A/N: Huh. Well, I didn't realize that this chapter was so short until I fed it into the FF dot net machine. Go figure. Well, lucky for you guys, I have plenty of chapters to supplement! :) And if you all are REALLY good, I might even post the supplemental chapter tonight before I go to bed!
But for now, sit back... relax... and Enjoy!
Their daughter didn't stay long, once she awoke. Jacob had held Thea's hand as soon as she stepped out to let Jack assume the vigil. He kissed away his wife's tears, and together they'd waited with bated breath for further word. They were both relieved when their daughter emerged from the den; looking worse for wear, but under her own power.
She told them herself, that she needed to leave. They weren't surprised, but Jacob was proud that she hadn't taken the easy way out. It would have been a simple task to let O'Neill-two-L's do the deed, but Jacob Carter hadn't raised his daughter to shy away from the uncomfortable moments in life. The fact she'd met his eye when she declared her intention to leave had made his heart swell, despite the disappointment of her departure.
And on the way out, O'Neill met Thea's gaze with a knowing look that made Jacob wonder what they'd talked about when they'd been alone with Sam in the den. It was a silent promise, one that his wife accepted with a nod of gratitude and relief. Together, they watched their daughter walk away, climbing into the truck with shaky, exhausted movements.
"Jake… there's something—" Thea's voice trailed off. She was uncertain.
He looked at her profile. She was still staring after Sam. Scrutinizing. "Thea?"
"Do you remember the time Sam got her hair tangled in the curling iron?"
Jacob blinked. "Ho, yeah… That was one visit to the emergency room I did not enjoy." But the misery of the memory turned to a chortle shortly thereafter. "And the first week of the ridiculous haircut she had to get afterwards wasn't exactly a joyride."
Sammie had hated that pixie cut. It had been necessary, to disguise the damage of the curling iron, and eventually she'd come to live with it. But she'd never ever cut it that short again. Jacob would be hard pressed to say he'd seen it shorter than her shoulders, even when she went through the Academy.
Thea tilted her head. "She burned her shoulder so badly..." she reminded him. "A second degree burn. She had that horrible scar. She still had it the day she…" Her voice caught in her chest. "The day she died."
Jacob gripped her hand tighter. "She's not dead, Thea. She's alive."
But Thea couldn't look at him. "Is she, Jake? She's lost everything that makes her who she was."
He shook his head. "No. There are some things that never leave you. Those things haven't left her, not completely. I know my little girl, Thea. She's in there, somewhere." He turned to face her completely.
"I don't care if she doesn't ever remember," he said solemnly. "She's our daughter, and I'm not going let her… condition, or whatever the hell the doctors call it, get in the way of me getting to know her again. It won't keep me from loving her."
Thea nodded, her gaze trailing back to the truck as it rumbled down the street. Jake made sense, and was reacting the only way he knew how. Sam was his pride and joy; she'd filled every single expectation he'd had, and then some. Mark had gone in the opposite direction, and while the two men had come to a sort of peace in the recent years, he would never hold the same place in Jacob Carter's heart like Sam did. They had a bond, one that would blind him to nearly any shortcoming.
And even she didn't really understand it either. She didn't even know how to begin to make sense of it. It was madness, what she now suspected- or a horrible, sick joke.
All she knew was that the woman who'd called her "Mom" was missing a scar on her shoulder.