A/N: Okay, so here's the next chapter, it's like midnight thirty so i have to hurry up so this is the only one i can upload right now! i love the reviews you all give me!
Jack sat staring at the screen of his laptop humming softly on his desk. He had finished his daily letter, but he somehow felt it was incomplete. It didn't encompass everything he wanted it to say. He missed her so much now, especially now. He wanted to be here with her, wrap her in his arms, take in her warmth.
His thoughts were broken by the sudden and irritating beeping of his laptop letting him know he'd been sent an interoffice memo. He hated the thing now. After his talk with Janet about Sam six months ago, every SG leader had been given a base network address where all their memos were sent. No one was letting Jack miss another important memo, ever.
He moved the cursor to open his mailbox and at first thought maybe someone had made a mistake. The address it had come from didn't exist. Well, unless Lt. Hailey thought she was playing some sort of sick joke on him. The addresses were only assigned to SG team leaders and this was coming from Carter's lab. Well, it would have if it had still been Carter's lab. Until Hailey had come on board as a permanent member of SG-1 almost three months ago, the lab had remained locked and unused. Some of the important projects had been pulled out for the other scientists to take a look at, but her personal effects had stayed. Jack only felt it fitting that Sam's little prodigy be the only one to take her place on the team and in effect take her place in the lab.
Surprisingly, Hailey took like a fish to water in Carter's lab. Most stunningly to Jack was, though, that Hailey had felt it would have been disrespectful to clear Sam's things out of the lab, so she left the pictures, the clothes and anything else she found right where it was. What really startled everyone else, was the way Jack acted towards the young lieutenant. Daniel had thought for sure he was going to treat Hailey as he had done with Sam all those years ago, but he didn't. In fact, he had taken the time to properly orient her, help her move into the lab, and assist her anytime she needed it.
Their simple connection, their joking friendship surprised everybody and nobody at once. At first a few of the newest SF's thought it had been some sort of disgusting old man attraction Jack had towards the newest member of his team before they were properly put in their places by either Daniel or Teal'c. Jack brought her under his wing, treated her like the daughter he didn't have, but also like the soldier he knew she was. She fit in perfectly with their close knit team.
That's why Jack was startled to see a memo coming from what was now Hailey's lab. No, he knew she hadn't sent it. He'd been able to open up to her, and she wouldn't be mean enough to do something like that to him. He opened the memo to find it blank. There were no notes, no forwards no title, just an attached file. Wary, Jack clicked on the attachment and selected download. He knew if there was a virus in the system or even in the attachment it would be quarantined to his computer only and Hailey would easily be able to eradicate it.
'Hmm. Twenty minutes to download, must be a big file.' Jack stood up deciding he'd go see what Hailey was up to while he waited. Maybe she could figure out where this thing came from. He left the laptop running and slipped through the door.
The halls of the SGC were eerily deserted for the thyme of day, but he figured most of the teams must have been off world. SG-1 had had another distressing mission and was confined to base until Janet could determine if they were well enough to go home for some much deserved downtime over Christmas.
Jack found himself softly knocking on Hailey's door before pushing it open slightly. The sight before him nearly made him jump out of his skin. He'd come into the lab almost everyday over the past three months to check on his new soldier, but for some reason this time all he saw was Sam hunched over her laptop running some sort of tests he had no chance at ever understanding.
"Colonel O'Neill, Sir?" Hailey asked breaking the silent stare he had suddenly been sucked into.
"Sorry, Hailey." Jack took the stool across from her at the desk and leaned forward on the flat top. His fingers itched for something to play with, finally resting on the safest object, a pencil. He bounced the eraser on the table quietly before Hailey spoke again.
"Sir, is there something I can help you with?" She looked over the top of her screen, her eyebrow raised.
"Oh, yeah actually there is." He sat up straight, putting the pencil down. "I was wondering if you could come to my office, check something out for me."
"Sure." She closed her laptop and moved it away from the edge of the table. Jack moved to the door holding it open for her. Hailey was the only person he trusted enough to let run the trace through his computer, especially if it was who he thought it was.
The trip to his office was made in silence. Approaching his door, he was again the perfect gentleman, opening it up for the Lieutenant.
"Please," he said motioning for her to take the seat in front of his computer. "I got a memo supposedly from you lab. I want you to trace it, find out where it really came from."
"Well, we have to wait for your download to complete before I can do anything." Hailey sighed, and leaned back in the comfortable chair Jack had conned the General into giving him. "If you don't mind my asking, what's this all about, Sir?"
"I'm not sure." Jack's nervous fidgeting was becoming more obvious as he leapt up off the edge of his desk and started pacing. His ears pricked up when he heard the clicking of the keys. Hailey had gone to work.
"The farthest I can trace it to is a library in Memphis. Tennessee. Who ever did this knows how to hack this system. It was deliberate and quick. Luckily for us, the library has a list of their patrons and their login IDs." Hailey searched for a moment more before finding what she was looking for. "Know any Charline O'Neill, Sir?"
"Charline, Charline? Char..." His eyes widened in realization and he smacked his forehead. "Charlie! It's Sam! It's some sort of message from Sam, I know it!" He jumped up and grabbed Hailey by the arms shaking her. He started jumping around in circles, still gripping her shoulders tightly. His actions whipped her up off her chair and flung her around the room.
"Sir. Sir! What's going on?" Hailey stopped him, placing her hands firmly on his wrists. "Who's Charlie?"
"Charlie was my son." His eyes dropped fiercely at the painful memory before coming back up again with the light of hope shining brightly. "Sam wanted me to know it was her, I can feel it. I have to go tell Hammond!"
"Sir, don't you want to see what her message was?" Hailey asked, knowing he was too excited to remember about the attachment he'd been downloading.
"Oh yeah, you're right." He moved around her, sitting forcefully in his chair.
"Sir, it could be personal. Call me back before you go tell the General, you might need me to help explain things," she joked. She knew there had been a reason the note had been sent to Jack and not Hammond.
What it was, that was another question only the two of them could answer.