Chapter nine
When Thanksgiving arrived, Sam even contacted George Hammond to see if he knew where her parents might be, but had no luck.
When she returned home as she drove up into the drive way she noticed other cars there and knew Jack’s family had arrived. She got out of her car and walked up to the front door. She open it and walked inside to hear laughter and smell turkey cooking. Sam took her shoes and coat off and walked into the living room, and then stopped when she heard “Hey who are you?”
“I'm Sam, who are you?”
“Sam.” She turned around and grinned when she saw Jack. They hugged and kissed, which shocked the rest of the family, except, of course, his mother.
“Jack what are you doing kissing a teenager?” Sam turned around.
“You must be Patrick, and your wife Olivia; Christopher, although you like to be called Chris, your wife Stella; Brian, your wife Alice; Donald, although you like to called Don and your wife Ann” Sam said looking at each of them.
“Sam, I'm pleased you’re back, Jack here has been driving me crazy.” Sam smiled.
“Well I'm back...Mom.” That shocked the family.
“Sam is my wife and if you don't like it you know where the door is. Sam knows what I'm like and Mom has accepted her into this family. As for our age differences, we don't care.”
“Come on lunch is ready.” They walked into the dining room and sat down around the table. Sam sat next to Jack.
They all talked and laughed while enjoying lunch. They even asked Sam different questions which she was able to answer. The family watched Jack and Sam feed the twins as well as themselves. After lunch and the dishes were done and kids put down for their nap, they all walked in to the living room to watch football. Sam was sitting on Jack’s lap since there wasn't room. He didn't mind.
When the game was over, they talked and Sam made them all laugh with stories about the different things she did while growing up. Later that afternoon, Sam and Jack were up on the roof they were hugging and kissing.
“You’re not going to believe who I bumped into the other day” Jack declared.
“Who?”
“Lou Ferretti.”
“Really?”
“Yep, Lou just graduated.”
“Well, I know that in couple of months he will be in black ops.”
“Yeah, I remember.” They both hugged.
“Let’s go and see what the family are doing now.”
“Sure. I had a great day.”
“I'm pleased you did. How did you do with George?”
“He’s going to find out for me and let me know.”
“OK, come on.” They walked back inside and went to check on the twins before heading downstairs to Jack’s family. Later that night, after every one left, Jack and Sam were finally able to go to bed; it had been a very long day for them.
While Jack was at work, Sam had been taking the twins to day care so they could get used to it for when Sam started at the Academy in June the next year. While the twins were in day care, Sam had been going to the gym where Air Force personnel went to work out.
Jack didn't mind paying for the day care and gym fees, for Sam, because he knew how important it was for her not just to join the Air Force, but for her to be ready for what was going to happen in the not too distant future.
At Christmastime, it was just Jack and Sam alone with the twins. Jack’s mother had gone to Chris and Stella’s place that year. Her sons took turns having their mother with them for the holidays. Sam’s birthday and New Year’s Jack and Sam spent alone with the twins.
After New Year’s, Jack was called away for a mission so Sam gave him a kiss and hug before he left.
When the twins started moving around while on the floor, it made both Jack and Sam happy, especially when they started to stand up on their own and try walking to either of them.
When the twins’ first birthday arrived Jack’s family visited. So did George Hammond and his family and friends of both Jack and Sam. Sam was in the kitchen when George joined her.
“Sam.” She turn around.
“Uncle George, enjoying yourself?”
“Yes. The kids sure are growing up fast.”
“I know, are you OK?”
“I spoke to Jacob.” Sam looked at him and waited for him to continue.
“He’s not happy with you.”
“What do you mean? I haven't seen him for almost nineteen months.”
“I know. General Miller saw him few months ago and told him that you are married and about the twins.”
“Who’s General Miller?”
“Remember Captain Miller?”
“Doug Miller? The one who is in prison?”
“Yes. General Miller is Captain Miller’s father.” Sam thought about it.
“Crap... the General from the court martial, he wasn't wearing his name tag.”
“He told Jacob a lot of lies about you and Jack.” Sam closed her eyes then opened them.
“Do you know where he's stationed?”
“He’s still where he was. He changed his phone number.”
“So that I can't call. What about Mom?”
“He’s not happy with her either.”
“Damn him.”
“Sam.”
“Thanks for telling me Uncle George. I know what he's like.”
“And you are like him.”
“I know.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don't know yet, but I'll think of something. Come on, the kids will want their cake.”
Sam picked up a big tray with the cake on it and walked out of the kitchen and into the games room, since it was the biggest room in the house. Sam put on a brave face for the rest of the day.
Later that night, while in bed Jack turned to look at Sam. “Sam what’s wrong? Since you returned from the kitchen you’ve had on a fake smile. What happened”?
“Uncle George told me where Mom and Dad are. Remember Captain Miller’s court martial?”
“Yes.”
“There was a general in there.”
“Yeah. I didn't see his name tag. Who was he?”
“Captain Miller’s father.” Jack raised his eye brows.
“Really?”
“Yeah. It gets even better. The general told Dad a whole lot of crap about us and the kids.”
“You’re joking! Like what?”
“I don't know, but he's pissed off with Mom.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“I was thinking of flying to Washington and having a little chat with Dad.”
“Sam.”
“Jack, we both know what he's like.”
“True, are you sure?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“Want me to go with you?”
“No, but thanks. I'll deal with him myself.”
“I’ll make the arrangements for you to get to Washington.”
“I'll fly commercial, while I can.”
“Whatever you prefer, Sam.” Then he gave her a kiss.
“But for now, I'm going to cheer you up” he said grinning.
“How?”
“This is how.” Then he disappeared under the covers.
“Jack!” Sam squealed as he tickled her. When he appeared again, he gave her a kiss and they made love before falling asleep in each other’s arms.
Two days later Sam flew to Washington. When she got there, a friend of Jack’s was waiting at the arrival gate.
“Hi, Sam.”
“Hi, Don. Thanks for the lift to my parent's place.”
“No problem. So how are the kids?”
“Which ones? I’ve got three of them some days.” Don laughed.
“Who would have ever thought that the big, bad, mean Air Force black ops Colonel would be acting like a big baby?”
“Me” she said smiling.
“Come on, you're joking, right?”
“Nope, even Mom has seen him act like a big baby.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah.” They walked towards the exit while talking and laughing.
An hour later, Don pulled up in front of the Carter house. He passed her a piece of paper.
“Here’s my number. Call me when you want to leave.”
“Thanks, Don.”
“No problem. If it weren't for Jack, I wouldn't be here”
“I know.” Sam got out of the car and picked up a box then closed the door.
She walked up the drive way and to the front door. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and walked inside. The house looked the same as it had the last time she was there. She walked in to the dining room to see her father reading the paper while having a cup of coffee.
“Hello, Dad.” Jacob looked up in shock. He hadn’t heard any one walk into the room.
“Sam, what the hell are you doing here?” he said raising his voice. Sam turned when Mel walked into the room.
“Sam” she said in shock.
“Hi, Mom” she said smiling then gave her a hug. Then she turned to her father.
“As for what I’m doing here, I'm here to get few things straight,
Dad.”
“I don't want to hear it.” He stood up.
“Sit down” Sam said in colonel tone which shocked Jacob and Mel.
“Don’t you dare tell me what to do young lady” he yelled back.
“So you'd rather take the word of a pissed off general whose son I sent to Leavenworth rather listen to your own daughter?”
“Then it is true you married some Air Force colonel?”
“Colonel Jonathan “Jack” O'Neill, born twenty October nineteen fifty-two.”
“What! He’s...33?” Jacob demanded.
“Yes, Dad, 33 and a full bird colonel.”
“He knocked you up and then married you!”
“No the other way around. We got married before I got pregnant. We were married for two months when I found out that I was six weeks pregnant. The twins were seven weeks premature. That is why it looks like I was pregnant before we got married.”
“Jacob, Sam’s right.”
“Mel, you stay out of this.”
“No, Dad, Mom knows what I'm talking about. Remember she and Uncle Joe are twins, they were eight weeks premature, so Mom knows what I mean.”
“Still, you’re too young to have a family. What about the Air Force?”
“I'm still joining and Jack and I have got everything covered.”
“What about the kids? Who's going to look after them if you and the colonel end up going overseas?”
“Jack’s mother and day care where they are now.”
“You’ve got your mother–in-law to look after your kids? What about Jack’s father?”
“He’s not in the picture. Jack saved his mother’s life from him years go. His father was just about to kill his mother if Jack hadn't shown up. Jack beat him up, tossed him out of the house and threatened him. The week after that, they divorced and Mom got everything, the house, car, everything. Jack is the third eldest of five boys and the third one to go to Vietnam where he did three tours.”
“Sam, I think I met Jack. Is he about 6’2”, brown hair and eyes, lop sided grin, and strange sense of humor?”
“That’s Jack and, yes, I know what he did, Mom, he told me.”
“What’s going on here?” Sam turned to her father.
“One day you and Mom will find out, but today’s not the time. For now, just don't ask any questions about it, not till I know the timing is right. For now I got you both something.”
She opened the box and pulled out an eighteen by twenty four inch silver photo frame. She turned it around so her father could look at it. Mel moved till she saw it.
“Sam, you look beautiful.”
It was photo of Sam in her wedding dress with Pikes Peak in the background. She passed it to her mother, then she got second one out and showed them. It was one of her and Jack.
“Sam, that's him, that's the one who picked me up from the airport!”
“That’s Colonel O'Neill?” Jacob asked.
“Yes, Dad.” She passed the photo to him.
Then she picked up an album and passed it to Jacob. He put the photo frame on the table and went through the photos. They were from her wedding.
“Sam, whose house is that?” Mel asked.
“That is where Jack's mother lives.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“I know. Our house is four times bigger.”
“Really? How can he afford a place like that?”
“He went to Las Vegas and won big, so he had the houses built.”
“What does Jack’s mother do?”
“She’s a cook at the Academy. She works there three times a week eight hours a day. She plans to retire this year. She’s been working at the Academy for almost eighteen years. She started working there when Jack was in training.”
“Really?” Mel asked.
“Yes.” Sam got out another album.
“This was Jack's idea.” She passed the album to Mel, who opened it. “What’s this at the bottom ‘six weeks’?” Sam
smiled widely.
“That is how many weeks pregnant I was.” Mel looked through it. Jacob also looked at the photos of Sam as she got bigger.
“This one is a follow up.” Jacob opened the album. The first page was of Sam and Jack holding the twins not long after they were born.
“Wow, they sure were tiny babies when they were born” Mel said
“I know, both weighing barely five pounds. They had to stay in the hospital for a week since they were premature, but at least they are healthy.”
“True.” They flipped through each of the photos from the twins’ first bath, first steps, everything right up to their first birthday. Mel laughed at one of the photos.
“I love this one.” Sam look at it. It was photos of the twins putting their hands into the cake while the candle was still lit.
“Yeah, that is a good one. Jack and I ended up blowing out the candle. Turn the page.”
Jacob turned the page to see Jack and Sam blowing the candles out while twins had cake all over their fingers and mouths.
“Sam these photos are amazing it’s a shame we weren't there.”
“But you can see the whole thing.” Sam picked up a videotape and passed it to them.
“We recorded the whole thing.” Then they heard the door open and close.
Author's Notes: Feed back, yes please
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 ]