Author's Notes: I'm sorry for leaving you all hanging on Mac's condition. It was sort of intentional, I like having cliffhangers in my stories, but I didn't think to let you all know that I am not up to killing off a major character. Not yet.

Secbeth: Let me recover from this fic, okay:-) It is worth thinking about.

Marci: Bob is explained in Chapter 28 - I'm pretty proud of what I came up with especially since he was originally included only to make Mac's life seem more real to life. Who knew Bob was going to end up being a bad guy? And Sam Malloy only makes a cameo appearance in this story, although I may bring him back at the end.

Thank you all for reading this story!


Hospitals had never been on Jack's list of great places to visit. The reason for being in one was more than enough to make him avoid them at all costs. But circumstances in life didn't care what he thought, so here he was making his way down the hallway toward Mac's room. He was glad that this particular visit was going to end happily. The doctor's initial prognosis was correct and Mac was making a speedy recovery.

Carter had insisted on coming with him to visit with the MacGyvers and Jack was secretly glad she did. He knew that she really wanted to talk with Lanie in order to compare notes on their separate findings in terms of the details surrounding Jack's birth, but he was hoping that she would be a help to him in case the women in Mac's family got emotional. He definitely did not want to have to go through that again.

"Carter," he said, as they walked down the corridor, "Could you find it in your heart to be a little supportive of me if those females turn into faucets again?" he said, hoping it didn't sound like he was begging.

"Sir?" she asked, trying to hide her smile. She knew exactly what he was talking about, he thought, as he stared at the traitor in his midst.

"You know better than anyone that I am not capable of dealing with emotional women," he growled. "You may not have to help me, as the Doc says Mac's going to be okay, but just in case," he continued, then stopped and looked around when he realized that someone was watching him.

"What is it?" Carter asked, her suspicions coming into play. She knew him too well.

Jack didn't respond, instead he put his hand out to stop a man who was coming toward him at full force. The man had been smiling as he'd approached Jack, but the smile disappeared when Jack's hand hit him in the chest, causing him to fall back on the floor.

Jack was ready for the guy if he came back up swinging, but was totally surprised when the man just stayed where he was, staring at him with a confused look. "Dad?" the man said.

Jack looked over at Carter to see that she had been ready to do battle as well, but had been just as surprised by the man's question, judging by the look on her face.

"Lanie said that you'd been badly hurt," the man accused as he got up off the floor. He rubbed the place on his chest where Jack's hand had effectively stopped him, while asking, "What's going on? Why'd you do that?"

"Sam!" Pete shouted, barreling past Jack to throw himself into the man's arms.

"Hey kiddo," Sam said, peeling Pete off to get a good look at him. "You've grown at least a foot since I've last seen you," he added with a smile. "Where's your mother?"

"She's in there," Pete said pointing down the hall. "Lindsay is too. I'm glad you're here. Are you going to stay for awhile? I see that you've met Uncle Jack. Where's Trish?"

"Calm down," Sam said with a laugh, then looked up at Jack with a quizzical look and said, "Uncle Jack?"

"Yeah," Pete said, apparently still excited about seeing Sam. "He's Dad's twin brother. Didn't anybody tell you about him?"

"Not really," Sam replied, still looking at Jack. "Dad just said that he may have found a long lost brother, but he didn't mention a twin." He looked down at Pete then back up at Jack, "He sure does look like him, doesn't he?"

"Jack O'Neill," Jack said, holding out his hand to Sam. "And you are?"

"Sam Malloy," came the response as Sam accepted the handshake.

"Nice meeting you, Sam," Jack replied. "I take it you're Mac's other son?" Sam nodded, while at the same time giving Jack a thorough going over. "Sorry about that..." Jack added, as he waved his hand absently toward Sam's chest. "Reflexes. You know."

Sam nodded again, rubbing at the ache in his chest, even as he continued to stare at Jack. Jack was becoming uncomfortable under such scrutiny and was glad when Carter brought Sam's attention to her.

"I'm Samantha Carter," she said with a warm smile. "I normally go by Sam, but under the circumstances…"

Sam smiled back at her, "It could get very confusing," he agreed. "It's nice to meet you, Sam," he added.

"C'mon," Pete said, interrupting what could be the start of a beautiful friendship, Jack thought sarcastically. "Dad is awake or at least he was a few minutes ago."

"How bad is he?" Sam asked as he followed his little brother down the hallway, with Jack and Carter close behind.

"It was touch and go for awhile there," Jack answered, "But he's going to make a full recovery."

Pete and Sam entered first when they got to Mac's room and Jack heard both Lanie and Lindsay squeal with delight when they saw Sam. He rolled his eyes and gave Carter a meaningful look before going in to join them in celebrating Mac's recovery.

Sam was in the process of trying to extract himself from the arms of the ladies in the room, while Mac lay there in his bed with a huge grin on his face. Jack and Carter stayed by the door, unwilling to be a part of the reunion and Jack had just decided to leave and come back later, when Lanie came over and grabbed his arm to drag him over to make the "official" introductions.

"Glad to see that you are doing better," Jack said when he could finally speak to Mac. "We were worried for awhile there."

"I'm going to make it," Mac said. "Of course, if someone had listened to me about not using guns in the first place," he said with a grin.

"I suppose I should have just let them kill me," Jack snarled in defense of his actions. The smile faded from Mac's face, but Jack was too busy dealing with the anger and the guilt Mac's statement brought up to even care. "If you had listened to me, we would have waited for the backup."

"You saved my life Jack. I am grateful," Mac said quietly. "What did happen out there?" he asked.

"Carter's the one who saved your life," Jack said humbly, feeling a little foolish for getting angry. "She takes her first aid training very seriously."

"Thanks Sam," Mac said with a smile at Carter, who had been glaring at Jack. "You know, maybe I should call you Samantha to keep things simple."

"Samantha is better than Carter," she responded with a smile, causing Jack to send her a shocked look. He had personally never thought about it, but then again, he really didn't like the fact that she calls him Sir, either. "Um… No offense sir," she amended.

Jack didn't respond. He just looked at her with narrowed eyes, wondering if he should believe her, when Mac spoke up. "I vaguely remember something about that guy being mad at you for shooting him. Right after he kicked the crap out of me for ruining his well-laid out plans." This was said with a smile, and Jack just shrugged, having decided that Mac didn't blame him for what happened.

"It seemed like the right thing to do at the time," Jack said.

"Sounds like you had an eventful time here in Colorado," Sam spoke up, as he sat down in the chair next to his father. "I thought you were just coming here to babysit some brats." He then had to duck when Lanie came to hit him on the arm.

"They are not brats," she said indignantly. "Well, maybe they are, but just a little." Typical Lanie, Jack thought, as he joined the other men in smiling fondly at her. "Steve's going to be fine, by the way," she added as she glared at Sam. "Thanks for asking."

"Sorry gorgeous," Sam said getting up to give her a kiss on the cheek. "Trish and Katie are in the waiting room down the hall. We weren't sure if they'd let a baby come in here, so they stayed there. I'll just go give Trish a chance to come visit."

"I'll go with you," Lanie said as Lindsay and Pete took off out the door. "Will you be here when I get back Sam?" she said to Carter. "I'm anxious to hear all about what you've found out."

"Samantha and I have to get back to interrogate the bad guys," Jack said, putting extra emphasis on her name. "Besides, I'm sure you would rather be visiting," he added as he took Carter's arm.

"You'll have to meet my wife," Sam said to Jack, as Carter gave Lanie an apologetic look. "She'll be upset if she doesn't get to meet my Dad's twin and I am here to tell you that she can be as bad as Lanie when it comes to nagging."

"Why is it that I miss you when you are not around?" Lanie asked sarcastically, taking him by the arm to drag him out the door.

"Must be my charming personality," Sam said as he followed her out. "I'll be back in a little while, Dad," he added as he looked at Mac. "You going to be okay?" he asked, concern written all over his face.

"Yeah," Mac replied with a grin at his son. "I'm glad you came." Sam smiled back at his father, then followed his step-mother out the door.

"Well, we are out of here," Jack announced, as he nodded at Carter. He felt like an intruder and the best thing for him at this point was to just leave.

Mac had other ideas though, "Wait," he said, "You haven't told me what went down out there." He tried to sit up, but thought better of it and lay back down with a grimace. "That was not so smart," he admitted.

"Hey, take it easy there," Jack scolded, as he came up to the bed intending to force Mac to stay put if he had to. From the look of pain on Mac's face, Jack didn't think he was going to have to.

"Yeah," Mac said. His face had paled considerably and Jack began to really get worried. Apparently Carter was worried, as well, because she sat down in the chair Sam had vacated and took Mac's hand in hers.

"I'm okay," Mac said with a small nod. "That just hurt. A lot. So what happened out there?"

"We got caught by a cat, of all things. Of course, the cat was looking for a mouse that was hiding out under the stairs with us, but that cat told them we were there, I swear it did!" Jack said, only half kidding. He had some definite issues with that cat.

Mac smiled at that. "Thanks again for helping me get Lindsay back," he said as his expression sobered. "I couldn't have done it without you."

"You're welcome," Jack replied. "Although I think you would have done just fine without me."

"I know," Mac said smugly, "but I also know that we made a great team."

"Will Lindsay be okay?" Carter took the opportunity to ask.

Mac turned to her, worry taking over his features. "This all was pretty traumatic for her and I'm told that she's been having nightmares. We'll take care of her," he said.

"If you need anything, just ask," Jack told him.

"I will, thanks. Hey, how's Daniel doing?"

"He's much better," Carter answered. "And the best news of all is that he's convinced the General of the need to go back to P4X-903. We go back tomorrow," she added, as she tried to hide her enthusiasm.

Jack knew better though and successfully resisted the urge to tell her to shove it. Instead he said, "I figured it was in our best interest to find out the secrets of that place," he said gruffly.

"P4… Is that the planet Daniel wanted to go back to so badly that he almost risked a court martial to do it?" Mac asked with a grin. He was looking a lot better, Jack noticed with relief.

"Daniel's not military," Jack said with a pained look. "He'd have been long gone by now, if he was."

"Well that explains a lot," Mac said. "When will you be back?" This was said to Carter and Jack watched as she dropped all pretenses.

"A few days at the most," she said. "Now that we know where to look, we should be able to find those people and make arrangements for negotiations to trade our resources for their own."

"And to find out who those people really are," Jack added, trying to hide his own eagerness. All he needed was for Carter to tell Daniel that Jack had wanted this all along. He'd never live it down.

"Do you think I could go through the Stargate?" Mac asked then. "You need help finding people, and that's my specialty. I found Lindsay, didn't I? Yeah, I could be a big help in finding them if you'd…"

"Oh for crying out loud," Jack cut in.

"I'll be out of here in a couple days," Mac wheedled, "I know I could help. Just get me one of those cool jackets and I'll be all set."

The door opened at that point and Jack was relieved to see Sam and his wife walk in. He wasn't up to arguing with a sick man.

"You were not kidding!" were the first words out of the woman's mouth as she stared at Jack. She was a striking woman with dark hair and blue eyes, and Jack had the distinct feeling that she was sizing him up. "Hi Dad," she added going over to the bed to kiss Mac on the cheek. "What did you get yourself into this time?"

"Hey babe," Mac answered, smiling at her. "Same old, same old. You know how that stuff goes," he said with a shrug.

"Defusing bombs with paper clips?" she teased.

"Paper clips?" Jack asked, worried that this was one of those tricks Mac had up his sleeve.

"You've been conspiring with Lanie, haven't you?" Mac asked his daughter-in-law suspiciously. She smiled broadly as she nodded, then turned her attention to Jack.

"I can't believe how much you two look alike!" she exclaimed. Jack smiled at her as he nodded, deciding that now was the perfect time to leave.

"It was nice to meet you, uh…"

"Trish," she supplied.

"Trish. Well, it's been great, but we really do have to go," Jack continued. "I'll try to get back to see you tomorrow," he said to Mac.

"Samantha," Mac said, "You promised to tell me everything there is to know about the Gate."

Carter nodded her head, "I will," she promised. "I'll be back in a couple of days."

Jack followed her out, feeling a sense of relief on many levels. One being that he was away from the staring eyes and another being that he was worried Mac might let some classified information slip out. He'd almost had a heart attack when Mac mentioned the Gate.

"Sir?" Carter said, breaking the silence they had lapsed into. "About calling me Carter…"

"It's a military thing, Carter," he said abruptly, cutting her off.

"Exactly," she said in a relieved tone. It's strange that they had gotten to the point where they didn't even need to say anything, he thought as he led the way. He decided not to dwell on this fact; it was way too personal for his blood.