaning the house, picking up the…. Oh my God!" she exclaimed, as her eyes grew wide and her hand flew to her mouth. "My interview! I forgot all about it. Why didn't you remind me Mac?" she accused as she flew up the stairs to go get ready.

"Relax!" he called up after her. "You still have at least three hours to get there."

Jack came down a few seconds later and shook his head as he looked back up toward the landing. "She related to a tornado?" he asked. "She damn near knocked me down!"

"She has a job interview today and she just now remembered it," Mac replied with a grin. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah," Jack said. "You don't have to give me a ride you know. I'll call for one. But thanks anyway."

"I'll take you there. We can talk on the way, compare notes and figure out how to get Lanie to back down on this mission she has decided to take on."

"Do you think you can?" Jack asked perking up.

"Nah, not really. Once she sinks her claws into something, there is no letting up. She would have made a great lawyer," Mac said with a great deal of pride as he led the way out the door to his car.

The ride wasn't all that bad, especially since the traffic was light. Mac tried to get Jack to open up about his life, but Jack proved to be a very private person, telling Mac that his job was highly classified and that there was nothing about his personal life to talk about. Boring was the word he used.

Mac didn't buy most of it, but he still tried to get his companion to open up. He struck pay dirt when Jack talked about his friends.

"I have a few friends whom I work with and we spend some of our off-time together. I will admit that they are almost like family, but will deny it with my dying breath if you tell them I said that," he said with a grin.

"I know what you mean," Mac agreed. "I have a few friends that have been inducted into my family whether they wanted to be or not."

"What about you?" Jack got around to asking. "What did you do before you retired?"

"I worked as an investigator, sort of. I had to go and find people and other objects that needed finding. Actually, I did a lot of odd jobs for my boss, and most of them got me into more trouble than I care to think about."

"Trouble follows you around too?" Jack asked with a chuckle. "I always thought it came with my job."

"Yeah, I did too," Mac said, as he grinned at Jack.

There was silence for a few minutes before Jack said, "My cousin used to tease me about my being adopted. He said his father told him about it, so it had to be true. But I just ignored the taunts for the most part because my parents told me it wasn't true. Now I wonder if it really was."

"I don't know," Mac said with a frown, "we look so much alike."

"Yeah," Jack agreed, and Mac noticed that Jack had this strange look on his face.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," Jack replied, with a shake of his head.

They reached the hotel and Mac let him out at the front door. "Jack," he said, as his passenger got out. "No matter what, keep in touch. We were thinking of going out to Grand Junction to visit Lanie's sister. Maybe we'll stop by to visit you, that is if you would like us to."

"Yeah, that would be nice," Jack said and Mac was surprised to hear the conviction in his voice. "You guys would be more than welcome."

"Really?" Mac couldn't help but say. "I had the impression you didn't want anything to do with us."

"If you really are my twin brother, we have a lot to talk about and catching up to do," Jack said with a shrug. "Come out and visit me. And yeah, you can even bring the shrew."

They both laughed at that and Mac said, "I will. She would have a fit if I didn't."

"See ya," Jack said then grimaced as they both heard someone shout, "General O'Neill!"

"Duty calls," he said with a sigh.

Mac watched as Jack backed away from the car and turned to the three service men that were heading their way. The airmen all came to attention and saluted before following the General as he walked into the hotel.

Mac grinned as he remembered the pained look on Jack's face as he saw the airmen heading his way, then put the car in drive to make his getaway. He was already making vacation plans in the Colorado Rockies as he pulled away from the curb.