A/N: This one will explain more - and hopefully gain your approval. John's character is a bit OOC, though.
"General! Thank God you're here!" a man in his early thirties ran up to greet the three people as they got off the plane.
"What is it, McKay?" Jacob asked, already feeling a headache coming on just by seeing his head scientist.
"The … the … It's getting worse, sir," McKay finally spat out. "Did you bring somebody to help?" he looked beyond the General and saw the two people standing there. The woman looked hot – he'd have to see if he could get a date with her; but he remembered the man … Colonel O'Neill, wasn't it? McKay didn't care for him that much ever since O'Neill had called him a nerd.
"Dr. Rodney McKay, this is my daughter, Dr. Samantha Carter," Jacob said in a hard voice that left McKay no doubt that the general would not take kindly to the scientist flirting with her.
Sammie held out her hand, "It's nice to meet you, Doctor. Although, I'm rather surprised that you couldn't figure it out."
"Figure what out?" McKay asked, surprised by her bluntness.
"How to turn off the Stargate. It's quite simple really … you just need two people willing to put their lives on the line for it."
McKay cocked his head, "Why two?"
Sammie looked at him with disbelieve: This was the man entrusted with the lives of everyone on Earth on a regular basis? "It's a black hole, Doctor. You need two people in case one is torn asunder before the job is done."
Jacob smirked – he knew his daughter could figure it out! "Come on, people, we've got to get to the base."
About an hour later Sammie was standing in front of a group of military officers, John and her father flanking her and giving her courage to speak. "Okay, none of you know me, but there's no time for introductions right now. We need two volunteers willing to go down and plant a bomb by the Stargate."
Someone raised their hand, "What's that going to do?"
Sammie smirked, "I was reading the past mission reports and I came across one about two officers trapped in Antarctica when the 'Gate they were coming from was hit by a very large weapon's blast and the wormhole jumped from one 'Gate to another. That's what we want it to do."
At the looks of confusion before her, Sammie turned to the white board beside her. She drew three circles with a line going between two of them. She drew an arrow toward one, "This is our 'Gate, this is the wormhole, and this is the black hole. What we want to do is set a bomb off here that will be strong enough to get the wormhole to jump from this 'Gate to this one." Understanding dawned over the group. Visuals were excellent … now if they could only get Dr. McKay to start using them…
"Now," Jacob said as Sammie turned back to the officers, "Two volunteers to plant the bomb, please."
Five men and two women raised their hands, willing to try their luck with the plan the young woman had come up with. It was pretty simple, some of them wondered why McKay hadn't thought of it – that's what they paid him for, after all.
"Colonel Cromwell and Major Gibson, you're it," Jacob said, picking out two burly looking men. Sammie felt John stiffen next to her at the mention of the first name. She looked at him worriedly and noticed the look of hatred in his eyes.
"Hey," she whispered as the group began to disperse, "You okay?"
John shook his head, "No, but I will be. Don't worry about it, Sammie."
Colonel Cromwell walked over to them, "Jack O'Neill?" he asked in disbelief.
"It's John, now," the retired Colonel said through clenched teeth. Sammie frowned, not liking the emotion in John's voice. She put a comforting hand on his arm and turned to the other Colonel.
"Can we help you?" she asked a little icily.
Cromwell turned to her, "I'm Colonel Frank Cromwell," he said, holding out his hand for her to shake.
Sammie looked down at the hand then back up at Cromwell's face, "Dr. Samantha Carter. What can we do for you?"
"I was actually hoping I could talk to Ja-John if that's okay with you, miss."
"Shouldn't you be gearing up for your mission, Cromwell?" John said, finally turning to face the other man.
Frank nodded, "I wanted to talk to you first, O'Neill. I was hoping we could put what happened behind us."
"Behind us?" John spat, his voice dangerously low. "Cromwell, I don't know about you, but that's not exactly something I'll be putting 'behind me' anytime soon."
Sammie was a little concerned about the anger in John's voice, but wisely kept her mouth shut, waiting for Cromwell's response. "I thought you were dead, O'Neill. I had the rest of the team to look out for and keep alive."
"What ever happened to 'leave no man behind', huh? I was stuck in that damned prison for six months, Cromwell!"
"I'm sorry for that, John," Cromwell said, looking truly regretful in Sammie's eyes.
"Too damn late, Frank! It was your fault, and it was Hansen's fault. It's your fault that Sarah and Charlie are dead."
Cromwell was silent for a few seconds, nodding before he said, "I'm sorry you feel that way, John. I really am. This is the last time I may be able to say that. I made a mistake. I hope someday you can forgive me for the part I played in what happened to you."
He left the command tent to go get geared up before he would go with Gibson to planet the bomb. It was only after he left Sammie and John alone in the tent that he turned to his girlfriend and let tears come to his eyes. She held him for a long time, not saying a thing, just holding him tight as he cried.
Sammie prayed to God that her plan would work and John could forget what had happened to him … at least for a little while.
A/N: Towel monogramed in gold or an explosive from Ba'al?