Sticks and Stones – Chapter 25 - by Emma Nisbet (grnfield)
Three months later
The fledgling relationship between Sam and Jack was going better than either of them had expected. It turned out to be relatively easy for Jack to arrange his schedules to enable the pair to meet up when Sam was on Earth.
They were in the middle of a ten day vacation to Wichita Falls in Texas. Jack had rented a small plane and had flown them out for a break away from the stresses and strains of their everyday lives.
The trip, to a rented cabin, was just long enough for them to relax and reconnect with each other on a more personal level than their life within the SGC usually allowed.
They took long walks around the area feeling at peace with the natural beauty surrounding them. In the evenings they sat on the porch of their rental property, chatting about the unexpected turns that their lives had taken.
One evening, Sam had told Jack about the last mission that she had been on with SG-2. The next night Jack made her laugh regaling tales of the recruits that he'd been training. Jokingly he told her that he didn't have a clue how some of them had even scraped through basic training, let alone being sent to him for more advanced instruction. Jack was supposed to get these youngsters prepared for active off-world fieldwork but he admitted that some of them would never make the grade and would end up being sent back to Earth for reassignment.
Sam kissed him and told him that if he could turn Daniel into a soldier, then he could train anyone. Remembering the long haired youth who used to trip over his own feet when he'd first joined the team brought a sad smile to both their faces.
The silver haired Colonel returned Sam's kiss and falteringly told her that she was 'nuts' if she thought he was solely responsible for Daniel's transformation from 'Uber Geek' to 'Super Soldier'. He reminded her of all the hours that she and Teal'c had put in to getting Daniel field trained to a standard that the Air Force would find acceptable.
She agreed that they had all put in a lot of time for Daniel's training but quietly told him that a large part of Daniel's motivation had been to gain Jack's trust and respect. Daniel would never have admitted it but he revered Jack and it was vital to the brilliant young man that the Colonel held a high opinion of him.
Jack grimaced at this and admitted to Sam that he'd taken an instant dislike to Daniel when they'd first been introduced. He'd reminded Jack so much of Charlie, his recently deceased son, that it was painful for the Colonel to look at him. He'd tried hard to block the scientist's access to the gate and had only taken him on the first mission because he'd been ordered to.
Once on Abydos, Daniel had been mocked and ridiculed by Jack's own team and the older man had been astounded at the young man's ability to shake off the teasing. He'd been dumbfounded at Daniel's devotion to duty when he'd calmly spoken to the Abydonian people just minutes after being dragged through the desert by a big, smelly cow-like beast. The fact that, only a short time later, he'd willingly sacrificed himself for someone who clearly despised him had literally taken Jack's breath away.
By the time it came to leave the desert planet, Jack had had a hard time coming to terms with leaving Daniel behind. The action went totally against everything he stood for. He knew that Daniel had no reason to return to Earth, he had no family and his career was in tatters, but even though the Colonel saw every reason that Daniel had for staying, it didn't make the separation any easier.
When Jack had returned home, he'd found that Sara had left him and all he had to go back to was an empty house. He told Sam that he wished he'd stayed behind as well. He was certain that Kawalsky and Ferretti would have covered for him, in the same way the while team had covered for Daniel.
True, he may have lived out his days as a nomad on a distant planet but he wouldn't have been alone. He'd have had the companionship of Kasuf and the other elders and he'd have even had some sort of kin with his adopted family of Skaara, Daniel and Sha're.
He sighed as he told her he'd often wondered what would have happened if he'd stayed behind. Would Daniel have ever asked to unbury the Stargate? If he hadn't then Skaara and Sha're would have never been taken. Skaara would have married his young love from a neighbouring tribe and eventually taken over Kasuf's position as Chieftain. Sha're and Daniel would than likely have had a big brood of children and Jack was certain that the bespectacled man wouldn't have managed to turn him grey so young.
He looked so melancholy as he spoke about this to Sam that she simply sat next to him and remained quiet. After a while she reached out and gently stroked his face.
He turned to her and she looked into his eyes. There was a vast depth of grief buried deeply inside those shining, brown orbs - grief at an opportunity missed and the loss of what might have been. She didn't know what to say to ease his pain so she leaned forwards, wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug. He buried his face in her neck and returned the embrace, sighing deeply.
They stayed in the embrace for a short while before Jack sat back on his chair. "I'm sorry," he told her. "It's something I've thought about a lot. If Daniel'd never unburied the gate on Abydos then we'd've never met Apophis and had the problems with the Goa'uld that we've had. Earth would have still been safely 'lost' to them and Abydos would have been cut off like it had been before we arrived."
Sam leaned forwards and stroked Jack's short silver hair.
"And Daniel would have still been alive?" she asked, quietly.
"Yeah," Jack chuckled. "With lots of little mini-Daniels running around driving everyone insane, just like their father."
"I'd have loved to see that," Sam agreed. "I bet he was a sweet child."
"Me too, Sam." Jack said sadly. "You know, he'd have made a great father. After the childhood he'd had he'd've done anything to keep his children safe and well."
"I'm sure he would have done. You mean because of losing his parents?" Sam asked. "He's never really spoken to me about it. I only know how they died because of the Keeper incident...Oh, and obviously I know that his grandfather didn't want him."
"He didn't like talking about his childhood - brought back too many bad memories. From the little bits I did get out of him, it sounded like his childhood pretty much ended the day his parents died. He was pretty much on his own from the age of eight onwards. He'd been born and raised in Egypt, travelling with his parents from one dig-site to another and only used to living in tents. Suddenly he was alone, in a foreign country with completely different rules and customs and he didn't cope well with it at all. His spoke English well enough but his first language was Arabic and he'd revert back to that when he was tired or upset. The father in his first foster family tried to beat it out of him and when he was removed from that home he stopped speaking all together and this just alienated him further from the people who could help him. He was a mute, gifted child, floating through the foster system and it seems that no one was willing to take the time to try and find out more about him. He went from home to home and eventually became an emancipated minor at the age of 15 after he'd started college."
"I didn't realise. Poor Daniel." Sam said, clearly upset.
Jack leaned forwards and placed a kiss on her forehead. She automatically wrapped her arms around him and snuggled down into his chest.
"Once I found out about his history all I could think about was Charlie, the two of them looked so alike. It upset me a lot that something like that could have happened to my own son if I hadn't got back from Iraq and something'd happened to Sara. Then I'd look at my life and realise that my family were all around me and that meant Charlie would never be alone. I'd get to wishing that Daniel'd had the chance to come and live with my family when he was younger. We'd always had plenty of land and I'm sure my mother would have loved him like one of us. Strange thing is, Daniel himself never seemed bitter about it. I think it used to upset me more than it did him, but I guess he'd had most of his life to accept it. Once I found out that his Grandfather was still alive...well I've always kinda wanted to kick Nick's ass for letting it happen - he was the one person who'd had the power to stop it and he did nothing."
"I don't blame you. Can't say I took to the man myself either." Sam agreed. "Daniel couldn't have turned out much better than he did though. I've never met a gentler, kinder hearted man. Going through something like that, he could have easily fallen in with the bad crowd and no one would have been any the wiser. I wonder if anyone would have cared..."
"The main thing is though, he didn't. He overcame all the problems that his life threw at him and became the vibrant young man that we grew to love. A man with a great love of life, who liked to show kindness and respect to all men. It's a shame that he had to be taught to use a gun - to be taught to kill – I know he never liked that aspect of the job, but he realised that it was essential for him to know."
Sam nodded her agreement, "No, he never liked the thought of having to maim someone but he told me he knew it could be used to save life as well. That was how he justified it to himself, the handling of weapons, I mean."
"That sounds like our Daniel...take something fundamentally awful - like having to carry a loaded weapon - and turn it into something more acceptable. That man could talk his way round anything." Jack said with a chuckle.
"He sure could," Sam agreed, smiling tenderly at Jack. He smiled back and drew her in for a kiss.
When they parted Sam commented that dusk was falling. Jack suggested that they stroll down to the local bar to get a drink before settling in for the night.
Sam agreed it would be a nice way to finish the evening and the pair set off down the road, hand in hand.
#
They enjoyed the rest of their vacation but before long it was time to leave and return to their, mostly separate, lives with Stargate Command.
They had a quiet flight home, Jack enjoying the liberated feeling of flying the small plane and Sam enjoying watching him.
Sam was scheduled to go on a month long, diplomatic mission the following week. Jack agreed to make arrangements to return to Earth the week after that so they could spend the weekend together. That way if the mission overran a little then their plans shouldn't be affected.
At the airport, they picked up Jack's truck and drove back to his house where Sam had left her car. It was a solemn trip back to Jack's, both of them were deep in thought, hoping that one day they'd not have to separate when they returned home. When Jack retired and the Goa'uld were defeated then they'd finally be free to marry and settle down. Until then, they'd have to make do with any peaceful times that they could garner in their all too hectic lives.