Author's notes: Phew finally I get this finished. Work has been hectic. I've been moved to a different department to work with a new system we've had installed. I'm only a trainee but I was in charge of the whole department for a whole week. Scary stuff. Especially since there was someone else there who has a lot more experience than what I do.
And I've trying to get ready for Ship Day next month. Got two one shots finished, working on a third and got ideas for more. My poor brain can't handle this!
Got all my tickets for LFCC next month! Excited doesn't even begin to cover it! Meeting Lexa Doig, Jason Momoa, Michael Shanks and AMANDA TAPPING! 2 weeks on Saturday!
Done Race for Life in Edinburgh on Sunday (10K) . AMAZING day. Can't wait until next year!
Anyway… on with this! Thanks for making this my most reviewed and followed story! You guys are beyond awesome!
12
Charlie stared at the wires in front of him deep in thought. He was on the Daedalus helping his step mother integrate the Ancient's cloaking technology.
He had spent the previous week with Sarah when she was on her own. Mainly during the day when Craig was at work and the kids were at school. Daniel had kindly offered Charlie his spare room in the Springs, which Charlie graciously accepted.
Jack had had to stay in DC, Sam choosing to stay home with her daughter. Charlie made a point of talking to Danielle every day, either on the phone or using webcams. She was one of the things that made him happy.
He knew he might only have five more weeks of the reality he was in before he could head home. Five weeks he planned on spending with his real mother and Danielle.
He had never imagined seeing his biological mother ever again. She was dead. Had been for most of his life. He had grown up being raised by another woman; one who had loved him as her own and treated him as such.
He smiled as he remembered some of their quality time together. It was where his love for science grew.
He had found one of her unpublished papers on the living room coffee table when he was nine, shortly before she and his father had gotten married. His dad had insisted she move in as soon as possible: she spent most of her time there anyway.
She was always there when he got home from school. He enjoyed spending time with her. Something his friends didn't understand. But they had always had a mother to come home to. Charlie had learned to never take anything for granted. Especially your parents.
He picked up her paper and sat on the couch, his school bag still on his shoulder. His eyes skimmed the words. He had heard her say some of them a few times but he didn't understand them.
"Charlie?" she asked as she walked back into the room, a glass of juice in her hand.
"Hi mom," he answered automatically, his eyes never leaving the paper in his hands.
"What'cha doin?" she asked as she sat down beside him.
"Reading," he replied simply. "Did you write this?" He asked.
"Yeah," she said as she placed her glass on the coffee table. "Do you understand any of it?"
"Not really," he sighed. "Will you teach me?" He smiled hopefully at her.
"You want to learn physics?" She asked taken aback.
"Yeah. It can be a mother son thing. Some of my friends have to do things with their moms. They hate it. We don't have a thing. Physics could be our thing."
"You want us to have a thing?" She asked, a huge smile appearing on her face.
"Yeah," he smiled back. "What's an atom?"
He shook his head to clear away the memories. He missed his mother. He sometimes forgot he was in an alternate reality when he was around his step mother.
She loved him regardless of which reality he was in. Her smile for him was exactly the same. He cherished the bond between them.
He was a popular kid at school for most of his school life. He was on the hockey team - something that made his father in both realities proud - but he was also a straight A student and a nice guy.
People looked up to him. They wanted to be him. They wanted to be his girlfriend. But some also made fun of him. He remembered the taunts of "mommy's boy" floating across the classroom and playground. He remembered how it got worse as he got older.
She would pick him up from school some days to take him to various places, like the science centres or labs at the collages or Air Force campus.
He closed his eyes tightly and lowered his head. He wasn't proud of how he handled one particular situation. He'd had enough.
"Time to go home to mommy," he heard from behind him as he walked down the school hall.
He froze. His hand tightening on the strap of his school bag on his shoulder, his other hand clenching at his side. He spun around and glared at his aggressor.
Without thinking he clenched his fist tight and stormed over to him and punched him in the face. He watched with a satisfied grin on his face as the aggressor clutched his nose and sank to the floor in pain.
"You've never lost a mother have you?" he spat at the boy cowering on the floor before him before turning around and walking out of the building.
The principle had called his mother by the time he had gotten home. She was sitting in the living room waiting for him. He took one look at her and knew what had happened.
"Want to explain yourself?" she asked him calmly as she filed her nails.
"He deserved it," he said as he put his bag on the floor.
"Charlie, you're almost sixteen, you know better than this," she said looking at him for the first time.
"You and dad have always taught me to stand up for myself. That's all I was doing," he sighed as he walked over to the couch and sat beside her. He could hear Jayden playing with one of his friends in the yard.
"What happened?" she asked, turning to face him.
"It's stupid. It doesn't matter," he sighed while shaking his head.
"Yes it does. If it's enough to bother you, it's worth mentioning."
"It's been happening for years," he relented, looking at his hands. "Some people call me 'mommy's boy' and make fun of me because I actually want to spend time with you. They haven't lost a mother before; they take their mothers for granted. I couldn't take it anymore."
"Fighting isn't the answer Charlie, you know that," she paused. "But that kid you took down with one punch was two years older than you and a lot bigger built. That's one hell of a right hook you have there. I'm proud of you."
"You are?" his head snapped up and looked at her.
"Just, don't tell your dad about this. It'll be our secret."
"I love you," he said as he scrambled over to her and hugged her tight.
Neither of them had mentioned the incident to his dad, but he was sure he knew about it. He had a knack for knowing about everything they did, whether they told him or not. But he didn't mention it.
He wondered if his reality knew about the Wraith destroying Atlantis. He wondered if they had retaliated and blown their ships to hell. His thoughts again moved to his family. They would have no idea that he was still alive.
Charlie, along with everyone else on the expedition had been fitted with locator beacons. He had seen the devastation on his fathers face when he saw him for the first time. The Jack of the reality he was stuck in for the time being had buried his only son years before. He didn't want his own father thinking he was dead.
He missed his brother and sister. They annoyed him like crazy, but he loved them. He never thought of them as his half brother and sister. He knew they were, but to Charlie, it didn't matter.
Ava was always full of questions. Charlie always thought of her as the kid at the front of the class with their hand in the air asking "Why?" all the time. He laughed knowing that it was true. She was exactly like her mother, inquisitive in every way possible.
"Charlie?" Ava asked, her head cocked to the side as she watched him put on his shoes. "Where you going?"
"To see my mom," Charlie answered as he pulled on his coat.
"But moms in the kitchen," she said, her brows knotting together.
"I know that, sweetie," he said as he knelt down in front of her. At five years old she was still small for her age, but he knew how much she had grown over the past two months. "But I'm going to see my real mom."
"But she's in the kitchen," Ava replied confused.
"Ava, honey, you're my baby sister, and I love you. But we don't have the same mom," he explained.
"Yes we do," she sniffed.
"I have a different mom. She's not here anymore. She went to heaven when I was your age," he said softly.
"With the angels?" she whispered.
"Yeah, with the angels. A while later dad met your mom and had you and Jayden. She said I could call her mom too."
"Mommy loves you," Ava said knowingly.
"And I love her. We're a family. And today is my mom's birthday. I'm going to take her some flowers."
"Can I come too?" she asked sweetly.
"Sure, get your shoes," he smiled as he stood up. He smiled at Sam leaning against the door frame watching them interact while carefully cradling the large bouquet of flowers that Charlie had picked out at the grocery store.
He shook his head again. He needed to concentrate on what he was doing. Thinking and worrying about his family wasn't going to get the job done. He needed to get the Ancients technology integrated into the Daedalus to protect his alternate family. He needed to work on masking the signal to protect his real family. He would never forgive himself if anything happened to them.
Excuse me?
Sam ran her hands through her hair and sighed. After spending just over a week on Earth she had returned to Atlantis. She had left Charlie in charge of upgrading the Daedalus, something she knew hadn't gone down well with some of the crew.
"Glad to be back?" Keller asked as she walked into the office.
"Yes and no," Sam said honestly, looking up from her tablet to her guest.
Keller nodded as she sat in one of the seats offered to her. "How is General O'Neill's son settling in?"
"Meeting his mother and half sister has helped. As well as can be expected I guess. He's busy working on the Daedalus for now. I have McKay working on masking the signal. I would do it myself but I have so much to catch up on," she sighed.
"How's the General dealing with this?" Keller asked quietly.
"Better than I thought he would. Danielle keeps him grounded, and I'm really glad that she's here, otherwise this could have gone very differently."
"If you ever need to talk," Keller offered.
"Thank you," Sam smiled. She liked Jennifer, she was easy to get along with and talk to.
"I got it!" McKay called from the other side of the control room as he practically ran towards them.
"Got what?" Sam asked, leaning her head on her hand. She knew he was working on something else when she had asked him about masking the signal.
"I have successfully figured out a way to mask our message to the Daedalus," he said smugly.
"Already?" she asked as she looked at her watch. "I only asked you about it…" her eyes widened. "Four hours ago."
"I'm a genius. Besides, my other thing didn't work out the way I wanted it to so I had to start again. This," he held up his tablet. "Was a nice distraction."
"Thank you Rodney," Sam smiled genuinely before looking over the data he presented her with.
"Yes, well, you're welcome," he stammered as he looked around the office.
Keller looked at him knowingly, a smug smile on her face. McKay glared at her and blushed before looking away.
After Sam had sent herself a copy of his work, she gave McKay his tablet back, thanking him again. McKay and Keller left the office together.
"Still trying to impress her?" Keller asked quietly as they walked down the stairs from the control room.
"What? No!" he defended himself immediately.
Keller looked at him and smiled lopsidedly. "Uh huh, sure."
"I am not!" he called after her as she walked away.
Excuse me?
"You are not being serious," Charlie muttered to himself as he dropped his head and lightly beat it off the wall in front of him. He groaned loudly.
"Having trouble?" he heard his father ask from behind him.
"I need a wrench, but I can't let this go or I'll have to start over again. I've just spent the last hour on this. Think you could hand me that small one from the bench over there?" he asked as he turned around to face his dad, Danielle securely on his hip.
"Yeah, I can manage that," he said as he put Danielle on the floor and motioned for her to stay put.
She smiled at Charlie from where she stood. She was waiting for her hello hug from her big brother.
"I'll be with you soon Dani," he smiled at her.
"Daddy says I have to be careful and not touch anything," she said as she looked around the room she was in as Jack handed Charlie the wrench.
"Can't have you getting hurt, can we?" Charlie grinned as he tightened the bolt that would secure everything in place.
"Nope," she laughed.
Charlie began to remove his hand and wrench from the wall cavity while laughing at his younger sisters words. A shock ran up his hand and arm before slumping backwards as Danielle screamed.
