A/N: This marks the more than 1/2 way point of the story. This is a side story for some Cassie back story more than anything. Thanks for all the reviews and follows. We will get back into the romance soon.
Sam, Jack, and Janet were all in Jack's living room, waiting. Cassie was going up to her room at Jack's and putting on her homecoming dress. She was wearing a black strapless dress that hit right below her knee. It had beadwork and sequence on the side of flowers in teal. She wore thick black heels with it and waved her hair.
The doorbell rang, and Elliott was at the door. He was wearing a tie that matched the dress and had a corsage in hand.
"You know your parents are welcome to come, this is your senior homecoming," Janet claimed.
"No, they're not into this type of thing," Elliott explained.
Sam and Janet looked at each other but didn't say anything.
"I'll go get her," Sam claimed.
Sam knocked on the door.
"Cass, Elliott is here," Sam claimed.
Cassie let Sam in.
"Does this look okay?" Cassie asked.
"Yeah, of course," Sam stated.
"Really?" Cassie asked.
"Really," Sam stated.
"All right, does Elliott's tie match?" Cassie asked.
"As close as it can," Sam claimed.
"Good, okay," Cassie claimed.
"I'll be down in just a minute," Cassie claimed.
Sam nodded and walked back down the steps.
Elliott looked a little nervous, which Sam thought was cute.
"Where are you going for dinner?" Sam asked.
"We're not getting dinner, we're going for milkshakes," Elliott claimed.
Sam raised an eyebrow.
"Cassie's idea," Elliot claimed.
"They serve drinks and snacks, so we should be fine," Elliott claimed.
"And what time does the dance end?" Jack asked.
"10 pm," Elliott, Janet, and Sam stated all at once.
"I want her home by 11." Jack proclaimed.
"It shouldn't be too big of a problem," Elliott claimed.
"We're having a get-together, here tonight, so..." Jack didn't know how to end the sentence.
Janet smiled.
Cassie headed down the steps, and they all turned to look at her.
"You look beautiful," Elliott claimed and kissed her lips.
"You look good yourself," Cassie claimed. She was eyeing him a few times.
"He's right, Cass, you're beautiful," Jack claimed
"Alright, time for 1000 pictures," Janet claimed.
"Oh, mom, do we have too?" Cassie asked.
"Just a few, you'll want to remember this," Janet claimed.
"I'm sure I will even without the photos," Cassie claimed.
Janet ignored her daughter's comment and took pictures of her, took pictures with her, and Cassie complained the whole time as Elliott fidgeted nervously.
When they were finally done, Janet reminded Cassie to come back to Jack's instead of their house.
Cassie nodded, and the Elliott and Cassie drove off for milkshakes.
Daniel, Robert, and Teal'c show up together.
Michelle comes in shortly after.
The group of seven sat around Jack's living room. The film chosen was Mars Attacks! They were are giggling there way through as Teal'c asked Daniel questions about the movie.
Janet was often looking at the clock. 10 pm wasn't coming fast enough. The clock said it was 10 till 9. The movie ended, and Jack offered another round of beers, that Janet declined on.
"We are waiting for young Cassandra Fraiser to return form a school dance. Is this some type of mating ritual?" Teal'c asked.
Jack would have laughed if it wasn't Cassie's name that came from his friend's lips.
"Not exactly," Sam claimed.
"It's a celebration, it's supposed to be a time when people who used to go to that school come back home, there is usually a parade, and football game and then a dance," Sam claimed.
"But the children are not coming home. They are home," Teal'c claimed.
Sam didn't know how to respond, so she didn't.
Daniel surprisingly went into the history of homecoming and how it came to be both Robert and Michelle listen intently, Jack, Sam, and Janet tuned out a few minutes in.
"So, what class did you take to learn that?" Michelle asked.
Daniel smiled at her joke.
Robert had brought up homecoming. He was the youngest of their group, and although Sam readily knew Jacks' age difference, she didn't realize that Robert was only 30.
Robert had explained his experiences of Sr. Prom only 12 years prior, and Sam frowned.
"Sorry if I made you feel old major," Robert claimed, reading Sam's face quickly.
"No, I just didn't realize how young you were," Sam claimed.
"Great, so now you all finally realize I'm the baby in the group," Robert claimed.
"No, that title still goes to Jack," Daniel claimed.
Jack shot Daniel a look but said nothing about the comment.
"So, anyone up for cake?" Jack asked.
Sam shook her head.
"What?!" Jack asked.
"What are we supposed to eat when we're celebrating something?" Sam asked.
"Every day is worth celebrating, Carter." Jack bent down and whispered in her ear. "Especially with you."
Sam blushed a little. The group made their way into the kitchen.
"Should we save a piece for the kids?" Jack asked.
"Jack that is more than enough to feed us, the kids, and the neighbors." Janet pointed out.
"You think, I mean, this looked like a cake that should be cut in 1/6th, leaving someone out, and Janet, you just maybe it with comments like that," Jack said jokingly.
"Let me cut the cake," Sam stated.
"No fair," Jack claimed.
Sam took the knife away from him and cut out 10 pieces of cake, serving all 7 of them and 3 pieces for later.
The conversation went on about funny high school stories, but it was all pretty light.
At 9:30, Jack heard the door open and popped his head out to see Cassie run up the stairs and Elliott standing in the doorway, utterly confused before trying to follow after her and calling her name.
Jack almost drug the boy back down the steps but just put his hand on his shoulder instead, making Elliot stop and turn to face a furious Jack.
"What the hell is going on," Jack asked.
"I don't really know, something about Justin Litton, I went to get us both a drink, she was dancing with some of her friends when I left. When I came back, I saw her punching him right in the jaw. She came up to me and asked me to take her home. She was silent the whole ride here.
"Come on Cass, let's just talk about this," Janet claimed.
Cassie was in the room, the door was locked, and she didn't want to talk about what Justin Litton just did to her. If she ever saw him again, then she huffed they went to the same school they were bound to run into each other, at least he was a junior. Cassie thought back to how she met Justin. She had fallen in love with the french horn, and he was a trumpet player. Janet had signed her up for after school lessons when she was still being homeschooled. It was a small group of 20 kids, all her age playing different instruments, but they played music together.
Justin was really friendly and was friends with the other kids she gravitated too. She was 12 at the time. Justin seemed to be the best trumpet player of the group, and though he didn't flaunt it, he was proud of himself. The more Cassie had learned about him, the more she liked him, and one day he had asked her to be his girlfriend. She knew the understanding, and boy did she like the butterflies in her stomach when he was near her. She said yes instantly, and at first, it was innocent enough. They would talk a lot together, they would hold hands. Even the instructor thought it was cute. One day while they had a break, Justin asked Cassie if it was alright if he kissed her, and she said yes. His lips were on hers. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it was her first kiss. She hadn't mentioned a word to her mother, fearful of the consequences of her actions. If she was back on her homeworld, this would be the time they would start looking for a mate or at least considering one. She knew that by earth standard, she was relatively young, but this made her feel a little better that she would be doing this on her home planet as well.
Several months had passed, and it was near summer break for the school kids. The band practice also ended soon, but Justin's birthday had been coming up, and he had asked Cassie to come. Cassie wanted to go to a birthday so badly she had never been to one before. Cassie assumed it would be like the birthdays her mom had described. They were going to the bowling alley after all. It wasn't Cassie's favorite place, but if that's where Justin was going, she would follow.
Justin had made it sound like she and several of his friends were going to be there, and although she was nervous about meeting her new friends, he had already mentioned 2 kids in the practices with them.
Janet had dropped Cassie off at the bowling alley, and Justin's parents were going to bring her back home. When she walked in, she saw Justin and who she assumed was his parents as well as Martin and Greg, boys from the practices.
"Great, everyone's here," Justin called out.
Cassie was surprised by the shortlist of people noticing the only other girl was who he introduced as his little sister.
Justin didn't seem at all hesitant to hold Cassie's hand or pull her into his lap as they sat waiting for the other people to go. She noticed Justin got a tad jealous when she talked to Greg. Cassie ran her hands through Justin's hair and made light touches down his arms. His father seemed to be egging it on.
She never told her mom any of this. Even though this happened over two years ago, she was still embarrassed by the fact, but what was even worse was the way home. Justin's parents had 3rd-row seating, Justin's sister and Martin sitting in the middle, and then She Justin and Greg were in the back with Cassie in the middle.
They had been talking about how much fun they had.
"It doesn't have to end," Justin commented.
Cassie looked at him, confused.
"Stay the night." Justin had asked.
The sound ringing in her ears, her face jerking up to his parents, who didn't seem to have heard a word of it.
"I can't do that!" Cassie almost shouted.
"Why not my parents will let you," Justin claimed as he put his hand on her thigh.
"But my mom won't," Cassie claimed.
"Just tell her you got along really well with my sister and want to stay with her," Justin claimed.
"Oh, it would be really cool if we all spent the night," Greg mentioned.
Cassie breathed out a sigh of relief, thinking, maybe that's all that Justin meant, was a giant sleepover.
"You can't come over if she comes over!" Justin bit.
"Why not," Greg asked. Then a second later, it hit him. "OH!" Greg stated without another word.
Then Cassie knew for sure that there was no innocence with Justin Litton.
"I'm not even going to ask, it's going to be no," Cassie claimed.
"Fine." Justin wined.
Greg was dropped off first, then Martin.
"you sure?" Justin asked.
"I'm sure, I'll see you later, Justin," Cassie said as she went to her yard and practically sprinted up to the door.
Janet opened the door, and Cassie had told her everything was fine. In the next few weeks, she wanted to still like Justin. She wanted the butterflies to come back. She wanted to be okay with him, but her mind couldn't get past what he'd asked, and they'd only touched a quick peck on the lips before that night. When the last practice for the summer was over, she told him so was the relationship. Justin didn't take it well at all. In fact, Cassie had never seen the boy so angry. She should have known when he was introduced as a transfer to the band class that it wouldn't be smooth sailing. She had tried to be friendly, but he had turned the cold shoulder, and after a while, she stopped trying.
When Elliott had walked away to get a drink, she was dancing with the girls, but then Justin came up to her.
"Truce?" He asked.
"I'm the one who tried to welcome you," Cassie claimed.
"I know, I was still a little ticked at you," Justin explained.
"It's been 3 years," Cassie claimed.
"You look beautiful, by the way," Justin stated.
"Thanks," Cassie claimed.
"So you and Elliott? He's a little old for you." Justin claimed.
"What you're my dad now?" Cassie said jokingly.
"No, just concerned," Justin said seriously.
"Well, you came with Susan, she's a terrific flutist," Cassie claimed.
"She is, but she's not you," Justin claimed.
Cassie took a step back at the comment.
"Come on, Cass, just once a dance, we never got to do that," Justin claimed.
Cassie was nervous, but a dance couldn't hurt, so she nodded her head, and a slow song comes on.
She allows Justin to place one hand on her hip but pulls the other into her hand, and they slowly start to sway. Before she realizes it, Justin has dropped her hand, put both hands on her hips. She tries to pull back, but he clinches his fingers into her, and she doesn't want to make a scene, so she moves with the beat, and his hands relax, but they are moving further down towards her butt, and he rests his hand spread on her but.
"Justin." She warns, he moves hands a little north but is still touching her.
"What just wanted to see what I've been missing out on," Justin claimed.
"That's enough, Justin," Cassie claimed.
Justin let go of her completely.
Just when Cassie breathed a sigh of relief, that's when both hands wrapped around her head, and he kissed her hard, attempting to get his tongue in her mouth. That's when Cassie punched him in the face and desperately started looking for a teacher, a friend, Elliott, anyone really. While Justin was nursing his wound, Elliott grabbed her; she jumped but realized who it was and insisted he take her home. It seemed that the people who noticed didn't say anything, and the staff didn't come running after them.
Her hips felt like his hands had burnt them, and she could feel every spot he had touched. Her lips felt like they tingled in the worst possible way, and she wondered if she could scrub them off. She could still feel his warm gooey tongue, and that is when she started to cry.
"Is Elliott still here?" Cassie asked.
Janet nodded.
Cassie opened the door a little wider and looked at the staircase. Seeing her dad overly upset with Elliott.
Cassie had a sudden desire for Elliott to be the one to make her feel clean again. His hands never made her feel this way, nor his lips or his tongue. She didn't feel it right to kiss him through another guy's DNA still on her lips, and she knew it wasn't her fault, but she felt terrible about it. She rushed to the bathroom and scrubbed her lips and brushed her teeth. Then she used mouth wash the whole time her mom was pounding at the door.
"Cassie!" Janet yelled.
"Mom, please," Cassie begged, and she started the shower, desperately trying to get out of the dress.
"Cass, I need to see you first, please!" Janet begged.
Cassie couldn't unzip the stupid dress and opened the bathroom door once again.
Cass, I have to ask you, are you washing away evidence of anything right now?" Janet asked.
"Well, not literally," Cassie claimed.
"If you need to go to the ER if something happened and you need an exam." Janet stuttered through trying to put on a medical doctor's face and not a mom's face.
"Mom, I promise you I don't need the ER. Maybe some ice for this hand." Cassie smiled.
"Okay, sweetie, we'll be waiting," Janet claimed. She let out a breath.
Cassie turned the hot water all the way up.
Janet walked back down the steps.
"How about some cake," Janet asked Elliott.
She looked at Jack, worried about their daughter, and Jack didn't like it one bit.
Janet and Jack had forgotten the rest of the team was there.
"Is everything okay?" Daniel asked.
"I think so," Janet claimed.
"Cassie didn't tell me Justin transferred. They used to be great friends," Janet claimed.
Elliott shrugged his shoulders.
"She just told me things didn't end well," Elliott claimed.
"End well, they played music together. What do you mean?" Janet asked.
"She told me that Justin was her first boyfriend, but he freaked her out, and they broke up. She was a little nervous he transferred, but they'd been ignoring each other, and she hasn't said a word about him since the start of classes." Elliott claimed.
"Maybe we should go," Michelle stated.
"Let's just go to the living room. I need to know she's alright," Daniel claimed.
The group of 4 went into the living room, Sam hanging back. They heard the bathroom door open, and Cassie's bedroom door closed.
5 minutes later, Cassie was in the kitchen with a swollen red hand. She was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt and huddled herself in a ball a the table.
"What happened, sweetheart?" Janet asked.
She eyed the room, and although she was already sitting beside Elliott, she leaned into him.
"Mom, I never told you, but Justin was my boyfriend, and you let me go to his birthday party. It was his 13th mom. I was only 12. When his parents drove me home, he begged me to talk you into spending the night with him. At first, he made it sound like the other people would be staying too, but I knew you would have said no."
"Your right about that," Janet claimed.
"He wanted me to lie and say I was staying with his sister. I still told him no, when Greg asked if he could spend the night too, Justin eluded to wanting to have sex." Cassie admitted.
Jack looked at her.
"He what?" Jack asked.
"I went out with him for a few more weeks, but he creeped me out after that, and I broke it off with him. He wasn't too happy." Cassie explained.
"Then he showed up in my band class, it had been 3 years, we've both grown up. I tried so hard to be friendly to him, but he ignored me, and I accepted it. Then, out of the blue tonight, he apologized and asked for a dance. He started grabbing at me, he tried to kiss me, well he did, and that's when I punched him in the face." Cassie claimed.
As she told the story out loud, her voice grew quiet, and Elliott wrapped his arms around her.
Jack was obviously angry.
"I'm going to go kill the SOB myself!" Jack claimed and started to stalk out of the kitchen, heading for the door.
"Don't!" Sam claimed and grabbed at his shoulder, he twisted around quickly.
"Jack, please, it won't solve anything," Sam claimed.
"I'm so sorry, Cassie, that happened to you," Sam claimed.
"Unfortunately, honey, some people think they can take what isn't theirs."
"I still feel his tongue on my lips," Cassie admitted, and she begins to cry.
At this point, Elliott looks totally defeated.
"I am so sorry, Cass if I was there..."Elliott claimed.
Cassie keeps nodding her head no, and Jack is about to sneak out the back door when Janet shoved him back towards the kitchen.
Cassie composes herself.
"It wouldn't matter, Justin wanted to get to me, he would have found another way," Cassie claimed.
"When I see him on Monday." Elliott started.
"You're not going to do anything. If me punching him in the face doesn't stop him, there is a bigger problem. I also threatened if he touched me again, it would be the last time he touches anything again." Cassie claimed.
"She's right, Cassie can take care of herself," Janet claimed.
Cassie sat back upright.
"Sweetheart, you didn't do anything wrong when I was just a little bit older than you a fell for a man that I thought was perfect, but he slowly became controlling so slowly I didn't realize until I wasn't even calling my parents anymore, because he said I spent too much time on the telephone. He never hit me, but he made me feel bad for wanting to do other things than be with him." Janet claims.
"When I was your age, I was with a much older man Ren Solard. He was 20 at the time I thought I was the luckiest girl on earth. He just wanted a girl who would please his every whim. It took me a long time to realize he was just using me. You got to be careful, Cass, but I think Elliott here is a real winner." Sam claimed.
Cassie nodded and leaned in back to him.
"Thanks for being here," Cassie claimed.
"Always," Elliott stated.
"You want some cake?" Elliott asked.
"We saved you a piece." Jack managed to get out.
"Can I talk to Elliott alone?" Cassie asked.
"Of course," Janet claimed.
Sam, Jack, and Janet shuffled out of the room.
Daniel stood up when they came in.
"She'll be okay, some creep she's known since being homeschooled tried to make her feel bad for dumping him 3 years ago, and tried to kiss her," Janet claimed.
"O'Neill, do you require assistance on hurting the boy?" Teal'c asked.
"Cassie already punched him in the face, Janet and Sam here assure me that's enough pain to inflict although, I may speak with you about it at a later time," Jack says seriously.
"You two weren't making that up," Jack stated.
Both woman nod their head now.
Jack sighs and pulls Sam in close, the first real display of affection in front of the group.
"I'm sorry men are assholes," Jack claimed.
Sam smiled at him.
"I'm just glad Cass is okay," Daniel claimed.
"We'll head out," Daniel claimed.
Daniel and Teal'c both hugged Janet Sam and Jack goodnight.
"If you need anything," Michelle claims.
Sam nodded.
"I'll see you Monday, thanks for caring," Sam stated.
Robert just heads for the door, "Just give the order." and walks out.
"I think I'm going to take her home," Janet claims.
They head back to the kitchen to find it empty.
Jack frowns and heads up the stairs.
"There is no way in hell in this house!" Jack claims.
He gets to the top of the steps and stops when he hears Elliot's voice.
"Cass, we're fine. Justin couldn't get over you, and I can understand why, but he has no right to touch you or kiss you or try to make you feel bad for something that happened when you were 12." Elliott explained.
"Kiss me again?" Cassie asked.
"of course," Elliott claimed.
"Do you think he's going to try to find me?" Cassie asked, obviously worried.
"Cassie, even if he did between you and your mom, or your dad or aunt Sam, do you think he'd even have a chance?" Elliot asked.
"No," Cassie admits
"Alright then," Elliott claimed.
"You staying here or going home?" Elliott asked.
"I don't want dad to go flying off the handle in the middle of the night," Cassie claimed.
"That's what your aunt Sam's for," Elliott claimed.
Cassie laughed, making Jack smiled at the conversation he was eavesdropping on.
"I wish you could stay," Cassie claimed, which turned Jack's smile into a frown.
"I know, Cass, you're just upset. I know you think me holding you like this will make it all better, but I can't make it all go away. I love you, Cass, you know that." Elliott claimed.
"I know that I love you too," Cassie stated.
"I'll see you first thing in the morning if you want," Elliott stated.
"I want." Cassie insisted.
At this, Jack knocked on the door.
"Cass, no boys in your room with the door closed," Jack stated.
"Elliott opened the door.
"We weren't, I wasn't I." Elliott stopped.
"I heard the conversation," Jack claimed.
"Your a good kid Elliott, don't let anyone tell you any different," Jack claimed.
"Goodnight," Elliot claimed.
"Night," Jack stated.
"Your mom's ready to take you home if you want to go with her," Jack claimed.
"So will aunt Sam keep you out of trouble," Cassie asked.
"She usually does, honey doesn't worry about me as badly as I want to go hunt down that kid, I'll let you take care of it yourself, but if you need me..." Jack claimed.
"you'll be the first to know," Cassie claimed.
"That's my girl, I'm proud of you for standing up for yourself," Jack claimed.
"Thanks, Dad," Cassie claimed and hugged Jack.
Sam waved goodbye to Sam and Cassie as they got into Janet's care.
"Sam?" Jack asked, has her face turned red, and she crumpled down.
"I'm fine. Let's go to bed." Sam claims. Jack nods, and Sam turns over instantly, squeezing Jack he dares not to wrap his arms around her tonight, letting her hold onto him.