Two weeks later, Sam was leaving for the Midway station with Dr. Lee. Jack, Jake, and Abbie came to the SGC to see her off. Neither of the kids was very happy about it. Jake's eyes had gotten as big as saucers when Sam explained to him what the Station was – basically a small module floating all by itself in the vast space between galaxies. She'd decided not to get him any more concerned by mentioning that right now it was a MALFUNCTIONING module floating alone in intergalactic space. Abbie, of course, had no idea what any of that meant, but she did understand that Sam was going away and fiercely disliked the idea.

"No! No!" the toddler protested as Sam tried to hand her over to Jack. They were all standing in the Gateroom to say goodbye, but it appeared as though that wasn't going to be easy.

"Sweetie, it's okay," Sam tried to tell her. "I'll be back before you know it."

Abbie had the lapels of Sam's BDUs fisted in her little hands. "No!" Their little struggle got even more complicated when Jake attached himself to her left leg.

"Guys, I know you're worried, but it's going to be fine. I am going to do absolutely everything in my power to be back here in just a couple weeks. I'm sure I'll have tons of stories for you, and you're going to have all kinds of adventures to tell me about from DC."

"Yeah," Jack chimed in. "We're going to have a great time."

"Can't you come, too?" Jake asked Sam.

"Not this time, buddy… Okay, how about this. If you really, really can't stand it in DC, then I'll come home."

"Promise?" the little boy asked.

"I do, but you've gotta give it an honest chance. I know that if you do, you're going to have a ton of fun and you probably won't even miss me."

Abbie still had tears dripping down her face, but after a final hug and kiss, she let go of Sam's shirt and allowed Jack to hold her. Jake also let go after he got a hug. "Be careful," he warned her.

"I definitely will. I know I've got a few very important people waiting on me."

"Am I on that list?" Jack quietly asked as she straightened and turned to him.

Sam smiled. "Of course." He gave her a hug and they all watched as she grabbed her bag and headed up the ramp towards the waiting Stargate. After she and Dr. Lee disappeared through the event horizon, the gate shut down.

Still sniffling, Abbie laid her head against Jack's shoulder. Jake looked up at him a bit apprehensively. "So…what now?" the little boy asked.

"Well…now we go get your stuff and head for the airport."

Jack quickly realized that his short trips to Colorado weren't the same thing as being with Abbie and Jake full-time. There were lots of little things that he didn't know about them and their routine, and he was out of practice in taking care of children on his own.

Jake had packed his handheld video game system in his carry-on bag, but somehow all of the games had gotten stashed in his checked bag. He was therefore completely bored very soon after takeoff, and they had a four-hour flight to get through. Keeping him from running around wild on the plane was a challenge.

"Can I please walk to the back of the plane?" he asked for probably the fifteenth time.

Jack looked at his watch. "We've got about thirty minutes until we land, pal. Then you can run around all you want."

Jake gave an overly dramatic sigh. "Thirty minutes is FOREVER."

"Well, we can pass the time. Keep telling me more about your school."

"I've told you everything already."

"Well, what about next year? Do you get a new teacher?"

"Yeah. Ms. Brown."

"Have you met her?"

"Yeah. I guess she's nice. I liked my old class and Ms. Kirkpatrick, though."

"Unfortunately you can't have things stay the same all the time."

Jake sighed again. "That's what Sam said, too."

The pilot soon made an announcement that they were beginning to descend into National Airport. The view out the window was finally enough to hold Jake's attention for a little while. Jack was just about to settle back to watch for himself when Abbie started crying. She had her hands over her ears, and Jack instantly knew what was wrong.

"Hey, Jake, where's that bottle of water that you had earlier?"

"I don't know."

"Well, can you find it?" Abbie was getting louder by the moment. Jake started searching around the sides of his seat and finally pulled up the water bottle. It was slightly deformed due to the increased air pressure in the cabin caused by their descent. The idea that the same thing was happening to the toddler's ears made Jack cringe a little.

"Thanks," he told Jake as he transferred what was left of the water into Abbie's sippy cup. After a couple swallows, she was doing better. "Do me a favor," he told Jake. "On the way back to Colorado, remind me to get that out BEFORE we start descending."

The little boy shrugged. "Okay."

Jack had an apartment in the city, which was considerably smaller than Sam's house. Jake was not thrilled when he realized there was only one extra bedroom. "We gotta share a room?" he asked.

"Yeah. Sorry, pal."

"But she tries to eat my LEGOs," he accused his sister, giving her a Look.

"Well, don't leave them out on the floor and she'll be less likely to get her hands on them." Jake couldn't argue with that. "How's pizza sound for dinner?"

Jake raised an eyebrow. "Pepperoni?"

"Whatever you want."

That decision was enough to satisfy Jake, but when the food arrived, Abbie didn't seem to have any interest. She refused to let a fork get anywhere near her mouth, and was just generally cranky. "I've seen her eat pizza before at Sam's," Jack commented.

Jake nodded. "She loves it," he agreed around a mouthful.

"What's going on with you tonight, princess?"

"Mama," she whimpered.

"Sam's not here. But she's gonna be sad if she hears you didn't eat your dinner."

Abbie shook her head. "Mama."

That was pretty much all she said for the next hour. Jack finally sat down at his computer and started searching through his pictures until he found one of Sam. He'd taken it during one of her visits to DC the previous year; she was sitting under a cherry blossom tree on the Mall. "How's that?" he asked Abbie as he showed it to her. She cracked a little smile.

"Mama!"

"When was that?" Jake asked as he joined them.

"About a year ago. You ever hear of the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC?" Jake shook his head. "Maybe next year you can come. Last year, Sam wanted to see it, so she came here for a weekend."

"She looks pretty," Jake told him.

"Yeah, she does." Jack sent the picture to his printer, then grabbed the paper and all three of them sat down on the couch together. "You guys are a lot like her, you know."

"Really?"

"You betcha. Abbie looks like her."

"Yeah, but I look like you."

"Mmm, hair and eyes, but you've got her smile. And you've got this expression…" Jake looked at him skeptically. "Yeah, that one. Sam does the exact same thing." Jake laughed, proud of himself. "Yeah, you guys are so much like her." Silence fell for a long moment as they all sat together, thinking.

"Jack?" Jake finally spoke up. "How come you live here?"

"This is where my job is."

"But don't you want to be with Sam?"

He nodded. "I do."

Jake was quiet for a long moment. "Do you want to be with us?" he hesitantly asked.

"Yeah, buddy. I know this is hard to understand. I… I want to make sure that you guys are safe and taken care of the best that you can be. And I'm not sure if I can do that."

"Why not?"

"Well… because a long time ago I-I made a very bad mistake. And I don't want to ever do anything like that again."

"Oh… Jack?"

"Mmm?"

"I don't care if you make mistakes."

Absolution from a six-year-old. As Jack looked down at Jake, he couldn't help but wonder about the boy's father. Had Charlie ever existed in their reality? If so, his father had obviously managed to forgive himself somehow. And history hadn't repeated itself; as far as he knew, the alternate Jack O'Neill hadn't done anything else incredibly stupid.

"Thank you, pal," he quietly told the little boy. "I know it's confusing for you, but… don't ever be confused about the fact that I love you and your sister."

Jake looked up at him, surprised. "Really?" he asked. "Even if… even though we're not supposed to be here?"

Jack wrapped an arm around him. "I wouldn't want you anywhere else."

TBC...