Take a Chance on Me - Chapter 4

Jack had been distracted the entire time he was with Jonas. This was fine with Jonas. He could think about everything that he had witnessed that morning. Guesses about Rayne's and the colonel's relationship swirled through his mind. This is what he knew so far: Rayne and the colonel have the same last name. Rayne's mother's name is Emily. Was it Emily O'Neill or something else?

Was it possible that Rayne was Jack's daughter? Jonas quickly did the math in his head. Jack would have been about 23 when she was born - well within acceptable age parameters on Earth, so this couldn't be entirely ruled out. Jonas thought about this for a while. There was definitely a strong family resemblance. Technically other relatives could bear a striking resemblance to one another, but it certainly wasn't uncommon for, say, two cousins to look as different as night and day. Did that mean that Emily and Jack had been married? It would certainly explain some of the animosity between the two. Jonas knew that Jack had been married before to Sara. That would have made her wife number two. But then again, maybe she had been wife three or four or.

This was getting ridiculous. Most of the humans he had met from Earth so far had been married once, maybe twice. Jack certainly hadn't had time for a wife at all in the past seven years, and he didn't think he would have had time to remarry *that* often. So, he hypothesized, Jack and Emily were married. Rayne is his daughter. Jonas tried to picture this. Something was wrong with the picture. It hit him - the colonel had never met this girl. Now, Jonas knew that it was possible for a man to go his entire life without seeing his child, but he didn't quite think that was the colonel's style.

So. what kind of family members could pick each other out of a crowd without ever having met? They established a clear link to one another, at least after the initial shock, and seemed to want to get to know one another.

Jonas began going over possible relationships in his head. First possibility - they were cousins. Hmm, kind of a big age gap for cousins - not unheard of, but still. Maybe the colonel and Emily are cousins. Possible.., but unlikely to cause much of a fuss. Maybe Emily was the colonel's sister. That would make Rayne his niece. That seemed possible. Yes, very possible. Calling one's sister an "old bag" did seem to detract from that possibility, but there were clearly problems between them.

Then there was the mention of "American roots." Rayne's accent was a little different from that of most of the people at the SGC, but it wasn't too far off. Besides, spending four years of school in another country can color anyone's accent. Was it possible that she was the daughter of someone who wasn't American, or did she just spend a lot of time abroad?

Jonas looked at Jack. They had wandered into the sporting goods section of the department store and were walking around rather aimlessly. Jonas wasn't sure, but he didn't think that Sam played golf. He didn't suppose that this was the best section to find her a gift.

"Colonel?" Jonas began, but stopped when the colonel jumped.

"What? Oh, did you find something?"

"Umm, no, but I think that we need to look somewhere else. I think that Sam would prefer to pick out her own kayak paddle."

"Oh right. Kayaking is a great sport."

Jonas looked at his CO. It was clear that he wasn't paying any attention to what he had said.

Jack looked like he wanted to say something, but couldn't quite get it out. Jonas paused, waiting. He went back to looking at baseball bats.

"What did she tell you?"

"Who? Oh, Rayne. She said that she was working on her doctorate in diplomacy and foreign policy. She had gotten her masters' in Boulder but transferred here to take an assistantship."

"She wants to be a diplomat? Oh for cryin' out loud. How is it *possible* that we share the same genes?"

"Actually, colonel, I was just going to ask you about that." But the colonel was already walking away. Jonas ran to catch up.

"Sorry, Jonas, but I'm going to try to catch up with her. I'll see you later."

"Wait, what about Sam's gift?!"

"Buy her a sweater." And with that, Jack was gone.

**Author's note: I swear that I will reveal who Rayne is - eventually. This is not just a running gag to see how long I can string people along before I started to get flames. Really. (But don't think that it didn't occur to me. I can have a twisted sense of humor.)