They landed at the Springs and Jack picked up a rental car and they drove to his old house. He was letting Sam use it while he was in D.C. and she was in Atlantis. Ostensibly it gave her a place to stay during her infrequent visits, as well as Jack a place to stay when he had business in the mountain, but the reality was it provided a convenient place for the few chances they got to be together. The senior members of the SGC, the ones who had been involved for a long time had long ago accepted if not outright encouraged the two to find time to be together and were quick to close ranks and ensure anyone who even questioned or gossiped about the General and the Colonel were quickly 'educated' to keep their mouths shut and mind their own business. No one outside of the original SG1 and Hank knew that President Hayes had authorized the relationship provided it didn't interfere with operations. With Hank in charge of the SGC and Jack ensuring he stayed out of his business it had worked well. It had gotten tricky when Sam was in Atlantis, as that being part of the IOA, fell back directly under Jack's command again, however, he and Hank had come to an unspoken agreement that the SGC would be the focal point for contact and dealings with Atlantis and Hank would make decisions on most items and Jack trusted him enough to know he would quickly elevate it to Jack if he thought is needed to be. It had worked out well, as a majority of people in both galaxies still had no idea they were in a relationship.

Jack looked around the house. Everything looked to be okay. He walked back outside to turn on the water valve to restore the water to the house. He came back inside to see Cassie standing in the kitchen.

"Uh, Jack, I don't know how long we are staying her, but I'm pretty sure we will not be eating here." Cassie said.

He grinned. "Yeah, since no one is here on a regular basis, Daniel checks on it for me and makes sure there are no issues when we know Sam is coming, but it makes no sense to keep a lot of food here, although probably do need to by canned goods and stuff so they are here when Sam gets to come home."

Cassie nodded and walked to look out the back window. She turned and looked back. "Maybe a lawn guy?"

Jack walked over and looked out. "I will mow it before we head to the cabin."

He looked at her. "Mountain, then lunch?"

Cassie looked down moment then she looked back up at him and squared her shoulders. "Yes. That will work."

Jack smiled and kissed the top of her head as walked out to of the kitchen to the garage door. Curious, Cassie followed him.

She found him pulling the cover off Sam's car, which was on jack stands in the garage for storage. He checked the battery tender, tires, and a few other things before covering it back up. He walked to the front of the garage and removed a large tarp to reveal two more, smaller covers. Cassie knew one of them was Sam's prized classic Indian motorcycle. As Jack raised the cover, Cassie saw it too was on a jack to hold the tires off the ground. He performed several checks and then began to cover it back up. She moved to help him. She looked at the other cover. It was obviously a motorcycle as well.

"Did Sam get another bike?" She asked as she helped Jack pull back the cover.

She gasped when she saw it was an old classic Harley Davidson. She looked at Jack, seeing he was eyeing the bike with an appreciative look.

"Nope, this one is mine." Jack said.

"You never said you had a bike." Cassie said accusingly.

"You never asked." Jack replied.

"Does Sam know?"

"Yep….now" He answered with a grin as he checked the bike out.

They covered both bikes with the bigger tarp and headed back in the house. A thought hit Cassie. "Where is your truck?"

"At the base. Siler keeps it in the motor-pool under the shelter as long as they don't need the room. Daniel and Siler drive it from time to time to keep it in shape. That way, Sam always has a ride." Jack answered.

"Oh."

The ride to the base started out well, but Jack noticed Cassie got quieter the closer she got. They went through checkpoints and parked. Jack considered parking up front annoy Hank, but wanted to keep the visit low key. As he signed them him the SF at the gate looked up.

"It's great to have you back sir."

"Thanks Mike. Listen, I would appreciate this being low key. No announcements please. It's a personal visit. No inspection or anything, I promise." Jack said.

"Yes sir." The SF replied. Usually when someone of importance signed in topside, the NCO in charge of the detail would wait until they disappeared into the elevator then quickly call Chief Harriman to let him know.

As they talked, the SF reached under the desk and pulled out a badge and held it out to Cassie. Cassie had not noticed the movement until she caught the hand coming towards her out of the corner of her eye. She gave a slight yelp and jumped back, grabbing tightly to Jack's arm.

Sergeant Jones looked at Jack in surprise as Jack looked down at Cassie and whispered something to her. He glanced back up and took the badge, quickly thanking that SFs and led Cassie to the elevator.

Once inside he turned to her. "Cass, you okay?"

She sighed and her eyes were watery. "Yes. It was stupid. I was just startled by…"

Jack wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "It's okay."

Jack led them to the stairs to the conference room to avoid having to go into the control room. He noticed a couple of airmen hanging new light fixtures. He paused outside Hank's office and looked in to make sure it was just Hank in there, then knocked.

Major General Hank Landry looked up. "Jack! What a surprise." He then noticed the woman almost hiding behind Jack. He raised his eyebrows in question.

"Hank, this is Cassie. Cassie, this is General Landry." Jack stated.

Hank smiled and walked over. "So you are the famous little girl that Jack is so proud of." He stuck out his hand.

Cassie flinched slightly then shook his hand. "Nice to meet you." She said softly.

If Hank thought her behavior odd, he didn't say anything. "The pleasure is mine. It is nice to finally meet the little girl who supposedly has had the great Jack O'Neill wrapped around her finger for so long."

Cassie smiled at that while Jack groaned.

Hank looked at Jack's civilian attire. "I take it this is personal?"

Jack nodded. "I need to call Sam."

Hank's only reaction was a narrowing of his eyes. If Jack wanted to break protocol and call Atlantis out of cycle, then he knew it was serious. He also knew that Sam and Jack had been Cassie's guardians after Janet died and the original SG1 was still all very involved in her life and very protective of the young girl. Even George Hammond was rumored to have stay informed on her life when he left.

"I take it you want this to be a secure call?" Hank asked.

Jack nodded.

About that time one of the workmen dropped one end of the light fixture and it swung down on the chain and hit the ladder with a clang. The man swore and yelled a warning.

Cassie cowered slightly and squeezed as close as she could to Jack, before realizing what was going on. Her face turned red and she looked at Hank. "Sorry, just startled me."

Hank looked at her with concern in his eyes. "It's okay." He said as he turned toward the workers and added in a slightly raised, firm voice. "Some people need to learn to be more careful."

The airman working on the light looked sheepish at him as he said. "Yes sir, sorry sirs." He then looked at Cassie. "Sorry ma'am."

Cassie nodded, but Jack noticed she stayed very close to him. He turned as Hank started to walk talking over his shoulder. "Let's go to the control room."

They entered the control room where Walter recognizing O'Neill stood up quickly. "General O'Neill." Surprise was evident on his face. "I wasn't aware you were visiting. I'm sorry sir."

Both Hank and Jack smiled at the knowledge this was one of the very few times they would ever see the unflappable and always in the know Chief surprised by something. Walter noticed Cassie, standing behind Jack.

"Miss Frasier, it's good to see you again." He moved his arm like he was going to offer his hand to shake, but an imperceptible shake of Landry's head stopped him.

Landry looked around. "Walter, I need you to set us up to call Atlantis, then," he turned and raised his voice to all the techs in the room, "I need the control cleared."

It was a mark of their discipline that no one questioned anything; they just put stuff down, locked computers, and slowly filed out. Walter looked up from the computer. "Sir, it's ready. Just hit enter."

Jack nodded. "Thank you Walter."

After everyone was out, Jack looked around then grinned slyly at Cassie. "Want to dial the gate?"

Cassie smiled and nodded. She reached out and tapped enter.

The wormhole established and Jack gave a five count then spoke into the microphone on the desk. "Atlantis Command, this is Stargate Command."

Almost instantly a calm, serene voice came on the speakers. Stargate Command, this is Atlantis. Standby for visual."

A second later the screen on the computer flickered and an exotically beautiful woman appeared. She looked down at her monitor and instantly recognized General O'Neill. She smiled. "General O'Neill, how are you?"

Jack smiled back. "I'm fine Teyla, you?"

"I am well General." Jack saw her glance to Cassie who was just inside the camera view.

"Teyla Emmagan, this is Cassandra Frasier." He said.

Teyla's smile became even brighter. "Hello Cassandra. It is nice to finally meet you…well, at least see you. Colonel Carter has spoken of you often and carries great pride in your achievements."

Cassie smiled back. "Thank you Miss Emm.."

"Teyla, please" Teyla said with a smile.

Cassie nodded. "Thank you Teyla. I have heard about your from both Jack and Sam. I think you are an amazing person." Cassie responded. She could not explain it, but she felt very much at ease with Teyla. The beautiful Athosian seemed to radiate a calming influence.

"Thank you Cassandra. General, would you like to speak to Colonel Carter privately?" Teyla asked.

Jack knew he should not have been surprised. According to Sam, Teyla was extremely perceptive, and she apparently the only one on Atlantis who figured out who the "person nearing retirement" that Sam was seeing was. Jack also knew that as Sam's female confidant, she had provided a sounding board for Sam that was often very helpful.

"Yes, please Telya, and if you don't mind…" Jack replied as he typed a message on the text editor.

Teyla's eyes flickered down a moment as she read and she gave a nod. "It was good talking to you General. It was good to finally see you Cassandra. Transferring you to Colonel Carter now and there will be no recording." Teyla replied, anticipating the request.

Jack smiled as the Atlantis Expedition logo appeared, before fuzzing out and becoming the face of Colonel Samantha Carter, obviously just woken up. She was still in her nightgown, which Jack new she would never have done normally, so Teyla must have warned her who was calling.

"Hello Sam."

"Jack? What's going on, everything okay?" Sam asked. She then noticed Cassie and instantly focused on her.

"Cassie, why are you there? What happened?" Sam asked.

Cassie looked up and started to reply, and her emotions overwhelmed her and she burst into tears. She turned and walked out of view of the camera.

Jack sighed and watched Cassie a moment to make sure she stayed in the control room. He took out a disk and placed it in the computer as he spoke to Sam.

"Sam, I am sending you a file. You need to go through it completely, okay?" Jack asked as he typed

Sam glanced down at her computer. "Okay, I am receiving the file." She said, but Jack could tell she was now agitated because of Cassie's reaction to her.

Jack looked at the computer screen. "Sam…I'm doing the best I can, but…" his voice trailed off.

Sam's emotions were in even more turmoil now. For the first time she could remember, Jack O'Neill looked helpless. She glanced down as her computer beeped. She looked up. "I have the file."

Jack smiled what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "Run through it and please, if you have any advice at all, pass it on immediately. Day or night. Anytime. Soon." His voice was almost pleading.

Sam could tell that Jack was stressed and needed her help and she felt helpless to do anything. She needed the facts first. "Okay. I will."

Jack glanced back as Cassie, then the computer. "I need to wrap this up. We are headed to the cabin. I will not, repeat, not be in the office for the foreseeable future. If I don't hear from you soon, I will check back, okay?"

Not in the office? At the cabin? Sam was now sure whatever the issue was, it was bad. "Okay. I will get back to you I promise."

Jack reached to break the connection but before he did he looked back at camera. "Sam, I love you."

"I love you too, Jack" Sam replied. She knew for Jack to have said that in the open like this, something was truly affecting him.

He smiled as the connection winked out.