AN: I'm so glad everyone is enjoying this one as it's by far one of my favorite stories I've written

The Fight's out

They left shortly after. Everyone in their effort to keep James and Delilah safe hadn't considered there might be another much less likely target the Klan leaders would focus on instead as their revenge though later both Sam and Jack would blame themselves for not thinking of it. Sam and Jack had followed Yonish home with their shotguns on their knees then headed back to the hotel. Ernest's mother had turned in for the night as had Daniel so Sam and Jack were left to themselves.

"Want something before we turn in? Jack asked Sam. The hotel had gotten in the habit of keeping out rolls, butter, and fruit for Ernest who sometimes came down to the dining area in the middle of the night to work when he couldn't sleep.

Sam shrugged. She wasn't very hungry… at least not for food.

"Jack." she said to him softly from the shadows.

He gave her a long look. She wouldn't wear a corset except for work but she did have on a pretty green gingham blouse paired with a wrap style skirt, popular with the local Hungarian farmers Ernest was friendly with. Her only concession that they were in town. Sam didn't dislike dresses and skirts. She just found them cumbersome when on horseback. "What is it Sam?"

She smiled a little shyly at him. "I know we agreed to wait but…"

Jack's eyes warmed. He wanted her but it might be a while before they actually tied the knot. "How about a compromise?" He asked, an amused glint in his eyes.

"Oh?"

"Mm Hm..." He said and took her hand to lead her upstairs to their room where he tenderly removed her clothing and worshiped her body thoroughly without once entering her to gain his own release even as she moaned and quivered at the feel of his hands and tongue pleasuring her.

"Jack, you still haven't-"

"Got it handled Carter." He said and gave her a quick kiss before quickly relieving his own need into the chamber pot under their bed.

"Jack… I would have…"

He laid down and held her. "Sam… We have a house to build first and that could take a solid year. I don't want to take the chance of getting you pregnant before that as the only protection we have available are 1800 era rubbers." He said with a chuckle. "It's easier just to do things this way and then there's no accidents. I didn't hear you complaining while you were moaning my name a bit ago." He said with a smirk.

Sam dimpled at him as she stroked his chest. "Next time, Jack… I'll handle making sure you're satisfied too." She says to him before claiming his lips. Jack looks surprised for a moment then kisses her back.

"I promise as soon as it's not going to make things more difficult for us we'll finish what we started here." He said and held her close.

On the other side of town, Teal'c had just locked up the town meeting hall and was headed back to the hotel. His last order of business was to slide the key for the town hall into the mail slot of the mayor's house. O'Neill, he surmised, would be offended at this lack of trust but Teal'c understood the dynamics of this time period… as did O'Neill, he presumed, which had a great deal to do with the reason why it angered the other man. Among his own people, Teal'c was sholva. Traitor. Among O'Neill's people of this time… all men and women who looked like Teal'c were sholva. Even young James was sholva to many of this time. A child who had done no wrong in this world. He'd once told O'Neill his world was strange and had no idea how right he was.

They came at him from all sides. Teal'c could easily win in a fair fight but they had firearms and he did not. And… Teal'c knew his people would come for him and that he had a better chance of surviving than the woman and child would if they were the targets instead. So Teal'c did the only thing he could do. He let them capture him and put a sack over his head. He was then dragged out of the city to be beaten.

Teal'c accepted this with stoic silence.

"That's why they need tah die, Bill. This one ain't felt nothin' when I hits him see?" He kicked Teal'c several times as he kneeled on the ground.

His companion, the other guard, nodded sagely. "Boss said that Union feller bought him and set him free. Ain't never seen no Negros stick around like that. Must be dumber than yer sister."

"Leave my sister out of this." The first guard spat and kicked Teal'c again.

The second guard pulled the bag off Teal's head. His lip was bleeding and one eye was swelling shut.

"Dija see that mawk[1] on that Union feller's arm? I'd pay her an Indianhead or two for a roll." He said barking with humor.

"Ket mattet ganache[2]." Teal'c says, glaring at them out of his good eye.

"What kind of language you spouse that is, Bill?"

"I bet it's some injun language. Them northern folks will cozy up with anyone." He laughed nastily. "You speak English… boy?" He asked Teal'c while kicking him in the hip.

"Kree nok ganache[3]." Teal'c tells him sagely. It was close to sunup. O'Neill and Samantha were early risers and would awaken Daniel Jackson as well. All would see he had not been home and know he must have been taken. They would then awaken Ernest Pratt who would implore Yonish Bartok to help in the search. SG-1 had access to comparably modern technology against these Klux of the Klan. O'Neill would not suffer Bill Coventry to live a second time. Of that Teal'c was certain.

Behind him the other Klan members were dousing a large wood cross with flammable fluid. Teal'c looked around covertly. He was on his own land. Clearly they intended to hang him from the nearby cottonwood that reached at least fifty feet into the air. More than tall enough to hang a Jaffa. Even one as large as himself. And clearly a message to O'Neill and the others.

Teal'c worried about the fire. The summer had started dry and this area didn't get much rain in the summer to begin with. Should the cross ignite nearby trees the entire property might catch fire and spread until it ran out of fuel. Theirs was not the only new homestead nor was it sufficiently far from the main town.

It was not their land however so the Klan members had no care for their torches. If the land burned to the ground, so be it. O'Neill would not be pleased by this disregard for public safety.

Jack banged on Ernest's door. "Ernie! Get up! We have a problem!" He shouted. Sam was back in their room changing again. When Daniel had looked at them in confusion about Teal'c not being around when they got up as usually he was already eating breakfast when they came down. he'd looked and seen the candles had never been used last night. They had all looked at each other in horror that Teal'c had been taken in the night without any of them noticing. Jack hoped it was only Teal'c, who could take care of himself and not the woman and the kid. Especially the kid. If they hurt that kid Jack was going to personally rip their lungs out through their asses. As things stood he was just going to kill them.

Sam came back as Ernest's door swung open. "WHAT?!" He growled. He was disheveled and clearly had hastily put on a long John. Behind him, Abigail was struggling to get back into her corset.

"They took Teal'c." Jack snarled.

Sam shoved past both men, pushed Ernest out the door and closed the door behind her. She'd carried an extra pair of jeans and a shirt for Abigail. She'd need clothes she could move easily in and her heavy skirts weren't it.

Ernest looked startled at Sam's behavior. Jack shrugged. "When the girls are dressed we need to get the balloon. It's almost dawn. If Teal'c is still alive he won't be for long." He frowned deeply. "I hope them taking Teal'c means they left Delilah and James alone."

"They might not know where she is which is why they took Teal'c. We'll need Yonish and Ramos anyway. It would take several men to take down your friend."

Jack nodded in agreement. "Teal'c is pretty tough. If Skeeter is up, have him get the sheriff too. There's going to be a lot of dead racists when I'm done."

"Jack." Ernest grabbed Jack's arm and looked at him with urgency. "There might be a better way to handle this than killing them."

"Not this time there's not." Jack said viciously and stomped back down the hall.

"Jack!" Ernest yelled but Jack ignored him to go find Skeeter.

Daniel shook his head. "Come up with another plan, Ernest. But that won't stop him from killing the ringleader." He said grimly.

Ernest saw from Daniel's look that this wasn't Jack's first rodeo. "Let's try to keep the killing to a minimum then."

"That's about as good as you're going to get, Ernest. He's not like you." Daniel said.

The door opened to Sam and Abigail now both dressed in jeans and cambric shirts. Abigail had her custom shotgun. "Nope. He takes after his great grandma and she's more than proud of him for it, too." Abigail said. Ernest had explained to her finally who Jack was last night after he made love to her. She'd have been more astonished by it if she wasn't familiar with Yonish's inventions. She'd been contentedly cradled against Ernest when Jack had pounded on their door. It took a moment to get to the door because neither of them had on a stitch of clothing. Ernest had been gentle and through and my goodness he'd made her feel things she'd never felt in her entire life. In spite of the serious situation she had a bit of a silly smile on her face this morning.

"Let's go. We'll take the horses to Yonish's lab." Sam ordered them and hustled everyone down the stairs to meet up with Jack.

"Horses." Ernest said nervously.

"Oh, Ernie, you really are needin' to get over this fear of horses you have." Abigail admonished him.

"I don't fear horses… they just hate me." He whined.

"They do not. You're just being silly." She admonished him.

"Everyone ready?" Jack asked them, pulling his hat down hard on his head. "Skeeter is off rousting the sheriff. Let's get going. Carter?"

"On it, sir." She said automatically as she headed for the horses in the small stable behind the hotel.

"Sir?" Ernest asked confused.

"I'll go help Samantha with the horses while you fine gentlemen converse." Abigail told them sarcastically.

Daniel looks at Jack and Ernest then shrugs. "Looks like you do take after Abigail more than Ernest." He says with amusement to Jack.

"A fact I have been glad about my entire life." Jack grumbles.

"My son-in-law really hated me, didn't he?" Ernest asks sadly.

"He didn't hate you… he just thought you were a lazy bastard that made your wife do all the work while you drank and smoked her money." Jack supplies.

"And now?" Ernest asks him in frustration. "Do you think I have any kind of hold over her that she'd just do as she's told?"

Jack frowned. No more than he had of Sam which was next to zero. Sure she followed his orders on a command level and out of mutual respect but on team night she was as likely to tell him to shove it as much as Daniel had. Jack realized he'd let his grandfather's opinion affect his perceptions of a man who had never been anything but kind to him as a child. Ernest had been willing to sacrifice his own feelings because he didn't believe Abigail would want him that way. Jack suddenly realized he had more in common with his great grandfather than he'd believed. He'd told him as a kid that some day he'd find a woman just like Abigail in his stories and Jack had thought that was Sara… but it wasn't. Grandpap had been talking about Sam. He'd met a girl a lot like his Grandpap's description… but…

Jack's head started to hurt. When he'd asked what happened to them Grandpap had said he'd tell him someday but he'd passed when Jack was still little and he never got the full story. His mom's dad had never been interested in Grandpap's books or stories. Even his knowledge of how Grandpap felt about Grammy Abby wasn't accurate. It was pretty obvious Ernest adores Abigail. His great great grandma had even gone so far as to take him aside and tell him last night that she'd known Ernie had feelings for Abby for a while but wasn't doing anything about it because he didn't think he was worthy of her affection. "Guess I know why now." Jack muttered almost to himself and again realized how much he had in common with the other man.

Sam and Abigail brought the horses around at that point and Jack swung up onto Teal'c's broad faced placid gelding. "Abigail, can you handle a spirited horse?"

"Shor can, shugah." She said with a grin.

Of course she can. There wasn't anything Abigail couldn't do better than a man in Ernest's estimations to childhood Jack. Apparently that part had not been fiction. "Take the mare then, she's a handful."

They mounted up and Ernest looked very much like he wanted to just run to Yonish's home on his own feet.

"Ernie, get up behind me or we're leavan yah here." Abigail huffed at him.

"Yes, ma'am." Ernest said meekly to his fiancé and awkwardly joined her in the saddle.

Sam and Jack exchanged a look while Daniel rolled his eyes. They took off at a gallop to the lab and were there in near record time.

Yonish for his part understood the issue immediately.

"We're goin' too." Delilah insisted of herself and James.

"Absolutely not." Jack disagreed.

"That man helped saved my life, Mista O'Neill and I will not leave him to die at the hands of those animals. Now you are gonna let me help or we are gonna have words."

Jack blinked at her… then glared. "Fine. Stay out of the way though if we land. Ernest, your job is to make sure neither of them gets hurt."

"What? Why is that my job?"

"Because you're the only one without a gun." Jack growled.

"Not true, Colonel. I too will be armed with my fulminator and not a firearm." Yonish told him.

"Then you can watch Carter and Abigail's sixes." Jack ordered as he watched Ramos run the safety checks on the balloon before anyone boarded.

"Their…?" Yonish asked Daniel.

"Watch their backs." Daniel supplied while he checked his shotgun.

"What will they be doing?"

"Why shootin' racists, honey." Abigail told him as she patted his cheek and climbed into the basket.

Jack shrugged and hustled everyone in.

Daniel leaned over. "You really aren't going to win this one. If she's anything like Jack, the two of them are going to handle this their way… and I'm not sure I disagree with them this time." Daniel said grimly.

"I see." Yonish said. He didn't approve of their plan… but he agreed with why.

"Ernie, you're about to go down as the guy who killed the last KKK dragon in Colorado for a long long time." Jack told him.

"I'd really rather not kill anyone." Ernest reiterates.

"We don't have any choice this time, Ernest." Daniel says. "Historically, the KKK dies out for almost forty years but the last cell should have disappeared five to ten years ago. Clearly this leader got away for a while and this needs to be stamped out now before it spreads. If we don't, the course of history might change drastically and I don't know about anyone else but I'm really fond of being born."

"How would killing a bigot affect you being born, Doctor Jackson?" Abigail asked him.

"It's called the butterfly effect." Sam cuts in. "Events in one place have significant and unexpected consequences somewhere else."

"That's a pretty name for something so awful." Abigail says, completely understanding right away.

Ernest smiles. He'd bedded many women for their charm and beauty. Abigail captured his heart with her bravery and intelligence. He glanced at the look Jack was giving Sam. Yah… It was a type all right.

As they came up over the ridge Jack and Ernest had a clear view of where the cross was in full blaze. The sun was just coming up behind them.

"Yonish… how close can you get this thing?"

"Close enough I think. Your friend is in a pickle."

That was putting it mildly. Teal'c stood on a crate, a noose around his neck while the ring of KKK members heckled and jeered.

Abigail and Sam exchanged a look. "I call dibs on the rope." Sam said.

"Yah shore? It's an awfully little rope." Abigail said thoughtfully.

"She's done it before." Jack said smugly.

"When we get back, I want to hear that whole story, Miss Carter." Abigail says with a grin.

"I do have an unfair advantage having read all Ernest's books." Sam said with a smile.

"All of them?" Ernest said grinning brightly.

Sam laughed. "You have a very popular revival in the late nineteen sixties." Sam supplies.

Jack watches the KKK and frowns. The revival happened because Ernie had died in sixty three a very elderly man and Jack was only ten. After a Denver historical society demanded the publisher re-release the books. It bothered him more now than it had as a kid. More so that his great grandfather was going to outlive him. Would he meet his grandfather? His mother? Life in the West could be harsh even for townsfolk.

The balloon rose enough over the ridge to get a bead on the Klan who were so engrossed in torturing Teal'c they didn't see 'Legend' blazoned on the balloon. They didn't see the balloon at all it seemed as none of them were looking up.

Sam settled into her shot. She was aiming down so she had that on her side but she needed to aim carefully as Teal'c couldn't afford a bullet in the head. Junior couldn't fix that.

Meanwhile Abigail had drawn down on the apparent and obvious ringleader in his bright red robe. "He's gonna be more red when I'm done with him." Abigail observed as she fired off a round. Oh, she knew her Ernest wouldn't hurt a fly and couldn't bring himself to kill a man dead but Abby had no such hang ups. Part of why her family had fled after the war was because Abby wouldn't toe the confederate line even though her daddy fought for the grey.

She and Sam fired at the same time. Neither missed. The rope frayed loose as the red robed man staggered back in shock.

Several heads turned towards the source of the shots and pointed at the sky. Sam and Abigail focused on anyone who looked like they might have any sort of authority and both aimed for center mass. At this distance it was their best shot. Sam wished she could introduce the younger woman to the firearms she used to have access to.

Meanwhile, Yonish and Ernest were firing on anyone that tried to escape. Jack and Daniel were working on lowering the ladder so they could get to Teal'c.

The scene on the ground was utter chaos. Several Klan members littered the ground, knocked out by a fulminator or a zat. Several moaned in anguish having been shot by Sam, Abigail, or both. The red robed leader lay in a heap on the ground several feet from Teal'c who Jack and Daniel ran to as soon as they hit the ground.

Jack had his knife out and was on the unstable crate with Teal'c, sawing through the remains of the rope still hanging around Teal'c neck. Sam's shot had split it but not entirely cut through it being unable to use focused fire on the fibrous cord.

"You all right, T?" Jack asked the other man, concerned about his condition.

"I am well, O'Neill." Teal'c reassured him.

"You've looked better." Jack said and grinned when he heard the rumble of horses from town. Sheriff Motes had brought the Calvary it seemed.

Jack was supporting Teal'c after lowering him off the crate, who in spite of his assurances, was not in fact well when a shot rang out behind them.

Both men turned to Abigail who had put a bullet in the head of the red robed Klan leader who had been faking. A pistol lay next to the man's hand.

"Ain't no one touches my family, yah hear?" She told the dead body. She nodded firmly and kicked dust on the man's face then stalked away.

Jack made eye contact with Daniel whose eyes widened in postulation. Jack knew his thoughts on his personality type.

Sam cut her eyes to Jack for a moment and smirked at him. He grinned back. Tied up and tidy was a better end.

The sheriff started delegating tasks to his posse. Some were running down the fleeing Klan members. Several were throwing buckets of sand on the still burning cross.

Sam was helping Jack and Daniel get Teal'c to a spot where he could sit down away from the mess.

Yonish was helping Sam Motes organize people to remove the dead bodies. Ernie was standing back from the carnage taking it all in. He looked like he wanted to be sick and Abigail walked up quietly to him.

"I'm sorry yah had to see that side of me, Ernest. He was gonna shoot one of them in the back. Didn't matter to me which one. I wasn't gonna stand for it. I'll understand if yah don't want to be with me on account I shot a man in cold blood." She said to him softly.

Ernest though grabbed her and buried his face in her hair while he hugged her tightly. "He was aiming at Jack and my fulminator had overheated. If you hadn't shot him…"

Abigail could feel Ernest's heart hammering in his chest. Jack was older than them but some day he'd be their great grandbaby a little boy who had memories of his extremely elderly great grandfather telling him stories about the old west.

In the thick of things, Delilah was walking with Sheriff Motes identifying everyone she could as their hoods were pulled off. Yonish had kept her out of the action but now that it was time to clean up she wanted to make sure they went to trial.

[1] Common slang of the time for a prostitute or a woman of loose morals.

[2] I challenge you, jerk (or worse knowing Teal'c)

[3] (Your) luck (has) ended jerk