Stargate SG1 Fan Fiction ❯ The Secret Life of a Major General ❯ Chapter 41 ( Chapter 41 )

Chapter 41

Kitchen, O’Neill’s Residence, Alexandria, VA
July 2, 2005
Afternoon

Sam was pensive after finishing her seriously abridged story. After some silence between them she looked expectantly at Mark who was studying her with a serious expression on his face. “What?”

Mark shook his head. “Nothing really, I just don’t ever remember you talking like this before. Or maybe, you did and I just didn’t let myself see it.”

“Like what?” Sam asked self-consciously.

“Like a person,” Mark looked faintly embarrassed at saying that, the anger that had fuelled him from the airport dissipating the more he talked with his sister. “I know you’re a person, but sometimes… Sam, in many ways by the time you were a teenager and Mom died, you always seemed to be perfect.” Now it was Mark who held up a hand to forestall a protest from Sam. “This perfect person who was a genius and once you enlisted, was an uptight, emotionless, and by-the-book AF officer. All I saw was a female reflection of Dad. I stopped looking for my big sister I guess.

“And because I stopped looking, I thought that you needed to have a life like I do, not considering that, even though you didn’t appear to have a life when you visited us, you did have one. One you didn’t talk about—couldn’t really if the regs are what I remember them to be,” Mark half smirked, “but was still there.”

Sam ducked her head and gave a half nod of embarrassment.

“So, why don’t you tell me some more about your safe bet?” Mark offered the olive branch.

“Well…” Sam considered how to answer that question. “Well he’s career military like me, and yes much older but age doesn’t matter when you find the right one.” Mark nodded and urged his sister to continue. “We met eight years ago, when I was transferred to the NORAD base as I mentioned and things snowballed… well it was a hero’s crush, then infatuation mixed with friendship, then maybe just friendship, then really… or maybe it moved from infatuation to the real thing and the friendship was always there.” Sam said considering.

“He is divorced, but his marriage ended with the tragic accidental death of his son,” Sam looked at Mark as she said that, clearly catching the half stunned, half horrified expression of her brother at hearing that, “and became a father again at the beginning of the year when his sister and her husband were killed, leaving him Tyler and Emily.”

“Really?” Mark enquired, as stunned at learning the man’s twins were really his niece and nephew, as they seemed to be his children, as he was by learning that Jack had lost a son already.

“Yes,” Sam nodded. “You see it too, don’t you? That if there was any man made to be a father, it was Jack.”

Mark nodded. Even with the brief interaction he had seen between Jack and the twins, there was no denying their obvious rapport. It was near impossible to believe that the man had already had and lost a child.

“So, there’s that… he loves fishing, also loves being in the quiet of the country, hates politicians and bemoans the fact that for all effects and purposes he is one with this DC posting, is overly fond of using sarcasm, and… and can always make me laugh.” Sam smiled fondly. “He claims to not be complex and have no brains, which as far as I’m concerned is a lie.”

“How so?”

Sam hesitated for a moment. How to explain that world leaders, of alien planets and nations, recognised Jack as a brilliant strategist? When most people on Earth did not believe the man could think his way out of a paper bag? “Well he says he doesn’t understand my science talks, I know that’s a lie simply because you don’t get to the rank of colonel—let alone being a pilot—by being dumb. Plus, there’s probably less than ten percent of the entire world that understands the minute detail of what I know.”

Mark snorted. “Sam, I think you’re being generous. Probably only three percent do.”

Sam laughed. “That is such a Jack thing to say. Anyway, he gets the basic science and always, always is able to ground me. Get me back to the basic question and send me in the right direction when I’m stuck. That isn’t something someone who’s dumb, or doesn’t understand, would be able to do. As for being complex, well on the surface he is as simple as he claims to be, with his dedication to the job, the team, and duty…” Sam shook her head. She could not really explain his complexities to herself. How could she explain them to her brother?

“And if I ever learn half the things he’s been trying to teach me over the years preparing me for command as his second, I’ll maybe be a fraction of the officer he is.”

A snort of someone disagreeing from the kitchen doorway interrupted their discussion. The blond heads of the Carter siblings turned to see Jack in the archway with a sardonic expression on his face. Sam and Jack’s eyes meet and she understood and was reassured from the affection in his eyes that whatever emotions his argument earlier with Daniel had churned up, had been dealt with.

“Don’t believe a word she says,” Jack commented as he moved towards the refrigerator. “She was a perfect second. It’s hard not being a good leader when you have someone like her doing all the work in the background.”

Sam shot her fiancé an exasperated look to which he gave a cheeky grin.

“But seriously,” Jack began as he took juice from the fridge and opened a cupboard for cups. “Sam will do great when she gets a command position. I’m only sorry I won’t see it.”

“What?” Mark asked surprised and concerned by Jack’s last remark. Was there something they were not telling him—about Jack’s health maybe? His sister was almost a full bird colonel and from everything his Dad had grudgingly admitted to over the years, his big sister was destined to become a brigadier general. Why wouldn’t Jack be around when she was two ranks away?

“Ah, sorry, I’m sorry I won’t be there to see it. With her being,” Jack waved a hand about in the air, “wherever, and me being here with the twins.”

Mark relaxed now that he understood what the man was saying. His reserve about the man thawing just a little bit more with more evidence about the general’s devotion to his niece and nephew. “So you’re staying here?’

Jack nodded and looked resigned as he gathered up the drinks he had poured. “My current position almost guarantees that I’ll be at the Pentagon until my final retirement.”

“So… you’ll be doing a lot of commuting then?” Mark questioned thinking of the fact that with Jack in DC and Sam currently in Nevada, the newlyweds would not be living together for some time.

Sam sighed regretfully as Jack exited from the kitchen. Rising from her seat at the table she picked up the juice container that Jack had left on the counter and gave it a shake. Finding it half full she looked at Mark who shook his head, then poured herself a glass before returning the juice to the fridge.

“We’re taking as much leave as we can after the wedding but no real honeymoon with the twins being so young.” Sam admitted.

Mark gave another nod of understanding and rose from his seat at the table. He still had some reserves, especially concerning the man she was marrying, but he would keep them to himself. He had offered the olive branch and it would be cruel of him to yank it away. “I’d just like to say Sam, I am happy that you’re happy.”

“Thank you Mark.”

Mark smiled. “Now why don’t you really introduce me to the others you invited to your wedding?”

“Okay,” Sam moved towards the living room with her brother trailing behind. “You may remember me talking about them before, but just to give you a refresh. Cassie is the orphaned daughter of an old friend, Janet, who died last year. Daniel is an archaeologist and linguist but I’ll let him tell you about it if you don’t mind your ear being talked off. Teal’c Murray is a liaison and combat specialist with the NORAD base and Jonas Quinn is a former cultural attaché of the base.”