has_2ls | (no subject)

Jack has experienced his fair share of weirdness over the years. There's the whole Stargate thing, for one, which basically jump-started his triple black ops career and there's everything he's experienced from the Goa'uld to the Replicators to the Asgard hijacking him more or less against his will and that hasn't even touched the weirdness of the island.

Oh yes, the island. Hotel California wrapped up in an innocuous little paradise wrapping, that was the island, except the part where his former self somehow managed to jump ship only to come back older and with less of a memory. Yeah. That hadn't been awkward at all but he and Carter had pushed through it somehow. He thinks it probably helped (a lot) that Carter had all these memories of being in love with him and married to him and starting a family together - Jack was pretty quick to hop on board that ship because, honestly, that's all he'd ever wanted anyway. But the island had a tendency to screw with people when they least wanted or expected it so what should have been an idyllic little existence was a little on edge and he and Carter were always looking back over their shoulders to make sure the furniture hadn't come to life or their kids hadn't disappeared or, heaven forbid, one of them didn't disappear again.

Carter had gotten through that with grace. Jack isn't so sure he would have been able to manage losing her. She's always been the stronger one.

Today, though, he's not thinking about anything weird. It's a nice little Easter, warm and sunny, and there's nothing weird attacking the island and his kids are happy and healthy. Janet's toddling around on chubby little legs and William's thoughtfully picking up every Easter egg and examining it within an inch of its life before putting it in his basket and it's sweet, in a way, to get to engage in this kind of relaxed domesticity. He pushes open the door to their house and herds the kids inside.

"Get a move on, kids, you're going to miss lunch." Jack leaves the door open for Carter and follows the kids inside, frowning a little when the interior of his little island-built house looks a hell of a lot like a swank hotel and nothing like the house he and Carter had built with their own two hands.

"Carter? You got my six back there? Looks like the island's up to tricks again." Seriously, he's convinced this place is run by Ba'al, even though Carter says that Ba'al's turned up his toes and is completely eradicated. That seems too good to be true, just like this hotel thing that's just shown up inside his house.

"Better leave that door open behind you, too. Might need to make a quick getaway." Janet starts barreling off toward God only knows what and Jack just hopes his knees hold out until she's an adult because he's seriously, seriously too old for this crap.

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Sam pushes the door further open, but has to let go of it when William decides to take off after Janet and she grabs him just in time to see the door shut behind them. "Too late for that," Sam says, trying the door. It won't open. She's not too bothered by this; this sort of thing is par for the course, so to speak. Just in case, though, she scoops William up and carries him, even though he's heavy now.

"Guess we gotta go forward," he says, pushing onward. This isn't so weird in the grand scheme - he's had worse digs. He doesn't think what looks like a swanky hotel lobby is going to end up being a bad thing but, then again, he also didn't think stuffed animals would come to life or any of the other weird stuff Carter's told him about so...

"Janet, you want me to carry you, kid?" Jack asks, thinking maybe it's better if they keep a tight hold on the kids when exploring a new place. She reaches her hands up for him and he pulls her into his arms.

It's a nice place, whatever it is. Nice enough that Sam feels grubby and a little sandy just walking through. "This is new," Sam says, keeping her tone light, since William seems to be hanging on to her every word. "Island's changed to a lot of things, but never a hotel."

"Thinking this is kind of fancy, yup," Jack says, equally as light. The last thing he wants is to alarm the kids, especially William. William's just old enough to understand disappearances and changes and it all kind of unsettles him a little.

"I guess the obvious thing to do would be go to the front desk and ask the con-si-whatsit if we've got rooms. Right?"

"Guess so," Sam says, and they wander over to what looks like the front desk. She barely gets the question out of her mouth when the concierge gives them a set of room keys and a pair of mobile phones, says, "Welcome to the Nexus," and walks away.

"Well, that's... welcoming," Sam says. The room numbers are printed on the room keys, she adds, "I guess we should go check this out?" William squirms to get down, so Sam puts him down, but keeps hold of his hand. Just in case. She doesn't have a bad feeling about this, exactly, but she's still uneasy.

Jack isn't really sure if he should trust this. The last time he trusted a place that looked gorgeous, he ended up getting addicted to a freaking lightbulb so...he's not really a fan of blind faith anymore. Still, there's a part of him that's always going to want to go through the gate to a new adventure and to see beyond what's right in front of him and it's this part that makes him want to trust this.

He's always come out okay when Carter's been with him, right?

He shifts Janet a little on his hip (she's getting heavy) and starts heading down the hall. "I guess we just have to check door numbers until we find the right one, huh? They don't seem to be numbered in the regular order because that would be too easy."

Sam really wishes she had a weapon right now. Not that she wants it around the kids, but she feels like she'd be a little more... prepared. As it is, all she can do is keep her eyes peeled.

Jack peers at the doors and eventually finds one that matches up to their keys. It looks big, which is probably a requirement more than a luxury at this point and he turns the key in the lock.

"Well, here goes nothing, right?"

Sam picks William up again, even though he doesn't really want to be held, because she's not sure what might be on the other side of that door and she'd rather she and Jack have control of the kids until they're sure things are clear on the other side of this door.

The room turns out to be more like a suite--a big one. Sam peers in closets and bathrooms and behind doors. "Looks good so far."

Jack looks around every corner he can think of and behind the drapes and other than thinking Janet's going to yank them down as soon as she gets a chance, he doesn't think there's anything in here that is inherently dangerous.

"Seems...safe." He heads into the bathroom and lets out a low whistle. "Hey Carter, get a look at these digs. I think you could put three of our hut into that bathroom."

It's a nice bathroom, all right. The nicest she's seen in... well, she can't remember how long. "It seems very... on the extravagant side of normal," she says, the key word being normal. There are a lot of things she wants to talk over with Jack, but it will have to wait until little ears are asleep.

"Yeah, kind of the schmoozy side of normal," Jack agrees. The thing about Carter is that he's known her so long that he can read between her lines and she can read between his. They're good like that, able to communicate without using explicit language.

"Nice looking beds, though. Janet, you ready for bed? Ready for a n-a-p?"