"Promise?" she whispered around the tears.
"Always."
Jack knocked on Hammond's office door at the Pentagon. "Enter!" he heard from inside.
Jack walked in and Hammond was sitting behind his desk, doing paperwork. He smiled at the much-needed break. "What can I do for you, son?"
Jack sighed and sat down, "A couple of things, actually. I want to have a look at Pete's file. Sam would have a damn good reason for letting him beat the crap out of her for four years – and I want to know what it is. Not to mention that he found them pretty easily."
"I thought you might," Hammond responded, grabbing a file from inside his desk. It was extremely thick. "Here you go, Jack. That's everything we've got on him – including parental behavior. Anything else?"
Jack took the file and put it under his arm, "Actually, yes. Esther told me that Tom's graduating college this year and he's looking for a job at a hospital as a nurse."
"Yes?" Hammond always found it humorous that the giant of a man would want to help people in the delicate field of nursing.
"Is he any good?"
"Good enough to be at the SGC."
"Think he'd like a job that'd be close to Abby when we move back there in the fall?"
Hammond's grin was very…interesting to say the least; "He'd marry her today if he knew she'd say yes."
"Excellent. I heard Janet complaining that we're short on help in the infirmary. Does Tom know about the SGC?"
"Not a thing. Abby's been very careful about what he's told."
"Good. Well, see ya, George – I've got to go get me a nurse for my daughter."
"Is this a joke? Because it's not a good one."
Tom looked at the three men in front of him – two of which he'd never met before and the third he'd just recently found out was Abby's father.
Daniel shook his head, "No joke. The statement revealing the existence of other planets and part of the Stargate program will be released in exactly five days."
Tom was still dumbstruck, "And you want me to be a part of it?"
Teal'c nodded, "Indeed. Your physical strength as well as your training in the medical field would benefit the SGC greatly."
His brow furrowed, the young man just thought in silence for a few minutes about what they were asking him to do. He'd be close to Abby – plus. He'd have a job – plus. It'd be important – plus. But how much would they pay…
"You'll get hazard pay if we bring back anything harmful through the 'Gate. And your normal pay is twice what you'd make otherwise," Jack answered the unasked question.
"And if I say no?"
He looked directly into Jack's eyes and saw something in them that made him shiver in fear and respect the man even more. Jack replied without taking his eyes off the younger man, "Was that really ever an option?"
"Would I ever have to go through the Stargate?"
"Depends. Not often, no, but if there's an emergency off world and they needed a Med-Team, possibly."
The next question was one that Tom was rather concerned about asking and getting the answer to; "Can I date your daughter, sir?"
Jack's smile was scary, "I was wondering when you'd ask."
Teal'c continued further, "What are your intentions with young Abigail?"
Tom looked at the giant of a Jaffa and cocked his head; most men would be terrified of Teal'c…but he reminded Tom of Tom's grandfather who'd raised him after his parents abandoned him. "I would never hurt Abby. I only want to make her happy."
Daniel looked impressed, "Nice answer."
"Can I go now? I'm still on the clock."
Jack smirked with mirth, "Sure, kid."
To all those who didn't know Tom it looked like he was just walking out of the room like he would on any other day. To those that knew him – he was scared out of his mind; and it showed.
No one in the Carter/O'Neill household was particularly sad to leave Washington. The only person they'd really miss was Hammond – and he was coming with them in their move back to the Springs. It seemed that with the statement declaring the existence of the Stargate, President Hayes wanted all his top people near to it in case something went wrong. He'd deal with having tele-conferences with the SGC and the occasional holograms and instantaneous traveling provided free of charge from the Asgard High Council after the Tauri kicked the 'replicate' out of Replicators.
Esther, Abby and JJ looked at the empty house they were leaving one last time. It had never really felt like home to any of them…perhaps Colorado Springs would…
Through the rather long and boring flight on the US military issue plane Esther tried her luck at kel'no'reem while Abby and Sam slept. JJ and Jack stared at each other for a long time. Jack was finding every single similarity between his second son and his first, as JJ was trying to figure out the man behind the mask.
Jack finally got tired of it and motioned for JJ to get up and follow him to the back of the plane. The boy, knowing no other course of action that would be appropriate, did.
"What?" JJ asked, his voice and posture proclaiming how unconcerned and aloft he wanted to appear. For someone who knew him well enough, though, he was very concerned and interested in what his father had to say.
Jack shot him a look, "You can read my mind, right?"
"If I feel like it, yeah." What kind of question was that? The boy was a freakin' telepath for cryin' out loud!
"Can you read your mom's mind?"
"Yeah. Why?"
Jack put his hands deep into his pockets in a show of nervous energy. "I think she knows something about Pete that will help us catch the people who were financing him."
JJ scowled, closed his eyes and tried to probe his mother's mind. On the surface he found thoughts he expected to find…but when he moved deeper through the layers – into her thoughts near the subconscious level, he found what he was looking for.
"Someone named Barrett. There's a man called Kinsey. Another named…Bauer. Threats on her life. Threats on your life. Threats on our lives. Someone threatened torture for Abby and Esther – living hell for me."
JJ's eyes opened and he gazed soulfully into his father's deep brown eyes that matched his own. "The NID was backing him with the support of Senator Kinsey and General Bauer. They wanted…something. I'm not sure – she wasn't thinking about it."
Jack swore underneath his breath. This went higher up than he'd hoped it did. Unfortunately for Kinsey – he'd found his kids and Sam and Jack had no intention of ever letting them go again.
"Thanks for checking, JJ. Come on, there's really comfortable seats back here."
In the sudden change in topic, JJ discovered that they actually weren't on a standard issue plane – but actually on one of the old Air Force One planes that only flew the president for about two months.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you that night," JJ said suddenly after the father and son had been sitting in silence for almost half an hour. "I was high strung already and seeing you wasn't what I was expecting."
"It's okay, JJ," Jack replied, playing with his soda can, "I wasn't exactly expecting to see any of you guys either. I think we're even."
JJ nodded, "Okay. Thanks."
"No problem."
A few silent minutes later Jack spoke again, "So, what are you planning on doing with your life?"
JJ smirked and thought of the most evil things to tell his dad about his career choice. "Well, I want to go to Annapolis."
Jack stared, petrified at his son, "You want to go to the Naval Academy?"
JJ nodded, "I want to be a Marine."
"But…but…Holy crap!" Jack could barely string two words together after that shocking announcement. It was almost as bad as JJ saying he wanted to become a male stripper. IT WAS WORSE!
"A jarhead?"
JJ shrugged, "Better than being a flyboy."
A/N: So? Does it earn you taking just one more minute out of your busy lives to send me a review? I'd really appreciate it.