A/N: Sorry it's so short, but i had planned on it being this way when i sat down to write it. i wanted it out before i left for TN on Thursday. hopefully i'll have another ch. written for you when i get back, maybe, maybe not.

Jack grabbed one of the dishes in the sink and furiously started trying to scrub off the nonexistent crumbs from the sandwiches his son and daughter-in-law had been eating at his table not more than thirty minutes before.

What had he done wrong? He played the conversation over and over again in his mind, still not able to figure it out. He'd simply explained to Jay and Steph why McGrady had been so upset about their marriage. Did they really think so little of him to believe he'd feel the same? He'd never hold it against a child their parents' actions, just like Corin hadn't.

Sitting the plates in the drying rack, Jack grabbed a beer from the fridge and stormed out onto the back porch. If he'd been at home, or any place else where he could easily clean up, he would have felt compelled to throw something, but he could never dirty his precious lake. Instead, he just stared out across the water, his neat mask set across his face.

He heard the backdoor open and someone step out to his side, but didn't acknowledge them. The footsteps were too heavy to be Sam's, and besides, he'd pissed her off enough already, but they were definitely too light to be Teal'c's. That just left Daniel, Sean, Jacob and Matt.

"So, you just gonna let him go?" Ah, Jacob. The only one brave enough to face him in this mood. That probably had something to do with Selmak though.

Jack ignored him, sucking on the end of his bottle. Damn, his beer was almost empty. Well, it'd give him a way to get out of the position he was in if he had to get another.

"Jack."

"Jacob." He didn't look at the older man.

"You can't let him run. You'll never settle this." Jacob leaned against the railing next to Jack, looking out at the lake.

"And you're the expert on this? Right." He turned to face Jacob, scowling. "I don't think you should really be the one talking to me about this."

"Why not? I know what it takes to fix things." He sighed before going on. "What happened?"

"Told him why Steph's father hates me so much, and he flipped out." Jack shrugged. If the kid didn't want to see him, he wouldn't make him. It hurt that he'd never get to see Lilly again, but that was Jay's decision.

"He's not going to make any sort of move to make up, you know."

"I'm not going to make him see me. I won't force him into anything."

"Let him do the talking. Listen to his side of the story." Jacob clapped the man on the shoulder, leaving him to his own devices. He just hoped he'd said enough to make the stubborn man take the first step to fixing things with his son. He didn't want him to go through the years of hell like he had with Mark.

Jack nodded his thanks and watched the man leave. He wanted to see Jay again, to hold his granddaughter, but if the boy wouldn't see him, there was nothing he could do. He couldn't for the life of him understand why Jay had just up and left. He didn't think anything had gone wrong.

This was probably just another way McGrady was going to screw him over in the end. That's how it always went wasn't it? He was the reason they'd moved out of Minnesota and he had decided to stop playing hockey at the age of sixteen. That "accident" had left his knee screwed up for the rest of his life, though thankfully it had still allowed him to pass the physical when he'd entered the Air Force. Although he supposed it was better than what McGrady had been trying to do; he was still alive after all.

Oh well. He sat down in one of the deck chairs and watched the birds dip into the lake and the fish jump at the bugs.

A/N: Okay if i didn't explain anything well enough, i'm sorry, let me know and i'll try to clear it up in later chapters. I know it's going a long slowly but i really am trying. Thanks soooo much please review!