Chapter 64: New Normal

It was amazing how the promise of a new canine companion had perked Jacob up in just the couple hours since Grace had first broken the news that their parents were thinking about it. Charlie couldn't help but smile as the boy pressed his nose up to the bars, trying to find his new friend.

"Thanks for inviting me, Dad."

"You know, when you were a kid, your mom and I considered getting you a dog."

Charlie's eyebrow quirked upward. "Seriously?"

Jack O'Neill nodded as he crouched beside a stunning cocker spaniel, giving her a chance to sniff his fingers. "In fact, I was picking you up to go to the shelter when—"

He scratched under the dog's jaw.

Charlie swallowed, able to fill in the blanks. "When the gun discharged."

Jack nodded.

After twenty years of assuming that his parents had simply been unable or unwilling to find him, Charlie had been surprised to discover that the reason he'd been left with the Asgard was more heartbreaking than he could have imagined.

And while his mother was fairly open with how the loss had broken her all those years ago, Charlie still hadn't had a real discussion with his father about it. But given the last few weeks—

"Dad?"

His dad stood back up, his body creaking and popping all the way up, an unfortunate reminder that he wouldn't be around forever. "Yeah?"

Charlie squirmed under the weight of his dad's gaze. "I wanted to say I'm sorry."

"For what?"

Charlie swallowed as an image of how his house had looked after the kids' abduction, of Doc's body slumped on his kitchen floor, appeared in his mind.

His dad put a hand on his shoulder. "If you're about to apologize because you didn't take Grace and Jacob with you, that wasn't your fault. You were where you needed to be. The last thing you needed at the hospital was a couple of kids under foot. If anything, Sam and I—"

"You couldn't have known what was going to happen any more than the rest of us. Besides, you were following orders."

His dad's expression grew cloudy with self-doubt. "Yeah, well. Hindsight and all that."

Jacob called, and Charlie watched as his father strode to his youngest son. Of all the things he thought he would ever see, that flicker of insecurity was the last one Charlie would have expected. Even after he'd come back to Earth seven years ago.

Maybe it was his own impending fatherhood, but it unsettled him.

"Hey, Charlie, I found her! I found our new dog!"

There was a clang, and a beautiful black and brown rottweiler mix burst out of her kennel. Charlie couldn't help but smile as shelter employees rushed to the dog and his vivacious owner-to-be. From the way his dad was waving his hands, he was trying to assure the employees and volunteers that Jacob had simply been overeager.

"Hey, girl."

Charlie put out his hand for the dog to sniff, just like his father had a moment earlier.

"I'm sorry, sir, but how did your son get the door open?"

Charlie glanced up at his father as the dog came close.

"He's, uh, good with locks. Look, we'll take full responsibility, but as you can see they're best buddies already."

Jacob wrapped both arms around the dog's neck, and she reciprocated by raising her snout so that she caressed his arm with her nose. "That's a good girl. Wanna come home with me?"

"Got a little excited there, buddy?"

Jacob's sheepish smile did little to temper his affection for the dog, especially after Jack handed one of the employees his credit card for the adoption fees.

Charlie looked into the dog's eyes as he ran his hands over her soft fur again. "Looks like you're coming home with us, girl. What do you have to say about that?"

She yipped enthusiastically.

Jacob just grinned and squeezed her neck even harder.


"O'Neill."

Charlie looked over his shoulder at his dad as Jacob and the dog (named Clipso, which would likely change given how Jacob was trying out all of the girl names he knew) climbed into the back of his SUV.

Jack stopped a few feet from the car, grunting the occasional question as he listened to the voice on the phone.

From the look on his father's face, Charlie guessed the call was from someone at Stargate Command, likely confirmation that they had the parties responsible for taking the O'Neill children, targeting Cassandra with a sonic attack, and shooting Sam at the White House. Even if they only had one of the three, Charlie had to admit it was progress.

"Thanks for calling, Daniel. Keep me updated."

Charlie closed the door as he fell in step with his father. "Good news?"

"Some. Looks like the interrogation is proving fruitful. The Secret Service just made some arrests."

Secret Service. White House. "So, they got the person who tried to hurt Sam?"

His dad nodded. "At least, that's what they think."

"You don't agree?"

Jack reached for the door handle to the passenger side of the SUV. "Let's just say I'll feel better when I see the device the bastard used to get through security."

Charlie thought about just how many things had to go right in order to take out every protection Sam and Jack had in place for their kids. Anyone with the resources to pull that off, to fire a gun in the White House and not be in the morgue themselves, could easily cover their tracks. "Fair enough."

Jacob poked his nose out the cracked window. "Can we go home now? Leia wants to meet the rest of the family."

Jack's eyebrow twitched as the dog barked in affirmation. "Leia?"

Jacob grinned. "That's her name. Great, isn't it?"

Charlie laughed, the first full-bellied laugh he'd managed probably since Cassie had gotten pregnant, as he caught the look on his dad's face. "Come on, Vader, Leia needs to meet the rest of the rebels—I mean, family."

He won himself a pointed finger from his father. "That's enough out of you, buddy."

"Yes, sir."

Jack rolled his eyes. "No respect. I get no respect around here."

Charlie snickered as he started the car and they all buckled their seat belts. "You know you love it."

The look he got from his dad seemed to soothe his unspoken fears about being an inadequate father himself, to tell him that despite all the challenges fatherhood had presented him with, he did love it. "Wouldn't trade it for the world."


Jack stole a look at his oldest son as they walked the aisles of the pet store, looking for all the accessories this particular dog would need. "Hey, how are you doing with everything that's happened?"

At least Charlie didn't try to pretend he didn't understand the question. It was a classic Jack O'Neill move that the older man was somewhat grateful his son hadn't inherited.

"Oh, you know, just taking it one day at a time. Putting one foot in front of the other." He checked his cell phone for the fifth time since they'd left the shelter ten minutes ago.

"I can take you back if you want."

Charlie grimaced and shoved his phone back in the pocket of his jeans. "No, it's fine. I'm fine."

Jack clapped his son on the shoulder. "Those last few weeks of pregnancy can have everyone a little on edge, and that's not counting what happened with your first wife or the stay Cassie just had in the hospital."

Charlie exhaled, the bravado leaching out of him. "That first night she was back from the hospital, I stayed up almost all night, watching her. Not out of wonder but out of terror."

Jack nodded. He'd had to curb that impulse when Charlie had first come back to Earth. He just hadn't quite been able to wrap his head around his son's return, around how he'd spent twenty years gallivanting around the galaxy with the perpetual grief of his son's death weighing him down only to discover that if he'd gone to a few different planets, he might have discovered the truth.

Though Charlie never said it, Jack knew he'd failed his son. If any parent could have saved his son from being an Asgard lab rat, it should have been Jack.

"Did you ever resent the fact that I didn't come looking for you the way I went after Grace and Jacob?"

Charlie stopped, almost blinking at his father. "What?"

Jack cleared his throat. "I mean, you were on another planet for twenty years. You didn't ever think that I should have been able to find you?"

The way his son's gaze dipped to the left told Jack he'd been right to ask. "I knew it was complicated. I mean, if I'd been kidnapped by Libyans, it would have been a different story."

"That sounds like an adult answer, not a kid answer."

Charlie shrugged. "It's been a long time since I was a kid, Dad."

Jack sighed. "Yeah."

"What about you? Do you ever resent the fact that I took my time trying to figure out where I could find an SG team?"

"You had a whole other life. I mean, I would have liked to have you home earlier, but I can respect why you stayed as long as you did—especially since I was sure you thought your mom and I had just abandoned you."

"Once I heard what happened to—uh, the other guy—Dad, everything made sense. I don't have any hard feelings."

Jack picked up a squeaky toy and gave it a squeeze. When Cli—Leia came running, eager to play, he dropped it in the cart. "Well, that's good of you. I'm not sure I would be able to say the same if I were in your shoes."

"Oh, come on, black ops, and you were never once in my shoes?"

Jack coughed, remembering more than once, both on- and off-world, when he'd been left for dead because either his mission was unofficial, there wasn't enough intelligence to effectively pinpoint his location, or there was no way to extract him.

He thought of Edora, his gut curdling as he recalled the panic he'd experienced when the Gate had been buried.

Charlie put a hand on Jack's elbow, pulling him back from his thoughts. "If you can still work with the people who left you behind, I think I can manage to put that behind myself."

"Except that the people I still work with, they didn't leave me behind. It was always the higher ups or some impossible challenge. Sam actually invented something to get me home once. Took her three months, and I'm told she hardly slept while she did."

"She didn't think you were dead."

Jack thought back to being stuck with her in Antartica when they'd been lucky to get rescued as quickly as they had. Of how she'd pretended to be Sara so he could die without regrets. not too many years later, it had been the thought of Sam which had propelled him to survive his most dangerous missions. "It wasn't out of the possibility either. I'm a little surprised the brass didn't stop her."

Charlie was quiet as they walked a little further. "Hey, Dad?"

"Yeah."

"When Mom told me about what happened, she said you were in a bad place. That she was afraid you'd do something stupid."

Jack looked to see how close young Jacob was. The six-year-old didn't need to hear this about his father. "Why do you ask?"

Charlie swallowed, like he knew how painful this particular line of questioning would be. "Did you join the Program because of me?"

Jack took a beat before he nodded. "I mean, it was because I got orders, too, but I get the impression that General West handpicked me because he knew I was more willing to do whatever it took than I might have been otherwise."

"Whatever it took?"

Jack gave a single nod, then shifted. "You've been holding these questions in for a while."

Charlie shrugged. "Seeing how you got when Grace and Jacob were missing kind of dredged them back up for me."

"Nothing to do with having kids of your own?"

Charlie's hand went to his pocket to check his phone again, but he stopped himself. "I almost went out of my mind when I got that call from the hospital. If I lost her, too—"

Jack squeezed his son's biceps, his own voice failing him, but hoping to communicate how well he understood the worry. "I know it might not feel like a comfort right now, given everything that we've all been through, but you know Sam and I will do everything we can to make sure nothing happens to her, right?"

Charlie clapped a hand over Jack's. "That was never in question, Dad, and it helps more than you know."

"Dad, they have doggie costumes! Can we get one?"

Jack just shook his head as he walked over to his youngest. "We've still got a few months before Halloween. What makes you so interested in this one?"

Jacob pulled out the white dress with the signature cinnamon bun hairstyle, and Jack just laughed. "You know what, put it in the cart. Your mother will have a few questions when we get home, but it's too perfect."

Jacob just grinned as Leia sniffed the costume, then licked her new human. Jacob almost dissolved into giggles. "Leia!"

Jack's throat tightened with emotion. "Somehow, I think Doc would approve of her."

Charlie gave his dad a subtle nod. "Yeah, I think you're right."


The bark as the front door opened raised Grace's spirits more than she could have thought possible. Seeing her little brother happier than he'd been in weeks raised her spirits even more.

"Grace, look! It's our new dog, Leia."

Grace laughed as she knelt beside the eager dog, who rushed to lick her face. "Leia, huh?"

"Hey, you named Doc after one of the seven dwarfs. I get to name her after Star Wars."

Though there was a slight pang of sadness at the mention of her old friend, Grace looked at the chocolate brown eyes of the dog in front of her. "Hi, Leia. I'm Grace."

She looked up as her dad and Charlie walked in the door, their arms laden with bags of supplies.

"Go a little nuts in the pet store?" Grace's mom walked up the stairs with Cassie a few steps behind her. From the smile on her face, Grace guessed she wasn't too upset.

"My only concern is whether there's a second dog in the car, waiting for Charlie to break the bad news to me."

Charlie walked over and kissed his wife, one hand instinctively giving her baby bump a little affection. "I managed to restrain myself."

Leia bounded toward Sam, her tongue out as she greeted another member of the family. Her mom crouched beside the dog and scratched her behind the ear with her one good hand. "Hi, girl. Welcome to your new home."

"Mom, can she sleep in my bed? I promise I won't kick her or nothing."

Grace chuckled as she stood, catching the look that passed between her parents.

"That's or anything, sweetheart, and I'll have to talk to your dad about what the rules are going to be."

Jacob clapped his hands together in a pleading gesture. "Just this once, Mom? Please?"

Grace bit her lip as she looked at her parents. "I know it always helped me feel safe when Doc slept in my room."

Her dad swung around to look at her. "When did he do that?"

She shuffled her feet. "Uh, you know that night the alarm went off?"

Understanding dawned on both her parents' faces. Her dad's mouth settled into a thin line. "I wish you'd have come to tell us how you were feeling that night."

Grace toyed with her new necklace. "I was trying to be grown-up."

"So, can she sleep in my room?"

Sam and Jack turned back to Jacob, exchanging another look before Sam nodded. "For tonight at least. Tomorrow, we'll talk about whether it's just a special occasion thing or not."

Jacob turned his attention back to the dog after a chorus of enthusiastic thank yous, guiding her into his room as Grace's mom walked over to her. "That was a nice thing you did for your brother."

Grace shrugged. "He's been pretty scared, I guess."

"Not you?"

Grace swallowed as she ran her finger over the new pendant a second time. "I was more afraid you thought I was weird, like you wouldn't love me anymore."

"Oh, angel."

Before she knew it, Grace had been pulled into a hug by both her parents, only a tiny grunt of pain as her mother's injured shoulder was jostled.

"Not loving you is never on the table, Grace. Even before your mom and I adopted you, you became our kid. Forever. You got that?"

Grace's eyes filled with tears. "I got it, Dad."

He ruffled her hair with his big, strong hand. "Now, you want to tell me about this new necklace?"

Grace blushed. "Uh, Trevor gave it to me."

Her mother's face broke into a knowing smile. "I take it the visit went well?"

Grace nodded as her father's expression turned to one of disbelief. "Visit? No one told me about any visit."

"Jack—"

Grace just chuckled, grateful that her family was starting to look a little more normal.