"Cassandra Fraiser, report to the infirmary, please. Emmett Bregman, report to the infirmary, please. Cassandra Fraiser to the infirmary, please."
They were sitting in the commissary still when the pages came. Sam was still hanging out with Cassandra and Emmett – she didn't have anything to do that was more pressing than staying with Cassie until she had a chance to make sure her mom was really okay – but Daniel had excused himself and had gone off to his office with a full pot of coffee, mentioning something about an artifact he had to check on.
"Sounds like your mom's awake," Sam said, smiling.
Cassie echoed that smile, already standing up.
"Yep. Let's go see her."
Emmett, Cassie and Sam all headed for the infirmary.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Janet was looking through her own chart when Jaffer's head suddenly lifted from her stomach and his gaze went down to the other end of the room. Janet lifted her gaze from her chart to see what had caught his attention, and saw Sam, Emmett Bregman and Cassie all standing at the doorway, looking at her.
"Look! She's awake!" Cassie almost squealed, excitedly, reminding Sam that no matter how calm she'd been trying to act, she had still been terribly worried.
Bregman smiled, and gave Cassandra a little push.
"Go talk to her."
"Aren't you coming?" Cassie asked.
He shook his head.
"Not yet. You go make sure she's okay, first. I'll wait my turn."
"You sure?"
"Of course." He gave her another push, and Cassie headed for the aisle of beds.
Sam smiled at Bregman.
"I'll be right back."
She walked down the aisle as well.
"No wonder Colonel O'Neill always knows when someone's coming," Janet murmured to Jaffer. "He's been using you as a first alert alarm."
Jaffer wagged his tail, sitting up when he saw Cassie and Sam coming over. Yup! He was the first alert security dog!
"Mom!"
In deference to Jack's still sleeping form – and that of several others – Cassie didn't shout, but there were a million emotions in that one word. Concern, terror, relief, joy and love to name a few. Janet could have sorted out another dozen had she not suddenly been engulfed in a very careful hug as Cassie came around to the side Jaffer wasn't on and wrapped her arms around Janet, her eyes suddenly wet with tears that she'd been able to hold back until then.
"Hi sweetheart," Janet said, hugging as tightly as she could, pressing little kisses against her wet cheeks. "Shhh... I'm fine! Don't worry, baby. I'm fine."
Jaffer sat up a little more, looking over at Jack, but his view was completely obstructed with Cassandra in the way. Not that he minded Cassie – because he liked her, too! – but he jumped down off the bed and moved around so he could see Jack once more. Satisfied that his charge was still soundly sleeping, Jaffer went over to Sam and greeted her cheerfully. He needed out for a few minutes, and Sam was the one to take him, since his Jack was still asleep!
Sam ran her hands along Jaffer's big, happy body as she watched Cassie and Janet hug. She felt the sting of tears in her own eyes, but they were probably just emotions from the baby, right? Hormones and all that. She looked down at Jaffer, who was looking at her, expectantly.
"You need to go out, don't you?"
Oh, yes! He most certainly did!
Which explained why he didn't join Jack on the bed once he'd abandoned Janet, Sam decided.
"I'll be right back," she whispered to the pair of Fraiser's. Unsure if they heard her, she turned and headed for the door, with Jaffer trotting at her side.
"Is she all right?" Emmett asked as Sam approached. He looked down at Jaffer, lowering his hand hesitantly. He'd let the lab decide if he could pet him or not. Jaffer sniffed the fingers, looking for a treat, but didn't find anything worth biting. Bregman ran his hand along the big head once in a friendly pat, but decided not to press his luck.
"She's fine," Sam assured him. "They probably should have a few minutes alone, though, so Janet can make sure Cassie is reassured – no one better to do that than her mother, after all."
"Especially since she's a doctor, right?" Emmett said.
"Exactly." Sam smiled. "I'm going to take Jaffer out for a few minutes. Why don't you join us? By the time we get back, Janet will probably be up for a bit more company."
It'd be better than standing at the door, feeling useless, Emmett decided. He nodded, and gestured for the two of them to lead the way.
OOOOOOOOOOO
"Are you really all right?" Cassie asked, breaking the hug and sitting on the edge of her mother's bed, looking down at her, worriedly.
"I'm going to be fine, honey," Janet told her, handing her the chart. Cassie wasn't a doctor of course, but she had picked up a lot from Janet over the many years she'd been living with the woman, and when the girl had shown an interest in something medical, Janet had been more than willing to explain it. The girl could read a chart just as well as Janet could. And, since there really wasn't anything serious wrong with her, and nothing to hide, Janet decided to just let her see for herself.
Cassie looked through the chart, frowning over a couple of words she didn't know, but able to get the gist of things at a glance. She had a glancing staff wound – just like everyone had told her – and she had come through surgery fine. They had her on a hefty pain-killer, which was why Janet seemed to not be in any discomfort, and expected to keep her for at least a few days – if not longer – depending on her condition and if there was any secondary infection.
She looked up at her mom, and handed the chart back over to her.
"It could have been a lot worse..." She was looking over at the other patients in the infirmary, and then at Jack, who was still sleeping soundly. Cassie decided that the medics must have really doped him up to make him sleep so soundly with all the activity going on around him. Probably to keep him from arguing with them for at least a few hours.
"It could have been," Janet said. She never lied to Cassie. "But I was in very good hands."
"Jack's?"
Janet smiled and shook her head.
"He was too busy opening an escape route," Janet said. "Instead, he sent Jaffer to keep me safe." Janet hugged her daughter again. "He did a great job, too."
"What did he do?" She wanted to hear all about it.
Janet had no intention of telling that particular story to her daughter. Cassie didn't need to know about the Jaffa getting his throat ripped out, or how violently Jaffer had shaken the man long after he was dead.
"I can't tell you. It's classified."
Cassie rolled her eyes. She was from another planet, for God's sake! If there was anything classified on this base, it was her. She knew this just meant her mother wasn't going to tell her.
Janet smiled.
"So... you met Emmett?"
Cassie went from rolling her eyes to smiling almost immediately.
"Yep."
"What'd you think?"
"He seems like a really nice guy. Sam and I have been talking to him in the cafeteria ever since we got here, and he's told me a lot about himself – and I told him some stuff about me."
"So... you like him?" She asked, hesitantly. If she wanted any kind of relationship with Emmett, it was important that Cassie like the man, too.
"I think so."
She wasn't one to give an immediate endorsement of anyone dating her mom, after all, but Emmett seemed to be pretty far up on the list of guys that Cassie would have picked for Janet. He was smart, and funny, and when he smiled it was a real smile, not a phony one. And he didn't talk down to Cassie, just because she wasn't an adult. Cassie liked all those things.
"Good."
Janet looked over at the door, but Emmett wasn't there. She wondered where he'd gone off to.
