Family Secrets
by zeilfanaat
Category: Humor, Drama
Ratings: G or K
Disclaimer: Stargate: SG-1 is not mine. No infringement intended. Any characters that are not from the series or the movie, are mine. There's a very minor reference to MacGyver, which isn't mine either. It is meant more as a laugh than as a serious reference. Those who notice it, will smile; those who don't know MacGyver won't even notice.
Summary: Cassie is at the SGC, and Janet and Jack do their best to keep the rest of SG-1 in the dark as to their language abilities. Sequel of "Homework Secrets". Yes, I would read that one first. This will make much more sense.
A/N: Thanks to white rose01 for checking my English, and thanks to Astra for checking the German.
Cassandra Fraiser was bored. Her mother, Dr. Janet Fraiser, was on duty at the SGC. Seeing as Cassie had just started her holiday, and the neighbours who would usually take care of her on these occasions were out of town, Cassie had just tagged along.
She had already known every crack in the ceiling of the infirmary, and now that she had refreshed her memory, she found herself in need of some distraction. She told her mother she was going to find Sam Carter. Janet nodded. The doctor didn't need to warn her about where she could and where she couldn't go, so she smiled at her daughter before turning back to the technician who had burned his hand.
When she poked her head through the door opening of Sam's lab, Cassie found her 'grown-up sister' in the middle of what looked like an important experiment. Sam looked up and saw Cassie.
"Hi Cass. How're you doing?"
"I'm good! You?"
"Fine. Wha-" Sam interrupted herself when a light bulb started flashing orange. "Oh, sorry Cass, but I really have to work on this experiment. I'll see you later OK?"
"Sure. Bye!" Cassie replied, and turned around. For a moment she thought of where to go. Since Daniel's office was on her way to Jack's office, she figured she could first look if Daniel had time for her. Unlike Sam's, Daniel's door was closed, so she first knocked on the door. When there was no answer, she opened the door slightly and peered inside. She stifled a giggle when she saw that Daniel had fallen asleep on one of his books. Softly she closed the door again, and continued her trip through the hallways of the SGC. She was almost there when she saw Jack and Teal'c coming from the opposite direction. They were both dressed in sweats, and looked sweaty.
"Cassie?" Jack said in surprise when he saw the girl just in front of his office.
"Hi Uncle Jack, Teal'c! What have you been doing? You look all sweaty."
"We have just come from the physical exercise area where we have endeavoured to remain in good shape, Cassandra Fraiser." Teal'c stated.
"Eh, thanks. Between you and me, I personally have nothing against it if you just say 'gym'." Cassie replied as she looked up to meet Teal'c's eyes. Jack O'Neill ducked his head to hide his amusement. Teal'c raised one eyebrow, then inclined his head.
"Thank you, Cassandra Fraiser, I will remember your preference."
"Ah, right. You're welcome, I guess. Anyway, why haven't you showered yet? There are showers in the locker room, right?"
"Yeah, but the showers don't work at that level. Siler's working on it. But we figured it was probably faster if we'd just go and have showers in our own quarters." Jack answered. Cassie frowned.
"But, people don't have their own showers on base."
Jack grinned. "Most people don't. Except for the people who are living on base and are supposed to live on base, like Teal'c here, and people who're very likely to practically live on base, because of their job description, such as General Hammond, as he's running the show, and his Second in Command, who shares the General's work load. That means, not Carter, and not Daniel, 'cause they're supposed to live off base. Got it?"
"Yup! I get it!"
"So, what brings you here?" Jack asked as he opened his door and invited them both in. Teal'c declined. "I will retreat to my own quarters. I will see you at lunch."
Jack nodded. "Got it. I'll pick up Daniel if you pick up Carter."
Teal'c nodded and left. Jack closed the door behind him, and looked at Cassie. "So?"
Cassie explained, and then tilted her head.
"Können wir wieder Deutsch sprechen?" (Can we speak German again?)
"Ja, warum nicht. Aber jetzt gehe ich duschen. Du kannst hier warten. Du weißt wo die Spiele sind?" (Yes, why not. But first I'm going to take a shower. You can wait here. You know where to find the games?)
"Ja. Darf ich auf deinem Computer ein Spiel spielen?" (Yes. Can I play a game on your computer?)
"Ja, einen Moment. Ich werde mich einloggen." (Yes, just a moment. I'll log myself in.)
Cassie waited till Jack had logged into the computer, then sat down behind the desk. She played Tetris while Jack showered, but in the meanwhile she thought about Jack and his knowledge of German. This automatically led her to think about the sleeping Daniel. Oh, she'd love to see Daniel's face if he ever found out Jack spoke more languages than English. However, that was a big 'if', gauging from Jack's insistence that it remain a secret.
Within ten minutes Jack was back, freshly showered, and feeling much better for it.
"So, hast du mich schon geschlagen?" (So, have you beaten me yet?)
"Nein, aber ich bin noch nicht fertig!" (No, but I'm not ready yet!)
Jack grinned. "Keine Panik, du kannst es ruhig beenden, weil ich noch einige Papiere ausfüllen muss." (Don't panic, you can take your time to finish it, as I still have to fill in some papers.)
"Danke schön." (Thanks)
For about fifteen minutes they each worked in silence. Then Cassie shut down the game and flopped back into the chair with a frustrated sigh. Jack looked up.
"Und?" (And?)
"Ich hatte zehn Punkte zu wenig!" (I was ten points short!)
"Schade." (Shame) Jack replied with an expression that clearly said the opposite. Cassie stuck out her tongue at him. Jack ignored it and continued to fill out the papers. Cassie turned serious and thought for a while, a pensive expression on her face.
"Uncle Jack?"
Jack looked up, both at her tone and her use of English. "Yes?"
"Could you…well." She hesitated, and then tried again. "Could you tell me a bit about your family? You don't have to if you don't want to!" She added hastily. Jack put down his pen and looked at the young girl who now looked so small in his chair.
"What's wrong?" He asked her. Cassie looked down at the desk in front of her.
"Nothing."
"Cass." The worried tone in Jack's voice made Cassie change her mind, though she continued to look down at her hands.
"When I was little, my real father would sometimes tell me about his brothers and sisters and his childhood, etc. It… it always made me feel… secure. I know it's stupid, I'm sorry, I shouldn-"
"Oh, Cassie, honey. Come here."
In no time Cassie had slipped from the chair and thrown herself into Jack's arms. He held her tightly as he rocked her gently back and forth. For a while they sat like that, the only sound Cassie's soft sobbing. "I ju-hust miss them so- so much, but I I really lo-love Janet a-and you, and S-Sam an' Daniel, an' Teal'c an- and Grandpa George; a-and I don'- don't want to hurt you g-guys, bu-but I miss my rea-real m-mother an- and father."
"Shhh, it's ok," Jack said as he held her close to him, "It's perfectly fine for you to miss your real parents. Really. It doesn't change the love you have for us, nor does your love for us change your love for your parents. Of course you miss them. You always will. And that's ok. You can always tell Janet or me, or one of the others if you miss your parents and are sad because of it. You won't hurt us. We won't love you any less because of it."
"Re-really?" Cassie sniffed.
"Really. Scout's honour." He smiled down at her.
"We-were you ever a Scout?" Cassie asked sniffing.
"No, not really, but I was in the woods often enough to pass for one." Jack smiled as he pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and offered it to the girl on his lap. After she'd blown her nose she leaned back into Jack's embrace.
Another two minutes passed in silence. Then Jack spoke softly.
"You know, when I was a kid, I had two younger siblings. Lucy, my sister, and Angus, my brother. Lucy was three years younger, and Angus seven. We lived in Chicago, but my mother's father, Harry, lived in Minnesota, in a cabin, near a lake."
"Your cabin?" Cassie asked.
"Yeah. Of course at that time it wasn't mine yet. We often visited though. We learnt how to skate almost at the same time as we learnt to walk. And we ended up spending most of the time on our butts."
Cassie giggled.
"What was interesting, is that from the attic of our house in Chicago, you could look right into the living room of our backdoor neighbour, Mr. Thompson. And Mr. Thompson wasn't really fond of kids, so he'd always glare at us if he saw us. In short, the perfect target for pranks." Jack smiled.
"I remember one of those pranks. Our father was working in the garden, and our mother was doing the groceries. I had picked up the phone and dialled Mr. Thompson's number. Angus or Lucy would shout 'now' when Mr. Thompson had his hand on the phone, and I'd slam the phone back on its cradle. Angus and Lucy told me how Mr. Thompson looked at his phone in confusion before going back to his chair. Remember, there were no wireless phones in those days. Of course, the moment Mr. Thompson sat down in his chair, I'd call him again, and the same thing happened all over again. At this point Mr. Thompson was mildly annoyed." Jack paused for a moment, recalling that time in his childhood.
"He waited for five minutes next to the phone before finally going back to his chair. I phoned again. Mr. Thompson practically ran to the phone, but was too late of course. This time he looked outside; I suppose he thought someone from the street was watching him and playing a prank on him. He walked back to his chair, quickly crouched, and crawled back to wait next to the phone. No one called of course, because by this time I had joined Angus and Lucy. Apparently someone did call however, 'cause he jumped to his feet and shouted into the phone. I can still remember his face when he realised this person had nothing to do with the previous phone calls."
Cassie laughed as she imagined the whole thing happening. "Did he ever find out what had happened?"
Jack nodded, regret evident on his face. "Yup. Our father saw us laughing our heads off, and he quickly found out what we'd done. We got a spanking alright, and we had to go to Mr. Thompson to explain what we'd done and apologise."
"Was he mad?" Cassie looked up at Jack's face. Jack snorted.
"Oh yeah. We had to work in his garden for the rest of the week, the moment we came home from school. But it was still worth it." Jack said with a smile. "Of course, you never heard that from me." He added, thinking of what Janet might have to say to him if she found out he'd told her daughter he thought some pranks were worth the punishment.
"Heard what?" Cassie asked with a smirk.
"That's my girl. Now, how about we go in search of Daniel and drag him off to lunch."
"Sounds great! I'm starving!" Cassie said as she hopped off Jack's lap.
"By the way, does your mother know you're here?"
"I told her I'd go to Sam, but she was busy. I'm sure she'll figure out I'm with you."
"I'll give her a heads-up just in case." Jack said, as he picked up his phone and pressed the speed-dial to the infirmary. "This is Colonel O'Neill, can I talk to Doctor Fraiser for a moment? Thank you." Cassie waited at the door for Jack to finish. "Hi Doc, just wanted to let you know I've kidnapped your daughter and am on my way to the cafeteria. You're free to join us and the gang."
On the other side of the line, in Janet's office, the doctor nodded, and was about to reply when she got an idea. Quickly she looked around to see if anyone was close enough to hear. When that came up negative, she answered.
"Danke schon, Colonel. Ich sehe Sie in Cafeteria. Tschüss." (Thanks, Colonel. I'll see you in the Cafeteria. Bye.) 1
She quickly put the phone down and smirked as she thought of the Colonel's face. She had only yesterday had her first German lesson, and her knowledge of German basically stopped at what she had just said. But it was sufficient for now. And because Daniel, Sam and Teal'c would be with them as well, the Colonel wouldn't be able to say anything about it. Not if he wanted to keep it a secret that he spoke German anyway. Satisfied, she told one of the nurses where she would be and went to the cafeteria.
Jack looked at the phone in surprise. "Well, I'll be…"
"Uncle Jack?" Cassie asked. Jack shook his head and put the phone down.
"Come on, let's go get Daniel."
Jack closed his door behind him and together they walked in the direction of Daniel's office.
"Uncle Jack! What did Mum say?"
"Cassie, since when does your mother speak German?"
"Huh? She speaks German?"
"Well, when I just spoke to her on the phone, she wasn't speaking English for sure." Jack retorted, aware that they were now in hearing distance from Daniel's office. And sure enough, Daniel had heard them coming. He had just awoken a minute ago, so when he'd looked at the clock and heard Jack's and Cassie's voices, he'd figured they were on their way to lunch, making a beeline for him. And when he heard Cassie's question, he perked up.
"Who speaks German?"
"Doc." Jack replied.
"How do you know it's German?" Daniel asked sceptically.
"Well, she said something like 'tshoos', and I thought I'd remembered from somewhere that that was German. Is that right?"
"Yes, yes, but you pronounce it 'Tschüss'." Daniel corrected almost absently. Jack shrugged. "Whatever."
Cassie listened to the conversation with amusement, though she tried hard not to let it show. "But why would Janet want to learn German?" Daniel wondered out loud.
"Well, why don't you ask her? I told her she could join us when I called her to tell her Cassie was with me." Jack said. "And there she is."
And there she was, standing in line for the mashed potatoes, and whatever else the kitchen sold as 'edible'.
The three joined the queue, and when they'd all put something on their plate, they joined Janet, Teal'c and Sam at their regular table.
"Hey Janet?" Daniel started, when they were all eating.
"Hmm?" Janet looked up.
"Are you learning German?"
Janet almost choked. Sam and Daniel looked at her in concern, while Jack hid a grin. 'Two can play this game, Doc.'
Teal'c silently handed Janet a glass of water, which she took gratefully. "Thank you. I'm sorry, Daniel, piece of potato going the wrong way."
"That's ok." Daniel nodded. "Are you learning German though?"
"Ehm, yes, though I only had one lesson so far."
"Why are you learning it?" Sam asked curiously.
'Because I want to know if Jack and Cassie are up to something.' Of course she couldn't say that, the 'threat' of the Colonel still fresh in her mind.
"Well, Cassie has been learning it for a while now; I just figured it would be nice to learn another language too. So yeah. There you have it."
'Nice save, Doc.'
Daniel nodded. "OK, well, if you ever want any help, just ask, ok?"
"Yes, thanks Daniel."
Janet saw the amusement in Jack's eyes, and her eyes narrowed slightly. "So, Daniel, how did you find that out? Even Cassie didn't know yet."
"Oh, eh, Jack told me." All eyes, except for Daniel's turned to Jack. Janet looked at him with a barely hidden triumphant smile as she thought: 'let's see how you get out of that one, Sir.'
"Well, suggested, more like it. I mean, he heard you say 'Tschüss', and he thought it was probably German." Daniel amended.
"How did you guess, Sir?" Sam asked.
"Oh, I once knew a German guy, and he always said that…what was it, tshoos thing instead of 'bye'." Jack responded. Janet resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Jack's pronunciation of the German word. If she had learnt anything yesterday, it was the correct pronunciation of 'Tschüss'.
"Right. So, like I said, if you, or Cassie for that matter, need any help, just let me know." Daniel said.
"Thanks Daniel!" Cassie said cheerfully. "Oh, Daniel? What were you working on before, that was so boring that you fell asleep?"
"Huh, oh. You saw me? Eh, oh, it wasn't really important, but I thought it was interesting. You see there was this artefact found in Peru, but it had writing on it that appears to descend from Swedish or Norwegian. Sadly, I'm no expert on that. I'd love to learn more about it."
Jack saw Janet blanch slightly and decided to take pity on her, even though this time he wasn't the one who started it.
"For crying out loud! Daniel, haven't you got enough rocks to play with from the galaxy that you also have to search for more rocks on Earth!"
"Artefacts, Jack, artefacts."
"They look like rocks to me." Jack retorted.
"Anything that's not a weapon or a hockey stick is a rock in your eyes, Jack." Daniel shot back.
"Hey, hockey sticks make great weapons… Rocks too by the way." Jack added with a sly grin.
"Jack!" Daniel exclaimed exasperatedly.
When they'd finished lunch, Teal'c went to his room to perform Kel'no'reem, and Sam went back to another experiment. Janet and Jack tagged along as Daniel wanted to show Cassie something. Janet slowed down noticeably so Jack slowed down too. Once they were out of earshot of Daniel, Janet spoke.
"Thank you, for the save at the end. Though I can't say I was too happy about being asked whether I spoke German, in the first place, Sir."
Jack grinned. "You pulled it off nicely though. And you certainly gave me a run for my money."
Janet smirked. "Yes, Sir. How about we call it a truce, though. That remark about Swedish nearly did me in."
"Agreed. Now, let's go and see what Daniel and Cassie are up to."
"Yes, Sir." They quickened their pace again, and soon they arrived at Daniel's office.
"Ah, there you are. Janet, I was just showing Cassie this book. It's German for beginners. I thought you might want to borrow it."
"Eh, yes, thanks. I'm sure we can use it."
"You mean, you can use it." Cassie said. At Janet's look she explained. "Come on, I'm not a beginner anymore. Not really!"
Daniel looked at her in amusement. "Why 'not really'?"
"Because I've had lots and lots of practice already."
"Really? Do you see your teacher very often then?" Daniel asked, genuinely interested.
"No, but-" Here Cassie hesitated, as she realised she couldn't tell Daniel that she'd been practicing with Jack. Janet came to the same conclusion, so she quickly jumped in.
"We know someone who speaks fluently German. He offered to practice with her."
"Ah, alright. Must be a good friend. Anyway, you can borrow the book for as long as you like." He said absentmindedly.
"Thanks Daniel. I'll be going now, still have patients in the infirmary." Janet rolled her eyes. "Siler's hurt himself again when he was repairing the showers."
This elicited a chuckle from everyone. "Yeah, I'd better be going too. The reports will wait, but Hammond won't." Jack said with a frown.
"OK, see you guys later." Daniel said, as he immersed himself in an article again.
"Bye!" Cassie said, as she too hopped off the stool she'd been sitting on.
The three walked through the maze that is the SGC. To be more accurate, Jack and Janet walked, Cassie skipped.
"Cassie, are you coming with me or with the Colonel?"
"I'll come with you. I want to know how Siler hurt himself this time." She said with a smile.
"Cassie! It's not polite to laugh about it." Janet scolded, though she silently had to laugh herself when she found out just how the man hurt himself every time.
"I won't laugh while he's there." Cassie said, as if it was the most obvious thing to say. Jack grinned, as Janet again rolled her eyes.
"Don't worry," he reassured the doctor, "she's just pulling your leg."
"And guess who she learns that from, Sir."
Jack looked at her innocently. 'Who, me?'
Janet sighed and grinned. "See you soon, Sir."
Jack nodded, and walked off to his right, while Janet and Cassie went to the left.
"Adjö." He added with a smile. Janet stopped dead in her tracks and turned to look at Jack's retreating back. 'Oy, that man…!'
The End
A/N: 'Adjö' is 'goodbye' in Swedish. At least, according to an online dictionary.
1. How it should be: "Danke schön, Colonel. Ich sehe Sie in der Cafeteria. Tschüss."