AN: Anyone besides me work last night? Yah take a wild guess how working at a craft store is on Black Friday... It was so crazy I dreamed some bean counter from a library was on my ass about breaking stuff with a team member and his kids and I finally offered in $5 for 2 mangled pencils that I MIGHT have broken and called Sam to ask if Jack would object to me requisitioning a pallet of military grade pencils to shut the jerk up when he started tring to get me to pay for stuff from stores not in the library... because apparently I was a member of SG-1 and could just call the head of Homeworld Security's wife any time I had a problem... yup...

Chapter 5

Jack woke up and sighed. Teal'c was already up. Harry snores as bad as Daniel. He missed Sam and his little Nugget, he realized. Focus on the job so you can go home, he reminded himself. Oddly, the last time he'd admonished himself that way had been before he lost Charlie.

He wouldn't make the same mistakes this time… but Sam wouldn't be like Sara had been. Sara had loved the idea of him but had struggled with the reality of loving a broken man. A man who had become even more broken after the death of their son. He'd once told Daniel he wasn't one for self-reflection but Daniel had rightfully called him out on that lie. He doubted he'd ever genuinely get past that period in his life but he'd found love again and a family to care about him and that was more than he'd had before.

And Sam made him want to be a better man, a better husband, a better father than he'd been for Sara. And that was something. He didn't think he loved Sam more but he did love her more honestly. He didn't hide parts of himself from her like he had from Sara, thinking he was protecting her.

Sam saw the ugly inside him and understood.

Jack sat up and shook his head. He didn't have time for this right now. He leaned over and kicked Harry. "Wake up." he ordered the other man.

"Ow! God, you're pissy in the morning. How does Sam put up with you?" He groused.

"It's offset by having a big dick. Get up. We have work to do." Jack got up himself and left the tent to make a stop at the latrine.

Harry shook his head. Crabby SOB. After being marooned on the moon with Jack for several months, he was used to Jack's foul moods so he got up. It did no good to stay annoyed with the man. Just give him a cup of coffee and leave him alone for an hour.

Once Teal'c had doled out MRE's and Jack had choked down slightly more than half, he started planning out loud. "All right, first we go get some local clothing from this planet yu think they are on. I vote we send Teal'c as no one will ask him questions."

Teal'c bowed his head at this and gave Jack an ironic smile.

"Then we go hunting. Zats only. I don't want to tip the locals off to the fact that we might not belong there."

"How's your Arabic, Jack?"

"Huh? Why?"

"Local language is Semitic. Modern era… well… last two thousand years modern which means-"

"Which means it's one of the last batches the snakes bagged before we shut down Ra on Earth." Jack cut in. He didn't need a history lesson. He had Daniel for that.

"Right, so how's your Arabic?"

"About as good as yours." Jack admitted.

Harry's mouth canted to the side in consideration. He understood it better than he could speak it. "We'll let the Jaffa do the talking."

"That is wise." Teal'c agreed.

Jack just rolled his eyes. "Great, so we get there, then what?"

"Well, I'm not exactly popular right now so ah… we're going to have to get creative on how we get a hold of these guys." Harry admitted.

"Terrific." Jack said dryly. "How much on them recognizing me?"

"Pretty even odds. Lower if you change your appearance a lot. Grow a beard, Jack."

Jack snorted. "Bee Gees. Got it." He poked at his food a bit. "All right. Let's get this over with."

Sam sat at the kitchen table with the land line. Jack still had a corded phone on the wall in there, having never updated it since he bought the house. The yellow comforted her as did the familiar slight clutter. She'd called about a dozen people so far. Some had been wrong numbers and a few had been people who remembered the murder but didn't know anything one way or another.

Gibbs was downstairs in the basement doing the same thing and occasionally sending her e-mail update which amused her as it was in the same house. Daniel was in the den with Harm supposedly working but they had taken Gracie with them so Sam suspected they were actually just playing with the baby.

The phone rang as she was about to pick it up which startled her. "Hello?"

"Hey Aunt Sam, what did you need?"

Sam sighed in relief. "Oh thank God. Cassie, I need your help. I have no idea how to plan a wedding and our deadline was six months but it's been moved up. Now we only have a few weeks and Jack isn't even home to help me plan and even with a nanny I have no time to do this and coordinate everything and I don't even know where to start let alone-" Panic was bubbling in her voice.

Cassie cut in. "Whoa... slow down." She said with a small laugh. "How long do you actually have?"

"Four weeks." Sam said miserably.

"Hm… okay, tell you what, let me talk to my professors and see if I can do a month remotely. Either way, I'll be there in a couple days."

"Cassie, I don't want you skipping classes to-"

"Sam! Stop it! I thought you and Uncle Jack were dead for over a year. If my professors don't understand how important this is, they can kick rocks. Mom left me enough money that if I tank a couple classes, it's not going to matter."

"Cass…" Sam's voice was sad.

"Aunt Sam… it's okay. Uncle Dave was surprisingly great about the whole thing." She said of Janet's ex husband who had never been her father but she was willing to accept as another uncle figure with the loss of her entire family again.

Sam sighed. "All right."

"I'll see you in two days." It was an eighteen hour drive from the Groom Lake area of Nevada to Colorado Springs.

"All right. Drive safe." Sam told her and hung up. She sat back and sighed slowly. She hated admitting she needed the help but she had to delegate something and the wedding was the least of her worries right now. She heard a squall of protest and was brought back to one of the things she couldn't delegate.

"Lunchtime." Sam's nanny said cheerfully. Her green eyes twinkling merrily. She was in her mid-twenties, athletic with shoulder length medium brown hair pulled back into a ponytail.

"It's fine, Lonnie." Sam told her and took the baby. She looked down into her tear-filled but trusting eyes but her daughter was more interested in food then her mom's face and grabbed at Sam's shirt. "Okay, okay, just a minute. You're as bad as your father on steak night."

Lonnie chuckled. "Babies and men have equal interest in breasts. Babies are generally more polite about it."

Sam grinned. "Probably," she said as Gracie latched and grunted in satisfaction making both women laugh. "She's definitely her father's daughter."

"From what I met of him that might not be a bad thing." Lonnie said as she sat, expecting to take the baby back as soon as she was done eating so Sam could get back to work.

Sam nodded. "The guys behaving themselves?" she asked.

Lonnie shrugged. "Daniel is trying to find something on his laptop and Harm has been on the phone with his office most of the morning about his partner's cases."

Sam nodded. She wasn't the only one juggling too many balls. She'd talked to her brother this morning. Hammond had insisted during the trial that all family members be informed of them being found. An officer had been sent to San Diego to inform Mark and his family that Sam had been found but not able to contact him directly yet. In the end. they had left it up to her to tell Mark about the baby. Sam cringed internally about explaining that one. Perhaps she would somehow find the time after Cassie got here and she had some emotional back up.

Gracie let go and looked up at Sam expectantly. Sam chuckled and patted her bottom until she belched then switched sides. She was, overall, a good baby.

"Do you need me to get a hotel room for a few days so your niece can stay here?" Lonnie asked Sam, having overheard half the conversation.

"What? Oh, no," She said, shaking her head, "it's not a problem. I haven't sold my old house yet and it's right up the road. She can stay there while she visits." Sam told the younger woman. "Cassie would need some quiet time to study anyway and she won't get it here."

"Okay, if you're sure?"

"Completely. The house is enough of a zoo already." Sam assured the other woman.

"So, um, I heard the Colonel is being promoted when he gets back from his mission?"

Sam nodded. "Yah, that's a lot of why we have to push up the wedding. We thought we had six months but I'm technically on leave right now as is Jack. They will retrograde both our pay for the time but we have to be married before he can take the position as the head of the program we're in."

"It sounds like you guys got really lucky."

Sam shrugged. "They only did it to avoid a messy situation on base." She smiled a little down at Gracie. "That's not a complaint."

Lonnie smiled at her. "I didn't think it was."

Sam's cell phone rang and she flipped it open as she handed back the now full and sleepy Gracie. "Carter." She said.

Lonnie took the baby and backed out of the kitchen to give Sam whatever privacy she needed. The way she'd answered the phone suggested it was the Base.

"What? When?" Sam paused. "Oh no." She ground. "All right, thank you for telling me." Sam hung up and folded her arms on the table and buried her face in them. So much for plan A.

Daniel found her that way a few moments later after Lonnie had told him Sam was on the phone with work. "Uh oh." He said.

Sam lifted her head. "I don't suppose you could hide me, could you?"

"What? Why?"

Sam laughed a little oddly. "That was Walter. Mark is on his way here."

"Why here?"

"Because he headed for my house expecting me to be there but there's still a security box on the door so he went to the base and made the guards get someone to talk to him. Uncle George told him I was living here now and he's on his way to the house… with the kids and Nancy."

"Uh oh." He said again.

"Yah."

"He uh… he knows this is Jack's house, doesn't he?" It was a statement not a question.

"Yup."

"You are so screwed."

"Oh yah."

"Don't you dare tell him I'm the father." He admonished her.

"What? No! Daniel!"

Daniel chuckled a little. "How mad is he going to be about this?"

"Well… he's a lot like dad, so pretty mad."

Daniel made a 'yikes' face.

"Yah exactly. I honestly wish Jack or dad was here to run interference."

"Have they let your dad know yet?"

"The Tok'ra don't seem to want to fill him in on what's going on. I know he said he had a long assignment but it's a little ridiculous that they didn't tell him I was missing or that they found me."

"I bet they would hurry up to tell him about Gracie and the wedding though."

"Oh yah sure you betcha." Sam told him, mimicking Jack's accent when he got really absentminded.

Daniel shook his head but smiled a little. He was happy for them. He really was. He'd have bet his pension on it anyway after all the realities they were together.

"Forget Jack or your dad, I wish Teal'c was here to loom over him and keep him in line."

Sam giggled. "I wish I'd thought of that one. I might have him stand over me at the wedding so Mark keeps his yap shut."

"That's getting weird, Sam?"

"What?"

"You're literally talking like him now."

"I am?"

Daniel stared at the ceiling. "It's probably from having to be in each other's pockets for a year and a half but yah."

"That's not all we were in." Sam muttered.

"I was there, no need to remind me." Daniel admonished her, wishing he could burn the mental images the sounds of their sighs and moans had evoked in his head night after night to ashes, never to be brought to mind again.

"Sorry." Sam said and blushed a little but her smile was slightly wicked.

"You did it on purpose." he accused her but his voice was amused.

"Yah a little. Any success on your end?" She said tactfully changing the subject.

"Just more of the usual. Got some more details on the girl's death. She was high as a kite but there's no way to know if she took the drugs herself or they were forced on her at this point."

"There might be. Can you get a list of what was in her system?"

"Probably."

Sam nodded. "Cocaine and weed are one thing, Barbiturates would point to her being roofied."

"Ah. Okay, I see your point."

There was a crunch of gravel in the driveway.

Daniel and Sam looked at each other uneasily. "Showtime." She said, her gut fluttering unpleasantly.

Had Sam known three guns were drawn at the sound of that crunch of gravel she'd have chuckled at their training kicking in over logic. Daniel went to tell the guys what was happening and they could put their guns away.

"Sam?" Mark yelled through the front door as he banged on it.

Sam looked upward, took a deep breath, and let it out in a long sigh before standing and going to the door.

She opened it to her brother standing bundled against the cold. "Sam?" He engulfed her in a tight hug. She hugged him back. Behind him, the kids stood with Nancy.

"Come on in, guys, and get warmed up. It's a little crowded today."

"What? Why?"

"It's a long story I mostly can't explain." Sam admitted.

"That's half your life, Sam." Mark admonished her.

"Look, it's not-" But whatever Sam had intended to say was cut off by Gracie wailing in the other room. Sam's head snapped to the sound in a way Mark and Nancy recognized immediately as that of a parent.

"What's going on, Sam?" Mark demanded.

"Er… well…" Sam hedged and wrung her hands.

"Sam, Lonnie had to use the bathroom and she doesn't seem to like me right now." Harm admitted, holding the baby gently in spite of her squirming.

"I'll take her." Daniel said and took Gracie as Harm handed her off.

"Harmon Rabb, I'm a colleague." Harm said to Mark in that 'and you are' military voice they all seemed to perfect eventually.

"Mark Carter. Sam's brother." Mark said flatly.

"Is that the pizza I ordered?" Gibbs said. bounding up the stairs. He knew damn well it wasn't but he didn't have patience for chest thumping relatives and he really had ordered pizza. "Oh hi. Jethro Gibbs, you can just call me Gibbs though." He said sticking out a slender hand for Mark to shake and smiling affable.

Sam almost laughed. It was so similar to something Jack would do it made her feel better immediately.

"Sam, what's going on?" Mark finally demanded.

"Um, well, that's a little hard to explain…" She hedged.

"We're investigating a murder. Wanna help?" Gibbs asked Mark.

Sam bit her lip in amusement.

"That's not exactly my field of expertise and that's not what I meant anyway." Mark huffed.

"Oh, there you guys are." Lonnie said in feigned surprise. "I'll take her, Daniel." She said and took the baby. "Sam, are you sure you don't want me to just get a hotel room?" she asked.

Sam shook her head emphatically. "Nancy, why don't you and the kids get comfortable. Kids, you know where Uncle Jack keeps the board games. They haven't been moved. Mark, um, why don't you and I take a walk." She said as she moved to grab her coat from the hall tree. "We'll be back soon." She told everyone. "Take a break, guys." She told her team.

"I'll save you some pizza." Harm offered.

"Thanks Harm." She told him, unsure if Jethro had even actually ordered pizza but she was sure he would now.

They walked silently together in the cold spring air. A couple blocks away from the house, Mark finally rounded on her. "Sam, what the hell is going on?!"

Sam hunched her shoulders. "It's a little complicated, Mark."

"Everything is always complicated with you and Dad. Tell me the parts you can." He ground out.

Sam gave him an injured look. "Jack and I... and Daniel and Teal'c were on a routine mission to grab someone and bring them in. Completely unrelated another faction from somewhere else was running a crime ring we got swept up in and had to avoid blowing our cover."

"So you were out of the country."

Sam nodded. "Yah. We ended up in an internment camp and our base commander had no idea where we were or if we were even still alive for a year and a half." She sighed. "Mark… it was a baby factory. They were scooping people up and forcing them to…"

Mark blanched. "Sam…" He said thickly, unable to get the words he wanted to ask out.

"No… no I was never raped, Mark. But… well… Colonel O'Neill and I were forced to have sex until I got pregnant."

"Why didn't you tell them no?"

"They killed anyone that didn't comply. We faked it for a really long time, but eventually they caught on and forced us." She stopped for a moment. "Mark… they told him if he didn't they were going to let anyone who wanted to use me do so."

"Oh god Sam…"

"Yah… he didn't have any other choice at that point. I didn't really give him one. He felt terrible about it."

Mark nodded silently. He knew she was telling him more than she was officially allowed to.

"So, someone higher up the food chain came to inspect the facility and saw us. He recognized who we were and didn't want an incident so he smuggled us out and returned us home."

They walked together silently for another block. "So what happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"You said a year and a half. It was almost two years before I got word you were still alive and they said you were confined to base."

Sam nodded. "I was. They put Colonel O'Neill on trial for fraternization. Harm got him off. He's JAG."

"So why is he still around investigating a murder at your CO's house and why are you now living there?"

Sam sighed. "One of the requirements to kick the conduct unbecoming charge was Jack being ordered to marry me."

"And you don't get a say in this?"

Sam shook her head. "Mark, he asked me before the trial was over. He thought he was going to be forced to retire."

"How long has that been going on?"

Sam colored.

"I see." Was all Mark said at first. "Why did you agree to go out with Pete if you had a thing for your boss?"

"We weren't allowed to be together. I was hoping dating someone else would help me get over my feelings for him."

"Did Pete know you were just using him?" Mark asked unkindly.

"That's not fair and you know it! Jack and I knew the military wouldn't let him retire or me out of the program. There was nothing we could do about it." She huffed angrily at him.

Mark just shook his head. "But, of course, now because it's messy they want to force you to get married instead."

"Mark, you aren't being fair." She insisted.

Mark stopped and turned to her though. "Aren't I? My only sister is missing for nearly two years. I find out she's alive only a few weeks ago. After waiting for weeks without hearing from her, I rush to see her only to find out that without anyone telling me she has a baby and is marrying her boss to avoid the military being embarrassed that they didn't rescue her from a baby factory."

"Mark!"

"Where the hell is my future brother-in-law anyway?"

"He's on a mission. It's his last off… it's his last covert mission and then they are promoting him to General. That's why we have to get married in the next few weeks, because he'd go back to being my CO at that point. Originally it was six months and just to keep his status as honorably discharged but General Hammond is being promoted and the President wants Jack to head up the program."

"And what does Dad have to say about all this?"

"I don't know." Sam said sadly.

"What do you mean you don't know?" He demanded.

"The people he works for have him in a deep cover mission. He doesn't even know we were missing." Sam said sadly.

"Oh, that's great. Dad is going to just love this one, Sam." He said sarcastically.

"You think I don't know that?" She huffed angrily. "You think this isn't the most messed up situation I've been in since I had to sneak away to leave Jonas? At least Jack loves me. Why isn't that enough for either of you?"

"You were going to say official… so I take it he'll have unofficial missions." Mark said, changing tactics.

Had she? No, she'd almost said off-world but it was as good a cover as any. "Jack is on a covert mission. I can't explain the details but it's why Daniel was at the house with Harm and Gibbs. Teal'c is with Jack trying to find someone we need to catch."

"Same guy?"

"Different guy." Sam told him, knowing he meant the reason for their last mission. "We'd have all gone but obviously I had to stay home so we added some people and split up the team, I'm heading up the domestic side of the mission."

"Then what happens to you?"

"Then I go back on the mission roster. Lonnie is Gracie's live-in nanny."

"Just gonna leave your kid home just like dad did, huh?"

Sam had a very strong urge to flatten her brother. This was nothing like her father leaving them. "Jack will be available at all times. He-"

Mark waved her off. "Whatever, Sam. She'll just be another screwed up kid whose parents are never home."

Sam rounded on him. "How dare you! Do you think this is how we wanted things? Do you think this was planned or something? Jack and I are doing our best to not screw this up in spite of how ridiculous the situation is. You have a lot of nerve judging us when all you have ever done is run away when you couldn't handle things."

"Well, it's better than being dad's lap dog!"

"Coward!"

"Kissup!"

"Loser!"

"Nerd!"

Sam snorted with mirth. "That's geek to you, freakazoid." She told him.

"I'm a freak? Have you looked in the mirror, stretch?" Mark's voice was now also touched with mirth.

"Bonehead." Sam finally called him.

"It's genetic." He agreed. "I'm sorry I yelled at you, Sam. I thought you died."

Sam nodded in understanding. "Daniel does that to us at least every other year."

"I'd ask what the hell you guys do that Daniel keeps dying on you but I'm not sure I want to know."

"I'd have to kill you if I told you."

"All right, it's too damn cold out. Was there really pizza or was that your weird friend's way of being nosey?"

"Probably both." Sam admitted.

Mark nodded. "Did you let Pete know?"

"We only went on a couple dates. It wasn't serious." Sam told him.

"He seemed pretty serious." Mark told her.