Spoilers for "A Matter of Time."
A Week Later
"Teal'c, I'm so glad to see you!" Shelby says, running over to give him a hug as soon as he comes to church. "Are you ok?"
"I am well," Teal'c says.
"You weren't so well the last time I saw you," she says.
"I am sorry if my previous illness frightened you," he says.
She smiles at him, "You'd better be."
"Dr. Fraizer has informed me that you have accepted her offer for employment," Teal'c replies.
She nods her head, "I'm doing basic training over the summer, so I won't be able to start for a coupla months."
"What are you doing for food and shelter until that time?" he asks gravely.
"I'm fine," Shelby says stubbornly.
"I have petitioned for the right to live off-base," Teal'c says.
"You're getting sprung from prison? That's wonderful."
"It has not been approved yet," he says. Shelby nods, and they walk over to what has become 'their' pew together. "I wish to share my place of residence with you, should I be granted permission," he says.
Shelby stares at him with eyes which clearly show disappointment, "I've yet to be a kept woman, Teal'c, and I can't believe you would suggest that in church of all places."
"I was not are that securing roommates was forbidden in a chapel. I apologize for my ignorance. Could you explain the meaning of the term 'kept women'?"
She glares at him long enough to find that he's serious, "You really just meant roommates?"
"What meaning did you derive from my words?"
"It's just, a lot of the time when a man asks a women to live with him he has… ideas."
"I believe that all humans have ideas," Teal'c says.
Shelby snorts, "You've got that right."
"I did not intend for my statements to be humorous."
He looks ever so slightly offended so Shelby decides to go easy on the poor man. "Ok, so, like, I thought you wanted me to have sex with you in exchange for a place to live."
"That was not my intention. However, I am confused as to why you were so repulsed by the idea."
"Are you serious?" Shelby squeaks in horror.
"Is this not the core of the marriage contract?" he asks.
"Man alive, I feel sorry for your wife. Marriage should be about a whole lot more than just sex for a place to stay."
"It is also about the joint creation and raising of offspring," Teal'c agrees.
"But it's about more than that. It's supposedta be a partnership. Two people going through life together."
There is a long pause, and then Teal'c says, "Marriages in my country are not like this."
"That's too bad," Shelby says seriously.
"Indeed," Teal'c replies.
Two Week Later
Jack walks into Sam's lab, and leans against her lab bench as if he really needs it to support himself. "Boyd gave us permission to pick up Em from daycare, right?"
"Yeah, he signed us up in the front, mostly for sleepovers, and stuff, why?"
Jack looks at her, and she can see that something is horribly wrong.
"What is it?" she asks.
"He's under attack, or something. I'm not quite sure. His IDC code was coming in super-slow."
"I have to go to the control room, and you've got to get Em out of day care."
"Sam," his voice is wrought with terror.
She turns to him, examining his eyes.
"What am I supposed to tell her?"
Sam's stomach drops out from under her. "Tell her, I'm doing my best to bring her daddy home."
-0-0-0-
It's dark outside. Why is it dark outside? It's only one-thirty in the afternoon. And it's certainly not overcast, he can see every star in the sky.
He knocks on the door of the daycare, but it's closed.
If he didn't know better, he'd think it was the middle of the night, but it's one thirty in the afternoon. He swears. I mean, he couldn't be this off on the time, could he?
He snaps his cell phone open, and dials his own home number. Jacob answers, "Jack, where the hell are you?"
"I'm trying to pick up Emma, her dad is sorta… stuck at work," Jack says. 'Stuck at work' doesn't even begin what's happening to Boyd, but Jack isn't sure how else he could describe it without moving deep into classified territory.
"I was thinking you were probably stuck at work, but you could have at least put a call in if you were going to be that late," Jacob says.
"What are you talking about? I wasn't due home until five o'clock tonight."
"Yes, and that was four hours ago. Jack, I've been trying to call you all evening. Emma's daycare called, looking for you guys, when her father didn't pick her up from day care."
"Did you get her, is she there now?"
"No, I wasn't on her accepted pick-up list; they wouldn't let me take her."
"Where is she now?" Jack says with crowing panic.
"I'm sorry Jack, social services took her into temporary care. She doesn't have any family around."
"I know, that's why Sam and I are supposed to be in charge of her whenever her dad can't be," he groans, running his fingers through his hair, "I really screwed this one up."
"How exactly did you lose that many hours?" Jacob asks.
"I don't know, but I have to find Emma. Are Ty and Hannah ok?"
"They're fine, both sound asleep."
"I never realized until this moment how valuable it is to have family around that you can rely on."
"Jack, did Henry die?"
"Not yet. Sam's working on it," Jack says quickly.
"You go bring that little girl home."
The Next Day
It turns out that there isn't much you can do by way of finding out what they did with a little girl who was placed in foster care when it is past business hours, so after leaving a couple of messages, he goes home to his own children. He tried to call his wife, but just like his father-in-law said, she's unreachable.
The next morning, he tries to call in sick to work, but he doesn't get through.
He is outside of the social service's door when it opened.
He has to tell his rather vague story about her father being 'unexpectedly indisposed during his classified work for the United States Air force' and flashes the paperwork that makes him Emma's legal guardian in the case of Boyd's death before he even gets to the see the little girl.
She spent the night at the house of a nice older couple who apparently hadn't been completely clued into the story.
"Your father's here, Emma," the women says when she opens the door to see Jack standing there.
Emma runs to the door, and her smile fades when she sees who it is. "That's not my Daddy," she says nearly in tears.
The woman looks at Jack in confusion.
"Honey, your Daddy got stuck at work. You're going to stay with Sam and I until he comes home."
"When is Daddy coming home?" she asks.
"I'm not sure, Emma," he says.
She reaches up her hands to Jack, and he takes her into his arms, "It's going to be ok, sweetie. Everything is going to be just fine," as he carries her to his truck.
Three Days Later
Jack knows that he should probably go back to work. But he can't do that to Emma.
She's super-clingy ever since she got left at day care.
"Where are you going, Jack?" she asks.
"To the bathroom," he says, barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
"Ok," she says shifting from foot to foot.
"Honey, I'm only going to be a minute, why don't you go play with Ty?"
"I'm fine."
He kneels down, "Honey, I promise that is not a magic door that is going to whisk me away from you forever."
"Did my Daddy disappear through a magic door?" she asks.
"Honey, did your Daddy tell you about what he did for work?" Jack asks.
She nods. "The magic door took him away forever, didn't it?" she whispers.
"I don't know, honey," he says, with far more honesty than he meant to.
"Did it take Sam away forever, too?"
It's not that the thought hadn't occurred to Jack. But he has been trying to push the thought into the corners of his mind. Now he is confronted with the thought out of the mouth of a child.
"I hope not," he chokes out.
"Jack, please don't go to work," she pleads.
"I promise you I'm not going to go to work until this is figured out," he says.
"Jack, what is going to happen to me if Daddy doesn't come back?"
"Honey, you're going to live here until your Daddy comes back."
"Thank you, Jack," she says, wrapping her tiny arms around the man.
Eleven Days Later
"Jack!" Sam's voice rings out on the phone.
"Sam, where are you?" she asks panicked.
"I'm sorry, the phones weren't working. We were out of time with the rest of the world."
"You were gone for two weeks, Sam! Your kids missed you. Your kids were starting to think that you were never coming home. Hell, I was starting to think that you were never coming home."
"Jack, it was less than a day for me. I didn't realize… two weeks?" Sam says in awe.
"Yeah, two weeks," he says his anger leaving. "I'm sorry I didn't come back."
"No, you couldn't have… two weeks."
"Henry?" Jack asks, unable to avoid the question any longer.
"Jack, I'm sorry."
"He's dead?" Jack asks.
"Technically he's missing in action. But he's not coming back, Jack. Don't tell Emma until I get there, Jack," Sam says.
"It's been two weeks, honey. She's already grieving her father, and you."
There is a long pause, and then there are tears in her eyes when she says, "I should have been there."
"You were trying to save his father, Sam; that was the right thing to do."
"I lost two weeks without kids, Jack."
"It's better than three years."
-0-0-0-
Jack doesn't tell Emma that Sam is coming home. It's not because he wants it to be a surprise. The simple truth is he can't imagin a conversation in which he lets her knows that Sam is coming home, and in which she doesn't find out about her dad. And he promised not to tell her about that until Sam got here.
And the key turns in the lock, and there she is.
"Mommy!" Ty says, flinging himself into her arms, crying.
Emma runs out of the room, sobbing.
"I'll take care of that," Jack says, trying to follow after Emma.
"Jack, you've been taking care of everything for two weeks. I've got this one," Sam says.
"Come here, bud," Jack says, trying to take Ty out of his mother's arms.
He shakes his head and holds onto her with a death grip.
"It's ok," Sam says softly.
She carries Ty sun up the stairs, and tries a couple of rooms before he finds Emma under the bed in her own bedroom.
"Honey," she says, putting the kid down and sticking her head under the bed.
"The glowing-eyed monsters killed him, didn't they?"
"Not exactly. Honey, there is this thing called a black hole. And it's sucking your Daddy inside."
"So we're going with unflinching honesty. Funny, that's not the way I thought we were playing it," Jack says from atop the bed.
"And it killed my Daddy?" she asks.
"Not really, honey, but he's never going to be able to come back. Time is slower near a black hole. That's why I was gone so long."
"Can we do this with a little bit less physics, honey? I think we're losing her," Jack offers.
"He's still alive somewhere?" Emma asks.
"Yeah, honey, he is."
"And it doesn't hurt, wherever he is?" she asks nervously.
"No," Sam says.
"But I'm never going to see him again?"
Sam shakes her head.
"No honey, I'm sorry."
Emma crawls toward her under the bed, and Sam pulls her out and holds her tight in her arms, "Did I ever tell you that my Mommy died when I was little? Well, a lot older than you, but still little?"
Emma shakes her head.
"I'm sorry I haven't been around for the last couple of weeks. I know you needed me, and I won't let it happen again."
"I want my Daddy," Emma cries.
"I know you do, sweetie. I tried really hard to bring him back to you."
"I want my Daddy," Emma says.
Ty clings to his father nervously.
"Come on, bud," Jack says, knowing that he has to shield this child from the other one's grief.
And he realizes with shock he just thought of Emma as his daughter.