As Maureen calmly left his office, Jack stood numbly behind his massive desk, holding a paper with phone numbers in his hand. Attached to that paper was a small envelope addressed to him. He recognized the handwriting immediately. It was his mother's.

CHAPTER 4: THE LETTER

This couldn't be happening, could it? He hadn't seen his mother since he was 12 years old. After years of fighting and screaming and being beaten by his father, Jack's mother had had enough. One morning she was just gone. She'd left a letter then too, addressed to him, asking him to understand. He never really understood why she'd left him with his father. He'd tried everything a twelve year old boy could do to look for her back then. He hoped and prayed she'd come back for him. But when she didn't show up after his father died, he'd given up. Love and sadness had turned to anger and almost hatred. Or so he thought.

But now he couldn't help himself. He had to read this letter.

Jack O'Neill sat down with a heavy sigh as he began to read his mother's words.

"Dear Jack,

I've been waiting so long to talk with you. I'm not sure how to begin, but here goes.

Before anything else, I want you to know how sorry I am for leaving you. You have every right to be angry with me, hate me even. But I hope you can find it in your heart to hear me out.

I was a coward. I needed to get out of that house. I had no idea how I would support myself, let alone you. I really thought you'd be okay. Your father had never laid a hand on you and you were getting big enough to defend yourself. Once I'd been gone for awhile, I felt too guilty to come back for you. Then I heard he'd died and Aunt Dorothy had stepped up to take you in. Ibelieved you were better off with your aunt and uncle."

Jack felt tears streaming down his face. It was like the past thirty some years never happened and he was a teenager once more. I'm not going to let her do this to me again, he thought sadly. I'm a three star general for crying out loud, why am I crying over my mother?

But he kept reading, he couldn't stop himself.

"From what I've read, you've grown into a strong, powerful man. I'd lost track of you for a long time. It was like you dropped off the face of the earth for years after your aunt and uncle died. And then there you were 2 weeks ago, big as life on the front page of the Post.

I know Maureen has told you that I'm sick. I'm hoping you can find it in your heart to let me see you just once more. It's your choice, Jack.

I do love you,

Momma"

OoOoOo

(One hour later)

"Daddy's home!" Grace announced as loudly as she could.

"How's my little girl?" Jack asked, swinging Grace up into his arms and spinning her around.

"Hi Daddy. Me love you!" Grace exclaimed in her usual welcome home tone of voice.

Hoping they'd always be as happy to see him come home as they were right now, Jack replied from his heart, "And I love you, Princess. Now what do you think your mommy and brother are up to."

"Mommy cook".

"Oh-oh. You mean by herself? Hmm? What do say we give her a hand?"

"Okay, Daddy."

Jack made his way to the apartment kitchen with Grace on his shoulder. He was so grateful that Sam and the kids had been able to make the trip to Washington with him this time. He needed his family with him more than ever tonight.

"Hi," Sam said cheerfully, looking up from the table where she was attempting to form hamburger patties.

"You know, they sell those pre-made," he quipped, just waiting for Sam's reaction.

Giving him a withering look, Sam wiped her messy hands on her apron and reached over to give her husband a quick kiss. "You are so lucky that I love you, even when you insult my cooking," she said with a fake pout.

"Love Daddy," Jake piped in.

"You look exhausted. Did something happen?" Sam asked, concern starting to color her brilliant blue eyes.

"Yeah, actually something did. I need to talk with you once the kids are asleep."

"SGC?"

"No, this one's personal."

OoOoOo

After a pleasant dinner on the balcony of their apartment (penthouse actually), Jack and Sam got the twins ready for bed. Baths, bedtime stories, and a lullaby rounded out the rituals that had developed for this small family during the Jake and Grace's first two years of life.

Once two very reluctant sets of eyes had closed for the night, Sam turned to Jack and offered, "Why don't you sit down, I'll get us some coffee."

"Okay, that would be nice," Jack replied.

By 2000 hours the couple was sitting quietly on the balcony sipping coffees. Sam waited for Jack to get around to whatever it was he needed to say. (She'd finally figured out that the wait and see approach worked well when Jack wanted to discuss personal issues. The more she pushed, the more he'd close down.)

"I had a visitor today. Said she was a Post reporter scheduled for an interview. Seems it wasn't exactly the truth. Says she's my sister."

"But, you don't…"

"Right. Just read this, will ya?" He said, handing her the letter.

After a few minutes of reading, feeling Jack's eyes on her all the time, Sam looked up, locking eyes with her husband. "Wow, this is amazing. You haven't heard from your mom since she left, right?"

"Yeah, that's right." After the brief acknowledgement, Jack lapsed into his usual silence. For a few moments they both sat looking out at the stars on a beautifully clear night. Then, still looking at the stars, Jack began, "Maureen, the lady who says she's my sister, she's a red-head with stunning green eyes, just like Mom. She says Mom's dying."

Sam heard a sharp intake of breath from her husband, sitting as he was just to her side. She reached over to take his hand and felt his fingers close around her own.

After a few moments, Jack pulled away, stood up and walked back into the apartment. Initially content to stay on the balcony and wait him out, Sam was startled by the noise of dishes crashing to the floor. Turning around, she found that Jack had picked up a stack of freshly washeddinner platesand thrown them against the wall. His face a mask of rage, he turned to face her.

"How can she come back into my life NOW? She has no right!"

"Jack, she's your mother, always will be." Sam said in a soft voice, certain the twins would add their screaming to Jack's shouting any second now.

"Never meant much to her before, did it. She left me with that son of a bitch!" He bellowed in a tone that would have frightened most anyone. Sam remained steadfast and undeterred, having learned that for her husband anger often came before the true feelings.

And she was right. With his last statement, Jack started to sink to the floor, the fight and anger draining from him, replaced by sadness and grief. These were the emotions he'd struggled against most of his life. Now sitting on the floor propped against the kitchen wall, his eyes surveying the broken dishes, he saw Sam move to sit down beside him. Wise woman that she was, she sat there waiting for the rest of the storm to pass, ever so grateful that for some reason the twins seemed to have slept through their father's outburst.

She didn't have to wait long. Jack turned towards her with tears in his sad, dark brown eyes, reaching his hand up to gently cup her cheek. "I love you. Sorry about the dishes," he said sotto voice.

"That's some way to clear a table." She teased softly.

"One of my secret talents."

"Come here, you," Sam whispered, wrapping her arms around Jack and pulling him to her. His head on her breast, he sobbed out the grief that had been locked away for much too long. It was the grief of a young boy who'd been abandoned and a man who'd never forgotten the loss.

Sam simply held him and let him cry.

OoOoO

Moments later the tears stopped. Jack pulled back, looked in his wife's eyes and gave her half a grin. "Did I say I love you?"

"Yeah, but you can say it again." Sam grinned back before offering her opinion. She knew it was what her husband was asking. "I think you should talk to Maureen some more, get a better feeling about what's going on, what happened after your mom left. What have you got to loose?"

"How 'bout what's left of my sanity?"

Sam smiled as usual at Jack's lame attempt at humor, but wouldn't let herself be distracted. "So we'll have a Plan B."

"And what would plan B be?"

"If we don't like what she has to say, we'll go through the Stargate to another planet, where no one's heard of Maureen Cramer and they sell sanity cheap. What do you think?"

It was Jack's turn to laugh.

I appreciate all of the comments on the last chapter and am very aware of the depth of feeling the situation in this particular story may touch in some hearts (mine included). As everyone knows there are no easy answers to these family dilemmas. And there won't be any magical, science fiction solutionsto this one either.

As you can tell from this chapter, Jack's reactions run the gamut of emotions and he'll need to lean on the people who mean the most to him – a position which is unfamiliar for him.

Everyone handles situations in their own way. The story that unfolds here is simply the story of how I think the character I know as Jack O'Neill would deal with this difficult situation.

Again, your continued feedback is most appreciated.