A/N: This story has been posted to as a work in progress. This is the last chapter. Having finished it, I've realized there are some things that need to be added to earlier chapters to make it flow right, and of course the whole thing needs to be polished. I'll be revising the whole thing and putting a finished draft up at Gateworld and Heliopolis ASAP; unfortunately, I've been having computer problems, so I can't guarantee how long that will take. When it's finished, I may replace this rough version with the polished one, depending on how ambitious I get. Before you ask, yes, there is a sequel planned.

Jacob woke the next morning to the unsettling (but familiar) feeling of movement. His own. If Selmak was awake while he slept, the symbiote simply blocked his host's senses, so that no sounds or movement would wake him. However, waking up to complete lack of sensation like that had given him a minor panic attack a couple of times—it was a fairly common reaction among the Tok'ra hosts. So Selmak kept aware of him as he slept, and gradually withdrew his blanketing of Jacob's senses as he awoke. It was much better than complete nothingness, of course, but waking to find yourself holding a conversation with someone was an experience only a Tok'ra could truly understand.

##Good morning, sleepyhead,## Selmak said. He was playing catch with Brian, Mary, and Sam. The ball hit his glove with a familiar thwack. Selmak caught it perfectly and sent it flying to the next person with a true aim, though he had never before been in control for a game of catch; in some weird complexity of the host-symbiote bond, physical skills actually transmitted between host and symbiote more easily than thoughts or knowledge. ##Mark and I had an interesting conversation last night. You should review it. I can handle this.##

Right, Jacob replied. He turned his attention from the game and called up last night's logs. Selmak gave a mental snort at the Tau'ri military terminology Jacob insisted on using, but said nothing.

"Good morning, Lee'al," Mark said. Lee'al pulled the bathrobe Alyson had lent her tighter around her and turned to face him. He stood in the doorway between the kitchen and living room in his pajamas, unshaven, bathrobe hanging open. He hid a yawn behind one hand. "Or am I speaking with Nelaris?"

"No, it's me," Lee'al said. "Good morning. How did you sleep?"

"Good," Mark said, going back into the kitchen to pour himself a mug of coffee from the pot Sam had started. "Want some?" he called.

"No, thank you," Lee'al replied. She returned to her previous position, curled up sideways in the "recliner" that sat perpendicular to the "sofa." Turned sideways as she was, she could watch her mate play with the children. They had not spoken much, this morning, besides a few pleasantries; she was still on edge from their conversation last night, and her mate had more than enough to deal with in his family. There would be time to sort out the consequences of her actions later, after they'd gone home.

"I had an interesting talk with Selmak, last night."

"Yes, I heard."

"Really?" Mark said as he padded back out into the living room and took a seat on the couch. He watched the game through the sliding glass door to the back yard. "It's good to see Dad playing with the kids. How long have they been up?"

"Oh, that's Selmak," Lee'al said. "Jacob isn't awake yet."

Mark sent her a sideways glance. "Ah."

Nelaris took over. "So, now that you've had a night to think things over, how are you taking the news that your father is, to quote Brian, 'a real-life bug-eyed alien spy, just like on Star Trek, with a phaser and everything'?" It had taken them some time to convince the boy that no matter how 'cool' or 'sweet' it was, he could not tell his friends (or anyone else) about his grandfather's new life.

Mark smiled, taking a swig of his coffee. "Well, he's certainly not bug-eyed. As to the rest, well, ask me in a few years. It might take me that long to get used to it. Still, if he can't be around much, I suppose I can forgive him for being busy if he's in the process of trying to save the galaxy. I don't know if I like it better than when I thought he was just off ignoring us—at least then I didn't have to worry he'd get himself killed or tortured, or worse." He broke off as the patio door slid open.

"Good morning," Jacob said with a yawn. The game behind him continued.

"I'll get your coffee," Mark said, rising.

"No thanks," Jacob said with a half smile. "Being blended requires compromises. One of mine was giving up coffee. Selmak ... doesn't like it."

"You gave up coffee?" Mark said, eyes wide. "You gave up coffee?"

"Yeah." Jacob nodded. "Before you ask, I think I got the best of the deal. In exchange, Selmak gave up this noxious stuff called shagerim. It's a delicacy from the home planet of one of his earlier hosts, which is quite popular among the Tok'ra."

"I like it," Lee'al said mildly. One of the things she found amusing about Jacob was that while he was willing to try just about any alcohol he was presented with, and had gotten used to dealing with a wide variety of cultures on their own terms, he was a positively finicky eater. The contrast was sometimes very funny.

"Yeah. And you also like haggis." Jacob turned back to Mark. "I don't know what shagerim is made of, and you don't wanna know what it tastes like. But it's available on a semi-regular basis, while coffee is only available when I visit Earth or the Alpha Site, which isn't often. So I come out ahead on the deal, I think. Besides, I got coffee whenever I visited you, because we didn't want to have to explain why I don't drink it all of a sudden."

Mark snickered. "Yeah, considering that you used to practically live on the stuff, that would have been a bit hard to explain."

"A bit." Jacob paused, studying his son. Lee'al tensed. The two hadn't really had a chance to talk yet; this was the conversation that would show whether or not her plan had worked.

"Mark, you want to play a game of pool?" It took Lee'al a few seconds to realize that Jacob was referring to the game that involved the large, heavy table in the family room. She had never seen it in use, yet.

"Of course, Dad."

As the two left the room, Lee'al rose to follow. Jacob turned back to her and tossed her the "baseball glove" he'd been wearing. "I'm sure Sam and the kids would love to show you how to play catch." It was not a subtle hint.

##He's right, you know,## Nelaris pointed out. ##This is between father and son. You'd only be in the way and prevent them from speaking their minds. Better to leave them in peace. We don't need to know exactly what they say to each other, and whichever way this goes we've done all we can to smooth things out. It's up to the two of them, now.## "Have fun," she called to the two of them, before turning to join the others out in the back yard.

Lee'al sighed in disappointment, but said nothing as her symbiote fitted the glove on her hand.

"So, you wanted to talk privately," Mark said as he folded up the pool table's cover.

Jacob grabbed the rack and started pulling balls out of the pockets. "Yeah. Mostly, I wanted to apologize for not being the one to tell you myself, and see how you're taking it—it's a pretty big deal." He glanced sideways at his son, before bringing his eyes back to his task.

Mark, too, was playing it cool, chalking up the cue slowly and deliberately. "I think I'm still in shock," he replied carefully not looking at his father. "But I'm handling it. It would have been nice if you'd been the one to tell me, and frankly I'm a bit hurt that you didn't think you could trust me, but I can live with the way things turned out. At least I know, now. You want to break?"

"No, go ahead." Jacob selected his own cue with care. The game was one of the few activities they all loved, and he'd spent hours with both his children when they were young, teaching them how to play. After Mary, his wife, had died, pool was one of the few things that they'd been able to do as a family. Mark's anger, Sam's bookishness, Jacob's workaholicism, all had been put on hold during games, if only for a short while. It hadn't been enough to hold them together, but at least it had been something. Sam had long been able to play the pants off of both Jacob and Mark, but the two men were evenly matched. It was neutral territory, the one place they could meet as equals. Eventually, of course, even pool hadn't been able to bring them together. It was one sign of the depth of the chasm between them, that they hadn't even been able to play pool. Doing so again was almost like coming home, after an absence of decades. "Lee'al shouldn't have told you without asking me first. She might have been able to convince me she was right. I'd have insisted on getting permission from the president first, but I'd have been able to tell you myself. I'd have liked that."

"So why didn't she ask you?" Mark asked as he lined up carefully for the break.

"She blamed herself for our fighting, and she was convinced that telling you was the only thing that would stop it. Nelaris couldn't persuade her otherwise, and went along with it because her first loyalty is to her host, not her mate."

Mark knocked one ball into a pocket. Solid. He missed on the next shot, and stepped back to give Jacob room. "I see."

"It's a big relief to be able to tell you, though," Jacob said as he studied the angles. That was the thing about pool; you always had the game to study. You didn't have to look into your opponent's eyes. You could say things, that way, that you never could bring yourself to say otherwise. You could be vulnerable, if you had to be. "I've seen a hell of a lot of things over the last few years that I wanted to share with you guys. Now, I can."

Selmak sent a brief, cartoon-like image of the two of them dancing around the issue, carefully not looking at the other.

Jacob snorted and took the shot. Perfect. Not only did he sink the ball, but the cue ball went just where he wanted to. He smiled, and walked around the table to take his next shot.

"So, Dad," Mark said, leaning on his pool cue as Jacob lined up his next shot. He paused, choosing his moment with malice aforethought. "When do I get a kid brother?"

Jacob jerked in surprise at Mark's words just as the cue hit the cue ball. It went wild, missing the ball he'd been aiming for completely. He glowered at his son. "What?" Obviously, he needed more practice. He usually didn't fall for those kinds of stratagems.

##Of course, you're usually not this tense,## Selmak observed.

Jacob acknowledged the point, and began plotting revenge.

"Or sister," Mark added with a small, tight smile. "Though I already have one of those. I mean, you have a 'mate,' and presumably you'll be together a while. Are you planning on kids? Tying the knot officially? Picking out china patterns?"

Jacob sighed. "I'm a spy and a resistance fighter, Mark," he said. "The Tok'ra have no home planet, and we've moved our home base fourteen times in the last six years. Five of those times, it was because we were under assault from bombers and ground troops; twice, we were bombarded from orbit. The death toll is extremely high. It's not the kind of a world you can raise kids, y'know?"

Mark stared at him, jaw clenching and unclenching. Abruptly, he turned and bent over the table. "I wasn't aware things were that bad, for the Tok'ra." He took a shot. Perfect—one bank, and into the side pocket. He studied the table.

"We don't like to advertise it," Jacob said.

##If you want to startle him the way he startled you, find some way of turning the conversation to Nelaris' last host,## Selmak suggested.

Thanks. "I know you're bothered by Lee'al's youth, Mark, and I think I should come out and just address it."

Mark glanced up, before going back to studying the table. "You don't have to justify yourself to me, Dad."

"Maybe not, but I want to explain. It sometimes bothers me, too, but Selmak and Nelaris love each other so very much. Nice shooting, by the way," he said as Mark sank a second ball in a row. Obviously, having a pool table in his own house to practice with was doing wonders for Mark's game. Jacob had looked askance at the expense of owning a pool table the first time he saw it, but it evidently paid off.

"Thanks."

"My emotions and Selmak's get so tangled up, and both Nelaris and Lee'al are wonderful people. It didn't take much to get us together again. I always felt bad about coming between Selmak and Nelaris before Lee'al became her host. The two symbiotes had been mates for centuries, before I was blended."

"Why'd you come between them?" Mark slid the cue through his fingers, preparing his shot.

"Well, by all accounts Jerim, Nelaris' last host, was a wonderful person." Jacob paused, gauging the moment. "But he just wasn't my type." Success! Mark started so much he missed the cue ball entirely and hit the six ball with his cue. Jacob and Selmak exchanged the mental equivalent of a high-five.

"He?" Mark turned and stared at him incredulously.

"Did I forget to mention that symbiotes are asexual, and completely genderless? I'm Selmak's first male host in several centuries. And Lee'al is Nelaris' first female host in almost as long."

Mark started snickering. "Oh, to have been a fly on the wall when you met Jerim!"

Jacob shrugged, forcing down his embarrassment with Selmak's help. If this was what it took to get Mark to be easy around him, this was what he'd do. Besides, it paid Mark back for his dirty trick earlier. "Y'know, that's just about how Sam reacted. Can't think why." He gave a half-smile and a shrug, and picked up his cue.

"Actually, we only met once or twice. My response to the idea of having a male lover was, well, you know me, I'm sure you can imagine it. And Jerim came from a culture with similar mores, so we pretty much ignored each other. And then he died, and Nelaris and Lee'al blended, and the rest is history." His shot missed. It was easy enough he should have made it. "And obviously, I need more practice. You up for another game after this one?"

"Sure." Mark sank his only remaining ball and the eight ball in quick succession. "Nelaris and I talked about a lot of things, yesterday, while waiting for you guys to come back. Including the fact that you went out shopping the other day while Alyson and I were at work and the kids were at school." He began taking balls out of the pockets and rolling them down to the other end of the table, while Jacob began racking them up.

"We did," Jacob said, eyeing Mark suspiciously.

"She said that some of the more ... unique clothing and costume shops had some great stuff that you could use as costumes for infiltrating the Goa'uld. I suppose, if you're abandoning several bases a year, you can't exactly take extensive wardrobes with you, and it sounds like you need them."

"Yeah," Jacob said, suspicious. "What's your point?"

"Could we get a fashion show today?" Mark cocked his head and folded his arms, defensively, as if expecting his father to blow up at the suggestion. "I'm sure the kids would love it."

That reaction stopped Jacob from going with his first impulse, which was an emphatic and immediate no. Most of the clothes he had for missions were, well, not something he would be caught dead in under normal circumstances. He much preferred the Tok'ra fashion sense.

##I think it'd be fun. And besides, it'd make Mark happy,## Selmak said.

Jacob leaned on his cue and pondered the question. Yeah, he'd be embarrassed. But it would only be for a little while, and Brian and Mary would like it. So would Mark and Alyson and Sam. And Selmak complained regularly that the problem with having a male host was that he didn't like either shopping or dressing up. "Sure," he said, and picked up his cue to break.

The fashion show was embarrassing, to say the least. Some of it wasn't the kind of stuff he'd want his kids to see him in, though they liked it. But he survived, and treasured the laughter and the togetherness. And later that evening, as he was trying to explain the stand-up comic on television to Lee'al, with his whole family gathered around him, Jacob felt the kind of peace and contentedness he hadn't had in years. The family home he'd had with Mary was long gone, shattered by the years of family fights and silence that had followed her death. But they were trying to create a new one, he and Mark and Sam and Lee'al and Alyson and the grandkids. And if there were speed bumps and things along the way—and there were; he and Mark had had several minor clashes that day—they'd still get there eventually.