3

Jack quickly got the bags indoors, his house was beautiful, clean lines and obviously not lived in a hell of a lot. He dumped the bags in the living room and told Sam to get everyone a drink, and he headed towards the north of the house. He was gone about 10 minutes and it seemed that he had changed all the bed linens and set up the guest room. He came back to where the family were sat in the sunken living room with the glorious view.

"Sir, did you pilot them?" Sam asked him

"Er yeah, you know me and waiting, just as quick to nip over and get them as wait for them to arrive" she grinned up at him

"You sir? Impatient? Never!" he grinned at her again, Mark was puzzled, he had known quite a few officers in his time and the one thing he had found was the higher the rank the more anally retentive they were. This man was… human, had the AF changed that much in 20 odd years? Somehow he doubted it.

"Come on kids, grab your bags and I'll show you where you're sleeping," he walked back down the passage he had appeared from, the children jumped to their feet and grabbed two smallest bags and headed off after him… again not a peep of protest!

"He means you by that too" Sam told her brother

"He said 'kids'" he pointed out saying sat down

"MARK? JULIE?" came the shout and Mark automatically jumped to his feet at the tone, Sam grinned up at him

"Told ya" she said.

Mark swung their bags to his back and traipsed after their host to a large room with another wonderful view of the forest.

"Bath, in here, the kids have one just opposite the room they are in, there's a couple of spare toothbrushes in there if you forgot yours, I always do," he said "linen, if you need it is first door in the hall, there isn't a handle on the inside so if the kids play hide and seek and you can't find them for 2 hours, that's where they will be," he looked around, "yup, that's it, I'll leave you to settle in" he turned and almost made it to the door before stopping. "if you don't mind, keep the kids off the deck on the roof, I have the telescopes set up for the meteor shower next week and I'd rather they didn't disturb the settings" and he left them to it!

Of course the first thing that Julie did was get the funeral clothes out to make sure they had travelled without needing to be re-pressed, she opened the closet and let out a low whistle, Mark came to her side to see what caused it. There was a full dress uniform, nothing surprising about that, but the chest! He had never seen so many medals Julie ran her fingers over the rows and rows of ribbons. Hey both jumped as a cough sounded behind them

"Sorry" he said and reached past them and took the uniform "need it for the funeral"

"I…I" Julie stuttered

"You weren't prying, I know, just looking to hang your clothes up, I forgot I had left this here, I usually leave it on base… anyway, Carter is in the living room, she can take one of you to the local shops for food, and I'll see you tomorrow" he left again and Julie looked at her husband

"Damn we are living with in the home of a real live hero" she said 'or superhero?' he thought, again.

Mark decided he would go to the shops with Sam and quiz her on the way, but his wife had other ideas, she was stood beside the old car before he could find his coat and with a

"Look after the kids and don't forget what Jack said about the roof" they were off.

He settled down to watch some telly while the kids ran around the back garden having fun, he had warned them not to go into the trees, or onto the roof and he looked up every couple of minutes or so to make sure they were in sight. He had just decided there was nothing worth watching when a loud scream filled the air and he ran outside to see Alison on her backside in front of a huge black man. A slightly smaller but still well muscled, bespectacled white man was stood beside him. Though it was neither very sunny nor cold the black man had a hat on and Mark had to wonder how it stayed on as he bent almost to the floor to lift the stunned child to her feet. John stood still five feet away and just watched as usual.

"I apologise for knocking you down" he said formally and straightened up looking straight at Mark. "Where is O'Neill?" he asked

"He's gone to the base, he…I … we" he stopped and started again. "Hi, I'm Mark Carter, I don't know if you…"

"Brother to Colonel Carter and son of Jacob" he inclined his head "My name is Murrey, we are members of O'Neill and Colonel Carters team, this" he gestured to the bespectacled man to his side "is Daniel Jackson"

"Pleased to meet you" the younger man said walking forwards and holding out his hand "Sorry for your loss, Jacob was a great man" Mark just nodded, he didn't know his father well enough to call him great or to refute it, and for the first time he really wished he HAD.

"These are my children, Alison and John" he introduced the kids, Daniel shook both their hands solemnly but Murrey inclined his head to each again and did not offer his hands at all.

"So…" Daniel said

"You in the air force too?" Alison asked

"No, I just work for them, I'm an archaeologist" Daniel said

"That like Indiana Jones that my mom watches?"

Daniel laughed and said "not quite, but close"

She peered around his legs to the man behind and then in a stage whisper said "he's scary"

"You have no idea how many people agree with you" Daniel said as Mark gasped at his daughters bad manners

"Alison! Apologise to Mr Murrey! NOW young lady"

She looked straight up at him and said "I'm sorry, but you ARE" to which the large man just said

"Indeed" he did not seem to be offended.

"Sam will be back soon, she had to go get some grocery shopping"

"Yeah Jack only has beer in his fridge unless we are having a team night, then he has beer and soda!"

"Would you like a drink?" he felt awkward offering them a drink, as they weren't his to offer, but he reckoned that they could be replaced.

"No thanks, we'll just head back to base, I was just checking if Jack had got back, the president called while he was picking you up, he will have found out by now" WOW! The president had never called his father as far as he knew, and HE had been a General!

"See you later kids! See you at the funeral Mark, wish we had met under different circumstances"

"Fare well Mark Carter, Alison Carter and John Carter" Murrey said and turned and followed the archaeologist down to the front of the house.

So, the private joke wasn't so much a joke, inside that mountain they needed an archaeologist, a man who looked like a walking mountain and they had a team, and the way they said it, it wasn't like 'everyone on base is a team' but more like a smaller, more intimate meaning of the word. What WAS his sister doing? And how had his father been involved?