Sort of spoilers for "Secrets", although that doesn't happen in this chapter.
A Week Later
Jack has started spending every night that Sam is gone, as well as many those Sam was there for, at their house. That way Ty, has a parent and a grandpa with him every night.
Jack's black ops training allows him to hear the very first sob in the night. His heart practically breaks at the sound.
He gets up, and goes to his son's room. "What's wrong, bud?"
"I'm sorry, Daddy," Ty asks, looking just a little bit terrified.
"Honey, it's ok. Just tell me what happened," Jack says, moving closer to the boy.
"I was sick," the kid says.
"Did you throw up?" Jack asks, looking around.
"No, but that's why it happened, I was sick," Ty says.
And then Jack sees that the bed is wet. "It's ok, bud." He reaches up his hand to feel his son's forehead. Ty flinches.
Jack has a sharp intake of breath. "Honey, I'm not mad at you. And I would never hit you. I was just trying to find out if you had a fever."
Ty nods, and Jack lifts his hand up to the boy's forehead again. "You do feel warm. Next time something like this happens, you wake mommy or grandpa or I up, ok? Ty, can you take you clothes off, and go wait in the bathroom? I'll get you some medicine, and then you can take a bath to get cleaned up."
-0-0-0-
"Daddy, don't leave me," Ty says, stretching out his hand desperately to his father from his spot on Sam's bed. After he had a bath and some fresh clothes, Jack had put him on the clean bed.
"Ty, it's ok, I'm just going to put the bedding in the laundry, and then we'll take your temp," Jack says soothingly.
"Daddy, I don't feel good," Ty whines.
"I know sweetie, can you tell me exactly what is wrong?" Jack asks, sitting down next to his son.
"I just feel all… sick," the kid whines.
"Does your stomach hurt, or your head, or anything?" Jack asks.
Ty shakes his head.
"Ok, I'll be right back," he assures his son.
-0-0-0-
"Daddy," Ty whimpers, almost asleep. Jack can feel his son's flesh, nearly on fire against his own. Jack adjusts the cold wet washcloth as Ty moves. Then Ty starts shaking with chills.
"Daddy, cold," he shivers.
"I'll be right back," Jack says, pulling a blanket over his son. He knows that probably isn't the best idea for a kid with a fever, but he doesn't really care right now. His son isn't comfortable, and he needs to fix that.
"Jacob," Jack says, knocking on the man's door.
There is a shuffling inside before the man comes to the door, "What's wrong, Jack?"
"Ty's sick. I'm sorry to wake you, I'm probably worrying about nothing. But how high does a temperature have to be before you take a kid to the emergency room?" Jack asks.
Jacob practically runs into Ty's room. He's confused to see it empty, void of even sheets on the bedding. "He's in Sam's room."
Jacob nods, and enters the room. He looks at his grandson shivering under the blankets. "Did you take his temperature?"
"103."
"Any other symptoms?" Jacob asks.
"He, ah… wet the bed, but he said that nothing hurt," Jack says.
"He's going to be all right," Jacob says, breathing a little sigh of relief himself. "We'll just have to keep an eye on the fever, and make sure that it doesn't go any higher. And we should get those blankets off him. That's only going to heat him up even more."
"I know, I just didn't have the heart. He said he's cold," Jack explains.
"Buddy," Jacob says softly, "Buddy, we've got to come out of the blankets. It will make you feel better."
"Sorry, Grandpa," Ty says, allowing his grandpa to lift him out of the blankets.
"He, ah… thought he was going to get in trouble for earlier," Jack explains.
"Oh, baby," Jacob says with something catching in his throat. "I'll go fix your bed up, and get you back to bed."
"I want to stay with Daddy," Ty whines.
"That's fine, Buddy," Jack says, laying down and allowing the boy to wrap himself around him.
"Do either of you need anything before I go back to bed?" Jacob asks.
"No, sorry I woke you," Jack says a bit bashfully.
"No problem, Jack. You did the right thing, you had to make sure that our boy was fine," Jacob says.
The Next Day
"Jack, you don't have a mission tomorrow, do you?" Jacob asks him when Sam goes upstairs to give Ty a bath.
"No, and I don't have too much to do at work, so I'll probably be home around four, four-thirty, why?" Jack asks.
"Ah… I was wondering if you could watch Ty for an hour over noon," Jacob looks up hopefully.
"Sure, Jake, any time," Jack says. He looks at the man who is going to be his father in law, and detects there some worry that he doesn't understand. "Any particular reason?"
"Just an appointment," Jacob says, going off to bed.
The Next Day
The next day, Jacob doesn't mention anything about where he has been, even though he has plenty of opportunity, Sam isn't around. But when Jack leaves Ty's room at the end of the night, he sees Jacob standing in the hall.
"Jack, could you take Ty to the base daycare tomorrow?" Jacob asks, not looking at the younger man.
"Daycare?" Jack says.
"And I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention this to Sam," Jack says softly.
"Jacob, you've given a lot of your life to this kid. I don't begrudge you days off, but I feel like there is something going on here. Are you ok?"
Jacob sighs, "Why don't we go sit down?"
They sit in the living room for a long moment of silence before Jacob says, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't share any of this with my daughter."
Jack nods.
"I have some doctor's appointments. I don't know much right now. I'm getting more testing tomorrow," Jacob says.
Jack swallows hard. "What is it?"
"Cancer, Jack, they're saying cancer, but I don't yet know what kind," Jacob says.
"Oh, God, Dad," Jack says. The 'dad' is a slip of the tongue that hasn't passed Jack's lips in four decades. "I think Ty should start going to day care every day."
"Jack, I love my grandson. I want to spend time with him even more than I did before. I just need for him to go to day care every now and again when I have an appointment," Jacob says.
"Ok, but if you're ever feeling tired or sick…" Jack says.
Jacob nods his head by way of consent.
"And I'll vouch you on base any time you need to drop him off in the middle of the day. If I'm off… out of the country, you can ask Hammond to do it if you don't want Sam to know." Jack pauses, "Why exactly don't you want Sam to know?"
Jacob pauses, not having really considered the reason for this himself. When he answers it is nearly in the form of a whisper. "Because… you want to protect your kids from pain," Jacob says simply.
The Next Day
"Mommy, look what Emma gave me!" Ty proclaims, holding up his arm for his mother to see the friendship bracelet which is adorning his wrist.
"That's beautiful, honey. Who is Emma?" Sam replies.
Ty's eyes get big, "Oopsy!" he says before running off.
Sam's stomach turns with a thousand imaginary worries, "Ty!" she calls, running after him. When she catches up with him, his head is under his bed, ostrich-style with his tiny bum in the air.
She sticks her head under the bed with him, too, "Sweetie, you should never keep secrets from your Mommy."
"But Daddy said I could have ice cream if I didn't tell," Ty protests.
Now Sam has a whole new crop of fears. Is Jack cheating on her? "I'll give you an ice cream if you tell me what Daddy was doing with Emma."
"Daddy didn't even meet her. Her daddy picked her up before Daddy came to get me," Ty says.
And then Sam remembers, "Emma is your friend from daycare?"
Ty nods his head, "Can I have ice cream now?"
Sam nods her head as they slide out from under the beds, and make their way to the living room, "Sweetie, have you gone to daycare every day you're not with Mommy?"
"No, just once," Ty says.
The anger that Sam had been feeling quickly dissipates.
"Did Daddy tell you why you were going to day care?" she asks.
"So I can get ice cream," the kid says in a tone of voice that clearly implies he thinks his mother is more than a little bit dense.
After Jack comes home, Sam waits all afternoon thinking that Jack is going to bring up the reason he left his kid at day care. Neither Jack nor her father are in a particularly talkative mood. But by the time they get into bed, he still hasn't brought it up.
Hey, it's just once. He'll tell her if it's really important.
One Week Later
Jack jumps out of bed, and dashes for the bathroom. It's already occupied by Jacob Carter, and by the sounds of it he's doing exactly what Jack needs to do. Jack pulls the trash can over to him just in time.
As Jacob stops retching, he says, "I haven't had a puke pal since the Academy. Are you ok, Jack?"
"I should be asking you that, Jacob," Jack says softly, looking at the older man. Jacob has been doing doses of both chemo and radiation for the last couple of days, and this is not the first time Jack's helped him through his sickness. Honestly, Jack can't figure out how Sam hasn't figured it out yet.
"I'm fine," Jacob says, but the way he's leaning against the wall obviously turns his words into a lie.
Jack stands up, and wets a cold wash cloth which he places on the older man's neck, "Is there anything I can do?"
Jacob shakes his head.
Sam walks into the bathroom to see the two men sitting on the floor. "What happened?" she asks. Then she sees the evidence in the trash can.
"Which one of you was sick?" she asks.
"Me," Jack says. And it's not a lie, he was the one who was sick in the trash can.
"Come on, Jack, let's get you back to bed. I'll call work to tell them that you can't come into work today," Sam says.
"No, I'm fine," Jack says. He's taken off several hours of work in the past few days to be with Jacob during his treatments. He doesn't want to miss any more time, he might need more time off before Jacob's sickness is over.
"I think that might be a good plan," Jacob says.
Then Jack remembers that Jacob has an appointment today, and besides, it looks like Jacob is going to be too sick to take care of a kid.
"Mommy?" a little voice says.
Sam looks between the trash can and the kid. "I've got him," Jack says.
"No, I don't want you to get him sick. Can you, dad?" Sam asks.
And then Jack knows why Sam doesn't know yet. Jacob pulls himself off the floor, and looks like he is really fine, "Of course."
-0-0-0-
"No, I'll be coming into work day, its Colonel O'Neill that is going to be gone," Sam informs the officer on the phone.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but Colonel O'Neill already asked for the morning off. He's been asking for either the morning or the afternoon off quite often for weeks now."
"Ok, well, he won't be coming in this afternoon," Sam says, puzzled by this conversation.
She stares at the phone after she hangs it up.
"Mommy, Daddy is helping Grandpa, are you going to take me to day care?" Tyler asks.
"I'm going to go talk to Daddy, can you watch TV?" she asks.
"I don't want to," Ty says stubbornly.
"Why not?" Sam says in surprise.
"'Cause the only time I get to watch TV without asking is when Daddy is in trouble," Ty says looking sad.
Sam smiles, "He's not in trouble this time. He's just sick."
"'Kay, you make him feel better?" Ty asks.
Sam smiles although she doesn't really have that intention in her mind at that particular moment. She heads up the stairs.
-0-0-0-
"Sir, several of your teammates have complained about, ah… strange symptoms that I think might be related to a recent mission. Have you been experiencing anything unusual?" Janet is at that moment asking Jack on his cell phone.
"We haven't really been on any recent missions. The last one was a couple of weeks ago. But I did throw up this morning," Jack says.
There is such a long pause on the phone that Jack asks, "Ah, doc, are you still there?"
"Yes I am Jack, I think you'd better come in right away," she says.
"I'm sure it's just the stomach flu or something," Jack defends quickly, "Is it the same thing the other guys have?"
"No, actually it's not, and that's kind of the problem, sir. Look, this is really not the sort of thing I can explain over an unsecured line. Actually, I'm going to have quite a bit of trouble explaining it to you when you're right in front of me."
Jack closes his eyes, "How bad is this? Because I've been around someone whose immune system is compromised by chemo and radiation." He is never going to forgive himself if he ended up putting Jacob at greater risk.
"Don't worry, sir, this doesn't appear to be contagious."
-0-0-0-
"So, I called work for you," she says.
"Yeah," he says, searching her face, obviously trying to figure out if his secret has been revealed yet.
"Yeah, they mentioned that you have been gone quite a bit lately. Tyler mentioned that he's been in daycare, too. Jack, I didn't go looking for you. Ty and me, we were fine before. You don't have to take care of him if you don't want to, what pisses me off is that you are lying about it. Jack, if you want out of this relationship, just man up and say it!" Sam meant to get through the whole speech without tears, but she failed in this task.
He takes her into his arms, "Sam, that is not what is going on."
She pushes him away, "I need an explanation!"
"Ok, look, I've been helping someone out. This person asked me not to tell anyone what was going on in their lives, and I've been respecting their wishes. Ty has not been in daycare that much, and never when I was at home. He's actually gotten more time with me, because of the time I've been taking off work. And the daycare has cameras on it 24/7, Samantha. Your father or I have watched any time your son has been there in fast-forward."
Sam looks up at him, "Ok, and you'd tell me if you could?"
He nods, "I promise. Turns out I need to go into work though. My team is sick in the infirmary. It's not contagious, but they want to check me out. I'm going to drop Ty of in daycare on the way."
"Dad can take care of him," Sam says with ease.
Jack tries to think of a response, but in the silence, Sam realizes the truth. She nearly collapses, and Jack catches her once again in his strong hands.
"What's wrong with him? What does he have?" she pleads desperately.
"Samantha, he asked me not to tell you."
"I don't care! He's my dad, and he's sick!" Sam practically shouts.
Jacob walks into the room, and when her eyes turns to him, she can't believe he didn't notice her father was sick.
"Cancer, Sammy," he says.
"Oh, God, Dad," she moans as she walks over to take him into her arms.
"Sammy, it's not over. I'm fighting his thing," he says.
"Sam, now that you know, Jacob has a treatment today…" Jack begins.
"Jack, I've already told you that I don't need someone to babysit me at those appointments. All I have to do is sit there," Jacob protests.
"I've got him and Ty, I'll see you later," Sam says, giving Jack a quick kiss.
Note: Jacob's illness appears sooner than in the series. That's because the way I'm going to save Jacob Carter in this series is by early diagnosis, chemo and radiation. I don't know how early it was caught in the series. But in this story they find it much earlier, which can sometimes make all the difference in the world.