Jacob Carter-O'Neill, three-years-old, played in his sandbox in the backyard of his home. His mother, Samantha Carter-O'Neill, former Air Force major and holder of a Ph.D. in Theoretical Astrophysics, sat in a lawn chair beside his sandbox, holding his one-year-old baby sister, Annabelle, who was babbling, as usual. His father, Colonel Jack O'Neill, stood beside the barbecue grill, flipping burgers and steaks, talking to his Uncle Daniel and Uncle Teal'c, while his Aunt Janet came out of the house carrying Annabelle's diaper bag.
"Here it is, Sam." Janet handed Sam the bag. Sam reached inside and pulled out a packet of pictures from Jake's birthday party a few days before. She handed them to Janet, who hadn't been able to be there because of an emergency with one of the SG teams. "Oh, look at that." It was a picture of Jake with frosting all over his face, grinning at his father who was taking the picture. "He looks just like Jack." And he did. Jake was a miniature version of his father. "This one is adorable." It was a picture of Annabelle with her hand in the middle of Jake's birthday cake, grabbing a handful.
Little Annabelle just sat there in her mother's lap, taking it all in and babbling all the while. Daniel walked over to Janet, who was still leafing through the pictures and put his arm around her shoulders.
"Hey, you feeling okay?" he asked Janet. "You were sick again this morning."
"Well, it goes with the territory," Janet answered him. "The sickness should be over with in a few more weeks."
"Okay, if you say so." Daniel leaned over and kissed her on the lips. "You're the doctor."
Sam looked at her friends, a little bemused. Daniel and Janet were expecting a baby. Daniel wanted to get married, but Janet was holding back.. She had confided to Sam that she felt that Daniel still had unresolved issues about Sha're, and until she was certain that he was really ready to commit to another relationship, not just to the baby, she wouldn't marry him. Obviously, Daniel cared deeply for Janet, and Sam hoped that whatever problems they had would be resolved soon.
"Hey, guys, this stuff is as ready as it'll ever be." Jack put the platter of burgers and steaks in the middle of the table. He walked over to the sandbox and hauled Jake up into his arms. "C'mon, buddy, let's get you cleaned up." Jack settled Jake on his shoulders and rode him into the house to clean the little guy up. Sam watched the two of them with a smile on her face.
"Jack's a good father, isn't he?" Janet asked. "He really loves his children."
"Yes, he does love his children," Sam said. "The fact that Jake was conceived through artificial insemination and Annabelle was conceived the 'old-fashioned way' as he calls it, doesn't matter to either one of us."
"Those NID people aren't bothering you any more are they?" Daniel asked, reaching down to take Annabelle from her mother and put her in her high chair.
"No, not since we let them take the blood and hair samples from Jake," Sam told him. "He is obviously not a Harsesis, so hopefully, they've gotten that bug out of their brains for good." Jack and Jake came out of the house, Jake riding Jack's back, telling his daddy to 'giddy-up.'
"All right, pardner, let's eat." Jack settled Jake into his own booster seat between himself and Teal'c. Jake loved Teal'c, and the big silent man loved the tiny child of his friends.
It was a happy group sitting around the picnic table in the O'Neill's back yard. They ate, laughed, and talked, then Sam and Jack put the little ones to bed, and the adults retired to the living room to watch a new movie. About midway through the movie, Annabelle woke up and started crying. Sam stood to go to her, but Daniel stopped her.
"Hey, let me go, Sam," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder and pushing her back down beside Jack. "It'll be good practice." At Sam's nod of assent, he went into Annabelle's bedroom to check on her. She was lying there crying, and babbling again. Daniel leaned down to pick her up, when he heard what she was babbling. "Oh, my God." Daniel reached into the crib and lifted the little girl into his arms. "She's babbling in goa'uld." He cuddled her close to his chest. "I need to tell Sam and Jack, but how?" He was standing there still pondering what he should do when Janet came looking for him.
"Daniel, what's taking you so long?" she asked. "Annabelle's gone back to sleep."
He looked at the baby in his arms. "Oh," he said, and he put her back down in the crib. His face was very pale, and he looked sick.
"What's wrong, Daniel?" Janet asked, concerned. He looked like he was in shock. "What happened?"
"I have to tell Jack and Sam." He whirled around and almost ran out of the nursery, Janet following quickly behind him. He almost skidded to a stop in the living room.
"Sam, Jack," he said, looking from one to the other. "It's Annabelle."
Sam jumped to her feet. "Oh, my God! Is she sick? Jack!" She turned to her husband.
"Daniel, what's wrong with Annabelle?" Jack asked anxiously.
"She's Harsesis."
************
Jack had finally gotten an extremely upset Sam calmed down and put to bed. Janet gave her a sedative and, hopefully, she'd sleep through the night. He finally had a chance to talk rationally to Daniel, although, inside, he was as upset as Sam.
"Okay, Daniel, on what do you base the idea that Annabelle is a Harsesis?" Jack questioned. If he didn't have some rational explanation, Jack planned to kill him slowly and painfully for upsetting Sam so much.
"She was babbling . . . in goa'uld," Daniel told him. "At first I thought it was just a coincidence, but as I listened a little longer, it was definitely goa'uld."
"Are you sure it could not have been a coincidence, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c questioned.
"No. I wish it was." Daniel was afraid for his friends' child.
"Oh, no." Jack rested his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands. "We thought when Jake turned out to be normal, that Annabelle would be normal, too." He sighed, then lifted his head and looked at Daniel, Janet, and Teal'c. "We're gonna have to hide this. If NID ever found out about this, they'd be in here so fast, our heads would spin."
"Jack, why don't I take some DNA samples and check them over in the lab at the SGC," Janet offered. "All I'd need is a swab of the inside of her cheek."
Jack looked uncertain, then he nodded. "Just make sure no one else gets their hands on the results, okay?"
Janet nodded. "I won't label it with her name, just a code number."
"Don't worry, Jack," Daniel reassured him. "We won't let anything happen to Annabelle."
"Daniel Jackson is correct O'Neill," Teal'c said. "We will do everything in our power to assure that the child is safe."
"Thanks, guys," Jack said, trying to smile at his friends, and failing utterly. "We'll see you in the morning then, Janet."
"Yes, in the morning," Janet agreed, then she, Daniel, and Teal'c said goodbye and left.
Jack went into their bedroom where Sam was lying on the bed, asleep he thought.
"Are they gone?" she asked softly.
"Yeah," he answered. He sat down on the bed beside her. "I thought you were asleep."
"I dozed off for a few minutes, but I can't sleep," she said. She reached out and took his hand. "I have a very bad feeling, Jack."
Jack stood and undressed, then threw the covers back and got into bed with his wife. Drawing her close, he kissed her, and then said, "We'll keep watch and be careful, Sam, that's all we can do. We'll protect both our children, we always have and we always will." He kissed her again, deeply this time, and, for a while at least, the danger faded away a little while they lost themselves in each other's arms.
************
The next morning, Janet took the DNA sample from Annabelle. She coded it and sent it to the lab with a rush label on it. Sam and Jack needed to know NOW about their daughter's genetic makeup. A few hours later the results were back. Janet took the results by their house just to make sure that no one would overhear what she had to say.
"Well, I hate to tell you this, but there's some goa'uld DNA there." Janet told them bluntly, not knowing how to softpedal such distressing news. Sam was clearly upset and Jack was agitated, their main concern being that the NID would somehow find out and try to take their baby from them.
"I thought that was all over," Sam agonized. "When Jake clearly wasn't - wasn't-" she couldn't finish the sentence.
"Don't worry, Sam, we'll take care of our little girl. No one is going to hurt her." Jack held Sam in his arms.
"He's right, Sam. We'll do everything in our power to make sure Annabelle is protected," Janet hastened to reassure her.
At the sound of a baby's cry, Sam pulled herself out of Jack's arms and stood up from her seat on the sofa. "Annabelle's awake from her nap." She wiped the tears from her face. "I'd better go get her." Sam left the room to get her baby. Jack turned to Janet.
"I'm worried about her," Jack said. "I've never seen her this upset about anything before."
"This is her baby, Jack," Janet explained. "That fact alone makes this different than any other situation she's been in." She reached over and patted his hand. "Sam's a strong woman, she'll come through this just fine, you'll see."
************
After much discussion (i.e., argument) with Jack, Sam decided that the only way she could be sure the children were safe was if she quit the SGC and stayed home with them full time. Jack managed to persuade her to just take a leave of absence, and she reluctantly agreed.
So Sam stayed home, and for the first few weeks it seemed that her fears had been unfounded. Nothing unusual happened, and there had been no one watching the house. Finally, she let her guard down, which was a mistake.
************
When Jack came home, the house was completely dark which was unusual, considering Sam's car was sitting in the driveway. He jumped out of the car almost before the motor stopped running and raced for the front door which was standing open. Fearing the worst, he cautiously entered the house and switched on the light. There on the living room floor lay Sam, clearly unconscious.
"Oh, my God, Sam!" Rushing to her side, he checked to see what injuries she had and if she was still alive. She was apparently uninjured and still alive, though probably drugged, which relieved him. Then he raced into the children's rooms. There was no sign of either Jake or Annabelle. His heart in his throat, he returned to Sam's side and tried to rouse her, but whatever she'd been drugged with was pretty strong. Gently he lifted her and placed her on the sofa, then he went to the phone and called Janet. She was home, and assured him she'd be right over.
Janet and Daniel arrived so quickly, that they must have broken every speed limit in the city of Colorado Springs. She checked Sam over and found that she was drugged with a powerful sedative, but that it should be wearing off soon. She assured Jack that other than a terrible headache, Sam would be fine.
"Damn Maybourne!" Jack raged, pacing back and forth clenching and unclencing his fists. "I'll kill that son of a bitch when I get my hands on his sorry ass!" he exclaimed. "He'll regret the day he ever touched one of my kids."
"You need to calm down, Jack," Daniel said, trying to get Jack's attention. "We need to find out as much as we can from Sam when she wakes up."
"Daniel's right, Jack," Janet said. "You've got to be able to think rationally if you're going to find out where Maybourne has taken your children."
Jack sat down in the armchair and stared at Sam. "You're right. I'll find my children, then I'll kill Maybourne."
"We need to let General Hammond know what's happening." Daniel stood and went to the telephone to call the general at the SGC. "Maybe he can pull some strings to find out some information."
General Hammond was shocked at what Daniel told him and promised to help anyway he could. As soon as he hung up the phone, he called the President to let him know of the situation. The President was shocked that the O'Neill children had been kidnapped, and pledged that he would find out what had happened. After hanging up, General Hammond also called a friend of his in the Department of Defense who might be able to find something out, too. It stuck in his craw that two babies had been stolen from their parents, and if he had to call in every favor owed him to find them, he would do so.
************
Sam finally regained consciousness about two hours after Jack had found her.. Janet had been right, other than a pounding headache, she was fine, until she realized that her children had been kidnapped. Not one to go into hysterics, she was upset and vowed, just as Jack had, that Maybourne would pay for stealing her children.
Jack questioned her as to what had happened, and she told him everything that had transpired.
"At about 1500 the doorbell rang and I checked to see who it was. It was a woman carrying a sample case." Sam hid her face in her hands. "She looked so normal standing there, so I opened the door." Sam laughed bitterly. "She said she had some samples of children's books, she'd noticed Jake's tricycle in the driveway. I let her in, and when I turned to lead her into the living room, I felt a sharp sting on my shoulder. I tried to run, but then I blacked out." Tears were streaming down her face. "How could I have been so stupid?"
Jack wrapped his arms around her. "You weren't stupid. Maybourne and his people will do anything to achieve their goals." He pressed a kiss to her hair. "We'll find them, I promise."
"Jack-" Daniel started to say, but stopped at Jack's glare.
"We'll find them," he said adamantly. "We will."
************
The woman tried to comfort the crying three-year-old boy, but he wouldn't let her touch him.
"Mommy, Mommy," he kept crying, causing her heart to ache for him. "Mommy!"
"Sh, please, don't cry!" she said anxiously. When they'd hired her to care for two children, she didn't realize that they'd be crying for their mother constantly. She startled at the knock on the door, and went to open it.
"Damn it, can't you shut that kid up!" the woman who'd hired her said. At the sound of her voice, the little boy backed into the corner of the room and started crying even louder. That was a strange way for a child to react to the person he'd been crying for. "That's what we hired you for, to keep the kids quiet." The woman walked over to the child and slapped him across the face, hard, causing him to cry harder. "Shut up you goddamn brat!" She then stalked over to the babysitter. "You'd better get that damn kid quiet!" She headed toward the door of the nursery. "I'll be glad when the testing is done and we can get rid of that one!" she muttered as she walked out of the door and slammed it hard.
The babysitter stood there for a minute staring at the door in mute surprise. What did she mean, "get rid of that one?" Wasn't she the child's mother? She looked at the little boy again. Something wasn't right here, she just knew it. She walked over to the child huddled in the corner, his sobs finally dying down to pitiful whimpers.
"Sweetie, what's your name?" They had told her his name was Joey, but he hadn't responded to that name, and she had a hunch that he would tell her something else.
He sniffled a few times and then, surprisingly enough, answered her. "Jake Carter-O'Neill."
"Jake? Is that lady who hit you your mommy?" she asked as quietly as she could. She didn't think there was a video camera in this room, although there was one in the baby's room.
Jake vehemently shook his head, then said, "Bad lady not mommy." Then his brown eyes filled with tears again. "Want MY mommy and daddy."
She gathered him into her arms and whispered to him. "I'll see what I can do."
************
After the children were in bed and asleep that night, the babysitter left to go to her own home. Her husband was in the military, stationed here in Washington and working at the Pentagon as a guard. To most it seemed like a cushy job, but it paid no more than any other military position. When he'd come home and told her about the babysitting job for a three-year-old and a baby, it had seemed heaven-sent and the salary was great. But since she'd been there, almost a week now, it had gotten progressively worse. The woman she'd thought was the children's mother had showed her to their nursery in the mansion where they lived, then hadn't reappeared until this afternoon, when Joey, or rather, as she now knew, Jake, wouldn't stop crying. The boy had finally answered a few questions and she now knew that his parents were named Jack and Sam, and his little sister's name was Annabelle, not Diana. She was waiting somewhat impatiently for her husband to see what he could tell her.
"Frank, is there someone named Carter or O'Neill who works at the Pentagon?" she asked him when he got home.
"No, Jenny, there isn't-no, wait, a few years ago there was an Air Force captain named Samantha Carter who worked there, but she got transferred to Colorado." He thought for a few more minutes. "I heard that she married some guy named Jack O'Neill, a colonel or something in the Air Force out there. There was some kind of big stink about it because he was her commanding officer."
"They have any kids?" she asked nonchalantly, doing her best to hide her shock at the names.
"Don't know," he said, then he looked at her curiously. "Why do you want to know?"
"No reason, I just heard the names today, and I was curious," she answered. "Come on, I've got your dinner ready," and they went into the kitchen to eat. After dinner, they watched a little television, then Frank went to bed. Jenny waited to make sure he was asleep, then she got out a book listing military installations in the United States, and turned to the Colorado section. Noticing the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, she decided to start there. Dialing information, she asked for the number of Colonel Jack O'Neill.
************
Jack was sitting in the living room, just staring straight ahead. Sam had gone to bed earlier, exhausted from her grief. They'd reached a dead end in the search for their children, and she'd just about reached the end of her rope. He was trying to be there to support her, but he was in need of support, too, and Sam was in no condition to support anyone. In a few minutes, he would go to bed, and they would cling to each other, grieving for their missing children. When the phone rang, he automatically reached for it.
"O'Neill," he said wearily.
"Colonel Jack O'Neill?" a woman's voice asked. "Your wife is named Samantha?"
"Yes," he answered. "Who is this?"
"I'd rather not tell you my name, but I need to know, do you know a three-year-old boy named Jake?" The woman was talking very softly, and sounded nervous.
"Yes, that's my son," Jack answered cautiously. "Why do you ask?"
"Is he missing? And a little girl too, about a year old?"
Jack decided to throw caution to the winds. "Yes, he's missing, and my daughter is too. Do you know where they are?"
"Yes, sir, I do," she answered, then she gave him an address. "You'd better hurry, they said something about tests, then they were going to 'get rid' of him."
"Thanks," Jack said, but he was talking to the dial tone. He hung up the phone. "Oh, please, let this be on the level," he prayed, then he went to wake Sam.
************
Jenny hung up the phone and sat there for a minute, then smiled. She'd done the right thing, that was all she COULD do. Now those poor little kids would be back with their parents where they belonged. She went to bed and slept peacefully for the first time in a week.
************
Jenny rose at her usual time the next morning, got ready for work and prepared breakfast for herself and her husband. Then she went to work at her regular time, just as usual. She hoped beyond hope that the children's parents would arrive that day. From the sound of the man she'd talked to the night before, Colonel O'Neill, he didn't sound like a man to let the grass grow under his feet. Arriving at the mansion on the outskirts of Washington, she parked her car in the space allotted to her, and passed through the gates. She didn't notice the people sitting in a nondescript sedan parked down the block, watching her entrance.
"Is that her?" Sam asked Daniel who was looking at the file that General Hammond had given them before they left Colorado Springs early that morning..
"Yeah, it looks like her," Daniel answered. "That's the woman who called you last night, Jack."
"At least she showed up for work this morning," Jack said. "After calling me last night, she could've decided to stay home in case something happened today."
"Something is going to happen today." Sam's voice was steely. "We're going to get out children back!"
************
Maybourne was viewing the videotapes of the baby in her crib. According to his linguists, the little girl was babbling in goa'uld. He was practically rubbing his hands together in glee at this development. Why the boy hadn't been Harsesis was still being determined by genetic testing, but the little girl clearly was.
"Well, O'Neill, looks like I got what I wanted after all," Maybourne said to himself, chuckling. "Who's got the upper hand now?" And he laughed out loud. He'd been questioned by the joint chiefs about the disappearance of the O'Neill children, but he'd denied any knowledge of what had happened to them. He'd stuck firm to his story, and there was nothing they could do. As long as his superiors held the power they did in the government, his project was safe. And getting revenge on Jack O'Neill just made it sweeter.. Captain Parker, the officer who'd hired the babysitter, was getting tired of the boy's crying for his mother all the time, so as soon as the testing on him was over they'd dispose of him. He was useless to them. Maybourne thought about how much the kid looked like his nemesis O'Neill. Yes, it would be a pleasure to "dispose" of that one!
The ringing of the phone interrupted his reverie. Lifting the phone, he said, "Maybourne here."
"Sir, we've got a problem down here at the gate," the guard on duty said. "You need to come down to straighten it out."
Sighing impatiently at the incompetence of those who worked under him, Maybourne said, "I'm on my way." He went down to the gate to see what the problem was.
When he arrived, he was in shock. There were members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff there accompanied by O'Neill, his wife, that archaeologist and what looked like a platoon of SF's.
"Hello, Maybourne," Jack greeted him, sounding pleasant, but the look in his eyes scared Maybourne. "How ya doin'?"
"O'Neill, what are you doing here?" Maybourne tried to act nonchalant, but faced with so many generals, the act was a failure.
"I've come to get my son and daughter," Jack answered him, grabbing him by the shirt and hauling him up against the wall of the guard station. "I've brought some of my friends" indicating the members of the Joint Chiefs and the SF's, "to help." He pressed his arm across Maybourne's throat and pushed, hard. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just break your neck right now, you son of a bitch."
Daniel grabbed Jack's arm. "The kids might see something, you don't want them exposed to that, do you, Jack?"
Jack looked at Daniel, who could see how torn his friend was. He glanced back up to the house, and decided that his children were more important than revenge. Jack shoved Maybourne down onto the ground and turned to the generals behind him. "Gentlemen, sirs, I believe we can go in now." Leading the way, Jack, followed by Sam, Daniel, the generals and the security forces, strode up the driveway and into the mansion that Maybourne was using as his headquarters. They all went up the stairs, where they heard a small child crying for his mother, and another one crying at the top of its lungs.
"Jake, Annabelle!" Sam exclaimed, then she started calling, "Jake, mommy's here. I'm here Jake."
A scream of "Mommy" was followed by the pounding of little fists on a door. Running down the hallway, Sam paused in front of the door to the room from which the sound was emanating.
"Jake, stand back from the door," Sam called, needing him to move away, because she was going to break down the door.
"I've got him," a muffled woman's voice called out. Daniel came forward to help Sam get inside the room, but Jack held him back.
"She needs to do this herself," he told Daniel. Daniel opened his mouth to object, then he nodded in understanding. Sam hadn't been able to protect her children, but now she could rescue them.
Lifting her foot, Sam kicked in the locked door, causing it to fly back from the doorframe into the wall. Walking into the room, she saw a woman around her own age standing against the back wall holding Jake and Annabelle. She smiled at Sam and let Jake go. Like a bullet, Jake ran to his mother, throwing himself into her arms.
"Mommy, bad lady hurted me," he said, almost incoherent in his emotional state. Sam looked up at the woman who was still holding Annabelle.
"That lady hurt you?" she questioned him, pointing at the woman standing against the wall. Sam stood with Jake in her arms.
"No, not her." Jake shook his head adamantly. "She nice. BAD lady hurted me."
At that moment Jack walked into the room. Jake squealed and started crying for Jack. "Daddy, Daddy!" he cried, reaching for his father. Jack took Jake into his arms, and Sam turned to the woman holding Annabelle.
The woman stood there a little awkwardly, holding a screaming Annabelle, then she walked toward Sam, who met her in the middle of the room. Lifting her distraught daughter into her arms, Sam comforted her and soon she was asleep against Sam's shoulder. She turned and saw Jack standing there holding a now calm Jake in his arms. Sam walked over to him and he wrapped his free arm around her and his daughter, relieved that the nightmare was almost over. Tonight they would all be home in their own beds.
************
Sam got up out of bed for what had to be the hundredth time to check on Jake and Annabelle. She was still having trouble believing that they were actually at home. The week that they'd been missing had been pure hell, and she was afraid that she was just having a dream, and when she woke up, they'd be gone.
When she returned and climbed back into bed, Jack put his arms around her and pulled her close.
"Hey, they're fine now," he said, kissing her cheek. "That woman, Jenny, took good care of them. They'll forget all about this soon."
"Annabelle probably will, she's so little, but Jake's three, I'm afraid that he'll remember being taken from us that way." Sam wrapped her arms around her husband and snuggled close.
"If he does, then we'll get some kind of counseling for him, okay?" Jack tipped her head back and looked into her eyes. "We're all back together safe and sound."
"You should've killed Maybourne when you had the chance. It would have been justifiable homicide." Sam was still angry at that idiot Maybourne. She was, however, grateful to Jenny Phillips for taking the initiative and asking Jake about his name and who his parents were. She'd be forever grateful to the woman. Jake had hugged her before they left and told her she was a nice lady.
"Believe me, I came close to it," Jack told her. "If it hadn't been for the kids maybe seeing something, I believe I would have."
"They'd better put Maybourne away for a long damn time," Sam stated, blood in her eye.
"I hope so," Jack said, uncertain as to what they'd charge Maybourne with. He did kidnap Jake and Annabelle, but it was associated with the Stargate program, which was an ultra top secret and classified black project. It was more likely that he'd get a slap on the wrist and be told to be more careful in the future. It wasn't fair, but that was just the way it was. "Anyway, Annabelle is safe from him now. He won't dare touch her again, or I WILL kill him, I don't care if the President himself is watching."
Sam lifted her head from it's resting place on his shoulder. "I love you, Jack O'Neill." She leaned down and kissed his lips.
"I love you, Samantha Carter."
************
The End
Story Notes: EMAIL: kesc@email.com
SPOILERS: Seasons 1-3
SEQUEL: Sequel to "The Child"
ARCHIVE: Sam and Jack Relationship Archive, Heliopolis
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I suggest you read my fic, "The Child" before you read this to get the background information. It is archived on The Sam and Jack Relationship Archive and Heliopolis.
SPOILERS: Seasons 1-3
SEQUEL: Sequel to "The Child"
ARCHIVE: Sam and Jack Relationship Archive, Heliopolis
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I suggest you read my fic, "The Child" before you read this to get the background information. It is archived on The Sam and Jack Relationship Archive and Heliopolis.
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc, are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. ... [ read more ]