**Author's notes - It's not as bad as you all think. I figure that there
are three ways that I can go with this story:
The "life sucks" version - Charlie was a very unhappy child, traumatized in his childhood by the imprisonment of his father in Iraq (one can be traumatized at three). The final straw that led to the end of life was the argument that he had with his father about gun control and the pressure put on him to be grow up to be just like his dear old dad. Rayne is very upset, but never tells Jack, thereby stilting their relationship. Jack either never finds out and lives in blissful ignorance while Rayne suffers under the burden of secrecy, causing her life to be miserable for the rest of her days or Jack does somehow find out and it causes him no end of angst that destroys his soul. I'm not going to write this version. I'm not that sadistic.
The "Mary Sunshine" version - The letter was an elaborate ruse cooked up by Rayne's sadistic mother in order to torture Rayne to bend to her will by showing her what happens when a child doesn't listen to his or her parental unit. Jonas enlists Sam and Teal'c's help to prove that this is the case and Rayne's mother ends up getting her just desserts (tampering with the mail is, after all, a federal offense.) Jack remains in blissful ignorance of all activities and, in the end, enjoys a renewed relationship with his extended family, except perhaps the part about Jonas becoming his new nephew-in-law. I considered this version for approximately 3.14 seconds before discarding it completely.
So, anyone who has a burning desire to see the above suggestions or any other alternate endings in print, I suggest you write them yourself, and don't give me any credit.
And, as I have chosen the third, middle-of-the-road version, I've decided to hereby strike all previous warnings from the document, return it to the canon universe, restore it to a PG-13 rating (for now), and will carry on with the story.
***
"Oogch!" Rayne pulled her eyes away from Jonas and grabbed the back of her head. "Dammit!"
"What, Rayne, what's going on?" Jonas asked, concern in his voice, taking hold of her arm.
Rayne waved him off and stood up. "It's just a headache. I get migraines sometimes, usually when I'm stressed out, and suffice it to say, I'm stressed." She stood up and disappeared into the bathroom.
Jonas was relieved to have the emotional reprieve, no matter how brief it would probably be. He needed a few minutes to gather his emotions and allow himself to look at all of the evidence. He still wasn't sure what to believe. After all, how unhappy could a child of Colonel O'Neill's be? Jonas might not have made his way into his inner circle, but he could tell how much the man cared about those that had. At least Rayne had given him the option of changing the mood. The oppressiveness of their conversation weighed on him and he racked his brain to find a way to alleviate some of the pressure and to find a way to solve the mystery.
He thought fleetingly that spending time with Rayne earlier had been one of the best things to happen in his life. He didn't know that the one person that he believed to be the woman of his dreams would be so emotionally damaged. He picked up the binder to see what else had been going on in her life that he might have to help deal with. He thought about their afternoon together and wondered if it was worth it.
"Why am I doing this to him?" Rayne thought to herself in the bathroom. "I just met the guy and here I am pouring my heart out to him about Charlie. I don't even know him." She was mad at herself, thinking how she'd done the same thing earlier at the park. It was as if she had stepped outside of herself and was watching someone else use her body to do things that she would never do. She sighed as she opened the medicine cabinet, watching as her reflection swung towards and then away from her. "Maybe I'll just make him go home, tell him I'm tired." But some part of herself that she couldn't pinpoint kept her from doing so. She pulled out some Advil and swallowed five tablets. "Grad school's been tougher than I thought." She thought to herself as she took the huge dose. "Maybe I should see a doctor about these migraines. And maybe when I win the lottery I'll be able to afford such luxury items as health insurance." She pulled her hair up into a pony tail and bent over the sink to splash water on her face. She sighed again. Unthinking she continued her nightly routine, taking off her clothes, dropping them in the hamper, and reaching for her pajamas.
Re-entering the living room she noticed Jonas in deep concentration looking at Charlie's other letters. She walked over to him, half of her wanting to have him continue reading and the other half wanting to tear the book from his hands. She sat down beside him and hugged her knees to her chest, watching him, deciding which emotion would win over and wondering what it was that made her so intent on either pushing him out or holding him into her life.
Jonas finished the paragraph that he'd been reading and looked up at her. He blinked a bit to find that the previously conservatively dressed Rayne was now sitting next to him in a dainty pink tank top and silk boxer shorts. He looked back down at the book in an attempt hide his discomposure. He knew, from his recent late night habit of watching MTV, that it wasn't intended as a sexy outfit, but she certainly carried it well. Nice girls on Kelowna didn't exactly dress that way around people they had just met. But he supposed that maybe nice girls on Earth did. He wasn't about to inquire.
"Jonas, are you sure that you don't mind being here? I don't know where you're going tomorrow, but jet lag alone is enough to wear a person out. I know my trip from Cairo to London wore me out, and it wasn't really that far. I don't want you to get in trouble with Jack." Rayne rubbed the back of her head again, hoping that the Advil would kick in soon.
"I'm okay, Rayne, it's not that late and I've got plenty of time to get back to the base to rest up for tomorrow. I can always sleep on the plane." Jonas grinned slightly to himself at the thought of going to P5X- 714 in an airplane. It would, after all, only take about 300 years; talk about your long naps. He was glad to get a chance to change the subject. "So, what were you studying in Cairo?"
Rayne had taken the book from Jonas' hands and was reading from the front of it. "Hmm? Oh. Cairo. American University is an interesting place. It's really expensive, if you look at the sticker price, but they occasionally offer programs that, if they need extra help with something, will reduce or eliminate the cost of tuition. Their Cairo campus has taken a bit of a down-turn with the problems in the Middle East and, rather than close the school they started offering all of these great incentives to go there. During my Freshman year, they started to offer a full scholarship to any Egyptology major who wanted to go there. I wasn't an Egyptology major, but I figured that if I *acted* like one I could double major and go to school for free for a while. It worked. I spent my summer and fall semester there. I probably would've stayed if there hadn't been so many problems."
"What kind of problems? Political tension?"
"No, that never bothered me. Americans sometimes have problems traveling, so if anyone asked, I told them that I was from Switzerland. It wasn't hard - I'd lived there for quite a few years. I threw in some French and German every now and again and everyone was okay with that. No one seems to have problems with neutral countries.
"But anyway, I had some medical problems. They started when I was touring a dig site for a class and blacked out from sun stroke. I wouldn't have been so bad if someone else had been there, but I was in the back of the queue, chatting with one of the grad students and got separated from the group. I passed out when I went to catch up. I'm still not sure what exactly happened after that - they took a while to find me. I had stumbled into a building that housed the local cistern, or something. After that, I started getting headaches and was fatigued all the time. The school figured that it would be best if I went back to London. I was fine once I got there and they left it at that. It's really bizarre though that I'd been there five months before the problems started. I was really starting to get into Egyptology too. I'm just glad that I was able to finish up my finals. The school doctor wasn't very happy when she found out that I had signed up for three classes over J-term."
"J-term?"
"January term. It's a short three-week term between winter break and the start of Spring semester in which students have a super concentrated class schedule that lets them take fewer classes in the Spring. Most people only take one class, if they bother at all."
"Why on Earth would you take three then, particularly when you weren't healthy?"
"I was in a five-year bachelor's/master's program. I wanted to finish it in four, and I did. How do you think I got to be working on my dissertation at 26? Very few people make it before they're in their 30's." Noting the look of disbelief on Jonas' face she added, "I'm still breathing, it can't have been that bad. Besides, when I got back to London I felt enormously better; better even than when I went to Egypt in the first place."
Jonas looked at her skeptically, but kept his mouth shut.
Rayne looked away, a smiled dancing on her lips when she glanced at the binders on the table and her face fell. She didn't mind spending time with Jonas like this, but those books were a terrible reminder of why she had dragged him here in the first place. Suddenly, she didn't care anymore. She stood up. "Jonas, help me carry these back."
Jonas jumped up. "She definitely has Colonel O'Neill's commanding presence," he thought. He grabbed the remaining stack of books that Rayne had left on the table when she marched into the room and followed after her. He entered the bedroom and noticed the high ceiling and Rayne standing in front of the open closet. "Hold these a sec" she said as she handed him the binders that she had carried. She stepped into the unusually narrow but deep closet and pushing her hands and feet against the walls, began climbing up.
Jonas watched in amazement as she climbed be bare walls at least six feet off of the ground and situated herself so that she was in a, well, he supposed, a sitting position, feet against one wall and back against the other.
He gaped as she reached down and grabbed the top binder from Jonas and one- by-one placed them on the top shelf.
Re-situating herself so that she was pointed feet first, she let herself drop to the floor in front of Jonas, nimbly landing on her feet. Jonas stood, blocking the door and Rayne stood facing him. Jonas continued to gape at her. After staring a moment, she gently placed her hands on his shoulders and leaned up to whisper in his ear, "One of us is going to have to move." She didn't pull away from him.
Regaining some poise, he whispered back, "Ever think of investing in a ladder?"
She stepped back and gave him a cheeky grin. "Why bother? My way's more fun." She looked up at the books on the shelf and her grin faded. Jonas' face reflected her change and he looked down at her compassionately.
"Jonas." Rayne looked up into his eyes. "Thank you for helping me tonight." She cupped his face with her hands. "I'm sorry that I put all of this on you. Truthfully, I don't know what possessed me to do it. Thank you." She stepped forward again and wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight embrace.
Jonas placed his arms around her waist and returned the hug, resting his cheek on her head. "I'm glad that I could help." He whispered into her hair. "If there's anything else I can do, just."
"Stay."
Jonas pulled away and looked down at her in surprise. She looked back at him, cheeks flushed, clearly surprised herself. "I don't mean. I meant. I. just to be here, not to. I'm not like." She inched her way away from him, not that she could go very far before she ran into clothes hangers.
Jonas grabbed her hand an pulled her out of the closet. "I understand, and I'll stay, if you want." He smiled at her shyly.
She regained her composure and smiled back at him. "Thank you."
As they stood awkwardly staring at one-another, Jonas realized that he was bone-numbingly tired and he stifled a yawn.
"Oh, dear." Rayne pushed him towards the bed. "Go, go lay down. You need to get some sleep." She turned away and stood at the closet door, looking up at the top shelf, lost in thought.
Too tired to argue, Jonas sat down and unlaced his shoes and took off his belt. After toeing off his shoes he lay against the soft white bedspread and stared at the ceiling.
Slowly closing the door, Rayne turned back to Jonas and crawled onto the other side of the bed. They stared at the ceiling for a while before Rayne scooted closer to Jonas, took his hand and rested her head on his shoulder. She brought his hand to her lips and gave it a kiss. "Goodnight, Jonas." She let go of his hand, rolled over on her side and settled in to sleep.
Jonas smiled to himself and sleepily mimicked her position, spooning her body with his and fell asleep.
Rayne lay in the darkness waiting to hear Jonas' deep even breathing, telling her that he was asleep. She reached over and pulled his arm so that it draped over her waist and snuggled against him. She sighed contentedly.
Just as she was dropping off to sleep in the darkness, her eyelids fluttered open for a moment, and in that instant, for the first time since she'd been in Egypt, her eyes glowed.
The "life sucks" version - Charlie was a very unhappy child, traumatized in his childhood by the imprisonment of his father in Iraq (one can be traumatized at three). The final straw that led to the end of life was the argument that he had with his father about gun control and the pressure put on him to be grow up to be just like his dear old dad. Rayne is very upset, but never tells Jack, thereby stilting their relationship. Jack either never finds out and lives in blissful ignorance while Rayne suffers under the burden of secrecy, causing her life to be miserable for the rest of her days or Jack does somehow find out and it causes him no end of angst that destroys his soul. I'm not going to write this version. I'm not that sadistic.
The "Mary Sunshine" version - The letter was an elaborate ruse cooked up by Rayne's sadistic mother in order to torture Rayne to bend to her will by showing her what happens when a child doesn't listen to his or her parental unit. Jonas enlists Sam and Teal'c's help to prove that this is the case and Rayne's mother ends up getting her just desserts (tampering with the mail is, after all, a federal offense.) Jack remains in blissful ignorance of all activities and, in the end, enjoys a renewed relationship with his extended family, except perhaps the part about Jonas becoming his new nephew-in-law. I considered this version for approximately 3.14 seconds before discarding it completely.
So, anyone who has a burning desire to see the above suggestions or any other alternate endings in print, I suggest you write them yourself, and don't give me any credit.
And, as I have chosen the third, middle-of-the-road version, I've decided to hereby strike all previous warnings from the document, return it to the canon universe, restore it to a PG-13 rating (for now), and will carry on with the story.
***
"Oogch!" Rayne pulled her eyes away from Jonas and grabbed the back of her head. "Dammit!"
"What, Rayne, what's going on?" Jonas asked, concern in his voice, taking hold of her arm.
Rayne waved him off and stood up. "It's just a headache. I get migraines sometimes, usually when I'm stressed out, and suffice it to say, I'm stressed." She stood up and disappeared into the bathroom.
Jonas was relieved to have the emotional reprieve, no matter how brief it would probably be. He needed a few minutes to gather his emotions and allow himself to look at all of the evidence. He still wasn't sure what to believe. After all, how unhappy could a child of Colonel O'Neill's be? Jonas might not have made his way into his inner circle, but he could tell how much the man cared about those that had. At least Rayne had given him the option of changing the mood. The oppressiveness of their conversation weighed on him and he racked his brain to find a way to alleviate some of the pressure and to find a way to solve the mystery.
He thought fleetingly that spending time with Rayne earlier had been one of the best things to happen in his life. He didn't know that the one person that he believed to be the woman of his dreams would be so emotionally damaged. He picked up the binder to see what else had been going on in her life that he might have to help deal with. He thought about their afternoon together and wondered if it was worth it.
"Why am I doing this to him?" Rayne thought to herself in the bathroom. "I just met the guy and here I am pouring my heart out to him about Charlie. I don't even know him." She was mad at herself, thinking how she'd done the same thing earlier at the park. It was as if she had stepped outside of herself and was watching someone else use her body to do things that she would never do. She sighed as she opened the medicine cabinet, watching as her reflection swung towards and then away from her. "Maybe I'll just make him go home, tell him I'm tired." But some part of herself that she couldn't pinpoint kept her from doing so. She pulled out some Advil and swallowed five tablets. "Grad school's been tougher than I thought." She thought to herself as she took the huge dose. "Maybe I should see a doctor about these migraines. And maybe when I win the lottery I'll be able to afford such luxury items as health insurance." She pulled her hair up into a pony tail and bent over the sink to splash water on her face. She sighed again. Unthinking she continued her nightly routine, taking off her clothes, dropping them in the hamper, and reaching for her pajamas.
Re-entering the living room she noticed Jonas in deep concentration looking at Charlie's other letters. She walked over to him, half of her wanting to have him continue reading and the other half wanting to tear the book from his hands. She sat down beside him and hugged her knees to her chest, watching him, deciding which emotion would win over and wondering what it was that made her so intent on either pushing him out or holding him into her life.
Jonas finished the paragraph that he'd been reading and looked up at her. He blinked a bit to find that the previously conservatively dressed Rayne was now sitting next to him in a dainty pink tank top and silk boxer shorts. He looked back down at the book in an attempt hide his discomposure. He knew, from his recent late night habit of watching MTV, that it wasn't intended as a sexy outfit, but she certainly carried it well. Nice girls on Kelowna didn't exactly dress that way around people they had just met. But he supposed that maybe nice girls on Earth did. He wasn't about to inquire.
"Jonas, are you sure that you don't mind being here? I don't know where you're going tomorrow, but jet lag alone is enough to wear a person out. I know my trip from Cairo to London wore me out, and it wasn't really that far. I don't want you to get in trouble with Jack." Rayne rubbed the back of her head again, hoping that the Advil would kick in soon.
"I'm okay, Rayne, it's not that late and I've got plenty of time to get back to the base to rest up for tomorrow. I can always sleep on the plane." Jonas grinned slightly to himself at the thought of going to P5X- 714 in an airplane. It would, after all, only take about 300 years; talk about your long naps. He was glad to get a chance to change the subject. "So, what were you studying in Cairo?"
Rayne had taken the book from Jonas' hands and was reading from the front of it. "Hmm? Oh. Cairo. American University is an interesting place. It's really expensive, if you look at the sticker price, but they occasionally offer programs that, if they need extra help with something, will reduce or eliminate the cost of tuition. Their Cairo campus has taken a bit of a down-turn with the problems in the Middle East and, rather than close the school they started offering all of these great incentives to go there. During my Freshman year, they started to offer a full scholarship to any Egyptology major who wanted to go there. I wasn't an Egyptology major, but I figured that if I *acted* like one I could double major and go to school for free for a while. It worked. I spent my summer and fall semester there. I probably would've stayed if there hadn't been so many problems."
"What kind of problems? Political tension?"
"No, that never bothered me. Americans sometimes have problems traveling, so if anyone asked, I told them that I was from Switzerland. It wasn't hard - I'd lived there for quite a few years. I threw in some French and German every now and again and everyone was okay with that. No one seems to have problems with neutral countries.
"But anyway, I had some medical problems. They started when I was touring a dig site for a class and blacked out from sun stroke. I wouldn't have been so bad if someone else had been there, but I was in the back of the queue, chatting with one of the grad students and got separated from the group. I passed out when I went to catch up. I'm still not sure what exactly happened after that - they took a while to find me. I had stumbled into a building that housed the local cistern, or something. After that, I started getting headaches and was fatigued all the time. The school figured that it would be best if I went back to London. I was fine once I got there and they left it at that. It's really bizarre though that I'd been there five months before the problems started. I was really starting to get into Egyptology too. I'm just glad that I was able to finish up my finals. The school doctor wasn't very happy when she found out that I had signed up for three classes over J-term."
"J-term?"
"January term. It's a short three-week term between winter break and the start of Spring semester in which students have a super concentrated class schedule that lets them take fewer classes in the Spring. Most people only take one class, if they bother at all."
"Why on Earth would you take three then, particularly when you weren't healthy?"
"I was in a five-year bachelor's/master's program. I wanted to finish it in four, and I did. How do you think I got to be working on my dissertation at 26? Very few people make it before they're in their 30's." Noting the look of disbelief on Jonas' face she added, "I'm still breathing, it can't have been that bad. Besides, when I got back to London I felt enormously better; better even than when I went to Egypt in the first place."
Jonas looked at her skeptically, but kept his mouth shut.
Rayne looked away, a smiled dancing on her lips when she glanced at the binders on the table and her face fell. She didn't mind spending time with Jonas like this, but those books were a terrible reminder of why she had dragged him here in the first place. Suddenly, she didn't care anymore. She stood up. "Jonas, help me carry these back."
Jonas jumped up. "She definitely has Colonel O'Neill's commanding presence," he thought. He grabbed the remaining stack of books that Rayne had left on the table when she marched into the room and followed after her. He entered the bedroom and noticed the high ceiling and Rayne standing in front of the open closet. "Hold these a sec" she said as she handed him the binders that she had carried. She stepped into the unusually narrow but deep closet and pushing her hands and feet against the walls, began climbing up.
Jonas watched in amazement as she climbed be bare walls at least six feet off of the ground and situated herself so that she was in a, well, he supposed, a sitting position, feet against one wall and back against the other.
He gaped as she reached down and grabbed the top binder from Jonas and one- by-one placed them on the top shelf.
Re-situating herself so that she was pointed feet first, she let herself drop to the floor in front of Jonas, nimbly landing on her feet. Jonas stood, blocking the door and Rayne stood facing him. Jonas continued to gape at her. After staring a moment, she gently placed her hands on his shoulders and leaned up to whisper in his ear, "One of us is going to have to move." She didn't pull away from him.
Regaining some poise, he whispered back, "Ever think of investing in a ladder?"
She stepped back and gave him a cheeky grin. "Why bother? My way's more fun." She looked up at the books on the shelf and her grin faded. Jonas' face reflected her change and he looked down at her compassionately.
"Jonas." Rayne looked up into his eyes. "Thank you for helping me tonight." She cupped his face with her hands. "I'm sorry that I put all of this on you. Truthfully, I don't know what possessed me to do it. Thank you." She stepped forward again and wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight embrace.
Jonas placed his arms around her waist and returned the hug, resting his cheek on her head. "I'm glad that I could help." He whispered into her hair. "If there's anything else I can do, just."
"Stay."
Jonas pulled away and looked down at her in surprise. She looked back at him, cheeks flushed, clearly surprised herself. "I don't mean. I meant. I. just to be here, not to. I'm not like." She inched her way away from him, not that she could go very far before she ran into clothes hangers.
Jonas grabbed her hand an pulled her out of the closet. "I understand, and I'll stay, if you want." He smiled at her shyly.
She regained her composure and smiled back at him. "Thank you."
As they stood awkwardly staring at one-another, Jonas realized that he was bone-numbingly tired and he stifled a yawn.
"Oh, dear." Rayne pushed him towards the bed. "Go, go lay down. You need to get some sleep." She turned away and stood at the closet door, looking up at the top shelf, lost in thought.
Too tired to argue, Jonas sat down and unlaced his shoes and took off his belt. After toeing off his shoes he lay against the soft white bedspread and stared at the ceiling.
Slowly closing the door, Rayne turned back to Jonas and crawled onto the other side of the bed. They stared at the ceiling for a while before Rayne scooted closer to Jonas, took his hand and rested her head on his shoulder. She brought his hand to her lips and gave it a kiss. "Goodnight, Jonas." She let go of his hand, rolled over on her side and settled in to sleep.
Jonas smiled to himself and sleepily mimicked her position, spooning her body with his and fell asleep.
Rayne lay in the darkness waiting to hear Jonas' deep even breathing, telling her that he was asleep. She reached over and pulled his arm so that it draped over her waist and snuggled against him. She sighed contentedly.
Just as she was dropping off to sleep in the darkness, her eyelids fluttered open for a moment, and in that instant, for the first time since she'd been in Egypt, her eyes glowed.
