7

Whatever had called Jack and George away could not have been that important, they were back within the hour, he was still standing next to Sam when the older men came back and he was quietly storing up everything he could hear for review later. He heard the name Selmak several times from the group in brown, and heard words like Tok'ra and symbiote and he heard several of them agree that they would go the same way as Jacob had if they were faced with the same decision, that didn't gel with the 'heart attack' that Sam had told him of.

He has his back to his sister as Jack approached and he was careful not to look as though he was listening

"Sir?" she asked softly

"Our… buddy… wants a bit of a hand. I've told him you are busy and will contact him tomorrow"

"I can go now sir, if Th… he thinks it is important"

"No, no, not that urgent, he assures me, tomorrow will be soon enough"

"I can come when I've dropped Mark and the family off" she insisted

"Carter" his voice had an edge to it "for cryin' out loud, you just buried dad! I don't want to find you on base before 0800 in the morning, do I make myself clear Colonel?"

"Yessir, thanks"

"For what?" he asked all innocence

"For arranging the funeral, for doing everything for me, for paying for dinner!"

He coughed and said "Ahh Walter! Everything OK?" Mark turned back in time to see a smile on his sisters lips as her CO had his back to her.

Another piece of the puzzle, Jack O'Neill had arranged the funeral as well as transport and everything else… the thing Mark couldn't really work out was how MANY puzzles were there to have pieces to? Was it all interlinked? Or was there a Jack puzzle, a Jack and Sam puzzle, a Work-under-the-mountain puzzle and a 'dad' puzzle?

His head was throbbing, he was coming down with a migraine again. He made his way to the seating around the edge of the room and sat down, hoping it would go away. Less than half an hour later he was throwing up with the pain in his head, dammit! They were getting annoying these headaches, Julie must have seen him leave because she sent Jack in after him with his medication. He was helped out to the truck, his family brought out as well and they all headed back to Jacks house so he could lay in the dark until he recovered. The funeral was over.

By the time he woke it was dark outside, he found his wife asleep by his side, so he got undressed, brushed his teeth and splashed cold water on his face to get rid of the sweat that had dried while he was ill, and he got back into bed with her.

Next morning Sam called early to say she had to go to work, and would they be OK without her? Mark assured her he was big enough to look after the family for one day in a strange place. He was just settling down to breakfast when his cellphone rang, he looked at the caller ID it was Pete.

"Pete, how you doing?" he asked as he flipped the phone open.

"Swell" his friend said "been trying to ring you since yesterday, you not at home?"

"No Pete, we're in Colorado Springs, we buried my father yesterday" he said.

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a full thirty seconds. "Jacob died?" he asked… damn Sam hadn't told him? Well it wasn't as if they knew each other, they had only met the once.

"How's Sam doing?" he asked

"She seems to be fine to be honest. She had to go into work today, so we are just filling time"

"You at her house? I can be there in a couple of hours, we can go for a drink"

"At her COs house" Mark said, it was ages since he had been for a drink with Pete, them living so far apart nowadays, but he wasn't prepared for the reaction Pete would have to the news of where they were staying.

"What the hell are you doing at O'Neills place?" he sounded angry

"There wasn't enough room at Sams, you know how small the place is, so he told us to stay here and he went to the base" Mark was still impressed by the mans generosity.

"Yeah… anything for his team" his friend sneered down the line.

"Listen Pete, I don't know what you have got against Jack but…"

"Sorry Mark, the man is good to his friends, I just wish… hey! Look! Want that drink or not?"

"Sure, you know where we are?"

"Oh yeah, I know, I followed her there the day I bought her the house" he said bitterly "be there in a couple"

Three and a half hours later they were in a bar having drinks, Mark had to avoid alcohol because of his migraines and the meds he was forced to take, but Pete was drinking quite heavily, beers and whiskeys. Mark told him to slow down a couple of times, but really, he was a grown man, if he wanted to throw up and have a stonking headache then it was up to him.

Pete was still complaining over the fact that Sam hadn't told him about their father dying, they had worked out by this time that it was the day after Pete had met him, or even that very day, she had told him that the meeting had gone fine, but he knew it hadn't.

"She said Selmak liked me" he said into the beer mat,

"What?" Mark asked, recognising the name

"She said Selmak liked me, so it must have been your dad that didn't, you always said she was a daddies girl but I wouldn't have thought he would still have that much influence over her"

"I don't think he did, Pete, he was hardly ever in the country this last few years"

Pete snorted into his beer "in the country!" Mark looked at him, it looked like Pete knew a lot more about all this than he did, he ordered another round of drinks.

By the time Pete was almost collapsing under the booze and maudlin talk of his failure to win Sams heart, Mark had heard some extraordinary things. He doubted that they could be true, but then Pete was not known for his imagination.

He poured his friend into his own car, drove him to a motel and booked him into a room, lay him on the bed and left.

He caught a taxi outside and went back to Jack O'Neills house. He went to the mantle shelf and took down the team picture and studied it closely, he could see the gold emblem on Teal'c forehead, he had not registered it before, and if he looked closely he could see two moons behind the party! Damn maybe it wasn't the drink talking!

Sam came around in the early evening and Julie had made steak and ale pie for them, they sat and talked about nothing and everything, and after the kids were put to bed Mark brought up her appearance on television a couple of months back, and the amazing technologies she was working on.

Sam looked slightly uncomfortable. "So, sis, tell me again about deep radar telemetry and how you are involved in holographic projections, archaeologists, alien creatures, men with gold tattoos and planets with two moons?"

"Mark?" he wasn't sure if she was trying to tell him to shut up or not, but he had had enough

"And how about you explain why dad died suddenly of a heart attack, but half the people at the funeral had known he was dying and could attend him? Something to do with snakes was it?"

"I'll take it from here" a voice came from the living room doorway, Mark jumped, damn the man was quiet!

"Sir… I… I…"

"Shanahan called the mountain, he thinks he may have let slip some information while drinking with his best buddy here" Jack indicated Mark with his head, Sam closed her eyes.

"So Mark, I've just been working on persuading the President and Joint chiefs to allow you in on our little secrets, to find out he spilled more than a BIT of information." Mark had not realised up to now just how commanding a presence Jack O'Neill had, he had been careful to act the fool and rein in his power, now he was a General of the USAF through and through, as well as someone who had fought and defeated aliens according to Pete, he was one scary guy! In a way, scarier than Teal'c who was alien, this man really could kill you with his bare hands and Mark was not sure he would care if he did! He shuddered at the thought of what he had brought his family into.

Mark was just about to launch into a series of questions when a cry sounded out. Julie jumped up and ran from the room.

"MARK! John isn't in the bedroom!" the men looked at each other and Jack nodded to him, Mark went down the passage while Jack headed outside, Sam followed her CO.

They heard shouting and when hey got outside John was laid on the concrete patio, unconscious, his arm and both legs at an unnatural angle and Sam was crying.

"Oh god!" Julie rushed towards her son, Jack jumped up and grabbed her!

"Don't move him! You could cause more damage!" he gripped her arms tightly, shaking her until she acknowledged what he was saying. "Carter… want to get them back inside?" she looked at him as if he was speaking a foreign language.

"Sir?"

"CARTER! Get them INSIDE!" his voice had an edge of panic and Julie started screaming… all Mark could do was look at the broken body of his son, spread out on the floor "FUCK!" Jack said and pulled a strange pearl coloured stone from his pocket, he held it up and said "THOR! We need medical assistance, bring us up!" and a white light surrounded them.