My POV

Mom and dad returned from P3R-118 and were a little weirded out. They didn't know who they were on that planet. Apparently, some idiot gave them something called a memory stamp. Mom and dad were "Jonah" and "Thera" on that planet. They didn't remember their military careers. The worst thing was they didn't remember me. Aunt Janet gave them my file and they read about me, but they didn't know me. They remembered each other. They knew they were married (because of the marriage license and their wedding rings). But, they still didn't remember me.

They were home, but they weren't my parents anymore. They were Jack and Sam again. I was slowly dying inside. I'd started having nightmares again. One night I woke up screaming for mom.

I realized what I was saying and stopped crying out. But, they'd heard me and came running into my room.

"Jessie, are you ok?" asked mom.

"I'm fine, Sam," I said, unable to control the trembling in my voice. "It was just a nightmare." I was shaking uncontrollably, gasping for breath, and huddling in my bed. They started to come closer. I held my hand up. "Please don't."

"Jessie…" began dad.

I swallowed the lump in my throat to keep from bawling like a baby. "I'm fine, Jack."

They stared at me for a long time. I could see they were trying to remember, but in the end, there was no recognition whatsoever. Finally, they went back to their room. I cried myself to sleep. For three weeks, I cried myself to sleep. It didn't seem to be getting any better. I couldn't take it anymore.


Jack's POV

I picked up the ringing phone. "O'Neill," I said.

"Mr. O'Neill. This is Headmaster Wallace at Stevenson's Academy. Would it be possible for you and your wife to come to the school for a meeting regarding your daughter?"

"What time?" We weren't due back at the base for another three hours.

"Now would be good."

"We'll be right there." I hung up the phone and turned to Sam. We'd gotten most of our memories back…except for the ones that pertained to Jessie.

"That was the school. They need us there for some kind of meeting," I told her.

"Ok. Is…is Jessie ok?" she asked softly.

"I don't know. Have you remembered anything else?" I asked her.

She shook her head and turned away from me. "No…and it's killing me, Jack. I remember everything up until two years ago. Jessie cries herself to sleep every night because we can't remember her. She's only twelve years old. It's too much for her to take."

She turned to me with tears in her eyes. "She's our daughter, Jack. Why can't we remember her? We remember each other, General Hammond, Teal'c, Daniel, and Janet…why not her?"

I took her in my arms. "My guess is it has something to do with the fact that 'technically' she hasn't been born yet." I held her for a few minutes. I kissed her softly and then let her go. "Come on. The headmaster is waiting for us."

We drove in silence to the school. I think both of us were thinking about Jessie. We knew we cared for her very much. We just couldn't remember anything about her. Her face was familiar to us, but that was it. It was slowly killing me inside that I couldn't remember my own daughter.

When we got to the school, we found Jessie sitting outside the headmaster's office, looking small, angry, and frightened.

"Jessie?" She looked up at me and then looked back down.

Sam sat down beside her. "Honey, what's wrong?" She started to put her arm around Jessie.

Jessie flinched away. "Please, don't touch me," she said softly.

I sat down on the other side of her and tried to touch her. She got up and walked across the hallway to another seat. The door opened and the secretary stepped out.

"The headmaster will see you now," she said.

Jessie looked up at me with tears in her eyes. Giving her one last look that I knew was full of longing and pain, we turned and went into the office.

"Mr. and Mrs. O'Neill. Please have a seat," he said.

We took the seats in front of him. "What's going on?" I asked.

"Jessie is a bright girl," he began. We nodded. We knew that. "However, in the last three weeks, there have been…shall we say…discipline problems concerning your daughter."

"What do you mean 'discipline problems'?" asked Sam.

"She has been skipping school, disrespectful to teachers, acting out in general. She has been in my office more in the last three weeks than almost any other student. Today, she started a fight with an upperclassman. She gave her a black eye and a bloody nose before the fight was broken up."

"What?" I asked, surprised. From what we could tell, Jessie was a good kid.

"I'm not sure what is going on, Colonel. But, I have no choice but to suspend her for five days. After that five days is up, she will be placed on a probation of sorts for a period of one month. After that time, if there are no further infractions, she will be allowed to return to the softball and track teams. However, if this continues, she will be expelled."

"Yes, sir. Thank you," I said, standing and shaking the headmaster's hand. Sam did the same and we left his office. Jessie was still sitting in the same spot.

She looked up when we walked out and quickly looked back down. But, in that split second before she turned her face from us, I saw pain and loneliness embedded in her eyes…her soul. She was hurting beyond measure because we could not remember her.

I reached over and touched her arm. She jerked away from me. "Don't touch me, Jack," she hissed, putting the emphasis on my name.

She turned away from us and began to walk out the building. I took Sam's hand and we followed her silently. "Jessie!"

She stopped walking and saw her friend Landon walking towards her. "Hey. Are you still coming over tonight to study for the mid-terms?"

"No, she is not," I said before she could answer. They both turned towards us. "She's grounded for the next two weeks. No tv, no phone, no computer."

She started to say something, but Sam cut her off. "Come on, Jessie. Say goodbye to Landon."

She ignored us. "Bye Landon," she whispered and kissed him on the cheek. He looked confused.

"Bye, Jessie."

We got in the truck and started towards home. We tried to talk to her on the way, but she ignored us.

"You had no right to do that," she said softly.

"Do what?" asked Sam, turning to face her.

"To ground me. You had no right to tell Landon I was grounded." I could hear the anger in her quiet voice. The anger and the pain.

"We had every right," I said. "We're your parents."

"No, you're not!" she yelled. "Jack and Sam were my parents. You two don't even know me!"

"Jessie…"

"Go to hell," she said and orbed out.

"Jessie!" we both screamed. Sam grabbed my cell phone and called the base. "Janet? It's Sam. Is Jessie there?" I saw Sam visibly relax. "Keep her there, ok?" She listened. "Shit! Do you know where she could've gone? Alright. Tell General Hammond."

She hung up the cell phone. "She was there, but when she realized that Janet was talking to me, she orbed out," said Sam with a sob.

"Easy, baby," I said pulling her close to me. "We'll find her. We have to find her." I slammed on the brakes at a red light. Suddenly, my head started pounding…sharp, angry pains running through my head. I could barely keep my eyes open because of the pain. I looked over at Sam and realized she, too, was having pains. That's when I realized I was getting my memories of my daughter back.

"Sam?" I said, once the pain had cleared.

She started to sob. "God, Jack! They stole our memories of her! How could we let that happen?"

"You remember?"

"Yeah…her birth, when we lost her, when we found her…everything," she said as I held her. When she'd composed herself, she said, "What're we gonna do?"

"We have to find her," I said.

(Daddy!)

(Jessie? Honey, where are you?)

I called out to her with my mind as I had hundreds of times. But, this time, there was no answer. I felt her panic and her pain…then nothing, but a red haze. We contacted the SGC and General Hammond sent out several search parties. Sam and I drove around town for hours looking for her, calling out to her. We went to her friends' houses and they hadn't seen her.

We were on our way back to the house when my cell phone rang. "O'Neill."

"O'Neill." It was Teal'c. "We have found Jessie. You need to come to the academy hospital emergency room immediately." With that, he hung up the phone.

Something in his voice caused my heart to stop. "Jack?"

"That was Teal'c. He found her. They're at the hospital," I said in a trembling voice.

"Oh God!"

We drove quickly to the hospital and left the truck running. Daniel was waiting for us outside. "Daniel, go park the truck," I said, trying to run past him.

"Jack…wait," he said.

"Daniel," I growled.

"Jack…it's bad."

"What happened?" asked Sam, grabbing my hand for support.

"As far as we can tell, it was a hit and run," he said.

"What?" I gasped out.

"She was found outside of Colorado Springs," he began when Janet ran out of the e.r. doors.

"Doc?"

"Come with me," she said softly.

We blindly followed her as Daniel went to move the truck. "How bad is it, Janet?" asked Sam.

"Both legs are broken, as are four of her ribs. One of her lungs has collapsed. Her right arm is also broken. She's lost a lot of blood and there's swelling around her brain stem."

"What's that mean, doc?" I asked.

"Colonel…Sam. There's a strong possibility that Jessie may be paralyzed from this." Janet took a deep breath. "There's a lot of internal bleeding and she's in surgery now. It's gonna be a long night guys. You might want to go on home and get some sleep."

"We're not leaving. She's our daughter, Janet. We can't leave her," said Sam starting to cry.

"You remember everything now?" asked Janet, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Yes," I said, softly, trying to fight the overwhelming pain building inside.

"Look. I'm gonna get you a room here. You need to get some sleep."

"Janet, there is no way we're gonna sleep with our daughter possibly dying," said Sam vehemently.

She nodded. "I'm gonna get back in the o.r. and see if there's anything I can do. I'm so sorry guys."

As soon as she left, I let my tears fall. I held Sam in my arms and we both cried for a very long time. I knew Daniel and Teal'c had entered the room, but at that moment, we didn't care. We fell into a grief induced sleep. Hours later, Janet woke us up.

"Sam…Jack."

We sat up. "How…how is she?"

"She's alive," said Janet. "But, she's very critical guys. Her injuries were extensive and she lost a lot of blood. But, that was replenished thanks to you two. We had to remove her appendix and pancreas because of the damage."

We just looked at her. "When she was found, you gave blood. You give blood once a month remember?"

"Oh, yeah," I said.

"Can we see her?" asked Sam.

"For a minute. She's in ICU, so they probably won't let you stay with her."

We nodded. We'd burn that bridge when we came to it. The four of us followed Janet into the hallway and into the ICU. Sam started crying again when we saw our daughter's broken body lying in that room. Tubes of all sizes were the only things that were keeping her alive – heart monitor, breathing machine – you name it, she was hooked to it.

Sam collapsed in my arms. "Janet…please. We have to get in there," I said choking back a sob of my own.

She nodded. "I'll see what I can do." She turned away, took Daniel by the hand and walked away.

"Jack…" began Sam. "We can't lose her!"

"I know, baby," I said. "We won't." I buried my head in her neck and held on to her for dear life.

A few minutes later, Janet and Daniel returned. "They agreed that you would be able to stay here. As soon as she's stabilized, I'm having her moved to the base infirmary."

"Thank you," whispered Sam.

We turned and went into the room. Jessie was lying there so still, the only sound in the room was the quiet hum of the breathing machine and beeping of the heart monitor. We finally remembered our daughter and now there was a chance we'd lose her forever.


Sam's POV

A week later, Jessie had stabilized enough to be moved to the infirmary. She hadn't come out of the coma, but she was stabilized. I didn't know what I was going to do if she never woke up. We called the school and officially withdrew her. There was no way she would be able to finish the year out. She had a lot of friends that sent cards, gifts, and called to see if there was any change. I've never been this scared. My daughter was dying because of us. Because we didn't remember her, she ran away. Because she ran away, someone ran her over. There were no suspects as to who had hit her. No one had come forward with any information.

Now, two months later, it was down to me and Jack. He was taking it harder than I. He blamed himself. He said if he would've just let the slavery on P3R-118, go unchallenged, then we wouldn't have been captured and memory stamped. We never would've forgotten Jessie and she would be fine. Nothing could change his mind about it.

We continued to go on missions only because of the order from the President. He knew Jessie was in a coma. We tried to be home every night, just so we could be close to her. But, sometimes, we couldn't. We ended up in Siberia, chasing down our missing stargate. Then there was the whole time-loop thing. We met our clones. I got invaded by an alien entity. Normal everyday SG-1 stuff.

We moved on the base the entire time she was in the infirmary. Neither one of us could stand being away from Jessie for any length of time. The pain was almost physical it was so intense. I didn't know how much longer I could handle not being able to look into those baby blue eyes. After a month of missions, General Hammond gave us some time off.

I'd left Jack asleep to go take a shower…a long hot shower. When I returned to the bedroom, Jack was sitting up, waiting for me. Something was wrong.

"Jack?"

He looked up and I saw utter desolation on his face and tears in his eyes. He was holding a picture of Jessie, his tears falling on the picture.

"Jack?" I swallowed hard. Something was wrong. "Jack, what is it?" I asked kneeling in front of him.

He took a shaky breath. "Kinsey. He wants to take her off life support," he said sobbing.

I wrapped my arms around him. "No," I said angrily.

"He…he…he said it's costing too much to keep her alive."

He put his arms around me and we held on to each other. He pulled me onto his lap and held me as we both cried.

Colonel O'Neill and Major O'Neill to the infirmary. I repeat. Colonel O'Neill and Major O'Neill to the infirmary

We took off at a run, both of us thinking the worse. When we arrive, we saw Teal'c holding a very irate Senator Robert Kinsey in a death grip.

"Let me go, Mr. Teal'c!"

"I do not think so," said Teal'c, his voice dripping with venom. "You tried to terminate the life support of Jessie O'Neill. That will not be allowed."

"I'll fuckin' kill you!" yelled Jack, going after Kinsey.

I rushed over to Jessie's bed to make sure he hadn't unplugged anything. He hadn't…but something was different. I then realized that the heart monitor was speeding up. Jessie was waking up.

Looking over at my husband, I saw he was being restrained by both General Hammond and Daniel. He was struggling violently, trying to get to the man who'd decided to terminate our daughter's life.

I walked over to them, leaving Janet to monitor Jessie's life signs. "Jack, stop it!" I ordered softly. For a while, it looked like he wasn't going to listen to me. Finally, a moan from Jessie's bed broke through his angry haze.

"Sam?" He quit struggling and looked helplessly at me.

"It's over, Jack. She's waking up," I said. "He can't hurt her now."

"She's waking up?"

I turned to Janet. "She's waking up, right?"

Janet nodded. "Her vitals are becoming stronger and she's breathing on her own."

I turned back to Jack. "Jack?"

They let him go and he stumbled towards me. I took his hand and, shakily, we made our way over to Jessie's bed. "She's been coming out of it for about three hours," said Janet.

"Teal'c, get him out of here," said General Hammond.

Neither one of us noticed them leaving. But, we heard Kinsey's denial and objections to being handling so roughly. Served the bastard right for trying to kill my daughter.

We sat there for a few more hours, waiting…watching. She moaned again and we tightened our grips on her hands. I felt her return the grip weakly, but she did return the squeeze.

"Come on, Jessie. Open those baby blue eyes for daddy," said Jack, choking back a sob.

A few minutes later, she did open her eyes. "Jessie?"

She blinked several times to clear her vision. "Daddy?"

"I'm here, baby," he said.

"Mama?"

"I'm here too, honey," I said, tears falling down my face.

"What happened?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" asked Jack.

She closed her eyes and I could tell she was thinking. When she opened them, she jerked her hands away from ours. "Leave me alone, Jack," she said, her voice thick with tears.

"Jessie…" I began.

"Sam, please. Just leave me alone." She didn't believe that we remembered. I could see it in her eyes. She was so afraid and there didn't seem to be anything that we could do to ease her young mind.

"Sunshine…" began Jack.

"I said…" she stopped and her eyes went to Jack's face. "What?"

"What 'what'?" he said.

"What did you call me?" I saw a glimmer of hope enter her wide blue eyes.

"Sunshine," he said with a teary smile.

"You…you…" she broke off and took a deep breath. "You remember?"

I nodded. She started fighting us and shook her head weakly. "No! Aunt Janet told you that! You still don't remember me!" She started to cry weakly. "Oh God!" she cried out in pain as a sob wracked her body. Jack got behind her and wrapped his arms around her, holding her steady as she cried.

"We remember everything, honey," I said. "Your favorite subject is physics. We know your favorite sport is soccer. You're the pitcher on the school's softball team. You run eight to ten miles a day. You're the anchor leg of the relay team. Your two favorite movies are The Lost Boys and Newsies. You still sleep with the Air Force bear Jack and I bought you when we first found you. Your favorite food is pizza with only sausage and mushrooms."

"Everybody knows that!" she said, still trying to get away from him.

"Your biggest fear is being left alone," said Jack quietly. I looked at him and realized he was right. That was definitely her biggest fear. She'd been alone for so long and then suddenly, she wasn't alone anymore. She was so afraid that she would be alone again and that she would never find anyone to love her.

She stiffened in his arms and began to sob harder. It was almost as if her entire world was crashing down around her. And in a way it had. We'd been memory stamped and we'd forgotten her. But, now, we remembered her and we weren't going anywhere.

"Shh, baby. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere," whispered Jack tearfully. He pulled me closer to them, being careful of her still-broken body. I wrapped my arms around her and she held on to us, crying until she couldn't cry anymore. She collapsed weakly against Jack.

Janet came running in. "What happened?"

"She's awake," I said with a smile. "She's finally awake." And we're going to heal each other I added silently.


My POV

We were back. They remembered me and everything was going to be fine…we hoped. I still had a long way to go before I was fully recovered. After being in a coma for almost three months, I was weak…no muscle tone, couldn't walk without help. Hell, I could barely sit up without help. Two weeks after I woke up, I was strong enough to go home though.

It was early in the morning when I was finally released from my holding cell in the infirmary. The infirmary looked like a nursery…flowers, teddy bears, and cards everywhere.

"Jessie…wake up, Sunshine," whispered dad.

"Is it time to go home?" I asked, opening my eyes.

"Yeah, baby. It's time to go home," said mom.

I sat up weakly when Aunt Janet, Uncle Daniel, and Teal'c came in. "Can I go home now?" I asked softly.

"I'm only releasing you with certain conditions," she said after giving me a kiss on the cheek.

"What kind of conditions, Janet?" asked mom, taking my hand in hers.

"She is to be here at 0800 every morning for physical therapy. No junk food. You need to eat healthy for a while. You will not…and I repeat…not stretch yourself beyond what I believe is a tolerable pain. You will take your medications everyday. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," I said with a small smile.

"Alright. Sam, here're her prescriptions," she said handing mom a couple pieces of paper. "I want you to drink plenty of water, milk, and juice…no soda."

"She doesn't drink much soda anyway," said dad, pushing my hair out of my eyes. I grinned sleepily at him. He leaned over and kissed me on the forehead. "You still sleepy, Sunshine?"

"Hmm mmm," I said softly, giving them another doped up, sleepy smile.

"Let's get you home," said mom, once again brushing my hair out of my eyes.

Dad picked me up and carried me out of the mountain. I was asleep before we even got out of the infirmary. When I woke up it was around 1:00. Whatever Aunt Janet had given me, had completely knocked me out.

(Mama?)

(I'm here.)

(I…uh…uh)

(Need to go to the bathroom?)

(Uh huh.)

(Be right there.) I could actually hear the joy in her thoughts. I'd finally asked for help, even it was only for something simple like having to go to the bathroom…even if I hadn't actually said it.

A minute later, she came in my room with a smile. I smiled sheepishly. "I'm trying," I said softly.

"I know you are, baby. And that's all that matters," she said, easily lifting me from the bed and carrying me to my bathroom. She left me alone to do what I had to do. I got my shorts pulled up.

(Mom?)

(You done?)

(Uh…yeah)

She came in and caught me blushing. It was so freaking embarrassing to have to be helped to the bathroom. But, I think she understood. She helped me wash my hands and get dressed. As weak as I was, I didn't know how I was going to make it through physical therapy with Aunt Janet.

Mom helped me get downstairs. They wanted me to stay in the guest bedroom on the first floor until I was able to completely walk by myself. I just wanted to be in my own bed, in my own room. I think they understood. After not having my parents for a while, I wanted to be somewhere I knew…somewhere I was safe.

Dad was waiting for us downstairs. "Dad?"

He looked up. "Hey, Sunshine." He jumped up and took me from mom. "How are you feeling?"

"Ok, I guess," I said softly.

He kissed my forehead and sat me down on the couch. "You hungry?"

"A little."

"Chicken noodle soup?"

"Salad?" I asked hopefully. I wanted something crunchy.

"You think your stomach can handle it?" asked mom worriedly.

"I don't know. But, I'm tired of living off of soup. I want something crunchy," I said with a tired giggle.

That caused them both to smile. "Salad it is," said dad. He looked at mom. "Umm…honey, you're better at making things like that than me."

She laughed. "Alright," she said, kissing him and then me on the forehead. "Be right back.

Dad sat down. "How're your legs?"

"Sore," I said with a grimace. Cramps had woken me up twice, but I kept biting my pillow to keep from screaming.

"Well, after being in casts and braces for three months, they're a little…"

"Shriveled?" I asked with a grin.

He chuckled. "Just until the physical therapy starts."

"Then they'll be shriveled and painful."

"Hush, you," he said and started tickling me.

"Dad!"

He continued to tickle me until mom came back with my lunch/breakfast. He stopped when I couldn't catch my breath.

"Jack, let her breathe," said mom.

"Yes, dear."

I'd really missed this. The joking, the familiarity between the three of us. Mom handed the salad and a glass of water with lemon. I didn't realize until I started eating that I had tears in my eyes and mom said something.

"Honey, you ok?"

"Hmm?" I said, not looking up.

"Why're you crying?" she asked softly.

"Just thinking," I said, taking a bite of my salad.

"Bout what?" asked dad.

"How much I missed this," I said softly.

"I know what you mean," said mom, putting her arm around my shoulders.

I laid my head on her shoulder. "It's just that when you came back from that planet, I never thought I'd get my parents back. I thought you'd never remember me," I said crying softly.

"I know, baby. We thought the same thing. No matter how hard we tried, the memories wouldn't come."

Dad sat down on the couch beside me. "What really hurt was we could hear you crying every night and no matter how much we wanted to go to you…to comfort you…it seemed you didn't want us too."

Mom took the salad and sat it on the coffee table. She pulled me into her arms and held me as I cried. "I…I wanted you too. But, I wanted my mom and dad. I wanted someone who knew who I was."

"I know, Sunshine. I know," said dad, wrapping his arms around both of us. A few minutes later, my stomach rumbled, reminding me that I had to finish my lunch.

"You ok, honey?" asked mom.

"I am now," I said.

"Good," she said, kissing my temple. "Now," she reached for the salad. "Eat."

"Yes, ma'am," I said, digging in.

When it was gone, dad got me a small, infinitesimal piece of chocolate cake. "Dad! That's not even a mouthful," I complained.

"That's all you're getting for now," said mom. "Once your stomach gets used to solid food again, then we'll get you a cake of your own."

"I'm gonna hold you to that," I said, eating my bite of cake. They both laughed.

"Wanna watch tv?" asked dad.

"Nah."

"Whatcha wanna do?"

"Just sit here," I said, snuggling in mom's embrace.

"We can do that," said dad, kissing the top of my head.

After a few minutes of silence, a knock on the door broke through our thoughts.

"For cryin' out loud," mumbled dad. "I'll get it."

He stood and walked to the door. "By the way, Landon called a couple of hours ago. He wants to see you."

"In a couple of days, maybe," I said softly. She was slowly putting me back to sleep by running her fingers through my hair.

We heard dad arguing with someone. "Look. She just got out of the hospital today. She's not up to answering any of your questions!"

"Stay here, honey," said mom, getting up and walking towards dad.

I listened to the argument for a few seconds before I couldn't take it anymore. I could hear someone yelling at mom and dad and couldn't take it. I stood and fell back to the couch. "Damn it!"

Holding on to the couch, I stood and grabbed the wall for support. Slowly and painfully, I made my way to the door. Once I could see them, I let go of the wall.

"Mama," I said, breathing heavily. Hell, I hadn't been out of a bed in four months.

She and dad whipped around. "Jessie! I thought I told you to stay put," she said, rushing towards me as my legs gave out. She picked me up and carried me back into the living room.

Dad sat down and she sat me on his lap. "Honey, why did you get up?"

"I…I couldn't stand hearing them yell at you over me," I said softly, silent tears of misery slid down my face.

"Miss O'Neill, we have some questions to ask you," said a man's voice as mom sat down beside us.

I looked up and saw two policemen standing there. Dad tensed. "What'd I just say? She's not up to answering any of your damned questions."

I put my hand on his arm. "It's ok, daddy." I hadn't told anyone what happened to me that night.

"Jessie, you need to rest," said mom.

"I just wanna get this over with," I said tiredly.

"Are you sure, Sunshine?" asked dad, stroking the back of my head where it rest on his shoulder. I nodded. "Alright. But, if she gets upset in any way, I will throw you out of my house." He turned me to face them and I laid my head back on his shoulder. Mom reached over and took my hand in hers.

They agreed and sat down in the chairs across from us. "Where were you on the night of March 15th?"

"I ran away," I whispered.

"Excuse me? We didn't hear that," said one of the detectives.

"I ran away," I said louder.

"Why?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" asked mom.

"We need the information for the report," said the other detective, giving me a funny look.

"That really didn't answer my question," said mom.

"I got in some trouble at school and couldn't face my parents. I made it out to the edge of town and a woman picked me up. She asked me my name. When I told her, she asked me who my parents were. I told her and she called me a liar and threw me out of the car." I said all of this in one breath – very, very quickly.

Dad tightened his grip on me. I buried my head in his shoulder.

"Do you know why someone would do that?"

"No," I said softly, as a tear slid down my face.

"Do you know who it was?"

"No. She didn't tell me her name." There went another tear.

"Ok, that's it," said dad. "I told you if you upset her, you would have to leave. Now, get out of my house."

"Mr. O'Neill…" began one of the cops.

"Out!" he yelled in his best Colonel voice. They both jumped.

"We'll be in touch," said the detective, motioning for his partner to follow him.

"I remember you," I said to him.

"Excuse me?"

"You're the one who came here last year," I said softly.

"I was," he said. "I was the one who ended up shooting the bastard that…" he trailed off. He cleared his throat. "No child should ever have to go through what you went through," he said quietly.

"Thank you," said dad.

"You're welcome. We'll be in touch if we find out anything," he said, walking out the door.

I started to sob as soon as the door was shut. His presence brought back memories I didn't want to remember. That was the night I tried to boil myself…the night that I finally told mom and dad everything…the night before I was shot…the night before I died.

Dad held me tightly as I cried. I hurt so badly. For some reason, whoever had thrown me out of the car that night, hated me because of who I was. She knew me.