TITLE: Teenage Angst
AUTHOR: Kat Halcyon
EMAIL: kathalcyon@yahoo.ca
CATEGORY: Daniel and Janet
SUMMARY: Daniel and Janet get together, but the reaction is not what they had hoped.
RATING: G
SPOILERS: Tiny bit for Singularity
SEASON: Anytime after Cassie appears
STATUS: Complete
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret Productions. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment not monetary purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
NOTES: This one's for our dear fic warriors, Bryn and Nike. Love you, guys! (And Bryn has just told me to tell Nike it's her turn)
When Daniel and I decided to start dating, we didn't worry about the reactions of our friends. Not only is he not even part of the military, but General Hammond would never make a ruling that would go against the happiness of one of the members of SG-1, who everyone on base knew were his favorites. We knew that his teammates, or best friends, would have nothing but the best wishes for us.
And it never occurred to us to worry about Cassie's reaction.
I have to admit, I assumed she would also be happy for us. She and I had gotten comfortable with each other at that point; had learned to live as a family. And she was so close to Daniel and the rest of SG-1, I figured she thought of them as family too. Therefore, it seemed to me, she couldn't see him as a threat to our family.
I was wrong.
When I told her about us – Daniel wasn't there, I thought she might be more at ease with me alone – she professed she was fine, but there was a hurt look in her eyes that belied her words. Then, when Daniel came to our house later that evening, she barely said a word to him. What she did say was perfectly polite, but the night was filled with stony silences and cold glares on her part. Daniel was, well, Daniel. Cheerful, courteous… the man I had fallen for. I, however, took my cue from Cassie, although my glares were directed at her.
After Daniel left, I tried to have a civilized conversation with Cassie about the evening's events – in hindsight, maybe it was a bad idea to start with, "What the hell were you thinking, young lady?" It escalated into our very first full-fledged screaming match. We have had arguments, but none of them had ended with us shouting at each other at the tops of our lungs.
Daniel, who had known the Cassie of old – and who later admitted he'd been reading articles on how to raise teenage girls – shrugged off her horrendous behaviour and mine, for that matter. That only made me even crazier about him.
I didn't take him home for a while after that. A few weeks later, I got home from work early to hear Cassie on the phone with one of her friends.
The first thing I heard was, "You're so lucky they broke up. Mom's still dating Daniel." There was a short pause, and then, "I don't know if he's cute or not! He's like my uncle!" I grinned at that, and after a moment, Cassie went on. "No, it's not like that, it's complicated… well, yeah, he's perfectly nice, but still…" A longer pause this time. "Well, if that's the way you feel about it, then I don't need your help. God, I thought you of all people would understand." Her voice was angry now. "Bye." A *click* signaled that she'd hung up.
I thought that this might be a good time to make my presence known. "Cass, I'm home," I called.
Instead of a greeting in response, I could hear her scramble up the stairs, most likely to her room.
After 20 minutes, when she didn't come back downstairs, I decided I needed to talk to her. I made her a café latté with our new cappuccino machine, with extra foam, the way she liked it. I told myself I was just doing a nice thing for my daughter. In reality, I was steeling myself for the conversation, but it was only after discussing the situation later with Daniel that I was able to admit that.
I took a long time making Cassie a coffee, but the time came that I had to go up and talk to her, or forget about it.
Had our problem been about anything else, I likely would have forgotten about it. But if Cassie had a problem with Daniel… they were the two most important people in my life. I couldn't forget about it.
"Honey?" I knocked on her door tentatively. "Can I come in, Cass?" She didn't respond. "I have coffee…"
She opened the door. Her eyes were red, her face was blotchy, and her nose was running from her crying. My beautiful daughter. Still holding the mug, I took her into my arms. She was taller than me, but leant down and put her head on my shoulder.
Still embracing her, I steered us towards the bed, setting the coffee down on her desk in the process. I sat down and pulled her down beside me. "Sweetie, what's wrong?"
She sniffed. "I just… I don't want him to take you away from me, Mom!"
"Cassie… oh, Cass. You're my girl. Nothing could take me away from you. You're my daughter."
"But… but am I?"
I stroked her hair. "Of course, Cassie. I love you."
"But… but Mom… Janet…" Her words were interspersed with sniffs and surreptitious wiping of her eyes. "You had to take me."
"No," I said fiercely. "I took you because I wanted you. Cassandra Leigh Fraiser, don't you ever think that I adopted you out of necessity. You're my daughter and I love you. Understood?"
She gave a small nod. "Janet… Mom… I don't want him messing everything up."
"My relationship with Daniel doesn't have to change anything with us, Cass."
"Yes, it does! You're going to be spending more time with him, and then he's going to start spending time here, and then he'll move in, and then you'll get married and start having kids and…"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I interrupted. "We haven't even been dating a month!" Three weeks, four days. Not that I'd been counting. And three hours.
"But it'll happen eventually!"
"Cassie, I don't know what's going to happen with me and Daniel. No matter what, though, it won't make you less my daughter. Even if – and I stress the word 'if' – we get married and have kids, you'll still be my daughter. Okay?" I used my sternest voice, the one that sent my nurses scurrying to do my bidding, but it was tempered with love. Her only reply was a sniff. "Do you… do you like Daniel?" I asked hesitantly.
"I liked him before he started dating you," she said sulkily.
"Cassie, he's still Daniel. He's still the same, I'm still the same. Can you give him another chance? Please?"
She sniffed, even louder than before. "Okay," she replied softly.
"Can I invite him over for dinner tomorrow then?"
"Okay."
Amazingly enough, there were no medical emergencies and the SGC the next day, so I was able to get home relatively early to make dinner. I made fettuccine Alfredo with shrimp and mushrooms, garlic bread and a Caesar salad to go with it. I had planned on buying a chocolate mousse cake from the little bakery in the strip mall down the street, but when I got home, Cassie was hard at work on a Black Forest cake.
I smiled and wanted to comment on the newfound peace, but I just held my tongue and hoped it would last.
At supper that night, Daniel was… well, himself; the perfect gentleman. He even praised the cake before being told Cassie had made it.
Later, after Cassie went to bed, Daniel and I sat in front of the fireplace in the living room. I put a Sarah Brightman CD on quietly and leaned up against him, savouring the moment. "Thanks for being so great about Cassie," I told him softly after a while. "Being a teenage girl is hard in itself, and she's had more to deal with than most."
"Hey, it's fine. You and Cassie are a package deal, I knew that from the start."
I turned to look him in those sky blue eyes. "Thank you," I said, unable to think of any other words.
He smiled, making that impossibly good-looking face even handsomer. "Thank you," he said quietly, then leaned down and kissed me.