Surprised by the man's reaction, Jack frowned, even as the man flushed and took his hand shaking it jovially.
"Sorry about that. I'm Arthur Weasley. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"You've heard of him?" Harry asked, just as surprised as Jack was.
"Um… well… yes…"
Now Mr. Weasley was looking flustered, and Jack could tell he was floundering as badly as Carter had been when trying to tell Teal'c Harry Potter didn't exist. Before Weasley could say anything the woman spoke up, smiling.
"Well, Arthur's an enthusiast for Mug- I mean, American military things… he's read all sorts of articles and such. He probably saw your name in them somewhere…"
Even Arthur didn't look like he bought that story, but he nodded, anyways.
"Yes, I'm quite a fan of all things… military. Air Force, at least."
"Ah."
Jack looked like he was going to say something else, but the woman spoke up again, offering his hand with yet another warm smile – and Jack thought he saw some kind of admiration in her expression as well, even though he didn't have a clue why.
"I'm Molly."
He shook her hand, and the twins gathered around as well, anxious to be introduced to someone who their father obviously knew but wasn't so well known by them.
"Pleased to meet you, ma'am…" Jack was definitely out of his element, now, and more than ready to go find his own table to wait for his teammates. "I should let you all get back to whatever you are doing – I'm sure you have a lot of plans for the day." He was rather surprised that none of them were carrying sticks or had scars drawn on their forehead like Harry did, but maybe they were just waiting for later… who knew?
Molly smiled – almost as if she understood how uncomfortable he was, and nodded, and Jack turned to Harry with a slight, but uncomfortable smile. "See you around."
He stood up and started to beat a hasty retreat over to the other side of the room, but couldn't help but miss one of the twins ask their father how he knew him. As much as Jack might have wanted to stick around and hear the answer, he definitely didn't want to stick around. Instead, he gestured to the waitress who had brought his coffee, asking her for another cup as he went over to the other side of the restaurant, and settled down with his back to the large group.
Before his coffee arrived, Daniel had arrived in the restaurant.
"Hey."
Jack looked up at the familiar voice.
"Hi."
"Why didn't you wake me up? Or did you feel the need to sulk alone?"
O'Neill scowled.
"I'm not sulking."
"Which is why you have your back to the entire room and you're hiding in a corner?"
"I'm not hiding." Well, yeah, he sort of was. "I'm not sulking, anyways."
Daniel, ever a student of words and inflection, caught the wording immediately.
"But you are hiding?"
Jack shrugged.
"Maybe."
"From who? Whom? Sam?"
He scowled again.
"Of course not. I just don't want to talk to that group of people…"
"What group of people?"
"The ones over…"
Jack trailed off as he turned to look, and then scowled even more. None of them were there. While he'd been avoiding them, they'd all left. Annoying really, since he hadn't noticed, and he was good at noticing that kind of thing. He should have at least heard them leaving, after all. A group that large and filled with young people couldn't move so quietly.
"…never mind…"
Daniel smiled, shaking his head as he sat down.
"Maybe you should take some time off, Jack. I think you need a vacation."
"I thought this was supposed to be a vacation?"
"It's not one I ever would have chosen…"
At least they agreed on that, Jack decided. He nodded and thanked the waitress who brought him his coffee, and took a sip while she gave Daniel a warm smile – almost an inviting smile – and asked him if she could get him anything.
While Daniel ordered coffee, Jack looked once more at the empty table he had shared with Harry. Before he could start mulling over the encounter – and wondering about Arthur's reaction to his name – a movement at the entrance to the restaurant caught his attention and he saw Carter and Teal'c stop just long enough to spot him and Daniel and then head their way.
"Good morning."
Sam's greeting was a little unsure – mainly because she wasn't exactly sure what O'Neill's mood was going to – but she sat down beside Daniel with a real smile on her face. And why shouldn't she smile? The day was clear and sunny – which was probably not all that common here – and it was a whole new day with more chances to convince Teal'c that wizards didn't exist.
Reminding himself of his promise to be nice today, Jack gave her a real smile – one that even reached his eyes, Sam saw.
"Good morning. How'd you sleep?"
She smiled, realizing that the day was even better. It was very hard, after all, to deal with O'Neill when he was being antagonistic, and it was obvious to her that he wasn't feeling that way this morning.
"Like a baby. You?"
"Daniel snores."
"I do not."
"And he drools."
"No I don't."
Sam's smile widened. Jack was in a good mood if he was teasing Daniel already this morning!
"We all have our crosses to bear, sir," she told him philosophically.
"Uh huh." He took another sip of his coffee. "Speaking of crosses to bear… what are we signed up for in this convention today?"
His eyes were still warm, she saw, which meant he was truly interested – or at least making an honest effort to try to be interested – and Sam felt a wave of relief, and decided Daniel had probably lectured him the night before – or that morning. She'd have to remember to thank him later for it.
"We're going to see the Quidditch demonstration this morning," she reminded him. "But I wasn't sure what you wanted to do this afternoon… there's a list of various workshops out in the lobby I thought we could check out…"
He shrugged, and Daniel spoke up.
"Why don't you two go check the list out while Teal'c and I order breakfast?"
Jack gave him a sidelong glance that was only a little annoyed, and Daniel's answering look was innocence personified. It was also a reminder of his promise to be nicer.
"Fine. Let's go do that, Carter."
