Chapter 63: Recovery

"Good morning."

Though it was only seven-thirty in the morning, the smell of bacon, coffee, and either pancakes or waffles was enough to tempt Grace out of bed. "Morning. Whatcha making?"

Charlie removed a waffle from the iron and raised it for her to see. "You remember that morning your parents went to Denver before Jacob was born?"

Grace took a seat at the breakfast bar. "No."

Charlie shrugged, though something about his demeanor sagged. "Oh. Well, I made waffles, and they made you and Cassie smile, so I thought—"

Cassie kissed his cheek. "Grace might be too old for a waffle with a face, but I bet you get Jacob looking more like his old self."

Charlie smiled his thanks before he dipped one of the measuring cups into the batter and evenly poured out over the surface of the hot waffle iron.

Cassie set a glass of ornate juice in front of Grace before she went back to work on chopping what Grace assumed were the toppings: blueberries, strawberries, chocolate chips, and so forth.

"How'd you sleep?"

Grace shrugged. "Okay, I guess."

She watched as Charlie and Cassie worked side-by-side, almost telepathic in how they helped one another with the task at hand. Him nudging a bowl in her direction. Her motioning to the whipping cream she'd already gotten out for him.

It was the same way her parents worked together, her mom starting the laundry, forgetting about it, and her dad switching it to the dryer for her before she got a chance to ask.

It seemed nice, having someone you could share a life with, someone who knew you almost as well as you know yourself.

"You know, if you had a hard time sleeping, that would be pretty normal. I think Jacob sneaked into your parents' room this morning."

Grace snagged a piece of bacon from the stack and nibbled at it. "I'm fine."

Charlie and Cassie exchanged a look, and Grace was reminded that, in their own ways, they'd both been abducted or abandoned as kids.

Something about that turned Grace's stomach, and she set the bacon down. "Look, I appreciate that you think you know what I'm going through and all that, but I don't need a doctor. And I don't need anyone trying to cheer me up. I just—"

The door to her parents' room opened, and Jacob emerged, followed by their dad.

Charlie forced a smile to his lips. "Waffles?"

Instead of bounding around the room, Jacob climbed up beside Grace, even scooting as close to her as he could in the seat without falling off.

Cassie poured another cup of juice and set it in front of the boy. "Feeling better this morning?"

Jacob just shrugged. Not a good sign for her enthusiastic and energetic little brother.

Before anyone could ask Jacob what they could do to help, her dad walked behind into the kitchen and grabbed a cup of coffee. "Is that real bacon or the turkey stuff Sam gets for me?"

Cassie pointed at a second plate of bacon. "That's for you."

Jack kissed her cheek. "Bless you."

"How's Sam?" Charlie poured the whipping cream into the stand mixer and started the motor at a low setting. He looked over at Jacob and winked. "You want to come see me make whipped cream?"

Jacob just shook his head, leaning against Grace. With a pang of regret, she wrapped one arm around her brother. She wished she could erase his burden the way hers had been erased.

"She didn't sleep that great. Tossed and turned all night. I figure it's her shoulder."

Grace looked back at her mom's bedroom door. A tiny part of her wanted to sneak into the bedroom and snuggle up with her mother, careful not to jostle her injured arm. Another part of her wanted to pretend like nothing was wrong.

She hated being thirteen.

Cassie paused, sitting back on the stool Charlie must have brought into the kitchen for her and resting both hands on her belly. A dazed expression crossed her face, and Charlie stopped whipping the cream. "Cass?"

She shook the shock from her brain, catching her husband's arm. "Sorry. I just—I guess the last few weeks are catching up to me. I just—when I saw the news—"

Charlie pulled her into a hug, kissing the top of her head as he held her.

Grace looked at her dad. He was looking into his cup of coffee like he wanted to give the couple a moment of privacy. But then, he caught Charlie's eye, and the two men communicated something without words.

Jacob stirred from beside her. "Is she going to be okay, Dad? Really?"

For the first time since she'd come home, Grace realized her little brother had transitioned from mommy and daddy to the more mature mom and dad. There was something sad about that change. Like he'd grown up sometime in the last couple weeks without anyone realizing it.

Their dad took a moment to answer. "She's going to be fine. We all are. It's just going to take some time."

"Do you still think we should get a new dog?" Grace wanted to steal the words back the moment they exited her mouth. The worn out expression on her dad's face was enough to tell her that he didn't want to argue with her.

"New dog?" Jacob perked up for the first time in weeks.

Guilt clenched at Grace's heart. She should have realized that even though she was still mourning her dog, the rest of the family might be ready for a new one.

Her dad offered Jacob a wan smile. "Maybe. Your mom and I are still talking about it. Truth is, Doc was a special dog. I think he'd be a little sad if he knew how quiet the house was without him."

Tears threatened to undo Grace's composure again, but instead of giving into the urge, she took a sip of orange juice. "Maybe we should."

For a moment, it sounded like everyone stopped what they were doing to look at her.

Grace shrugged, her cheeks turning pink at all the attention the three words she'd just uttered had attracted. "I mean, Jacob, maybe it's your turn to have a dog."

The boy's eyes widened.

Grace stole a look at Cassie before she turned back to the bacon in front of her and snapped off a piece. "After all, Dad, isn't it an O'Neill rule that every kid has to have a dog?"

Jacob whipped toward his father so fast that it took Grace a moment before she realized the boy was no longer snuggled up to her. "Is that true, Dad?"

Grace could feel her father's attention on her, but she didn't look up to acknowledge it. Just knew somehow that her dad was going to try to figure out if she was really as okay as she was pretending to be.

Which, of course, she wasn't.

"Don't get too excited, kiddo. I've still got to talk through some things with your mom."

The door to the bedroom opened. "Talk through what things with me?"

For some reason, the combination of the topic and the appearance of her mother, safe and well-rested, did more to undo Grace's composure than anything else. She broke into tears as she hurried to her mother's side, burying her face in her mother's uninjured shoulder.

Though stunned by the gesture, her mother wrapped her up with the one hand she had free. "Let it out," she whispered. "Just let it out."


"Are you sure you're going to be all right? Maybe I should stay with you."

Cassie ran her hands along Charlie's strong arms, stopping at where one of his hands caressed her pregnant belly. She kissed his shoulder as she entwined her fingers with his. "You haven't left my side for almost three weeks, Charlie. You should go with your dad and Jacob to the shelter. It'll be fun."

He hesitated. "But what if—"

"I'm going to be with Sam and Grace. I think Teal'c might even be stopping by. Trust me. I'll be fine."

His gaze dipped to her belly, and she reached up with her free hand to caress his cheek. "We're all going to be fine."

The muscles along his jaw worked, some emotion near the surface he was trying to protect her from. She snuggled in more closely, hoping that the endorphins her embrace would release would help ease his emotional pain. "Charlie, you do what you need to do. If you want or need to stay here, I understand."

One of the babies stretched, pressing against Cassie's abdomen. With a smile, she brought her husband's hand down to feel the imprint of the baby's foot.

His brown eyes widened, then softened as a smile lifted his lips. "Trying to send me a message, huh? Trying to say I gotta learn how to give your mom a little space?"

Cassie shifted, trying to find a comfortable position as one of the babies pressed against her rib cage. "I think it's more likely they're inviting you to lead by example."

Charlie chuckled, then leaned in for a kiss. "You put your feet up while I'm gone, okay?"

She grumbled playfully. "But Sam made us appointments to go skydiving."

Charlie snorted. "That I'd pay to see what with her sling and your..."

"Babies?"

He kissed her nose. "Exactly."

She squeezed him again, a surge of hormones reminding her just how grateful she was that their family was home and relatively unscathed.

Charlie nuzzled his nose against her cheek. "I can stay if you want me to."

She wiped her nose with the back of her hand. "Don't be silly. You and your dad never got to do this when you were a kid. I think it's one of his biggest regrets."

"And the reason he got you a dog without asking your mom. I've heard the story."

Cassie caught her husband's eye. "I'm serious."

He squeezed her wrist before he stepped away and grabbed his leather jacket from one of the hangers in the closet. "I know. That's why I'm going."

Cassie sank back onto the bed, lengthening her back so she could get some relief from the twins' acrobatics. "And don't you dare come home with a dog. I don't care how cute it is."

He grinned. "I make no promises."

"Charlie..."

"Didn't you hear the rule? All O'Neill kids are supposed to have a dog."

"I only said that as a minor form of payback for my mom, and—" Charlie walked over and kissed her mouth, and Cassie gripped his lapel, unwilling to let the kiss stop her from speaking her piece. "I didn't know then that I'd be marrying an O'Neill kid."

"Who said the dog was going to be for me? We only have a few more weeks before these two make their appearance."

"You can't possibly think that I could have foreseen this situation, can you?"

"I don't know. The Ancient Greek myth of Cassandra was about a prophetess nobody believed."

Cassie's gaze grew distant. "Well, there's only one prophetess in the O'Neill family, and none of us believed her when she dreamed you'd come back."

Charlie sank onto the bed beside his wife, his face going pale. "I've been back over five years. Nobody told me that."

Cassie worried her bottom lip between her teeth, and Charlie looked over at her. "You're thinking about Grace, aren't you?"

She nodded. "That's one of the reasons I wanted to stay behind. I got a chance to look at the reports from the infirmary after she came back."

"And?"

Cassie shook her head, the prearranged signal they'd developed wherever Charlie asked a question she couldn't answer. "Between her outburst and what little I've heard about what happened down there, I want to talk to her. See how she's really doing."

"Just remember that she's been through a lot. Even if she can't recall everything she's been through."

Cassie didn't react, just bobbed her head as her brain zipped through what she knew about the teenager's case.

"Cassandra? Honey?"

She clued back into her husband. "Right. Yeah. She's been through a lot. Got it."

He studied her a moment before she gently shoved him away. "Go. You've kept Jacob waiting for his new dog long enough."

Charlie stole another quick kiss and hurried out the door.


"Are you feeling any better?"

Grace set the book aside as her mother appeared in her bedroom doorway. "A little."

"Good. Since your dad took Charlie and Jacob to the animal shelter, I thought you and I could revive an old tradition."

Grace raised an eyebrow. "What tradition?"

Her mom revealed the box she had hidden behind her back, a clear plastic tote filled with various colors of nail polish. "I figure since Cassie can't reach her toes anymore, and I'm the one-armed wonder these days, the only way we can have nice nails is if we work together."

Grace bit down a smile. "Well, the only way that doesn't require us to go out in public."

Her mom chuckled, though there was a slightly worried look in her eye. "Would you rather go and get our nails done professionally? It's just that with everything that's gone on, I thought—"

Grace stood and took the box from her mom. "This is perfect, Mom."

Sam caught Grace's chin between her thumb and forefinger, her blue eyes dark with seriousness. "Grace, I know the last few months have been hard. You and I have been fighting more than usual."

Grace glanced down at the ground, wishing she could take it all back. "I know."

Her mom's thumb drew small circles against her cheek as she cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, angel."

Grace's head snapped up. "You're sorry?"

"We were so scared that something would happen to you, so wrapped up with trying to keep you safe, that I think I let those things come between us."

Grace's lip trembled as she squeezed her mom again. "I should have told you. I was just afraid, Mom. I thought if I told you about my dreams that something bad would happen."

Grace's mom guided her to the bed where they both sat down. Her strong fingers, so used to making things work, wiped away Grace's tears. "Honey, the truth is that bad things happen. They just do. Your dad and I have spent our lives trying to keep them from happening, but they do. If we've learned anything since we've come home, it's that we can't protect you forever."

Grace's heart rate ticked up. If this was her mom's idea of a pep talk, it wasn't a very good one.

Her mom smiled as if she knew how it all sounded. "I don't mean to scare you, but you deserve the truth. Now, that being said, I can promise that we're never going to stop trying to protect you, and when something bad happens that we couldn't stop, we'll be the first ones to help pick up the pieces, okay?"

Grace hugged her mom again. "I love you, Mom."

"Oh, angel, I love you, too."

As Grace pulled away, she caught tears glistening in her mother's eyes. She could count on her hand the number of times she'd seen either of her parents cry. The legendary Samantha Carter must have been more afraid than Grace had realized.

Grace reached for her mom's hand. "I'll pop some popcorn. You get Cassie to choose a movie. Then, we'll get started."

Her mom took another moment to look at Grace, letting her fingers run through Grace's brown curly hair. "I'm so proud of you. Of the woman you're becoming. I don't tell you that enough."

Grace looked at her shoes. "There's nothing to be proud of, Mom. Not like you. You'll probably win a Nobel prize in physics. Me? I can just see the future. I can't even do anything help."

"Grace, look at me."

She peeked up at her mother. "What?"

"You have been through so much in your life, and still you want to help more. Grace, I love that about you, but even if that wasn't part of who you are, I'd still love you."

"Why?"

Her mom squeezed her hand. "I can't explain it, sweetheart, and I hated when my dad used to say things like this to me, but it's really true. When you become a parent, you'll understand."

Grace rolled her eyes, but her mom raised a finger to stop her from saying something she would regret.

"I mean it. I knew the first moment I met you in the school library that you were going to be my daughter, and even though your dad and I had our share of fears that it wouldn't happen, you came home with us, and our lives have never been the same. Your compassion, your insight, and your resilience push me to be better every single day. I fight to make the world a better place for you to live in, but I have a feeling that you and your brother are going to be my real legacy. Not my science or my military career. You. And I couldn't be prouder to watch you grow up, to help you navigate everything that's happened and everything that's still coming."

Grace just stared at her mother, dumbstruck. The woman who had practically invented wormhole physics, who had saved the world more times than Grace could count—probably more than she'd ever known about—thought that would all pale compared with the legacy she left behind in her children.

A few days ago, that might have sunk her, but today, it felt more like a sacred trust.

Her mom leaned in. "Now, forget the popcorn and grab the cake from last night, and we'll get started on that girls' night."

Grace grinned. "Yes, ma'am."

Her mother giggled. "And don't you forget it."


"You know what would make this even better?" Cassie took a bite of the cake she'd perched on her pregnant belly as Grace put a clear base coat on her nails.

Sam took a sip of the sparkling cider she'd unearthed from the small collection of wines she kept for special occasions. "What?"

"Popcorn."

Cassie waved her fork at her teenage sister-in-law, who was trying to hide a knowing smile. "You read my mind."

Sam downed the rest of her glass of cider before she stood. "I got the hint. You two hang tight. I'll be back in a minute."

Cassie paused the romantic comedy. "Yes. Thank you."

Sam stopped at the bottom of the stairs to the rest of the house. "Anything else I can get while I'm up?"

Grace shook her head. "I'm fine."

Sam shrugged with her one good shoulder. "Okay. Holler if you change your mind."

Cassie took another bite of her cake as she turned her attention away from Sam and to Grace. "How are you doing with all of this?"

Grace shrugged as she closed the bottle of clear polish and blew on Cassie's toenails to hasten the drying process. "I'm okay. Why?"

Cassie tried to play it cool, the way Sam had when Cassie had been Grace's age. "Nothing. Just checking in."

Grace picked up a daring fire engine red polish and shook it. She opened her mouth as if to speak, then closed it again, apparently thinking better of the idea.

"What?"

Grace pinked, realizing Cassie had caught her in her moment of hesitation. "Uh, Mom and Dad told me you had powers once."

Cassie winced. "Not a particularly proud chapter of my life. What do you want to know?"

"Did you feel weird? Like no one understood you?"

Cassie rested her back against the throw pillow on the couch, exhaling somewhat loudly as she searched through her memory archives for that particular experience. "Yeah, actually. Is that how you're feeling?"

Cassie moved the cake to the coffee table, then massaged where one of the twins' elbows was pressing against her belly. Then, she looked back at Grace. "Well?"

Grace chewed on the edge of her fingernail. "A little, I guess."

Cassie was quiet for a few moments, thinking back to her own virus-induced brush with psychic powers. "I said horrible things to my mother when I was sick. I called her Dr. Fraiser. Said she wasn't my mother. Looking back on it now, she was just trying to help, but I was so scared that I—" Cassie exhaled slowly. "Two years later, she died, and all I could remember were those words."

Grace's breath hitched.

Cassie wiped at her cheeks, silent tears slipping down them. She leaned forward as far as she could and reached for the bottle of nail polish out of Grace's hands.

Grace's lip trembled as Cassie managed to get the bottle out of her hands. "It's okay, sweetie. Come here."

Grace broke into tears as she hugged Cassie.

The doctor kissed the little girl's cheek and ran her fingers through her brown waves. "If there's one thing I know about Sam, it's that nothing—I mean, nothing—will keep her from loving you, and you still have time to tell her how much you love her."

The doorbell rang, sending Grace scurrying for the nail polish as she made a quick pass to dry her own cheeks.

Cassie's heart went out to the girl, wishing she could do more to comfort her.

"Grace, sweetie, you have a guest!" Sam called.

The thirteen-year-old's tears stopped as she looked up at the top of the stairs. "For me?"

Cassie nodded her encouragement. "Go ahead. Maybe splash some cold water on your face before you actually go up the stairs."

Grace hurried to the bathroom, emerging a moment later with noticeably less red eyes.

Cassie peeked over her belly and looked at her wiggling toes. She sighed as she looked back at where her babies cradled within her. "Looks like we're going for the natural look, you guys. Just lost our pedicurist."

A few minutes later, Sam walked down, shaking a bag of popcorn, and Cassie let her legs drop back to the floor to make room for her. "Okay, dish. Who came to see her?"

Sam smirked. "Has Grace talked at all about a young man named Trevor Knight?"

Cassie's eyes widened. "The boyfriend?"

"Don't let Jack hear you call him that." Sam snickered as she opened the popcorn and offered it to Cassandra.

She shook her head. "Then, I'm right?"

Sam took a bite of the cake she'd left behind when she'd gone up for the popcorn. "Truthfully, I think they're just friends, but you know how much teenage girls confide in their parents..."

Cassie looked at the woman who had saved her life, the woman who had been uniquely qualified to break through her thick wall of defenses. "You can't take it personally, Sam. You remember what I was like when I was that age."

Sam tensed. "You called your mom Dr. Fraiser."

Cassie nodded. "It wasn't exactly the same, but similar enough. Girl from an alien planet. Adopted by people with the right security clearance. The product of genetic manipulation over a period of years." Cassie groaned. "Can you imagine how Nirrti would salivate over Jacob or Grace?"

Sam paled. "She would, wouldn't she?"

Cassie scrutinized Sam, her senses saying the scientist had just made a realization. "You're not suggesting that Nirrti was behind this, are you?"

Sam shook her head. "No. She's dead."

Cassie waited a moment for her to explain, but Sam just blinked as her brain processed whatever metaphorical lightning bolt had just hit her. "Okay, well, if she's dead, why do you look like you've just seen a ghost?"

Sam looked almost sick. "You've read my medical file?"

Cassie nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

Sam sank back against the cushions of the couch. "Because I think I just figured out why Jacob has powers."

"I thought that was because of the naquadah and Ancient gene mix."

Sam chewed the inside of her cheek. "That never sat right with me. There has been too much of both goa'uld and Ancient presences in the galaxy for me to believe Jacob's the only one with that combination."

"But Jack's Ancient genetics may have been strengthened by the number of times he had the Ancient knowledge downloaded into his brain."

"It wasn't just knowledge, but that also didn't seem quite right." Sam leaned forward, apparently having digested the information long enough to be able to explain it. "After Nirrti healed you of your retrovirus, we let her go, right?"

Cassie nodded. "Then, you found her on a planet where she was performing experiments using an Ancient device that rewrote DNA."

Sam nodded. "A device I went into."

Cassie blinked. "But Nirrti didn't change you back. You were going to die."

"What if not everything went back exactly the way it was supposed to be? I mean, you're right. Nirrti wasn't at the controls."

Cassie opened her mouth.

"I'm not saying it was on purpose, but it's a lot more likely that Jacob's the only child born to parents who had the Ancient gene, the Ancient knowledge database downloads, naquadah in the blood, and a parent who had spent time in Nirrti's genetics machine."

Cassie shuddered as she rubbed her belly again. "Well, it's a working theory at least."

Sam sighed. "Yeah. It just doesn't explain why someone would want to kidnap my kids."

"Actually—"

Sam's head snapped up.

Cassie grimaced with the thought. "It might explain exactly why someone wanted your kids. I mean, think about it. If Grace is from a lineage of my people who escaped Nirrti through the Stargate, and Jacob's at least partly the result of Nirrti's genetic experiments, then the search for who took your kids narrows considerably."

"To people who've been read in on the Stargate program."

Cassie nodded. "Not just who've been read in on the Stargate program, but someone who had access to highly classified medical files. Sam, they knew enough to incapacitate me with a dog whistle. You've got to know my mom was very careful with what she documented in her notes about me."

"So, it's someone we probably know and trust."

Cassie swallowed. "That's a cheery thought, isn't it?"

Sam crossed her arms as she looked up the stairs. "I know I'm going to sleep well tonight with that hanging over my head."


"So, how are you?"

Grace stuck her hands in her pockets. "Um, okay, I guess."

Trevor shuffled his feet, looking at the ground. "Glad to hear it. Uh, sorry you missed the Winter Wonderland dance."

Grace's cheeks burned. It seemed so long ago that she'd worried about who would ask her to the dance, or if she would even be allowed to go. "Yeah."

They fell into awkward silence before Grace motioned to the living room. "We could, uh, sit down if you want."

He rubbed the back of his neck as he looked up at her. "Okay. Cool."

They sat almost a foot apart on the couch, each looking straight at the picture window across from them.

"Uh, I was going to come over earlier, but my mom thought you and your family would want some time alone. Wait for the reporters to go away, you know."

Grace nodded. "Yeah."

"If you want, I can get your homework. Help you study, you know."

"I'll ask my mom."

As they fell into another awkward silence, Grace wanted to throttle herself. What was wrong with her? The cutest boy in school was in her living room asking her how she was and if he could help her with her accumulated homework. She should have been on top of the world.

She pressed her hands between her knees. "You know what's crazy?"

"What?"

"I don't even remember the being kidnapped part."

Trevor's eyes widened a fraction. "You don't?"

She shook her head. "But right before I was released from the hospital to go home, my dad told me that my dog was killed by my kidnappers." She wiped her hands on her pants. "Kind of silly to be sad that my dog died when everyone around here's just glad I'm safe, you know?"

Trevor caught her hand in his. "It's not silly."

Grace finally gave herself permission to look at him, the sympathy in his eyes unmistakable. "It's not?"

He shook his head. "That must have been really hard, coming home without your best friend."

Tears welled up in Grace's eyes, grateful that despite a houseful of well-meaning adults, she'd finally found someone who seemed to understand. "Yeah."

Trevor took a moment before he reached in his pocket. "I wanted to give you something. It's just a little welcome back present, but I hope you like it."

Grace scooted a little closer to him as he revealed a silvery necklace with a circular pendant that looked like a piece of the starry sky, enveloped with a filigree crescent moon. She gasped. "It's beautiful."

His lips curled in a shy smile. "I can help you put it on if you like."

She blushed, then turned her back and lifted her hair. He draped the necklace around her neck and fastened it before she turned back, her fingers touching the pendant. "Thank you, Trevor."

He was oddly serious as he looked down at the space between them. "I figured that with everything you've been through, it might be nice to have a reminder that even though the stars and the moon change, they also stay the same. You know?"

Grace studied him. "You like space?"

Trevor nodded. "Mom got me a telescope a few years back."

"Let me guess, you like how everything changes but somehow stays the same, too."

He nodded. "Stupid?"

She captured his hand, this time with a smile. "Not stupid."

He glanced down at their hands, then back at her. "Cool."