Road to Nowhere

Part 4

Sam stared at herself in the mirror. If she had to say so herself she didn't look anything like Major Sam Carter, Intergalactic Explorer. Her hair was a wild combination of bright auburn and chunky honey colored highlights. Her skin was deeply (if fakely) tanned. She had applied her make up a little heavier than she normally would have. Her nails painted a garish pink. The apple green sweater Jack had picked out for her would have been oversized on Sara but fit her pretty well and it was long enough to conceal her pistol. It wasn't a color she would have normally picked to wear but it suited her new complexion and hair. She wore her own jeans and the cowboy boots that had been left for her. She look down at her feet again. The boots weren't anything she would have ever chosen for herself. She preferred heavier motorcycle type boots, but she had to admit these had a certain irreverent style about them she could get used to.

Jack had been sitting quietly seeming lost in thought while Sara applied the color to his hair. She could take his sarcasm and his goofy jokes with no problem, but his silences had always unnerved her. She had never understood how he could repress everything and withdraw so completely into himself. That had always scared her a little, the way he bottled everything up. A man could only take so much, even if he was Jack O'Neill, and when he finally snapped it was going to be very bad. She knew he had come very close to it when Charlie died. She had found the gun he had hidden in their son's room when he went on what she knew he hoped would be a suicide mission. She had often wondered over the years if he would have been so suicidal if she had been the one to die. She didn't think so.

Finally, she could take the silence no longer and spoke. "You're scared, Jack."

"What?" he asked meeting her eyes in the reflection of the mirror.

"You're scared. I've never seen you scared before. Well, once, I guess," she amended remembering him finding Charlie bleeding to death.

He didn't respond. He just looked down at his hands fidgeting with one of Sabrina's glittery hair clips.

"You're afraid for Major Carter, aren't you?"

Jack thought for a moment as he considered how to word his response. "Carter survived something she shouldn't have a couple of years ago. This wealthy terminally ill guy somehow found out about it and thought she could be the key to curing him. She was kidnapped and experimented on. We found her just as the 'doctors' were about to kill her."

"Oh, my God. That's horrible."

"Carter's strong. Don't be fooled by the geeky astrophysicist stuff. She's a damn fine soldier, but it took her a lot to get over what they did to her. I don't really think she's over it now. It's hard to tell with her. She keeps a lot to herself."

"Been taking lessons from you?"

"Maybe. Anyway I got word tonight that a rogue element of the NID was planning on grabbing her tonight to continue studying her. I can't let that happen."

"So you're going to do what? Go AWOL and try to disappear?"

"Something like that. I won't let her go through that again," he finished quietly.

"You care about her."

"Of course I do. She's part of my team."

"Of course." She knew she would get anything more out of him than that. "You're a good man, Jack."

The house was so quiet, Sam couldn't help up overhear the conversation that filtered through closed door of the bathroom. The NID wanted to use her the same way Adrian Conrad had. Her knees went weak at the very thought. She sat down on the bed and forced herself to remain calm. If she was going to get through this she wasn't going to do it by falling apart.

The bathroom door opened and Sara came out. One look at Sam's face told her that she had overheard their conversation. She walked over and sat beside Sam on the bed. "Jack would do anything to protect you, Major."

"That's what I'm worried about."

"Oh?"

"The colonel's made lot of enemies. They're just looking for a chance to get their hands on him. I don't want to be the reason they do."

"Then the two of you will just have to take care of each other."

Sam looked over at the other woman. "Thank you all you've done for me tonight. You had no reason to."

"Sure I do. You're probably one of the reason's Jack's still alive."

The bathroom door opened again and a man who looked nothing like Colonel Jack O'Neill stepped out. Both Sara and Sam could not help but gape at him in silence.

"What?" he demanded.

"Jack, you look very…" Sara trailed off.

"Hip," Sam supplied. She couldn't help but smile. "Have you started reading GQ, sir?"

"Oh, shut up, Carter."

Sara and Sam continued to stare at him. His normal irreverent grey hair was now black and slicked back with not a hair out of place. The black hair combined with his tan and dark eyes gave him a vaguely Italian or Hispanic look. He had on a crisp white fitted oxford shirt and trendy low waisted jeans. The jeans were much tighter than the baggy jeans and khakis he normally wore and had that distressed, worn-out look that was so popular then. His shirt was actually tucked in too. The outfit changed his entire silhouette. He no longer had the relaxed slightly rugged look. He looked very cosmopolitan. The black blazer he pulled on to conceal his gun did nothing to change that assessment.

Sara could no longer hold back a laugh. "Where in the world did you get those jeans, Jack?"

Jack scowled at her for laughing but answered her question, "A very persistent teenager shanghaied me."

"Cassie got you buy those, sir?" Sam chuckled. She knew just how persuasive Cassie could be.

"Yeah, the same time she conned me into buying her those jeans that Janet wouldn't get her. She insisted I buy some for myself. She would stop irritating me until I did."

"I can't believe she got you to buy yourself a pair of 150 Diesel jeans, sir."

"Me either. I told her they looked ridiculous on me, but you know how she gets all pouty. I just wanted to shut her up."

"She's got you wrapped around her little finger, sir."

Jack didn't bother to respond because he knew it was true. He glared at the two women sitting on the bed. "You can stop giggling now. Especially you, Carter. You're not exactly looking like yourself either."

"Yes, sir," she said trying to hold back her amused smile.

Jack ignored them and set his duffle bag on the bed next to the small suitcase he'd packed for Carter. He opened the bag and pulled a small lock box out. He gave Carter a purse he'd appropriated earlier from Sara's closet and the a stack of cash. Sam stared in awe at the bills in her hand and began to count it. "That's ten thousand," he told her. "Don't spend it all in one place."

"Sir…"

"If for some reason we get separated I don't want you destitute. It's easier to by your way out of trouble sometimes. Don't worry I've got the same for me."

"Yes, sir," Sam began distributing the bills in her jean pockets, her jacket pockets, and her purse. Jack did the same with his funds.

"Are you sure you haven't taken to robbing banks, Jack?" Sara asked.

"No. I've actually been expecting something like this might happen one day and I'd need to disappear." Jack began digging through the lock box again. Sam looked over to see a myriad of passport and IDs, not all for the United States either. Jack looked over at his ex-wife. "Sara, the Mustang still in your dad's name?"

"Yeah, why?" She frowned as she followed his line of thought. "No. You're not taking the Mustang."

"Sara, we need a car and a fast one would be preferable. Besides I have an ID your dad's name."

"You what? Why?" Sara closed her eyes and then sighed in resignation. "Fine. Take it. It was supposed to be Charlie's one day anyway. He would want you to have it." Sara stood and got a set of keys off the dresser and held them out to him.

Sam couldn't help but admire the 1965 Mustang Fastback sitting in the garage. It had been beautifully restored.

After Jack put their bags in the trunk he turned to Sara. "I can't thank you for everything you've done for us, Sara."

"Yeah, well, just be careful, Jack. I guess I won't see you again."

Jack shook his head. "Not if we do this right. Well," he paused. "If we do this wrong we'll probably be dead, so…I guess this is it."

She hugged Jack quickly and he held onto her tightly for a moment before getting into the car.

"Major Carter," Sara called out and Sam paused as she was about to climb in. "Take care of him."

"I'll try."

Sam shut the door. Jack turned the ignition and the engine came to life with an impressive roar.

The radio came to life, 'With a red head ridin' shotgun and a pistol by my side, Tearin' down that highway like a modern day Bonnie and Clyde.' Jack turned to grin at Sam, "Well this is appropriate."

"Let's hope we just don't end dying like them," Sam replied.

"Point," Jack put the car in reverse and backed out. "To Oz then."

-

TBC