A/N – Having never been a young boy myself, I apologize if the dialog between Charlie and Tim sounds more like teenage girls. I did my best :P

Chapter 8

Charlie grumbled under his breath as he dug in his closet, searching desperately for the camouflage boonie hat that he always wore when he and his father went up to the cabin. Locating it, he grinned triumphantly and straightened up, holding the hat aloft before turning around. His friend Tim was sitting on the bed, leafing through a comic, and when Charlie turned Tim raised his eyebrows.

"You're weird," he grumbled, shaking his head and returning to the comic.

Charlie shrugged, throwing the hat into the suitcase that lay open on the floor next to the bed. "Course I am."

"Are you done playing Indiana Jones and the great messy closet?" Tim tossed the comic aside and smirked at his friend.

"Shut up, at least my whole bedroom isn't like that."

Tim made a face and reached over to begin sifting through the stack of comics Charlie had on his nightstand. "And at least your dad's girlfriend is hot."

"Whaaat?" Charlie glanced up from tossing jeans into the suitcase. "Dude, she's like twice as old as us."

"So what?" Tim said, raising one eyebrow. "So is Angelina Jolie."

Charlie plopped down on the bed next to Tim and punched his arm. "But Sam's like practically my mom…so that would be just kinda weird."

"She's still hot," Tim grinned, sticking his chest out the way he'd seen the older boys doing and adopting a self-important, nonchalant look. "I'd totally tap that."

"Cut it out, that's just gross!" Charlie punched him again and the two got momentarily absorbed in a wrestling match that only ended when Tim landed on the floor. Charlie looked down at him. "You wanna go try out those new video games or not?"

"Sure, whatever," Tim stood up and the two headed out to the living room.

The Thursday that they were planning to leave landed on a week that Charlie was with Sarah. After a bit of bargaining over who got Charlie over what holiday break, Jack managed to work it out with Sarah.

So on Wednesday afternoon Jack found himself heading over to his ex's house. He knew it was too early and that Charlie wouldn't be home from school just yet, but he felt that there were a few things he should talk about with Sarah.

"Charlie isn't home yet," she said when she opened the door and saw Jack standing there.

"I know." Jack stuck his hands in his pockets, shifting a little awkwardly from foot to foot. "I just wanted to talk a bit before he gets back."

Sarah raised her eyebrows, but nodded and stepped aside to let Jack in. "Talk. Alright."

They walked into the livingroom. The living room that had previously been their living room, but now was just Sarah's. So went the divorce agreement. Jack sat down on the couch and Sarah sat on one of the chairs across from him, folding her arms and leaning forward, looking at him with a tired expression.

"Well?"

Jack sighed. "What's going on with you?" he asked, voice concerned.

"It's just hard, you know?" Sarah's eyes dropped to the floor.

"I can imagine."

Her eyes rose again to meet his. "I do miss you, Jack. I've had a year to think about it and I miss you."

For the first time since he'd met Sam, Jack felt a strange tug somewhere in the back of his chest. It was probably that look Sarah was giving him, her wide, sad eyes. He swallowed thickly. He was almost afraid to ask what he was going to ask next, but knew he had to. There would be no way to progress with Sam until he worked out things with Sarah. "Are you saying you're still in love with me?"

Sarah seemed unable to answer. She just took a shaky breath and turned to look out the window. It was enough of an answer for Jack.

"Sarah we split up for a reason," Jack scooted forward, squinting a little. "It wasn't working, you know that. Even if we got back together now…"

"Yeah?"

"It wouldn't work. We were fighting too much and it was too hard on Charlie."

Sarah let out a heavy sigh. "So you're saying that you wouldn't be willing to put in an effort? Even for his sake?"

"Things change," Jack murmured.

"It's her, isn't it?" Sarah stood up, moving over to the window. A school bus had pulled up outside.

"It's a lot of things." Jack got up as well, walking cautiously over to Sarah. He could see Charlie getting off the bus, pausing when he recognized his father's truck then running happily up to the house. Jack put a hand on Sarah's arm. "I'm sorry."

Sarah turned to him. "Should I move on?" Her voice was barely more than a whisper and over it they both heard the sound of the front door opening.

Jack nodded.

Charlie paused in the doorway of the living room. His parents were standing by the window and as they noticed them he saw his father's hand fall from his mother's arm. Emotions swirled in his chest, confusion mostly as he wondered what he'd walked in on.

"I'm home," he said listlessly.

Jack grinned at him. "Hey, how was school?"

"Fine." Charlie's eyes flicked back between his parents, how his mom was standing next to his dad, looking like nothing had ever changed. He didn't quite know what to think.

"Is all your stuff packed?" Jack moved forward, away from Sarah.

"Uhuh," Charlie gripped the straps of his backpack tighter. "My suitcase is already at your house…so I'm ready to go."

"Great," Jack turned to Sarah. "I guess we'll see you when we get back."

Sarah nodded, trying hard to smile. "Right. Have fun." She walked over and hugged Charlie.

Out in the car Charlie sat in the passenger seat, leaning against the door and hugged his backpack to his chest.

"You got much homework, sport?" Jack asked.

Charlie shrugged, saying nothing.

As they pulled up to a stoplight, Jack turned to his son, looking concerned. "Are you ok?"

"I'm confused."

"Yeah, me too."

"Do you love Sam or not?"

"I love Sam very much."

Charlie blinked and straightened up. "And what about Mom?"

"I think your mom's going to be ok," Jack said. He reached out, giving his son's shoulder a comforting squeeze. "Come on now, you and me and Sam are going up north and we're going to have a lot of fun. Right?"

"Right." Charlie settled back in his seat, content for the moment.

"Why do we have to get up at five in the morning?!" Charlie whined as his father dragged him out of bed before the sun had even begun to rise.

Jack was already walking back to the doorway, now that he was sure his son was conscious. "Because Minnesota is a long way away and I'd rather not have to drive through the night."

"But it's five in the morning!"

Sam appeared in the door behind Jack, wearing jeans and a pink tank-top, drying her hair. She grinned. "You know, some days I'm already off world by now."

"Yeah, yeah but you've got military training. You don't count."

"Well, soldier," Jack said, glancing at his watch. "You've got until 0545 to get your clothes on and ready to go. We'll leave you to it." Turning, he and Sam headed out into the hall.

They got into the car about five minutes later than Jack had wanted, but by the time the sun burst up from the horizon they were zooming down a nearly deserted highway. Charlie was crammed in the small back seat of the truck, stretched out across the seat and playing with his gameboy. Jack was sitting back in the driver's seat, one hand on the wheel, the other curled around Sam's and resting on his leg. Sam's eyes were closed but it was obvious she wasn't asleep for every so often her eyes would open and she would peer out at the scenery going by.

At lunch they stopped at a small rest area, stretching out on the grass to eat. Charlie ate his sandwich quietly, leaving Jack and Sam to talk quietly.

Jack was rather pleased when he got back from the bathroom to find Sam and Charlie playing Frisbee, and laughed loudly when Sam did a nose-dive into the grass to try and catch the Frisbee.

"You guys ready to head out?" he asked, walking over to them.

Sam straightened up, brushing dirt off her clothes and nodded. "Yeah. Come on, Charlie, we can play some more at the cabin."

They drove for another few hours with the sun setting slowly to their left, stopping finally for dinner at a rest stop that had some fast food restaurants in it.

"So we've got a couple more hours of driving left," Jack said as they sat eating burgers at one of the tables in the food court. "It shouldn't be too late when we get to the cabin, so that's good."

As the adults talked Charlie looked around at the other tables. He saw worn out commuters and excited vacationers, but mostly there were families. In some cases the adults looked frazzled, the children unruly, but everyone seemed so happy. Glancing back at his father and Sam Charlie realized that to any outsider the three of them would appear just like any other family. The thought made him smile a little to himself because if he couldn't have his parents together again, at least this was the next best thing.

"So, campers, what's on the schedule for today?" Jack asked cheerfully. It was the next morning and the three of them were sitting on the front porch of the cabin eating pancakes and enjoying the already warm weather.

"Jet skiing!" Charlie cried.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Kiddo, this pond is still to small for jet skiing, I'm sorry."

"I'd be up for some hiking," Sam suggested.

"Hiking it is then." Jack nodded, then noticed the slightly annoyed expression on his son's face. "And if you don't like that you can just stay here and Sam and I will go…hiking…"

"Ugh." Charlie curled his lip when he caught the suggestive tone in his father's voice. "No, that's ok, I'll come with and supervise you guys. Gosh."

The rest of the day passed pleasantly, as most vacations do. They explored the woods around the cabin, spent the afternoon fishing unsuccessfully off the pier, and when the sun went down Jack built a roaring bonfire down near the water and they sat around it roasting marshmallows.

The next day was Saturday, and that was when things started to go wrong. It started with Sam's cell phone ringing in the middle of breakfast.

"I thought you turned that thing off," Jack said, scowling slightly.

Sam gave him an apologetic look. "The general wanted me to keep it on incase there was an emergency." Making a face at how few bars she was getting, Sam flipped the phone open. "Carter…Colonel? I can barely hear you…hang on a sec…" She stood and walked outside to try and get better reception.

Less than a minute later she came back inside, looking annoyed.

"Any luck?" Jack raised his eyebrows at her and she shook her head.

"No, I couldn't even make out what Colonel Kowalski was trying to say before the connection died."

"Hmm," Jack got to his feet, reaching over to collect the dirty dishes, then carrying them over to the sink. "Well, if you think it was important we could all drive into town after we get dressed. The sheriff might have access to a secure connection and you could try calling Kowalski."

Sam nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, lets do that."

It was just beginning to be the tourist season, and so there were a few other people out on the streets of the nearest town. Jack and Charlie sat outside a café drinking glasses of lemonade while Sam ran across the street to the sheriff's office.

"You don't think there's something wrong, do you?" Charlie asked, looking across the table to his father with a slightly worried expression.

Jack shrugged. "I hope not. I don't think so. I mean, I'm sure if there was an alien invasion at hand or whatever Sam would have known about it before now."

Charlie nodded glumly and returned to his drink.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Jack desperately wishing that they could have just had a nice vacation without any strange interruptions from his girlfriend's rather abnormal occupation. But maybe this was just a test to see if they were really meant to be together, and so Jack tried not to be too alarmed when he spotted Sam walking back towards them with a slightly worried expression on her face.

"Well?" he gestured towards the empty seat next to him. "Are we about to be attacked by extraterrestrials or what?"

Sam sank down into the chair. "Well…not really…I don't think…"

"You don't think?" Jack raised his eyebrows, feeling his level of alarm go up a few notches. Across the table from him, Charlie's eyes widened.

"Look," Sam leaned in closer, keeping her voice down. "Now don't freak out or anything, because nothing's been confirmed. We just received intelligence that a goa'uld might be on Earth. We don't know why, we don't know where, we're not even sure if the information is good or not."

"A goa'uld? You mean there's a whole load of those snakeheads flying around?"

Sam nodded. "Yes, this particular one's name is Baal. We've only recently encountered him and don't really know what he's up to yet, but we do know he isn't too pleasant."

"Sam?" Charlie peered at her worriedly. "We're gonna be ok, right?"

Sam gave him a serious look, reaching out to put a comforting hand on his arm, though she included Jack when she spoke. "I swear I will do everything in my power to keep you guys safe if it comes to that." She gave Charlie's arm a light squeeze. "So yeah, you're gonna be ok."

A/N – Oh the dramatic irony is killing me here. Anyway, I realize they didn't encounter Baal until season 6, but obviously I'm taking some creative liberties here. And Baal is by far my fave goa'uld, so I just had to use that bad boy in my story :P