"See you tomorrow, Casey!" Ella O'Neill called as she jumped off the school bus with her little brother at her side and shouldered her backpack. As the bus drove away, the two began the walk down the block to her house, waving to their mother in the driveway. It was a compromise of sorts, Ella wanted to walk to and from the bus stop by herself, at nine and three quarters it was considered babyish if your parents were waiting for you. With the threat of the Trust and the NID hanging over their heads even after so many years, Sam and Jack had decided to wait at the driveway. If Ella didn't like it, they were back to waiting at the bus stop for her.
"There they are."
"Grab them, O'Neill will do anything to get them back. Even hand over the new technology they were given last week."
Ella let out a screech of indignation as a car drove up next to them and a man lunged out of the backseat to grab her. Spinning once, she let fly with a roundhouse punch to the man's jaw, followed by a kick to his family jewels.
"CJ, run to Mommy, run fast!" She ordered, letting go of her little brother's hand. When the passenger door opened and the stranger tried to catch CJ, Ella's legendary O'Neill rage hit the boiling point.
No one messed with her baby brother.
No one.
Slamming the door on the stranger's hand, she grinned wickedly at his yell of pain. She gripped the strap of her backpack and whipped it from her shoulder, up into the stranger's face and knocking him back into the vehicle, only to have the first grab her from behind, pinning her arms to her chest. Ella went limp, biting down hard on his arm, her teeth meeting through the flesh as she slipped free. Landing on the ground, she slapped her palms to the concrete and brought her little foot up sharply into the stranger's stomach, once again knocking him into the backseat.
"Suggestion for next time: Don't try to grab a girl who's got a Black Ops specialist for a dad and a Mom that kicks ass! You can't win. Don't even try." She snapped, then scampered the rest of the way to her mother, Sam meeting her halfway and quickly lifting her up into her arms with CJ. Sam hurried her children to safety, into the garage and shut the door, locking it swiftly and already hitting the cellphone speed dial for her husband.
"Call Uncle Teal'c, ask him to come over until your daddy gets here." She ordered Ella quickly, realizing it would take an hour for Jack to get back, but only ten for Teal'c, as his apartment was only five miles from their house. The nine year old picked up the house line and called Teal'c obediently. When the little girl returned, Sam quickly pulled her close for comfort.
"Daddy wants to know how you knew what to do." She managed. Ella could feel her mother's arms shaking and looked to CJ for an assist, he responded by wrapping his arms around his mother's neck.
"You taught me, remember? I only used one kick and one punch, like Daddy said. I had to use my backpack when he tried again to grab me. I know I'm not supposed to hit people, but he kinda' scared me. And, Daddy says it's okay to hit strangers if they grab me. And Mom, I didn't even have to yell for help!" Ella grinned.
"And CJ obeyed, like a good boy. Ella, you're a hero, you did a good thing telling your brother to run to me." Sam hugged Ella tightly, kissing the child's hair before doing the same to CJ.
******
"So, Ella. Heard there was a little excitement today." Jack stirred his coffee and set the spoon down, finally glancing at his eldest child.
"Not so much. Mom was more excited than I was." Ella shrugged, chewing a bit of her steak.
"It didn't scare you? When the bad man grabbed you?" Jack pressed carefully. Ella stopped chewing, slid her eyes sideways to his.
"Dad? Nine and three quarters here. Mom, you, Uncle Daniel, Uncle Teal'c, Uncle Cam, Aunt Vala, and Aunt Carolyn and General Landry have all taught me what to do in those situations. Not a big deal. Besides, the guy was a wuss. I took him with one punch, one kick, and whacking him with my backpack. They should try someone else's kid next time. And, if you say that Mom has to walk me to the bus stop and back again, I'm not going to school I'm nine and three quarters, CJ's six, we're big now." She announced evenly.
Jack looked to Sam in surprise. She raised an eyebrow and sipped her coffee, silently daring him to try changing their daughter's mind.
"Wouldn't you like it if-" He began.
"Dad, I'm not a baby." Ella stated firmly.
"No, you really aren't anymore." he replied his eyes misting over slightly.
"Well, I guess I can still be your baby, and Mom's, cuz that's fun a lot. But I'm big now. I'm nine and three quarters, and I can take care of me outside the house if you guys aren't around, and I can take care of CJ too. I told him to run to Mom, and he did. Everything was good." Ella shrugged once and continued her meal. Jack looked to Sam for help, she offered him the same shrug that Ella had.
"We had a long talk, Jack. Ella heard the driver say that they would try again. Daniel put Peanut in school at the SGC, you remember the one General Landry set up for the parents that go off world. The bus picks Peanut up from her stop and drops her off at the mountain, I was thinking that we could do that too. Ella and CJ are agreeable, provided they don't have to wait with an adult at the bus stop. I said we'd talk to you, that you had final say." Sam finally told him.
"You two are okay with this?" Jack asked. CJ nodded vigorously, mouth full of potatoes.
"Uncle Daniel teaches us history there if we go. I like hearing the right stuff about the pyramids, not the more widely accepted bunch of shit they tell us in school."
"Ella Grace, language." Sam cut in.
"Sorry. Bunch of stuff they teach in school. I mean, yeah, I guess it would be possible for a person to build the pyramids, but I like the way Uncle Daniel tells it. Besides Daddy, you don't want Peanut to be smarter than me and CJ, do you?" Ella asked, eyes wide with innocence.
"Let me think about it. As it is, you're not going to school tomorrow, so that Mom can calm down from her little scare here. I'll let you know my decision tomorrow." Jack finally told them. He could see from Ella's face that she wanted to pepper him with pleas to let them go to the school at the SGC, but controlled herself. Sam and Jack had drilled into them from babyhood up that the quickest way to get a negative answer was to bug their parents. Already, Jack knew he would let them go, had in fact enrolled them as soon as he got home, pulling them out of their old school. He just wanted to see how long Ella would wait before bringing it up again.
*******
Ella woke to snuffling by her head, rolled over sleepily to see CJ standing by her bed, crying softly.
"Are you okay? Do you have a headache again?" she whispered softly, sitting up and wrapping her arms around him.
"Saw the bad men again in my sleep. Only, Mommy and you weren't there, and neither was Daddy." CJ whimpered, fresh tears coming down his cheeks. Ella lifted him to her hip, staggering a little under his weight. "I'll take you to Mommy and Daddy, they'll let you sleep in their bed. Then you won't be scared anymore." She smiled as she headed for the darkened stairs.
"What if the bad men are down there, waiting for us again? But this time, there's a lot?" CJ asked as she reached the third step from the top, the bottom of the stairwell plunging into inky blackness. Until that moment, Ella hadn't been afraid. Carefully easing to the top again, she chewed her lip before setting her brother's feet on the floor and pressing the intercom button. "Mommy?" She called worriedly. A few seconds later Jack answered.
"What's up Baby?"
"CJ and I are kinda' scared, can we come sleep in your bed?" Ella asked softly.
"Sure thing, you know you don't have to ask as long as you're scared." he replied.
"Can you come get us? The stairs are really dark, and CJ's scared there might be more bad guys in the house."
Jack released the intercom button and sat up, shoving the blankets off himself and stumbling through the darkness to the stairs. "Come on down, I'm here now." he called softly.
"Just so you know, Dad, CJ was worried about the bad guys, not me. I didn't want him more scared. That's why we had to call you." Ella explained when she had reached her father's side.
"I'm not mad Baby." Jack gently smoothed his daughter's tangled hair and guided the children into the master bedroom. Lifting them one at a time into the center of the bed, he could only thank whatever gods were truly out there that he had been given a second chance at happiness.
And a Cal-King sized mattress.
The End