Jaffa don't knock.
It would be easier to knock, of course. Breaking down doors. Shattering through wood. Splinters in your hand. None of these are pleasant things.
But it instils fear when you say Jaffa don't knock. They just crash through the door.
"I'm sorry," a bald-headed Jaffa says.
"Sorry?" Sam says, confused. Jaffa don't knock, and they certainly don't apologize.
"I'm George. I used to know your father."
"No, you're a… Jaffa," Sam says stupidly.
"Look, if you've got anything in this house you don't want found in a Jaffa search, you'd better destroy it now."
"I don't understand."
"Sam, I asked for this assignment. Others will be here in five minutes or less. We don't have time to get you to trust me. Move!"
"Ok, well, there isn't much, just this…" Sam says, going over to a device she'd be working on for the resistance. It was an interface that bridged the gap between the technology of the Goa'uld and some older technology they claimed, although it wasn't really theirs. It was the kind of thing that she might have done for the Goa'uld even a few years ago.
But now she really didn't want the Goa'uld to have it.
"Just hang on," she says, rushing over to it and twisting a few things.
"What are you doing?"
"You tell them I warned you that it wasn't finished. Tell them that I told you that if you used it something bad will happen."
"And if they use it, what will happen?" he asks.
She looks at him with light in her eyes, "Something bad."
-0-0-0-
"Are you ok?" Jack asks, storming into the house. Sam is taking the search with way too much calm. Well, it's not like they are going to find anything. The resistance wasn't stupid enough to keep evidence in its fighter's homes. So she sits on the floor, holding Cassie, and building blocks with Charlie as five Jaffa rip her house apart.
"Those children are not yours," a huge Jaffa tells her with a tone of condemnation.
"Sure they are," she retorts. "I'm fine," she says, smiling at Jack.
"They're destroying our house," he points out.
"I know, but we've got nothing to hide," she says.
Jack sits down on the floor next to her, and gives her a huge hug.
"We're done here," George says.
"Ok," Sam says with a smile.
"You plan on putting this stuff back?" Jack asks bitterly.
The Jaffa file out. One of them is carrying her machine.
"I'm telling you that that thing doesn't work. If you try it, it's going to be a bad thing," Sam warns.
"We shall see," the Jaffa replies. Apparently skepticism is an emotion that Jaffa do feel. Perhaps it is the only emotion that Jaffa feel.
"Assholes," Jack says.
Charlie looks at him.
"You're lucky he didn't repeat that," Sam warns.
"How can you be so calm? They just destroyed the door, and our entire house!"
"It's ok, Jack," she assures him.
"They took your machine. You've been working really hard on that. You were pretty much done with it, and now the Goa'uld have it," he points out.
"It's ok, Jack, seriously," she assures him.
"How is that ok?"
She smiles.
He tilts his head at her in surprise, "What did you do?"
"Ah… I might have... Well, I told them not to turn it on. You heard me tell them not to turn it on, right?"
"What will it do?"
"Well, I'm not quite sure about that. I didn't exactly have time to test it or anything. George could only get us five minutes. But think it will shut down their computer network for a little bit. If we're lucky, it might shut down the computer network for a pretty good chunk of time. Weeks, even."
"You sabotaged it?" Jack asks in surprise.
Sam nods her head.
"I'm impressed. Who's George?"
"The bald Jaffa," she explains.
"Jaffa have names?"
"Apparently."
"And they're helpful?" he adds.
"Yeah, he said he used to know my dad."
"What did you tell him?" Jack asks, trying to keep the accusation out of his voice.
"What do you mean? I didn't tell him anything."
"Well, you know that sometimes Jaffa pretend to be your friend. They pretend they are trying to help you, and they do all of this to get information from you."
"I didn't tell George anything. I messed with the machine and told him to tell him that it wasn't going to work. That's it. I mean, he might be able to figure out that they can't turn the machine on. But I don't think it's going to be an issue anyway, because I am pretty sure that George is on my side."
"Ok, well, your judgment on everything else was spot on, so I'm going to trust you on this too," he says.
"We have to find a place to have the kids sleep tonight," Sam says.
"Why?"
"Because we have no door."
"Yeah, well, there is time to fix that, and it's not like a door keeps anyone out," he says with a little bit of laugh.
"That's not funny, Jack," she says flatly, and for the first time he realizes that she is actually bothered by this.
"I know, I'm sorry. I'll get the door fixed."
"And I'll put this place together," she says, standing up and holding the baby closer to herself. Sam starts to cry. He pulls her into a hug, and she starts babblings. "If they ever decided to take one of our kids... You know… that would be it. It would be all over. There would be absolutely nothing that we would be able to do about it. You know, that's what happened to Cassie. She was just taken away from her parents when she was born. That was it. Done. I don't want to… I can't live in a world that uncertain. They can't take our kids."
"They won't, Sam."
"I couldn't have stopped them, Jack."
"Yeah, we sure as hell could have stopped them."
"How?" she asks.
"They took Mitchall's wife six months ago," Jack says.
"I don't understand you guys were talking about it like he was married, like he was together with her."
"I know, that's because he is. She was gone for a month. We found her. We kidnapped her right back, and the two of them are happy and together. I would never let them take our kids away. We would get them back."
"We couldn't find her parents."
"Sam, I'd go to the ends of the universe for our kids."
"Jack, they could just shoot our kids, and there is nothing that anyone could do about it."
"I know," he says, realizing that arguing isn't going to get him anywhere.
"I don't like that. I want to be able to keep them safe. Always. And I hate the fact that there is nothing I can do. That whether or not they are safe has absolutely nothing to do with me."
"I know," he says, hugging her.
"Can Sha're watch the kids tonight? I don't want them here when it is a mess."
"Ok. You drop off the kids, and I'll start with the door. We'll get this place cleaned up, and I promise that everything is going to be ok."
-0-0-0-
The new door is stronger than the other one. It's not strong enough to keep out a Jaffa, of course; nothing is. They don't sell the kind of material that is strong enough to keep out a Jaffa. But this door was at least strong enough to keep out a human, and that was the best that he could do. Yet, Jack is absolutely 100% sure that someone is in his house right now.
He walks out there to stop whatever intruder they have, because Sam really doesn't need any other violation right now.
But the intruder is Sam.
"Hey, what's going on?" he asks her softly.
She jumps, and looks at him with muted terror.
"Sorry I scared you," he says.
"It's ok, I should have known it was you."
"Well, I heard a noise out here, and I didn't know it was you, so I guess we're even. What exactly are you doing up here anyway?"
She starts to cry.
"It's ok," he says holding her.
"I just… this is stupid. This stuff happens. You're in the resistance, you deal with danger all the time. Real danger. Not just some people making your house a little bit messy. Like, you get shot at, a lot."
"Yeah, but they don't do that in my house. In front of my kids. It's different, Sam. It's ok to feel violated. I feel violated as well. They invaded a safe place, and they had no right to do that."
"Thank you, Jack," she says, leaning against him and letting him support her.
"Sam, sweetie, do you want to come into my bed tonight? Platonically, just for comfort?" he asks, pulling a bit away from her so that he can see her eyes as he poses the question.
"Are you sure that you're going to be ok with that?" she asks.
"Might help me sleep, too," he whispers.
She looks at him in surprise.
"My family was threatened today, too, Sam."
He pulls her hand, and they walk slowly toward the bedroom. She locks eyes with him, nervous about this, uncertain what to do, even in preparation for doing nothing. He smiles at her, and they sit down on the bed. He puts an arm around her, and effortlessly, wordlessly guides her down onto the bed. She nestled close against his body.
"I'm sorry, Jack," she whispers.
"What for?"
"Your house got searched today because of me. If they found something... if they found out that you were part of the resistance… that would have been on me."
"It's not your fault, Sam, and it's not the first time the house has been searched. It is the first time since Charlie was born… so it's different. But what happened today was not even close to your fault."
She's comforted by that.
"I'm sorry that you're married to such a dangerous man."
"Are you kidding? I'm married to someone brave enough to fight back. One of the very few people on this crazy planet who can actually really and truly do something to protect me. Do something to keep me safe."
He smiles. That was definitely not the reaction that Sara had when she was in a similar situation.
"Even more, you're doing something to work towards a world where no one will ever pound down someone else's door."
"I'm pretty sure you're the one who did something about that most recently," he says.
And just then, unknown to them in a house without any lights on, the power went out, not only on Earth, but all across the Goa'uld empire.
A sneaky little virus, working better than its creator ever hoped, buffering the naquadah reactions and balancing the energy difference in the crystals. And just like that… Goa'uld technology went dead.