A/N: I really appreciate the feedback and interest in my little mystery story! Sam has come up from the SGC to join Jack at his childhood home. She gets sucked into the mystery. Jack, however, would like to just forget about it all. Though this chapter does not mention the mysterious picture previously found by Jack in the document package, it will come back into the 'picture' again, soon. Very soon.

The smell of pot roast and potatoes filled the kitchen and living room with a mouth watering aroma. Sam and Jack had managed to put together an appetizing combination of meat, vegetables and seasonings, leaving it to cook slowly over a low fire in the wood burning oven. Jack was sitting out in his bent willow lawn chair again, reading through some SGC mission proposals he'd brought along with him, when the smell tempted him inside for a peek in the pot. He looked around curiously after replacing the lid.

It was very quiet.

Where was Sam?

Hunting around, he found her sacked out on the couch in the living room, so deeply asleep she was almost snoring. He watched her fondly for a few minutes, then drew closer and softly stroked her hair where it lay on the couch pillow. He winced regretfully when the almost nonexistent touch nevertheless woke her.

"Sorry," he apologized. "I didn't want to wake you."

"It's okay, sir, I should check on dinner anyway," she yawned.

"Did you drive all night?" Jack asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, I suppose I did," Sam confirmed sheepishly. "Look, I know this sounds strange, but I had a ... bad feeling, and I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Doesn't sound strange. It sounds sweet. Thanks."

Perhaps the environment here was so different from what they were used to dealing with together that it made them act like different people. This O'Neill was so foreign to her, this gentle, soft-spoken man who was reaching out and playing with a strand of her hair. She decided she liked it.

A lot.

So instead of moving towards the kitchen, she scooted over and patted the couch next to her. With a heartfelt sigh, Jack settled in beside her and lay his hand on her knee.

"This is turning out to be a good trip after all," he said with a warm light in his eyes directed at her.

"Tell me about the last few days," Sam invited.

"You know most of it. I went over to Miriam's two mornings ago and she gave me that pack of documents. Then she dismissed me, and I haven't seen anyone since. I've walked around North Inlet some since then, tried to fix up a few things around the house. That's it."

"I was worried when you didn't call. So were Daniel and T. In fact, one of us should probably give Daniel a call, or he'll be the next one to show up on your doorstep."

Jack smiled at that. "I'll call him. Go back to sleep, I'll wake you up when the food's ready."

Giving her knee a final pat, he stood up and waited until she'd stretched out,and then pulled a quilt off the back of the couch and spread it over her.

"I could get used to this," Sam purred as her eyes closed.

"Got any fives?"

"Go fish. Got any eights?"

With a sigh, Sam plunked down two eights, and Jack laid down his two-card hand consisting of two more eights, winning the game. Again.

"I'll have to go 'fishing' with you more often, Sam, you're soooo easy to beat."

"It's a game of pure luck."

"Skill."

"Luck!"

"Skill."

After an early dinner, the two were so relaxed they were almost unconscious. The sun was beginning to set and the glow it cast across the living room was alive with color and warmth. Jack lazily gathered up the cards and shuffled them. Sam stood up and sluggishly dragged herself into the kitchen. Jack could hear her rummaging around in the icebox.

"Jack, all the ice is melted. And all the diet is gone." It was about as close to whining as Carter got.

Jack stood and yawned loudly. "It's not too far into town. Let's go get some more ice and drinks. C'mon."

The drive to the next largest town took just long enough that it was dark by the time they pulled into the grocery store parking lot. Jack and Sam both enjoyed the casual camraderie of picking out groceries together, joking and chatting their way up and down the isles. Of all the situations they had found themselves thrown into together over the years, Sam was beginning to think she liked this one the best.

By the time they were loading the groceries into the back of Sam's car, which Jack had insisted on at long last being permitted to drive, both were feeling a bit sleepy.

"General O'Neill!" A voice greeted Jack from the parking spot beside them. A rather rusty wagon had just pulled up and Teddy was leaning out of the driver's side window.

"Hi there, Teddy."

"Still here, huh? Aunt Miriam thought you'd leave pretty quick. Says you never much liked it around here."

Sam stepped forward from behind the open trunk of her car to see the boy.

"Yeah, still here. This is Colonel Samantha Carter. Carter, Teddy Bennett."

"Teddy Carriker, actually," the young man corrected him. "Nice to meet you, Colonel, ma'am, sir," Teddy stuttered, dutifully impressed.

"Nice to meet you, too, Teddy," Sam answered charmingly. Teddy had exited his car and was standing awkwardly in front of the beautiful woman, his hands jammed in his pockets.

"Well, gotta get Auntie her groceries, and stuff, uh, guess I'd better... see you around, huh?" Teddy was smiling at Carter with stars in his eyes.

"Yeah, see you around," Sam smiled.

"Bye," he cooed as he stumbled off towards the front entrance to the store.

"Well, he didn't react like that when he met me," Jack smart-mouthed.

"Gee, that's good to know."

Her eyes sparkled as they got in and drove back to North Inlet.

Jack couldn't make out the shadowy figure standing ahead of him before the mysterious apparition turned and fled. Jack chased after him into the woods. The figure was walking briskly up a hill, into the trees of the Minnesota back country. Jack found himself sweating and breathing hard with exertion as he struggled to catch up.

"Stop! Wait!" He called. Jack desperately needed to see who it was he was following.

The man ahead stopped so abruptly Jack almost ran into him, then gasped in fright.

It was his father.

The man's eyes glowed with eerie familiarity and sadness as he looked longingly at his grown son.

"What the-" Jack choked out fearfully.

"He had me shot, Jon," the figure said.

The voice was that of his father's, even after almost forty years there was no mistaking it. "You know who I mean."

"Who? I don't know who you mean."

"You know him."

"No, I don't! I'd never seen him before!" Jack protested.

"Look for the picture and you will find him out. He had me shot, Jon," the figure repeated, then turned and walked away into the dense foliage. Jack was left standing on the hillside, surrounded by trees, unable to see his father any longer.

"Stop! Come back!"

He was on that hillside, the one where it had happened.

"Come back! Wait! Please!"

Sam jerked awake in the huge bed in Jack's room, knowing she'd been awakened by something but not sure what it was. She peered into the inky blackness around her in the imposing room and suppressed a shudder.

"Wait! Stop! Stop!"

It was Jack, calling out from his bed on the couch downstairs. He sounded more upset than she'd ever heard him before in her life. Jumping up, she was down the stairs in a flash, knocking her shins several times as she navigated the unfamiliar territory in the dark. There would be some impressive bruises on her legs tomorrow, she thought with a grimace.

"Jack!" Sam saw him sitting up on the sofa with his face in his hands, still crying out with a hoarse voice, apparently still in between his dream world and the waking world.

"Wait!" He called again, but this time it was a weak moan, not a sharp cry. Sam knelt down in front of him and placed her hands firmly on his shoulders.

"Jack, it's okay, it's just a dream," she soothed, kneading his shoulders with a steady grip.

"Jack?" She asked again, trying to make eye contact. She was shocked to see his face wet with tears.

"Sam?" He finally answered her in a rough whisper.

"I'm right here," she assured him, never letting go of his shoulders. "Right here."

He finally looked at her fully and she watched the awareness of where he was slowly dawn on him. Swallowing hard a few times, he leaned back away from her, into the couch, manfully trying to compose himself.

"Wow," he finally commented.

"Wow. Sorry if I woke you, Sam."

"That must have been some dream."

Jack closed his eyes and shuddered involuntarily. "Yeah. Yeah, it was."

Sam finally released his shoulders and fumbled about on the side table for a few seconds, locating the box of matches Jack had left there. She lit the oil lamp and turned the wick up. Its cheery light worked to dispel some of the tension in Jack's face.

Returning to his side, she sat down next to him and without a moment's hesitation pulled him into her arms. She breathed out in relief when he didn't fight her, but instead nestled into the safety of her embrace, tucking his face against her neck.

"It must have been a dream, it had to have been, but I've never had a dream that was so...real. I saw my father."

Sam twitched against him. "What?"

"He said, 'he had me shot, Jon.' He said that I know who. But I don't know. I really don't."

Sam felt a shudder work its way down her spine. Surely it was just a bad dream?

"It was just a dream, Jack, you're awake now."

"It was a dream, I know that, but it wasn't like any dream I've ever had. It was like I was there. He said to look for the picture. That I would find him out. What does that mean?"

"Maybe nothing. Maybe being back here, in this town, and this house, is causing you to remember things you haven't thought about in a long time. That's all it was. Come on, Jack, I'll fix us some tea."

Jack nodded obediently, followed her into the kitchen and got the fire going in the woodstove. After poking at the fire for another minute, Jack sat down heavily and watched Sam preparing the tea.

"I'm thinking of leaving tomorrow. I'm going to call a realtor back in the Springs and sell this place. I don't have any use for this old house. And I'm quite sure I don't have the time to put into the long distance upkeep."

"Sell it? You just got it! This is a great house, Jack, why would you want to do that?"

"I don't see anything great about it. Thanks for the tea, Sam. It's good. But I think I'll turn back in now. Good night."

Jack got up and slowly, wearily made his way back to the couch. Sam heard the springs creak under his boneless weight as he collapsed for more sleep. After banking the coals in the stove, she picked up her cup and followed him out into the living room.

"Good night," she called to him as she headed back up the stairs. With one last look of concern, she disappeared up the dark staircase. With a shudder, Jack determinedly closed his eyes and willed himself to fall back to sleep.

When Sam got up the next morning, it was bright and sunny and she could smell the coffee already perking in the kitchen below. The room looked like an entirely different place in the morning light. Sam hummed contentedly as she washed and dressed.

"Good morning," she sang out happily, joining Jack in the kitchen for some breakfast.

"Still leaving?" She asked. He was packing kitchen items into a cardboard box for the trip home.

"Yup," he answered succinctly. "I wish we didn't have two cars here. It would have been a lot nicer to share the ride. Thanks for coming up here, Sam. It really meant a lot to me."

"You're very welcome. You'd do the same for me. Besides, I've really enjoyed being here with you. I'll just go grab my things out of the bedroom."

"No rush, Sam. I've got to eat at least three more doughnuts before we can go anywhere," Jack quipped, patting his stomach.

"I'll be right back. There better be a few of those left when I come back down!" Sam threatened laughingly.

She ran up the stairs and picked up the few toiletries and dirty clothes she'd left lying about. Ready to leave in just a few minutes, she started to head downstairs when the phrase 'look for the picture' leapt into her mind with a grim urgency. Sam shook her head; surely she was just remembering Jack's retelling of his dream.

But it was an insistent thought.

'Look for the picture.'

Turning, Sam went up the staircase to the third floor instead of down to join Jack. Scanning the rooms on the top level, she saw there was almost no furniture up here, and the dust and cobwebs attested to the fact that neither Jack nor anyone else had been up here in a long time.

A doorway at the base of the third floor landing stood slightly ajar. Sam hesitated, but her curiosity soon won out. Pulling at the handle, she found a ladder behind the door leading up to an open trap door, from which a faint glimmer of light was emanating, just enough to see her way. The stairs led to an unfinished attic. The light was seeping in around the eaves of the roof.

Sam almost decided to just turn around and go back down at this point. She felt like a terrible snoop. But the thought in her mind wouldn't let her go. Scanning the room quickly, the only thing she saw worthy of further investigation was an old trunk in the corner.

In a flash, Sam was kneeling by it and rifling through its contents.

Pictures.

She shivered from equal doses of fear and excitement.

"Sam! You coming?"

She could hear his voice from far below, so she grabbed a thick handful of pictures, slammed the trunk shut, and clambered back down the ladder. For some reason, she didn't want Jack to know she'd helped herself to the things in his mother's attic until she'd had a chance to have a private look at the pictures herself.

"Yeah, I'm almost ready," She answered as soon as she'd reached the safety of the second floor. The pictures were unceremoniously stuffed into her dufflebag along with her other things.

"Ready," She announced under his nose, hopping off the last step onto the landing of the first floor.

"Great. Let's go."

Back at the SGC, Daniel and Teal'C at first had little success getting anything out of Jack or Sam concerning what had occurred in North Inlet. Jack explained little more than what they already knew, and then announced his intention to forget the whole episode and get on with his life.

Sam was even more tight-lipped, saying only that she'd minimally helped the General settle his affairs in the little town and had had a restful vacation in the bargain. The only thing she expounded on was the natural beauty of the town and surrounding area. After a few days, Daniel and Teal'C, though unsatisfied with the explanations, gave up and moved on. Just as Jack had wished, it seemed like everything was once again business as usual.

"Hello?" Sam asked through her peephole, half-awake. Who could it be at... she glanced at the clock in her foyer...0200?

"Sam, it's me, it's Jack," answered a voice so rough and needy Sam barely recognized it. She immediately swung the door open and pulled him inside with a gentle tug. Instinctinvely, she leaned into him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, only to be met with a crushing embrace.

"I had that dream again. I swear, it was so real. It was like I was right there with him."