Jack bursts into the house, "Pack your bags, kiddo. I've come to kidnap you."
I know what he means, but I still back up into the wall and have to work hard to re-catch my breath.
"I'm sorry, that was the worst choice of words ever. I didn't mean that. I just mean you should come live with me for a week. Catherine and Ernest will take care of the babies, and you can study in silence." I am about to object, "Daniel approved."
"Okay, but I could do it without that," I tell him.
"Of course you could! You're a superhero. Sometimes, though, you should let people help you. Life doesn't have to be hard, Steph, and it's not better just because you let it be really hard."
-0-
"You shouldn't be having a party," I object to Jack, "I'm not even graduating."
"No, we'll have your party for that next year. This is a 'you survived a semester' party. You'll be going to your boyfriend's graduation tomorrow, won't you?"
I nod.
"What about after?" he asks.
"I've got two weeks before summer school," I observe.
"Summer school? I thought that was just for losers who failed."
"And overachievers who want to finish eight years' worth of schooling before they die of old age."
"Says the eighteen-year-old college senior," he observes. "So, I have this little cabin in Minnesota. It's got a little lake. We've got five days off, and I am going fishing."
"I can see you as a fisherman," I say.
He chortles, "You want to come?"
"What?" I say, thinking he's joking.
"I have not been up to the cabin since Charlie died. I really don't want to go alone. Now going with the closest thing I have to a daughter…"
"I'd love to, Jack," I say.
"Daniel is kind of excited for some solo parenting time with the babies. He feels a lot of guilt about not being there enough."
"Please, he has a baby in his arms pretty much every second he's not at work," I say with an eye roll.
"Well, the Daddy guilt is a big thing in the military. I know Daniel isn't technically in the military, but…"
I nod.
"I was in Iraq for Charlie's sixth birthday. He got the measles when he was three, and I was in Russia for the whole thing," he says, taking a swig of beer.
"I bet you were a good dad," I tell him.
Deep sigh, "Good dads don't let ten-year-olds get a hold of guns."
Three breaths before I can respond to that, "Good moms don't leave their babies on a bed next to an abusive rapist," I say.
"Thanks for the attempt at empathy, kid, but I bet the other option was worse."
"Cold concrete floor," I admit.
Jack nods. "Don't try to pretend you killed your kid. You didn't. I did."
"You didn't," I insist. "If I hadn't screamed when he kidnapped me, my parents wouldn't have come into the room. Then maybe he wouldn't have shot them."
"You were trying to prevent him from hurting you, hun, no-one would blame you for that," Jack says, giving me a hug before walking over to the fire.
Daniel walks up to me, giving me a huge hug, and then he gives me a little kiss on my temple like he does to his babies. "I'm so proud of you." Then he head inside to get more snacks.
I sit down next to Jack at the fire he's built in the backyard. Teal'c and Sam are each "walking" a twin across the grass in the backyard. Mattie's feet are level on the grass. It probably won't be long before she's actually walking. Kush is just trying to avoid actually touching the grass. Teal'c is having none of that, but is gently placing the kid's feet on the grass.
"Daniel kissed me," I reveal.
"You're kidding! I'm going to kill him," Jack says.
"No…" I start to protest.
"No way, kiddo. You guys can give me this you're an adult crap when the guy is three years older than you. Daniel's got what? Twelve years? That's way too much! Plus…"
"Jack, shut up! It was not a kiss like that. It was a kiss on the temple like what he gives his kids. It was like he was claiming me as his kid, and then he said he was proud of me."
Jack sits back in his chair, but looks critically at me, "You're sure?" I nod. "Okay, I won't kick his ass if you can give me three reasons why you and Daniel would be a horrible idea."
I giggle, "He's married, and old (I'm done with the older than me thing), and my boss, and he's family."
"You gave me four reasons."
"Yeah, well, it needed to be said," I said.
"Same goes for the two of us, you know," he says, giving me a glance.
"Well, you're not married, but you are way, way old." I grin at him, "Damned near ancient. Almost more like a grandfather than a father," I tease.
"Yeah, I'm not Daniel's father," he says.
Interesting. Why the protest?
"Maybe his wife's father, then?" I suggest.
"Sha're has a dad."
"One that gave her as a gift to a stranger. I think she could do with another," I tease.
"How about you just have two dads and settle for that?" Jack asks.
"Yet you keep saying that you weren't in a gay relationship with Daniel," I quip.
Jack shakes his head at me. Daniel puts marshmallows on the stick, and holds it over the fire, "What are you guys talking about?"
"You and Jack being romantic," I say, and the same time Jack says, "You kissing your nanny."
"What?" Daniel asks looking at me in alarm. "I'm sorry, did I make it weird between us? I probably stepped over a line."
I glare at Jack, "It was fine. Familial."
Daniel nods.
"So what did I do that made you get back on that crazy thought about Jack and me?" Daniel asks.
"I mentioned she had two Daddies," Jack says.
"Can we just stick with the word 'familial'? I like that. She's a little old for 'daughter'," Daniel asks.
"Little sister?" I suggest.
"Yeah, that's better," he says with a smile, smacking my leg. His marshmallow starts on fire, and he shakes them into the fire. That earns him a glare from Jack, who takes the stick from his hand and refills it.
"This child refused to be comforted," Teal'c says.
"Kush is doing his 'lonesome' cry," I inform him. Daniel holds out his hand and Teal'c eagerly puts the baby into his arms. Sam comes to sit down with Mattie still on her lap. She is making an angry face, but isn't fussing.
"Daniel, are you really okay with me going to the cabin with Jack?"
"Yes. If you charged me overtime, I'd be broke. You need a break. Plus, a few days alone with my little ones sounds like heaven," Daniel reports.
"What are you doing during your time off?" Jack asks with his head nodded toward the rest of his team.
"A few science experiments, and some work on my Indian," Sam reports.
"I am going to continue to study Ta'uri culture," Teal'c reports.
"Watching bad movies doesn't count as studying culture," Sam retorts.
Teal'c raises his eyebrow at her.
-0-
I am sitting in a lawn chair next to Jack on his deck when my phone rings. A quick glance at it confirms it's Pat. I just shut it off, because he's not the kind of man to just call once.
Jack looks at me through his sunglasses. I can see myself panicking in the reflection.
It's like two minutes before he presses it. That man has patience, "Problems in paradise?"
"Pat's being a baby," I say, reeling in and re-casting just to have something to do.
"How so?" Jack presses. He is really not going to let this go. Damn. I didn't want him to know.
"He's angry that I went to the cabin with you," I admit. Leave it there Jack, please.
"That's a bit controlling," he says with concern.
"Well, not really. He just thinks that it's weird… his girlfriend going on a trip to a remote cabin with some guy twice her age."
"First of all, I am way more than twice your age. Second of all, did you tell him that he doesn't have to worry about that?"
"I did. Yet the phone calls," I mutter.
"So your man doesn't trust you?" Jack says.
"You should get married again, Jack," I say.
"That's a little bit out of the blue," he objects.
"Well I was a little desperate for distraction. You should, though, and have kids."
He smiles at me, "Okay, kiddo, we'll stop talking about your boyfriend now, if that's what you really want."
"Why don't you want more kids?" I ask. I had started this interrogation as a distraction, but now I'm curious.
He pauses for a really long time, probably wondering if I will drop it. "Sara was the love of my life. I am pretty sure that she and I are never getting back together. I don't know if I even want something else, but I know I don't want it now. Kids? You've got to be kidding me. Sara and I struggled for years to have kids. It was highly unlikely I would ever have a baby. Then little miracle Charlie came along. I let him die. I don't even deserve another miracle."
"Jack, I see what you're like with the babies, and I see what you're like with me. Any kid would be lucky to have you, whether they were biologically related to you or not."
"I think, for now, I'll just keep playing uncle with Cassie and Daniel's twins, and enjoy what we've got right here," he says.
Then he leans over, and gives me a kiss on the temple. He pulls away, "That was super weird, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, I think we should stick to the hugs. You are a very good hugger, Jack."
"Thanks," he says staring out over the water. "Do you want me to call up the kid and tell him to chill out before I have Teal'c beat him up?" Jack offers.
I should have known that there would not be a conversation in the world powerful enough to distract Jack from me and my boy troubles.