I'm back. The wedding last weekend was fabulous! And the remainder of the week was very productive. This chapter is not very long, but I wanted to get it posted before you all forgot about the story :-)!

Thank you to everyone for reading!

Previously...

En route to Chicago, April 11, 2009

Sam and Daniel were both laughing as Jack finished the story Sister Ellen had told him so many times, about the way he'd thwarted every attempt to adopt him, even as an infant.

Jack smiled. "By the time I was three or four I learned to be quiet and frown and look sullen and to ignore people when they tried to talk to me. That wasn't the kind of kid they wanted, so I was left pretty much alone." He chuckled. "Sister Ellen scolded me for behaving like that. She said I really should have a family. I told her I already had one."

"Why didn't she adopt you?" Daniel asked.

"It wasn't allowed. The Sisters couldn't adopt. You serve where the Church sends you. I was just lucky Ellen was at St. Cat's. She could have been sent somewhere else, I suppose. Of course, the orphanage didn't want to lose her. She's fabulous with kids. She's the Director of St. Cat's now." He sighed, falling silent as the narrative brought him back around to the present reality.

xxxxxx

Chapter 5

En route to Chicago, April 11, 2009, 1315 hours

Sam and Daniel exchanged glances as Jack's expression sobered, and the silence lengthened.

"You said Ellen is the oldest of a large family?" Daniel prompted, hoping to distract his friend.

Jack nodded. "Yeah. There were ten of them originally. Five girls and five boys. Brendan and Sally died when they were children, before I came along. Jamie was killed in Vietnam in 1970. Joe died of cancer in '06. That leaves Molly, Dylan Jr., Susan, David, Betsy and Ellen. David, Jamie and Betsy were the three youngest—the ones I've been closest to." He paused. "Except for Ellen, of course," he added softly. After a moment, he went on. "Ellen's parents, Dylan and Bridget McNamara, were the best grandparents I could have hoped for. Dylan was in the Navy during World War II, and fought in the Pacific. He was a carpenter, and taught me woodworking. I helped him build the cabin when I was teenager."

"The one in Minnesota?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah. I think it was 1966 or '67. He took me and Jamie and David up there for three months." Jack grinned slightly. "Betsy was very insulted to be was left out. Bridget wasn't happy because we missed a couple weeks of school, but Dylan said learning a skill was more important."

"So, if the cabin was Dylan McNamara's, how did you end up with it?" Daniel asked. "What about his own kids?"

"I guess it was because I spent more time up there. He didn't give it to me or anything like that. I bought it from him in 1984. None of the kids objected—I told them they could come and use it anytime. Once in a while, some of them did—still do. After I bought the cabin I took Dylan up there as often as I could over the next years," Jack said. "He died there in 1998. I wasn't with him that time. Betsy had taken him up, hoping to get him to take an interest in life again. Bridget passed the year before that, and he just lost his will. I guess he figured the cabin was a good place to give it up." Jack drew a breath and let it out slowly. "We were on Klorel's ha'tak at the time, stopping Apophis' attack on Earth. If you remember, I took a week off then. Went to Chicago for the funeral."

"I remember you being gone for a while," Daniel said, nodding.

"Yeah. I got a call from Bets the same day we got back. She said he'd gone quietly... in his sleep..." Jack paused for a moment, then cleared his throat and changed the subject. "Betsy's the best at keeping in touch—calls me a couple of times a month. She's the youngest—a little younger than me. We were best friends when we were growing up."

They were interrupted at that point when the co-pilot came back to tell them they were twenty minutes from landing at O'Hare International. There would be a car waiting there to take them to Chicago General Hospital. Jack thanked the co-pilot, and he returned to the cockpit.

Sam then asked about something that had confused her. "Did you live with Bridget and Dylan, and not with Ellen at St. Catherine's?"

"Officially, I lived at the orphanage. But I spent a lot of time at the McNamaras'. They were in the neighborhood, just a couple blocks away. All of us kids went to the same school—the kids from the orphanage and the McNamara kids—Christ the King Elementary, then later to Westside High. I graduated from Westside in 1970, four months after Jamie was killed. I joined the Air Force right after graduation. A few months later I was in Vietnam."

"I thought you went to the Academy," Daniel said.

"I did. After my tour in Nam, my CO recommended me there. I was a little older than most of my classmates, but there were quite a few of us who had already served."

"There were several veterans in my Academy class, too," Sam commented.

"Ellen was so proud when I told her I'd been accepted to the Academy," Jack said with a soft smile. "She hadn't liked me joining up when I did, but she accepted it. I'm sure she worried while I was in Nam, but she never let me know. I expect one reason she was happy for my acceptance was that she hoped the war would be history by the time I graduated." He made a wry face. "She's never known about the black ops missions—or about the stargate, of course."

A few minutes later, the seat belt sign flashed on and the plane began its descent to O'Hare. They landed smoothly, and taxied to a remote hanger where a limousine was waiting for them with an escort, a Major Johnston from Evanston Air Base. The Major met them at the aircraft and walked with them to the car.

"Sir," Major Johnston said to Jack. "Your aide called ahead and rooms have been reserved for you at the River View Hotel, just three blocks from the hospital. Would you prefer to go there first?"

Jack shook his head. "No. Take us to the hospital. Thank you, Major."

"You're welcome, sir." Johnston held the door until Jack had settled in beside Sam.

The ride to Chicago General Hospital took forty-five minutes from the airport. It was 1530 hours when they exited the car at the hospital entrance. Two additional Air Force officers met them there, and escorted them to the hospital's cardiac wing, where they took the elevator to the sixth floor.

TBC. Upcoming: Meeting the McNamaras.