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TR debut
Of all the fool damn things he’s done over the years, Jack is pretty sure that diving into icy cold water is way, way up on the list. McKay needs him to drain the jumper bay and apparently the only way to do that is to dive down there, look around for some switch, and flip it. McKay seems to think it’s pretty obvious but apparently Jack’s having an obtuse day - none of these controls seem obvious in any sense of the word.
The cold seeps in almost down to his bones and his lungs are burning from lack of air. He can hold his breath for a decent amount of time but he’s got no idea which of these switches he’s supposed to be pushing or pulling. Nothing to do but go back up and bark at McKay until he can give him a better description of what is and isn’t obvious on Atlantis. Damn Ancients. Why couldn’t it have been one of those ATA activated things where he could just think “open” from up on the ground, dry, and skirt around this whole mess?
When he breaks the surface again, Woolsey is there looking all expectant-like and Jack wishes like hell he had something to tell him. Thing is, he doesn’t and Woolsey isn’t the one he needs to talk to anyway.
“Did you do it?” Jack shakes his head and holds out his palm. “Radio.” Woolsey hands it over with a minimum of fuss but he’s still hovering and Jack knows that he’ll have to feed him something just to keep him from panicking and revealing their position. First things first, he’s got to talk to McKay.
“McKay. You and I have very different definitions of the word obvious.” McKay squawks a little, out of his element, and Jack interrupts him. “There are dozens of controls down there and I wouldn’t even know how to describe.” Still, he and McKay come to some kind of consensus that the emergency switch should be toward the middle of the console and extremely prominent. Jack hopes, for everyone’s sake, that he’s right.
He’s not really fond of going back in the water but a little cold water’s hardly the worst thing he’s faced in twenty plus years of a decorated military career. If Sheppard and his team can pull off this rescue, it will have been more than worth it for Jack to get hypothermia and frostbite. More than worth it. He takes in a deep breath and goes back under, swimming to the center of the room and pushing at a likely switch.
It seems to be draining the room, so Jack releases it, only to see the water rush back in. Great. One more trip topside to inform McKay that he’s a complete idiot and he’s back in the water again, hopefully for the last time. He pushes at the switch and ignores the burn in his lungs, ignores the way his vision goes black around the edges. When everything starts feeling fuzzy and he feels light-headed, he keeps holding on, knowing that everyone’s fate pretty much depends on Sheppard and the rest of them getting into Atlantis to take it back from these damn replicators.
He focuses on that, the rescue, and it feels like time slows down and he’s suspended for a little while. The big difference is that he feels like he’s sprawled out on a flat surface and while he’s wet and cold, it doesn’t feel like he’s underwater anymore. He gasps in a deep breath, chokes on it, and spends the next few seconds coughing and sputtering and wondering where in the galaxy he’s wound up. Replicators. Of course. Like as not, he’s in a room somewhere with some alien’s hand in his head and none of this is even real. When he hears footsteps, he decides to go on the offensive.
“Look. You’re not getting anything from me. Hell, I don’t even know anything. You captured the wrong guy if you wanna know how to get from Pegasus to Milky Way because I don’t even know how the damn gate works, much less that bridge Carter and McKay dreamed up. Completely out of luck.”
There. That should satisfy them, right?
The cold seeps in almost down to his bones and his lungs are burning from lack of air. He can hold his breath for a decent amount of time but he’s got no idea which of these switches he’s supposed to be pushing or pulling. Nothing to do but go back up and bark at McKay until he can give him a better description of what is and isn’t obvious on Atlantis. Damn Ancients. Why couldn’t it have been one of those ATA activated things where he could just think “open” from up on the ground, dry, and skirt around this whole mess?
When he breaks the surface again, Woolsey is there looking all expectant-like and Jack wishes like hell he had something to tell him. Thing is, he doesn’t and Woolsey isn’t the one he needs to talk to anyway.
“Did you do it?” Jack shakes his head and holds out his palm. “Radio.” Woolsey hands it over with a minimum of fuss but he’s still hovering and Jack knows that he’ll have to feed him something just to keep him from panicking and revealing their position. First things first, he’s got to talk to McKay.
“McKay. You and I have very different definitions of the word obvious.” McKay squawks a little, out of his element, and Jack interrupts him. “There are dozens of controls down there and I wouldn’t even know how to describe.” Still, he and McKay come to some kind of consensus that the emergency switch should be toward the middle of the console and extremely prominent. Jack hopes, for everyone’s sake, that he’s right.
He’s not really fond of going back in the water but a little cold water’s hardly the worst thing he’s faced in twenty plus years of a decorated military career. If Sheppard and his team can pull off this rescue, it will have been more than worth it for Jack to get hypothermia and frostbite. More than worth it. He takes in a deep breath and goes back under, swimming to the center of the room and pushing at a likely switch.
It seems to be draining the room, so Jack releases it, only to see the water rush back in. Great. One more trip topside to inform McKay that he’s a complete idiot and he’s back in the water again, hopefully for the last time. He pushes at the switch and ignores the burn in his lungs, ignores the way his vision goes black around the edges. When everything starts feeling fuzzy and he feels light-headed, he keeps holding on, knowing that everyone’s fate pretty much depends on Sheppard and the rest of them getting into Atlantis to take it back from these damn replicators.
He focuses on that, the rescue, and it feels like time slows down and he’s suspended for a little while. The big difference is that he feels like he’s sprawled out on a flat surface and while he’s wet and cold, it doesn’t feel like he’s underwater anymore. He gasps in a deep breath, chokes on it, and spends the next few seconds coughing and sputtering and wondering where in the galaxy he’s wound up. Replicators. Of course. Like as not, he’s in a room somewhere with some alien’s hand in his head and none of this is even real. When he hears footsteps, he decides to go on the offensive.
“Look. You’re not getting anything from me. Hell, I don’t even know anything. You captured the wrong guy if you wanna know how to get from Pegasus to Milky Way because I don’t even know how the damn gate works, much less that bridge Carter and McKay dreamed up. Completely out of luck.”
There. That should satisfy them, right?
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She pulls her coat from the rack by the door and then hesitates. "I don't know how William will react," she warns Jack. "He was close to you before, and to Daniel--and Daniel was here twice and William really took it hard the second time, when he left. He's a sweet boy, Jack, so if he doesn't seem like it now, he's just having a hard time."
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He manages to push Thor down a little and rubs between the wolf's ears. "Go get them. I want...I want to see her."
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"Okay," she says quietly. "I'll be back in a little bit."
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He's equal parts nervous and excited and when he hears the door swing in, he's already on his feet.
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And then there's not much else to do than take the short walk home. It's not a long enough walk for her to really think about how she actually feels about all this. It's good to see Jack, certainly, but it's painful, too--in some ways, it's like he's someone she doesn't know. But he's stuck here and she's just dumped a lot on him and it's not like she's going to walk away.
When they enter the apartment, William clings to her leg. He doesn't pull his hat off or his coat and drop them in the floor like he usually does; he just curls his fingers in her pants leg and holds on, peering at Jack from behind her knee.
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"I know I'm probably kinda weird, huh? Since I was here and left and now I came back? I'm sorry for that."
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"Why don't you take your coat off, kiddo?" Sam suggests gently, but William shakes his head. "Okay. Maybe just your hat?" He doesn't take it off, but he doesn't stop Sam from peeling it off one-handed, and he stares at Jack the whole time. It's another one of those times Sam wishes she knew what William is thinking.
"Sorry," she says quietly to Jack. "He's a little shy."
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Maybe it's broken down kind of simple but that fear is there, especially since Carter told him that this kid had loved the previous version of him on the island.
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"'kay," William murmurs, his voice muffled against her leg, and after a moment he peels himself away from her and shuffles down the hall to his room. Sam waits until he's out of earshot to say, "He's lost a lot. It's nobody's fault, it's not like it's something anyone can control, but he doesn't understand it yet."
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That still doesn't settle the fact that there's a little pink and white bundle of infant in Carter's arms and Jack wants to hold her, wants to see her little face and see who she looks like.
"So that's baby girl, huh? I like the name."
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Sam doesn't know whether she ought to offer to let Jack hold her or if maybe he doesn't want to; she's lost the ability to read him like she used to, and she feels like she ought to protect them somehow, but that's completely irrational--she knows Jack, any Jack, would do anything for her and her kids whether they were his or not and they don't need protecting from him of all people. Maybe it's the potential for loss that she wants to shield them from, not wanting William to be more miserable than he already is, not wanting Janet to experience it at all.
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It takes him a minute before he can say anything and when he does, his voice is low and soft. "She's beautiful, Carter. Completely perfect."
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She shifts Janet in her arms so Jack can get a better look at her, and it's enough to wake her, even though Sam didn't meant to do that just yet. Janet opens her eyes gradually, like it's an effort to wake up while bundled in warm blankets.
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"Hey there, pretty girl. You sleepy over there on Mama? Don't blame you. I bet that's a real nice place to sleep."
He feels kind of like an idiot baby-talking but she's his daughter he and figures nobody will judge him for it.
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"If you think it'll be all right, I'd like to."
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It's hard for Sam to look at them, and she looks away; her chest feels tight and she's hot all over and she slips out of her coat, using putting it away as an excuse not to stare.
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"I'm your daddy. Yup. I'm kinda late getting here but I love you, kid, and I always will."
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Sam makes a hasty retreat to William's room, where he's curled up on his bed with his favorite blanket. He's only recently moved into a 'big boy bed' and this one, with this apartment seems bigger, making William seem even smaller and more vulnerable--and that forces her to pull it together, because he needs her to. "You okay, kiddo?" she asks, and sits beside him on the bed.
"Uh-huh," he says, and curls up close to her. He looks tired and a little sad and Sam worries about him.
She pets his hair and sighs. "I know, it's hard, honey," she says. "It'll be okay." She feels like a hypocrite telling him this when she's not sure of it herself, but what else is she going to say? She can't even promise him that she won't disappear and reappear. "I need to talk to Uncle Jack for a while. Help him figure stuff out. I haven't forgotten about your story, though. Before bed. I promise."
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Carter's been out of the room for a little while when Janet starts to fuss and squirm and a quick check of her diaper proves that's not it. Jack doesn't know where the bottles are, or if she's breast feeding, so he tries to comfort Janet as best he can before going to find Carter in William's room.
"Carter? She's fussing. I checked to see if she was wet but she's not so I guess she needs to eat, maybe?"
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"I'm just going to go in my room," she says, and it's a little awkward because she doesn't want Janet to start crying again. "But there are other things you should know about this place--I mean, don't go anywhere, okay?" And the other thing is that yes, it hurts to see him, it hurts like hell, it's good to see him, too, and she doesn't want him to disappear so soon.
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It's true, though he wouldn't go anywhere anyway. He's not that kind of person to abandon someone he cares about even if it's pretty clear Carter's got this handled.
"I'm just gonna go...sit in the living room? That good?"
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She thinks that when she's in her room, alone with the baby, she might have a chance to process what's happened in the last hour, but she finds it's hard to think about much of anything. She feels numb and a little lost. And stupid, too, to have never considered the idea that Jack might come back--Daniel did, after all, but she supposes she didn't think about the idea in relation to Jack because it's a very Daniel thing to die or disappear and show right back up again.
Jack, not so much.
So she doesn't think about anything other than the logisitcs of getting this new Jack acquainted with this stupid island. Janet is too little to notice anything, and once her tummy is full she ends up mostly asleep against Sam's chest, a relaxed and half-drunk expression on her face. Sam decides to let her sleep, putting her down in her crib and lightly covering her with a blanket, then Sam straightens her clothes and goes back out to the living room.
"Janet's asleep," she says, with a little shrug towards her bedroom. "I just put her down for a while."
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It occurs to Jack that for the first time in over twenty years, he doesn't have anything to do. He doesn't have a team to command or CO to check in with or reports to file or anything and he's a little at loose ends. He doesn't know what to do or say to Carter, who seems upset he's shown up, and all he wants is to go get the baby and hold her until he gets his fill even though she's tired and wants to sleep.
"But I guess I can go, if you need me to? I shouldn't be coming in here and turning your life upside down."
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In the movies, when someone gets back someone they thought they'd lost, it's a happy reunion and it's all fireworks and swelling music, but Sam doesn't feel any of that. She just feels numb.
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