AU: When an exploration mission goes way off the left field, Jack and Sam are left to patch up their lives. Will that door stay open?
Disclaimer: All recognisable characters are the property of MGM/Amazon. No copyright infringement intended. I am once again taking my favourite two Gaters for a walk in an Alternate Universe. Takes place after 5.05 Red Sky with some canon episodes skipped (overlooked) and others referenced.
Rating: Mature. Contains violence and attempted murder.
Triggers: Violence, Possessiveness.
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Chapter 32: The Wrong Man
Wednesday afternoon – Daniel
"Jack. Jack!" I called as his dead weight started to drag me down. Wrapping my arms around his waist, I held him up. He was muttering words like 'gone' and 'she can't be' over and over. "Not that kind of gone, Jack. She's not in isolation room one or two. We can't find her… anywhere." I corrected, not remembering that of course the worst-case scenario linked to my words would careen through his head.
"We were also unable to locate Doctor MacKenzie, O'Neill." Teal'c added quietly, his words full of barely concealed anger. Suddenly Jack seemed to find his strength and stood back to his full height. He was different. There was a darkness emanating from him, a darkness I had not seen in six long years. Not since that first mission. He turned and pointed to Stephanie who stood by the bed.
"Lieutenant Nicolls. You will call Doctor Fraiser, Samantha will need her. Tell her we are on our way to the Academy, that MacKenzie has had her diagnosed with schizophrenia. Daniel, you get Hammond on the phone. He needs to know what has transpired here. Leave nothing out." He ordered calmly, the anger pouring off him in waves.
"Schizophrenia! Why?" I questioned immediately.
"Because of me, Daniel." He glowered back with dark eyes. If I wasn't mistaken, we were not hearing from the same Jack that we had been a few moments ago. The one who had been my friend for the longest time. This was the Jack that had been hellbent on blowing up Abydos. The chain-smoking professional killer who had just lost the one thing that he cherished. The part of himself that Jack had learned to bury and hide. Now he had lost something else that he cherished, or rather she had been taken from him. An event that had woken that man up from his slumber.
"Jack." I said cautiously. He turned and looked at me with the same unyielding stare I had forgotten all about. "Don't be hasty. Wherever she is, she is fine." I tried to explain, but his cold eyes reflected nothing but determination and that tunnel visioned 'get the job done at any cost' resolve that he showed when he armed that bomb. This was a man that could and would kill to fulfil his objective regardless of the fallout it caused. Right now, Sam's safety was that objective. If he found MacKenzie, I had no doubt that he would kill him – no questions asked. An action that would see him locked away for an indeterminable amount of time. I couldn't let that happen.
"Teal'c, you are with me." He ordered. "We are going to get her back." Teal'c merely nodded in acceptance of the mission he had just been given.
"Jack, are you alright?" I asked, since my first attempt didn't break through. "You know this plan is crazy, right?"
"No, Daniel. I am not alright. That man has my Samantha." He ground out with a feral snarl on his lips.
"You can't just chase her Jack. Think about how that would look." I urged the desperate man in front of me. If he went barging his way into the Academy in the state he was in right now, all the proprietary that he had been working hard to build between him and Sam would disappear. They would be court martialled and lose everything. That was the very thing Sam was trying to prevent when she asked me to become her child's father of record. Looking to our other team member, I said, "Teal'c, you can't let him do this."
"I don't care how it looks, Daniel. Teal'c, with me." He barked before Teal'c could respond, then strode from the room, the Jaffa on his heels.
"Shit. Stephanie, call Hammond, then Janet." I told the young nurse as I made towards the double doors. "Tell him he is needed urgently." I instructed. The General lived less than 10 minutes' drive from the mountain.
"Me? The General won't…" She started.
"Get Walter to help you. Tell the General that Jack's gone wacko. He'll know what that means." I told her before disappearing and chasing my two friends down the hall. If I couldn't get through to him with common sense, I'll pull my trump card out. Sure, it might get me severely injured or even killed, but I'd cross that bridge when I came to it. It wouldn't be the first time I had confronted Jack over him doing something crazy.
I didn't bother with the elevator since it was likely that I had missed it. Instead, I hit the stairs thankful for those extra gym sessions. Once I reached level 11, the newer elevators were faster. There wasn't any point in upgrading elevators in the part of a base that didn't exist since it was technically nothing but an old, disused missile silo. The climb up ten floors didn't take as long as I thought it would.
"Sergeant." I said to the airman at the half way point, "Has Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c signed out?" I asked, only a little out of breath.
"Yes, you just missed them." He replied. "Sir, are you OK?" He asked. I smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, fine. Thanks." I replied and took off at a run to hit the second elevator.
The trip up was reflectively quick, only stopping twice to pick up people heading to level 3. Arriving at the top, I noted that only one other person was there waiting for the transport to the parking area.
"Hey." The airman turned and smiled, "Have you seen Colonel O'Neill and…" I stopped when he pulled a confused face.
"Sorry, Sir. I work in accounting. I don't know any Colonel's. But if you're talking about the old guy and a tall dark-skinned man, they took off on foot a few minutes ago. They didn't want to wait for the bus." He told me, as he pushed his glasses up his face. Looking up the semi-lit tunnel, I could see the faint movement of two figures jogging and the approaching headlights of the bus. There was no way I'd catch them on foot.
"Even though at his age, the bus would be much faster, I mean he had to be at least sixt…"
"50, well in a few months anyway, he's 49." I corrected before he could finish his sentence.
"Whoa, really? His hair was so grey. Are you sure he's only 49?" The young airman asked. "Mind you, I guess he did look a lot fitter than my father who's the same age." He added.
"Yeah. He runs five klicks every day wearing full kit." I exaggerated. Jack didn't run every day, but he certainly did it a few times a week whether on or off world. Hammond had had to replace several treadmills since Jack insisted on wearing full kit when running which inevitably put a lot of stress on the machine. He was a solid ball of muscle himself weighing in at 240 pounds plus the extra 100 to 120 pounds he typically carried on a mission.
"Wow, and here I am sitting down all day." He complained as he pushed his glasses back up his face. Thankfully the bus turned up and I jumped on, sitting right by the door so I could get off quicker.
Unfortunately, the accounting airman sat in the seat opposite me and continued to talk about his achievements in spreadsheet formula writing. By the time the bus reached the end of the tunnel, Jack and Teal'c were signing out. I smiled awkwardly at the man who had been regaling me with things that I had no interest in. My thoughts immediately went to Jack when I went on one of my information benders as I bade the airman farewell and barrelled out the door and up to security to sign myself out.
"Jack. Wait!" I yelled as he walked away from the security station to his truck. He turned and looked back at me. "Don't do this."
He scowled. "Don't do what, Danny? Don't rescue the woman I love? Don't live the life I have always wanted? Don't be a good father?" He fired off, then turned away with Teal'c in tow.
"Teal'c. You know this won't end well. Don't let him do this. You were there when…" I started, but Teal'c pinned me with his equally ice-cold stare. He said nothing and I knew I could not rely on him to keep Jack from burning the psych ward to the ground to get to Sam. I didn't want to do this, but Jack left me no choice.
"It's not yours Jack." I called out to him as he opened the driver's door to his truck. He flung an explosive dagger-filled glare back at me.
"What?" He barked.
"You heard me." I said, lifting my chin. "Sam's baby isn't yours." I repeated, feeling the terror caused by his visible anger travel through my body. "It's mine, Jack."
"He lies, O'Neill." Teal'c added giving me a look of derision. He was there. He heard her ask me to take on the official role. Why was he hell bent on helping Jack get himself into trouble? If I needed to lie to get Jack to not throw his career and hers away, then I would.
"No. I'm not. Sam and I… we're more than friends Jack." I said with a tremble in my voice when he slammed his door and stalked up to me.
"No. You're with Janet." He replied, his dark eyes boring into mine. They were almost black with barely a slither of brown around the edges.
"Yeah, so? Janet's not enough to keep me going." I replied, then added, "Girl on every planet, remember?" reminding him of his frequent digs about my luck - if you could call it that - with the intergalactic ladies. Despite his glare, I continued to think of what else I could use to stop him from chasing Sam. The Za'tarc test. The room. Knowing I was asking for trouble, I looked straight him as he sauntered closer. "Why do you think Sam put you in that room? Did you really think it was bec…ugh!" My speech was cut off by a gurgle when Jack moved like lightning, grabbing the lapels of my over shirt and all but lifting me off the ground restricting my oxygen with the collar.
"You've got thirty seconds before you pass out, so listen carefully." He instructed as I felt my face turn red. "Samantha is mine. Her child is mine. Her future is mine. Don't you forget that." He threatened, my eyes watering and head going fuzzy from the lack of oxygen. "If you so much as stick your cock anywhere near her, I will break it off. Do you understand?"
Casting my eyes over to Teal'c took an extreme amount of effort, I tried to call out for his help, but nothing came out. A sudden real fear that Jack was going to kill me washed over my consciousness. Lifting my hands to his shoulders in a last-ditch effort to save myself, I scratched at his neck and tried to say his name. Tried to beg him not to be that Jack.
"I can't hear you. Ten seconds Jackson. Nine… eight… seven…" He counted down. Scratching some more, I looked at Teal'c to see his face turn troubled and his hand land on Jack's shoulder just as everything went dark grey.
"O'Neill. Stop." Teal'c stated.
"Why? He thinks he can take away the one thing that matters to me?" Jack ground out as he adjusted the constriction of my collar giving me a small influx of oxygen – not enough, but it was something. The thought that my friend was somewhere inside this man trying to stop him brought a little comfort as I felt my consciousness leaving.
"No, but I can Colonel. Put Doctor Jackson down, son." I heard General Hammond's voice say from somewhere beyond Teal'c. Jack turned his head just as Hammond came into view from behind the large Jaffa. I had never been so happy to see the commander of our base.
No matter which version of Jack was in control, I knew he would think twice before disobeying an order from General Ha… Jack turned back and looked at me, and I saw that I was wrong. Very wrong. The gleam in his eye and sneer on his face was foreboding. This wasn't even the Abydos Jack… this was… someone completely different. Someone that would… the feel of his knee connecting with my groin followed by his fist embedding itself in my stomach took what little oxygen I had left out of me as I collapsed to the ground in time to see Jack run. The last thing I heard before everything went black was a familiar shot ring out and a grunt followed by the sound of a body hitting the gravel.