Family Day at SGC
By: Sasusc
Spoilers: General Season 9 knowledge
Summary: It's that time of the year again when SGC has their annual Family Day Picnic. The picnic allows one Cameron Mitchell to reveal to his team the girl he has been dating: Cassandra Fraiser. Cassie/Cameron
Author's Note: As I had not made clear in my other story "Don't Come Knockin'" about the bet at the end, I have decided to clear things up and stick it in here. It is not necessary to read that story to understand this one, but it does make a slight appearance.
Chapter One: Small Victories . . . Of the Alien Variety
TWO WEEKS LATER
Cameron leaned against the bars of their prison cell. He tried to make light conversation. "So, who's going to the annual Family Picnic Day?"
"Not me," Daniel spoke up. "I'll be able to catch up on some of the artifacts other teams have brought back. Anyway, I don't have any family to bring."
"Teal'c?"
"No."
"Man of few words. Carter? Is that a no for you as well?"
"Actually, sir, I will be going. General O'Neill will be coming down that weekend. He's going to be giving a speech."
"Jack's coming? Why didn't you mention this earlier?"
Sam smiled at the irritable tone in Daniel's voice. "I haven't had the chance. Are you going, Mitchell? You'll be able to see a different side of SGC at the picnic."
He rubbed the back of his neck. "I let it slip in front of Cass about the picnic. She says I should go. It'll give me an opportunity to bond with my fellow co-workers. Also, I think, she's curious about what I do. This'll give her the chance to find something about it without asking a lot of questions."
"I would like to meet this girlfriend of yours."
"Are you bringing anyone?" Cameron asked.
Sam was glad that the boys couldn't see her blush in the dark. "I'm going as General O'Neill's date."
Daniel laughed. "This'll be the first time the two of you will be together within the work environment, right?"
Carter nodded. "Yes," she said after she realized that they couldn't see her in the dark. "Jack thought the picnic was a good place to start."
Cameron shook the bars of the jail cell. "How does the relationship work exactly? We're always away on missions and the general is sitting behind his desk trying to ignore his paperwork. I don't see how the two of you are able to pursue any sort of permanent relationship."
"Asgard technology."
"Ah," Cameron commented. "Those guys are pretty handy, aren't they?"
"I've changed my mind," Daniel spoke up. "I'll be going."
"If I had been entirely informed of the situation, Col. Carter, I would have answered Col. Mitchell's question differently. I will go to the annual picnic to listen to O'Neill's speech, and also to meet the girlfriend of Cameron Mitchell."
The colonel smiled to himself. Oh yeah, he thought, Cassie would enjoy meeting all of them. An image of a black hair witch came forbiddingly to his mind. Vala Mal Doran could cause some problems. One never knew what was going to pop out of her mouth, or where her wondering hands may roam. He turned to look in the general direction he knew Daniel to be sitting.
"Will Vala be there?"
"That's up to General Landry. He hasn't decided if she'll be safe enough to go."
Before Cameron could comment, a guard strode forward carrying a torch. Cameron stood up to holler, "I want to make an official complaint to your leader!"
The guard didn't respond. He continued passed the four prisoners. Cameron shook the bars of jail hard, trying to gain the guard's attention. It held no affect to their keepers.
S T A R G A T E
It only took forty-eight hours for someone from the SGC to rescue them. SG-9 under the command of Col. Wilson, spoke to the local guru around the Stargate. Apparently, Daniel had committed a crime when he was video taping the villagers. The planet's people believed that capturing an image of a person on film of any kind would endanger their soul, preventing them to reach their heaven. Col. Wilson convinced the guru to release SG-1 under the condition that all of Dr. Jackson's recording devices shall be destroyed. The colonel felt that sacrificing SGC equipment was worth the release of their flagship team.
Col. Carter was currently heading towards the airport to meet Jack O'Neill. The general was spending the entire week in Colorado Springs, leaving two days after the annual SGC picnic. Beside him on the plane was another former commander of SGC, General Hammond.
George Hammond shifted in his seat besides Jack. Their plane was going to be landing soon. He glanced out the window as he spoke to him. "You owe me fifty dollars, Jack."
"I don't know what you are talking about," Jack commented.
"Cameron dropping by Sam's house in May rings a bell?"
Jack nodded slowly. About three months ago, Cameron Mitchell had stopped by Samantha Carter's house to inform her about a mission. The man was surprised to find him in the house.
"And what about it?"
"Hank and I made a bet on how Mitchell would learn of your relationship with Sam."
"Ah," Jack commented. "How did you think he would learn of our relationship?"
Hammond chuckled. "I figure someone would let it slip."
"Ah, come on, George. You know us better then that. Do you see us letting something like that slip out? Sam and I had tipping-toed around our feelings for eight years."
Hammond sighed. It almost seemed that Hank Landry knew the former SG-1 better then he did. Hank felt that Cameron would learn about Sam and Jack on his own, with no help from anyone else.
Both man sighed as an announcement sounded on the speakers. The plane was ready to land.
Meanwhile, driving towards the airport, Sam picked up her ringing cell phone. The caller ID indicated that Cassie was on the line. She quickly pushed a button to answer it.
"Cassie."
"Hey, Sam. How are you?"
"I'm fine. I'm on my way to the airport now to pick up Jack."
"Jack? What's he doing down here?"
Sam smiled. "SGC is holding their picnic party this weekend. Jack's being forced to attend and gave a speech. Will you be going there?"
"I don't know. I don't really belong there now."
Sam frowned. "Yes, you do. You're one of us, Cassie. You'll always be. I'm sure people are going to be wondering where you are if you don't show up."
Cassie sighed across the phone. "What day is it?" Cassie shook her head at Sam's answer. "I won't be able to go. I'm going with a…friend to a work event of his."
"A friend?" Sam teased. "A male friend?"
"Okay, he's my boyfriend. And there's no way to get out of it, even if I wanted too. He wasn't sure about going, but I talked him into it. I always had fun at SGC's annual picnic. He recently got transferred down here so he doesn't know many of his co-workers yet. I told him this would give him the perfect opportunity to do so."
"Oh."
"I can see if he would want to leave early so we could catch the end of the picnic."
"I'll get Jack to swing by your place one day this week so that the two of you can catch up."
"Tell him to call first. And Sam? Don't mention my boyfriend. I rather they just meet each other. You know how he was about Kevin. He scared the poor man away."
Sam agreed. They chatted a few more minutes before hanging up. Sam had arrived at the airport, and Cassie had a visitor at her door.
S T A R G A T E
Cassie set the phone down on the kitchen table. She walked to the front door where someone was banging on it. She sighed. Whoever was out there wanted to talk to her badly. She peaked through the spy hole first. A smile lit up her face.
Cameron Mitchell was outside her door. The man had a huge bouquet of flowers in one hand. A peace offering? The man hadn't called her in four days. He didn't answer any of her calls. He had told her he would be out of town of a day or two for his job, but he exceeded that limit. She should have been used to his sudden trips, and longer then expected trips as well.
She erased her smile before opening the door to him. She didn't want him to know how happy she was to see him. She wanted to see him beg first. She opened the door slowly.
"What do you want?"
Cameron held the bouquet out to her. "I'm sorry! I got a little caught up in my work."
She took the flowers and smelled them. "What kind of job doesn't allow phone calls during a trip anyway?"
"A pretty strange one," he said smiling.
Cassie stepped out of the way to invite the man into her house. "You should have called me when you got in."
"I got in last night--very late. I didn't want to wake you up. Plus I wanted to surprise you." Cameron followed her into the kitchen. "Don't I even get a thank you kiss?"
Cassandra's back was turned to him as she smiled. She found an old flower vase that had belonged to her mother and arranged the flowers in it. "Do you deserve a thank you kiss?"
Cameron walked up behind her and pulled her to him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder. He placed a kiss on her neck. "I am sorry. We hit a bit of a snag on our last trip."
She turned around in his arms. "I forgive you," she whispered before kissing him.
Cameron swore several minutes later when the constant ringing of the doorbell broke the silence in the house.
"It's probably Vala," he commented to her.
"Vala? Who's Vala?" Cassie demanded to know.
He smiled at the jealousy in her voice. "She's someone I work with. She needs someone to watch her when she's not…working." He inwardly groaned. Daniel had to work with several ambassadors on a treaty for a trade of technology. He would be busy with the work for several days. Vala had decided to tag along with him when she heard he was heading off of the base. General Landry, for reasons he could only assume was to get her out of his hair, allow the alien woman to join him. He couldn't leave her in his apartment alone, and he had to see Cassie. He had forgotten that he left Vala in his car with a promise that he'll be back in a minute for her.
"Oh." Cassie was slightly confused and curious. Was Vala a grown woman? If she was, why would she need a caretaker?
Cameron grabbed hold of her hand and squeezed it. "Don't worry about her--much. She's almost harmless. Just keep a watch on where her hands are. She has this nasty habit of taking things."
Cassie glanced around her. She really didn't own very many valuable things. She allowed Cameron to drag her to her front door.
He flung open her door and rudely asked the woman, "Didn't I tell you to stay in the car?"
"I was getting lonely," the shorter, dark hair woman said with a pout.
The two women sized each other up. Vala was the first one to react. "I'm Vala Mal Doran." She stuck her hand out for a shake in the custom she knew the Tau'ri favored.
Cassie took her hand. "Cassandra Fraiser."
"Well, Cassandra, you have a lovely home."
"Thank you. It used to belong to my mother."
Vala glanced down and noticed Cameron was holding the woman's hand. "Are you two together?"
Cassie nodded. "Three months now."
"How…fantastic for you. You must be the reason why he was in a hurry to get rid of me." Vala turned to Mitchell, a pleading look in her eyes. "I'm hungry."
"Didn't you eat something before we left?"
"Yes, but that was just a snack. Daniel would feed me."
"I'm not Daniel."
A huge grin split her face. "I know. He has a better backside then you do."
Cassie wasn't sure if she should be jealous of the woman. Vala was more attractive then she was, and the woman had to be closer to Cameron's age then she did. There was more then ten years between the two of them. The age difference had never bothered her before; but if he had women who looked like that to work with, and who had experienced the same things during childhood . . . She shoved those thoughts away. She didn't even share the same experience with adults her own age. She wasn't even born on this planet.
"I was just going to start dinner. How about joining me? We could order pizza. I had nothing plan," she told him. "Really, I didn't. I had some leftovers from yesterday's dinner, but pizza sounds better." Cassie smiled at Vala. "How do you like your pizza?"
"Oh, what ever you get will be fine. I'm not a picky eater," Vala said to cover up her ignorance of the food that was offered.
"Pepperoni and bacon sounds good to you?"
Cameron and Vala nodded. Cassie quickly located her phone and dialed the local pizzeria. After placing her order, she herded the newcomers into the living room. She decided to start a conversation to cover the awkward silence that had started to spread between them.
"So, you work with Cameron?"
"Oh, yes," Vala replied. "I haven't done much work with him. I'm still in training." Vala had been cautioned not to mention the Stargate or anything related to the work that happened in the base. She followed Cassandra's polite conversation and asked her what she did for a living.
"Oh, I'm still in school--"
"School? Aren't you a little too old to be in school?" She gave the man beside her a look. "I didn't realize you were into children. Now I know why you never took me up on my offers."
"College," Cassie corrected. She sat straighter in her seat in anger. The woman had no right to comment on her age. She wasn't that young!
"College? Wait, isn't that like a university. I remember reading something about it the other day. I hadn't realized that people could spend their whole lives in school. I never liked school." Vala glanced towards Cameron for confirmation.
Cassie was thrown back. "Are you serious?"
"I'm not from around here."
A very simple statement. It was one that Cassie understood better then most. She should have realized that Vala didn't grow up around here. She probably wasn't even born in the States. Her accent should have told her that.
"So you're new here too?"
"Too?"
Cassie nodded towards Cameron. "He hasn't lived here all that long."
"Ah, yes," Vala mumbled. "Right. So," she said quickly. "What are you learning at school--this college place?"
"I'm studying biochemistry," she started. She answered each of Vala's questions about college, and some not even related to it. When the pizza arrived, Cassie ordered Cameron to clear a spot on the kitchen table for it while she paid for the food. Their conversation turned to food during dinner. It was several hours later before Cameron mentioned that he needed to take Vala home.
S T A R G A T E
Vala sat on the table kicking her legs out. She watched Teal'c silently as he bid his students farewell. Teal'c had been teaching some of the soldiers some staff weapon techniques. Daniel was still locked away in a room drawing up a treaty. Cameron had dropped her off after their dinner with Cassie. And Sam was no where on the base as far as she could tell. She only had Teal'c to talk to at the moment.
"Vala," Teal'c greeted as he walked up to the table.
Vala handed him a towel to wipe off some of his sweat. He smiled his thanks. "Are you busy?"
Teal'c gave the question some thought. "I have nothing plan after this. Is there something you want?"
Vala jumped off of the table. The two aliens walked out of the training room. Teal'c headed for the shower rooms. Vala followed closely beside him. "I was wondering if you could talk to General Landry for me."
"What is it you wish me to speak with General Landry about?"
Vala glanced down to watch her feet. She normally wouldn't have spoken to anyone about this, but she felt she could confide in the man. "He wouldn't allow me to go to that picnic thing."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow as he glanced down at her. "Is that all? Did he give you a reason for his preventing you to go?"
She fiddled with the hem of her shirt. "He doesn't think I'll behave. And that's just plain silly," she added with more confidence. "I'm an adult. I know how to behave! It'll be fun to meet new people. Some of these people are a little to stiff, if you get my drift. Like him right there," she said pointing to a technician replacing a light bulb. "He barely acknowledges I'm here."
"I have found that some of the Tau'ri have a hard time associating with people not from this planet."
"I don't get that," she commented. "They work with people from all around the galaxy; they should be use to it."
"I have stopped trying to understand the Tau'ri. They are a strange race."
Vala smiled up at him.
Teal'c paused at the door to the shower room. "I have heard and seen many of the people bring dates to this event in the past. I would find your company pleasing if you would attend the picnic with me."
She inhaled sharply. Teal'c was inviting her to the picnic. It was something she wanted to go to, but she hadn't expected him to take her there himself. She figured that he would ask Landry himself or ask Sam or Daniel to speak with the man. It would be nice to have a date for the picnic. This way, no one would be ordered to keep her company, or to watch her every move. She wouldn't feel like someone's unwanted baggage.
"Oh, no, I couldn't! I bet you already have some girl already waiting to go with you," she said to him, hoping he wouldn't back out now.
A smile tugged on Teal'c's lips. "I do not. I would prefer your company over 'some girl', Vala Mal Doran. I will not take no for an answer."
"Okay, if you insist," she quickly replied. "I'll be ready in my quarters exactly at noon in two days. Don't be late." Vala waved goodbye happily before practically skipping down the corridor.
She was invited to the picnic. General Landry may believe that she posed a security risk, but Teal'c didn't think so. She thought about Teal'c all the way to the room that they had assigned to her. He was the first one from the SGC that welcomed her wholeheartedly into their little group. During games, the two of them usually squared off against Daniel and Cameron. Sam rarely joined them in playing the Tau'ri sport, basketball. When Col. Carter does play, she would randomly choose a side.
She and Daniel had gotten off on the wrong foot from the beginning, but she wouldn't have it another way. She smirked. Ah, yes. Daniel could play the annoying brother very well, but he could also switch into the hot, sexy lover within seconds.
Vala quickly shoved those thoughts of Daniel Jackson away. She was supposed to be mad at the archeologist. He ignored her after SG-1's return. She had been worried about him, and the rest of the team, of course. When she tried to show him how happy she had been to have him back safe and sound, he shoved her away. He hadn't said two words to her since then that didn't include "go" and "away". Wouldn't he be shock to see her arrive at the picnic on Teal'c's arm?
She sang happily as she glanced into her closet. The song lasted another five seconds before realization happened. She had nothing to wear! Sure, she had several pairs of clothing provided by SGC and several tight leather outfits she had brought here, but nothing that would fit in with a family-rated event. Children were going to be there. She heard several of the personnel mentioning bringing their sons and daughters to the picnic. A body hugging jumpsuit would not do, neither would anything the base had given her.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out the piece of paper Cassandra Fraiser had given her. The other woman had told her to call her anytime. She was going to take her up on her offer. She hoped the woman would help her. She didn't have many people to turn to on this planet. She had liked Cassie, and felt that Cassie had liked her as well. Given time, Vala was sure that a friendship could bloom. A shopping trip was just the thing needed to strengthen the bond.