Branches

The following story is under the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Unauthorized copying and/or use is actionable in a court of law.

To borrow a phrase: SG-1, Star Gate and Alias no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please?

AN: Sorry this has taken so long! Working on other stories now!

"Manny! Chards!" Cassi cried when she entered the house. She strode quickly to the den where the kids most ofter were during the days and evenings the family was even home. Amanda was on her stomach, rocking back and forth, trying to learn to crawl. Richard was asleep in his play pen, but woke up the second his older sister entered the room. Cass swooped down on her sister and lifted her into the air.

"Oh, I missed you! How are you?" she asked with a goofy grin. Amanda gurgled happily. A warm feeling, simple and unconcerned, waved over everyone gathered in the room. Cassi's eyebrows rose and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Well, someone's telepathic" she looked at Greg and Teal'c who were on the stairs watching.

"Nah, really?" her father said, coming in behind them. Cass lowered Amanda to a safer position against her chest.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Jack cocked an eyebrow at his daughter(s). Cass just smiled wryly. Not to be outdone, however, Richard immediately rose into the air. Cass tilted her head to watch his acension.

"Show off" she said to him, "Come back down here" The baby lowered a foot, but then went back up.

"Hey!" his sister cried indignantly, "I said come down!" This time Richard lowered enough for Daniel, who was just coming in with Janet and Cassie, to grab him.

"Whoa!" he cried as he suddenly found the boy in front of his face. Cass handed Amanda to Janet.

"Oh, thank god!" Sam said as she, trailing Charlie, joined them too, "Finally someone to control him!" But she was smiling as she said it. She crossed the room and embraced her oldest child.

"Welcome home, sweety" she said, "I'm sorry I didn't come in to see you last night" She brushed a hand across Cass's stitched up eyebrow.

No prob, Mom Cass assured her. She then turned to introduce Charlie to her younger siblings, and they all spent the rest of the day playing and cooig at the babies. Cass and Cassie disappeared for a while, up to Cass's room.

"I don't think boring old Earth will seem quite so boring now" Cassie said, putting one of her own shirts on a hanger in Cass's closet. The girls weren't really the same size at all, but they thought it was fun to swap clothing.

"Well, that's good at least" Cass answered absently, looking for a paper she owed Daniel. Behind her, Cassie continued straightening the room up. Suddenly Cass stopped and turned around, not sure she'd read her friend's feelings correctly.

"What!?" she cried quietly, not wanting to draw attention from below. Cassie shrugged and wouldn't look at her.

"He's just nice, that's all" she said.

Please, please tell me you are not serious!

"I'm not really" the younger girl replied, "But you're with Greg"

It's not the same Cass told her and went back to looking for the paper.

"Are you going to marry him?" Cassie inquired.

"Someday"

"When?"

"When I feel like it" Cass found the paper and they went back downstairs. Janet and Charlie had set dinner out. (Sam's cooking was getting better....slowly)

"Amanda's asleep" Greg announced in a whisper as he was the one holding her. Everybody got very quiet. Charlie was feeding Richard a bottle (of which there was a stock kept in the fridge) so even he was being quiet. Cass had told them she wanted to wait until the infant was asleep to do her probing. She was afraid Amanda would resist her and she would end up hurting the child.

"Just hold her" the girl instructed Greg. Everyone watched, Jack openly, as she put a hand lightly on her sister's fuzzy head, and closed her eyes. She was quiet for a while. Greg watched her face carefully, looking for any sign of what she found. After a moment, she opened her eyes and removed her hand. She shook her head slightly, like she was shaking something loose. Without a words she moved to Richard (who had been handed off to his father) and repeated the process. By now everyone was too interested to pretend nothing had just happened and they all gathered around.

"Well?" Janet asked, "What did you find?"

"Nothing ominous. Amanda's telepathic, Richard's telekinetic, niether of them show any signs of having both abilities. Strength wise, neither are quite as strong as I am, but we won't really know what they can do until they're older" she told them.

"What does that mean?" Daniel asked. Cass shrugged.

"Nothing really" she said ans went to find her lunch. Everyone else moved off and fell into more natural activities. Cass and Cassie had a bubble gun blowing contest at the dinner table, Daniel and Jack were argueing about some mission they went on long ago, Greg was telling Charlie all about the twins birth with help from Teal'c and careful not to wake Amanda, who was still asleep in his arms, and the mothers were talking and drinking tea in the living room with Richard. Cass suddenly felt like she was at some kind of family reunion or Sunday dinner from some sitcom in the fifties. She looked around at Teal'c, Greg and Charlie. Well, maybe not the fifties.

Jack sat up and rubbed his eyes. Amanda was fussing in her cradle and he knew why.

"Shhh, it's okay, baby" he told her quietly, hoping not to wake Sam or Richard. They infant opened her eyes a little and looked at him. He reached down and rubbed her tumnmy. Apparently reassured she closed her eyes again and went back to sleep. Jack rested back on the edge of the bed, rubbed his hands through his hair. Cassi's dreams had been getting better, or at least he'd been having less of them. They were always the same things. They started out happy, then turned bad. The first time she shot a man dead (she was only 12) the fear the minds of other produced when she was four, and lastly, every time, the shoot out scene in front of the gate. He'd seen himself die so many times he remembered it like he'd been there himself.

Tonight had been different. This time, it started with the shoot out, then to a dark room and finally a bed she couldn't get out of. The dream had been full of the usual anger, grief and sadness, but under that was something new. Despair.

Jack felt like growling. His daughter had been a prisoner of war. Not that it was her first time, but the first on Earth. The first time she had ever been witness to what humanity could do to humanity. Always before it had been the damn Goa'uld inflicting the pain, something alien that she could feel all of humanity was united against. Oh, but now, now she knew more of what humans really were. No longer was the enemy alien. The one thing she had strove her ENTIRE life to protect and save had turned around and bit her in the ass.

Boy did he need a beer.

There was only one left in the back of the fridge. How was he supposed to get into a proper brooding mood on one beer? He hadn't brooded since........well since Cass had shown up. Ever since her, and everything she had brought along with her, he'd been too busy to brood over Charlie or that life he'd lost. But now he needed to brood again, over his own POW experience and now Cassi's, and how she, of all people, could have gotten caught by anyone. Of course, she was just human, after all.

Jack flopped on the couch, a beer in one hand, his secret bottle of Jack Daniel's in another. Jack Daniel's......the stuff gave him a headache. Reminded him of another Jack/Daniel combination. He took a swig and flicked the TV on. The damn news was on. Perfect. Just right for his brooding mood. ther were talking about the "war" in Iraq. Damn desert. Fricking sand. Damn sun. Hell-hole of a place, all in all. Jack took another swig, one from the whiskey, one from the beer, as more images passed over the screen. The food was terrible too. The hospitality really sucked. Jack thought living on Chulak would be better. He watched the reporters interview young soldiers, all unaware of what was really going on, any one of which could be listed as a POW at any moment. Damn young kids too. Older than Cass, but nowhere near her age. Yeah, there was that darkness, that familiar feeling he'd wallowed in for almost ten years. 4 months. 4 damn months of his life that had disappeared into the sinking sands of that hot, sandy, stinkining hell-hole.

Jack was in the proper mood by the time Cassi came down the stairs.

You didn't wake me up she said surly, plopping down next to him. She didn't drink, but she didn't have to.

"You woke Amanda up" he replied, swigging the rest of his beer down.

You did. I put blocks on the both of them while I was in their heads she told him, "You must've made noise"

"What do you mean you put blocks on 'em?" her father demanded.

I know what I'm doing you know she said, picking up on his inuendo, "I can take them off when they're old enough to handle it" Jack didn't say anything. Perhaps it would be better for them. They sat in silence, watching the news. Niether of them knew what they were talking about. No one at the SGC paid much attention to what went on in international politics. They had enough trouble taking care of interplanetary politics and underground, secret organizations like the dang NID. But they knew war, yes they did. Jack looked at his daughter. There was a strange expression on her face.

"Hey" He nudged her with his elbow, but he didn't know what else to say. Being a POW was something only you could deal with.

"How can people do that to other people?" she just shook her head. Jack recognized the look now. Anger at the disillusions she'd had her whole life.

Why the hell.......damn it! Why the hell do we do it? She stood up and paced in front of the TV We risk our lives at least once a week, for what? To protect THIS? We get no recognition, nothing in return! When we die out there, no one knows why or how, or for what. THey just go on with their petty lives, trying to get more money, more power, that means shit. Are we stupid? Do we have visions of granduer that blind us to the reality that nothing we do matters here?

"For cryin' out loud!" Jack's somewhat drunken stupor vanished. He may brood but he never lost heart. He sat the Jack Daniel's bottle on the coffee table and grabbed her in both arms.

"You know why we do it, Cass!" he was a milimeter from her face, "Yeah, so the world's shit. Yeah, so nobody appreciates anything we do except ourselves. But it's our world, our shit." She closed her eyes and sagged into him. He put a hand on her head, hoping he could lift her dispair.

"Cassi, baby. Humans can be more inhumane than anyone else, but at least we know it. At least we try not to be and we fight those who would rule the universe throug pain and fear" He hoped his little speech had done the trick. He wasn't good at them. He left speeches to Daniel and Sam.

You did good, Daddy Cassi pushed back and smiled wanely I just got...frustrated.

"Yeah. It happens" he replied, putting a kiss on her forehead. She was a little surprised. He hadn't done that since she was little. She must've really freaked him.

"I'm going to bed" she told him and he watched as she disappeared, then returned to the couch and reached for his bottle. It disappeared. Jack frowned and tried to change the channel on the TV, but it just turned off.

Good night, Dad! Jack's lips twitched in a smile. Cass was back to herself, alright. Seeing he had no choice, he stood up and went to bed.