TITLE: Seasons Of Life
AUTHOR: VIDZ
TIMELINE: between S8 and S9, AU
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc of the TV show Stargate: SG-1 are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this fic. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: this fic is one of the number of previously-Jack/Rachel that I've decided to convert to other pairings because I abandoned that pairing.
It's been half-written for a long time, but last week I received an inspiration, finished it and I hope you like it.
Don't worry, I'm working on the next chapter of "But sometimes...", I'm just having trouble how to connect it to the one after that.
SUMMARY: What had started as a goodwill trip to bolster the spirits of an old friend had turned into one of incredible turn-arounds for one retired General George Hammond.
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Parking the car next to the familiar big dark-green F-350 Hammond got out and took a look around. Trees and nothing but trees. Hard to imagine the man who complained about trees every chance he got spending every moment he could here, loving it. But that was Jack O'Neill for you, a man who loved to put up smoke screens over everything about himself, from his intelligence to his love of nature.
Glad to be in loose, airy civilian clothes and not in a stuffy, stiff uniform made of poliester the portly man made his way around the log cabin with the intention of knocking on the door.
Turning a corner his intention evaporated when he caught sight of his querry fouling on a lounger on the small, wooden dock.
Jack waved him over and Hammond walked the short path down to the small pond measuring only about 170 feet at it's widest.
"Hey, sir. Fancy seeing you here."
The old General couldn't keep in the smile at the usual irreverent comment from his best officer "Jack."
"Grab a can and take a load off." Jack offered, waving at the icebox and the lounger next to him.
For a second the bald man wondered why Jack had two loungers set out when he was alone, but decided against asking. Jack had always been a little on the weird side...
Hammond accepted the beer and lowered himself into the lounger, using the opportunity to observe the younger man.
He knew how to handle Jack O'Neill, you had to use the right mixture of patience and goading to get him to talk. Scratch that, there were few people who talked more than Jack, but the thing was Jack was always careful not to say anything important or personal.
George decided to go on the offensive after 10 minutes of quiet.
"So, how are you doing, Jack?"
"Peachy, sir. Can't wait for my leave to be over so I'll get the chance to play hide and seek and cowboys and Indians with my beloved politicians." Jack drawled sarcastically.
Hammond hid his smile behind the beer can, knowing better than anyone just how much Jack hated politics and politicians. But this was the military and the only battlefield flag officers had left was the politics. Jack knew that full well, he'd had plenty of chances to retire and step down, but he was still hanging in there. If he was really as bothered as he claimed to be he would've left the Air Force long ago. Besides...
"Come on, Jack, you and I both know having you transferred to DC will be like letting a fox loose inside of a chicken-house."
Jack grinned before he could stop himself, enjoying the thought of the games he would play with and on the unsuspecting politicians.
"Didn't see you at the wedding." oh, yeah, that was as subtle as an anvil falling on a huge gong.
"Nope." Jack responded. It had been years since the two men had had the chance to talk about anything personal.
Hammond continued as if Jack hadn't said anything, sighing. "Well, I can't claim I was surprised."
Jack shot shocked eyes at his former superior, who sighed exasperatedly.
"Oh, Jack, I've known about your feelings for her before you even knew it yourself. You never could hide things well. Sam was a tougher cookie. She started early on in life to hide her feelings and has become too adept in it, though I did get occasional glimpses. You know, I honestly believed for 7 years that, when I would witness Samantha Carter getting married, the groom would've been you." now that he was retired and no longer obligated to either take action against Jack and Carter or just act as if it didn't exist, George wanted to talk about it before he'd explode from holding it in too long.
"Look, George," Jack thought it best to interrupt "Carter made the choice for both of us 5 years ago and with time I made peace with it. That's all there is to it."
The skeptical look with which his former CO regarded him told Jack just how much George believed him.
"Really, George."
"Uh huh." George commented disbelievingly. Then, deciding to do Jack a favor and drop it, he moved on "If you say so, Jack..."
"Yup, I do, sir." catching the look sent his way Jack ammended "George. Look, George... You're finally here, after years of me trying to convince you to take a vacation and come up here with me, there's fish in the pond..." gesturing with his hand he pointed at the still water, ammending at another you're-so-full-of-shit-O'Neill look from the man who knew him just too well "...somewhere... Why don't we just drink our beers and enjoy it?"
"Sounds like a good plan, Major General." sighed Hammond and set his lounger into a more comfortable position.
"Major General." Jack gave a crooked smile "It does sound good, doesn't it?"
"If he knew, Jacob would be turning in his grave right about now." George shot back, making them both laugh.
Eventually sobering up they clinked their cans together and each thought of the man they'd both called a friend.
Not much was said during the next hour, only the slaps against skin as each fought a losing battle against the mosquitoes when their idyll was interrupted.
The slight droning he'd been hearing for the past five seconds and had been sure was another damn bloodsucker had finally grown loud enough for Hammond to identify as the sound of an engine. The crunching of tires on the gravel stopped when the car pulled up to the two already there and shut off the engine. Hammond glanced at Jack, curious, but the younger man's blank expression provided no clues. Jack was obviously enjoying leaving George in the dark. Car door slammed and the sound of light steps drifted on the wind, making Hammond even more confused.
Privately he had expected to by now hear Teal'c's baritone and Daniel's higher pitch as they'd come to help their friend through this obviously difficult time in his life (even though Jack was behaving as if he wasn't affected at all, as if he was indifferent to Carter marrying Pete), but this...
These steps sounded suspiciously like the steps of... No, it couldn't be...
A woman turned the corner of the cabin, her long, curly copper hair shining in the sun. For a moment Hammond was thrown, having expected short, blond hair instead.
The woman coming toward them with a confident stride was at least 12 years younger than Carter, slimmer and in general much, much lovelier. She also looked somehow familiar.
The smile came easily onto her beautiful face as she pushed the shades up, radiating a warm greeting. From the corner of his eyes Hammond could see Jack could no longer keep up his mask and a slow smile being to spread on his face too.
A southern gentleman, Hammond rose to shake the woman's hand when it came to him who she was, from where he knew her.
"Agent Johnson, CIA."
Kerry shook his hand, her smile turning a bit embarrassed, but still clearly happy "Yes, sir, but not Johnson anymore."
"It's not?" ' Don't tell me Jack's shacking up with a married woman...'
Her declaration shocked the ground from under him "It's O'Neill now."
Okay, so Jack WAS shacking up with a married woman, but she was married to HIM.
George carefully sat back down while Kerry bent over and gave her husband a quick peck on the lips "Hey, honey, I just have to send an email and then I'll be back out. Do I get the second bedroom ready?"
Receiving a grateful nod from Jack she straightened up again and, after a smile to Hammond, disappeared in the direction of the house.
Just as she was about to close the door a young Golden Retriever puppy popped up from behind the house, still yawning sleepily from it's nap, and quickly scampered after her inside.
Still stunned, the old General turned to his younger successor for explanation.
Jack started in way of explanation "We started dating a few weeks before Jacob died and were together until his death. Then Kerry figured the situation between me and Carter wrong and broke up. Jake's death gave me a lot to think about. I went after her, we had a talk and then she came up here with me for my time-off."
"And how did you get married?"
Jack shrugged "It just felt right." then he grinned "And then we got the dog."
Hammond remembered how much Jack had always talked about wanting to get a dog, but only if he had everything else too, like a solid love life.
Then, almost conspiratorially, Jack whispered, a goofy smile on his lips "She calls me 'honey'."
George blinked in confusion as to the importance of that before his face cleared in understanding. He and Jack had been alone for the same amount of time, both having been married for years before their wives had left them, each in their own way. To have a woman call you something as simple as 'honey' again, after all this time... words can't describe how good it feels. One simple word can revive and fill with wamrth a heart that hadn't received any affection for years.
It had been even worse for Jack. While George had still had a family, his daghter and grand-daughters, Jack had been completely alone, with no-one. If that wasn't bad enough, the chance for happiness had been just outside of his reach for years, like a carrot hanging in front of a donkey's nose, before being yanked away for good. He hadn't gotten not even one warm, loving, affectionate word or glance from the woman he'd loved for so long. To finally after all these years have a woman giving him love, affection and attention without reservations, hidden agendas, to give him all these at all... Words just couldn't describe it.
Realization on just how mistaken his believes had been revealed itself to the old General. He'd been wrong in assuming Jack was drowning in misery and trying to lick his wounds in peace, far away from Carter who had sacrificed him for her own personal happiness. In truth it was completely the opposite.
Jack was happy, that's as simple and as wonderful as it was. He had it all, his life was perfect, there was nothing more he could wish for, he finally had a peaceful life, a woman who loved him and who had even vowed to spend the rest of her life with him, and a dog, the life he'd had and loved before he'd lost it due to a stray bullet over 10 years ago.
He couldn't claim the same for Carter. Now that he thought about it, the smile she'd worn during her wedding had been fake. A good fake, good enough to fool him for weeks, but fake nonetheless. Perhaps the Lt Col was slowly realizing the normal life she'd so desperately wanted, so desperately that she'd destroyed a team and forever alienated the man who'd loved her, wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Or perhaps she'd wanted something she could never fit in. After all she'd seen and gone through Carter would never be normal again, she probably couldn't even have children, and for someone who'd been living solely for the adrenalin high of stepping onto other worlds, being shot at, solving puzzles,... a normal life would become very, very boring and stale, very, very soon. And it seemed like it had already started to.
What had started as a goodwill trip to bolster the spirits of an old friend had turned into one of incredible turn-arounds.
In a few days the world of politics would get one Major General Jack O'Neill.
George had only one thought to that:
God help them all!
THE END
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