"So what do I call you?" Rachel asked when she and Daniel were driving to his apartment. She requested that she see the place before she moved in.
"What do you mean?" he said, glancing sideways at her while he drove.
"I've known you all of three hours, so calling you dad is weird," she admitted.
"Good point" he acknowledged. "Daniel's fine." he tried.
"Okie dokie... Danny-boy"
"But not Danny-boy" he stated firmly. She sounded way too much like Jack when she had said that.
"Whatever" she said hiding a smirk.
"Are you sure you're okay with this whole thing?" he wondered. He saw Rachel shrug from the corner of his eye.
"Yeah" she said quietly. He didn't believe her at all.
"I mean it's okay if you're not, cause you will be starting a new school, living somewhere new with someone you don't know, leaving your friends... and your mom"
"What's your point?" she sighed.
"If you ever want to talk-"
"I won't," she confirmed. He inwardly frowned. He had no idea how to take care of a teenager. The only time he spent with a teen was when SG1 got together to spend time with Cassie, but that was only a few hours at a time in a group, not 24/7 alone. He would definitely have to ask Janet for advice, or even Jack. Daniel thought of how his team would react to this change. One day their archaeologist was widowed and living alone, the next day he was married twice, widowed, divorced and a father to a sixteen year old girl. Things were definitely going to be different.
"Here we are," he said as he pulled up in front of his apartment building. Rachel nodded and got out of the car to stand on the sidewalk.
"Okay, let's go up" Daniel said pointing up as he locked the doors and they walked to the large double glass doors at the entrance.
"Evening Doctor Jackson" the doorman said kindly. Rachel raised her eyebrows. Daniel hadn't mentioned being a doctor. "Who's this lovely young lady?" the round man asked making conversation.
"Uh…" Daniel began not used to having to introduce anyone as his child.
"Rachel" she supplied, "his unruly offspring" she said with a wry smile.
"Gee Doctor Jackson, I didn't know you had kids" the man said obviously shocked.
"Now you do," Rachel muttered as the man opened the door for them.
"Be nice" Daniel told her as they moved out of earshot of the doorman.
"I was being nice"
"Be nicer then" he exhaled rolling his eyes skyward as they got on the elevator.
"So Doc, how far is it from here to the nearest school?" Rachel asked.
"About a fifteen minute walk, why?"
"Just wondering,"
"What time do you get home from work?"
"It varies, and I'm going to have to work some things out with my... uh boss so that I'm here more often" he answered honestly. He hadn't thought about work yet, he was just so happy about getting his daughter back that everything else slipped his mind. But General Hammond and Jack and everybody would understand that he would need to be at home more often now and so it wouldn't be too much of a problem. He just wouldn't go off world as often with SG1 and could do more lab work instead to allow a normal workday. It wasn't like there weren't other people in his department at the base that couldn't go off world. It would be a good experience for any number of them who primarily just studied things that were brought back from missions.
"I see." she said as she followed him off the elevator when it reached his floor and down the hall to his door.
"This is it," he said opening the door and stepping in holding the door open as she slowly walked in looking around with curious eyes.
"Lots of old stuff," she observed as her eyes scanned the walls, shelves and tables.
"Well I am an archaeologist" he reminded her. She nodded her head and walked over to a wall where there were swords displayed.
"Cool" he heard her murmur. Smiling to himself he hung up his coat and watched her.
"Want anything to eat or drink?" he asked knowing she hadn't had any dinner yet since she ran out of her house earlier.
She had returned an hour later and asked to see his apartment and they had left right away. Daniel suspected that she just wanted to get away from her mom for a while and so he agreed to take her, promising to bring her home later that night. Rachel just shrugged and continued to walk around looking at his artifacts closely, but never touching them. He would have to fix that in time. He would want her to pick things up and examine them closely and ask about them, it was the only way you could learn anything valuable.
When he was a child his foster parents would always tell him not to touch anything and they discouraged him asking questions about anything, so he had resorted to books for answers. But books gave only so much information, and that's where personal experience came in.
"I could order a pizza if you want" he offered and was pleased when she turned to face him and said simply,
"Sure"
"Okay what do you like on it?" he asked.
"Anything but anchovies and peppers" she said abnormally shyly, not sounding sure she should be making requests. Daniel chalked it up to being in foster care. Some families hated it when their foster kids said or did anything that would change the normal routines, and Daniel knew that all to well.
"Pepperoni, mushroom and bacon sound okay?" receiving a nod from Rachel, who had turned back to a collection or tribal masks he had, he picked up the phone and ordered two pizzas.
For the next twenty minutes while they were waiting for dinner to arrive, Daniel watched Rachel as she continued to look at his artifacts. There was a knock at the door and both turned to face it. Daniel walked to the door pulling his wallet from his back pocket and was surprised when he opened it to see Jack standing there holding his pizzas.
"Hey Danny-boy, watcha up to?"
"Jack" Daniel said slowly. "Why do you have my dinner?" he asked
"I intercepted the delivery guy and told him I'd bring it to ya"
"…Oh"
"So can I come in or what?" Jack asked pushing past his friend into the apartment, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw a teenage girl standing in the middle of the living room.
"Hi?" Jack said confusedly. Daniel chuckled. For once Jack was without sarcastic comment.
"Who's this Daniel?"
"Rachel" he answered. Jack turned his head to look at the younger man.
"As in 'daughter you haven't seen in thirteen years' Rachel?" he asked.
"That'd be me," she said, not liking being talked about like she wasn't there.
"Jack, Rachel." Daniel introduced.
"Rachel, this is my friend Jack," he said wondering why she was eyeing them both carefully.
"You're not gay are you?" she asked bluntly getting the wrong idea of Jacks presence. Daniel choked out a no, his face turning pink.
"Ew" Jack said, understanding what she was implying.
"Here kid take your pizza," he walked over and handed it to her.
"So who are you?" she asked him sitting on the couch. Jack sat down in an armchair beside the couch.
"Jack O'Neill"
"Yeh I got that part, do you work with him or something?" she asked motioning to the kitchen where Daniel was getting plates for the pizza.
"Yep"
"What do you do?"
"I'm a Colonel"
"And what does a Colonel do?" she rolled her eyes.
"What ever a Colonel wants to," he answered rolling his eyes back at her.
"Well, nice to meetcha Colonel Jack" she said giving up. She may just have met her match. Jack smiled at the nickname as he grabbed a piece of pizza.
Dinner went on with out any mishaps. Daniel and Jack chatted amiably as Rachel sat quietly listening. She was watching Daniel wondering how her life would have been different if she had always known him. He seemed like a nice enough guy. He dressed well and came off as very intelligent. But looks could be deceiving, as she had found out many times in her life.
Yawning Rachel ran a hand through her hair and put her napkin on her plate. Daniel noticed this and finished off his pizza saying,
"I could take you back now if you're tired" Rachel shook her head telling him she wasn't that tired, but he assumed she just didn't want to go back to her moms house.
Jack and Daniel continued talking about random things, not noticing Rachel fall asleep on the other end of the couch that she and Daniel were seated on. Jack looked at his watch and stood up.
"I should be going... are you going to come into work tomorrow or should I tell Hammond you're taking some personal leave for a bit?" he asked his friend.
"No, that's alright Jack I'll be in tomorrow, but later in the week I'll take a couple days off to get Rachel all moved in here"
"Okie dokie" was the shrugged reply.
"See ya" he said and walked to the door letting himself out of the apartment. Daniel looked down at the sleeping form of his daughter. He watched her for a few moments just staring at her features. She looked so much like her mother. He smiled at the thought of her living with him. He would actually be able to get to know her, and maybe help her get through some of her issues. He knew all too well what living in foster care was like. In more than one home he had been beaten, neglected or verbally abused and he just hoped that she hadn't had to endure any serious abuse.
As if replying to what he was wondering Rachel began waving her arms slightly and her legs made small kicks in her sleep. She was saying something but it was incoherent to Daniel until she started pleading, "no, no, stop" as she swung her arms at an invisible assailant. Tears coursed down her face, as she remained trapped in the nightmare.
Daniel shut his eyes sadly momentarily. He had prayed she hadn't been hurt in any way, but from what he was witnessing his prayers went unanswered. He knelt down on the floor beside where she was lying and tried to get a grip on her arms as she flailed her hands at him hitting aimlessly trying to get away.
"Please" she continued to plead; "stop" she choked out in between her sobs. Daniels heart broke. He swallowed hard pushing back his own tears at what he was hearing.
"Hey, hey, Rachel, it's okay" he said softly over and over again as she slowly relaxed. With out warning she bolted up into a sitting position knocking Daniel backwards into the table. She pulled out of his grasp and pushed herself in the couch as far as she could. Fear was all he saw in her eyes.
"Are you alright?" he asked moving to sit on the coffee table behind him.
"Fine" she answered a little too quickly.
"That was a pretty bad nightmare," he said immediately regretting commenting in it. She winced and looked at her lap, "sorry" she said in no more than a whisper.
"Hey, there's no need to be sorry, everyone has nightmares, even me" he said sympathetically. She pulled her legs to her chest and a few tears rolled down her cheeks. Daniel reached out a hand to comfort her but she pushed it away and stood up, brushing past him.
"I should be getting back," she stated, her voice cracking as she struggled to keep her emotions under control. Rachel kept walking towards the door and got her jacket, putting it on.
"Uh, okay" he replied, confused by her instantaneous change in composure. He saw her breath deeply and wipe her eyes as she waited at the door for him. The walls went back up. She didn't say another word to him as he drove back to Liz's house.
"See ya" was all she mumbled as she got out of the car at her house and left Daniel wanting to seriously harm who ever would make her so closed off to the world and scared to let anyone in.
Okie dokie, there's another chapter done! I don't know if anyone's actually reading this… but oh well it's been sitting in my computer for over a year now and has decided it wants out.
Please review. I would love to hear what people think, even if it's bad.
Next chapter up soon!