AN: So hopefully the reason the LoT are here should start becoming more clear now. Sam and Jack are really kind of a historical problem lol.
The Ties That Bind
Sara Lance looked at her crew members. Ava had on some corseted concoction and a ridiculous little hat all in bright pink. Ray looks like a John Wayne movie extra. Nate is in a natty suit with a bowler hat and walking stick. Mick looks like he's ready to rob a train complete with bandana. Sara shakes her head. They look ridiculous, all of them. Sara was in a light blue calico farm style dress. "How can you even move in that?" she asked Ava.
"I think it's pretty." Ava said with a bit of a pout.
"You would." Mick told her which made Ava's pout deepen.
Sara was conflicted on if she should laugh because she agreed with Mick or defend her girlfriend. "All right guys, the job here is to blend into the town, find the SG-1 team and extract them before their actions change the timeline." She told them.
"Wait… they haven't already?"
"Correct, Director Sharp." Gideon said cheerfully. "They, in fact, corrected a time error they were never credited with because it was Abigail Steele not Samantha Carter who killed Bill Coventry, Dragon of the Denver faction of the Klan in 1881. He'd repeatedly escaped justice several times until his death at the hands of a local homesteader."
"I thought you said that Pratt fellow took them out." Mick grumbled.
Several Klan members filed charges against Miss Steele for aggravated assault. By the time of the trial however Miss Steele was heavily pregnant, having been recently married, and the jury took pity on her for defending her employees, Miss Delilah Jones and her young nephew James Jones, from certain death."
"Employees or property?" Ray says with disgust.
"The Jones's were neither, Mr. Palmer. Ernest Pratt with the help of Colonel O'Neill and their friends saved the Jones's from an earlier lynching. The rest of the KKK members were caught due to retaliating by attempting to lynch SG-1 team member, Teal'c. Mr. Pratt is locally known for advocating equality for first nation peoples, immigrants, and former slaves as well as joining his wife and mother in their charge in women's suffrage."
"Well," Nate says, "He sounds like a decent guy at least."
"Indeed he is, Mr. Heywood." Gideon agreed.
"All right, kids… we done with the history lesson finally?" Sara asks in exasperation. They had plenty of time to ask this stuff while they were getting their costumes made.
"Can I take this lace out? It's really itchy." Ava complained of the fichu around her neck.
"Come on." Sara ordered her and grabbed her elbow as she led everyone to the jump ship. Her hand came up and she tugged out the lace insert on Ava's dress to reveal an interesting amount of cleavage. "Nice." she said in amusement. Ava put her arm over her chest and blushed.
Gary ran up to them from behind in a red union style shirt, a bandana tied around his neck, and a bandolier filled with bullets. "I'm sorry I took so long but I'm ready now."
Sara looked him up and down. Sighed in exasperation and looked at Mick.
"I'm on it." Mick Rory growled and grabbed Gary by the arm as they got into the jump ship. "Now you listen to me. You do everything I say. Got it?"
"Er… um… yes, Mr. Rory." Gary whimpered.
"Good. And keep yer mouth shut."
Gary gulped.
"All right people, as I was saying… we find them and we discreetly get them out. They already know about time travel so they might even be glad to see us." Sara told them.
"How did they get stuck in the first place?" Gary asked.
"It's a long story." Sara said. "One I don't have time to tell you right now. Get buckled up." She orders.
A month had passed since the incident with the Klan. Teal'c had healed so quickly it was commented on by the locals but Jack had just brushed it off as him having an excellent metabolism due to clean living if it was brought up.
Abigail was helping Sam set up an experiment for Yonish while he and Ramos made some minor repairs to one of the Range Rovers as Ernest called them. Jack had cracked up laughing at that description until Sam and Daniel had looked at him and in unison said 'doohickey'.
"Samantha…" Abigail says in her soft Georgian drawl. "Can I ask yah somethin'?"
"Sure." Sam says with a smile. "Hold that end down until I have it secured. I don't want it running away from us." Sam says of the contraption in front of her. She thinks she knows where Yonish is going with this one but she's not confident it will work.
Abigail obeys and ducks her head in thought. "I don't suppose you know the symptoms of being with child, do yah?" She asked, blushing brightly.
Sam grinned. "As a matter of fact I do. My best friend is a medical doctor. Are you late?"
"Late?"
"Yes, your period...your um… monthlies… your cycle." Sam said, trying to remember what women of this time referred to their period as.
Abigail thought for a moment. "I don't rightly know as I've never really kept track you see. Just never seen no point as it was comin' anyway sometime round the beginning of the month."
Sam nods. "When was your last one?" She fiddles with a connection and notes the soldering could have been better. This thing was probably going to blow up after a few cycles.
Abigail is thinking about Sam's question with a perplexed look on her face. "I don't recall having one since before Ernie and I… oh…"
Sam smiles. "Congratulations." She says with a small grin. "I'll assume you were worried because Ernest wasn't using any protection." Sam says sagely.
"What do you mean protection? You mean there's a way to keep from getting pregnant?"
"Several in my time but currently you have a couple options if you want to limit how many babies you have to raise or if you have a hard pregnancy and the doctor warns you not to have any more babies."
"I didn't think to ask because of that… I been feelin' poorly these last days and this morning I got sick." She looks embarrassed. "I thought since we've been having relations it might be somethin' to worry about."
"Well, the wedding is in a week so other than you might be very tired at your reception you should be fine." Sam says philosophically. "Make sure Delilah and Ernest know so no one gives you anything alcoholic at the wedding. Alcohol is very bad for developing babies." Sam said.
"Do yah think she'll be mad?" Abigail asked, worry coloring her soft voice.
"Delilah? No. I think she'll be ecstatic. She's very happy about the wedding and I think she's been tying to get Ernest to admit his feelings for you for a while." Sam said.
"Why do yah suppose he didn't?"
"Probably the same reason Jack didn't say anything for a long time. You make a good team working together and he values your friendship so if things didn't work out he'd not just lose a lover, he'd lose a friend and a valued teammate." Sam smiled ironically.
"Clearly I don't know nothin' about his other relations but the ones I have now but Jack is more like Ernie than he thinks."
Sam nods. "Same code of honor. Especially about how people should be treated." Sam agreed.
"Why do yah suppose his granddad tried to turn him against Ernest?" Abigail asks.
"I don't know that he did it intentionally. You and Ernest have a very different relationship than people in this time do and it puts some kinds of people out. It's more like my relationship with Jack. In our time, Jack seems to not do very much work while I'm working all the time but that isn't really the case. He does a lot more paperwork than I do and times when everyone thought he was zoning out he was really working through some logistics problem at the base or how to handle various battle situations. He also wanders the base chatting with people that looks like socializing but is really him getting a read on ongoing situations. He's a very smart man but he likes people to think he's just this goofy guy with not much going for him."
"Heavens why?" Abigail asked.
"I'm pretty sure the answer to that would solve the mysteries of the universe." Sam said with a grin. "All right… let's turn this on and see if it blows up I suppose."
"Oh, it's definitely going to blow up. That solder there isn't done right at all. Should we take it back into the lab and fix it first?"
Sam looked at the device critically. "On the other hand, we haven't blown anything up in a while." She grinned mischievously.
"Well, let's fire her up then." Abigail says gleefully but both women move a safe distance away first.
Ernest sat in the breakfast room of the Silver King hotel. Aptly named for a man who had recently stayed at it. A letter from his publisher lay on the table in front of him. It was a reprimand that he hadn't sent a new outline yet.
Ernest glared at it. He was trying to survive getting married for the first time in his life in his mid thirties first and his publisher knew that. Where's the compassion? Where's the pity? Ernest recriminated in his head. He certainly couldn't confront the man in person. He didn't have time to do so anyway and his mother and future father-in-law might actually kill him for disappearing so close to the wedding.
Adding to his stress was he heard Abby vomiting on the other side of the door this morning when he headed to her room after he got up… and he knew what that probably meant. They had not been spending every night together but they had more than not. He delighted in her enjoyment of experiencing a man's touch for the first time but it had its consequences. He'd be a father sooner than not. Ernest Pratt, notorious womanizer and ne'er-do-well, had very mixed feelings about that. He loved Abby. He genuinely did and it had occurred to him to use protection as he normally would have… and had in the past without deviation… and it had also occurred to him that if he wanted his soon to be wife to feel any sort of need of him outside of lifting heavy things for her that he'd better put some effort into binding her to him with a child.
Ernest narrowed his eyes in suspicion that this might have been the very tactic his own father had used. It had worked though. His mother had stuck around in spite of his father's numerous flaws. Many of which a woman of less character might have drawn the line at. He really hoped Abby loved him in return or this was going to be a very long marriage.
He looked down at the letter again. How am I supposed to think about a story plot when I have all this stuff on my mind? Added on was Sam was admitting she couldn't get her team home at this point so his great grandson and his future wife were now going to be his neighbors…. He supposed he'd better do something about building a house. Ernest didn't know anything about building houses. Perhaps Ethan might. Jack knew how to build a house. Jack knew how to do a lot of things Ernest didn't know how to do. He felt just a little inadequate of this man who was his descendant. His and Abigail's. Ernest wondered if the baby Abby carried now was Jack's grandmother? Or a later child. Ernest had to admit… he'd never really liked children. That fiasco with the Davenports a few years ago had left a sour taste in his mouth about kids in general and he'd never been fond of children to begin with. Jack had been really upset at the idea of someone hurting James. The kid had been quietly following Ernest around the last few days. He was never really underfoot and he didn't act like he was trying to kiss up to Ernest. He just seemed to like his company and didn't say much. And yet Jack had been the one to be most concerned for the boy. And if Ernest was honest with himself… he'd grown nearly as attached.
His thoughts swirled back to the day a few weeks ago. Abigail had once again thought he wouldn't want her for who she was. Daughter of a rebel. Murderer… but had she not murdered that man… Jack would be dead and Sam would be alone. Sam who shot through a rope at several yards further than she should have been able to… a regular legend…
Ernest grabbed his pen and started writing. The top of the page of notes read 'The Legend of Cheyenne'.