Oh! I'm there! We are there! Well, almost but we are close… xD
Enjoy!
M.
(Thank you DeniseM, I didn't notice it ended up "corrected")
Chapter thirteen
If Jack chose that moment to think of himself as a cartoon, he would have been with his face boiling red and smoke would be escaping his ears. But he wasn't a cartoon, and even if he was fuming inside, it wasn't the guard's fault, they were just doing their jobs. So, he inhaled… deeply.
A couple of times.
Sam grabbed his hand and gave it a quick squeeze, it was the most coupley thing they would dare to do while both in uniforms and in such military environment. However, it calmed him down immediately.
"Let me call Amelia to sort this one out," he added looking at her.
"I should call Hayes, after all, he was the one who moved it here," she added chewing her lower lip. He was already pulling his cell phone out.
"Nah, if he moved it then Amelia knows by now, don't worry." He winked at her, "Amelia? Yes; that's exactly why I'm calling… Yes, we are at the gate," he lowered the phone with a smirk.
"Told me so?" she asked, knowing his expressions too well.
"She's coming with the ID's."
Sam spotted Amelia before Jack did, the woman was the only one who resisted Jack's complex personality, she used to call Sam when Jack was on a special level of grumpiness. She also knew Amelia respected Jack both as her superior and as a person. However, she was still surprised when she was engulfed on a tight embrace.
"Amelia, Colonel Carter needs to breathe," Jack commented, and the woman let Sam go.
"I'm sorry Colonel, I'm just so happy, ma'am!" Then she looked around, it wasn't precisely the best place to blabber.
"The President sent me this yesterday with some instructions," she presented him the envelope, inside Jack found two pieces of ID. Amelia found that time to scan the area, her eyes widened when she spotted the girl. Jack noticed the change and before she could react, he was pushing them all to the other side.
"Walls have ears," he whispered and Amelia nodded understandingly.
They walked briskly trough the corridors and didn't stop more than to show ID's time and time again; until they reached his office, where he finally placed Naysa on the floor.
"Naysa, this is Amelia. Amelia this is Naysa, our daughter." He finished. Amelia clapped her hands cheerfully, noticing quickly the resemblance of the child to both of her parents. And then, she embraced Sam and then Jack.
"I'm sorry, I just can't help it, " she added sheepishly, "blame it on my Latin roots," she shrugged. "The meeting will be held next door," Jack raised his eyebrow at the not so subtle change.
"Who's coming?" he asked, noticing the blush covering his assistant's face.
"Everyone. The President deemed your meeting room as large enough, but more important, safer. A team rescanned the room this morning, and I went after with the jamming devices Colonel Carter had left before… it should be all clean," Amelia added seriously.
"Good. Is anyone here yet?"
"No, you are the first ones to arrive, the meeting is scheduled in," she checked her clock, "twenty-two minutes from now." The couple exchanged a glance.
"They all should be arriving shortly then," Jack added.
"Can I bring you anything? Coffee? Tea? Cake?" She offered with a knowing grin.
"Thank you, but we are good at the moment," Sam smiled. "We do have a request for you, Amelia; you can refuse it if you don't feel comfortable with it," she trailed.
"Okay."
"Will you mind taking care of Naysa while we go in?" Sam asked with a hopeful smile.
"Of course! That's no issue!"
"Ah, she squirms when she wants to go, and," Sam stopped as the door of the office was opened. The gray hair and dress blues pointed to an Air Force General and his troupe.
"Carter, why don't you, Amelia and Naysa take your conversation to my office. I will guide them to the meeting room…" Jack trailed and soon, the women and child were moved to Jack's office. While a crowd of blue uniforms moved from the entrance door to the meeting room door.
Sam inhaled deeply, looking how people kept coming in, she saw the top brass of the Air Force and then, she saw the classic movements of the secret service as Henry Hayes made his way to the meeting room, his two escorts standing still next to the meeting room door.
After that, Sam gave Amelia the last instructions she could think of and kneeled in front of her daughter to get a quick hug, which was comforting to her. Then, she stood up tall and squared her shoulders.
"It's not that you'll need it, ma'am, but good luck," Amelia grinned.
"Thanks' Amelia… for everything. I know you took a good care of our grumpy General, and now you are going to take care of our daughter, I can't start to explain how grateful I am with you."
"Don't worry, ma'am. I know under all his … grumpiness… as you put it," Amelia grinned, "The General is a loving man. I saw that when you visited and that helped me understand him a bit better. As I said before, I'm glad you are back, I don't know how long he would've resisted." Sam gulped and nodded towards the door.
"I must go," she bit her lower lip looking to Naysa again.
"Don't worry, everything will work out."
"I sure hope so," she added sadly. "I didn't tell Jack, but things really don't look well," she grimaced but before Amelia could ask and before Sam could allow herself to break; she turned around and opened the door.
At that moment, Amelia witnessed something she had witnessed before with General O'Neill. She saw the exact moment in which the worried woman inhaled deeply and nervously, looking as a human on the brink of losing it, and then, with one exhale she stepped out of the office, and had become the though Colonel she needed to be.
Amelia noticed, through the blinds how Sam was ready to defend what she had to, and she finally understood what was what had kept them together despite all the histories she had heard. And it was simple really, they were really made for one another.
Inside the room, Generals and President were noisily sitting around the table, but the moment Sam entered, the silence invaded the environment. There was something in Sam's presence that was, even more commanding now, than it was all those years when he had met her.
It wasn't only her height, her braided blond hair, her bright blue eyes, or the titles that came with her. But it was something in her stance, something that was dangerous and angelical at the same time. Jack noticed not for the first time, how she was different when she entered in that zone.
A place where she, his wife, was hidden under the military bravado. And he wondered, not for the first time, if he was guilty of teaching her how to bury herself so far in, or if it were the circumstances they've been through during the years at the SGC, and now, during whatever had happened on those months where she was lost to all of them.
Whatever it was, she had managed to get the attention of each and every one of the presents, and none of them wanted to be pulled out of her magnet. Whatever it was, it was the first time it made him feel wary of what was about to happen.
So, he cleared his throat, managing to catch Hayes attention. He nodded towards Sam and Hayes grinned, guiltily. Jack chose to believe the guiltiness was because he forgot he was in charge of this whole thing, rather than to the fact the President was staring at his wife. Still, he couldn't but clench his jaw.
"Colonel Carter, please take a sit," Hayes left out and pointed to the only place it was free. The chair on the extreme side of the table. She nodded, deciding not to let the position on the table affect her, she was after all, very used to be on the other end of trials of all sorts, from all sorts of alien civilizations. This one wouldn't make her flinch.
"Okay, I'll start by retelling the facts that lead us to this. Then we will ask you to give us your version of them, and we will ask you to explain why you were AWOL during eighteen months that happened until you decided to contact the SGC troughs our allies."
"Eighteen months?" Jack wondered out loud, "she was out there from November sixteen, 2007 until, five or six days ago! That's twenty months of absence, and she wasn't AWOL, she was MIA and then KIA!" Jack spat.
"General O'Neill, we understand your candor on this case; however, Colonel Carter is alive, therefore, she couldn't have been KIA. Her lack of contact doesn't allow her to be MIA as it was first stipulated. However, we will use the information acquired in this audience to decide the outcome, and due to her cooperation and willingness to share what's missing from those eighteen months of absence, charges won't be pressed," Sam's tightened her jaw.
"You got to be kidding," Jack left out outraged, punching the table with one fist.
"General O'Neill," Hayes started only to be met with Jack's glare, "take it easy, if you keep interrupting we won't be able to start appropriately, nor we will be able to finish. Colonel Carter, on September 14, 2007, you arrived at Cheyenne Mountain Complex a.k.a Stargate Command, to start your journey to Atlantis, is that correct?"
"Yes, sir."
"The transfer from SGC to Atlantis, lasted two days. You arrived at Pegasus on September sixteen, 2007, Earth date."
"Yes, sir."
"Your post was the Command of the base known as Stargate Atlantis. Your knowledge achieved from your experience at the SGC, and also during a mission to Atlantis placed you as the best possible candidate to replace Doctor Weir. The position was estimated to last two Earth years, with periodical revisions from the IOA to verify the adequacy of your post, rank, and leadership skills and also that the best interests of all the involved were thought of. Is that correct?"
"Yes, sir."
"However, on November thirteen, 2007; barely nine weeks since your arrival, you submitted a request to change your destination back to Earth."
"Yes, sir."
"Your request was rejected, Colonel. Is that why you chose to disappear for the following nineteen months?"