The meeting wasn't as long as it would have been if Jack had managed to make it there that morning. Most of the original attendees had been unable to make it due to other plans they had made, and those that did make it were there only to get the low down on the Stargate project and to give him the details of next year's budget, dismal as it was. Jack struggled with the politicians, making a little headway on the budget issue and finally made his escape.
He went back to the hotel and packed his bag to take the next flight out of Washington, hoping to get out before the powers that be changed their minds and decided they needed him there for another day, or worse, another meeting.
He pulled into his own driveway later that night, glad to be home and grabbed his bags from behind the seat. Unlocking the front door, he entered the house and put the bags down by the door. He grabbed a beer from the fridge and had settled in a chair in the living room when the phone rang. He decided to let the answering machine get it and closed his eyes. It had been a long day.
He looked toward the phone when he heard Sam's voice telling him that she was just checking to make sure he got home okay and that she would see him tomorrow. He smiled as he thought about the Colonel. He refused to think about the deeper feelings he had toward her, but he did dwell on the fact that she was an amazing woman. She was brilliant, beautiful and had a smile that would bring him to his knees if he'd let it. Carter was a permanent fixture in his life, as a colleague and a friend, even if she did marry that creep, he thought uncharitably. He took another drink of the beer and let his thoughts turn to another beautiful woman named Lanie.
He had promised her that he would call his father and he was still trying to get up the nerve to do so. His father was a good man, but the death of Jack's mother had turned the normally loving father into a monster that Jack didn't even recognize. It didn't help when three years later his father married a woman who had promptly seduced the naïve young Jack, then blamed Jack when his father caught them at it. The beating Jack received was the last straw for him and he left home to go live with his grandfather. A few years later he joined the Air Force. He had been determined to show his father that he could be a better person than the bastard who kicked the crap out of him all those years before, but the fallout had been permanent and Jack hadn't seen him since.
His father had called when Charlie died, but Jack wasn't interested in anything but his own grief and the conversation was brief. He wondered now what the old man wanted when he'd called.
Sighing, he got up and went to look for his phone book wondering who to start with. He supposed the number he had for his father wouldn't be any good anymore, but thought maybe his Uncle would have it. Hell, he might be able to avoid talking to his father altogether if his Uncle would tell him what he wanted to know. That's the ticket, he thought to himself as he went over to the phone.
He dialed the number, but realized that it was much later in his Uncle's time zone and hung up after the first ring. He would call him tomorrow, all the while knowing that this was just another stall tactic. He finished his beer and headed to his bed to get some sleep.
The klaxons were blaring when Jack stepped out of the elevator on the 28th level of the SGC the next morning. He hurried to the control room to find out what was going on and the technician on duty told him that they were receiving SG-8's IDC. "Open the iris," Jack told him.
He watched as the members of SG-8 walked out of the wormhole and down the ramp and nodded when Colonel Bergman gave him a thumbs up. "We'll debrief in an hour," he told SG-8 through the microphone then headed for his office to get the day started.
Two hours later, Jack decided to give up on getting anything done. His mind just wasn't on his work; he was still mulling over the fact that there was another duplicate out there. He was starting to lose count on the number of duplicates he'd encountered, not even remotely flattered that anyone would want to duplicate him in the first place.
He headed toward Daniel's office to give himself something constructive to do, only to find that his friend was nowhere in sight. "Hey Daniel," he called out. "Daniel, where are you?"
There was no answer and Jack turned to leave, thinking he would see what Carter was up to, when his eyes landed on the tablet laying on Daniel's desk. Curiosity overcame him and he walked to the desk to get a better look at the object that held Daniel's current fascination.
The tablet was made of a substance that looked like stone or concrete with elaborate writings on the front of it. There were several sheets of paper and a notebook next to the tablet where Daniel had made some notes and what looked like doodles. Jack tried to decipher Daniel's chicken scratches, but decided he would wait for the condensed version. He didn't want to take away all of Daniel's glory, he thought with a grin.
Daniel chose that moment to walk into the office with a cup in his hands, gave Jack a quizzical look, then said, "Hey Jack, I see you've finally made it here."
"Daniel," Jack countered. He picked up the notebook and waved it at the archeologist with determination, "Care to tell me what this is all about?"
"Thought you'd never ask," Daniel said with a grin. He put the cup down on the desk and picked up the tablet, "This part here tells about the Go'ulds…"
