Title: Home on the Horizon
A/N: Been working on this for a while and it seemed Mother's Day, in honor of mothers of all sorts, was an appropriate time to finally post. Thanks to mrspollifax for her beta work.
There wasn't any one thing that Cassie could point to as odd. Sam looked the same as she always looked, though the orange-ish lipstick was sort of unusual. Maybe it was the entire package; nothing stood out on its own, but Sam's outfit, makeup, jewelry, everything looked… carefully planned?
Not that Cassie didn't appreciate the effort, but it seemed like the kind of thing a girl did for a date, not their monthly get-together-night which included dinner and drinks at one of their favorite spots. The type of night that started sometime shortly after Sam had transferred back to SG-1 from Area 51. Tonight it was just the two of them, catching up over a bottle of Pinot Noir and two plates of pasta.
"Your hair is longer than usual," Cassie observed. "Are you growing it out?"
"Maybe."
"Maybe?" Cassie almost smiled. There were some things about Sam that would never change. "Reluctant to announce that a new hairstyle is on its way?"
"No," Sam sipped her wine, almost hiding behind the glass. After setting it back on the table, she added, "I haven't decided. I skipped a few appointments and I guess now I'm going with it."
"I think I like it."
"It's strange too, because just the other day I found a picture of my mom."
"How is that strange?" Cassie asked, lifting up her menu again and reconsidering ordering the ravioli.
"I haven't thought about her in a long time. I'd almost forgotten that she wore her hair long."
"I've never seen a picture of your mom."
A brief smile floated across Sam's lips. "I'm looking more and more like her as I get older."
"Really? I always thought you resembled Jacob so much."
All these years later, Cassie could finally admit to herself that it used to sting a little seeing the family resemblance in the Carters and not having any of her own to claim. Not that Janet ever made her feel less than a blood relative. It's just a different level of truth when it's as obvious as noses on a face.
"I suppose."
Cassie looked up from the menu to see if the comment signaled pain on Sam's part. It didn't, and Cassie was grateful.
They were both finally getting to the point that they could bring up the names of family now gone in casual conversation and it wasn't as difficult as it once was. There were still times Cassie's heart would twist in her chest, like the day she ran across a home movie in her DVD collection. When she put it on and heard Janet's voice for the first time since the funeral years before, it brought tears to Cassie's eyes. And yet Cassie could remember the good times and talk about old stories with Sam. They could even laugh at some of them. It was progress.
The waiter appeared to take their order, and Sam seemed nervous all of the sudden, asking him to give them a few more minutes. It was silly because Cassie knew Sam ordered the same thing every time they came to Nick's Ristorante. She didn't even need to look at the menu once, let alone twice. This clue, combined with the rest, had Cassie sitting up straighter.
"What's going on?"
Sam asked, "What makes you think anything is going on?"
OK, Cassie reconsidered, maybe she was being a bit ridiculous. Maybe she was reading into things—
That's when Jack O'Neill showed up.
"Hi." Sam glanced between Cassie and him. "Um, didn't expect you right now."
Some secret conversation was going on between them; Cassie was familiar with the signs and symbols but not the translation.
"Hey, kiddo." Jack turned from Sam and leaned over to kiss Cassie on the cheek. "How's things?"
"Oh… they're getting more interesting by the minute."
Cassie could tell Jack hadn't a clue what that meant. He took off his coat and hung it on the hook at the end of the booth. Then he seemed to hover, unsure of his next move.
Sam smiled way too wide. "I thought Jack could join us this one time. If that's OK with you?"
"Sure."
Jack slid in next to Sam, scrambling to pick up the menu before anyone asked him a question or looked him in the eye.
It wasn't the first time Cassie had ever heard Sam refer to him as "Jack." It was rare in the last few years, but occasionally it had happened when Cassie was younger. She never asked, but she assumed that it had something to do with Sam not wanting Cassie to spend too much of her childhood being reminded of their military ranks, or of times that when one of them went missing from her life for months at a time.
Tonight, however, the "Jack" came off the tongue a little too practiced, in a way it never had before. It had always sounded a bit awkward, as if Sam mentally edited before nearly coming out with "colonel" or later "general" and stopped herself just short.
Cassie grinned, realizing that Sam's jewelry/make-up/dress/hair extra effort was not for her benefit at all.
The squirming was kind of fun to watch, which made Cassie consider dragging this out as long as possible. Making them think she was somehow shocked and appalled? That could be fun. Never let on that she'd always seen the way Jack would look at Sam when she wore a short skirt. Or the fact that Sam subconsciously leaned into him when they sat next to each other at Thanksgiving dinner, especially after a couple of glasses of wine.
Nope. Cassie was completely shocked. Hadn't seen this one coming a mile away. Hell, a light-year away.
"Um, Cassie."
"Yes."
Before continuing, Sam glanced at Jack, who seemed to slouch behind the menu even further. Cassie was willing to bet that he'd arrived sooner than they'd planned. He didn't want to be here for this part. Knowing Jack, he was more than happy to agree to show up after all the girly talk was done, especially if any possible tears (of joy, or otherwise) might happen. Then he could swoop in after the drama was over, like a modern day knight in shinning armor, and buy them both dinner. Possibly dessert too.
Cassie wondered if there was a way to swindle a new car out of him in this deal.
Then Sam said, "Jack and I have something we want to tell you."
Cassie flashed back to the day Sam and Daniel arrived to pick her up from school. Daniel and I have something… And Cassie's heart twisted again, just as it had back then, and she panicked that she'd read it all wrong. The news was bad; everything she'd known was about to fall apart all over again.
But Sam wasn't nervous like she was that day. No, if anything she looked as if she was about to blush. And she fidgeted a little, in a manner far more characteristic of Jack than the ever-unflappable Colonel Carter. The panic began to fade and Cassie took a breath.
"We're… um…" Sam stumbled over her words, "We…"
"Went fishing?" Cassie asked brightly.
There was a beat, where Sam seemed stunned.
Cassie repeated the obvious, "He took you fishing." It wasn't a complex metaphor, anyone beyond high school could identify it straight away. Did they honestly believe they were being coy?
Coy. Koi. Fishing.
Heh. Seriously, she was turning into a female version of Jack O'Neill. The bona fide original lowered his menu and was clearly unsure what to say.
"C'mon," Cassie said, now warming to the subject. "Fishing never meant 'fishing,' or at least, it didn't mean only fishing. Baiting the hook, reeling her in." Cassie's eyes flicked from Jack over to Sam. "Tell me, Sam, how good of a fisherman is he? Do you catch multiple fish in one night?"
"Enough." Sam finally found her voice.
Cassie smirked. "What's the size of his catch?"
"Cassandra."
"Oh, I can go on all evening."
Jack turned to Sam, "I had to be here for this why?"
Cassie sat back and sipped her wine in triumph. She wasn't kidding; she'd have one hell of a time playing with them. It would be wonderful revenge for the occasion back in middle school when Jack carefully explained to Cassie that it was an Earth tradition to squawk like a chicken to let a boy know that you had a crush on him. It was also interesting to be at a point that she could tease Sam about her love life. But if she were really honest with herself, those weren't the true reasons she was playing with them. It was partly because she was happy for them, but also…
"Because I'm only saying what Mom would have," she blurted it out before she even realized what she was saying.
The silent— conversation or argument or tactical retreat—whatever it was going on between the pair sitting across from her abruptly ended. They swung their attention to Cassie.
She watched Jack, mostly because she knew how Sam would react. He had an expression on his face very similar to once, long ago, when he told her she was wise beyond her years and that it wasn't always a good thing. Then he'd grinned, and handed over one of those Chinese finger traps. The kind you get at a carnival. She'd wondered at the time where a man like Jack O'Neill would get such a thing, and even worse, why he'd carry it around in his pocket.
"Will it always be like this?" she asked slowly. "Every time something good happens I'll wonder what she'd think?"
Jack nodded. "But it gets easier." He glanced sideways at Sam, checking for something before he spoke further. "Look, Cassandra…. The last thing either of us wanted to do was upset you."
"No," she put a smile on again. "No, you really didn't. Caught me off guard a little, that's all."
She changed subjects, updating them on school and her friends, and laughed with them over an odd e-mail she got from Daniel the other day. Over dessert her mind wandered off while Sam and Jack were debating whether it was a good idea for Teal'c to attend the Star Wars convention that was in town next month.
Janet had once told her that she was lucky. "You have fine examples, Cassie. You're lucky to have the people in your life that you do."
She was 14, no, maybe 15 at the time, and wasn't much interested in hearing it. Because she knew Janet was referring to her friends at the SGC and at 15, the idea of following lots of rules and never being able to do what you wanted to do sounded like the worst kind of punishment.
When Janet died, no one knew what to say to her, but there were a lot of lame attempts and overdone clichés. However, one stuck, even now. General Hammond put a hand on her shoulder at the funeral. "You just keep on being who you are, dear. Because there's no greater memorial to the memory of your mom than you."
"Cassie, are you alright?" Sam asked.
"Yeah." She blinked.
Had she ever told them how thankful she was? Not just for finding her, giving her a new home, making her feel loved, giving her an education, but for the little things as well? Some people would look at her life and feel sorry for her, only focusing on the losses she'd experienced. But the amazing part wasn't that she was an alien or had been through a Stargate. No, the really amazing thing was that she was happy.
"I'm just…" Cassie smiled at them. "I'm really happy for both of you. You deserve, you know, finally having everything that you want."
Sam visibly relaxed and Jack gave her a funny smirk.
"But," she couldn't help at least trying, "I'd be even happier if you guys got me a new car. Or a new fishing pole."
"See?" Jack said to Sam. "I told you."