"I'm so sorry you had to feel that, Es," Abby apologized again to her sister. "I didn't mean to broadcast."
Esther smiled softly, whispering, "It's fine, really. How could you have known he would be here?" She looked at her mother, "How are you handling it, Mom?"
Sam sighed, "I'm still in shock, really, dearest. I thought he was still in Colorado." She sat down on Esther's bed, gently stroking her daughter's leg.
George knocked on the door softly before opening it to reveal the small family of four. Esther looked up and gasped when she saw who had just entered her hospital room.
Sam looked behind her when she heard her daughter gasp, and gasped herself when her eyes met with Jack O'Neill's. Before either could get over their shock, Abby collapsed on the ground.
"Abby?" Sam whispered, concerned for her other daughter's welfare. "Come on, Abby, now's not the time to have another episode."
JJ gathered his sister in his arms and rocked her back and forth, all the while whispering, "Come on, Abigail, come on."
Abby finally opened her eyes, taking in a big gulp of air when she did so, "Oh, no."
"What happened, Abby?" Esther asked. "What did you see?"
The blonde-haired girl looked up at her grandfather, "Go check the house. Take a team with you."
George needed no further prodding, he had a fairly good guess as to what the vision had been about. He left the hospital while he was still talking on his cell phone, taking Daniel with him.
"What did you see, Abby?" her mother asked again.
Abby's terrified eyes met her mother's calm ones, "He went back to the house. He was – he was tearing it apart."
Anger grew inside of Sam, "I'm going to rip him limb from limb." She rose and was about to follow Hammond out when she remembered that Jack was there and in the dark about what was going on. She felt all her energy drain from her body as she collapsed on the ground in a crying mass.
Jack's reaction was immediate and natural: he knelt down and gathered Sam's shaking form into his arms – much to the shock of two of his children while the third silently sang with joy at the sight. "Shh, Carter, it's okay. You're safe here." When her crying had stopped, Jack looked up at the only calm face in the room – Esther's, "Care to fill me in?"
She nodded, "Only on the pertinent information for tonight. I'm Esther, you're oldest child. Mom's ex-boyfriend, Pete, is rather violent. This is the fourth attack that has sent me to the hospital. Abby is able to see possible futures, in varying degrees. She just had one such episode." Turning to Abby, Esther silently asked her to explain.
Abby took a shaky breath and started, "I saw the house from the outside, and then I saw Pete walk in. Suddenly I was following him, as he went through the house, leaving destruction in his wake."
Jack felt anger surge through his body, no one messed with Samantha Carter and her children and got away with it. Right then and there he swore he would extract revenge on Pete if it cost him his reputation and his life. "How long has this been going on?" he asked them.
"Ever since they were born," Sam whispered into Jack's chest. "Even before that if I'm honest about it."
"Um, excuse me? Ms. Carter?" Dr. McLory poked her head into the room. "The lab results came back. I want to keep Esther here overnight for observation, but you can take her home in the morning." Jack, who was still in the dark about what his daughter had gone through, motioned for the doctor to wait outside.
"I'm going to go, talk to the doctor, okay?" he asked Sam, hoping she wouldn't mind him acting like the father of the triplets even though he was.
Sam nodded, "I'll go with you." She turned to her children, "You guys need to talk about all of this. Don't tell me you don't JJ, you're a spitting image of your father – personality included. You do."
"Hey! I'm not that bad, am I?" Jack asked in mock seriousness.
Sam just gave him a look while Esther said, "If what Grandpa George tells us is true you're worse."
Once outside the hospital room, Jack turned to Dr. McLory, "Perhaps you can explain all of this to me. I'm still in the dark here."
It was Aylen – not Dr. McLory - who answered the question with a question. "Are you their father?"
"Yes," Jack said, his voice breaking a little as he said that one word.
Aylen nodded, "You should be very proud of your children, they're very strong – and brave. A lot braver than they should have to be."
"What – what happened?"
When confronted with that question, Aylen shifted quickly to Dr. McLory – no longer a friend of the family but a physician who had a job to do. "Pete Shanahan broke into the Carter residence tonight at about 10:30 p.m. He made his way to Esther's room where he tried to rape her, then succeeded in reopening a gash he had left on her back the last attack– cutting her down to the bone. He also left numerous more shallow lacerations on her thighs and abdomen. Mr. O'Neill, that man has scarred your daughter for life, both physically and emotionally. May God have mercy on his soul – for man will not."
Jack nodded, the soldier the facet he was letting the doctor see unreadable. "Thank you, Dr…"
"Aylen McLory."
"Thank you Dr. McLory." The way he said this was finalizing and Aylen knew she had just been dismissed. Jack turned to Sam, "Why didn't you tell me?"
Sam shook her head, "You don't know how many times I picked up the phone, started dialing your number – then stopped."
Jack took a step closer to her, "When did you find out you were pregnant? Before or after you left?"
"It's why I left."
Both of them thought back to what had put them in that predicament. It had all really started the last time Daniel had died…
Flashback:
Sam looked around her. God, she was so pathetic! It was the middle of the night, pouring down rain and here she was on her CO's porch, trying to get up the courage to knock.
He beat her to it. Opening the door, he saw a very wet, very cold, and very beautiful Samantha Carter occupying his doorway. "Carter?" he asked, concern and worry etched onto his sleep-deprived face.
Sam could just breathe, it was literally all she could do. She was frozen with the downpour of rain, and was still in shock over what had happened to Daniel the day before.
"Christ, Carter!" Jack chastised as he pulled her into his house before shutting the door. "What the hell did you do to yourself?" he asked as he helped her out of her jacket and shoes.
"I – I cou-couldn't st-stand be-being h-home. S-so I we-went for a walk."
Jack looked up and down her shivering form, why the hell did she have to be so attractive even that soaking wet? "Wait here, I'll go get you a towel."
As soon as he started to walk away, Sam began to peal away her wet clothing, her mind telling her that if she didn't get dry soon, she could get hypothermia. This, unfortunately for Jack, left her shivering in nothing but her bra and underwear in his front hallway.
Before either of them could form a coherent thought, they were against the wall, kissing each other in mindless passion. The military part of Jack's mind screamed at the man part of him that it was wrong and they needed to stop, "No," he said, half-heartedly. "Carter this is wrong." He backed away, leaving about three feet of space between their heavy breathing bodies.
"I know," she whispered. "But for one night, I just want to screw the regulations that have been screwing me my entire life." And with that, the two started up again.
When Jack woke up the next morning, his room smelled of sex – and rain, but the part of it all that really did him in was that Sam was still there, sleeping like a baby.
End Flashback.
A/N: So? What do you all think? Any good? Don't worry, there will be more conversations between Sam and Jack about that night - and the mistakes they BOTH made. Remember - it was Sam who left, not Jack.