Chapter Seven

He didn't know how long to give her. He didn't want to show up and bug her, in case that would sway her decision. He was bored, but he couldn't drive anywhere. Eventually someone would realize the car was missing; he was just hoping the last place they'd even look was in the parking lot of the Air Force Academy. Jack didn't know what he would do if she said no; she was pretty much his only chance.

Deciding not to think about it was easy; deciding what to do instead was slightly more complicated. It wasn't like he could do much without any money. And being in uniform, rumpled as it was, pretty much ruled out blending in anywhere. He settled on taking a walk around the campus, since no one would pay any attention to him there.

The weather was warm, much too hot for his jacket, so he carried it on one arm as he walked. As long as he didn't look too closely, he could pretend he was walking around on a regular day - not one that was eighteen years in the past. He wondered, if it came down to it, if he could survive the ten years until Carter officially 'met' him and might then be willing to help him. Certainly he had the survival training to last and the sense to stay away from anyone who might recognize him. He could even resist cleaning up financially by making huge bets on sports. But he wasn't sure if he could last ten years without Carter. And honestly, he didn't want to cause her the pain of wondering where he'd been for ten years, even if she would technically know where he was if she turned him down. Sighing, he shifted his jacket from one arm to the other and began to pray fervently that it wouldn't come down to that.

"Excuse me, sir?"

Fearing he'd just been caught by someone for something, Jack turned around slowly to face the cadet. "Yes?"

The girl smiled nervously, offering him a wrinkled envelope. "The general dropped this, sir."

Jack recognized it immediately. It was the envelope Sam had asked him to bring with him. The same one she'd insisted he leave on her desk. The very same one she'd sealed - the act of which thoroughly distracted him. He should have known it would come back to haunt him; it had fallen out of his jacket. "Thank you, cadet." His smile was genuine as he fingered the paper.

Carter had known; she must have. There had to be something inside that could help him. He slipped his finger under the flap and broke the seal. He had high hopes for the note Carter had sent back with him. She knew he'd be the one to read it. Jack assumed, therefore, that it was perfectly reasonable to think it would be written in plain English so that he could understand it.

He growled as he looked at the incomprehensible strings of letters and numbers. Nonsense. Utter nonsense, penned carefully in her delicate, perfect handwriting. It was the only physical link he had to his real world; too bad it was jibberish. He turned it over and scanned the back, actually finding some things he recognized - an address in D.C., a list of dates and times, and one short comment, the only thing aimed deliberately at him. It said simply 'I told you I wasn't kidding about the timing - Sam.'

He laughed. Standing in the middle of a busy walkway, Jack cracked up at the note. She'd known he would go back in time. She'd known she would warn him about the timing. And she'd known he would ignore her warning and get what he deserved.

But the best part, the part that made him smile as he continued on, was that she'd signed it Sam. It made sense that she didn't use her rank, but the few previous times when she'd jotted a note for him or sent him email, she either used Carter or nothing at all. He was happy. It wasn't much; it wasn't something he could explain to anyone. But it gave him hope.

He waited until late afternoon to return to the building where he'd left Sam. He couldn't take it any longer and he was hoping having that note from her future self might help convince her. He expected she'd be up in the lab, working away, probably not even aware that hours had gone by. Needless to say, he was quite surprised to find her perched on the stone railing by the front door.

She hopped down and approached him with a wide smile. "I thought maybe you'd found your own way home, sir."

He grinned. "So you believe me."

"My dad sent me this." She waved a piece of paper in front of him.

It was a fax. A very, very, very bad fax on that impossibly thin paper that curled up wherever he tried to flatten it. But he saw enough - it was a picture of him. "Could be my brother?"

"No siblings, remember, sir?" Her eyes were shining, but he couldn't tell which she was happier about - that he was honest or that he was from the future. Jack figured it was probably both.

He handed the paper back to her. "So, how'd you get Jake to turn all that confidential stuff over?"

Sam grinned again and that time Jack knew it was pure pride. "I told him I met this guy at a party and he said he was 20 and I thought he was older." She shrugged. "Gee, who would have thought my dad was paranoid about who I was talking to?"

Jack squeezed his eyes closed and wondered how he'd managed to survive meeting Jacob Carter without being torn limb from limb. He guessed Jacob just hadn't remembered him.

"He was all too happy to inform me that my friend was 30 and very married and also AWOL since he was supposed to be overseas." She looked concerned for a minute. "I hope I didn't get you in trouble, sir."

An evil idea crossed his mind - the way he'd found out the other Jack O'Neil didn't have a sense of humor. He'd actually never found out what had pissed the other man off so much, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it was very much his fault. "Sam, as soon as you get a chance, you need to call your father back and tell him you made a mistake. Tell him it was O'Neil with one l."

She nodded, happy to help protect him. "So, where do we start?"

"First things first. I haven't eaten in two days. I'm starving."

"Don't they have food in the future?"

"If I'd been planning far enough ahead to bring food, don't you think I would have planned a way to get home?" He thought he had her, but she simply smiled.

"I would have."

Jack started to laugh as he pulled her note out of his pocket. "Funny you should mention that. Cause you did."

"I'm good." She grabbed the paper, smiling and trying to absorb all the information at once. She turned to head back into the building. "I have to work on these."

Jack touched her shoulder, stilling her long enough to take the paper away. "Let's get this straight now. I'm in charge. I say what we do. Right now, I say food first, math later."

A distinctly disappointed expression crossed Sam's face as she squared her shoulders and met his eyes defiantly. "You can tell me what to do, sir, but you should keep in mind that you're depending on me."

"You are usually the one with the brilliant ideas." He knew she could go for days without eating or sleeping when she was working, but he already had.

"Want to know what brilliant idea I'm having now?"

"Please tell me it involves food, Carter." He wasn't sure if it was his voice or his stomach that was growling.

"I'm thinking pizza delivery."

Jack smiled happily. "That is brilliant."

"But I'm broke." Sam winced as she looked away. "Daddy won't send me any money until he's sure I'm not going to use it to go home."

"So we're going to starve, right?"

"Mark."

It was possible the hunger was making him hallucinate. "I'm not Mark."

"No, you're not. But Mark has money and Mark likes to share with me when Dad's mad at me."

Jack smiled. "Sweet. Mark it is, then."

He was a little nervous about driving anywhere - he wasn't looking forward to the trouble he'd get in if he got caught driving a car that had been effectively stolen with a girl who was barely legal riding shotgun and no identification that would appear legitimate to anyone. But there weren't any other options. Mark's apartment was only a few minutes away; evidently, he hadn't moved to San Diego yet.

It was the first time Jack had met Mark and he wasn't at all surprised to see the suspicious way Sam's brother eyed him as they were introduced. Mark listened to the tale Sam wove explaining how she needed money for this and that and how Jacob wouldn't send her any. Mark politely inquired how the Air Force Academy was going. Much to Jack's surprise, Sam lied, smiling as she told him all was well. She caught Jack's eyes, practically daring him to contradict her. Jack stood back and tried to look bored, playing the part of the man who'd unhappily been asked to drive her there. Mark seemed a little unsure when Sam told him how much money she needed.

"A few hundred dollars?"

Sam ducked her head - as good as the lies were that she could invent, she didn't like telling them. "I got into some trouble. Please?"

Mark shook his head in resignation. "Am I ever going to get it back?"

"Eventually." She grinned. "At some point in the future." She giggled at her own joke.

It took all of his training not to crack up, and even then, Jack was fighting to keep a straight face. Sam's giggle was infectious and Mark started to laugh, although he had no idea why he was laughing. He continued to smile as he pulled out his checkbook.

Jack waited until they were back in the car before he brought up dinner again. "Weren't we aiming for pizza?"

"I just got five hundred dollars from the man and you want me to hit him up for pizza too?" She shook her head at him. "Besides, do you really feel like explaining to him why you can't get your own pizza?"

"The banks are closed. What good is a five hundred dollar check we can't cash till tomorrow when I'm hungry now?"

Sam produced several twenties from her pocket. "Mark slipped me these. He thought maybe you had something to do with the trouble I was in."

Jack grinned as he pulled into the parking lot of the first pizza place he saw. "Then I forgive him."

"Forgive him for what?"

"For introducing you to Pete."

Sam narrowed her eyes. "Who's Pete?"

Jack grinned harder. "No one of consequence."