She was spending a rare day off shopping in Denver with Janet and Cassie when the weird weather began. Standing in front of the television displays in the Best Buy while Cassie browsed through the CD's, Sam shared a look with Janet as tornadoes ripped through downtown Los Angeles. Considering their work, neither woman could believe the phenomenon was natural.
"I'll get Cassie," Janet told her friend as she handed over her keys. "You bring the car around to the entrance."
"Good idea," Sam agreed. The two women headed in opposite directions, and Sam broke into a jog as soon as she'd exited the mall. As she moved quickly toward the car, she dialed the switchboard at the SGC. When Sam braked to a stop at the entrance, Janet and Cassie were waiting. As Janet motioned Cassie into the backseat, Sam saw that her eyes were wide with fear. She reached across the seat to squeeze the teenager's hand as Cassie reached to fasten her seatbelt. "It's going to be okay," she told the girl.
"Is it the goa'uld?" Cassie asked.
"I don't know yet," Sam told her. "The switchboard at the SGC is ringing busy."
"We're probably not the only ones calling in," Janet realized.
Sam disconnected the call to the switchboard, then dialed Sgt. Harriman's direct extension. "Walter will know what's going on," Sam decided.
"Sgt. Harriman," the voice on Sam's cell phone announced after the second ring.
"Walter, it's Major Carter," Sam announced as she handed the cell phone to Janet in order to have both hands free to drive. "I'm with Dr. Frasier and her daughter in Denver. You're on speaker. We saw the news about the weather. What's going on?" she asked.
"Major!" the sergeant cried with heartfelt relief. "It's good to hear from you, ma'am. We're not sure what's going on yet," he told her. "We don't have any unusual visitors as far as we can tell." He ran down all the information about the unusual weather as he knew it. "Major, Colonel O'Neill and General Hammond are here. I'm putting you on speaker," he informed her as he finished his recitation.
"Major, where are you?" General Hammond asked.
"We're on I-25 heading toward Colorado Springs," Sam told her commanding officer.
"Head directly here, major" he ordered her.
"Sir," Janet interrupted. "We have Cassie with us."
"Understood, doctor" the general told her. "We'll have someone take her home when you get here."
Because of the blizzard snow, it was nearly three hours later when they reached the turn off for the Mountain. Sam doubted that they could have made it this far in her little sports car. It was just luck that they'd brought Janet's SUV so they'd have room for the haul from their shopping extravaganza. Throughout the drive, they'd received updates from Walter every fifteen minutes or so. They were still more than forty minutes from the Mountain at this slow pace, but they didn't dare go any faster on these icy roads.
"Oh God," Janet gasped as they listened to the President announce the evacuation of the southern United States leaving the northern states to fend for themselves. Sam found herself pressing the gas pedal down just a little bit more. Minutes later, Walter called them with another update. All SGC personnel were being recalled to the Mountain and were to bring their families with them. "Bless General Hammond," Janet sighed knowing that he was probably overstepping his authority if not directly disobeying an order with this act.
Fifty minutes later, Sam walked with Janet and Cassie to the first security post into the Mountain where a long line of SGC families waited to be checked in. "Colonel Jack!" Cassie shouted seeing O'Neill standing a dozen yards down the corridor from the check point giving orders to returning SGC personnel. Sam nodded to him as she left Janet to see to Cassie and walked over to him to check in.
"Glad you made it, Carter" the colonel told her. The expression on his face would tell anyone who knew him well just what an understatement that was.
"I could say the same, sir" Sam replied with a relieved smile of her own.