Ch 14 - Summer's Lease

As her CO muttered something that distinctly sounded like "Ohfercryinoutloud," Cassie slammed the gate shut behind herself, leaned her bike against the fence, and hurried over to them both, obviously too preoccupied with her own thoughts to notice that Carter's face was bright red and the Colonel was unable to look either of them in the face at the moment.

"Cassie? What's wrong?" Carter asked.

"Can I spend the night here, Sam? Mom and I had a huge fight and..." she paused suddenly and looked back and forth between them, suddenly having the feeling she was interrupting something. "Oh, sorry," she said quickly. "I'll just go..."

"No!" they both said at the same time. That only made her feel even more in the way.

"Cassie," Carter said carefully, determined to change the subject. "Does your mom know you're here?"

"No," Cassie admitted.

At that, the Colonel went inside after exchanging a glance with Carter; she knew he was going to call Janet and make sure she knew Cassie was okay.

"Sit down," Carter said with a sigh, leading the little girl back to the patio. As Cassie took a seat, Carter asked, "You guys aren't still fighting about the skirt are you?"

"No... well, sort of. She got mad because she found out I wanted to wear it to Ashley's birthday party this weekend... it's a boy-girl party."

"Oh. I see. And she doesn't want you to go?"

"No. And EVERYONE else is going to be there. And Ashley's parents are going to be there the whole time..."

"In the room or just in the house?"

"I don't know. Mom just kept going on about how I didn't understand, things were different than they were on my planet, kids were more dangerous, blah blah blah..."

The Colonel came back outside with another glass of ice and a handful of cookies. He crammed one in his mouth and handed the rest to Cassie. Catching the look Carter was giving him, he misinterpreted it and said, "Is this a girly thing? Am I supposed to go?"

"No," Cassie said. "You can help me talk some sense into Mom. She's being unreasonable."

"She's just concerned about you," Carter said gently, trying to smooth things over.

"You can say that again. I just got off the phone with her. She ordered me to bring you straight back, even if I had to carry you kicking and screaming."

"Jack... please..." Cassie begged, giving him a puppy-dog look she learned from Daniel.

"I reminded her she didn't have authority to order me around except in a medical emergency," he replied with a pleased-with-himself grin.

Great, suck up to Cassie even more, Carter thought. That's just what she needs. "Sir, maybe it would be better if you and I continued our... earlier conversation later," she hinted.

"No, I want him to stay," Cassie said stubbornly. "He's on my side."

He smirked at her. Carter narrowed her eyes at him and said, "It's not about sides, Cassie... all right. Maybe both of you just need time to cool off."

"Yeah. I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"Okay. I'll go tell your mom you're spending the night here. You've still got some clothes here and you can catch the bus from here for school tomorrow."

"Thanks, Sam," Cassie said with a smile, taking a big bite out of another cookie.

Carter went inside, grabbed her cordless phone, and pressed the preprogrammed number for Janet's house. As she waited for her friend to pick up, she inspected her fridge: Cassie was tiny but she could put away a lot of food. Pizza would definitely have to be ordered, she thought as Janet answered the phone.

"Hey, Jan."

"Hi Sam. What is the Colonel doing over at your place?" she asked slyly.

"Can we focus on your daughter for the moment please? She wants to spend the night here."

"We're in the middle of something, she can't just run to you whenever I do something she doesn't like."

"I know, but I think you both need a little time apart to cool down and see each other's side. Cassie's a good kid, Janet. She's not going to do anything stupid."

"I'm not worried about her I'm worried about the other children."

"I realize that. She doesn't understand the difference. Just leave her here for the night, I'll talk to her some. You just remember that she can take care of herself when she needs to. She's a tough kid."

"That's what Colonel O'Neill said," Janet said in frustration. "All right. Tell her I'll... be home early tomorrow, when she gets home from school."

"Okay. Are you okay by yourself? Do you want me to come over? Or call Daniel or something?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Sure?"

"Positive. Thanks, Sam. And tomorrow you can explain to me exactly what your CO was doing at your house on a Sunday evening..."

"Janet!"

The CO in question came into the kitchen looking cornered. "Don't leave me alone with her anymore! She's asking too many questions!" he wailed dramatically, with the same look he got when they were pinned down by Jaffa.

"Like mother like daughter," Carter muttered. She could hear Janet laughing on the other end of the phone. "I'll see you tomorrow, Jan."

"Bye, Sam."

She hung up the phone and turned to her CO as she redialed. "I'm ordering pizza for Cassie. Do you want to stay?"

"Do you want me to stay?"

She shrugged. "You're welcome to. She obviously wants you to. Whatever you like."

"Do you want me to?" he repeated. She deliberately ignored him as she placed the order, ordering enough pizza for him as well. If he decided to leave, she could heat it up tomorrow, no big deal.

"We didn't finish..." he started when she had hung up the phone and had her attention again.

"Please, sir. One issue at a time."

"Fair enough."

"Good. I'm going to go jump in the shower before the pizza gets here, so you get to entertain Cassie."

His eyes widened. "She's going to ask me what I'm doing here again..."

"Tell her you were helping me plant flowers, I don't know. Or just tell her it's classified. That'll work."

"Oh, good idea. Okay."

When Carter came back downstairs, clean and dressed in jeans and a light sweater but with her hair still a bit damp, Cassie and the Colonel were playing chess. Smart idea, Carter thought. It would distract Cassie from interrogating him too much.

The good thing about thirteen year old girls, Carter decided as she looked over at Cassie, who was sprawled sideways in her large armchair, was that while they tended to be a bit over-dramatic, they were also a bit volatile. Intense anger could turn in a moment to the opposite. Currently, Cassie was as happy as could be. She and the Colonel were laughing hysterically at whatever garbage they had found on television. She wasn't sure what the movie was called, but it had Adam Sandler in it and seemed ridiculous to her. They were enjoying it though, that was all that mattered.

To her surprise, Cassie was in such a good mood by the time it was over that she didn't even argue when Carter told her it was time for bed, as she had to get up earlier than usual for school the next day. She hugged them both goodnight and went upstairs to the guest room she always used. Carter knew she had been there enough times that she knew where everything was, but she tried to offer to help her nonetheless, because she suddenly felt very uncomfortable with the idea of being alone with her CO right now.

With a slightly mischievous look in her eyes though, Cassie had dismissed the offer of assistance and bounded up the stairs, leaving them alone again.

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A/N: Patience is a virtue. ("Not right now it isn't," I know, all you O'Connell's out there...)