COMMON BONDS
Sitting on the couch in his jeans and sweater, he stared blankly at the loud television screen, casting a glance in the direction of the kitchen, where noise was emanating from rather ominously. Obviously, some experiment with snack food was taking a little longer than a certain teenager had expected.
Just then, she emerged from the doorway, and smiled at him, walking over and setting down a huge bowl of potato chips on the coffee table. She slumped heavily into a large armchair, sinking quite a way into it, so that mostly just her head was visible over the arms.
Jonas Quinn had foolishly agreed to baby-sit for Dr. Fraiser whilst she went out with Major Carter for the evening to some club. Colonel O'Neill had taken a trip to Michigan for fishing, and Teal'c was off world... visiting Ry'ac on Chulak.
He sighed quietly, and crossed his arms, glancing over at the girl.
Cassandra stared at the television, her green eyes vacant.
Jonas wondered what was going through her mind. It was probably about him, and her disagreement to the whole stranger minding her for the night. Well, at least until Dr. Fraiser got home, which she had claimed would be around one at the latest. She didn't like to stay out to late on her evenings off, or leave Cassie at home for too long on her own.
Not that she was on her own. Jonas was here... but from the stage of their interaction, she might as well have been alone.
Say something, his mind chattered.
Just then, she turned to him and asked a little lazily, "Do you know how to play chess?"
The look on her face was one of extreme boredom, and Jonas understood exactly how she felt... because he felt the same way at that very same moment. Her eyes were almost pleading.
Jonas fumbled for a moment at the sudden start of a conversation, and then finally said, "No. But I'm sure I can learn." He smiled.
She half-returned the smile, and then jogged off up the stairs.
Jonas looked around the lovely house as he sat alone, and picked up a potato chip, popping it into his mouth and eating it. Pictures of Dr. Fraiser and Cassandra hung on the walls, along with other people and places Jonas did not recognise. Ornaments were scattered in an organised fashion here and there, and there was an unlit fireplace framed with polished wood.
At that moment, Cassie returned with a sort of box in her hand, the outside covered with black and white squares.
Jonas guessed this to be the board for chess. Having never played before, he did not know anything about it, or how it was to be played. He had no idea what to expect, but from the look of the squares on the board, he was prepared for something reasonably straightforward.
Cassie kneeled by the coffee table, turning off the annoying television, and opened the box carefully. Set inside were two rows of double-lined pieces, stuck to small trays. She removed them, and turned to Jonas, saying, "Black or white?"
"Pardon?" he inquired, a little lost as to the meaning. Did it matter what colour he picked?
She smiled slightly. "White goes first. That's really the only difference."
"Okay then... black."
She handed him the tray, and he took a moment to inspect the pieces. They were carved into little figures, at least two of each... all apart from the centre pieces, which seemed to be completely unique, although fairly similar to one another.
Cassie started removing the pieces from her tray, and setting them on particular squares on the board.
He copied her, not quite sure what he was doing, or whether or not he was doing it right.
Smiling, Cassie leaned over, and switched over his centre figures. Then she took it upon herself to explain the various pieces.
He listened intently, and took the information in, eyeing each piece carefully as she explained its function, its title, and how it moved. Each piece moved a separate way, and he had no doubt he would get it wrong once or twice in their game.
"So," Cassie began, moving a pawn forward two squares, "you're not from Earth, huh?"
Jonas was intrigued at the sudden interaction she had chosen to partake in, and did not deny her a response, "No, I'm not. You wouldn't think it to look at me."
She smiled with a laugh. "So where are you from?"
He moved a piece, not quite sure whether or not it had been a wise move, and responded, "Kelowna."
Cassie looked him in the eye, even as she proceeded to take his piece from the board, moving hers into its prior space. She said thoughtfully, "I've never heard of it."
"I'm surprised your mother never told you about it," Jonas commented, moving a knight out from the formation.
"She doesn't really talk about her work much," Cassie explained. "It being classified an' all."
Jonas nodded. "Of course."
"So, how come you came to Earth?" she queried next, mirroring his movement across the board. She tucked her red hair behind her ear as she pensively surveyed the board.
Jonas moved a bishop out, guessing at an action. He wasn't sure whether or not Cassie would take the piece, or if she even could. Every now and then she would nod or shake her head at his movement. He followed her advice without question. He doubted she would cheat.
"The people on my planet weren't exactly... economically friendly. They found this substance that had great energy-generating potential, and they used it to create a bomb." He looked at her with a disappointed sigh.
Cassie frowned. "That sucks."
Jonas found that he smiled at her use of slang, and watched her move her knight once again.
"Yeah, it does," he agreed, eating a potato chip.
Cassie did the same, flicking on the radio with a remote control that sat beside her on the coffee table. Music played through the speakers, but neither of them really paid any attention to just what that music was.
For a while, their game moved on in almost complete silence, apart from Cassie either congratulating Jonas on a surprisingly good move for a beginner, or laughing about her taking one of his valuable pieces. She made jokes here and there, shocking Jonas with her astonishingly radical sense of humour.
He laughed of course, understanding most of the jokes. Some of them related to Earth topics that he didn't know about, such as the education at her high school, or the cafeteria food.
Jonas had no idea why she had decided to talk about such things; he supposed she just felt a connection with him in some way. They were both from other worlds.
By this time, Cassie had managed to take down pretty much all of Jonas' good chess pieces, leaving him with a rook, a knight, and the king. He was a little lost as to what he should do.
He moved his knight close enough to her king to be annoying, but not close enough for her to actually remove it from the game.
She made a small surprised noise, and sacrificed a bishop to get his rook to move into a vulnerable position. But in doing so, she had realised that in moving her penultimate piece, her queen, the knight he had left would have been able to take down her own figure.
"Oops," she mumbled with a grin.
"I take it that was unintended," Jonas noted with a smile, moving his rook to be in line with her king. "Check."
She moved her kind piece to a safer position, and replied, "I often do this when I play against Sam. I just never expected it from a beginner. You're sure you've never played before?"
He nodded. "Yeah. I'm just a fast learner."
Cassie laughed quietly.
Jonas moved the rook into line with the king again, causing Cassie to grumble in irritation. She used her moved to get it out of danger, leaving the queen open to attack. Jonas took it with a smile.
"Damn it," Cassie groaned, "why do I always lose?"
"I'm sure you don't always lose," Jonas insisted, placing the white queen to one side with the other pieces he had claimed.
Cassie was left with nothing but her king, and he was vulnerable.
"I always leave the king until it's too late," she told him, shifting the piece one little space along.
Jonas moved the knight into a challenging position. "Check."
Cassie moved the piece. "Sure I do. Well, I can usually beat Jack. He's often too busy thinking about whether to call them knights or horses." She giggled.
Jonas nodded with a smile, just able to picture the Colonel's confused expression as he inspected the piece.
Jonas moved his knight again. "Check."
"Stop that," she whined with a smile. She was enjoying herself now, even though she was losing. Oh well, it was better than when Jonas had first arrived anyway... she had been as glum as Jonas had ever seen a person.
Jonas shifted the rook into line, and said triumphantly after a moment of deep thought, "Checkmate."
Cassie pouted, and inspected the board, and then her captured the pieces, as if asking herself how her plan had failed.
Jonas leaned forward on his knees, and looked at his wristwatch. It was a quarter to eleven, and still no sign of the parent.
It doesn't matter, Jonas thought, as he helped Cassie pack up the pieces. It's not like I've got anything better to do anyway.
That wasn't entirely true. He could have been studying one of the foreign languages he was trying to learn. Jonas wasn't sure what had come over him to try, but after hearing Dr. Jackson had been capable of speaking twenty-three known languages, the Kelownan had felt a little overwhelmed, and eager to learn something new and different.
So far he was doing quite well with Spanish, and he was tackling the violent language of Russian... considering they often dealt with the foreigners in concern to Stargate missions. He felt it would come in handy if he knew at least some of what they were saying.
But somehow, sitting here with Cassandra just made that all obsolete. He needed the company of someone like him. Someone who had been unable to remain on her own world... even though her own circumstances were much more severe. A disease had wiped out her entire village that Nirrti had created. And then he had used the poor girl as a bomb.
Jonas had simply left his world for his own reasons. He didn't agree with his government anymore, or the way they used their naquadriah.
Of course, SG-1 were behind his decision, and in a way, it was most beneficial that he had decided to stay on Earth. He had learnt a lot, and made many new friends... the young girl included.
"Do you want something to drink?" she offered then, setting the chess box to one side out of the way.
"Sure," Jonas replied, sitting back in the chair again, listening to a strange song on the radio.
Within moments, she had returned with two bottles of chilled water, handing him one and saying, "Sorry. Mom needs to do some shopping, stat."
Jonas smiled at her use of the word. It was a little ironic... and probably a little intentional too.
Cassie flicked the TV back on, deactivating the radio after complaining vehemently about the quality of the broadcasting, and sat her self beside Jonas at a distance.
She sat on the third cushion, with one cushion between the two of them. Jonas sipped his water, and sighed as he watched whatever it was flashing on the screen. To him, it looked like some cheesy cliché horror film, but who knew what it was?
Probably Cassie, as she found it quite interesting, and amusing at parts. Jonas smiled at her enjoyment, and tried to figure out what exactly was playing on the screen.
Quite often, something would dart across the screen, and someone would run after it, shouting something inaudibly, and shooting at it.
He wasn't sure whether it was supposed to be funny or not... but he definitely found it amusing.
Time drew on, and soon, Jonas found it was half past twelve. Cassie had fallen asleep on his lap, her head on his legs, breathing rhythmically, and soundly.
Jonas yawned, and tried to decipher the images on the screen. They just didn't make any sense anymore, and soon, he found his eyelids growing heavy.
Unable to keep them open any longer, he let his head rest back on the couch, and quickly passed into sleep.
* * *
Janet Fraiser eventually turned the key in the lock at around one-o- five, biting her lip as the lock made quite a disagreeable noise. When had it gotten so loud?
She hadn't intended to drag herself in this late, but she and Sam had been having such a good time she had found it hard to say no to another half an hour. Except that one extra half hour had managed to turn itself into three hours.
She would have been home hours ago had she not been so tempted to let her hair down.
Never mind, she thought, I just hope Cassie hasn't given Jonas too hard a time.
As she stepped quietly into the living room, her eyes went wide, and then a smile crept across her face.
There, sound asleep on the couch was Jonas, Cassie's head rested comfortably on his lap. She didn't blame them, and they just looked so peaceful.
She herself was exhausted, and felt it a shame to wake them... but Cassie had a date with friends in the morning, and Jonas had to get back to work tomorrow... as did she.
So, grudgingly, she crept over to the couch, and laid a hand gently on Jonas' shoulder.
He startled awake, quickly calming himself as he apparently remembered Cassandra's sleeping presence on his lap, and looked up at Janet.
"Sorry," she said quietly, pointing at the clock on the mantle.
Jonas looked to his watch for confirmation, and raised an eyebrow. He glanced down at Cassie. "Um..." He looked to Janet for help.
Janet reached down, and rubbed Cassie's side gently. "Cassandra, honey?"
The girl stirred, and sat up groggily, rubbing her tired eyes. "Mom?"
"Yeah, sweetie, sorry I'm so late. It's past your bedtime," she said softly, nodding towards the stairs.
Cassie nodded, and with a yawn, said, "Night, Jonas."
"Goodnight," he acknowledged, and stood from the couch.
"Jonas, it's too late for you to get back to the mountain. Plus, you look how I feel, and that's simply exhausted." Janet sighed. "I hope she didn't give you too much trouble."
"Oh, no, she was great. No trouble at all," Jonas told her, at which Janet was a little surprised. Cassie was normally really edgy around new people.
She supposed they had seen a commonality within one another, and had used that to build their friendship on. "Good, I'm glad."
After a moment of simply standing there, Janet added, "You can sleep on the couch if you like. I don't think it's safe for you to leave at this hour."
Seemingly too tired to argue, Jonas nodded.
Janet fetched some blankets, and a soft pillow, and laid them on the large couch for Jonas. He sat on the edge of it, and looked up at her.
"Thank you for babysitting for me tonight, you're a lifesaver. It's been god knows how long since I've been able to get out for the night," Janet said to the Kelownan.
Jonas smiled. "It was no problem."
"Okay, well, I'd better be off to bed. Goodnight."
"Night."
Janet walked off to the stairs, turning back briefly to see Jonas had already passed out on the couch, and smiled, walking up the steps quietly ,and flicking out the light.
Sitting on the couch in his jeans and sweater, he stared blankly at the loud television screen, casting a glance in the direction of the kitchen, where noise was emanating from rather ominously. Obviously, some experiment with snack food was taking a little longer than a certain teenager had expected.
Just then, she emerged from the doorway, and smiled at him, walking over and setting down a huge bowl of potato chips on the coffee table. She slumped heavily into a large armchair, sinking quite a way into it, so that mostly just her head was visible over the arms.
Jonas Quinn had foolishly agreed to baby-sit for Dr. Fraiser whilst she went out with Major Carter for the evening to some club. Colonel O'Neill had taken a trip to Michigan for fishing, and Teal'c was off world... visiting Ry'ac on Chulak.
He sighed quietly, and crossed his arms, glancing over at the girl.
Cassandra stared at the television, her green eyes vacant.
Jonas wondered what was going through her mind. It was probably about him, and her disagreement to the whole stranger minding her for the night. Well, at least until Dr. Fraiser got home, which she had claimed would be around one at the latest. She didn't like to stay out to late on her evenings off, or leave Cassie at home for too long on her own.
Not that she was on her own. Jonas was here... but from the stage of their interaction, she might as well have been alone.
Say something, his mind chattered.
Just then, she turned to him and asked a little lazily, "Do you know how to play chess?"
The look on her face was one of extreme boredom, and Jonas understood exactly how she felt... because he felt the same way at that very same moment. Her eyes were almost pleading.
Jonas fumbled for a moment at the sudden start of a conversation, and then finally said, "No. But I'm sure I can learn." He smiled.
She half-returned the smile, and then jogged off up the stairs.
Jonas looked around the lovely house as he sat alone, and picked up a potato chip, popping it into his mouth and eating it. Pictures of Dr. Fraiser and Cassandra hung on the walls, along with other people and places Jonas did not recognise. Ornaments were scattered in an organised fashion here and there, and there was an unlit fireplace framed with polished wood.
At that moment, Cassie returned with a sort of box in her hand, the outside covered with black and white squares.
Jonas guessed this to be the board for chess. Having never played before, he did not know anything about it, or how it was to be played. He had no idea what to expect, but from the look of the squares on the board, he was prepared for something reasonably straightforward.
Cassie kneeled by the coffee table, turning off the annoying television, and opened the box carefully. Set inside were two rows of double-lined pieces, stuck to small trays. She removed them, and turned to Jonas, saying, "Black or white?"
"Pardon?" he inquired, a little lost as to the meaning. Did it matter what colour he picked?
She smiled slightly. "White goes first. That's really the only difference."
"Okay then... black."
She handed him the tray, and he took a moment to inspect the pieces. They were carved into little figures, at least two of each... all apart from the centre pieces, which seemed to be completely unique, although fairly similar to one another.
Cassie started removing the pieces from her tray, and setting them on particular squares on the board.
He copied her, not quite sure what he was doing, or whether or not he was doing it right.
Smiling, Cassie leaned over, and switched over his centre figures. Then she took it upon herself to explain the various pieces.
He listened intently, and took the information in, eyeing each piece carefully as she explained its function, its title, and how it moved. Each piece moved a separate way, and he had no doubt he would get it wrong once or twice in their game.
"So," Cassie began, moving a pawn forward two squares, "you're not from Earth, huh?"
Jonas was intrigued at the sudden interaction she had chosen to partake in, and did not deny her a response, "No, I'm not. You wouldn't think it to look at me."
She smiled with a laugh. "So where are you from?"
He moved a piece, not quite sure whether or not it had been a wise move, and responded, "Kelowna."
Cassie looked him in the eye, even as she proceeded to take his piece from the board, moving hers into its prior space. She said thoughtfully, "I've never heard of it."
"I'm surprised your mother never told you about it," Jonas commented, moving a knight out from the formation.
"She doesn't really talk about her work much," Cassie explained. "It being classified an' all."
Jonas nodded. "Of course."
"So, how come you came to Earth?" she queried next, mirroring his movement across the board. She tucked her red hair behind her ear as she pensively surveyed the board.
Jonas moved a bishop out, guessing at an action. He wasn't sure whether or not Cassie would take the piece, or if she even could. Every now and then she would nod or shake her head at his movement. He followed her advice without question. He doubted she would cheat.
"The people on my planet weren't exactly... economically friendly. They found this substance that had great energy-generating potential, and they used it to create a bomb." He looked at her with a disappointed sigh.
Cassie frowned. "That sucks."
Jonas found that he smiled at her use of slang, and watched her move her knight once again.
"Yeah, it does," he agreed, eating a potato chip.
Cassie did the same, flicking on the radio with a remote control that sat beside her on the coffee table. Music played through the speakers, but neither of them really paid any attention to just what that music was.
For a while, their game moved on in almost complete silence, apart from Cassie either congratulating Jonas on a surprisingly good move for a beginner, or laughing about her taking one of his valuable pieces. She made jokes here and there, shocking Jonas with her astonishingly radical sense of humour.
He laughed of course, understanding most of the jokes. Some of them related to Earth topics that he didn't know about, such as the education at her high school, or the cafeteria food.
Jonas had no idea why she had decided to talk about such things; he supposed she just felt a connection with him in some way. They were both from other worlds.
By this time, Cassie had managed to take down pretty much all of Jonas' good chess pieces, leaving him with a rook, a knight, and the king. He was a little lost as to what he should do.
He moved his knight close enough to her king to be annoying, but not close enough for her to actually remove it from the game.
She made a small surprised noise, and sacrificed a bishop to get his rook to move into a vulnerable position. But in doing so, she had realised that in moving her penultimate piece, her queen, the knight he had left would have been able to take down her own figure.
"Oops," she mumbled with a grin.
"I take it that was unintended," Jonas noted with a smile, moving his rook to be in line with her king. "Check."
She moved her kind piece to a safer position, and replied, "I often do this when I play against Sam. I just never expected it from a beginner. You're sure you've never played before?"
He nodded. "Yeah. I'm just a fast learner."
Cassie laughed quietly.
Jonas moved the rook into line with the king again, causing Cassie to grumble in irritation. She used her moved to get it out of danger, leaving the queen open to attack. Jonas took it with a smile.
"Damn it," Cassie groaned, "why do I always lose?"
"I'm sure you don't always lose," Jonas insisted, placing the white queen to one side with the other pieces he had claimed.
Cassie was left with nothing but her king, and he was vulnerable.
"I always leave the king until it's too late," she told him, shifting the piece one little space along.
Jonas moved the knight into a challenging position. "Check."
Cassie moved the piece. "Sure I do. Well, I can usually beat Jack. He's often too busy thinking about whether to call them knights or horses." She giggled.
Jonas nodded with a smile, just able to picture the Colonel's confused expression as he inspected the piece.
Jonas moved his knight again. "Check."
"Stop that," she whined with a smile. She was enjoying herself now, even though she was losing. Oh well, it was better than when Jonas had first arrived anyway... she had been as glum as Jonas had ever seen a person.
Jonas shifted the rook into line, and said triumphantly after a moment of deep thought, "Checkmate."
Cassie pouted, and inspected the board, and then her captured the pieces, as if asking herself how her plan had failed.
Jonas leaned forward on his knees, and looked at his wristwatch. It was a quarter to eleven, and still no sign of the parent.
It doesn't matter, Jonas thought, as he helped Cassie pack up the pieces. It's not like I've got anything better to do anyway.
That wasn't entirely true. He could have been studying one of the foreign languages he was trying to learn. Jonas wasn't sure what had come over him to try, but after hearing Dr. Jackson had been capable of speaking twenty-three known languages, the Kelownan had felt a little overwhelmed, and eager to learn something new and different.
So far he was doing quite well with Spanish, and he was tackling the violent language of Russian... considering they often dealt with the foreigners in concern to Stargate missions. He felt it would come in handy if he knew at least some of what they were saying.
But somehow, sitting here with Cassandra just made that all obsolete. He needed the company of someone like him. Someone who had been unable to remain on her own world... even though her own circumstances were much more severe. A disease had wiped out her entire village that Nirrti had created. And then he had used the poor girl as a bomb.
Jonas had simply left his world for his own reasons. He didn't agree with his government anymore, or the way they used their naquadriah.
Of course, SG-1 were behind his decision, and in a way, it was most beneficial that he had decided to stay on Earth. He had learnt a lot, and made many new friends... the young girl included.
"Do you want something to drink?" she offered then, setting the chess box to one side out of the way.
"Sure," Jonas replied, sitting back in the chair again, listening to a strange song on the radio.
Within moments, she had returned with two bottles of chilled water, handing him one and saying, "Sorry. Mom needs to do some shopping, stat."
Jonas smiled at her use of the word. It was a little ironic... and probably a little intentional too.
Cassie flicked the TV back on, deactivating the radio after complaining vehemently about the quality of the broadcasting, and sat her self beside Jonas at a distance.
She sat on the third cushion, with one cushion between the two of them. Jonas sipped his water, and sighed as he watched whatever it was flashing on the screen. To him, it looked like some cheesy cliché horror film, but who knew what it was?
Probably Cassie, as she found it quite interesting, and amusing at parts. Jonas smiled at her enjoyment, and tried to figure out what exactly was playing on the screen.
Quite often, something would dart across the screen, and someone would run after it, shouting something inaudibly, and shooting at it.
He wasn't sure whether it was supposed to be funny or not... but he definitely found it amusing.
Time drew on, and soon, Jonas found it was half past twelve. Cassie had fallen asleep on his lap, her head on his legs, breathing rhythmically, and soundly.
Jonas yawned, and tried to decipher the images on the screen. They just didn't make any sense anymore, and soon, he found his eyelids growing heavy.
Unable to keep them open any longer, he let his head rest back on the couch, and quickly passed into sleep.
* * *
Janet Fraiser eventually turned the key in the lock at around one-o- five, biting her lip as the lock made quite a disagreeable noise. When had it gotten so loud?
She hadn't intended to drag herself in this late, but she and Sam had been having such a good time she had found it hard to say no to another half an hour. Except that one extra half hour had managed to turn itself into three hours.
She would have been home hours ago had she not been so tempted to let her hair down.
Never mind, she thought, I just hope Cassie hasn't given Jonas too hard a time.
As she stepped quietly into the living room, her eyes went wide, and then a smile crept across her face.
There, sound asleep on the couch was Jonas, Cassie's head rested comfortably on his lap. She didn't blame them, and they just looked so peaceful.
She herself was exhausted, and felt it a shame to wake them... but Cassie had a date with friends in the morning, and Jonas had to get back to work tomorrow... as did she.
So, grudgingly, she crept over to the couch, and laid a hand gently on Jonas' shoulder.
He startled awake, quickly calming himself as he apparently remembered Cassandra's sleeping presence on his lap, and looked up at Janet.
"Sorry," she said quietly, pointing at the clock on the mantle.
Jonas looked to his watch for confirmation, and raised an eyebrow. He glanced down at Cassie. "Um..." He looked to Janet for help.
Janet reached down, and rubbed Cassie's side gently. "Cassandra, honey?"
The girl stirred, and sat up groggily, rubbing her tired eyes. "Mom?"
"Yeah, sweetie, sorry I'm so late. It's past your bedtime," she said softly, nodding towards the stairs.
Cassie nodded, and with a yawn, said, "Night, Jonas."
"Goodnight," he acknowledged, and stood from the couch.
"Jonas, it's too late for you to get back to the mountain. Plus, you look how I feel, and that's simply exhausted." Janet sighed. "I hope she didn't give you too much trouble."
"Oh, no, she was great. No trouble at all," Jonas told her, at which Janet was a little surprised. Cassie was normally really edgy around new people.
She supposed they had seen a commonality within one another, and had used that to build their friendship on. "Good, I'm glad."
After a moment of simply standing there, Janet added, "You can sleep on the couch if you like. I don't think it's safe for you to leave at this hour."
Seemingly too tired to argue, Jonas nodded.
Janet fetched some blankets, and a soft pillow, and laid them on the large couch for Jonas. He sat on the edge of it, and looked up at her.
"Thank you for babysitting for me tonight, you're a lifesaver. It's been god knows how long since I've been able to get out for the night," Janet said to the Kelownan.
Jonas smiled. "It was no problem."
"Okay, well, I'd better be off to bed. Goodnight."
"Night."
Janet walked off to the stairs, turning back briefly to see Jonas had already passed out on the couch, and smiled, walking up the steps quietly ,and flicking out the light.