A/N: Please let me know if events seem a little rushed; I had trouble with this and then decided just to leave it as is. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing. Especially to those who have constantly given me wonderful feedback (you know who you are)! Many of you asked about Sam finding out. Don't worry, it will be soon (I just have to add a little more angst to the pot lol). Enjoy and tell me what you think!

CHAPTER 12

Sam held her head high as she walked out of the nail salon. She admired her pail pink polish and complemented Emily on her hot pink choice.

"What do you want to do now, Em?"

"Um…how about food?"

Sam smiled, "You're insatiable, just like your-" she stopped before she said the words, frowning at why thinking about Jack was so hard.

"Just like who, Mom? And what does impatable mean?"

"No, dear, insatiable and I meant you're always hungry," Sam ruffled Emily's hair affectionately. "My growing girl."

"Oh." They reached the food court. "Can I have McDonald's, please?"

Sam rolled her eyes and joked, "Alright, but don't blame me when you're arteries are clogged in your fifties, young lady."

After ordering, Sam gave Emily permission to play on the kids' equipment in the middle of the court and chose a table close by. She set their number down on the table and settled in to wait for it to be called.

Suddenly, she felt the warmth of a hand on her shoulder. Immediately, her military instincts kicked in and she tensed. A familiar voice relaxed her, though, "Sam? Sam Carter?"

He came around to face her, "Pete! What are you doing in Colorado Springs?"

He sat down at her welcome, "I was just promoted a few months ago and moved here for the job. What has it been? Five years now?"

"Congratulations." She corrected, "It's been seven at the least."

He seemed genuinely happy and Sam inexplicably envied him, "So it has. How did things work out with Colonel O'Neill?"

Sam was astonished at how much he'd grown emotionally. It was huge of him just to have asked, "We're married, actually." She caught the flash of sadness in his eyes and remembered her new status, "Well, recently separated, I suppose."

She played with the wedding ring she still wore on her finger in regret. He sympathetically placed his hand over hers, "I'm really sorry to hear that, Sam. I had hoped…Well, I figured if I couldn't make you happy, then maybe he could." His blunt honesty was surprising, yet refreshing.

Sam was starting to recall why she'd loved Pete, "You are a good guy, Pete Shanahan, and you didn't deserve what I did to you. You know I'm sorry I hurt you, right?"

He smiled weakly, "It is okay. I think I always knew deep down that I wasn't the man in your heart."

His cell phone rang, and the moment was broken. He read the caller ID. "Sorry, but I have to take this. It's the department. Listen, do you want to have dinner sometime?"

"Uh, Pete, I don't know if that's really a good idea-"

His puppy-like eyes bore into her, "Please, Sam? Just as old friends to, you know, catch up?"

She bit her lip, "Well…alright."

"Great. How about I pick you up tomorrow at seven for dinner?"

"I'll meet you at O'Malley's at eight. Just as friends." Sam felt somehow better about the situation if she was in control and set the pace.

He nodded and started to walk away, "It is good to see you again, Sam. Talk to you tomorrow."

***

An indescribable surge rushed through Jack. He could not feel any pain, although he was aware that it had not gone away. Bodily needs were now just too unimportant for Jack to be concerned with. Slowly, the binds around his wrists and ankles started to snap until they hung loosely by his limbs.

This was it, the moment they had been waiting for. Jack could feel it. He now totally controlled the weapon. Triumph washed over him along with the feeling of complete supremacy.

At this point, Jack was supposed to implement the first stage of the NID's plan. He had 'agreed' to destroy all of Earth's weapons and major government buildings. Next, he was to kill all of the world's leaders. Militaries would then be given the 'choice' to surrender and serve the NID's cause or parish. Jack, controlling the machine, could literally murder thousands of people simultaneously. After there was no one left to stand in the way, the NID would announce its new authority over the public. The Colonel's stomach twisted at the thought that had he actually been an eager participant in this, the NID would have been able to rule the whole frickin' world.

Jack focused all of his energy into hating the NID and every evil for which the organization stood. The veins in his forehead pulsed in concentration, and before the personnel knew what was happening, the building began crashing down around them. People began scattering in panic; some tried to stop Jack, but he placed a force field around himself.

And then one-by-one, the rogues started imploding. Insistent sirens sounded and the men were screaming. Frightened, Janet huddled in a corner. This section of their plan had been sketchy, and she certainly had not expected people to just burst into flames and disintegrate around her. The ceiling and walls were crumbling, yet Janet's corner remained untouched. 'So he has not completely lost it,' she thought.

This terrifying moment seemed to last forever. Janet could not watch and buried her face into her knees. There was so much death, and this was horrifying even if the deceased were malevolent men and women. The doctor had not known that one human could cause this much devastation.

She shuddered at the thought of what the NID would have done with this sort of machine. She knew one thing; the NID would have done much worse with this device if she and Jack had not stopped them. Guilt slowly began to slip from her shoulders with this reflection. And then, just as fast as the pandemonium had come, it was gone. Silence reigned and Janet raised her head to analyze the wreckage. Tentatively, she rose to approach Jack, but she could tell that he was still deeply immersed in the machine, perhaps soaking in the destruction. Softly, a voice called for her attention on the other side of the room, "Janet, please…help me."

The doctor quickly went into 'medical mode,' grabbing the few supplies around her and striding carefully (to avoid remnants of bodies) towards her patient.

As Janet reached her charge, she forcefully stifled a gasp at the sight that met her surveying eyes. Buried under piles of rubble lay her ex-husband, immobilized. She could just barely make out his features underneath the blood and plaster smeared across his once-powerful face. Now, Janet Fraiser saw this helpless male, who had terrorized her life for years, for exactly what he was: weak.

Edward was just a man. With real flesh and blood and pain and he needed her help. This idea brought a humorless laugh to Janet's lips; her ex-husband had never needed anyone's help. Yet here he was, lying vulnerablely before her eyes. For the briefest of moments, Janet contemplated leaving him where he was to die, to suffer as she had for so many years.

A life for a life, right? Her unborn child had done nothing to its father when Edward had brutally beaten the fragile life out of her stomach. He had watched apathetically as their baby's matter had gushed down her legs while Janet lay broken on the floor. And he had blamed her for it. He had fucking blamed her for killing their child.

The fire within Janet slowly began to blaze as maternal instinct for her lost child hit her full force. Edward deserved to die, it was true. In fact, she decided, he deserved a hell of a lot more than that as punishment. Only one meaningful truth held the doctor from willingly sending Edward to his death: If Janet killed him now, she would be no different from the monster in front of her.

And for that reason alone, the good doctor knelt down beside her unsavory patient- as she'd promised to do when she took the Hippocratic Oath- and assessed his condition.