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Chapter 7

"You did what?" Jacob yelled. He had just spent the past five minutes listening to his best friend tell him what was going on with his daughter.

"Look Jacob, we acted upon the information that was given to us. I wasn't going to risk the security and the people in this mountain."

"Damn it George. You've known Sam all her life. Do you honestly think you can belief anything that Miller said?"

"At the time I did Jacob. But now I am beginning to have some serious doubts."

"You should. You all should."

"You didn't seem so surprised to hear that Sam had worked for the NID. But then you already knew didn't you General?"

Everyone in the room turned to look at Jack. If they were surprised to hear this coming from Jack, they were even more surprised to hear the General's response.

"Yes. Yes I did know that Jack. I've known since the day she started working there. Sam was really young when she was recruited by the NID. She was fifteen when they first came around to her. Her age didn't bother them. They had heard of this young Air Force Academy student that had been acing every test that she was given. Their report said that she had an extreme amount of intelligence, which I already was aware of - she was doing multiplication at two.

"They said that someone like her would be an extreme asset to the national security of our country. She began working for them shortly after her sixteenth birthday. They of course had to embellish the facts in order to get her in, but that wasn't a problem for them. They kept her out of actual Air Force service until she was eighteen. I could have prevented it, told them that there wasn't a chance in hell that my daughter was working for them. But I didn't. Don't ask me why George- I've been asking myself that for the past thirteen years.

"After the first few years I could tell that she was unhappy. But with the NID once you're in you're in. She was too young to understand the commitment when she joined and I was a lousy father for not helping her see that. I tried getting her out, Maybourn even helped me but we just couldn't find a way. After her mission to Abydos, and her betrayal to the NID, they let her go. Told her that as long as she stayed at the SGC she would be safe, but if she left for any reason, she had to go back."

"How Jacob? All this time that we've known each other- 25 years, this is a long time to keep a secret like this. How could you not tell me, especially once she started working here?" George asked.

"For exactly this reason. Had I told you that Sam had worked for NID, would you have let her stay here?"

"I'm not sure."

"I was feeling so guilty George. After Hannah died I really had a hard time with the kids and my job. I think that is partly why I didn't protest when Sam signed her life away. I was also scared for her. Turning down her superiors and refusing to be their spy could have, and very well should have cost her her life. She took a chance on all of you, hoping that you were different. Now I see that you aren't. You all have basically sent the lamb to slaughter.

"And as for you Jack, I must say that you disgust me. You have left my daughter pregnant and alone. Alone in a place where people are still angry with her and would like nothing more than to see her destruction. Now, if you don't mind I think I will return home now."

"Jacob, you just got here."

"I know George, but I don't think I can stay here right now." With that said Jacob got up and left. A moment later they heard the Stargate power up.

- - - - - - - - -

Ten minutes had passed since Jacob left, and not a word had been spoken in the briefing room. It was Daniel who finally found the courage to speak.

"What do we do now?

"Well we can't just call her up on the phone and ask her to come back. After everything we said and did, she'll simply refuse." Janet said.

"Dr. Frasier is correct Daniel Jackson. Major Carter will not return on her own; we must go and retrieve her ourselves." Teal'c said.

"No." Jack said rather roughly. Everyone turned to look at him before he continued. "We aren't going after her. I am. It has to be and me alone. I'm the one who caused all this. If I had called Sam the night that Miller came to me none of this would have happened. I'll go and try to bring her back, but I'm afraid that the damage has already been done."

"I'll get you a flight to Washington as soon as possible."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Back in Washington, Maybourn was putting the final touches on his own plans. When he had gone to see O'Neill the day before he knew that he still had feelings for her. Knowing that Sam's life was at stake, he decided that he was going to help her escape. He knew that this could cost them both their careers in the Air Force, but if it saved her life, he didn't care.

He was meeting her at a neutral location and from there she was to fly out to Colorado. He just prayed that O'Neill wouldn't turn her down. If he did then she wouldn't be safe unless she was out of the country, or even better if he could arrange it, off the planet. Little did he know that at the same time he was seeing her onto a plane, Jack O'Neill was making his way here.

- - - - - - -

Jack was now sitting on his plane to Washington waiting for take off. He was extremely worried about what Sam's reaction to his appearance was going to be. He was still hurt that in all this time, especially when they started to see each other, that she hadn't trusted him enough to tell him everything. Then it hit him- he had never given her any reason to trust her.

Ever since he met her, he had always been making comments on how much he loathed the NID. Then even when they were dating he had never given her a sense of security. He had slept with another woman while stranded on another planet, (no matter how many times he said that, it still sounded wrong), then when he went undercover he said all those hurtful things to him, and all the while she was keeping her pregnancy from him to keep herself from any more pain. And then, just earlier this week he betrayed her again by sleeping with Lara. He knew that he had a lot of making up to do - that is if she let him.

- - - - - - - - -

As soon as her plane landed in Colorado Sam had got into a cab and headed towards Jack's house. She wasn't sure if Jack would listen to her. When the cab pulled up to his house half an hour later, she momentarily hesitated before getting out. She didn't see his car in the driveway, and she knew that he didn't like to park the truck in the garage, so that probably meant he wasn't home. After ringing the doorbell and receiving no answer, she hesitated on what to do. She knew that Jack always kept a spare key hidden underneath the flower pot, so she let herself in.

She waited an hour or so and Jack had still not returned. She figured that he was probably off world, and that he might not be home for a while. She sat down on the couch and decided to wait it out.

She must have fallen asleep at some point, because the next thing she knew it was well after 11:00 am. Sam looked around the room for any indication that Jack had come home, but she hadn't seen anything. It was then that Sam noticed that there was something different about the room. She saw that several picture frames were sitting on the mantel. As long as she had known him, Jack had never kept pictures on display in his house, except for the one of all of them on Cassie's first birthday here on earth.

She got up and walked over to the mantel. She couldn't help but laugh at the first picture. Apparently the team had taken Teal'c and Cassandra on their first roller coaster ride. Teal'c didn't look to happy, but it was obvious Cassie was having a ball. Another picture caught Sam's attention. It was a recent picture- she could tell because her replacement was in it. It was of the team, but only this time there was another woman in the picture. A woman that Sam could easily recognize: Lara. She couldn't belief it. Jack had seen Lara again, and from the smile on his face he looked happy.

With tears in her eyes, Sam grabbed her purse and ran out the door. She walked across the street to the park that they had often taken Cassie to play at, and called for a cab on the pay phone. Then she called the airline and booked a flight out of Colorado. She tried to call Harry and see what the next plan was, but couldn't reach him.

- - - - - - --

Washington DC (same time)

When his plane had landed Jack headed over to the address that Harry had given to him earlier in the week. Typically, Jack O'Neill was not a nervous man, but today was different. Today he had to face Sam and beg her to come home to work things out.

When he got to her apartment, there was no response when he rang the doorbell. Jack decided to take matters into his own hands and went down to the apartment managers' office. He told them that he was Samantha's husband, and after explaining that he had been serving overseas when Sam moved into the apartment, he did not have a key to get in. The lady at the desk was all too happy to give Jack the spare key to Sam's apartment and then congratulated him on the baby. He thanked her and then headed back to her apartment.

Knowing that Sam wasn't at home he decided to wait it out. Being Jack, he grew bored after only a few minutes and decided it wouldn't hurt to investigate the place. The first room that Jack opened was that of Sam's bedroom. Moving on down the hall he walked into the nursery that Sam and Harry had painstakingly argued over earlier in the week. Jack felt like he was going to cry. He knew that he should have been with Sam to help her get the nursery ready for their baby. He had missed everything leading up to Charlie's birth because he was off in some other country. He had sworn to himself, the first time he had held his son, that he would not miss the birth of another child, and here he was, a man who just walked out on the life of the mother of his child. It hurt him to know that it was his actions and his stubbornness that had kept him from sharing all those special moments with Sam.

He closed the door to the nursery and headed back to the kitchen suddenly in the need of something to drink. He pulled the juice out off the fridge and then noticed several pictures hanging on it. The first was the ultrasound picture of his baby. The next one was that of Sam. She was holding onto her stomach has she laughed uncontrollably at something. The third picture was got him. Sam had taken it the night she and Maybourn had put the nursery together. Harry was sitting there a midst the pieces of furniture that now made up the crib, having a hard time figuring out how to put it together.

It was at this point that Jack did cry. He was happy that Sam had someone to help her through what was going on, even if it was Harry Maybourn. But he was sad for the same reason, knowing that he should be the one in the picture, the one that Sam was probably laughing at as she took it. Knowing that he could stay there no longer he headed back to the airport. He headed back to Colorado to come up with a new plan, either that or send Daniel and Teal'c to drag her home, because this was just too hard for him.