samandjack.net

Story Notes: Author's Notes: This story is still being written, so have a little patients with me as it maybe a while between posts of the parts. Enjoy though.


The sky was the bluest he'd ever seen it as he looked up, the busy traffic of people passed him by without a blink of an eye. Everyone else was too busy to spare the time to see the splendours above them. But that wasn't why Jack was looking up into the sky. He'd stopped in the middle of the sidewalk when he head the familiar sounds of a helicopter fly overhead. By the time he'd looked up it had already disappeared over the shops to his left. Scratching the back of his head he carried on down the sidewalk, moving in and out of way of people that were too ignorant to step aside.

He stopped again when something in a shop window caught his attention and drew him over to tqke a closer look. The change in his pocket chinked as he play with it, mulling over whether or not to go inside and buy the item for someone he loved with all his heart, or to carry on walking. Shifting his stance he crossed his arms over his chest, noticing two men dressed in military issue jackets, pants and boots coming up behind him. Slyly he glanced down the sidewalk towards them, picking them out from the busy shoppers of that Wednesday morning. Jack didn't like the look of them.

Rubbing his nose he turned back to the shop window and made his way into the shop, checking over his shoulder to see one of the men splitting off to follow him. He smilied to himself reaching into his jacket to take his sunglasses out of his inside pocket. Moving through the crowded shop, he made his way to the back of the store and slipped out of the back, and made his way up the alleyway in the opposite direction that the other officer would have gone.

As he neared the end of the alleyway, Jack put his sunglasses on smirking to himself at how he fooled the two officers. Putting his hands into his pockets as he rounded a dumpster, heading to the small walkway between two of the stores, a sharp pain stabbed him in his backside. He turned as much as he could to see what it was and found a small dart proturding from his butt. Yanking the red dart out, he quickly felt its affects taking hold of him and his eyelids became heavy as his knees gave way and he fell into a heap on the ground.

A black van pulled up minutes later after the retired General had fallen to the floor and two men dressed in black combats climbed out of the back of the van. The taller one of the two casually walked up to the heap on the floor and began to pick up Jack's feet while his partner checked up and down the alleyway for onlookers. Seeing the close was clear, he helped his friend by hooking his arms underneath the General's arms. They carried Jack's motionless body to the black van and dumped him inside. Checking round once more for witnesses, they then both clambered into the van and closed the door behind them.

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Smiling at everyone she passed in the corridor whilst she headed to her lab, sipping at a hot mug of coffee she'd picked up at the commissary, Sam couldn't have been happier. It was a warm summer's day up on the surface, the sun was shining brightly whilst she had drove up to the mountain from her house, where she had left her husband sleeping. She sighed thinking of the night out the they'd had. A quiet little dinner at their favourite restaurnat had turned into dancing at a club till about two in the morning. Wiping her hand over her tired face and then round to the back of her neck, she turned into her lab to find Daniel bent over in front of her, searching through the bottom draw of her filing cabinet.

She raised an eyebrow at his backside listening to him grunt in irritation at not finding what he wanted. Taking a sip from her coffee she waited, wondering whether or not to take the oppurturnity to kick his backside or leave it. It was so tempting. Grinning even wilder, she put her mug down quietly and took a silent step up behind him. She counted quietly to ten to herself and then delivered a quick slap to his butt, scarring the young doctor from his search and caused him to hit his head against the filing cabinet.

"That'll teach you for going through my filing cabinet." Sam told him smugly, crossing her arms over her chest with a smirk gracing her face.

Daniel fumbled around rubbing his forehead and then turned to face her, straightening his glasses. "Hey Sam. Erm... I was looking for that file you were suppose to give me last night, but I couldn't find it."

"So that gave you just cause to go through my filing cabinet?" She asked raising an eyebrow at him.

"You weren't here, it was open, and I needed to find that file... How was your night out last night?" Daniel asked changing the subject and kicked the filing cabinet draw shut.

"Oh, it was great!" Sam said beaming at the memories of last night as they came back to her again. "We had dinner and then went to a club."

"Glad you and Pete had a good time." Daniel smiled with his hands in his pockets, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.

Sam picked up her coffee mug and took a slurped. "What did you get up to last night?"

"Well," Daniel dawled out. "Not much. Teal'c and I were suppose to meet Jack at his place but he wasn't there."

"You sure you were all meant to meet up last night?" Sam asked, concern evident in her voice and all thoughts of her night out were gone.

"Yeah, I called him that morning to make sure it was still on. He said it was and was going out shopping especially to get some snacks and drinks in." Daniel replied with his eyebrows narrowing down over his glasses.

"Maybe something came up." She told herself more than Daniel. "You know, like something with Kerry and Abby."

Daniel looked off for a second in thought and then nodded his head in agreement. "Probably. Last I head, Abby wasn't well so maybe she wanted Jack or something."

"And you know her dad." Sam smiled. "Always there for his little girl."

"It's still hard to believe sometimes that Jack's a dad again." Daniel said picking something off his shirt.

"He's a good dad. Its sad things didn't work out between him and Kerry." She said cupping her mug with both hands.

"You still think that's why he retired? So he could spend more time with Abby, as Kerry lives in Eckley now?" Daniel asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"Something like that. I don't like that he's not here anymore but I'm happy that he's happy again." She said before finished off her coffee.

"Yeah, when Abby's here, he's ecstatic. Smile never leaves his face." Daniel chuckled before sobering. "I just hate it when he's come back from dropping her off at Kerry's."

"Daniel. this is not getting any work done." Sam said turning her back on him to turn on her laptop.

"You're right." Daniel said moseying over to the door. "I'll swing by Jack's after work and see if he's there."

Sam sat down ont her stool in front of her laptop. "I bet you he's just gone to Kerry's. You'll probably find a note stuck to the fridge."

"Maybe... Just I would have throught he'd call and say that's where he was. Anyway, meet you later in the commissary for lunch?" Daniel asked loitering in the doorway.

"Sure." Sam nodded her head at him and smiled, watching him disappear around the corner. Moving the mouse to load up her email box, she frowned thinking about what Daniel had told her. Where could Jack be? She looked at the phone behind her on the wall and wondered whether she should call him. Shaking her head at the thought, she turned back to her computer and started working her way through her emails.

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The rocking of the van woke Jack from his slumber, he groaned onto the cold metal surface pressing against his cheek, blinking his eyes open to see a pair of military issue boots. He found his hands were bound behind his back and his feet were tied together. Rolling partly onto his side, he looked at the two men sat on the made bench, watching him with their arms folded in front of them. Jack looked up towards the windows of the back doors and saw the blue sky had been replaced by the night sky. Frowning he looked back to the two guys watching him whilst he shifted himself to sit up against the wall of the van.

Neither of the two men made a move to help him, they just watched as the notorious General Jack O'Neill (retired) groaned in discomfort as he sat up. Jack let out a satisfied sigh when he'd finally got himself into some sort of a sitting up position. Rubbing his cheek against his shoulder, trying to get rid of the feel of the cold metal against his cheek, he quickly assessed the two men in front of him. He licked at his parched lips glancing towards the back of the head of the driver. He couldn't make out much through the front window screen from where he sat on the floor, but could see bright lights in the distance.

The tallest one of the two men shifted forward on the bench, searching in his pocket for his knife while he grabbed the rope holding Jack's feet together and pulled him across the floor of the van. Jack watched the man like a hawk as the man flicked out his pocketknife and began to cut through the restraints. The knife made quick work of the rope, cutting it up into small clean lengths of rope.

"Do you think that wise?" The other man asked the taller man.

"He isn't going to do anything." The taller man said sitting back onto the bench, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "He's not that stupid."

Jack watched them, using his feet to puch himself back up into a sitting position again. Both men watched him, there eyes those of veterans: cold after killing and seeing their friends die in battle. Jack had known men like them all his life in the Air Force. Most of them turned into hired guns after retirement. Too use to the life of a solder to go back to the peaceful civilian life.

The van pulled up to a halt at what Jack could see to be some gateway to a facility. The driver flashed his ID to whoever it was on guard and the gate was pushed to one side, allowing the van to drive on through. The two men moved to the back doors of the van, ready to open them when the van stopped again. Jack observed everthing as much as he could as the van stopped again and the two men opened the back doors. The taller one out of the two of them reached in to grab Jack by his shoulder but Jack battered his hand away with his shoulder.

"Oh, we want to play it that way, do we?" The taller man said climbing back into the van. Roughly he grabbed Jack by the scuff of his neck and by the handcuffs that were restraining his hands, and threw him out of the back of the van onto the ground. Jack groaned at the pain shooting through his body whilst the taller man jumped out of the van, circling round Jack like a predator.

"Ed, just pick him up and lets get him inside." The other man said to the taller man.

"Why do they want him anyway? He's just an old has been!" Ed said kicking Jack in the ribs at the end of his sentence. Rolling over onto his back from the force of Ed's kick, Jack gasped at the pain in his side, squeezing his eyes shut to the reality of the pain.

"Just pick him up, Ed!" The other man commanded. Ed glared at his partner and then down at Jack before seizing hold of Jack's jacket, yanking him up onto his feet. Looking over his right shoulder at Ed's face, Jack scowled at him whilst Ed forced him forward making him trip over his own feet towards a doorway. The other man opened the door and held it open waiting for Ed to take Jack inside and then followed them inside.

The second Jack walked through the doorway he was hit with the morbid smell of the infirmary back at the SGC. The smell used to bring him a sense of safety in a place he had detested the most. Ed pushed him into walking down a corridor, making him stumble a few steps. Up ahead in the corridor, Jack watched a man walk from one doorway to another wearing a white lab coat. Nothing about his surroundings helped him to figure out why Laurel and Hardy had kidnapped him or what they wanted with him.

The other man quickened his step to overtake them in the corridor and opened a door, disappearing into the dark room. Ed shoved Jack through the doorway and into the room. Jack managed to get his balance and whipped round to face Ed as he closed the door plunging the room into darkness. Readying himself for an attack, Jack squinted his eyes trying to see through the darkness for any possible attacker.

He was blinded momentarily when the lights were flicked on, illuminating the cold steel table and other furniture. The metal objects shone in the bright light, glistening the cold malice of them. Jack swallowed hard turning slowly to take in the room. He'd seen rooms familair to that room in films and from placed he'd been in his dark past. He could imagine the kind of things that went ont here. He knew if anyone ever got their hands on Teal'c or Thor, this would probably be the sort of room they'd tkae their last breath.

The door behind him opened and a man wearing a white lab coat came inside reading a file. Ed closed the door again while the man in the white coat made his way to the table in the middle of the room, slapping the file down onto it when he'd closed it. He turned to face Jack with a cheesy smile he'd come to know as Pete's trademark.

"General Jack O'Neill," The man said. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I don't know whether to be awestruck or worship the man who'd stopped a Goa'uld invasion. I would shake your hand but I can see you're in a certain predicament right now."

"You could let me go, if you like." Jack said, watchful of Laurel and Hardy.

"Oh no, no, no. I couldn't possibly do that." The white coat man shook his head.

"You know, people wll come looking for me." Jack told him more in warning.

The man smirked. "How are they going to find you, when all they know is that you left one morning to go shopping?"

"You'd be amazed." Jack looked fiercely at the man. The man looked over Jack's shoulder to where Ed was standing and nodded his head. A second later and Jack found himself on the floor with a throbbing pain at the back of his head. He moaned in agony whilst he was hauled onto his feet and thrown into a chair.

The man moved to stand in front of Jack, parting his lab coat with his hands to put his hands into his pockets. "Let's start over, shall we? I'm Doctor Marvin Lucas."

"What do you want from me?" Jack asked looking up at the doctor.

"We want to know what it is that makes you able to use Ancient technology." The doctor answered.

"We know what it is, its just some gene that some people have!" Jack told him, remembering the two hours that Sam had spent in his office trying to explain it to him.

The Doctor removed his hands from his pockets and placed them onto the arms of Jack's chair, leaning down to come face to face with him. "There has to be something in your blood that enables you and others like you, to use the technology. And my superiors want to know what it is exactly."

"God, you guys are such idiots! We have this gene thingy... that lets other people who don't have it use it too. Though it sometimes don't work." Jack said getting slightly confused.

"That is why we want to know what it is exactly, that lets you able to use it." The Doctor said smugly.

"Who're your superiors anyway?" Jack questioned before it came to him. "The Trust."

"Very clever, General." The doctor said standing up straight.

"I'm retired." Jack grumbled.

"So you are." The doctor paused looking off towards Ed and then smiled looking back to Jack. "Tomorrow we will make a start on finding that gene. I'm sure Eddie and Shaun will make you feel at home."

Jack shifted in the chair. "Oh, I feel right at home already."

The doctor raised an eyebrow at Jack and then picked up this file off the table, making his way out of the room. He stopped to whisper something into Ed's ear and then left closing the door behind him. Eddie smiled at Jack as he made his way over to him, cracking his knuckles and his neck.

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The warmth from the open fire danced across her skin, as she lay fully stretched out on the couch, resting her head on the cushion in Pete's lap with his fingers stroking lightly up and down her upper arm. They watched the film they'd rented out after having some Chinese take out. Sam kept glancing to the clock on the mantelpiece, wonder what Jack was doing and where he was. She'd rung his house and his cell phone on her way home and left him a message saying to call her at home after seven. He still hadn't called. Though she was supposed to be watching the film, her mind was off distantly trying to figure out where Jack was and what he was doing.

Clutching the cushion with her hand, she shifted getting more comfortable and patted it to puff it up. The more she thought about where he was, the more frustrated she became. Pete had caught on to somethign being up when she had been slamming draws and cupboards doors shut, the obvious sign that there was something annoying her. She'd told him it was something at work, not wanting to start another argument about Jack. They'd been married for four years and it was all they ever argued about. Not about money or somethign petty but about her ex-CO.

The phone began to shrill in its cradle, crying out for attention. Sam was quickly to her feet and raced over to the phone, picking up to answer with 'Carter'.

"Hey, Sam. It's Daniel." Daniel replied.

"Hey Daniel, what can I do for you?" Sam perched herself onto one of the breakfast stools while Pete paused the film.

"I'm standing outside Jack's place with Teal'c and Jack's still not here." Daniel informed her. "I'm getting worried now."

"Have you tried calling Kerry?" She asked frowning down at the wooden floor.

"No, I don't have her number." Daniel said.

Sam stood up and went into her den, pulling open a draw to take out her address book. "Wait there a minute. I'll call you back in five."

"Okay." Daniel said before the line went dead. Ending the call, she reopened the line and began to dial the number she had written down for Kerry. The phone rung and rung till finally a young woman answered the phone.

"Hello, Kerry Johnson." Kerry answered.

"Hi Kerry, it's Sam Carter." Sam said sitting down into the chair by her desk.

"Oh, hi Sam." Kerry said.

Sam thought about how to put it first. "I was wondering if... If maybe Jack was there?"

"Jack? Here?" Kerry questioned, surprised by the question. "No, no. He's not here. He's supposed to be coming up tomorrow. Why you ask?"

"Oh, just he's not at his place. He might have gone to his cabin, I'll give him a try there." Sam said wanting to end the phone call.

"Okay, well... Bye Sam." Kerry said.

"Bye." Sam ended the call and call Daniel back.

"Daniel Jackson." Daniel answered.

"He's not at Kerry's." Sam told him. "Have you checked all of the house? Or even been inside yet?"

"Hang on, I'll get Teal'c to go in." Daniel said making Sam sign in annoyance. "Okay, Teal'c's opening the door now."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "I don't need a commentary."

"Oh, sorry." Daniel apologised before a brief silence and then he said. "Nope, Teal'c says he not in there and there no note anywhere he can see."

"This isn't like him." Sam stated.

"Sam, I've got a real bad feeling about this." Daniel told her.

"I know, I got that feeling too." Sam said while thinking. "Okay, you and Teal'c see if he had any appointments that morning. See if anything was in his calendar. We'll meet in my lab in the morning."

"Okay." Daniel said in a gloomy voice. "Night Sam."

"Night Daniel." She said before putting the phone down. Putting her address book back into her desk draw, she pushed it closed as she stood up and headed back itno the living room where Pete was waiting for her with two glasses of wine. He smiled at her and patted the spot beside him where she'd been lying before.

"What was that about?" He asked as she lay back down on the couch again.

"Just work stuff." She told him, reaching out to claim one of the glasses and took a sip.

"Work stuff that needed you to call Kerry and ask her whether Jack was there?" He questioned, letting her know he'd been listening in on her conversation.

"It's work stuff, Pete." Sam asid sternly.

"Okay, whatever you say, babe." Pete said pressing play on the remote.

The film started up again but Sam wasn't interested in watching it anymore. She wanted to know where Jack was. She wanted to be able to go round his house in the morning and have him smile at her, telling her it's okay and that he'd been testing them all to see if they still cared about him. That would be when she would hit him playfully and call him silly.

And like so many of her fantasies, they would stand looking at each other and nothing else would seem to matter. They would take a step towards one another and he would take her into his arms to kiss her and she would kiss him back. It wouldn't matter that she was married to Pete and the regulations wouldn't matter like they haven't mattered for four years. They'd just be Sam and Jack. But she couldn't have that because it was a fantasy... and she didn't know where he was.

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The cold cell was filled with the sounds of Jack's breathing, as he sat in the corner of the room watching the door, waiting for his chance to escape. He hadn't slept a wink as he wondered if anyone had noticed him missing yet, which was when he remembered that he was suppose to have a 'boys night' with Daniel and Teal'c. Looking to his left wrist he rubbed where his watch would have been and cursed them for taking his watch. Jack rested his head back against the wall, casting his view up towards the ceiling as he remembered he was supposed to be visiting Abby that weekend.

Perching his elbows onto his knees, he covered his face with his hands wincing from touching the fresh bruises Ed had given him, and shook his head, his poor little girl. When she was born four years ago, he had felt the door inside his heart open completely. Sam had opened it partly but it was Abby with the key to his heart. A flood of life and love had invaded his heart after Abby's birth. And when things had begun to breakdown between him and Kerry, he swore he wasn't going to lose Abby out of his life, like he'd lost Charlie out of it. But when he would see Sam, he wished it had been with her. Wished he'd had the courage before things had developed between him and Kerry, to take the step of retirement like he'd done for Abby.

Everyday he missed her, missed the morning coffee meetings in his office as they discussed something. He missed how they would meet each other in the commissary for lunch or late night supper when they were both doing the night shift. He missed the smell of her perfume, or whatever it was, that he would smell when she would walk pass him in the corridor smiling that smile for him.

Since Pete and Sam had been married, Pete had begun to notice how Sam and Jack would interact with one another. The idle touches that meant nothing to anyone else but them. It had been one of their annual barbeques when Jack had gone to get more beer from the fridge in the garage, that Pete had confronted him accussing him of having an affair with Sam. Jack had been ready to defend himself as Pete had shoved him around his garage, when Sam had come to see if he'd needed any help and had stepped in for a full-scale argument with Pete. He still couldn't beleve how she was able to stand so close to him, only a foot away, her smell intoxicating him, and had been able to tell Pete there was nothing going on between them. Even though, all Jack had wanted to do was kiss the nape of her neck.

They hadn't spoken about what happened that day and had kept themselves to themselves as much as they could without raising any suspicion. But when he would see her in the mall, shopping with Cassie, he knew he should go over, wanted to go over, and say hello but he never did anymore.It was the way she was playing it. There was one night when he'd been picking Teal'c up and looked over the car park to find her watching him. He'd smiled at her but then she'd quickly waved and gotten into her car, racing away from him, and her feelings for him, home to Pete.

The sound of the door being unbolted and the key turning in the lock made Jack jumped to his feet, forgetting all about Sam and Abby for the time being. As the door opened, a wake of light entered the room and splashed some colour onto the grey walls making them less harsh. A tray was carried in by Shaun, who risked a friendly smile towards the ex-General as he placed the metal tray down onto Jack's bed.

"Morning, sir." Shaun said stepping back from the bed, so Jack could get to the tray. "I managed to get you something to eat from the canteen."

"Maybe added a drug into something." Jack stated folding his arms over his chest.

"No, sir. This plate hasn't left my sight." Shaun said reassuringly.

Jack looked warily at Shaun but with his stomach rumbling, he had no choice and stepped over to the bed looking at the selection on the plate. Glancing out into the corridor, Shaun closed the door slightly leaving it open enough for some light to come through the gap and light the room. Jack took a bite out of the apple and muched it up, as Shaun sat down onto the chair in the opposite corner where Jack hadd been sitting.

Shaun rubbed his hands together, leaning down onto his knees. "You don't remember me, do you, sir?"

"Should I?" Jack asked after taking another bite from him apple.

"I was involved in a joint mission with your unit. We were to destroyed all the SCUD missle launches in the area while you took your team and secured an Iraqi outpost." Shaun told him. "You were a Lieutenant Colonel at the time. It was a few weeks after that, that I heard you'd gone missing."

"Yeah, don't remind me about it. I didn't have much of a good time back in Iraq." Jack commanded, holding his hand up in a gesture to stop.

Shaun sheepishly looked up at Jack from the floor. "I'm sorry about all this, sir."

"Help me then, help me get out of here." Jack said trying not to sound like he was pleading. "Help me find a way out of here, or at least get a message to my people."

"Sir, it's not like I don't want to help. I don't even want to be helping these people." He looked down at the cold concrete floor, avoiding Jack's eyes.

"Then why are you?" Jack probed taking a hesistent sip of his coffee.

"They've got my family, sir." Shaun told him, looking up to convey he was telling the truth by allowing Jack to see into his eyes. "Many of the poeple that work for the Trust, do it because they believe in what the Trust stands for and that some of them are bitter because they didn't get into the SGC like Ed. But there's a small group who have been recruited because of their skills or to just build the numbers up, and who have had their families threatened."

"The SGC could protect your family." Jack stated feeling sympathetic towards Shaun.

Shaun's head dropped down. "The SGC couldn't put my family anywhere, where they couldn't get to them."

"Shaun, you're forgetting the SGC has the option of relocating your family off world. The Trust could never get to them, if they were billion of light years away." Jack bit his lip thinking that he shouldn't be saying things that he couldn't be sure would happen, but he was desperate. Shaun glanced up from the floor for a moment and then was about to say something when the door swung open and Ed entered. Jack glared at Ed whilst Shaun jumped to his feet, standing beside Ed with his hands behind his back.

"What's going on here then?" Ed asked with his eyes roving around the room till they came onto Shaun.

"Nothing, I was just making idle chitchat with him." Shaun lied, waving off Ed's sceptic look as he squeezed passed him and went into the corridor.

Ed frowned at Jack, watching as he drank the coffee Shaun had brought for him. With a quick step forward, Ed slapped the cup out of Jack's hand, smashing the cup agaisnt the wall and staining the wall with the coffee. Taking Jack by surprise Ed hit the older man in the face, dazing him, and then grabbed a handful of his hair pulling his off of the bed and onto the floor, where he repeatedly kicking him in the ribs.

Protecting his head with his arms, Jack took the kicks groaning as he looked to Shaun lurking in the doorway, hoping for some help. Shaun dropped his head down in disgrace and snuck back away from the doorway, hiding out of sight whilst Ed picked Jack up and shoved him through the doorway to land in a heap on the corridor floor. Jack protected himself as much as he could and tried to block as many of the kick and punches, as Ed pounched on him. Trying to fight back, Jack managed to knee Ed between the legs and caused the man to fall onto his side and gasped in pain while Jack scrambled to his feet.

Shaun suddenly grabbed him, putting Jack's arm into an arm lock behind his back. "For Christ sake, Ed! I'll take him to the Doc!"

Shaun pushed Jack down the corridor away from Ed, who was slowly getting up onto his feet as they turned tthe corner. Jack peered over his shoulder at Shaun before turning back to face the front, trying to memorise the corridors and read the signs on the walls, as Shaun took him to visit Doctor Lucas.

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Sam fidgeted with the equipment on her desk, as she waited for Daniel to turn up at her lab. She glanced slyly over to Teal'c, who was sat on the other side of the workbench watching her. Smiling at him she returned back to fiddling with the wires proturding out of the object she was suppose to be working on. She took a deep breath and then sighed loudly as she propped up her chin with her hand and pushed the device to one side. She didn't like the feeling that had been squirming around in her stomach since she'd gotten off the phone with Daniel the previous night. She hadn't slept much either, lying wide awake as she wondered where he was and when she did manage to sleep, she dreamt about what could be happening to him.

Rubbing a hand over her face, she wondered what else she could do while they waited for Daniel when he suddenly blundered his way into her lab, still dressing himself into his uniform. Sam and Teal'c both looked at him and then at each other, before looking back to Daniel, who stood at one end of her workbench.

"Sorry guys, I got caught up in traffic." Daniel apologised pulling himself a stool out from underneath the bench. "So what we got?"

"Well, looking through his planner that you two took, it looks like he didn't have much planned. Just says grocery shopping and boys night in for that day." Sam answered, sliding the leather planner over the bench to Daniel.

Teal'c clasped his hands between his legs. "O'Neill was also planning on visiting Abigail for the weekend."

"Guess we'll get a phone call from Kerry then." Daniel poked his glasses up his nose, flicking through the pages of the organiser.

"Either of you two checked his emails?" Sam asked turning to her laptop on the bench behind her.

"No, I don't know his password." Daniel said absently, frowning at something that was written in the planner. "What does BCBG mean?"

Sam looked over to him with a scowl as she tried to understand what he was talking about. He held the planner up so they could see the huge thick black letters, scrawled into one of the boxes, saying BCBG. She shrugged her shoulders and turned back to her computer, where she hacked her way into Jack's personla email account. The flicking of pages as Daniel went through the organiser was the sound in the room till Daniel suddenly went 'Ah'.

Turning enough so she could see Daniel, he smiled at her. "Figured out what BCBG means now."

"What does it mean, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked.

"Buy Carter's birthday gift." Daniel said.

"My birthday was over two months ago, I didn't get anything from him." Sam said remembering how she nearly cried when she'd realised that on her birthday.

"Oh..." Daniel mumbled. "Hey, didn't he have to go and see Abby the day before your birthday? And had to stay there for a couple of days?"

"Yeah." She whispered more to herself, turning bakc to what she was doing.

A new window opened onto her screen, showing all the received emails that Jack had gotten over the past two days. She deleted all the Spam emails, she knew how he hated them, and quick read all the ones that people had sent to him. One was telling him the new exhaust he wanted for his truch had been dispatched and would be delivered to his house in a couple of days. Another one was from Kerry sending Jack some pictures of Abby.

After reading through all the emails, she realised there was no clue there as to the disappearance of Jack and logged out of his account. Swivelling round to face Teal'c and Daniel, she hid the look of despair from her face, trying not to show any outward expression as to how worried she was about him. She was supposed to have moved on from him, stopped using him as a safety net so she wouldn't get hurt. But the only thing she knew was she loved Jack more than she did Pete.

Sighing down at her workbench, Sam noticed her keys to her car glistening in the lights above them. She frowned at them turning her head to look at them.

"Was his truck at his house?" She asked them, slowly looking up from her keys to see their reaction.

Daniel's eyebrows narrowed down over his glasses. "No, it wasn't there."

"Then... Where is it?" Sam put the questioned out there for them to mull over, while she reached behind her to snatch the phone out of its cradle. Dialling one of the many extension numbers, she waited patiently for someone to answer. When they finally answered she asked them to locate Jack's truck using the GPS to find it.

She waited as patiently as she could, knowing that the person who was on the other end of the phone could give her some starting point into finding Jack. Playing with one of the buttons on the front of her shirt, she thought about all the times that she had sat on the phone to someone and Jack would come in and made it his number one priority to make her laugh whilst she was on the phone. Sam smiled at the thought when the man on the other end told her where they would find Jack's truck.

Slamming the phone into the cradle, Sam turned to address Daniel and Teal'c when she found them towering over Jack's planner. She frowned at them stepping off her stool and peeked at what they were looking at.

"Isn't she adorable?" Daniel asked, loving his role of uncle.

"She is beautiful." Teal'c commented.

Sam got caught up in the picture. She's seen most of the pictures that had Abby and Jack in together. You couldn't help but see them when you visted his house. As soon as you entered his house you were greeted with a picture of them on the dining room table. But this one photo, taped into the bakc of his planner, was one she hadn't seen. It was of the two of them, Jack and Abby, and they were lying on their fronts on a blanket smiling at the camera.

She hadn't seen that smile on his face in a long time. She'd seen it once when they had attended a public function together, a few months before he retired and she got married, and they'd danced together. The smile hadn't left his face for the whole evening, from seeing her walk down the staircase in a black strapless fown into the foray to when he'd seen her to her room, wishing her goodnight. If she had known then, that in a matter of months he would have been retired, she would have called things off with Pete. But when she found out, it was too late.

She was married.

"Come on." Sam said, shaking her thoughts away. "Let's go see what we can find in his truck."

"Shouldn't we tell General Menett what we're doing?" Daniel asked making Sam stop in the doorway to her lab.

She turned her head to look at him. "We'll call him from my car."

"Oh, okay." Daniel said beaming a smile, quickly following Sam out of her lab and to the locker room with Teal'c bringing up the rear.

***********************************************************************************************************

Jack was dropped onto the floor of his cell by two guards, he groaned crawling across the floor whilst the two guards left the cell and Ed came in accompanied by Shaun, staying close behind Ed. Reaching the wall opposing the door, Jack rolled over onto his back and shifted himself up to sit against the wall, enduring the pain that travelled up his legs and arms. With a heavy sigh and sharp hiss Jack let his eyes travel up Ed to meet his eyes. Ed wore a very smug grin. Happy with his little pay back session for the swift knee to the crotch Jack had given him earlier. Wiping away the dribble of the blood travelling down his chin, Jack edged himself further up against the wall.

Ed shifted his stance, his hands sitting on top of his belt, close to his sidearm. "Told you he was a has been."

"Come on Ed, let's go into town and get a beer." Shaun said trying to get Ed to leave the cell.

"Don't know what's so damn special about him anyway." Ed grumbled turning to leave the cell. "So what if he can use some weapn thing that some race built. They not around anymore, are they?"

"No, Ed, you're right." Shaun said patting Ed on the shoulder as he passed him, leaving Shaun in the cell.

"We would have gotten rid of the Goa'uld by now, if I had been put onto one of the teams at the SGC." Ed said wandering off down the corridor, leaving he two of them in the cell.

Quickly checking outside to see Ed was busy with talking to himself, about how the SGC had refused to let him try out for a team, Shaun closed the door till it was a jar and rushed over to Jack to help him up onto the bed. Jack thought about pushing the helping hand away but he was in too much pain to ignore the fact that he needed help.

"I'll try and get in contact with someone at the SGC." Shaun whispered, fearing someone would over hear him.

"Find my cell phone in my jacket, hit nine and ring." Jack told him, keeping a hand protectively near his ribs.

Shaun's eyes gave away that he was afraid. Not afraid that he would be caught or for his family. But afraid that a good man would die if he remained there any longer. Jack saw it and closed his eyes, holding onto the hope that he would be saved by her. She hadn't let him down before and he knew she weren't going to start now, even if they were on awkward terms and hadn't really had anything to do with one another in some months.

***********************************************************************************************************

Sam frowned at the green ford pickup truck that belonged to Jack, parked down an alleyway away from the hassle of finding a car parking space. There didn't seem to be any evidence of a struggle or any sign that Jack had come back to his truck after he parked from there being no shopping bags on the bag seat. She'd sent Daniel and Teal'c off to do some snooping, see if anyone saw anything, while she looked through Jack's truck for a clue. Looking at the keys in her hand, then she wouldn't have to go into his truck where she had fantasised about him having his way with her.

Rolling her eyes at herself, she wiped her free hand over her face and took a bold step towards his green pickup. She put her feelings aside, putting herself into 'Colonel Sam' mode. As she licked her lips, she inserted the key into the lock and unlocked all the doors. Taking a soothing breath she opened the door and jumped inside, leaving the door open with her foot resting on the step-up rail.

She breathed in deeply the smell she knew to be Jack, the one she would have smelt when she would walk beside him, entered his office or believed she smelt whenever she thought of him. Letting her eyes sweep over the dashboard, she ran her fingers round the steering wheel while she looked for any pieces of paper or anything that didn't fit. Sam sat back into the cream leather seat and let her eyes wander to the sun-visor above her. Pulling down the visor she became slightly puzzled but then smiled, seeing a picture of herself with Jack sat on a bench and a picture of Jack with Abby.

Sighing she stroked her finger over his face in both pictures and the face of Abby. Sometimes she would dream that she would come home from work, take her shoes and clothes off and soak in the tub. Then suddenly her little girl, Abby, oh how she wished Abby was hers, would run into the bathroom and tell her about her day. And while she listened and smiled at Abby telling her in one big rush, Jack would stand in the doorway of the bathroom, leaning up against the doorway as he watched the two of them together.

Sam was startled from her thoughts when she heard Teal'c and Daniel coming towards her, both looking at something written in Daniel's notepad. She looked at them expectantly as they got nearer.

"Teal'c, why would Jack be looking at jewellery?" Daniel questioned.

"Maybe he was thinking of giving Kerry Johnson a gift?" Teal'c suggested.

Sam raised an eyebrow at them. "Got anything?"

"Erm... Yeah." Daniel said studying his notepad. "One of the store clerks in one of the stores, said Jack had been looking at something in the window and then came inside with a guy following him, and must have slipped out the back."

"So... Someone was following him?" Sam asked.

"It would appear so." Teal'c answered adjusting his hat.

"They got security cameras at the rear of the store?" Sam questioned climbing down out of Jack's truck and closing the door.

Daniel poked his glasses up his nose, as he said. "They wouldn't let us look at it. Said we needed a warrant and it wasn't like me and Teal'c could get one."

Sam smiled. "But I know someone who can." She said digging her phone out of the inside pocket of her leather jacket. "Teal'c, drive his truck back to his house and lock it in the garage like he likes. Daniel, car."

Handing the keys to Jack's truck over to Teal'c, Sam dialled Pete's cell phone and followed Daniel towards her car. It didn't take long for Pete to answer the phone.

"Pete Shanahan." He answered.

"Hey Pete, it's me." She said opening her car door.

"Hey honey, what's up?" Pete said in his cheery voice.

Sam got into her car and handed the keys over to Daniel. "Pete, I need your help with something. I need you to get hold of some security camera footage for us. Jack's gone missing and it was the last place he was seen."

"Great..." Pete dawdled out, annoying Sam. "I'll see if I can get a copy of it."

"Thanks, Pete. Can you meet me at Jack's house when you got it?" She asked, as Daniel reversed out of the alleyway and then followed Teal'c to Jack's house.

"Alright." Pete said.

"Thanks. See you later, Pete." Sam said before hanging up on him. Daniel glanced over at her, watching her put her phone back in the inside pocket of her leather jacket. She caught him looking at her and gave him a questioning look, to which he shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention back onto the road.

Resting her elbow onto the edge of the door, Sam tried to figure out why anyone would kidnap Jack and what they would gain from it. Anyone in any military circle would know that he was retired now, so what he knew at the time of his retirement was old news and codes had changed. She began to rub at her chin, trying to figure it all out when her cell phone started shrilling in her pocket.

She let out a long sight as she reached into her inside pocket again, glancing at Daniel out of the corner of her eye as she answered her phone. "Carter."

"Erm... Hi." A whispered said.

"Who is this?" She questioned, frowning at the unfamiliar voice.

"A friend of a friend." He said.

Taking the phone away from her ear from a second, she saw it was Jack's phone and quickly put the phone back against her ear. "Where is he?"

"He's alright for now." He told her. "But I don't know how long thought I'll be able to keep him that way. God, if they find out I'm helping him, they'll kill my family."

"We can protect them." She said earnestly with her nails digging into the palm of her hand, as she made a tight fist.

"I've got to go, someone's coming." The voice became panicked.

"No, please! Tell me where you're holding him?" She pleaded, alarming Daniel to her distress.

"Sorry, I've got to go, I'll call back soon." He said quickly before he hung up.

"Hello?" She asked, hearing nothing but a constant buzz. "Hello! HELLO!"

"Sam, what they say?" Daniel asked quickly pulling over to the side of the road.

"HELLO!" Sam shouted before throwing the phone down onto the floor of the car. "GOD DAMMIT! WHERE THE HELL IS HE!"

Daniel quickly gathered her up into her arms and held her as she cried into his shoulder. "It's alright. We'll find him. We always do."

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Jack raised his head up to look at Doctor Lucas, his neck ached but he kept his head up, not wanting Lucas to think he was getting to him. Watching Lucas prepare another needle, Jack wondered when it was all going to be over. The opened and Ed come in, the grin from the night before was still on his face. Jack tried his best to smile at him, trying to make Ed believe he hadn't broken his spirit but he was coming close. Letting his head rest forward, Jack wished he was caught up in a nightmare and would wake soon.

"You done with him yet, Doc?" Ed asked, rubbing a hand over his clenched fist.

Lucas looked over in Jack's direction. "Nearly, I just want one more sample from him."

"Don't worry, General, we'll make sure what we find is used for the good of the people." Lucas said making his way over to Jack with another needle. "And everything else your SGC stands for."

"They'll make you pay for this, Lucas." Jack managed to say.

Lucas picked up Jack's arm by his wrist. "You've been here four days. If they were going to find you, wouldn't they have done it already?"

"They'll come!" Jack glared up at Lucas. "And then you'll wish you'd let me go."

"I wish Ed had broken your jaw, wouldn't have to listen to this futile talk of being saved." Lucas said before stabbing the needle into Jack's arm, causing him to wince. The grin on Lucas's face could only be described as sickening. The needle was yanked out of Jack's arm and Lucas motioned for Ed to take him, when the door opened again to let Shaun into the room.

"I'm going to have some fun." Ed said taking a step towards Jack, cracking his knuckles.

Shaun looked quickly between Jack and Ed and swiftly moved to block Ed's path. "Ed!"

"What?" Ed frowned at Shaun's actions.

"They... They want your progress report done now." Shaun said quickly. "I'll take care of him, you go do that report."

"Erm... Okay." Ed said unsurely but left the room. Smiling at Lucas, Shaun made his way over to the chair Jack was sat in and started to undo the restraints. Jack glimpsed to Lucas, who was busy looking at his laptop and the blood samples he'd taken from Jack.

Leaning forward in his chair, Jack whispered to Shaun. "Did you call her?"

"Yes." Shaun said with a quick glance over his shoulder.

"And?" He questioned.

Shaun hauled Jack out of the chair and took most of his weight onto himself. "I'll call her again tonight."

Shaun helped him out of the room and made their way, as fast as they could, back to Jack's cell. Opening the cell door, they staggered inside together and Shaun helped Jack onto the bed. As Shaun put Jack's feet onto the bed, he watched as Jack curled himself up into a ball and closed his eyes, giving into sleep and the pain. He shuffled up the bed and leaned over to whisper into Jack's ear.

"I'll get you out of here soon." Shaun promised, touching Jack on the shoulder.

"Call her, she'll come." Jack said half a sleep, not really listening to Shaun.

"I will, I will." Shaun said. "Sleep, sir, sleep." Jack's grip on his pillow tightened, holding onto the only comforting thing in the harsh cell, as Shaun slipped out of the room and locked the door behind him.

***********************************************************************************************************

Standing on the back porch overlooking the garden, the path highlighted with lanterns holding back the dark night, Sam stood near the railing with her arms folded in front of her biting on her thumb nail. She knew she'd lost it before back in the car. All her training from the academy and all her experience had been forgotten. She'd never let herself lose her cool like that, even with all the times Jack had gone missing in the past or she'd lost someone under her command. But she hadn't felt for them what she felt for Jack now. Her feelings for him had been growing from the first day they'd met and they were still growning even with her marriage to Pete, which should have ended her feelings for him. But she was a fighter, so her feelings for him were fighting against the realistic thoughts of her head.

She rubbed at her forehead turning away from the beautiful garden and sat down into one of the wooden chairs. She tried to think of something else, but nothing could stop her thoughts from going back to Jack. Combing her fingers through her hair, Sam cursed Pete for not being there. It had been hours since she'd called him and it was coming up for midnight. With each passing moment the more her temper grew and the more worried she became for Jack. She was almost beside herself.

As Sam let out a long sigh, the back door rattled opened with the light from the kitchen lighting up part of the deck. She looked to whoever was coming through the door, jumping to her feet when she saw it was Pete skulking his way out onto the porch.

"Hey." Pete said in a soft voice.

"Did you get it?" Sam asked expectantly, her eyes darting from Pete's hands to his face looking for the tape.

"Yeah, I got the tape for you. Daniel and Teal'c are watching it now." He told her pointing aimlessly to the house behind him.

"Thank you." She said quickly moving to go passed him but was stopped by him grabbing hold of her wrist.

"Sam." Pete said, using her momentum to turn her round to face him. "Just let the police handle this. Or the MPs."

She glared at him, unbelieving the words that came out of his mouth. "What?"

"Let someone else find him. It's not your problem." He said titling his head to one side.

"Let someone else find him?" She repeated his words, staring at him with a blank expression.

"Yeah." Pete nodded his head, smiling at her.

Bowing her head down for a moment, she shook her head before snapping her arm out of his hold and shoving him back. "You know what Pete, he's not my problem. You are! You're just one big god damn problem and you're really starting to get on my nerves!"

"What the hell?" Pete looked at her confused.

"You! From day one! All you've done is snoop, snoop, snoop. Question everything I do, wonder what the hell's going on all the time. You're a cop and that's fine. But when you come home, you should stop being a damn cop! I'm not a suspect, Pete!" Sam said shoving him again.

Pete pulled a face at her, looking slightly hurt. "It's only Jack for god's sake!"

"It's not just any Jack!" She shouted at him.

"Sam, god sake, it's not your job to find him!" He shouted back. "You're my wife god-damit!"

"I LOVE HIM!" Sam screamed at the top of her voice. Silence descended over both of them as they both looked at each other. Sam blinked, taken back with her own words. Pete's eyesbrows scrunched down over his eyes, making his kind eyes turn dark and shadowy in the light from the kitchen. Holding a hand over her mouth, Sam chuckled to herself wandering away from Pete to stand at the top of the steps, leading down to the garden.

"What do you mean, you love him?" Pete sneered, his fists clenched in an attempt to squash down his anger.

"I love him." She said smiling, turning to face him.

"Love him how?" He questioned.

"I love him the way a woman loves her husband." She said taking a step towards Pete. "I love him the way someone loves a lover. I love him for his good points and bad points. I love him with all my heart."

The hand at slapped her across the face was too quick for the eye, but the sound echoed into the distant night. The pain in her cheek sting like a hundred wasps had stung her cheek all at once. Slowly she turned her head back to look at Pete, resisting the urge to touch her cheek.

"I love him, Pete." She said, prepared to take another slap.

"But..." His voice broke, as he turned away from her. "But you're married to me, you're suppose to love me."

"I do... but not in the way that I love him, Pete." Sam said feeling sorry for Pete.

"You love me, not him. You told me so. You told me there was nothing going on between you two." He said distantly before covering his face with his hands.

"There wasn't anything going on, there never has been. But I love him." She told him reaching out to touch his shoulder.

He battered her hand away. "When you've found him... You collect your stuff from the house... And get out."

"Okay." She whispered, knowing she should be ashamed of herself but she wasn't. He wiped at his eyes moving to the back door, pausing in the doorway to take a glance back but stopped himself and left. Sam knew that would probably be the last time she'd see him. Maybe she should have gone after him, though she didn't. Instead she felt a small relief wash over her. She'd finally said it. Admitted to herself that she was in love with Jack O'Neill.

Smiling she went inside closing the kitchen door behind her and made her way through the house to the living room, where Daniel and Teal'c were fast forwarding the surveillance footage Pete had gotten for them. She fell down into the couch, sinking into the leather, feeling for the first time in years relaxed.

"Pete just left." Daniel said with his glasses halfway down his nose, concentraint on the image on the screen.

"I know." Sam replied, setting back into the couch.

Teal'c turned his head to look at her, his eyebrows raised. "Are you all right, Colonel Carter?"

"Yousureyabetcha." She said.

Daniel stopped the tape and looked for her, poking his glasses up his nose. "You two were arguing?"

"Yep." Sam said, wiping some dust off the seat beside her.

"Shouldn't you be like, going over him or something? You know, sorting it out?" Daniel questioned.

"There's nothing to sort out." She told them. "It's over. End of story."

Daniel and Teal'c both looked at each other, looking to the other one for answers. Daniel raised his eyebrows for a second and then turned back to the television, hitting play on the controller. The tape whizzed by on the screen, till a man appeared out of the store carrying a pair of sunglasses in his hand. Sam suddenly sat forward in her seat.

"Whoa!" Sam almost yelled at Daniel. "That's Jack!"

Daniel stopped the tape and rewound it a couple a seconds, and then pressed play again. On the screen Jack suddenly from the bottom left hand corner, turning right up the alleyway. A few minutes went by and a black van went screenching by in the opposite direction Jack had been going.

"Daniel, rewind it and do it frame by frame." Sam ordered, rubbing at her cheek. Daniel did as she asked. Carefully watching the screen as the van slowly appeared onto the screen, as the number plate came into view, Sam's cell phone began to start ringing distantly in the entrance hall.

Getting up off of the couch, Sam pointed at Daniel saying. "Try and work out what the number plate says and write it down."

Sam jogged up the steps into the entrance hall and quickly reached into the inside pocket of her jacket, taking out her phone to answer it.

"Carter." She answered, turning back to go back down into the living room.

"I called you earlier on today." The male voice said.

Sam stopped just as she was going down the steps into the living room. "Who am I talking to?"

"You can call me Shaun." Shaun told her. "He needs to get out of here. I don't know how longer he can take this."

"Where is he?" Sam asked taking the last step down into the living room.

"It doesn't matter where they're holding him. I'm going to get him out tonight. I just need you to meet me somewhere." Shaun said taking a sip of something.

"He has a cabin in Minnesota." She told him." He'll direct you there. I'll meet you there."

"Minnesota... That'll be a two-day drive from here." He said.

Sam bit her lip thinking about it. "Okay, I'll take some leave and wait for you there."

He took a deep breath. "Could you... get my family for me and put them somewhere save?"

"Yes." She said clicking her fingers at Daniel and Teal'c to draw their attention, motioning for them to get her a pen and piece of paper. "Just tell me where we'll find them and we'll take care of them."

"Fourteen Ellis Drive, Pocatello." Shaun said, his words sounded downhearted. "Keep them save, please."

"We will, I'll send the best to get them." Sam promised, as Daniel handed her a notepad and pen that sam snatched from him.

"Well then... See you soon, hopefully." He said taking a brief sip of something.

"Thank you." Sam said. "Thank you."

She thought for a moment that he was going to say something more, instead the line went dead and all she could hear was the dull tone in her ear. Ending the call she tossed her cell phone to the couch and scribbled down what Shaun had told her. She ripped the piece of paper from the notepad and gave it to Daniel.

"Book two tickets to Pocatello and go to this address, get the family and bring them back here." Sam ordered. "I'll square everything off with the General. You two go get them."

"What you going to do?" Daniel asked, reading the piece of paper she'd given him.

"I'm going to get some of my things and go to Jack's cabin. If you want me, call me there." She said collecting her phone from the couch and made her way to the entrance hall to get her jacket, with Daniel and Teal'c following.

"What are we to do with the family, when we are back in Colorado?" Teal'c inquiried, his hands clasped behind his back.

Sam shrugged on her jacket and then put her phone back into the inside pocket of her jacket. "Keep them safe. Whatever means it takes, but keep them safe."

Digging in her pocket for her car keys, she handed them over to Daniel and backed away from them into the dining room. "You take my car. Call me as soon as you've got his family."

She turned her back on them and went into the kitchen, pikcing up the keys to Jack's truck as she heard the front open and closed. Picking out the key to Jack's truck on the key chain, she quickly walked through the house to the stairs leading down to the basement. Sam entered the garage, closing the door behind her, and unlocked the truck with the remote.

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Jack lay on his back on the bed, gazing up at the ceiling, he felt numb all over his body. He closed his eyes remembering the torture Ed had put him through during the night. They'd come while he'd been sleeping, regrouping from the battering they'd given him after his appointment with Doctor Lucas. He'd been dragged out by two of the guards, his feet dragging on the concrete floor as they'd taken him through the corridors into the courtyard. Thrown into the mud, Jack had lay quite happily, enjoying the cool feel of the moist mud. He wasn't sure who kicked him first or who had done what to him. All he knew was the pain had overwhelmed him taking him to a dark safe place.

Someone began to dab something to the cut on his forehead, the sharp sting from the ointment cleansing his cut was the first sensation he'd felt in hours. He couldn't remember when he'd woken up. It felt like all he'd ever done was stare up at the ceiling, losing himslef into the swirl patterns above him. A damp cloth wiped away the blood and dirt from his face, as the three on one fight came back to him.

He had tried to fend them off, protecting himself from the kicks of the military boots coming at him from both sides. Defending himself as much as possible, Jack tried to kick them back and wriggle his way away from their kicks. Nothing he did seemed to matter. But as he let himself go to the safety of the dark, he'd heard a gun fire and felt a heavy weight fall on top of him. Then there had been two other shots before the heavy weight was taken off of him and someone heaved him up onto their shoulder, telling him it was going to be all right.

Turning his head to the right, he came face to face with Shaun who smiled kindly as he dabbed at the cut on Jack's lip. Jack blinked his eyes and then squinted at Shaun, unsure of what was going on.

"Where are we?" Jack croaked, trying to see where they were.

"We're in a motel." Shaun said placing a hand on Jack's shoulder. "As soon as I've taken care of your cuts and other stuff we'll be going."

"Going where?" Jack asked.

"Minnesota. That's where she told me to take you. She's going to meet us there." Shaun informed Jack, making him perk up.

Jack raised his head up off the pillow. "Sam?"

"Think so, whoever it was that you told me to ring." Shaun shrugged his shoulders, dumping the cotton bud into the small dish he was using. Climbing to his feet, Shaun took the dish and the facecloth he'd been using into the small bathroom, dumping them into the sink to be forgotten about. He walked back into the bedroom to pick up his coat from the back of the chair, where he'd thrown it before, as a squealed of tires was heard outside.

Putting on his coat Shaun went over to the curtains and peeked outside, watching two men run to the main office of the motel while two more SUV's pulled up into the car park.Shaun quickly jumped into action. Swiftly moving round the other bed to where Jack was lying and helped him up.

"Come on, sir, we gotta go." Shaun said, slinging one of Jack's arms over his shoulders.

"I'm okay." Jack stated pushing Shaun's helping arm away." I can walk."

"Are you sure?" Shaun asked, keeping a steadying hand on Jack.

"I'm fine. Where's the car?" Jack questioned stumbling over to the door.

Shaun licked at his lips nervously but followed Jack quickly, as Jack opened the door to take a peek outside. "It's just outside the door."

"You got any guns?" Jack assessed the situation, forgetting about the pains in his legs.

"I've got a handgun." Shaun said, reaching underneath his jacket to get the 9mm from the back of his pants. Jack looked at him over his shoulder and frowned at the gun and then up at Shaun's face. Shaking his head he took the gun from Shaun and flicked off the safety.

"You get the car started and I'll distract them." Jack instructed, deciding which one of the men he was going to shoot first.

"You sure you're up to this?" Shaun asked, receiving a glare for his troubles. Nodding his head in the count of three, Jack let the door swing open and started shooting at the men round the SUV's, making them all take cover. Shaun sprinted to the car and got in, starting the car as Jack got to the passenger door.

The men shot back hitting the car and shooting out the back passenger door window. Ducking his head down, Jack opened his door and jumped in, closing his door quickly while Shaun reversed out of his spot and raced off as the men carried on shooting at them. Jack peeped back at the men shooting at them when the back window was shot out, spraying glass over the back seat.

Turning in his seat to face the front, Jack ejected the clip out of the gun and tossed it onto the back seat. "Well... this certainly is exciting. Got anymore clips?"

"Should be two clips in the glove compartment." Shaun said looking at the rear view mirror.

"Where's my cell phone?" Jack asked opening the glove compartment to take one clip out to put in his pocket and loaded the other one into the gun. Shaun reached into his pocket and handed Jack's cell phone over to him. Jack looked at his phone with his thumb resting on nine, urging to press it and hear her voice. The more he thought about it, the more he thought otherwise of calling her and saying he was all right. He knew that when she saw he was okay, she would be heading straight back to Colorado to Pete. Pressing two instead, Jack held the phone to his ear and waited for them to answered.

"Hello, Kerry Johnson." Kerry answered.

"Hi Kerry, it Jack." Jack said, putting the safety on the 9mm.

"Jack, Sam called the other day looking for you. Where the hell are you? You were supposed to be coming here for the weekend." Kerry sounded angry and rightly so.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry." He apologised watching the trees whiz passed his window.

Kerry sighed. "I told her you got called to Washington on important business. You better make it up to her, Jack."

"Hey, this is the first time ever that I haven't been able to come and see her. It not like I had any choice about it either." Jack said, hitting the butt of the gun against the car door.

"Yeah... Well, you better make it up to her." Kerry said again.

"I will." Jack said. "Is she there?"

"No, she's at my parents." Kerry told him.

"Okay. Bye Kerry." Jack said and then ended the call, tossing the phone onto the dashboard in front of him. Now he wished he'd called Sam instead.

***********************************************************************************************************

Driving up the trail towards Jack's cabin, Sam yawned into her fist as she was thrown side to side with the rocking of the truck travelling up the pothole-ridden track. She glanced to the brown shopping bags in the seat beside her. She still couldn't believe that she was in Jack's truck, at his cabin but there was no Jack. She'd gotten there early in the morning, finding everything just as Jack had left it whenever he'd been up there last. It taken her some time to find everything and work out her way around the place. She'd fallen to sleep on his bed and when she'd woken, feeling more rested than she had in a long time. It felt like she was finally home.

As she pulled up in front of the cabin, a cloud of dust erupted from the tires, moving in the direction of the breeze. Turning off the engine, she collected the bags and opened her door, slipping out to drop the slight fall to the ground. She turned closing the door at the same time with her elbow and the headed inside.

The cabin looked almost like it'd been pulled out of a magazine, everything was neatly arranged and everything looked cosy and content. She paused for a moment to take it all in, knowing she'd missed out when she'd arrived that morning at the sight of his cabin. Sweeping her eyes over everything, Sam took some hesitant steps towards the kitchen, unable to draw her self away from the sight of the living room. Sam smiled moving into the kitchen, placing her bags on the side, and clicked on the kettle.

Somewhere in the cabin she heard a floorboard creek, she froze. Keeping still she noticed the door leading to the deck was a jar. She quietly stepped out of her sneakers, seeking the cabinets behind her with her hands as she moved back. Taking out the 9mm out of the holster on her hip, hidden underneath the long sleeve tshirt she was wearing that was Jack's, Sam moved stealthily in line with the cupboards towards the corridor leading down to the bedrooms. She stopped hearing a floorboard in the corridor creak and took a few steps back, aiming her weapon head height. Another floorboard creaked even nearer. Sam held her breath, waiting for whoever it was to appear. A man appeared wearing only a tshirt and boxers, ruffling up his brown hair that flopped forward over his forehead.

"Don't move." Sam ordered, aiming directly at his head.

The young man looked at her through the corner of his eye, his fingers still threaded into his hair. "Erm... Hi?"

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I was sleeping. BUt then I heard my uncle's truck... Right now though, I'm standing in my uncle's kitchen with a woman pointing a gun at my head." The man said.

"Uncle?" Sam looked at him confused, as he yawned.

He held his other hand over his mouth, as he yanwned, and then said. "My uncle Jack. He's seeing his daughter, Abby, in Eckley."

"Jack's your uncle?" She questioned, frowning at him.

"Do you want my blood to prove it?" He asked turning to face her, putting his hands on his hips. "Look, lady, who the hell are you? And what the hell, are you doing in my uncle's cabin?"

"He's your uncle?" Sam said lowering her weapon.

"Lady, get over it already and answer my question." The young man said getting impatient.

Sam turned her frowned onto him. "My name's Colonel Samantha Carter. I used to work with him."

"That doesn't explain for you being here, Colonel." He said folding his arms over one another.

"He's meeting me here." Sam said quickly thinking on her toes.

"Oh... Okay." He said shrugging his shoulders, taking a step towards her with his hand held out to her. "I'm Brian."

"Hi Brian." Sam shook his hand.

"So..." Brian dawdled rubbing his shands together, then raised his eyebrow in a very Jack manner. "What was so hard to believe about him being my uncle?"

Sam glanced away from him and the back at him. "He's not mentioned anything about having a nephew."

"Oh, understandable then, why you were having a hard time believing it." He said.

"Erm... Breakfast?" She asked him, pointing towards the brown bags.

"Sure." Brian smiled at her before wandering off towards the living room. She watched him jumped over the back of the couch, finding the remote hidden down the side of one of the cushions, and sat back into the cushions turning on the television, while she placed her gun down onto the counter.

Taking things out of the bags and putting them on the side, she still couldn't get over Jack not telling her that he had a nephew, but it shouldn't have surprised her. He did have a habit of keeping things to himself, even keeping thing from his closest friends.

She rolled her eyes at the fact, picking up the eggs to put into the fridge when a thought occured to her. When Brian had arrived, he would have closed the door after him. So... why was the door leading to the deck open? She dropped the eggs whipping round to reach for her gun, when the distinctive sound a gun being cocked came from her left.

"I wouldn't reach for that, Colonel Carter." A male voice said to her.

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As they pulled in a gas station, Jack told Shaun he was going to the restroom while he got some gas. Shaun pulled up to one of the pumps and both of them go out, going off to do their own set task. Watching Jack make his way to the restroom, holding a protective hand to his ribs, Shaun began filling the car with gas. He leant agaisnt the car with his hand holding onto the handle of the hose, taking out Jack's cell phone from his coat pocket. He pressed nine and call and waited for Sam to answer. The phone just rung and rung, no one was picking up. He ended the call and frowned at the phone.

They were less than two hours from Jack's cabin and it was starting to get late, with the night sky trying to overwhelm the blue sky above them. Shaking his head Shaun put the phone back into pocket while Jack came back from the restroom, grimacing at the pain from his bruise ribs. Jack pulled at the tight sweatshirt that Shaun had given earlier, as he came around the front of the car to standby Shaun.

"Well, what she have to say?" Jack asked, sliding his hands into his pocket.

"Not a lot really." Shaun said watching the display on the pump. "She didn't answer."

Pouting his lips in thought, Jack leant against the side of the car. "Must have been doing something..."

"Maybe." Shaun mumbled as he replaced the hose back to its rightful home on the pump and replaced the cap to the gas tank.

"Give me the phone, I'll try." Jack said, holding his hands ready to catch the phone. Shaun dug the phone out of his pocket and tossed it to Jack, heading into the gas station to get some snacks and pay for the gas. Jack caught the phone and made his way around the car to his side, getting in as he dialled nine and pressed call. Leaning onto his door once he'd closed it, he waited for her to answer whilst he picked at something stuck to his pants.

Shaun got in and put the bag of snacks onto the back seat letting out a long sigh and started the car. Rubbing at his forehead Jack became more concerned. He knew that even if she were doing something, she wouldn't be able to resist answering her phone. It was an instinctive thing after thirteen years working at the SGC, thinking that the next call could be calling her back to work. After two more rings, Jack knew there was something wrong.

"This isn't like her." Jack stated, ending the call.

"What you wanna do?" Shaun asked pulling out of the gas station onto the highway.

"Carry on going." Jack instructed putting his cell phone in his pocket. "We'll make a stop on the way though."

Shaun glimpsed from the road to Jack. "You think they gotten there before us?"

"Maybe... They could have been monitoring my cell phone calls. That's probably how they found out I was going to be shopping the other day. Daniel called me on my cell phone and I told him where I was going." Jack said, ruffling up his greying hair.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know. I wouldn't have called her, if I'd known." Shaun shook his head, feeling sorry for him self.

"It's not your fault." Jack reassured him, patting Shaun on his shoulder. "Sam can take care of herself. I'm sure..."

Shaun glanced from the road to Jack waiting for him to finish his sentence, but watched as Jack covered his face with his hands. Jack stamped his foot angrily against the floor and hit the dashboard wth his fist. Taken back by Jack's sudden outward expression of anger, Shaun leaned more towards his door, trying to avoid being hit by Jack's fists as they hit against the dashboard again and again.

"What's the matter?" Shaun shouted over the thuds of Jack's fists.

"Brian!" Jack shouted. "Brian's staying at my cabin for the weekend!"

"I'm sure they're okay." Shaun said trying to calm Jack down.

Jack hit the dashboard one more time. "Damit! Sam! If they fucking hurt her, or Brian, I swear, I'm going to kill every one of them! I'll make them wish they'd never been born too!"

"They're not going to harm them, not yet." Shaun touched Jack on his shoulder. "They want you, not them, they won't do anything till they've got you back. We can use it to our advantage."

"You're right." Jack said a lot more calmer.

Silence descended over them for a few minutes till Jack said. "My brother has a hunting cabin, not far from mine, where we can get some weapons. We'll go there first, get kitted out and then we'll wait for night."

Shaun nodded his head at the plan, keeping his eyes on the road, as Jack talked through his plan. His thoughts though, wandered away from Jack's plan to his family, wondering if they were safe and were all right like Sam had promised.

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Pulling at the restraints captivating her hands behind her back, Sam groaned at the pain from the ropes rubbing at her wrists whilst she watched Brian stuggling against his own. She stopped trying to free herself, when she saw Brian fall onto his side, lying at a funny angle with his face buried into the carpet of the spare bedroom. Sam couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of him. He lifted his head up off of the carpet and glared at her before shaking his head at himself and rested his head back down onto the floor. Looking around, Sam tried to see if there was anything that could help them get out of their restraints.

It had taken two of the three men to restrain her, as they had tried to pin her to the floor and tie her up. She'd fought against them and had nearly gotten out of the front door, when she'd been hit in the face and knocked off her feet. Wincing at then thought of the fist hitting her face, she was sure she had a beautiful bruise. After they'd dragged her into the room, they'd tied the two of them up and left them in the spare bedroom, giving the men full access to the rest of the cabin.

"When's uncle Jack supposed to be getting here?" Brian asked his voice slightly muffled by the carpet.

"Some time tonight I think, or tomorrow morning." Sam said, wishing it would be sooner.

Brian mumbled. "Always late to the party."

"Better to be late than never." Sam gritted her teeth trying one last time to pull her hand free of the rope.

"What they want anyway?" Brian asked rolling over onto his back to sit up again.

Sam let out a long sigh, letting herself fall back to lean against the bed. "I don't know, Brian."

"I should have stayed at my dad's cabin." He said dejectedly, banking up against the drawer.

"I should have done a lot of things." Sam said distantly, thinking of Jack. They both looked towards the door when they heard footsteps nearing the door, floorboards creaking under the weight of one of the men. The footsteps passed by the door and became distant, heading to one of the back rooms.

Resting her head back, Sam looked at the moon surrounded by the black sky. She didn't known what was install for her and Brian, but she knew the three men in the other part of the cabin, was there for Jack when he arrived. Sam cursed at herself, thinking how she should have known they would have come after him. But on thing nagged at her, how did they know that she was meeting Jack and Shaun at Jack's cabin. She'd only mentioned to Daniel and Teal'c that she was going to Jack's cabin, and she knew they wouldn't give any information away.

She closed her eyes and thought back to two nights ago. After leaving Daniel and Teal'c at Jack's and taking Jack's truck, she'd driven to the base and informed the General of what was going on and that she needed to go to Minnesota. He, of course, approved her absence and Daniel and Teal'c's. She knew he wouldn't tell anyone where she'd gone. He was a friend of Jack's from way back and was hand picked by Jack to command the SGC after his retirement. If Jack trusted him, then so did she.

The only other person, that she mentioned she would be going to Minnesota, was Pete. It wouldn't have taken Pete much to work out where in Minnesota she'd gone. He did know that Jack owned a cabin there. But she couldn't believe he would tell anyone. He was still her husband after all.

Sam looked towards the window, when she heard the gravel outside crunched like it does when a car drives over it. Someone pulled up outside. There was single thud of a car door opening and then the single pane window rattled as the front door was opened and shut. In the other part of the cabin she could hear voices, she could hear what could have been called an argument start but then was quieten down. The whole cabin seemed to go silent. Sam never liked it when silence descended over everything... It always meant something bad was going to happen.

It wasn't long after she had that thought, that she heard the sounds of glass break and the shot of a rifle.

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Jack lay in the cover of the under foliage, close to one of the trees, with a rifle resting on the dirt mount in front of him. Looking through the sight on the rifle, he scanned the windows of his cabin for any movement and tried to spot Sam and Brian. As he moved his rifle to see the other windows, Shaun was moving silently through the trees to the north of Jack, to get a view of the front of the cabin from the ridege they were on. Raising his head up from the scope, Jack watched an orb of light approach his cabin up the track and then stopped in front of his cabin. 'More visitors' he thought to himself.

The orb of light disappeared, allowing the night sky to dominate, returning everything to darkness apart from the small areas lit by laterns, hanging from the gutter of his cabin, and the light filtering outside through the blinds. Lowering his head down, Jack returned to observing the windows, trying to figure out how people were inside and who was who.

The radio attached to Jack's belt crackled. "Sir, I've spotted a target at a window, I have a clean shot. Do you want me to take it?"

Unhooking his radio from his belt, Jack said. "Not yet."

"He's going to move away, sir." Shaun said. Jack thought abut it, rubbing at his eyes with his fingers. Clasping his fingers down on his radio, Jack told Shaun to take the shot as he got to his feet, leaving the rifle where it was, and told Shaun to watch his back. As Jack clambered down the embankment, sliding and stumbling, Shaun's shot echoed through the night sky. He heard the window smash and knew he was going to have to replace more than just a window by the end of that night.

When he reached the bottom of the hill, Jack dropped down onto the ground to lie on his front and watched the commotion in his cabin, as two men ran out through the door to the dock, taking off in separate directions to see what was going on. Crawling towards the edge of the lake, he slipped into the water and followed the shoreline round to the dock of his cabin, keeping close to the long grass that grew around the lake. He could hear people shouting, trying to figure out who was shouting at them as another one of Shaun's shots ranged through the air. He counted two so far, hoping Shaun hadn't missed, that was two less men for Jack to deal with even though he had no idea how many there were.

Jack hid underneath the dock, listening out ofr anyone coming, when he was sure it was clear he climbed onto the dock and quickly hid in the shadows by the log pile. Pulling out the two 9mms from the holsters around his waist, he flicked the safeties off and checked the close was clear before entering his cabin. He slowly crept through the doorway, keeping an eye out behind him, and entered the living room to take cover behind one of the armchairs.

Further into the cabin he could hear voices, one sounded like Sam and the other one he knew. He'd gotten to know it well in the past few days and was only going to take some pleasure in shooting that bastard, who'd taken some satisfaction out of kicking and punching him. Keeping low, Jack hurried passed the dining table and the kitchen, dodged the creaky floorboards and stopped just outside the open door to the spare bedroom.

"What the hell do you want?" Brian said agitated.

Ed chuckled. "Your precious uncle."

"Why do you want him?" Sam asked, her voice calm.

"I don't want him." Ed said sounding disgusted that Sam would think it was him who wanted Jack. "They want him. Suppose to be all super human, or something. Tell you something, he couldn't back it. No wonder they bumped him up to General. Get him behind a desk before he got his team killed. Couldn't even take getting his ass kicked."

Jack went to move in and take Ed down, but stopped when Sam said. "You're wrong! He can take anything that you throw at him. He's strong! And the reason they promoted him to General, was because he hadn't gotten his team killed! And another thing, he might not be super human but he more of a hero than you are! You couldn't even get into the SGC!"

"Why you little...!" Ed spat quickly moving forwards towards Sam. Quickly moving into the room, Jack shot Ed in the back of the leg, causing him to fall down onto the floor in front of Sam.

"JACK!" Sam screamed, delighted to see him, even if he was a bit battered around the edges.

"Uncle Jack! What the fuck going on!" Brian shouted bewildered with what was going on.

"Questions can wait till later, Brian." Jack said watching Ed squirm on the floor, holding his right thigh. "You two okay?"

"Yep." Sam said for both of them.

Ed rolled onto his side saying. "I'm going to kill you! Look what you did to my leg!"

"You want to compare? I got a bruise the size of a grapefruit all over my body!" Jack said, his voice dripping with anger.

"You old has been!" Ed shouted at Jack, the only thing left in his arsenal. Holstering one of the 9mms, Jack chose to ignore Ed and went to Sam and Brian, getting the hunting knife from his boot. He cut Brian free first and then Sam, noticing that she couldn't take her eyes off of him, the whole time he was cutting through hre ropes.

As Jack handed over the other 9mm to Sam, they paused holding their gaze. Everything seemed to phrase away, leaving them to be alone with their feelings for one another. Breathing in deeply and sighing happily, Jack smiled at Sam and stood up wincing at the pain in his ribs. He held his hand out of her to help her up. Just as Sam was laying her hand her hand into his and let him pull her up, she saw the blade of the knife glisten in the dull light.

"JACK! WATCH OUT!" Sam screamed pulling Jack out of the way. Ed swiped his knife through the air, trying to reach Jack. Quickly reacting, Jack shot Ed in the head. Ed stilled. His hold on the knife loosened whilst Ed stared blankly at the carpeted floor.

Brian, gob-smacked with what just happened, stood frozen a few feet away from Ed, his t-shirt and boxers covered with a splatter of blood. Jack glanced at him and frowned.

"Brian." He called, Brian didn't move. "Brian!"

"Huh?" Brian grunted tearing his eyes away from Ed's body.

"Go with Sam and wait for me outside." Jack said stepping over Ed's body and kicked away th knife.

"'Kay." Brian said unsurely but didn't move. Jack looked at Brian and then to Sam, she shrugged her shoulders at him. Motioning with his head for her to take him outside, Jack sat down onto the edge of the bed and held a hand over his ribs. Sam wore a worried look on her face as she watched Jack sit up straight, his hand held over his ribs, hissing at the pain.

Doing as he told her, she guided Brian out of the room and through the cabin, taking him out to the front of the cabin. As they went through the front door of the cabin, Sam looked at Jack's truck and then at the black SUV parked beside it. She left Brian to stand on the porch of the cabin, while she moved over to the black SUV to investigate.

A shot came from behind her just before Brian screamed out in pain, falling down onto the wooden porch. Sam dived for cover behind the SUV. Peeping out she saw Brian was still alive, crying as he held a hand against his right shoulder. A shadow ducked out from the tree line and headed to where Brian was lying on the porch, their gun held down to aim at the ground. When they were a few feet from Brian, Sam jumped up using the SUV for covered and aimed the 9mm Jack had given her at whoever it was. She was surprised, extremely surprised, to see him there.

"Pete!" Sam screeched.

Pete's head whipped up from looking at Brian to Sam. "Sam! Honey! You all right?"

Sam lowered her weapon and moved to stand in front of the porch steps. "Pete, what the hell are you doing here?"

"I..." Pete kept glancing down at Brian, his face that of utter shock. "I came to see you, to try and work things out... who's this?"

"The guy you shot, asshole!" Brian shouted up at Pete.

"Sorry... I... thought... I didn't know who you were." Pete said in a way of an apology.

"We need to get him to a hospital, Pete." Sam said tucking her weapon into the back of her pants, bending down to help Brian up.

"Erm..." Pete stuttered before he cocked his weapon. "Sorry, Sam."

She looked up to come face to face with Pete's gun, being aimed at her head. "What're you doing?"

"They'll be here for him soon." Pete told her.

"Oy! Stupid!" Brian cried out from the floor. "Didn't you hear her? I need to go to the fucking hospital! Hello! You were the one who shot me!"

"And if you don't shut up, I'll put on in your head." Pete sneered, changing his target to Brain's head. "Now, Sam, where is he?"

"Who?" Sam asked, never before feeling so betrayed.

"Don't play stupid! I know he here!" Pete shoved his gun into her face, grabbing a fistfull of her hair. "Where is he?"

"'Scuse me," A voice said from the doorway as they tapped Pete on the shoulder. "But that's not nice."

"Huh?" Pete grunted, turning his head to see Jack. Grabbing hold of Pete's coat, Jack his him squarely on the jaw, knocking Pete off his balance to fall onto the gravel. Jack quickly stepped down the steps of the porch, jumping on top of Pete before he had chance to get up. The two of them fought, exchanging punches with Jack pinning Pete to the ground.

Watching the two of them fight, Sam helped Brian to sit up and dragged him to the wall of the cabin, pressing hard on his wound. Jack and Pete carried on fighting with Jack dominating till Pete kicked him off of him and got to his feet. But even though Jack was hurting, he was up onto his feet and chasing after Pete as he tried to make a break for it. Launching himself at him, Jack grabbed Pete from behind, using his bodyweight to knock Pete off of his feet. The two were back to slugging it out with Jack on top, fending off most of Pete's punches.

A single punch of Pete's knocked Jack onto his back. Dazed from the single blow Jack lay blinking his eyes, trying to figure out what happened when Pete launched himself up and was about to start laying into Jack. Pete stopped midway. The shot of the gun could still be heard as Pete looked down at the bullet wound, where blood was beginning to seep out. Jack scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion whilst Pete touched at the wound and looked at his hand to see the red stain of his blood. Pete gazed up to somewhere over Jack's head, making eye contact with Sam whilst she stood aiming her gun at him, ready to take another shot if needed.

Jack angled his head to look at Sam, seeing her stood with her gun aimed at Pete, he wriggled away from Pete and got to his feet. Slowly he shuffled his way over to Sam, he glanced back at Pete to see him still knelt on the ground looking at his own blood. When Jack was close enough to Sam, he placed his hand on top of her gun and lowered it, pulling her close to him to hold her as he took the gun out of her hand.

"It's okay, Sam." He told her, resting his head against hers to watch Pete slowly fall forward onto his front. Sam broke down into tears, turning into Jack to clutch at his wet clothes for comfort. Jack dropped her gun to the ground and held her, rubbing his hand soothingly up and down her back.

"You go ahead and cry for him." Jack whispered to her, holding the back of her neck.

"I'm not crying for him." She mumbled.

"Then why are you crying?" Jack asked, angling his head back to try and see her face.

Sam leaned back away from him, wiping at her eyes and then smiled at him. "I was so scared I was going to lose you, but now you're here."

Jack smiled at her and kissed her forehead before pulling hr back into his arms, clutching at her as he buried his face into the nape of her neck. They stayed like that even when they heard movement in the trees behind them of someone approaching. Out of the trees appeared Shaun with his rifle over one shoulder. He looked round trying to see what happened and stopped in front of the porch, giving Brian a sympathetic look when he saw he'd been shot.

"Hey." Shaun said in greetings.

"Hi." Brian managed to utter through the pain. Shaun looked over to Sam and Jack just as the two of them began to kiss. He smiled at them, watching them for a moment.

"OI!" Brian holllered. "UNCLE JACK! CAN YOU TAKE ME TO THE DAMN HOSPITAL NOW! THIS REALLY HURTS, YA KNOW!"

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The End



End Notes: I hope everyone enjoyed it. There might be a sequel haven't quite decided yet.

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