SG-1: TNG
Disclaimer/Claimer - CHAPTER 1 dammit! Notes - Well, I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this chapter, but I think a lot of it will be Sam/Jack. It should be fun and cute tries to imitate Jack Black from School of Rock Let's get readin'! LOL!
Ch 5 -Sweet Suffering
Sam looked around, really confused. How did she get here? That couldn't have been the Stargate, could it? How had she not figured out that the alien artifact was there in the place of worship on the planet after all those years? It just didn't seem like it was possible that could have been the Stargate. "I guess it was." Sam couldn't help but feel out of place and completely at home at the same time."I guess it's home, sweet...home?" She muttered. As she looked around the foreign-familiar place, her thoughts drifted. I wonder if...No. He's sure to have moved on by now, right? She question herself on this and suddenly, Sam realized that she had no answer to that question. "Oh, well." She muttered and decided to go find someone to talk to.
Sam slowly mad her way out of the Gate room, which wasn't like it used to be; no one had been all over her like they would have been when she was worked here. She sighed and decided to walk around aimlessly until she found someone to direct her to the, hopefully, new General.
Jack watched Sam walk out of his visual perception. At first, he thought she was just stepping farther into the room to see how it had changed-- which wasn't much, to be completely honest. However, when he realized that she was leaving the room, Jack could feel his eyes widen. "Wait--where---No- -Don't let her--" Jack stopped his babbling and moved towards the microphone, but he didn't get to it in time and he sighed in defeat, "Dammit."
"Dad, it's not like she's really going anywhere, just go find her."
In reflect and out of habit, Jack turned towards the General, "Permission to--"
"What are you doing?" General Williams asked, biting back a laugh.
"I guess it's true: Old habits really do die hard." With that, Jack ran off to find his thought-to-be-dead wife.
Cecillia almost immediately turned to her General, "Permission to follow my father, sir."
"Denied." Cecillia's face fell and she looked like she was going to speak, but Williams spoke before she could. "Don't you think they need a little time alone?" He asked, eyebrows raised.
"Yes, sir." Cecillia answered, still feeling dejected, "Permission...to go so my quarters, sir."
"Granted."
So Cecillia turned and made her way towards her quarters and let her parents be alone...for now.
Jack ran down another corridor and stopped when he saw her. He still couldn't believe all of this. It just didn't seem like it was possible. For all these years, all twenty-three of them, Jack had thought that she was gone for good; not that he hadn't ever hoped he was wrong, but he had watched her die, or at least, he thought he had. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, and when he opened them, he spoke, though it was much more quiet and a lot softer than he usually spoke. "Sam..."
Sam could almost swear she heard his voice. She couldn't be right, though. He wouldn't still be working here, would he? No, Sam told herself, He thought he had watched you die. He wasn't the type of person to want a constant reminder of something like that. She still couldn't get over the fact that she thought she heard him, though. So, Sam did just like any person in her current situation would do if they were her: She ignored the voice that she thought was his and continued walking.
Jack's eyes widened slightly when he realized she was walking away from him, getting farther away. "I don't want to loose you again." Jack shook his head; that wasn't what he had been expecting to say.
There it was again. That voice that sounded exactly like his. She did what everyone in her current situation would do; she turned around to find to source of the voice. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. There he was, almost exactly like he had been when she had seen him last. She blinked a few times, making sure she wasn't seeing things. "Jack..."
"Sam." He smiled a little as she turned and practically ran towards him. When she reached him, Jack immediately took her body close to his, hugging her. He wouldn't have been able to help it if he had wanted to; it had been far too long.
After a few moments, Sam stepped back a little bit. She was frowning. "Wait...you still work here?"
Jack bit back a laugh, though it didn't work too well and a bit of it came out. "No, no...The program was shut down for a while and...I was never called back and I...didn't want to come back, so..." He shrugged.
"Right." Sam looked at him curiously.
"What?"
"Where's my baby girl?" She asked with a smile. "What's she like, Jack?"
"Oh, she's around. And...she's...well, to be blatantly honest, she's a lot like me..."
"Oh, really? Around where, exactly?"
"Here..." Jack said, slightly evasive.
"Here?" Sam's tone was suddenly sharp.
"The program opened up again when she was about thirteen. She was online and found out about it. After that...it was all she could talk about. Eventually, I told her that I had worked with the people in that program before and all of this, but nothing could make her change her mind. Take my word for it. I tried for seven years. She entered in when she was twenty."
"How old is she, now?"
"Twenty-seven."
"That means I've been gone for...twenty-three years. Wow...that is a long time..."
Jack couldn't hold it off any longer, he had to know. "Sam, how...how did you survive? I mean, I thought I'd watched you die..."
"To be honest, sir, I thought I was gone, too. But I woke up...awhile later in a hut somewhere." Sam shook her head, "It was...strange. I could have sworn..." She shrugged, "But it didn't happen."
"How...did you.." Jack shook his head, "I thought you said that I'd have to come find you--that no one knew where the Gate was and all that?"
"I thought so too, and for all the years I was there--I could have been back after two years, Jack!" Sam was on the verge of being absolutely frantic.
Jack took his wife by the shoulders, "Sam...calm down...it's ok. You're here now and that's all that matters, right? It's ok..." He smiled a little. "It's ok..." He muttered again.
"But..."
"Ahh, no buts. I don't like buts..." Jack said, giving her a very serious look, but that broke as soon as he added, in a very nonchalant tone, "Unless it's yours, of course."
Sam slapped him on the shoulder, "Jack!" She could swear she was blushing slightly.
"Ahh...I missed making comments like that to you." Jack grinned.
Cecillia sighed as she made her way down the corridor, making a sharp right to get to her quarters here on the base. She was really wishing she could go talk to her mom. It wasn't fair. The last memory she had of her was when she was four, and that memory had been formed from what her father had told her. This was very wrong, and Cecillia thought it should be a crime at the moment. "Can't believe the General...so very...not fair! I should be allowed to see my mother...twenty-three years..." She was muttering to herself as she walked down the hallway.
She sighed and glanced up to see the one thing she hadn't been expecting to see: Her father and some woman, going on about one thing or another. The only thing she caught was the woman slapping him on the shoulder and she could tell that her father muttering something to her. Cecillia tilted her head. Who was that? What was he doing? After all these years, and after everything she had just told him--the letter and everything!--he was going off and flirting with other women! How could he? This was her mother--his wife--they were going to be going after soon! How could he do this?
Cecillia did one of the, probably when she looked back on it, stupidest things she had done since she'd been with this program. She rolled her eyes and yelled out for her father, who turned his head towards her. "What are you doing?" She yelled, eyes flashing angrily.
Jack sighed, this was...to say the least, at least a little awkward. "Cecillia, please for the love of God, please don't go jumping to any weird conclusions."
"Who is she? After everything I told you last night, what do you do, but start flirting with some--some...one...else!" She finished slowly, in the awkward situation of running out of words to go on with.
"I told you she was like me," Jack said, raising his eyebrows at the blond woman. "But she got your looks...thank God." He turned towards his daughter, "Cecillia, darling, I would like you to meet..."
"Your mother." Sam cut him off.
Jack looked like he might start to speak again, stopped, sighing, and then he finally managed to speak again. "Yeah..I was getting to that." Cecillia stood there, absolutely stunned. This woman that his father was...er...flirting with, was her mother? No. That couldn't be right. She had just gotten a letter from her mother the previous night saying that someone would have to find her. This wasn't possible. "Wait...so, then, you aren't...flirting with some random woman. You're...flirting...with my mom?" Cecillia asked slowly, trying to make sure she had it all straight.
Jack frowned a little but nodded, "Yeah, basically."
"Oh...ok...so....um...right." Cecillia bit her lower lip.
"She really does take after you," Sam said, glancing at Jack, "She even has your nervous habits." She grinned.
"Hey, you do the lip biting thing, too!"
"That's not what I'm talking about." Sam said.
"Then what."
"Rocking back and forth from heel to toe. That's yours."
"Fine, but I'm still going to pass the lip biting off on you." Jack said, almost as if he was trying to have the last word in the argument.
Cecillia looked back and forth between her parents. This was strange. Not only was one of the first thing they were doing happen to be arguing. And over some of her stupid nervous habits. Honestly, of all the things to argue about! Not to mention the fact that she had two parents and not just her father.
She let her eyes ping-pong back and forth between them before finally landing on her father. She shook her head. This was too much all at once. At that moment, she turned on her heel and ran for her quarters. However, by the time she reached the end of the corridor, she realized that she was going the wrong way. She sighed and rolled her eyes, annoyed at herself, and she turned around and ran down the hallway again, passed her parents head-on and practically slammed the door when she got to her room.
A slight frown graced Sam's face. "Well...that was...definitely not what I had expected."
Jack suddenly had a very...it was an odd look, really, but probably best described as a mix of shock and realization. "Oh, God!"
"What?" Sam asked quickly, confused.
"I'll...I..I have ta..." After a few bits and pieces of sentences and a bit of arm waving, Jack snapped his fingers and practically shouted, "Phone!"
"Oh...kay...go...find a phone, then, Jack." Sam raised her eyebrows at his antics, but smiled anyway as she followed him.
The first person he found that he could tell that was familiar with the base (They just won't change the uniforms, will they?), Jack took her by the shoulders. "Phone." He said, as if it were the only word he knew.
The young Lieutenant Masterson blinked a few times and looked at the man holding her shoulders. He had the required attire, shouldn't he know? She shrugged best she could and pointed towards an office. "General's office."
"Same place, eh? I should've known." And so Jack went into the General's office, though not without knocking lightly first. Sam opted to stay and wait out in the hallway, a little afraid of her husbands previous antics. "Ahh, O'Neil...back to see me so soon, are you?" Williams had his eyebrows raised.
"Can I use your phone?" And for some reason that just sounded wrong, "Sir?"
Alex smiled a little. His uncle told him that if he ever met Jack O'Neill, that was probably exactly what he would be like. He simply gestured to the phone and nodded in response to his question. "Go ahead."
Jack nodded his thanks and picked the phone up. When he dialed the number and waited for someone to pick up, he couldn't help but feel like his every move was being watched. So, Jack fixed it. He turned towards the wall so that would at least not know if someone was watching him. "Come on, pick up..." He muttered. He sighed and was about to hang up when someone picked up.
"Hello?" The voice on the other side sounded very tired.
"Daniel, you'll never believe...who's here."
"I don't even know where here is. It took me a few minutes to even realized that the--the number was the base. What the hell are you doing back there, Jack?"
"That's just the thing, Daniel. She's back. She's here. She's not gone anymore."
Daniel frowned as he tried to decipher what the man on the phone meant. Even after all these years, Daniel still had a hard time figuring out just exactly what Jack meant most of the time. "What are you talking about?"
"One word, Daniel. One word..."
Daniel couldn't help but notice that the entire time he'd been on the phone with him, Jack sounded happy--hyper almost--about whatever news he had. "Alright, out with it, then."
"Sam." Jack said the word as if it were the best one in the world. Of course, as far as he was concerned, it was at the moment.
"What? Wait, what about Sam?"
"I told you! She's here! She's back! She's...not gone anymore!" Jack was practically bouncing up and down. Or more correctly, he was bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. He couldn't help it. This was just too great.
"Are you really at the base, Jack, or is my caller ID screwing up?" Daniel almost sounded concerned about this.
Jack's excitement fell slightly, as well as the look on his face. "What'd ya mean?"
"Well, it's just...Jack, she's been dead for twenty-three years. People don't just come back." Before Jack could even try to correct him, Daniel caught his near-mistake, "I mean, except for the few rare exceptions, but...Not after twenty-three years, Jack." Daniel glanced up at the ceiling. Something similar had happened before. It hadn't been long after her death that Jack had called him up and basically acted as if none of that whole mission had happened. Not one bit of it at all. There was even at least one time that Daniel remembered Jack actually talking to air that was supposed to be Sam. And he thought Jack was over it. He had led everyone on so well.
"No, no, Daniel, this isn't like before! I can let you talk to her, if you want."
"Put her on the phone, then, Jack." Daniel went along with it all anyway. He knew he wouldn't hear anything, just dead air, but he couldn't do anything at the moment.
"Sam, come here!" He called out and the woman poked her head in the office. "Yes, sir?" She said, out of her old habits.
"Come here." He put the phone to her ear. "Talk. Daniel doesn't believe me."
"Oh, he doesn't, does he? Well, I'll just have to see if I can change Dr. Jackson's mind about that one, won't I, Jack?" She smiled at him and maybe even a little bit at the dead silence on the other end of the phone.
Daniel couldn't believe this. That was Sam's voice. It was definitely Sam's voice. There was no mistaking that, but the only thing was...she was dead. Had been for twenty-three years. People don't just rise from the dead after all that time. It's just not possible. No matter what kind of alien technology may have recently been discovered. "Sam?" Was the only shocked word that came out of his mouth.
"Yes, Daniel. Your friend here isn't dreaming, I'm really here."
"I--But--you--uh...This is..." He trailed off, searching for the right word, "Strange, for sure. Yeah...uh...Ok, then...Yeah." This was just weird.
"Come on down to the base if you have to." She laughed.
"No, no, I believe you...who is Sam. I mean...wait...that didn't make sense, did it?"
"It made enough sense." Sam smiled, "Anyway, I'll see you later, ok?"
"Alright, then."
Just before she gave Jack the phone back, "Oh, and...tell Janet I said hi." And she handed the red phone back to her husband.
"But...wait...she knows?"
"Jackson...you dare ever claim that I am as insane as you would like to think I am?"
"Did you tell her?"
"Tell her what?--Oh, that, nah! I haven't really gotten to talk to her much, so, if you don't mind, going to go do that now. Bye."
"Right...talk to you later..."
"Bye Daniel..." And, smirking, he hung up, turning to the General. "Thank you, sir."
Alex smiled and nodded again. Before the two left, he spoke again. "You wouldn't happen to know where your daughter went off to, would you?"
"No...but she did take off that way," He pointed towards the left from his position of facing the doorway, "And I did hear a door slam."
"Of course..."
Jack gave General Williams a little wave and headed out with his wife, arms wrapped around her waist.
"Jack..." Sam fake-whined. "What?" He asked, leaning towards her and kissing her on the cheek.
Cecillia was way too overwhelmed for words. There was no way in hell that this was really happening. This all had to be part of some really weird dream of hers. She was currently in a position she knew all too well from her teen years. She was sitting on the floor, back flat against the door, knees drawn to her chest. She had her arms wrapped around her ankles, left hand clasped over her right wrist. "This can't be happening. It can't be. She's been dead for...twenty-three years...People don't see someone die and then have that person come back twenty years later. It just doesn't happen that way!" She hit her head against the metal door and instantly regretted it.
Flashback
Cecillia was only about four years old and was currently wandering around the living room when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it, daddy!" She shouted, running to the door and opening it. He face brightened immediately, "Uncle Daniel! Aunt Janet!" She clapped a few times.
Daniel chuckled, "Hey, kidd-o." He said, picking her up, "What are you up to?"
"Answering the door." She said.
"You are...way too much like your father." He said slowly, tapping her on the nose.
Cecillia wrinkled her nose and shook her head, "Nu-uh! Daddy's old!" Cecillia said.
Janet laughed a little when she noticed that Jack was standing in the room now. "Now, now, Jack. You know she doesn't know any better. She is only four, after all." She said, mostly due to the almost cross look on his face.
Jack crossed the room and took his daughter from Daniel, "You don't think your dad's that old, now do ya, Cecillia?"
"Weeelll," She started, "Actually I kina do, daddy." She grinned and giggled a little.
"Oh, yeah? Well, do you know what this daddy does to little girls that tell him he's old?" He asked her, barely able to contain the grin that was trying to spread across his face.
She shook her head furiously, making her blond locks fly everywhere. "Nu- uh. What's he do?" She challenged. hardly able
Jack quickly swung her around towards the couch and pinned her down a little before "attacking her" with the "Almighty Tickling Hands" of his.
"Daddy!" The young girl squealed between her giggles, "Stop it!" She laughed.
End Flashback
Cecillia smiled a little at the memory. It was one of the better ones that she liked well enough to think about a lot more often than she probably even realized. "But I never had a mother during all of that." She muttered. "She wasn't there. She was gone...dead...killed in a car accident, as far as I knew." Cecillia shook her head. Why hadn't her father just told her the truth from the beginning? Sam would have been dead either way. Cecillia just didn't understand.
Flashback
Cecillia, now thirteen, was sitting at the kitchen table, flipping through pages of a magazine when her father came into the kitchen. She glanced up at him, "Hey, daddy." She said.
Jack smiled. She didn't call him "daddy" anymore. It was "dad" all the time except those few rare occasions. Though most of those occasions were when she wanted something, Jack still loved it when she called him "daddy". "Hey, kidd-o." He said, ruffling her hair a bit.
"Daaaad!" She complained.
"Whatcha lookin' at?" He asked, sitting in the chair across from her.
Not wanting to explain, Cecillia lifted the magazine so he could read the title. "From S to E : Stargate." To be honest, it was quite the crappy magazine title, but it sold like it was really something hot. Most people, Cecillia included even though she claimed to hate conformists, called it, "S.E." for short.
"Oh...that blasted magazine. I thought you only had two years subscription on it?"
"I updated it. And this time, I get five more years of it." She looked up at him and grinned. "Payed for it all with my own money too."
"Well, I'll admit, I am glad you're not making me buy it."
"I couldn't ask you to update my subscription for it." Cecillia said, shoving the still open magazine aside. "And you know why, too."
"Because it took you about five months to even get me to buy you a single magazine and then you went and begged me and begged me and begged me for a subscription. I finally gave in when I saw those eyes."
"You mean...my puppy face?" She smiled.
"Yeah...that."
End Flashback
"He almost always fell for the puppy face...but Mom wasn't there either. She was dead. In that car accident nine years ago. She probably wouldn't have made such a fuss over me wanting a subscription to that damn magazine. It wasn't like I wanted to go off and be in the program...yet." Cecillia muttered. "Oh, of all the times to have a zillion flashbacks." She shrugged, "I guess it's really pretty appropriate..."
Flashback
"Cecillia Alexandria O'Neil! If you don't open this door in the next five seconds--" Jack O'Neill was yelling at the door in front of him.
"What'cha gonna do? Bust my damn door down?" Came the voice of the seventeen year old girl from the other side of the door.
"If it comes down to it, yes!"
"Oh, screw you!"
"Cecillia!" He warned.
"Dad!" She yelled back with just as much of a warning tone in her voice as he had in his. on, please...just open the door." He let the last phrase come out of his mouth slowly and in a very acidic tone.
"Dad...shut...up." She said in a tone to rival her father's.
"Why?" Jack asked, sitting down at the table in the kitchen.
"Why...what?" Cecillia said. She was totally confused.
Jack motioned for the girl to sit down. He was surprised that she actually did as he had silently asked. "A Stargate team? Why?"
"Because...it would be soo cool! And fun...and plus..I mean, it's something to do, right?" She shrugged and leaned on her elbows on the table.
"But--"
"Hey, you're the one that's always telling me to figure out what I'm going to do with my life. And then...when I finally do decide on something, you totally flip out! What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing. I just...I just think you other career options before deciding on this and only this."
"But dad...that's not fair! Why can't I just decide on one thing and be set for when I go off to get work in a year? Or, even this summer! I mean, I could at least start training for it all. Then I really could be off working in a year. Wouldn't that be cool?"
Jack sighed and rubbed his eyes. "You just...don't understand."
"Under-stand what?" She asked harshly.
End Flashback
"I swear, it took almost two years just to get him to let me go out on my own. He really didn't want me on a team." Cecillia sighed. "Oh well, here I am. Colonel of my own damn Stargate Team. Whatcha gonna do now, dad?" She asked, standing up and going over to sit on the edge of the bed. She sighed. "God, I swear. Those two years were really...not bad, but...chocolate and pickles, they were annoying." Cecillia frowned, "I have got to stop saying that!" She shrugged, "At least Pierce hasn't heard me say it yet. He'd give me a living hell over it."
Jack checked his watch. It was hard to believe it was already nine o'clock. "Have fourteen hours really passed already?" He raised an eyebrow at his watch. "Is this thing broken or something?"
"What are you talking about, Jack?" Sam asked, looking up at him.
"I got here about nine this morning. It's already eleven again...only not morning..." He muttered.
"Jack, has it been that long since you've worked here? There aren't any windows. Time passes kind of funny when you can't see if it's light outside or not."
Jack sighed and leaned in and kissed her on her cheek again. "God...I can't believe you're really back..." He kept his head on her shoulder.
After a few seconds of taking in the moment, Sam couldn't help and do something she knew Jack would have done a few years ago. "You know what I need?"
"No. What do you need?"
"A haircut." She said, as if it were the most important thing in the world.
Jack rolled his eyes and laughed lightly. "You said that as if there was nothing more important in the world."
"But, Jack, don't you know? There is nothing more important."
"Right...we both know all about a government project that uses a piece of alien technology to go to other planets, find more alien technology and maybe even alien friends and...sometimes...alien enemies, but the most important thing it the world right now is the fact that you...need a haircut." Jack grinned. He loved this. Everything was finally...almost normal again.
Sam changed the subject, "Are we staying here tonight or what?"
"Uh...I haven't thought about that."
"Figures."
Jack still had his arms about Sam's waist; he couldn't help it. He had lost her once...he was going to make sure he didn't loose her again. He turned the two of them around so they could go back to the General's office and ask about staying here tonight. They hadn't gotten too far from the room, anyway. He knocked lightly before entering. "Hi again."
"You just like this office, don't you?" Williams asked.
"Well, actually, I kind of always had liked this office, now that you mention it and all, but....that's not why I'm here."
"Right. So, what is it, then?"
"Do you happen to have any...extra space around?"
The General raised an eyebrow, "Why?"
"Well...believe it or not, but it's already eleven o'clock and, uh, we were kinda wondering if you had an extra room around so we could stay tonight." Jack explained.
"Unless it would be too much of a hassle, sir." Sam continued for her never- to-over think-anything husband.
"Actually, we do have a couple of spaces around. The closest one is...right down the hallway, actually." He stood up after digging around in his desk for something. He emerged with a key and he motioned for them to follow him. He went left, kind of like Cecillia had earlier. If Jack wasn't mistaken, it was the same place that she had gone too. "Right across from Cecillia's room, actually." He unlocked the door and handed Sam the key before nodding to them and going on his own way again.
Jack and Sam slowly entered the room. When they did, Sam finally walked ahead of Jack, going over to hop up and sit on the desk that was in the room. Jack closed the door. When he turned to face Sam, he raised an eyebrow at her. "What?"
"Taking on some of my mannerisms, are we?"
"Yes we are." Sam grinned.
"Hmm...alright, then." Jack said, walking over to stand in front of her. "Sam..."
"Yeah, Jack?"
"What are we gonna do about 'Cillia?"
Sam didn't know the nickname, but it wasn't exactly hard to catch on who he was talking about. "I'm not really sure. I think it's just a little much for her to take all at once. I mean, think about it. You're--what?--twenty- seven and you were told that your mother died when you were four and now...all of the sudden, completely out of nowhere...here she is." Sam nodded, "She'll be ok, don't worry about her."
"But, Sam--"
"Jack...Sshh..." She said, putting a finger to his lips. "It's been way too long." She said, slowly running her finger down his lips before she kissed him. It was soft and they both had a definite longing harboring within them.
It wasn't long after Sam had initiated the kiss that Jack ended it. He couldn't help it; he tended to need oxygen to breathe and it was hard enough to breathe when your lips weren't pressed against someone else when you were crying. He looked at her with an ashamed and slightly guilty look on his face. "Sorry...I just...I...I don't know..." He said slowly, trying to stop the tears. "God..." He muttered, obviously annoyed.
"Jack," Sam started. When he turned towards her again, she let her right hand cup the right side of his face, "It's ok..."
"No...no it's not..."
"Yes, Jack, it is." She said, tears of her own running down her cheeks. "You aren't the only one crying, Jack."
"But..."
"It's ok..." She said softly, looking him dead in the eyes.
Jack took that exact moment to kiss her again. He pulled her off the desk and moved her towards the small-but-bigger-than-the-old-standard-sized bed that was in the room. The things that ensued afterwards are quite obvious and quite indescribable other than the phrase: Hot, fiery, passion.
Notes - Well...wasn't that a terrific end to a terrifically long chapter? grin I probably could have cut it off before now, but I think now was best. I liked now. Lol.
Anyway, drop a line and tell me what you thought! giggle I loved the Sam/Jack bits they were much FUN to write! giggles again
Later days, PFB
Disclaimer/Claimer - CHAPTER 1 dammit! Notes - Well, I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this chapter, but I think a lot of it will be Sam/Jack. It should be fun and cute tries to imitate Jack Black from School of Rock Let's get readin'! LOL!
Ch 5 -Sweet Suffering
Sam looked around, really confused. How did she get here? That couldn't have been the Stargate, could it? How had she not figured out that the alien artifact was there in the place of worship on the planet after all those years? It just didn't seem like it was possible that could have been the Stargate. "I guess it was." Sam couldn't help but feel out of place and completely at home at the same time."I guess it's home, sweet...home?" She muttered. As she looked around the foreign-familiar place, her thoughts drifted. I wonder if...No. He's sure to have moved on by now, right? She question herself on this and suddenly, Sam realized that she had no answer to that question. "Oh, well." She muttered and decided to go find someone to talk to.
Sam slowly mad her way out of the Gate room, which wasn't like it used to be; no one had been all over her like they would have been when she was worked here. She sighed and decided to walk around aimlessly until she found someone to direct her to the, hopefully, new General.
Jack watched Sam walk out of his visual perception. At first, he thought she was just stepping farther into the room to see how it had changed-- which wasn't much, to be completely honest. However, when he realized that she was leaving the room, Jack could feel his eyes widen. "Wait--where---No- -Don't let her--" Jack stopped his babbling and moved towards the microphone, but he didn't get to it in time and he sighed in defeat, "Dammit."
"Dad, it's not like she's really going anywhere, just go find her."
In reflect and out of habit, Jack turned towards the General, "Permission to--"
"What are you doing?" General Williams asked, biting back a laugh.
"I guess it's true: Old habits really do die hard." With that, Jack ran off to find his thought-to-be-dead wife.
Cecillia almost immediately turned to her General, "Permission to follow my father, sir."
"Denied." Cecillia's face fell and she looked like she was going to speak, but Williams spoke before she could. "Don't you think they need a little time alone?" He asked, eyebrows raised.
"Yes, sir." Cecillia answered, still feeling dejected, "Permission...to go so my quarters, sir."
"Granted."
So Cecillia turned and made her way towards her quarters and let her parents be alone...for now.
Jack ran down another corridor and stopped when he saw her. He still couldn't believe all of this. It just didn't seem like it was possible. For all these years, all twenty-three of them, Jack had thought that she was gone for good; not that he hadn't ever hoped he was wrong, but he had watched her die, or at least, he thought he had. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, and when he opened them, he spoke, though it was much more quiet and a lot softer than he usually spoke. "Sam..."
Sam could almost swear she heard his voice. She couldn't be right, though. He wouldn't still be working here, would he? No, Sam told herself, He thought he had watched you die. He wasn't the type of person to want a constant reminder of something like that. She still couldn't get over the fact that she thought she heard him, though. So, Sam did just like any person in her current situation would do if they were her: She ignored the voice that she thought was his and continued walking.
Jack's eyes widened slightly when he realized she was walking away from him, getting farther away. "I don't want to loose you again." Jack shook his head; that wasn't what he had been expecting to say.
There it was again. That voice that sounded exactly like his. She did what everyone in her current situation would do; she turned around to find to source of the voice. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. There he was, almost exactly like he had been when she had seen him last. She blinked a few times, making sure she wasn't seeing things. "Jack..."
"Sam." He smiled a little as she turned and practically ran towards him. When she reached him, Jack immediately took her body close to his, hugging her. He wouldn't have been able to help it if he had wanted to; it had been far too long.
After a few moments, Sam stepped back a little bit. She was frowning. "Wait...you still work here?"
Jack bit back a laugh, though it didn't work too well and a bit of it came out. "No, no...The program was shut down for a while and...I was never called back and I...didn't want to come back, so..." He shrugged.
"Right." Sam looked at him curiously.
"What?"
"Where's my baby girl?" She asked with a smile. "What's she like, Jack?"
"Oh, she's around. And...she's...well, to be blatantly honest, she's a lot like me..."
"Oh, really? Around where, exactly?"
"Here..." Jack said, slightly evasive.
"Here?" Sam's tone was suddenly sharp.
"The program opened up again when she was about thirteen. She was online and found out about it. After that...it was all she could talk about. Eventually, I told her that I had worked with the people in that program before and all of this, but nothing could make her change her mind. Take my word for it. I tried for seven years. She entered in when she was twenty."
"How old is she, now?"
"Twenty-seven."
"That means I've been gone for...twenty-three years. Wow...that is a long time..."
Jack couldn't hold it off any longer, he had to know. "Sam, how...how did you survive? I mean, I thought I'd watched you die..."
"To be honest, sir, I thought I was gone, too. But I woke up...awhile later in a hut somewhere." Sam shook her head, "It was...strange. I could have sworn..." She shrugged, "But it didn't happen."
"How...did you.." Jack shook his head, "I thought you said that I'd have to come find you--that no one knew where the Gate was and all that?"
"I thought so too, and for all the years I was there--I could have been back after two years, Jack!" Sam was on the verge of being absolutely frantic.
Jack took his wife by the shoulders, "Sam...calm down...it's ok. You're here now and that's all that matters, right? It's ok..." He smiled a little. "It's ok..." He muttered again.
"But..."
"Ahh, no buts. I don't like buts..." Jack said, giving her a very serious look, but that broke as soon as he added, in a very nonchalant tone, "Unless it's yours, of course."
Sam slapped him on the shoulder, "Jack!" She could swear she was blushing slightly.
"Ahh...I missed making comments like that to you." Jack grinned.
Cecillia sighed as she made her way down the corridor, making a sharp right to get to her quarters here on the base. She was really wishing she could go talk to her mom. It wasn't fair. The last memory she had of her was when she was four, and that memory had been formed from what her father had told her. This was very wrong, and Cecillia thought it should be a crime at the moment. "Can't believe the General...so very...not fair! I should be allowed to see my mother...twenty-three years..." She was muttering to herself as she walked down the hallway.
She sighed and glanced up to see the one thing she hadn't been expecting to see: Her father and some woman, going on about one thing or another. The only thing she caught was the woman slapping him on the shoulder and she could tell that her father muttering something to her. Cecillia tilted her head. Who was that? What was he doing? After all these years, and after everything she had just told him--the letter and everything!--he was going off and flirting with other women! How could he? This was her mother--his wife--they were going to be going after soon! How could he do this?
Cecillia did one of the, probably when she looked back on it, stupidest things she had done since she'd been with this program. She rolled her eyes and yelled out for her father, who turned his head towards her. "What are you doing?" She yelled, eyes flashing angrily.
Jack sighed, this was...to say the least, at least a little awkward. "Cecillia, please for the love of God, please don't go jumping to any weird conclusions."
"Who is she? After everything I told you last night, what do you do, but start flirting with some--some...one...else!" She finished slowly, in the awkward situation of running out of words to go on with.
"I told you she was like me," Jack said, raising his eyebrows at the blond woman. "But she got your looks...thank God." He turned towards his daughter, "Cecillia, darling, I would like you to meet..."
"Your mother." Sam cut him off.
Jack looked like he might start to speak again, stopped, sighing, and then he finally managed to speak again. "Yeah..I was getting to that." Cecillia stood there, absolutely stunned. This woman that his father was...er...flirting with, was her mother? No. That couldn't be right. She had just gotten a letter from her mother the previous night saying that someone would have to find her. This wasn't possible. "Wait...so, then, you aren't...flirting with some random woman. You're...flirting...with my mom?" Cecillia asked slowly, trying to make sure she had it all straight.
Jack frowned a little but nodded, "Yeah, basically."
"Oh...ok...so....um...right." Cecillia bit her lower lip.
"She really does take after you," Sam said, glancing at Jack, "She even has your nervous habits." She grinned.
"Hey, you do the lip biting thing, too!"
"That's not what I'm talking about." Sam said.
"Then what."
"Rocking back and forth from heel to toe. That's yours."
"Fine, but I'm still going to pass the lip biting off on you." Jack said, almost as if he was trying to have the last word in the argument.
Cecillia looked back and forth between her parents. This was strange. Not only was one of the first thing they were doing happen to be arguing. And over some of her stupid nervous habits. Honestly, of all the things to argue about! Not to mention the fact that she had two parents and not just her father.
She let her eyes ping-pong back and forth between them before finally landing on her father. She shook her head. This was too much all at once. At that moment, she turned on her heel and ran for her quarters. However, by the time she reached the end of the corridor, she realized that she was going the wrong way. She sighed and rolled her eyes, annoyed at herself, and she turned around and ran down the hallway again, passed her parents head-on and practically slammed the door when she got to her room.
A slight frown graced Sam's face. "Well...that was...definitely not what I had expected."
Jack suddenly had a very...it was an odd look, really, but probably best described as a mix of shock and realization. "Oh, God!"
"What?" Sam asked quickly, confused.
"I'll...I..I have ta..." After a few bits and pieces of sentences and a bit of arm waving, Jack snapped his fingers and practically shouted, "Phone!"
"Oh...kay...go...find a phone, then, Jack." Sam raised her eyebrows at his antics, but smiled anyway as she followed him.
The first person he found that he could tell that was familiar with the base (They just won't change the uniforms, will they?), Jack took her by the shoulders. "Phone." He said, as if it were the only word he knew.
The young Lieutenant Masterson blinked a few times and looked at the man holding her shoulders. He had the required attire, shouldn't he know? She shrugged best she could and pointed towards an office. "General's office."
"Same place, eh? I should've known." And so Jack went into the General's office, though not without knocking lightly first. Sam opted to stay and wait out in the hallway, a little afraid of her husbands previous antics. "Ahh, O'Neil...back to see me so soon, are you?" Williams had his eyebrows raised.
"Can I use your phone?" And for some reason that just sounded wrong, "Sir?"
Alex smiled a little. His uncle told him that if he ever met Jack O'Neill, that was probably exactly what he would be like. He simply gestured to the phone and nodded in response to his question. "Go ahead."
Jack nodded his thanks and picked the phone up. When he dialed the number and waited for someone to pick up, he couldn't help but feel like his every move was being watched. So, Jack fixed it. He turned towards the wall so that would at least not know if someone was watching him. "Come on, pick up..." He muttered. He sighed and was about to hang up when someone picked up.
"Hello?" The voice on the other side sounded very tired.
"Daniel, you'll never believe...who's here."
"I don't even know where here is. It took me a few minutes to even realized that the--the number was the base. What the hell are you doing back there, Jack?"
"That's just the thing, Daniel. She's back. She's here. She's not gone anymore."
Daniel frowned as he tried to decipher what the man on the phone meant. Even after all these years, Daniel still had a hard time figuring out just exactly what Jack meant most of the time. "What are you talking about?"
"One word, Daniel. One word..."
Daniel couldn't help but notice that the entire time he'd been on the phone with him, Jack sounded happy--hyper almost--about whatever news he had. "Alright, out with it, then."
"Sam." Jack said the word as if it were the best one in the world. Of course, as far as he was concerned, it was at the moment.
"What? Wait, what about Sam?"
"I told you! She's here! She's back! She's...not gone anymore!" Jack was practically bouncing up and down. Or more correctly, he was bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. He couldn't help it. This was just too great.
"Are you really at the base, Jack, or is my caller ID screwing up?" Daniel almost sounded concerned about this.
Jack's excitement fell slightly, as well as the look on his face. "What'd ya mean?"
"Well, it's just...Jack, she's been dead for twenty-three years. People don't just come back." Before Jack could even try to correct him, Daniel caught his near-mistake, "I mean, except for the few rare exceptions, but...Not after twenty-three years, Jack." Daniel glanced up at the ceiling. Something similar had happened before. It hadn't been long after her death that Jack had called him up and basically acted as if none of that whole mission had happened. Not one bit of it at all. There was even at least one time that Daniel remembered Jack actually talking to air that was supposed to be Sam. And he thought Jack was over it. He had led everyone on so well.
"No, no, Daniel, this isn't like before! I can let you talk to her, if you want."
"Put her on the phone, then, Jack." Daniel went along with it all anyway. He knew he wouldn't hear anything, just dead air, but he couldn't do anything at the moment.
"Sam, come here!" He called out and the woman poked her head in the office. "Yes, sir?" She said, out of her old habits.
"Come here." He put the phone to her ear. "Talk. Daniel doesn't believe me."
"Oh, he doesn't, does he? Well, I'll just have to see if I can change Dr. Jackson's mind about that one, won't I, Jack?" She smiled at him and maybe even a little bit at the dead silence on the other end of the phone.
Daniel couldn't believe this. That was Sam's voice. It was definitely Sam's voice. There was no mistaking that, but the only thing was...she was dead. Had been for twenty-three years. People don't just rise from the dead after all that time. It's just not possible. No matter what kind of alien technology may have recently been discovered. "Sam?" Was the only shocked word that came out of his mouth.
"Yes, Daniel. Your friend here isn't dreaming, I'm really here."
"I--But--you--uh...This is..." He trailed off, searching for the right word, "Strange, for sure. Yeah...uh...Ok, then...Yeah." This was just weird.
"Come on down to the base if you have to." She laughed.
"No, no, I believe you...who is Sam. I mean...wait...that didn't make sense, did it?"
"It made enough sense." Sam smiled, "Anyway, I'll see you later, ok?"
"Alright, then."
Just before she gave Jack the phone back, "Oh, and...tell Janet I said hi." And she handed the red phone back to her husband.
"But...wait...she knows?"
"Jackson...you dare ever claim that I am as insane as you would like to think I am?"
"Did you tell her?"
"Tell her what?--Oh, that, nah! I haven't really gotten to talk to her much, so, if you don't mind, going to go do that now. Bye."
"Right...talk to you later..."
"Bye Daniel..." And, smirking, he hung up, turning to the General. "Thank you, sir."
Alex smiled and nodded again. Before the two left, he spoke again. "You wouldn't happen to know where your daughter went off to, would you?"
"No...but she did take off that way," He pointed towards the left from his position of facing the doorway, "And I did hear a door slam."
"Of course..."
Jack gave General Williams a little wave and headed out with his wife, arms wrapped around her waist.
"Jack..." Sam fake-whined. "What?" He asked, leaning towards her and kissing her on the cheek.
Cecillia was way too overwhelmed for words. There was no way in hell that this was really happening. This all had to be part of some really weird dream of hers. She was currently in a position she knew all too well from her teen years. She was sitting on the floor, back flat against the door, knees drawn to her chest. She had her arms wrapped around her ankles, left hand clasped over her right wrist. "This can't be happening. It can't be. She's been dead for...twenty-three years...People don't see someone die and then have that person come back twenty years later. It just doesn't happen that way!" She hit her head against the metal door and instantly regretted it.
Flashback
Cecillia was only about four years old and was currently wandering around the living room when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it, daddy!" She shouted, running to the door and opening it. He face brightened immediately, "Uncle Daniel! Aunt Janet!" She clapped a few times.
Daniel chuckled, "Hey, kidd-o." He said, picking her up, "What are you up to?"
"Answering the door." She said.
"You are...way too much like your father." He said slowly, tapping her on the nose.
Cecillia wrinkled her nose and shook her head, "Nu-uh! Daddy's old!" Cecillia said.
Janet laughed a little when she noticed that Jack was standing in the room now. "Now, now, Jack. You know she doesn't know any better. She is only four, after all." She said, mostly due to the almost cross look on his face.
Jack crossed the room and took his daughter from Daniel, "You don't think your dad's that old, now do ya, Cecillia?"
"Weeelll," She started, "Actually I kina do, daddy." She grinned and giggled a little.
"Oh, yeah? Well, do you know what this daddy does to little girls that tell him he's old?" He asked her, barely able to contain the grin that was trying to spread across his face.
She shook her head furiously, making her blond locks fly everywhere. "Nu- uh. What's he do?" She challenged. hardly able
Jack quickly swung her around towards the couch and pinned her down a little before "attacking her" with the "Almighty Tickling Hands" of his.
"Daddy!" The young girl squealed between her giggles, "Stop it!" She laughed.
End Flashback
Cecillia smiled a little at the memory. It was one of the better ones that she liked well enough to think about a lot more often than she probably even realized. "But I never had a mother during all of that." She muttered. "She wasn't there. She was gone...dead...killed in a car accident, as far as I knew." Cecillia shook her head. Why hadn't her father just told her the truth from the beginning? Sam would have been dead either way. Cecillia just didn't understand.
Flashback
Cecillia, now thirteen, was sitting at the kitchen table, flipping through pages of a magazine when her father came into the kitchen. She glanced up at him, "Hey, daddy." She said.
Jack smiled. She didn't call him "daddy" anymore. It was "dad" all the time except those few rare occasions. Though most of those occasions were when she wanted something, Jack still loved it when she called him "daddy". "Hey, kidd-o." He said, ruffling her hair a bit.
"Daaaad!" She complained.
"Whatcha lookin' at?" He asked, sitting in the chair across from her.
Not wanting to explain, Cecillia lifted the magazine so he could read the title. "From S to E : Stargate." To be honest, it was quite the crappy magazine title, but it sold like it was really something hot. Most people, Cecillia included even though she claimed to hate conformists, called it, "S.E." for short.
"Oh...that blasted magazine. I thought you only had two years subscription on it?"
"I updated it. And this time, I get five more years of it." She looked up at him and grinned. "Payed for it all with my own money too."
"Well, I'll admit, I am glad you're not making me buy it."
"I couldn't ask you to update my subscription for it." Cecillia said, shoving the still open magazine aside. "And you know why, too."
"Because it took you about five months to even get me to buy you a single magazine and then you went and begged me and begged me and begged me for a subscription. I finally gave in when I saw those eyes."
"You mean...my puppy face?" She smiled.
"Yeah...that."
End Flashback
"He almost always fell for the puppy face...but Mom wasn't there either. She was dead. In that car accident nine years ago. She probably wouldn't have made such a fuss over me wanting a subscription to that damn magazine. It wasn't like I wanted to go off and be in the program...yet." Cecillia muttered. "Oh, of all the times to have a zillion flashbacks." She shrugged, "I guess it's really pretty appropriate..."
Flashback
"Cecillia Alexandria O'Neil! If you don't open this door in the next five seconds--" Jack O'Neill was yelling at the door in front of him.
"What'cha gonna do? Bust my damn door down?" Came the voice of the seventeen year old girl from the other side of the door.
"If it comes down to it, yes!"
"Oh, screw you!"
"Cecillia!" He warned.
"Dad!" She yelled back with just as much of a warning tone in her voice as he had in his. on, please...just open the door." He let the last phrase come out of his mouth slowly and in a very acidic tone.
"Dad...shut...up." She said in a tone to rival her father's.
"Why?" Jack asked, sitting down at the table in the kitchen.
"Why...what?" Cecillia said. She was totally confused.
Jack motioned for the girl to sit down. He was surprised that she actually did as he had silently asked. "A Stargate team? Why?"
"Because...it would be soo cool! And fun...and plus..I mean, it's something to do, right?" She shrugged and leaned on her elbows on the table.
"But--"
"Hey, you're the one that's always telling me to figure out what I'm going to do with my life. And then...when I finally do decide on something, you totally flip out! What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing. I just...I just think you other career options before deciding on this and only this."
"But dad...that's not fair! Why can't I just decide on one thing and be set for when I go off to get work in a year? Or, even this summer! I mean, I could at least start training for it all. Then I really could be off working in a year. Wouldn't that be cool?"
Jack sighed and rubbed his eyes. "You just...don't understand."
"Under-stand what?" She asked harshly.
End Flashback
"I swear, it took almost two years just to get him to let me go out on my own. He really didn't want me on a team." Cecillia sighed. "Oh well, here I am. Colonel of my own damn Stargate Team. Whatcha gonna do now, dad?" She asked, standing up and going over to sit on the edge of the bed. She sighed. "God, I swear. Those two years were really...not bad, but...chocolate and pickles, they were annoying." Cecillia frowned, "I have got to stop saying that!" She shrugged, "At least Pierce hasn't heard me say it yet. He'd give me a living hell over it."
Jack checked his watch. It was hard to believe it was already nine o'clock. "Have fourteen hours really passed already?" He raised an eyebrow at his watch. "Is this thing broken or something?"
"What are you talking about, Jack?" Sam asked, looking up at him.
"I got here about nine this morning. It's already eleven again...only not morning..." He muttered.
"Jack, has it been that long since you've worked here? There aren't any windows. Time passes kind of funny when you can't see if it's light outside or not."
Jack sighed and leaned in and kissed her on her cheek again. "God...I can't believe you're really back..." He kept his head on her shoulder.
After a few seconds of taking in the moment, Sam couldn't help and do something she knew Jack would have done a few years ago. "You know what I need?"
"No. What do you need?"
"A haircut." She said, as if it were the most important thing in the world.
Jack rolled his eyes and laughed lightly. "You said that as if there was nothing more important in the world."
"But, Jack, don't you know? There is nothing more important."
"Right...we both know all about a government project that uses a piece of alien technology to go to other planets, find more alien technology and maybe even alien friends and...sometimes...alien enemies, but the most important thing it the world right now is the fact that you...need a haircut." Jack grinned. He loved this. Everything was finally...almost normal again.
Sam changed the subject, "Are we staying here tonight or what?"
"Uh...I haven't thought about that."
"Figures."
Jack still had his arms about Sam's waist; he couldn't help it. He had lost her once...he was going to make sure he didn't loose her again. He turned the two of them around so they could go back to the General's office and ask about staying here tonight. They hadn't gotten too far from the room, anyway. He knocked lightly before entering. "Hi again."
"You just like this office, don't you?" Williams asked.
"Well, actually, I kind of always had liked this office, now that you mention it and all, but....that's not why I'm here."
"Right. So, what is it, then?"
"Do you happen to have any...extra space around?"
The General raised an eyebrow, "Why?"
"Well...believe it or not, but it's already eleven o'clock and, uh, we were kinda wondering if you had an extra room around so we could stay tonight." Jack explained.
"Unless it would be too much of a hassle, sir." Sam continued for her never- to-over think-anything husband.
"Actually, we do have a couple of spaces around. The closest one is...right down the hallway, actually." He stood up after digging around in his desk for something. He emerged with a key and he motioned for them to follow him. He went left, kind of like Cecillia had earlier. If Jack wasn't mistaken, it was the same place that she had gone too. "Right across from Cecillia's room, actually." He unlocked the door and handed Sam the key before nodding to them and going on his own way again.
Jack and Sam slowly entered the room. When they did, Sam finally walked ahead of Jack, going over to hop up and sit on the desk that was in the room. Jack closed the door. When he turned to face Sam, he raised an eyebrow at her. "What?"
"Taking on some of my mannerisms, are we?"
"Yes we are." Sam grinned.
"Hmm...alright, then." Jack said, walking over to stand in front of her. "Sam..."
"Yeah, Jack?"
"What are we gonna do about 'Cillia?"
Sam didn't know the nickname, but it wasn't exactly hard to catch on who he was talking about. "I'm not really sure. I think it's just a little much for her to take all at once. I mean, think about it. You're--what?--twenty- seven and you were told that your mother died when you were four and now...all of the sudden, completely out of nowhere...here she is." Sam nodded, "She'll be ok, don't worry about her."
"But, Sam--"
"Jack...Sshh..." She said, putting a finger to his lips. "It's been way too long." She said, slowly running her finger down his lips before she kissed him. It was soft and they both had a definite longing harboring within them.
It wasn't long after Sam had initiated the kiss that Jack ended it. He couldn't help it; he tended to need oxygen to breathe and it was hard enough to breathe when your lips weren't pressed against someone else when you were crying. He looked at her with an ashamed and slightly guilty look on his face. "Sorry...I just...I...I don't know..." He said slowly, trying to stop the tears. "God..." He muttered, obviously annoyed.
"Jack," Sam started. When he turned towards her again, she let her right hand cup the right side of his face, "It's ok..."
"No...no it's not..."
"Yes, Jack, it is." She said, tears of her own running down her cheeks. "You aren't the only one crying, Jack."
"But..."
"It's ok..." She said softly, looking him dead in the eyes.
Jack took that exact moment to kiss her again. He pulled her off the desk and moved her towards the small-but-bigger-than-the-old-standard-sized bed that was in the room. The things that ensued afterwards are quite obvious and quite indescribable other than the phrase: Hot, fiery, passion.
Notes - Well...wasn't that a terrific end to a terrifically long chapter? grin I probably could have cut it off before now, but I think now was best. I liked now. Lol.
Anyway, drop a line and tell me what you thought! giggle I loved the Sam/Jack bits they were much FUN to write! giggles again
Later days, PFB