Chapter Fourteen

SG1 walked out of their morning briefing with General Hammond to find Fluffy waiting patiently outside the door for Teal'c. Once he saw Teal'c leave the room he emitted a small purring noise and walked up to him and rubbed himself up against Teal'cs leg leaving thousands of cat hairs clinging to Teal'cs trousers.

Teal'c gently bent down and lifted Fluffy up in to his arms stroking him gently which received a choked laugh from Jack causing the rest of the group to burst out in uncontrollable laughter.

"Is there something that amuses you O'Neill" Teal'c said in his usual serious voice.

"No Teal'c, it's just… nothing, don't worry yourself about it" Daniel said between bouts of laughter.

Teal'c just raised an eyebrow at his fellow team mates then turned and walked down the corridor, which again caused the rest of SG1 to burst out laughing.

Once they all calmed down Sam turned to Jack and asked, "Are you going to come to my lab with the rest of us to talk for a bit?"

"Err… sorry there's something that I need to do" Jack said looking at Sam and hoping that she would understand which she did as she gave him a reassuring smile and turned to the rest said "come on then guys looks like it's just us smart people then."

"Well however much I would like to agree with you there I really don't think I'm that smart" Amanda said blushing.

"Don't worry about it I'll teach you all you need to know" Jonas said putting an arm around Amanda's shoulders.

"Oh no, now we're in trouble" Daniel said which received an evil eye from Jonas.

The gang started to walk down the corridor towards the elevator but Sam looked back once again giving Jack a reassuring smile.

Ruth was sat reading a book, which she had chosen from the variety that Amanda owned, on the sofa when there was a gentle knock at the door to the apartment. Getting up and placing the book on the coffee table marking the page at the same time she started to walk to the door.

Opening the door she was greeted by the sheepishly looking Jack O'Neill. "Hello Jack, what can I do for you?" Ruth asked in a voice that clearly showed that she really didn't want to talk to him.

"Ruth, I really think that we've got some things that need to be talked about especially after last night's argument" Jack pleaded with her.

Ruth stepped aside allowing Jack to enter the apartment, which he quickly did before she had the chance to change her mind. He walked towards the sitting room and could feel Ruth following him.

Taking a seat on the sofa Jack sat rigidly, noticing that Ruth did the same on the chair opposite him. There were a few moments of silence while they both thought of things to say that wouldn't start off a shouting match straight away.

Jack's voice was the first to break into the silence when he said, "Ruth I know I left without saying goodbye, but you now know the reason I did that and you also know that I did try and get back in touch with you but you never wanted to talk to me… I know that that was because I had hurt you when I left without any word to you so I don't blame you for what you did but… I knew you pretty well back then and I bet you're still more or less the same now so I know you missed something out when we were talking yesterday and I need to know what that was."

"Jack I don't know what you're talking about, I told you everything that you needed to know" Ruth said rising form her seat and started to pace the room nervously picking at her fingers.

"This is what I mean Ruth, the way your acting now just proves that your not telling me everything and I get the feeling that it's big" Jack said standing up and moving over to Ruth, taking hold of her shoulders to stop her pacing. "Please Ruth I need to know" pleaded Jack.

A lone tear started its journey down Ruth's cheek, swallowing the contents of her mouth and throat, which she didn't even realise, had built up. "Jack I can't tell you… please don't make me tell you because I know if I do you'll hate me for what you've missed out on, and I can't stand the thought of you hating me even if we haven't seen each other in the past 26 or so years."

Wiping the tear away Jack pleaded with her once again to tell her what it is that she's hiding. "Please Ruth I can't promise I won't be angry but I can give you my word as a friend that whatever you have to say I won't hate you."

Quickly shaking her head Ruth pulled out of Jack's hold and moved to the window and looked down on the quiet streets of Colorado Springs. "Jack please I know your not the stupid person that you make yourself out to be, I know that you can do the math and work out what I can't tell you."

Jack looked at Ruth's back clearly puzzled with what she had said. The room once again descended in to silence while Ruth quietly looked out of the window and Jack thought about what Ruth had said.

After about ten minutes Jack spoke up still as clearly puzzled as he was minutes earlier, "Ruth, I have no idea what your talking about so please just…" Silence was how Jack finished his sentence as the realisation finally hit him. Walking over to where Ruth was stood at the window Jack turned her around to face him "Ruth please tell me you didn't keep something like that from me, after all the time I tried to call you and you wouldn't talk to me please don't tell me you'd do something like that."

The tears started to flow more violently down her face as she looked into Jack's eyes that were no longer showing puzzlement but now clearly showed the pain that darkened them.

"Jack, I'm sorry, I didn't know what to do, when you left I was scared and angry and I was all alone. My uncle was the last of my family left and then he died and you left taking with it the hope for a new family, and then that's when I found out and I became even more scared. A friend helped me out, kept me company when I was lonely and I knew there and then that because you left me behind I would never talk to you again. Then when I found out last night the reason why you continued to call me for almost 3 months I felt horrible for taking away from you what I did, I took away the most precious thing ever, I took away your chance to see your little girl grow up."

Shaking his head in disbelief Jack said "No, no, no Ruth you… I'm sorry I've got to go, I've…" With that Jack quickly turned around and left the apartment.

Ruth, with tears still streaming down her face backed up against the wall and slowly slid down it, her body shaking violently with the effort of crying knowing that she was right about how wrong she was to keep the knowledge of Amanda from her father, Jack O'Neill.

TBC

A/N Hey hope your all enjoying the new chapters sorry if there been a bit slow in getting uploaded but it's thanks to my friends sg1girl2002 that there getting up loaded at all as i haven't got internet at the moment due to moving but hopefully i should have it within a month. I'm glad you like fluffy i just had to pair Teal'c off with someone as everyone else apart from Daniel has somebody, but don't worry i'm thinking about adding someone for Daniel. Hope you carry on enjoying reading as i can't seem to stop writing.