AN: Sorry about the delay. AO3 was down last week and I didn't want to give an unfair advantage to one site or the other. Work is ok. I'm trying to convince my boss I'm a good fit for the assistant manager job. It's more paperwork and less peopley. Also we have a chance to snag a new customer assistance manager from another store. We just have to convince her. Or bribe her. Also I know I can regin in my boss a bit more with a bit of actual authority.

Chapter 2 - Busted

"I feel like we're being rescued." Jon said with half a smile to Wil who had piled both teens into his truck once the plucking berries from the stems was over and each taken a shower. He told Mare he wanted to start a new woodworking project and needed help getting the supplies. Young strong teen backs, he had reasoned, were more helpful than a pair of fifty-something or other bodies. Mare had less than politely reminded him that only one of them was still in their fifties.

Wil chuckled at Jon's words. "She can clean the kitchen herself. She made you two do all the hard work anyway." He pointedly looked at the two youngsters. "I do need a little help."

"But…." Sammy said, not buying Wil's reasoning for a moment.

Wil's head bobbed in amusement. On no good day could he get one past his boss' wife, no matter which variant he was dealing with. "What are you two up to that you didn't want Sam to know?" He asked them, cutting to the chase. He saw no point in beating around the bush as he was, after all, older than fifty as his wife had so graciously pointed out to him a few moments ago.

Wil smiled in grim amusement as the expression on both teens' faces suddenly became very carefully blank. "Nothing." They said slowly in unison.

He chuckled. "I've known both of you since before you existed. You can either tell me or I'll call Dr. Jackson and ask him why you two met up with Vala the other night." He suggested in a deceptively simple tone.

"Danny isn't involved." Jon growled protectively of the man who was his other self's best friend.

"I know. That's why I'll ask him instead of Vala who's going to have a harder time lying to her lover than she would to an old man she barely knows." Wil reasoned.

Jon swore under his breath.

"Uncle Wil, it was our idea. Don't get Vala in trouble for trying to help us." Sammy pleaded.

"Then tell me what you two are up to." Wil repeated, sticking to his questioning.

Jon sighed in disgust. Wilson had always been sharper than he looked. He, correction, the older Jack had always warned incoming personnel not to try to play games with the man when they were filing paperwork or anything else that had to do with base employment. They weren't going to succeed, and all it would do was attract the man's keen sense of awareness and sharp attention to detail.

Wilson made eye contact with his adopted daughter in the rearview mirror. He knew he probably wouldn't get anything out of Jon, but he might from Sammy. She did try to look away, but Wil's expression became firm and slightly disappointed.

That was all it took.

"Okay, so you know how we told you that Mark knows about me now?" She blurted, ignoring Jon's hand thumping against her thigh to shut up.

"Does this have to do with Mark?"

"No. Not directly." Sammy hedged, now mildly heeding Jon's attempt at ass covering.

"Sammy." Will said, the tone of his voice reflected the patient one, born of decades of fatherhood. A tone she was quite familiar with from her own father in years past.

"Pete was with him. Mark said even before they spotted us that he spent the whole evening complaining about how Sam screwed him over." She said in a rush then bit her lip.

"What does that have to do with Vala?" Wil asked them in that same commanding tone few kids were capable of withstanding.

Jon sighed in frustration. Wil wasn't going to let this go. "Vala might know a way to erase Pete's memory of the last few months." He finally said, glaring at Wil. This was one of the rare times he'd seen Wil use the same tactics Jacob had on Sammy. Hell, he'd used it himself on green recruits who had messed up. That didn't make him happy about how well it worked on the woman he loves.

"Why?" Wil asked pointedly. What good would that do at this point? Pete wasn't in Sam's life and had moved back to Denver. He wasn't anyone's problem anymore. Or was he?

Jon's growl of frustration said it all as he raked his hand through his crop of light brown hair, leaving random spikes in its wake. "Mark thinks Pete will try to get a paternity test ordered on Gracie – just to spite Sam."

"Well, Gracie isn't his, so I don't see how that matters much." Wil reasoned.

"Pete isn't above getting Gracie's genetic profile illegally and trying to find her father to make trouble for Jack. We think he suspects that Jack is her dad and therefore is looking for 'proof' Sam cheated on him with her then boss."

"All it would prove is Sam slept with Jack soon after she and Pete broke up."

"Except they were in a relationship before Pete came into the picture and that fact would come out if they were under oath." Sammy said in a small voice.

"Ah." Was all Wil said. He'd had his suspicions, of course. Everyone at the SGC had their own suspicions, but Jack and Sam had been far too respected and liked for either of them to ever be questioned directly about a relationship of any kind. Throughout his tenure at the base, there were never any overt signs of impropriety – just whispered innuendoes and gossip.

For Wil, it wasn't anyone's business and Hammond had not been interested in enforcing archaic regulations, especially when clearly his second and his second's second were perfectly capable or remaining professional at work and in the field. They had kept any shenanigans of that sort to themselves and off base. Oh sure, there had been rumors about the supply closet but that could be said of almost everyone that served on the base who wasn't married. There may have been a couple of interactions from a few who were married to others – which might explain why they hadn't lasted long. Hammond was not one to get in the way of consenting adults, but he drew the line at extramarital affairs on his base.

Jon sat frowning out the window as Wil pulled into the lumber yard's parking lot in his crew cab truck.

"Let's shelf this for now. I don't see any reason to talk to Mare about it just yet." Wil suggested.

Jon looked at him sharply, a clear sign of his displeasure with the older man.

Wil gave him a slow nod, ignoring his chagrin for his own actions. He didn't necessarily agree with the kids' plans but he knew that Jack and Sam's instincts when it came to these things were often dead to rights. He'd trust the kids for now. He could always make a phone call later.

"Did you talk to them?" Mare asked Wil softly as they got ready for bed.

"It's nothing earth shattering. They just didn't want Sam to know what they were up to." He told her and gave her a swift kiss as he headed for the bathroom to brush his teeth.

"What are they up to?" She asked him pointedly as she followed him.

Wil chuckled and turned on the water so the kids couldn't eavesdrop easily. Jon was staying the weekend on the fold out couch in the living room under Sammy's bedroom, but he knew how sound carried in the old house's air vents. "I'll bring you in if it starts to go sideways." He told her.

"I hate when you're this way, Old Mule." She grumbled and grabbed her washcloth and ran it under the now warm water.

"I made them a promise. Sort of. I don't think it will be an issue. Jack probably has this handled anyway. Hell, he probably came up with the same idea those two did." He said, chuckling to himself.

"And if it does go sideways?" She asked him archly as she washed her face.

"If it does, then I'll bring in the sneakiest most duplicitous woman I know to help them out."

"Aww… you say the sweetest things." Mare cooed.

Wil snorted with mirth. "Only my wife would take conniving and sneaky as compliments."

Mare grinned at him. "Worked on you." She pointed out.

Wil chuckled and stuck his toothbrush in his mouth, effectively ending their very odd conversation about teenage people under his roof who were nearly as old as they were themselves. As he finished his ablutions, he pushed down his guilt when Jon caught him alone, out of Sammy's ear, and told him what he thought of his bullying parental tactic. Wil reminded the now younger man that his first priority was keeping them safe, even from themselves. Jon angrily retorted that his method of interrogation was beneath him. That the end doesn't always justify the means. Neither had walked away from the conversation happy. Wil understood Jon's reactions to the tactic to get Sammy to open up but knew she wouldn't have told him anything at all if he hadn't.