From the start, Kerry knew Jack O'Neill had lost a great deal. For all her faults, he'd loved his first wife, Samantha Carter. Then there was the child. Moving on hadn't been easy.
Chapter 5: A Talk with My Friend
Sam returned "home" only minutes before the scheduled check-in from Cam. As she closed the door behind her, she stopped to catch her breath. Leaning against the closed door, she breathed deeply, inhaling the peaceful darkness of the split level ranch home. At least this was vaguely familiar.
Her father was President of the United States. Holy Hannah! Then she corrected herself. The Jacob Carter of this reality is President of the United States. There is a difference, a big difference. This man was not her father; as much as he looked like him, as much as she wanted him to be, he wasn't. If she forgot that important point, she might find herself stuck here, in this reality, forever. Who was she kidding? She might be stuck here anyway.
Sam was so distracted by this inner dialog that she barely heard the phone. It had been ringing nearly a minute before she finally picked it up.
"What took you so long?" Cam asked.
"Sorry. I was thinking," she apologized.
"You do that a lot."
"Not pick up the phone?"
"No, think," Cam clarified. "Hey, we need to decide what we're going to do. We don't belong here."
"Ya think?" Sam quipped. "What else have you found out?"
"For one thing, I work for your husband," he answered.
"For Jack?"
"That's the one. Seems I'm a private aerospace contractor," Cam said, "And a pretty wealthy one at that."
"So how does that tie in with Jack?" Sam asked. Then as an afterthought, "By the way, from what I can tell Jack's not my husband in this reality."
"Apparently Jack reports directly to the President, as in of the United States, doing some damn high level stuff," Cam said, sounding effectively impressed. "I couldn't get any specifics by phone or Internet search. I figure I'll go into 'my' office tomorrow and try from there."
"I'll see what I can find out from my Dad," Sam said absently. Then remembering Cam had no idea what she was talking about, "By the way, my dad is the President of the United States. How do you like those apples?"
For once, Cam was speechless, but only for a moment.
"Sam, I hate to say it, but how are we getting out of here. This is crazy!"
"Yeah, well be grateful. You're rich," Sam observed. "Apparently, I have a psychiatric history."
"Thanks for warning me."
"Funny," Sam said, not amused in the least. "Do you have any leads on Daniel?"
"As a matter of fact, I do," Cam announced.
"Wow, that's great," Sam enthused. "I couldn't find a trace of him."
"Well you aren't the CEO of a multimillion dollar company."
"So where is he?" Sam persisted.
"Egypt, somewhere in Egypt, at least that's what his father tells me."
His father? Daniel's parents are dead. At least my Daniel's parents are dead, Sam thought. But I suppose that's beside the point.
"Okay. Daniel in this reality is probably an Egyptologist and now we know he's in Egypt. How does that help us?" Sam asked aloud. "Do we know how to contact him?"
"Not yet," Cam said. "But, with my world wide contacts and all, it shouldn't be that hard."
"Geesh!" Sam exclaimed. "Cam, be serious. You know we're going to need Daniel's help."
"Easy, Sam," Cam replied, trying to calm her. "I know we're in trouble. Nothing wrong with trying to have a little fun, is there? Seriously, my people should be able to track him down by the end of the day tomorrow. That's if he doesn't reach out to us first."
My people? Sam thought.
"Okay, fair enough," Sam relented. "Cam, I can't shake the feeling there's some bad stuff going on here. My Dad, the people assigned to protect him, they're worried."
"Think about it, there's a reason we're here Sam," Cam said. "Something went down, something big."
"You mean someone or something altered the timeline?"
"That's your department, Dr. Colonel Carter-O'Neill," Cam said. "But yes, that would be my first guess."
"Mine too," Sam admitted. "But what, who? There are very few possible suspects. And why now?" After a breath, "We need more information."
TBC
A/N: I know, I know… very short chapter. But at least there are regular updates to the story, right. Hopefully each chapter will advance the story line a bit.
I haven't written Cam before and haven't watched many of his episodes. Constructive criticism would be most appreciated.
Thanks to all for your reviews!!!