A/N: I'm not quite sure this chapter turned out exactly right. I was going to just post the note, but added to it at the last minute. Let me know what you think.

I do not own these characters

Left Behind

The apartment was dark and silent when he let himself in. It looked like the kid had just left this morning for school instead of the two days it had been since he was last seen. There were no signs of a struggle, nothing looked out of place. There was only a note lying on the coffee table.

Colonel Jack O'Neill crossed the tiny living room in two steps and picked up the piece of notebook paper. It was addressed to him…sort of.

Dear Old Man,

Congratulations! If you are reading this it means that you might actually care about what happens to me. If that isn't the case then I bet you sure are mad at getting the call from the Air Force saying that I'd slipped my watchers and disappeared. I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not. And if you are worried about all of the classified information that I am carrying around in this teenaged skull of mine, don't be. Rest assured, I left of my own free will.

Yup, I'm gone. Left behind the state of Colorado and all the mountains contained therein. Seems that there are places I can go on this world and still make a difference, even at my 'age.' Won't tell you where though. I hated this miserable life and they won't be sticking me back in it under lock and key. Tell them not to search for me. Carter Jackson is going to fade quietly into the night. I'm going to have a new name now, to go with my new purpose.

I know that asking this of you isn't very fair, but you owe me. Keeping the Air Force off my back is the least you can do. I will be contacting you sometime in the near future to confirm that all of this is true; to prove that there is not someone 'untrustworthy' standing over my shoulder while I write this and that I am not being coerced in any way.

I just can't stand idle anymore.

Jack

Colonel O'Neill carefully folded the note and placed it in his jacket pocket. A quick check of the bedroom showed an unmade bed and no personal items. He knew without looking the dresser at the foot of the bed would be empty and that if he checked under the bed (which he did, just to be safe) the small cigar box would not be there. The kid wasn't coming back.

He left the apartment as quietly as he entered, relocking the door. He walked down the dim hall, past the 'Out of Order' elevator, and pulled his cell phone out of a pocket.

He had a search to call off.