"I guess this is it," she said as she carried her suitcase up the driveway, past the hockey sticks and the street net. "Oh, yeah. This is it." She rang the doorbell, stood back and took a long, deep breath.

Daniel Jackson opened the door. The woman looked at him, then down at her note, and then at the house numbers.

"So, how much do I owe you?" Daniel asked as he counted out the bills.

"How much do you have?" She looked over his shoulder and into the room. I thought for sure this was the right place, she thought.

Daniel squinted his eyes, looked over her shoulder and decided that she probably wasn�t the pizza delivery woman. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"Well, actually I was looking for Jack O�Neill." She looked at the house number again.

Daniel opened the door wide. "You�ve definitely come to the right place. Come in, come in. Can I help you with your, oh, your suitcase?" A suitcase. A woman with a suitcase. A woman with a suitcase at Jack�s front door. Oh, it�s going to be an interesting night, he thought.

"No thanks, I think I�ve got it," she said as she scooted past Daniel into the vestibule. "Is Jack here?"

Daniel looked suspiciously into the front yard for signs of Jack hiding behind a bush with a video camera. Unable to see anything out of the ordinary, he shut the door and addressed the visitor. "He went to get some beer. I�m a friend of Jack�s. Daniel Jackson. And you are�"

She put down her case and unzipped her parka. "I�m Jack�s sister, Siobhan. It�s a pleasure to meet you, Daniel," she said as she took Daniel�s hand softly in her two.

Daniel smiled back at her. He was just about ready to engage her in conversation when the realization hit him that she was Jack�s...

"Sister? Jack never said he had a sister."

Siobhan pulled off her parka, threw it over her case, ran her hands through her chestnut hair and laughed. "Yeah, that figures," she said as she thrust her hands in the pocket of her jeans. "In Jack�s lingo, I�m what he might call �classified.� Other than his ex-wife, no one�s got more on him than me. It doesn�t surprise me at all that he would have kept that tidbit hush-hush."

"The pizza here?" called Sam from the office.

Daniel turned on his heels to face the direction of Sam�s voice and then turned back to the woman who he knew would make his life a much more pleasurable place. He was about to answer Sam�s question when she came around the corner.

"I said, is the pizza...Oh, I guess not." A sudden unwelcome wave of jealousy washed over Sam and stopped her cold. She quickly dismissed the irrational feeling, after all, this was her CO�s house, she was his 2IC, she had no right to be jealous of another woman in his house, even if she was beautiful and smiling and just the type of woman Colonel O�Neill would probably go for in a heart beat. I mean, come on! Look at her. I bet she and the colonel go way back and�

"Um, Sam," Daniel said, furtively scratching the back of his head, trying to get Sam to focus.

"Oh. Right. Hi, I�m Major Samantha Carter," she offered.

"Hi, apparently I�m your new best friend," said Siobhan smiling.

Sam looked to Daniel for an explanation.

He pressed his hand against his mouth to suppress his glee and then introduced Sam to Siobhan. "Sam, a great gift has just been bestowed upon us. Meet Siobhan, Jack�s sister," he practically sang as he lifted his pinky to the corner of his mouth and raised an eyebrow.

Sam�s mouth dropped open. She looked incredulously at Daniel. The information that was to be gained from this woman set her head spinning. Gift, indeed. "It is a distinct pleasure to meet you, Siobhan. And I feel it only appropriate, being Colonel O'Neill�s 2IC and all, that Daniel and I make you feel at home here...in�your brother�s home." Sam nudged Daniel�s back with her elbow in an attempt to bring him out of the trance he was in. "Daniel?"

Daniel broke away from his thoughts of revenge and led Siobhan to the living room.

"Gee, there are so many things we�d like to ask," said Sam as she tried to sit on the couch next to Siobhan only to be usurped by Daniel with all the finesse of a Hummer going through a revolving door. She shot him a look, which her quickly shot back, leaving Sam to take the seat across from them.

"I�m sure you want to know all the pertinent information. Was he a bed-wetter? A momma�s boy? Did he play with Dolls? All the really important stuff."

Daniel and Sam tried to act like two people deeply offended by the inference. And then they looked at each other, deciding there wasn�t enough time for such formality. "Oh, yeah, all that," they agreed.

"No. No. Yes," Siobhan answered as she bullet-pointed the questions.

Daniel looked at Sam and mouthed the one word question "Dolls?"

"But you see, Jack is 12 years older than me, and so by the time I was playing with dolls, Jack was deep in the throes of adolescent curiosity. The way he played with dolls was very different than the way they were intended to be played with."

Sam roared.

Daniel did the math and realized he and Siobhan were close in age

"So, Siobhan. How long are you in town?" he asked hoping that she�d say indefinitely.

Sam looked at Daniel with questioning eyes. Why did he want to know that? Why was he acting so strange? You�d think he was trying to get a�

"Uh, Daniel," Sam said, hopping up from her seat and grabbing Daniel by the scruff of the neck, "can I see you in the kitchen for a minute?"

"Apparently, you can," he said being towed away.

Once in the privacy of the small kitchen, Sam laid into him. "Daniel, that is Colonel O�Neill�s sister."

"Uh, yeah. I think I�m aware of that."

"What do you think he�s gonna say when he finds out you�ve been flirting with his sister?" she asked.

"Well, I don�t know if you could call it�flirting, but�"

"And might I remind you, you�re only recently single again?"

"Well�" Daniel�s eyes fluttered, not sure which question should be answered first, especially at the breakneck speed at which they were being hurtled at him.

"Don�t you think you might be rushing things just a tad?"

Daniel held up his hands. Then he put one finger to his lips. He motioned for Sam to back off. "Okay?"

Sam shook her head, confused by his gesturing. "What the hell was that all about?" Sam asked, squinting at him.

"It means," he said, demonstrating the crude sign language again, "�Hold on. Stop asking me questions. Back off!� I mean, like, just�back off, Sam." Daniel knew he was a widower. The fact slapped him across the face every night he woke up in an empty bed. He didn�t need Sam to tell him what he all-too painfully knew.

"Look, I�m sorry. I shouldn�t have pressed. I just don�t want to see you get hurt," Sam said.

"I�m not gonna get hurt, Sam. I haven�t even asked her if she wants to get coffee," Daniel said.

"You do, and I can all but assure you you�ll get hurt. Let�s go back to statement number one, shall we?" she said. "SHE�S COLONIAL O�NEILL�S SISTER! He carries a gun. A couple guns. You�re gonna get hurt."

Daniel regarded her seriously. Shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Wrapped one arm around his chest and pushed his glasses up with his free hand.

"Yeah, about that. Jack�s aim isn�t what it used to be," Daniel said, turning toward the living room. "So, Siobhan," he called out, "how long did you say you were going to be in town?"

Sam rolled her eyes and joined him in the room with Siobhan.

"I�m here for ten days doing some recruiting work," Siobhan said.

Daniel slid his arm across the top of the couch behind Siobhan.

Sam glared at him.

Daniel sneered back. "Oh, recruiting. Did you follow in your brother�s footstep and go into the military?"

"You mean, am I a soldier?" she asked Daniel, who nodded. "Well," she began, her eyes twinkling, "not the same branch as Jack."

Daniel pursed his lips and blinked. He looked at Sam who shrugged.

"Beer�s here," called Jack from the front door. He put down the beer and took off his coat.

Daniel, Sam and Siobhan walked into the hallway to greet him, each fully understanding the impact this scene would have on the colonel.

Jack turned toward them and saw the personal devastation in front of him: his sister smiling with his two best friends. "Oh, this is not good. This is so not cool." Jack straightened his stance. "How long have you been here?" he asked his sister grimly.

Siobhan stepped forward and pushed her brother back a few steps. "Lighten up, Francis," she said. "Your past indiscretions have hardly been touched upon." Siobhan smiled at Jack and held out her arms to him.

Jack glared at Sam and Daniel, slowly turned from them, and picked his sister up in a full embrace. "It�s great to see you, Bonnie," he said as he put her back down.

She grabbed the top of his head. "When did you get so gray?" she said as she examined the silver hair.

Jack smoothed his hair back in place. Here we go, he thought. The taunting, the teasing. Watch out, Bonnie. You�re messing with the king. "When did you get so..." Jack looked at his sister who hadn�t changed in the last 15 years. He gave up. "I thought you were coming in tomorrow."

"I got an earlier flight. Thought I�d check in with the head honcho and rest up for the week. And then I thought I�d see if you were home. Guess I got lucky."

"Oh, it�s definitely me who�s getting lucky tonight," said Daniel before he could work out the semantics correctly. He blushed as he looked at Jack with palpable fear. "What I meant by that was..."

Jack grabbed him by the front of the shirt and pulled him into the kitchen. "Excuse us. Danny and I are going to take care of the beer and have a little chat," Jack growled. When the doorbell rang again, he called out to Sam, "If that�s another family member, shoot to kill. But I�m thinking it�s probably the pizza. Take care of it, would you, Carter?" And then he and Daniel disappeared into the kitchen.

"Jack, I didn�t�I mean, what I was trying to say was�" Daniel spluttered.

"Don�t worry about it, Daniel," Jack said. He put one of the six-packs in the fridge.

"It�s just, well, your sister is�"

"Daniel," Jack said, turning to him, "up until a couple months ago, you were still married."

"When did you and Sam become my personal mourning consultants?" Daniel asked, frustrated that everyone wanted him to keep his widower status fresh in his mind.

"Sorry," Jack said. He offered Daniel a beer from the second six-pack.

"So, Jack, that being said," Daniel started, nabbing a beer, "is your sister married?"

"You mean like �husband and wife�?" Jack asked as he put the rest of the beer into the desolate refrigerator.

"Well, yeah." Daniel scanned his memory for any other definition of marriage that would be appropriate to this scenario.

"Well, no," Jack responded in kind as he twisted the top off his beer.

Daniel, feeling a renewed sense of interest, ventured further. "So, your sister is a..." Daniel was about to say beautiful, smart, mind-blowingly wonderful individual when Jack finished his thought.

"...Is a sister."

Daniel waved off the big-brotherly concern.

Jack crossed his arms in front of himself. This ought to be fun, he thought.

Daniel just wanted information. He wanted his best friend to tell him all about the ravishing beauty in his living room. It didn�t matter to him that she happened to be the sister of the man who more than likely was packing heat while they talked. "Tell me, what�s her, uh, profession?"

"Nun."

"Yes, she does. She said she�s in the military."

"No, Daniel, you don�t..." Jack stopped. One of them had misunderstood the other, but it befuddled Jack as to which one it was. "She said what?"

"She said she was a soldier, but in a different branch of the military."

Jack rubbed his eyes. "Oh, for crying out loud, " he muttered. "Siobhan!" Jack yelled as he strode to the living room. His sister turned to face him, her countenance an example of purity and innocence. "You know, you�re going to go straight to hell if you keep telling people you�re a soldier. What, your order doesn�t feel the particular need to follow that commandment?"

Daniel followed close behind.

Siobhan rolled her eyes. "Technically, it�s not a lie," she said.

Daniel squinted his eyes.

Sam searched for the elusive answer in the faces of the O�Neill siblings.

Jack stared at his sister.

Siobhan sat perfectly still, staring him down, waiting for him to say the words. Without taking her eyes of her brother, she took a healthy bite out of her pizza.

"Fine," Jack sneered, and then he turned to Daniel, his beer against his forehead. "Daniel, my sister is a soldier in the army of Christ," he said as he let his limbs go limp in a gesture of feigned humiliation.

Daniel became even more slack-jawed than before. "Um, a�um, what?"

"She�s a nun, a sister, a religious. As in habits, rosaries, vows of poverty, chastity, charity, blah blah blah, the thing the thing." He didn�t see Daniel responding anytime soon, so he turned to his sister. "Show him your stigmata," he said as he took a swig of his beer.

Siobhan smacked him on the back causing beer to divert its course into his lungs. "Oh, yeah. Now who�s going to hell?" Siobhan queried. "Don�t worry, Daniel. I left my ruler back at the convent."

"Never trust a nun, Danny boy," Jack said over the rim of his beer. "You never know what they�ve got hidden under their vestments." Suddenly Jack was aware of the fact that Sam had remained surprisingly quiet through this whole episode. "Penny for your obviously cruel in nature, store-this-morsel-away-for-a-later-date thoughts, Carter."

Sam stared at Jack, just as nonplussed as Daniel. "I think I need a beer," she managed to say. "Or�four."

"You sit; I�ll get it," Jack told her as he headed toward the kitchen. "Bonnie, you up for one?"

"No, thanks." Siobhan surveyed the seriously flummoxed expressions of the two people in the room. "If I had known my presence would have produced this kind of reaction, I would have brought the family photo albums."

Jack brought a beer out to Sam and put it in her hand.

She hardly looked up.

"Thank God for small favors," Jack tossed in as he fell heavily into his chair and propped his feet up on the coffee table.

"It�s just that, wow, you know, you think you know someone, and then you find out they�re..." Sam grasped for the right words.

"Catholic?" interrupted Jack sarcastically, finishing off the rest of his beer.

"In what sense of the word, I ask you?" interjected Siobhan, taking on the airs of a person truly shocked by the admission in front of her.

"Hey, now, I went to Our Lady of Perpetual Screaming and Gnashing of Teeth." Jack turned fully to face Daniel so that he could emphasize his next point. "I did a nickel in that joint." He pointed to himself in a "I�m the man" sort of gesture.

"Yeah, until they kicked you out. That�s why I had to become a nun, to save our family from eternal damnation." Sam choked on her beer. "You two want to hear the whole story, don�t you?"

Like children being offered a Popsicle on a hot day, Sam and Daniel practically threw themselves at her feet.

"Seems young Jack was caught running through the sanctuary one day. Sister Angelica caught him and escorted him to the school where she was to administer the discipline for said offense."

Jack seemed lost in the reverie of the moment.

"I believe she told you to hold out your hands, palms up, to which Jack responded in the negative."

"I told her to go to Hell," Jack proudly stated. Sam and Daniel laughed.

"Correct me if I�m wrong, but I believe the phrase was �you go straight to hell, you miserable old penguin.�"

Sam hit Jack.

Jack smiled and rubbed his shoulder.

"That was the end of Catholic school for Jack."

"You called a nun a miserable old penguin?" asked Daniel. "Not that it really surprises me."

"Well, you have to remember, I was only 10, and hadn�t yet learned all the nuances of gutter mouth expressionism, " Jack proudly declared opening a new beer.

"But it showed real promise," Sam laughed, recalling all the rants she had been witness to in the last three years working with Jack.

He seemed to understand her train of thought and clasped his hand over her mouth.

Siobhan smiled, warmed by the sight of her brother seemingly so happy and at ease. It had been a very long time since she�d seen him smile or laugh or just simply be content to be. She watched as he giggled, as Sam grappled with Jack�s hand. Siobhan knew Sam could have removed it if she wanted to. But then, as soon as it began, Jack withdrew his hand, and Siobhan was again witnessing her brother emotionally retreating. He quickly got up and asked if he could get anyone anything. Sam continued to snicker, her hand resting on the arm of Jack�s chair. It was a nice moment while it lasted, Siobhan thought. I wonder how many of those he allows himself? I wonder if he thinks he deserves them?

*****

"So, Daniel," Siobhan began, washing her hand in the kitchen sink. Daniel finished measuring coffee into the coffee maker. "Why is a good looking young feller like yourself still out on the prowl?"

Daniel choked on his own air. He put down the coffee can and pushed his glasses up from where they had slipped. "�Scuse me? The prowl?"

"I know a prowl when I see one, and you, oh, you were definitely prowling," she told him, turning to lean against the sink.

"I didn�t think nuns had any knowledge of�prowling," Daniel said, smiling, flicking the switch to the coffee maker.

"You�d be surprised," she said.

Daniel was completely discombobulated. He looked at her, turned away and laughed. He scratched his head and shrugged his shoulders. "I, uh, I admit when you first got here I thought�but then when I found out you were a�" Daniel stopped. He was absolutely tongue tied with no place to go. "I�m sorry. I hope I didn�t do anything that would�"

"Hell, no," Siobhan said, waving his apprehension off. Daniel was nonplussed.

"Did you just swear?" he asked.

"Don�t tell Jack," she whispered.

"I wasn�t concerned about�I, uh, when did�"

"Daniel, can I ask you something?" Siobhan interjected, throwing him a life vest because it was perfectly evident he was drowning in his own words.

"Please do," Daniel said appreciatively.

"Jack wrote to me a few months back, said one of his friend�s wives had died," she said. Daniel looked away. "Was that you?"

He didn�t know what to say. Anyone who knew about Sha�re worked for the SGC. He had never really had to explain her death to anyone. "Um, yeah. It is. Was. Is."

"How are you?" she asked, touching his elbow. Daniel glanced down at her touch.

"I�m fine," he said, stepping away.

"I didn�t mean to pry. I just wanted you to know that, well, even though I didn�t know who you were when Jack told me, I�ve still kept you in my prayers," she said.

Daniel glanced up at her. "You�you were praying for me?"

"It�s kind of part of my job description," she said, taking the intensity out of the conversation. She winked at Daniel and put him right back at ease.

"Thank you," he said, bashfully.

"I hope this won�t cut into any of your attempts to flirt with me," she said, snaking her arm through his arm. Daniel began to sweat and stammer.

"Um, uh�"

"Relax, Daniel. I�m just messin� with you," she said walking back out to the living room.�

Daniel grabbed the side of the counter and steadied himself. "Wow! Family dinners at their house must have been a hoot."

*****

Four hours later, with the pizza and beer gone, with all the obligatory tales of humiliation told, Siobhan stood up to stretch. The other two had long past drifted away from the conscious world, leaving Siobhan and Jack to become lost in childhood memories. They had so few shared memories, but the ones they had were precious to both of them.

Siobhan sat smiling on his couch, Daniel�s feet practically in her lap.

"He�s a nice guy," she said, smiling.

"Yup, he is."

"And Sam is nice woman," Siobhan said, eyeing Jack purposefully.

"So, Bonnie," Jack said, attempting to change the subject but quick.

Siobhan laughed. She loved to make Jack uncomfortable. She checked her watch. "Well, I should get to the rectory."

Jack looked up from the beer label he was peeling.

"Don�t be silly. Stay here."

Daniel was crashed out on the couch, his left arm dangling to the ground still clutching his beer.

"Daniel pays rent for that space, but I have a guest room."

Siobhan glanced over the listless body of Sam, slumped in the armchair.

"She�s slept in worse positions, believe me," Jack said as he covered her with an afghan. He walked over to procure Siobhan�s suitcase. "Come on. I�ll show you where everything is."

Siobhan rubbed her eyes with the knuckles on her fists.

Jack suddenly envisioned her as a child doing the same thing whenever she was tired. Being 12 years older, Jack missed out on most of her childhood, but every once in a while an image of her at six, at 13 would bubble up to the surface of his consciousness. He warmly wrapped an arm around her shoulder and led her down the hall.

"I�m glad you�re here, Bonnie," he told her.

"I am too, Jack," she said. "I like your house, by the way."

"Yeah?" he said, looking down at her. "Yeah, I like it too." They reached the guest room. "Here are towels and washcloths. There�s the bed. Light. Don�t look in the closets," he told her looking around the room, wondering if there was anything else he should show her. "Right. Well, I guess that�s it. Sleep well, Bonnie."

"Jack, tell me about Sam," Siobhan said, catching her brother off guard.

He tossed his head back and exhaled loudly. "Okay, Carter is a brilliant physicist and excellent soldier, but� I�m guessing that�s not what you want to know," he said as he shook his head in unison with his sister.

"I don�t want to know about Major Carter. I want to know about the Sam who obviously brings such happiness into this home," Siobhan prodded her brother.

He sat on the edge of the guest bed heavily.

"It�s complicated. I�m not sure you�d..." he began.

"...Understand?"

Jack met her eyes.

She sat down next to him and took one of his hands in her lap. "Jack, did I ever tell you about Father Avery? I was just out of the convent, sent to a small parish outside Kokomo, Indiana. The priest there, Father Avery, was a fairly new priest as well. I admired his knowledge of the Scripture and the way he lead the congregation. He was full of the Holy Spirit, and I looked upon him in awe. He respected me and often deferred to my judgment where there were pastoral concerns. We made a great team. And then one day, as he was celebrating the Mass, I found myself undressing him with my eyes. Not an easy task, undressing a priest with your eyes, what, with all those vestments."

Jack grimaced.

"The next day I went to confession..."

"With Father Avery?" Jack asked, trying hard to erase the last image from his mind.

"I tried to kid myself into thinking I was doing it strictly for absolution, but that was secondary to my main intentions. I confessed my sins, telling him that I had been having impure and inappropriate thoughts about the man with whom I work. He gave me the Stations of the Cross as penance and left the confessional. I went out into church and knelt down at the first Station. Not 30 seconds later he knelt beside me and told me he was deserving of the same penance.

"For the next month I prayed and fasted and lay prostrate on the altar searching desperately for an answer. I lost weight; I couldn�t sleep; my�our--work suffered.

"Finally, I went to see my superior at the abbey. I cried and flung myself on her mercy. She listened to my sorry tale of woe, and then she told me to stop with all the thinking and just be still. Be quiet and be still. Listen to your heart. Christ has filled our hearts with the best intentions, and it is up to us to just be silent in our thoughts in order to hear them." Siobhan paused to let the message sink in. She knew this was going to be a hard sell, convincing her brother that he had a right to love and be loved again. "I went to the chapel and sat there, doing nothing but clearing my thoughts. Ten minutes later I left. And here I am, still doing the nun thing."

"You decided falling in love wasn�t worth leaving the order? And how does this help me?" asked Jack. He fell back onto the bed and covered his eyes with his forearm.

Siobhan turned around and sat cross-legged next to him. "I found the answer in my heart which has guided me all these years. Open your heart, Jack, and find your own answers."

"I did that twenty years ago, and look where that got me," Jack sat up on his elbows and closed his eyes.

Siobhan wondered how long it was going to take for the past to catch up with them. He used his sadness as a key, not only to unlock the mysteries of his psyche, but also to lock other people out. Siobhan hoped this time he was opening the gate to her. "Jack, your life�s destiny was written long before you ever arrived on the planet," she reminded him.

He thought of the irony in her words, irony she had no comprehension of.

"I don�t pretend to know or understand why things happen. I have my theories, my ruminations on events that help me sleep at night. But in the long run, I just have to have faith that someday I�ll understand it all."

Jack dropped his head back and turned it to look at his sister. "See, that�s where we�re different," Jack said trying to keep an open mind to what his sister was saying, but he found, as he often had, that his scars had long ago left him immune against things relying on hope. "You�re a woman of faith; I�m a man of action. I can�t just accept that someday all will be made clear and hunky-dory."

Siobhan pulled her rosary out of her pocket and placed it in his hand.

It had been decades since he had held a rosary. The warmth of it in his palm seemed at once comforting and disconcerting.

"Faith isn�t a thing I can take out of my pocket like so many beads on a chain," she said as she closed his hand around the necklace. "Faith is a skill, like any other, that I work on constantly. And having faith doesn�t mean that I think all the awful things that happen are acceptable. It means that life goes on, here and in Heaven, and I am powerless to question His authority."

Jack held his sister�s small hand and the rosary to his chest.

"It brings me peace knowing that I don�t have to figure it all out," she said.

Jack tossed the last statement around in his head. He wondered what kinds of things she had been able to figure out. "I�d like to hear your theories about Charlie," he said quietly.

Siobhan felt her chest tighten and wondered if she had the inner-fortitude to go on. It broke her heart that

Jack was obviously still so devastated. "I think--I pray that Charlie was taken from you and Sara so that he could help you in ways he never could have on Earth. Your destiny was to become a member of this operative group. You�ve never told me what you do, I�ve never asked, but I assume it�s not the safest way to earn a living." Jack nodded. "I truly believe what Christ had in mind for Charlie was greater than his being your son. I believe he is your Guardian Angel, protecting you from whatever you get yourself into. He�s always with you."

Jack clenched his jaw.

"Charlie wouldn�t want you to keep up this extended period of mourning. And this emotional fasting isn�t going to take the guilt away. �Heal thyself,� Jack. Find the strength to go on with the life Christ wants you to have, a life filled with love." She smiled gently, hoping her words would act as a salve on his injured soul.

She looked at his tired face and decided that that was just about all the little-sister advice he was going to hear. "Now, give me back my rosary," she said holding out her hand.

Jack sat up, placed it in Siobhan�s palm, and gently held her hand. "You�re not going to make me say the rosary with you, are you Sister Margaret Therese?" Jack asked smiling slightly at Siobhan, calling her by the name she had taken when she entered the order.

She tenderly hugged him, kissed him on his ear. "I don�t think you could keep up," she said as she placed a hand on his cheek and looked him in the eyes. "It�s time to let go of the pain, Jack. Find a place to be quiet and still. And then let Sam find you there."

Jack kissed her forehead and started for the door. He turned around just as he reached the handle. "Whatever happened to Father Avery?" he asked.

Siobhan looked up, squinted into the dimly lit room and smiled. "The last I heard, he was married with three kids," she said.

Jack�s face registered the gamut of emotions from surprise, to humor, to concern.

"I don�t regret it, Jack. He wasn�t the love of my life."

Jack mulled the thought over in his head, nodded and walked to his room.

On the way he passed the living room where he found Daniel curled up with his arms wrapped around his chest. Jack went to the linen closet and found a blanket with which to cover him. He removed his glasses and put them on the coffee table where Daniel would be able to find them as soon as he woke up. Then he turned to sit in his chair next to the sleeping Sam.

Her face was turned to him, resting partially on the back of the chair and partially on her shoulder. The moon�s opalescent light endowed her face with a shimmering glow. Her left hand lay palm-up on the armrest of the chair. Jack reached out to touch her hand, take it in his. He felt the warmth from her palm rise to meet his hand, only an inch above hers. Don�t think, he told himself. Don�t think. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, laid his head back against the chair, and slowly lowered his hand onto hers, enveloping it, finding the fit more comfortable than he could have ever imagined. He�d held her hand before, but never in the quiet safety of his own home, and the simple tenderness of the moment brought him great peace. Sam�s hand wriggled slightly, so Jack carefully broke away. He turned to look at her.

Knowing how exhausted she was, knowing how exhausted he was, Jack quietly left her to sleep.

*****

"Good morning, campers," Siobhan melodiously called out to the two stragglers.

Daniel opened one eye painfully while Sam rested her elbows on her knees. Daniel pawed the table for his glasses.

Siobhan picked up all the empties that had been strewn carelessly about from the night before.

Daniel swung his feet off the couch, made sure he was dressed, and stood up to stretch. "What time is it?" he asked trying to work out some of the kinks in his back, always the result of a night spent on Jack�s couch.

"7 AM," chirped Siobhan from the kitchen.

Daniel decided coffee might be a nice change and started walking toward the kitchen. He practically ran into Siobhan as she made her way back to the living room. It was then that Daniel noticed Siobhan�s clothing. She was dressed for Mass, a simple suit and wimple. Daniel was instantly flustered.

"I don�t know the correct thing to do here, I mean, with you in your�" he said, gesturing at her clothes.

Siobhan clasped her hands in front of her and adopted her best Maria Van Trapp expression. "Well, if you really want to know, it�s generally appropriate to genuflect and make the Sign of the Cross," Siobhan informed him.

Daniel, still only half awake, slowly bent down on one knee.

Jack crossed behind him, put a hand under one arm, and yanked him to his feet. "Get up, Daniel. She�s been a smart-ass a lot longer than she�s been a nun," he informed his flustered friend on his way to the coffee maker.

Daniel closed his eyes in embarrassment. "Wouldn�t it be considered sinful the way you just humiliated an uninformed soul?" asked Daniel still stinging from the humiliation at the hands of his CO�s sister, and before his coffee no less.

"I�ll make sure I add it to my list when I go to confession later today." Siobhan smiled and batted her eyes.

Daniel had become accustomed to that same look many times from Jack. A cup of coffee suddenly appeared under his nose. He gratefully accepted his "master."

Jack reached the second cup over Sam�s shoulder. She nodded her appreciation. Jack lightly rubbed her shoulder.

Siobhan looked at her watch. "Jack, I need to call a cab. Mass is in an hour."

"I�ll give you a ride. I have to get back to my apartment anyhow," Daniel said rubbing his unshaven face. "Not that you deserve a ride." He placed the coffee cup down on the hallway table to pull on his jacket.

Siobhan did the same.

Jack walked over and pulled her wimple out of her coat collar and smoothed it down. "Will you be back for dinner?" he asked, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"You know the proverb: �This is the day the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and grill out,� or something like that," she said as she hugged her brother and whispered "God bless you" into his ear.

Jack winked appreciatively at her.

Daniel searched for his keys and when he found them, motioned for Siobhan to lead the way.

"By the way, Danny boy," Jack called out before they had left.

Daniel turned to Jack.

"Down, left, across. Otherwise, it�s the Sign of the Kite."

Daniel had not had enough caffeine yet for this kind of abuse, so he boldly grabbed Jack�s coffee cup in his hand as retribution and took it with him as he left.

Jack returned to the kitchen to find Sam sitting at the dining room table.

She was combing through her hair with her hands. How many times had he seen her do that? The simple acts, the smallest gesticulations were the things that took Jack�s breath from his lungs. Sam put her hands in her lap, rounded out her shoulders and yawned. He luxuriated at the sight of her back, taut under the black t-shirt, as it quivered in response to the sudden intake of air. Jack watched her for what seemed like hours going through her wake-up routine.

At last she looked over to where he was standing.

Jack, not wanting her to know he had been watching her, quickly diverted his eyes and scanned the room. He felt flushed and short of breath.

"Colonel, are you looking for something?" she asked. "Can I help you find it?"

The words stunned Jack. There was no possible way Sam could have heard his conversation with Siobhan the night before. There was no possible way Sam could have heard the agreement he made with himself to take time to be still. Was it possible that in the few moments he had watched her his heart had whispered the answer to him? He was absolutely thunderstruck and completely unable to speak.

Jack slowly crossed the room and sat cautiously in the chair facing Sam. He saw that she was beginning to be concerned about his behavior.

"Colonel?" Her blue eyes urged him to speak.

He let his features soften. Here was his answer, this beautiful, vibrant woman sitting in his dining room.

He had let himself be still just long enough for the long-asked question to be answered, and the answer was right in front of him.

"I asked if I could help you find something," she repeated.

Jack sat down next to her, took her hand in his, and said, "You already have."

All the pain and doubt simply went away.

*****