Chapter 29
It was still early in the afternoon when Hammond had dismissed them all. He knew they were exhausted and needed to rest. He had a feeling things would be getting very busy. Jack insisted he needed to stay on base to help Hammond get things going with preparing for Anubis, but Hammond informed him he'd be completely useless if he didn't get some rest. In any case, if they believed Jolinar, they had a few days to prepare. Jack finally relented and invited everyone over for an afternoon of beer. It was an unusually warm late October afternoon, and Jack saw no reason for it to go to waste.
Jack came out of his kitchen onto the back deck with two cases of cold beer dangling from one hand and a glass of lemonade in the other. He set the cases of beer on the wooden table everyone had gathered around on the deck. Teal'c followed behind with bags of chips and boxes of snack cakes.
"Glad to see you're keeping up the healthy lifestyle, Jack," Jacob said as Jack handed him a beer.
"Well, Jacob, you should be grateful I invited you. I have noticed in my frequent, and might I say unpleasant, dealings with the Tok'ra, that they have a decided lack of beer," Jack said as he passed beers around to Teal'c, Janet, Daniel, and Jolinar.
Jolinar shook her head at the offered beer and a look of disgust spread across her face. "God, no."
Jack looked at her in shock, half mocking a look of deep hurt. "You're kidding? You don't like beer?"
"I've never had one, but it stinks. I'll just take some water," she replied, turning her nose up at it.
"That's the worst thing I've ever heard," Jack said, shaking his head sadly.
"I will attain a glass of water on your behalf, Jolinar," Teal'c said and vanished back into the kitchen.
"Uh, Jack?" Carter said, holding up her empty hands.
Jack smacked his forehead. He handed her the glass of lemonade. "Oh, sorry, Babe," he said and then froze when he realized everyone had turned their shocked or amused eyes on him. Carter blushed.
Jacob cleared his throat and grinned at Jack. "Uh, what was that, Jack?"
"Ba… ba… babe, it's uh… Solari for Colonel. Isn't that right, Daniel?" Jack asked, looking to Daniel meaningfully.
"How the hell would I kno….," he started and then felt Janet's elbow in his side. "Oh, yes, Solari. That's right, Jacob. Amazing coincidence. The word is actually derived from their word… 'babent,' which means leader. Fascinating language."
"Uh huh," Jacob said with a grunt.
Teal'c reemerged and took a seat next to Jolinar, handing her a glass of water.
"Uh, Jack, what is this?" Carter asked, taking another sip from her glass.
Jack frowned. "It's lemonade. I made it fresh."
"Just lemonade?" She scoffed. "Everyone else gets beer and I get lemonade?"
Jack gave her curt nod and winked but from her glare, he realized she wasn't getting it. "Well, I thought maybe… you should cut out the alcohol for a while. You know, in your condition."
"Not a bad idea, Sam," Janet agreed with a sly grin.
"Condition?" Jacob asked with a heavy frown.
Jolinar laughed. "I would certainly appreciate it if you didn't drink for a few months. I do hate the stuff."
Jacob glanced at Jolinar then back to a blushing Sam. He sighed. "You've got to be kidding me. You're already…"
"Surprise, Jacob Carter," Teal'c stated evenly and took a drink from his beer.
"Jack?" Jacob said, locking Jack in his stare.
Jack couldn't suppress a chuckle and took a swig from his own drink. He raised his bottle. "Here's to surprises!"
"What's the surprise?" A cheerful voice asked from the kitchen and then the voice's owner, Cassandra, walked onto the deck. She dropped her backpack by the door and ran over to Sam, hooking her arms around her neck. "Sam!"
Sam wrapped her arms around the affectionate teenager. "Hi, Cassie, what are you doing here?"
"Mom called me. My friend dropped me off. She's so lucky. She can drive," Cassie pouted.
"Soon enough, Sweetheart," Janet said with a tense smile. "Too soon."
Cassandra spotted Jacob and ran to give him a hug.
Everyone tried to conceal a smile at the girl's bubbling energy.
"Hi, I'm Cassandra," she said, waving to Jolinar.
Jolinar smiled and nodded. "It's nice to meet you."
"This is Jolie, Cassie," Jack said gesturing towards Jolinar with the top of his beer bottle. "She's a… visitor."
Cassie smiled knowingly. "Gotcha," she said with a wink and looked back to Jolinar. "Welcome to Earth!"
Before Jolinar could respond Cassandra ran over to a corner of the porch where Jack had a pile of miscellaneous sports equipment. She dug till she found the Frisbee and then ran back to the table. "Come on, Daniel."
"Cassie, Daniel's tired. He needs to rest," Janet said firmly, bringing a frown to Cassie's face. Janet gave a quiet sigh. Cassie was nearly sixteen but was pouting over a Frisbee game. She always played some game with Daniel whenever they all spent time together at Jack's. Since her scare with Niirti, she and Daniel had become closer.
"No, I'll play, Cass," Daniel said, resigning himself to his fate and returning the cheerful smile to Cassie's face. He groaned and pushed up from his chair. He laid his arm across her shoulders and walked with her into the yard.
"So, did you ask her yet?" Cassie whispered, once they were far enough from the deck.
Daniel grinned. "You don't give up do you?"
"Never," she giggled. "Well, at least not until I get what I want."
"I did ask her," he said.
"Great, so when? Details, Daniel!" She pleaded.
"You don't even know if she said yes. She might've turned me down," he replied.
"Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what she did," she said with a roll of her eyes.
Daniel gave an exasperated smile. "You think you know it all, don't you?"
"Go on. Get over there," she said. "I'm going to beat you bad for that."
Jolinar watched Daniel and Jolinar intently as they began tossing the Frisbee.
"I wish I could remember when I had that much energy," Jack said with a fond look at Cassandra.
Carter leaned in close to him. "Oh, I think I remember a time," she whispered enticingly.
Jack gave her a roguish grin and shook his head in disbelief.
"She's certainly a handful," Janet said, watching Cassandra and Daniel tossing the Frisbee as Daniel laughed at something Cassie had said.
"She's grown a lot," Jacob replied. "Seems like she was just a kid the other day." He then smiled at Janet. "So, Sam tells me you and Danny…"
Sam's face went pale and she frowned at her father, gesturing to him to shut up. Jack laughed, choking on his beer.
Janet flushed and gave Sam an amused glance. "What did she say, Jacob?"
"None of you have changed at all," Jolinar said, smiling to herself.
