A/N: Thank you all for the amazing comments and encouragement.
There is no specific TW for this chapter.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Jack asked as he cleaned their dishes from breakfast. "You know I can handle Shanahan."
"I'm sure," Sam nodded, holding her hand out for his cell phone.
After the visit from Pete's friend, Sam had decided keeping what happened from the rest of the team wasn't a good idea. Even though the female cop seemed to be genuinely concerned over Sam's well-being, the woman likely had no idea she was being used. Being forewarned was being prepared, and the last thing Sam wanted to do was let any of her teammates stumble into a bad situation.
"Danny's speed dial two, T's three," Jack handed her his phone.
"Guess that makes me number four," she joked, despite having mixed emotions about being last.
"One," Jack said absently as he wiped down the counter.
"What?" Sam's eyes snapped to him.
"You're speed dial number one," Jack looked up at her with a funny expression.
"Hello? Jack?" Daniel's voice called from the speaker.
"Hi, uh, Daniel?" Sam forced herself to focus on the phone and not on her insides doing flip flops.
"Sam?" Daniel sounded perplexed to hear her voice.
"Yah, sorry," she chuckled nervously. "I'm using Ja—Colonel O'Neill's phone," she grimaced at her almost slip while Jack rolled his eyes.
"Is everything alright?" Daniel asked anxiously.
"Umm, yeah, well mostly," she dropped her head into her hand. It was all Jack's fault she was flustered. "Look," she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Can you come over?"
"Sure," she heard Daniel shuffling papers in the background. Despite SG-1's ordered downtime, she realized he must still be on base.
"And bring Teal'c with you," she added.
"Will do. Your place in about an hour?"
"No, umm," she looked at Jack. "I'm at Colonel O'Neill's."
"I see," Daniel said, a smile in his voice. "All right. We'll see you guys then."
"I'll kill him!" Daniel growled as he paced Jack's living room. "That filius canis, no good lying scortum obscenis vilis!"
"Daniel's Latin's improving," Jack quipped as the others waited for the tirade to end.
"What's he saying?" Sam asked.
"He just called Pete Shanahan the offspring of a canine and a vile perverted male prostitute," Teal'c answered.
"Son of a bitch and a manwhore," Jack interpreted Teal'c's translation.
"He's not wrong," Sam growled, earning a head bow from Teal'c.
"I am pleased to see you are all right," Teal'c told her; however, she could tell he was simmering with anger.
"Thanks to Colonel O'Neill and Janet," Sam replied.
"Are you done yet?" Jack called to Daniel while tapping his foot impatiently on the floor.
"Yeah, sorry," Daniel ended his tirade by leaning down and pulling Sam into a tight hug. At her squeak of pain he jerked back. "Sorry!"
"Easy there," Jack gripped his shoulder and pulled him back slowly.
"It's okay," Sam squeezed Daniel's hand.
"So what's the plan?" Daniel asked, looking between her and Jack. He watched as Jack's eyes cut away, a grim look on his face. What was he planning?
"Carter is staying with me," Jack stated emphatically.
"Just until I can walk without assistance," Sam clarified with a faint blush that Daniel found odd. It wasn't the first time Jack had hosted one of them after an injury. Sam had stayed in the guest room before, the last time being after Nirrti; or so Teal'c had told him. Daniel had been ascended at the time.
"I'm going to take Carter to her house this afternoon. While she's gathering what she needs, I'll be changing the locks. I need you and Teal'c to run to Slater's Hardware and pick me up a twin pack of locks with deadbolts. Ask Smitty to key them all the same."
"Okay," Daniel nodded.
"Make extra keys," Sam added. "I want each of you to have one."
"Then what?" Daniel looked at Jack expectantly.
"Then we wait and see," Jack shrugged and moved to help Sam as she shifted restlessly on the couch. Daniel watched as their team leader gingerly lifted his 2IC's leg onto the cushions. "I'll grab you an extra pillow," he told her, turning to walk towards the rear of the house.
"You can't be serious about waiting?" Daniel followed him, speaking once they were in his bedroom. Jack wasn't simply going to let this go, was he? Well Daniel certainly wasn't! Even if he had to—
"Daniel," Jack emphasized his name. "Don't."
"But Jack…"
"Daniel. No."
"Jack…"
"I'm handling it."
"You're handling it?" Daniel arched an eyebrow. "What does that even mean?"
"It means I don't want you causing Carter undue worry about a crazy ex-boyfriend. It means I'm handling it," Jack snipped, walking into the closet.
Daniel opened his mouth to demand to know more, but the sight of the rumpled bed caught his attention. He'd stayed over enough to know Jack was almost neurotic about making his bed. It was a trait that had been ingrained into the man during basic. Daniel could have explained the messy bed away if he hadn't already noticed the unused bed in the spare room.
He glanced around the room. The three pillows on Jack's bed caught his attention. Two were stacked on top of each other, just how Sam preferred to sleep. Stepping forward, Daniel noticed a bottle of pills on the nightstand. Grabbing it, he read Sam's name on the label. Rumpled bed. Sam's preferred arrangement of pillows. Sam's pills.
"Are you sleeping with Sam?" Daniel asked more forcefully than he'd intended just as Jack was exiting the closet with two more pillows in hand. His friend stopped with a deer in the headlights look before assuming a mask of neutral indifference. "You are!" Daniel hissed.
"Keep your voice down," Jack growled, crossing the room to shut the door. "It's not what it looks like."
Daniel arched an eyebrow and waited. He knew his friends well enough to know they'd been mutually attracted to each other for years. Hell, the sexual tension was enough for him to confront Jack about it once before, only to be ordered to shut up. The desire was clearly there, but he couldn't imagine Jack ever taking advantage of Sam. Yet the evidence seemed to indicate something had happened.
"Yes, she slept in here," Jack ran a hand over his face. "But that's all." At Daniel's disbelieving look he continued, "You should have seen her last night. I've never—" his voice caught and he cleared his throat. "I never want to see her like that again."
Daniel let out a huff. It must've been even worse than he'd imagined.
"She was so afraid," Jack's eyes filled with pain. "Danny, she begged me to stay with her. Carter. Begged me to make her feel safe again. I—"
"Stop," Daniel rasped out. The images Jack described were tearing him apart inside. He'd never seen Sam beg for anything. The mere thought of what that meant was heart wrenching. "Just please tell me you're not going to let that spurius hibrida get away with this."
"I'm not," Jack's dark stare sent shivers down Daniel's spine. The look reminded him of the Jack who had stepped through the Stargate onto Abydos the first time.
"So what—"
"Carter needs some time," Jack sighed, the menacing look fading away. "I shouldn't leave her alone right now."
The unspoken message being that Jack didn't want to leave Sam alone. That made sense; Jack had an extremely developed over-protective streak. Especially where Sam was concerned. But Daniel couldn't help to think that giving Pete Shanahan any type of reprieve would be like throwing gasoline onto a raging fire.
Post Note: My Latin is rusty, so forgive me if you are well-versed with cursing in that language. Daniel's final curse is something we used to say in my high school Latin class; however, the vernacular is technically incorrect. It loosely translates to "f-ing bas—d" for anyone who might want to know.