Chapter Ten: Interference

"You're kidding, right?" Jacob asked Landry. "I'm gone for less than a day and everything's a mess?"

"That's what it seems like," Landry said wearily. "And I may have had a hand in breaking my daughter up with her boyfriend."

"And how did you do that?" Jacob asked.

"I might have interrogated Colonel Mitchell a little harshly and apparently he went to Carolyn and now they aren't talking to each other at all," Landry sighed.

"Who else?" Jacob asked.

"Dr. Jackson and Vala aren't speaking either. Apparently he tried to propose, but ended up bungling it all up. And your daughter and Jack won't talk to each other about the children," Landry said. "Virginia and Skaara are doing well though."

"At least someone is," Jacob said. "I should probably start with my daughter…"

Jacob headed to his daughter's lab, where she undoubtedly was. And he was correct. "Dad," Sam said surprised. "I didn't expect you to be back for a while." The two hugged and she continued. "How's the rest of the family?"

"They're fine," Jacob said. "Hank called me in because of the…lack of communication…going on here."

Sam sighed. "It's not my fault. The General won't talk to me."

"Ah, that wasn't all of it. Apparently Daniel and Vala won't talk and Colonel Mitchell and Dr. Lam won't talk," Jacob said. "Virginia and Skaara are talking though."

"That's good. At least someone is…Wait, Cam and Carolyn?" Sam said, surprised.

"Yeah, Hank mentioned something about them not talking because of something he did," Jacob said.

"Well…I didn't expect them to be together…" Sam said. She sighed when she saw the serious face her dad had. "All right…Go ahead. Lecture me."

"Sam, you need to talk to Jack. Like it or not, they're your children," Jacob said.

"The General said he'd take care of them," Sam said defensively.

"Sam, you're their mother. You know I hate to bring this up, but remember how you felt…They need their mother."

"I'm not abandoning them, dad. I marrying Pete is all," Sam said. "Just because I was married to a different man there doesn't mean I have to marry him here."

--She did not say Jack's name, nor did she say anything of love,-- Selmak said.

--Good point…She does love Jack, and I think she realizes it. But she's stuck on Pete. I'm going to kill Mark for introducing the two of them.--

--I believe that if she marries Pete Shanahan, things will not bode well for this planet.--

--Oh, so you think that Pete's mother won't let her work here either?--

--Not just that. I believe that Jack would retire once more, and then who would be in charge of defending your planet?--

--…I didn't think of that but you're probably right.--

"Dad?" Sam asked.

"Sorry Sammie, talking to Selmak," Jacob explained. "Just…just think over what I said." He put his hand on her head as he stood up. "I just want you to be happy…but I also want my new found grandchildren to be happy too. And that means having a mother in their lives."

SG1-SG1-SG1-SG1

"Okay Daniel," Jacob said. "Time to talk to you."

"Huh?" Daniel asked, looking up from his translations.

"Landry called me and Selmak in for a bit of…counseling…you could say," Jacob said.

"I don't need counseling," Daniel said.

"Yes you do. I just finished talking to Sam about leaving the kids with Jack only, and now you get to have the talk about how to propose," Jacob said.

"Oh, you heard about that, did you?" Daniel groaned. "And Virginia and Leona already lectured, yelled, and gave me advice."

"Yes I did," Jacob said. "And I'm going to give you more advice as I have proposed to a woman and Virginia and Leona have not."

Daniel sighed. "Okay, I was trying. I was. But then…"

"You started babbling," Jacob said.

"Yeah."

"My advice is to tell her you love her, because if you haven't, that's important. But don't pressure her to say yes. Actually, don't even bring up the topic until you think she's ready. And bring her chocolate and flowers. That always helps," Jacob said.

Daniel pondered this. "That's pretty much what Leona said, Virginia was too busy yelling at me to think straight, but thanks…I should go get on that now…"

Jacob grinned as Daniel left his office. "Two couples down, one to go."

SG1-SG1-SG1-SG1

"You here to lecture me too?" Cam asked when Jacob walked into his office.

Jacob noticed that it seemed that Cam was following Jack's tradition of never using the office, as it was sparsely decorated and had little clutter. Only difference between the two was that Jack's haunt had been the Commissary, while Cam's seemed to be the Infirmary.

--Though with the way things are now, he won't be staying there much.-- Selmak said.

"Yes, in fact I am here to lecture you," Jacob said. "Hank didn't mean to be so harsh. Carolyn's his little girl." He paused, gauging Cam's reaction. "He didn't mean to have you two fight. He just wanted to make sure she's safe. It's what fathers do."

"That doesn't help me now," Cam said sharply.

"Go talk to her."

"She doesn't want to have our relationship out in the open…Not that it matters now…"

"Just talk to her. See how she feels. She might be thinking differently now," Jacob said.

"Yeah, I doubt that," Cam said forlornly.

"Just go talk to her," Jacob said over his shoulder as he left the office.

SG1-SG1-SG1-SG1

"Virginia!" Vala said as she skidded to a stop outside of Sam's office. "Guess what! Guess what! Guess what!" she squealed as she darted inside.

"Uh…What?" Virginia asked.

"That's no fair, you have to guess!" Vala said, her eyes bright and her cheeks red.

"Uh…you're drunk," Virginia said.

"No!" Vala said impatiently. "Come on guess it!"

"I give up," Virginia said.

"Daniel told me he loved me and that's why he wants to marry me and he fell in love with me while I was here and then he realized it when I was gone and he wants to marry me because he loves me not because of Caleb and the baby and he brought me pretty flowers and chocolate and it was all sweet!" Vala said in one breath.

"Breathe, Vala, breathe. Please. Carolyn would have my hide if you ended up passing out," Virginia said.

"Let me get this straight," Sam said. "Daniel told you he loved you, brought you flowers, brought you chocolate, and now you're getting married?"

"No, he didn't ask me to marry him again," Vala said. She stopped, puzzled. "Why didn't he?"

The three women pondered this for a moment. "Maybe he thinks that you might run out on him again?" Sam said.

"Or maybe he's just dumb," Virginia said. "Out of curiosity, what did you do when he professed his love for you?"

"Uh oh…" Vala said.

"You ran out to tell us, didn't you?" Sam said. Vala nodded and then ran off again.

"Oh, she is sooo smitten with him," Virginia said. "I wonder when they're getting married…"

"Oh, did you know that Cam and Dr. Lam were dating?" Sam asked.

"Sort of," Virginia said. "Wait, what do you mean were dating?"

SG1-SG1-SG1-SG1

"Cameron Mitchell!" Virginia said.

"Oh God. Not you too," Cam groaned.

"Okay, you're fixing things with Carolyn right now!"

"She doesn't want a relationship out in the open. I can't deal with that anymore," Cam said.

"Look Cam. I've known Carolyn for a long time. And let me tell you that she sacrificed her inter-personal skills so that she could become the brilliant doctor she is today. She sucks at talking to people when it isn't about doctor stuff. She's had about three boyfriends, all of which dumped her because she was too cold."

"Really?" Cam asked. "She never had any problem talking to me."

"My point exactly. You make her have inter-personal skills. Please talk to her. All I'm asking is for you to just talk to her."

"I don't want to keep us a secret any more," Cam said.

"Okay Cam. You're starting to piss me off. Carolyn is not happy right now. I just went to check on her. I'm pretty sure she was crying. You make her happy, she makes you happy. Got that? Just go talk to her, maybe even tell her how you feel. Just don't walk away this time. Oh, and buying Hershey's Milk Chocolate and white roses might help too."

"Why?"

"Cuz those are her favorites. Now go do it!"

SG1-SG1-SG1-SG1

Nearly an hour later, all the couples, minus the non existent couple of Sam and Jack, were happy. Carolyn had agreed to them possibly telling her father, and Cam decided he could live with that for the moment. The couples had gathered in the commissary to discuss the said non existent relationship of Sam and Jack.

"Okay, what did we try in the past that worked?" Virginia asked.

"Uh, nothing," Daniel said.

"Right, I knew that," Virginia said.

"Lock them in a closet," Vala said.

"Didn't we already try that once?" Daniel asked Virginia.

"I think so," she said.

"Okay, how about trapping them on a planet?" Cam suggested.

"Ori could get them," Carolyn said.

"Trap them in a room," Skaara said.

"Same as closet," Vala said.

"Ooh! How about we plot with Siler, cause Lord knows he'd help us, but we plot with Siler to have something malfunction, locking them in a room until they make up?" Virginia asked.

"Um…" Cam said. "That's the same as locking them in a closet or a room."

"But it's more plausible!" Virginia said.

"We've got to do something though," Daniel said. "They're becoming quite pathetic in ignoring each other."

"Yeah, and I've got money riding on those two! I'm betting she'll dump Pete and get married to Jack!" Virginia complained.

"You're betting on them?" Vala asked excitedly.

"Have you not been introduced to the betting pool around here?" Cam asked.

"I was purposefully not introducing her to that," Daniel said through gritted teeth.

"Too late for that, darling!" Vala chirped.