Chapter Four - Trevor

Present Day

"I'll bet your mom's going crazy right now." Nicole Jackson looked over at Jacob with an uncharacteristic note of sympathy in her voice.

Jacob didn't speak, just kept walking along, as if he didn't want to think about what his family was going through without them there.

Trevor turned from Jacob to Grace, who despite her fierce anger with the woman about the bodyguard issue, looked almost guilty as she thought about her parents so far away. "Maybe it sounds stupid, but I'm a little more worried about my dad. Sure, it happened over twenty years ago, but the last time Dad was under this much stress, he had a heart attack."

It was clear that the younger O'Neill disagreed because Jacob started shaking his head the moment Grace said the word stress. "The last time he was under this much scrutiny, you mean. The last time he had this much stress, he didn't have a heart attack. He was fine. The only one left standing, actually."

Grace took a long moment before she nodded, resigned. "Okay, fine. You have a point. Dad wasn't under as much scrutiny when we were kidnapped. That might have saved him. Either way, you admit he's the one we need to worry about."

Trevor quirked an eyebrow upward, more than a little nervous to get in the middle of a family squabble. "Is there a particular reason you can't worry about both of your parents? Under the circumstances, I think it's fair to assume your mother's concerned about your safety, too."

Grace squinted at him, the sun probably glaring in her eyes. "You mean because she cared enough to send a bodyguard to our hotel?"

Trevor groaned. He knew he should have stayed silent. "All I'm saying is that no matter how powerful you are, you don't take that kind of step unless you're worried."

Jacob just sighed and wiped the sweat from the back of his neck. "Well, if we've traveled back in time, she might not even have been born yet, so there's that."

Grace swayed in the heat, though she batted Trevor's hand away when he tried to help her. Apparently, it wasn't the sun this time. More likely, it was the thought that her parents hadn't been born yet that had made Grace a little lightheaded.

Fair enough.

Trevor pressed forward, pretending to turn his focus elsewhere, but he allowed himself a peek at her out of the corner of his eye. Ever since he'd walked into the SGC and found General Carter on the other side of the desk, he'd realized that the anxiety which had propelled him to excellence at MIT was just a symptom of the longing which had grown inside him for years, ever since he and Grace had first broken up their senior year.

Until he'd seen Samantha Carter in the belly of the SGC, Trevor hadn't realized just how much he missed Grace. How much he wished he could turn back time and undo whatever teenage folly had ended their relationship ten years ago.

Now, here they were. Stuck. Having traveled back in time, ironically enough. With so much he wanted to say. Fighting a pull that apparently had never gone away, even after a messy teenage breakup.

And yet, she wanted nothing to do with him. He had to respect that.

He turned to Jacob, hoping to distract himself from thoughts of Grace. "Are your parents only this overprotective because you two were kidnapped a few years ago?"

Both Jacob and Nicole gave him a look like he'd grown three heads, and when he turned, Grace raised her eyebrow.

Somehow, he instantly regretted the word only. He should have thought more about how to approach that topic instead of assuming it was a safe one.

What a way to prove his stellar stratagem.

He coughed. "I mean, it's a perfectly logical response. I just didn't know if it was more than that. I mean, I'm just in the Air Force, and every time I get leave to go home, my mom cooks all my favorite foods like she's never going to see me again. So I get it. Moms are moms. No matter how old you get."

The siblings exchanged looks, even sharing one with Nicole.

Grace's voice was so quiet Trevor almost couldn't hear her as she pressed forward with a surprising tenacity. "Well, it doesn't help that Dad's first marriage ended when his oldest son shot himself with Dad's personal gun."

Trevor winced. He hadn't heard that part of the O'Neill family history. "That's awful. I didn't know that. I'm sorry."

Grace's voice was softer as she continued. "But even if that wasn't a factor, Mom and Dad have both been on edge because last time they went to the White House, we were kidnapped. To make matters worse, Mom was shot that day, too. Almost died from a blood clot. Twice. Our dog, Doc, actually did die. Tried to protect us that day."

From the apology in Grace's tone, that wound wouldn't heal anytime soon.

More than that, her story explained why the General had put together a team of airmen to protect her kids on their way to the presidential function. It also explained why she'd been so choosy about who she was willing to let take the assignment.

Trevor surveyed the other two in the group. Their somberness seemed to confirm Grace's story. "What I can't figure out is why you were targeted. Is it because your parents are powerful Air Force generals? Something else?"

Grace's eyes flared with worry as she stole a look in her brother's direction.

"What?"

Jacob sighed as he turned back to look at the car they'd left behind them. "We think they targeted us because I can do this."

Trevor turned a confused eye to Grace, who followed her brother's gaze without a blink. Even Nicole didn't seem fazed by his confession that there was something he could do that would have made him a target by powerful people.

There was a sound, almost like someone was dragging something in the sand. Trevor looked away, trying to protect his eyes from the sandstorm that this object was creating as it came closer. It was the size of a small elephant... Maybe a rhinoceros. Only it hardly made a sound, except for the scraping against the sand in its wake.

When Trevor finally cleared his vision, his jaw dropped, and he stared at Jacob O'Neill. "How did you—"

Jacob heaved a sigh as he looked at his sister's car, now standing no more than a few inches behind them. By Trevor's estimation, they'd already walked about five clicks away. It had taken Jacob less than five minutes to get a car that wouldn't drive on its own to travel that same distance. "Mom's got some theories about a goa'uld who experimented on her, Dad's ancient gene, and the naquadah in both my parents' systems, but all it amounts to is that she has no idea why I am the way I am."

Grace brushed the hair from her face, then knotted it at the nape of her neck. "That's not really fair, Jacob. Mom would know more if she and Dad were comfortable running the proper tests."

Trevor looked at Grace. "I take it the reason she didn't is because you two were kidnapped?"

Grace chewed on the inside of her cheek. "Mom, Dad, and Cassie were in the middle of running some tests on me. There were some medical issues that they wanted to sort out. Our theory is that we were actually kidnapped because those tests got into the wrong hands. Those tests and the tests that were run immediately after Jacob was born."

Trevor cocked his head to the side. "You had medical issues you needed answers to?"

Grace didn't speak, just turned back to her brother. "Any chance you can telekinetically move the car while we're inside it? My blisters are getting blisters."

Jacob shrugged. "I can't move it from inside the car, but sure, if you and Nicole want to get in—"

"No, thank you." Nicole looked almost disgusted at the car. "Slowly bake in a metal box while we try to make it to civilization? I don't think so. I'd rather walk. At least, that way, the movement creates a little bit of a breeze."

Grace groaned. "Point taken."

Trevor swallowed and squinted in the bright sunlight. "I can carry you if it's really that bad."

Grace's perfectly tweezed eyebrow tweaked upward. "Carry me? In this heat? You must be out of your mind."

He stuffed his hands in his pockets, instantly regretting it when his hands met grainy sand. "Basic training. We had to do all kinds of crazy things."

She gathered her dress's skirt in one hand as she stood tall and proud. "I've almost figured out how to walk on this sand. When we get home, you can tell my mom that her attempts to play matchmaker weren't nearly as successful as she might have hoped."

Trevor frowned at her. "What are you talking about?"

"My mother asked you to babysit us, right? Asked you to be our bodyguard so our paths would cross? Seems like she thinks our story wasn't over in high school."

Grace shifted, inadvertently showing Trevor the growing redness of the skin on her back. While he'd been struck almost dumb by her profile when she'd exited the hotel in the gown and cloak, he couldn't help but wish she was wearing something significantly more practical. Between the sunburn she was getting and the blisters she'd just complained about, she seemed the least prepared for this particular excursion.

Trevor grabbed her by the arm, forcing her to stop walking and look at him. "Look, I don't know what you think your mom has to do with this, but I practically begged her for this assignment when it came up."

Grace blinked at him, not comprehending. "What?"

"She almost didn't give it to me. Apparently, she was worried about how you would react."

Grace crossed her arms. "So?"

"So, if you're going to be mad at anyone, be mad at me. Your mom didn't have anything to do with this."

Grace scoffed. "My mother is one of the most powerful military generals on the planet, Trevor, with a keen intellect. I have a hard time believing she had nothing to do with it."

He let go of her arm, realizing his possessive gesture might have come across more aggressive than he'd intended. "Okay, so she gave me permission to come, but I think that had more to do with wanting to make sure she knew exactly who she was sending to be with you than any matchmaking scheme you've concocted. As you said, she's got more important things to worry about than setting her daughter up with a captain she handpicked for her command."

He winced as he said the word handpicked. Something about the way Grace's eyes flashed told him that he'd inadvertently proved her worst fears.

Grace shuffled up ahead of him, and Trevor let his eyes drift closed in self-deprecation.

"She hasn't gotten over what happened in high school."

Jacob's voice took Trevor by surprise. "What are you talking about?"

Jacob shrugged. "Hey, that's all I know, but I figured you should at least get a heads' up. I mean, if we've traveled in time or if we've somehow traveled lightyears away from home, I figure we'll be here for a little while. Thought maybe I'd throw you a bone."

Trevor managed a small smile. "Thanks, buddy."

Jacob turned to watch Grace as she fell against the sand for the umpteenth time since they'd started the journey. "Look, maybe don't tell her I told you. I don't exactly want to find myself on the chopping block either."

"Noted." Trevor's lips settled into a grim smile as he looked at Grace as Nicole helped her out of the sand. If only she'd let him help her, they'd have a much better chance of surviving this trip through the Sahara.

His thoughts drifted back to high school. If Jacob was right, the key to helping Grace trust Trevor again involved remembering what happened back in high school.

Easy peasy.

Except Trevor had never been clear on why they'd broken up in the first place.