Take a Chance on Me - Chapter 8

Rayne sat yawning on the couch. Sam, Teal'c, and Jonas had gone about a half hour earlier and she and Jack were alone again. "I suppose I ought to get going." She said to him.

"Wait, I'll give you a ride." Jack said without getting up.

"Sure, Jack. I'm going to let a man who has had six beers drive me somewhere. I'd be better off walking."

"Hmm. I should have thought of that sooner. You could have driven your car."

"That wouldn't have worked. I don't have one."

"You don't have a car? Oh. How were you planning on getting here if I hadn't picked you up?"

"There's a bus stop about a mile from here, on the other side of the park."

Jack looked at her skeptically. "You were going to walk a mile, in the dark, in a strange neighborhood?"

Rayne grinned. "I still am going to walk a mile, in the dark, in a strange neighborhood. It's late and I should go home. Everyone else left."

"Well, you aren't. It's late and I have a spare room. You'll stay here."

Rayne looked at him, vaguely annoyed. "Is that an order?"

Jack eyed Rayne critically. He didn't think that she would have taken too kindly to a direct order. She had made a few derogatory quips already about the military and he didn't want to push her out the door. "Let's call it a strong recommendation. Besides, we can have breakfast in the morning."

Rayne considered for a moment. "Hmm, two non-microwaved meals in a row. I'm not sure that my system can handle that. My body might go into shock if I don't get some Ramen noodles soon but - I think I'll chance it."

"Good. I'll show you to your room."

Jack ushered Rayne to a corner booth at Roxie's Diner. "So, what's on he itinerary today?"

"Well, I need to write up my lesson plans for next week and get a little work done on my dissertation." She looked abashed for a moment. "Umm, Jonas also asked me to help him buy a sweater for Sam's birthday, so I guess I'll help him with that. How about you?"

Jack gawked at her. "You're going out with Jonas? What is it with that guy?"

"Uhh - he talks to me." Rayne said sarcastically. "That's a plus in my book. Besides, I like this Sam of yours and I'm not sure that Jonas has the best taste in clothes. Does he *always* wear the same thing?"

"Well, uniforms are like that. By limiting your choices, you're able to get dressed in much less time." They had stopped at Rayne's apartment so that she could change. It had taken her enough time for Jack to re-set two of her clocks to the "correct" time, change the radio station, and stack all of the books on her kitchen table into a three-foot tall model of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

"Twelve years of school uniforms later, I prefer to choose my own clothes, thank you."

Jack bristled a bit at the mention of her schooling. He was still angry that his brother had allowed her to be sent to boarding school when she was only six. He changed the subject. "What's your brother up to these days? I haven't seen him since he was a baby."

Rayne looked chagrined. "John rebelled when he was a bit younger than I had. I haven't spoken to him for a while. I think that he's still angry that I sided with Mother at the time."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Jack looked embarrassed.

"Don't be. It isn't your fault. Besides, he followed in his uncle's footsteps. Sort of."

"What do you mean, my footsteps?"

"Lieutenant Commander O'Neill was stationed in Hawaii after successfully completing his engineering degree at Annapolis. He does research on nuclear reactors for submarines."

Jack looked at her incredulously. "He's in the Navy?"

"Well, it's not the Air Force, I know, but it's still the military."

"My nephew - the reactor expert. Wait until I tell Carter. Well, never mind. No one will ever believe that one."

"It shouldn't come as that big a shock. Dad mentioned some of the crazy things that you two built as kids."

"That's not entirely true. He built them. I blew them up."

"Ahh. I wondered why fireworks were banned in Illinois."

"That whole incident with the cow is greatly exaggerated."

"I'm not even going to ask."

"It's probably better that way."

They fell into a comfortable silence, looking over their menus. The waiter came to take their orders and to pour coffee.

Rayne gazed at her uncle who was busy stacking creamers and sugar packets into what appeared to be an airplane. She felt a wash of sadness come over her as she gazed at his familiar features. "Tell me about my father."

Jack glanced up at her and then back at his creation, his face hardening. "What do you want to know?"

"I want to know what made him leave us."

"You know the answer to that."

Rayne pulled her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs. "I was only eight when he died. You knew him longer than anyone else did."

"My brother died the day he met your mother. She killed him as much as the bullet did."

"I'm not denying that."

"What made you change your mind?"

"The world expanded."

Jack looked at her curiously. "I didn't get that memo."

"Well you know that I was sent to a boarding school when I was six. Granted, I went home on the weekends, at least until Dad died. I also spent every summer at a camp of some kind. Most of the kids I went to school with did the same. I always assumed that's how things worked. I told you that I got cut off. I just didn't tell you when. As soon as I graduated from high school, I wasn't allowed back in the house; I spent two weeks sleeping in the gardener's shed before I got a job in a hostel in London, trying to figure out a way to pay for Harvard. I didn't."

"So how did you swing American University? It isn't exactly cheap."

"God bless America and Title IX."

"Title IX? Isn't that the law that says that women's sports programs have to receive the same amount of money as men's programs?"

"That's the one. I joined every low-budget men's team that I could, thus making them co-ed, bringing in cash and saving them from getting cut. In return, they stacked up the scholarships. I kept my job at the hostel and lived there. I didn't sleep much, but I managed."

"So, what? They just let you on all these teams and paid you for them? Didn't they care that you weren't any good?"

"Excuse me? What makes you think that I wasn't any good? I tried out, just like everyone else. In fact, I am currently the featherweight boxing champion of the school's division, my crew team was the best in the school, and I'm a damn good wrestler."

"You wrestled your way through school?" Jack asked sarcastically.

"It was better than joining the military like Johnny did."

"What is it with you and the military?"

The waiter returned with their orders. The manager followed him. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave if you don't lower your voices immediately. You are disturbing the rest of our patrons."

Jack bit back an argument, and Rayne smirked at him before turning to the manager. "I apologize. We won't be discussing anything further today." She looked at Jack threateningly.

The manager turned on her heel and walked back to the kitchen, the waiter behind her.

Rayne began to eat her breakfast, staring out the window, blatantly ignoring Jack.

Jack stood up. "This is the second place in two days the manager had to come and speak to us. You sure bring out the best in people." He paused, hoping for a reaction from her. He didn't get one. His jaw tightened. "I'm going out of town tomorrow and I won't be back until next week." And with that he turned, paid the bill, and left.