Amidst the wonders he'd discovered the past few days, all Jack could focus on was the surety that he was the luckiest man in the world whose single minded goal was to return to his family without delay.
PART 15: NO LONGER ALONE
Once Sam had returned to work, she was relieved to find she had something to work with, a way she could contribute to bringing Jack home without risking her life on the planet. In the atmospheric readings and subterranean soundings SG7 had taken, she had the first objective clues to what really happened on P3X-779.
She was in her lab, trying in vain to interpret the information and to make peace with the mounds of work that had accumulated during the time she'd been off base. Both efforts seemed to be hopeless. Her concentration was poor, to say the least. Her eyes kept wandering to some of Jack's favorite doohickeys in the lab. Strange as it might be to other people, her husband's penchant for coming into the lab and playing with her experiments just seemed to increase her efficiency and motivation. Without him, everything was different.
Everything was so different. She missed him. The hole in her heart felt bigger each day. It had been two weeks. She was physically and emotionally exhausted and she looked the part. How would she survive a longer period alone, without the man she'd loved for over twenty years? She had to find a way to bring Jack home.
Their fourteenth wedding anniversary was in another two weeks. Sam's eyes misted over as she recalled last year's celebration and remembered how happy they'd all been that day. Soon her eyes focused on the one part of last year's anniversary present that she'd been able to bring with her to the lab. There on the far end of the counter was the framed homemade card which had accompanied last year's gift from Jack and the children.
As she stretched one arm over the counter to reach the card, totally lost in her intent to bring the cherished item out of its hiding place, she felt a hand close over her other hand on the counter behind her. Immediate recognition flashed through her mind; she caught her breathe, slowing turning just enough to see the face she'd been craving.
"Sam…"
She was in his arms in seconds, clinging to him, now sobbing uncontrollably, the grief of the past days rapidly pouring from her soul.
His arms tightened around her. He placed rapid, feather light kisses over her face and neck before capturing her mouth in one searing kiss. Sam continued to cling to him as if her life depended on the contact and for the moment it did. For his part, Jack ran his fingers through her hair and caressed her cheek, bringing her eyes up to meet his own. The two lovers stayed locked in each other's embrace and lost in each other's gaze for what seemed like eternity. They rocked with a fluidity of motion intended to calm their frayed emotions and reassure each other that they had been reunited.
After awhile, Sam pulled back just far enough to see Jack clearly as she lovingly stroked his face, her gentle smile belying the tears that still fell unimpeded.
"You're okay?
"Yeah, more than okay, you know those things, every time I'm in there I come back 10 years younger."
"Don't joke, Jack; I thought I lost you." Despite the tremor in her voice, Jack knew that Sam was irritated at his lame attempt at humor.
He whispered an "I'm sorry" as he pressed a kiss into her hair and pulled her to his chest once again. "I'm so sorry, Sam."
They simply held each other for several minutes, reveling in the security of the embrace and the familiar scent of the beloved.
All too soon, they were startled by two airmen who came to the door of the lab to investigate the energy registered by Thor's transporter.
"Colonel, we registered an energy transmission…" the young airman stopped in his tracks whether from the shock of witnessing the intimate embrace or from the miraculous return of Ambassador O'Neill it was hard to tell.
"At ease, airmen", Jack called with an air of reassurance to the two young men. Still holding his wife, Jack relaxed his grip slightly and turned towards the intruders. "Give us a minute, will you? Let Landry know everything is fine and I'll be down to see him in a few. Can you do that for us?"
"Yes, sir," came the immediate response from both and Jack could swear he saw the faintest of smiles on the faces of the normally stoic guards.
Once the airmen had left, Jack and Sam reluctantly broke apart and sat down, facing each other, fingers still entwined. After a few moments of silence, sitting knee to knee, never breaking eye contact, Jack began "You look so tired, are you going to be okay?"
"Now you're back I'll be just fine. I'm sorry, Jack."
"Sorry for what?"
"For leaving you behind. God knows I didn't want to go." Sam's voice was no more than a whisper, her eyes never leaving her husband's.
"Listen to me, Sam. You did what we'd agreed we'd do a long time ago. You came home safely to our children. And you hardly left me alone. The way I hear it, Teal'c carried me where I needed to go."
Despite his absolution, Jack could see his wife's eyes still pleading with him for forgiveness. He squeezed her hands tightly and began again "You stayed with our children and that's the part that only you could do, Sam. Believe me, I know that; if you search your heart, you'll know it too." At that Jack pulled himself closer to her again and gently placed one hand on either side of her face, causing yet more tears to fall.
"I love you, Jack O'Neill."
"And I love you, Sam, that's never going to change."
Sam's face began to brighten and Jack felt a bit relieved. "As much as I'd like to just take you home to the kids, I'm afraid we'll need to debrief and I'll have to be interrogated by the Doc, right?
"Don't think we can avoid it, Jack."
"How are the kids, Sam?"
"They've had a hard time. They can only understand so much and we've all been so afraid you might not be coming home. Beth thought it was her fault. I think Jon and Grace were mad at me and Jake, well Jake just tried very hard to take care of everyone else. We all missed you so much, Jack. Let's call them before we go to medical."
Jack readily agreed and proceeded to call the Jackson home where Sam knew the younger children would be staying at the current midday hour. After arranging to meet everyone at their own home once the debriefing and medical clearance were completed, Jack and Sam made their way to the infirmary.
"So how did you manage to bypass medical and get to my lab first," Sam questioned, as they walked through the corridor to the infirmary.
"Helps to have friends in high places. Thor knew where you were and beamed me outside the door to surprise you. Hey, if I came in the front door, that Napoleonic power monger would have kept me from my beautiful wife for hours!"
"I thought that was your nickname for Janet. You could at least come up with an original insult for Dr. Janeway."
"I'll give it a shot. You're right, I have a reputation to uphold", Jack quipped with his trademark grin.
As usual Jack complained vociferously about the thoroughness of the exam and the need to be poked and prodded. After all, he protested, he'd been healed by one advanced race and just examined by another, much friendlier one, so what could the new dragon lady tell him. 'Dragon lady, now that would be an apt name,' he thought. The only redeeming part of the exam was that Sam was allowed to stay for just about all of it, largely because she insisted and outranked Dr. Janeway.
When it was time for the psychiatric clearance, Jack didn't fare quite as well. The current ranking psychiatrist, actually, the original Dr. McKenzie's son, was having none of the companion idea where Sam would stick around. So Jack just suffered through the insufferable list of questions he needed to answer to prove his basic sanity before they would let him leave the base.
Finally, the couple made their way, arm in arm, to the briefing room, where they joined Generals Landry and Hammond as well as Teal'c and the balance of the P3X-779 teams. They were greeted by Hank Landry, "Good of you to join us Ambassador and Colonel O'Neill. I've heard tell you took quite a round about way of getting to this little shindig, Jack. More important things to do, no doubt."
"Actually, yes, Hank. After two weeks, my wife and kids are definitely more important than any meeting I can imagine," Jack replied, grinning at Sam and avoiding Hank's eyes altogether.
As Jack and Sam made their way to the seats that were waiting for them, Sam stopped behind Teal'c, placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke a soft "thank you". Teal'c nodded solemnly in response.
The O'Neills sat side by side for the debriefing, with Sam holding Jack's hand just out of sight under the table. The meeting went on for a solid two hours; there was a great deal of new information to report, beginning with the extraordinary discovery of the Asgard specimen and ending with the detection of a less than principled Tokra plot to actually commandeer the Asgard prize.
In the end, it was clear that the Asgard had been presented with a great boon to the future of their race. While Jack had been with Sam, Thor had briefed Gen. Landry. He had explained that the Ancient technology that produced the specimen from the lab was just the help the Asgard needed to finally perfect their cloning program. In return for the extraordinary assistance of the Tauri in yet another mission to benefit his race, the Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet had pledged ongoing technical support to Stargate Command for as long as it was needed.
At last the debriefing was over. Hammond got up and properly welcomed Jack home with a very macho embrace. "Glad to have you back, son. You had us pretty worried for awhile there. Now get out of here and go home to your family."
"Yes, sir, Jack responded with enthusiasm. And it's good to be back."
Two more generally upbeat chapters to go.
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Hope you liked Part I of the reunion. You'll see the family reunited in Part II. Please let me know what you think.