Author's Notes: Don't hate me because it's been forever. It's been a busy summer. I've not had the Internet in a good month. Maybe a month and a half. So here's the rest of the story. Sorry for not responding to reviews like I normally do. I don't have time now, but I do appreciate them.
"You promised that you wouldn't take sides, Claire." Cassie told her in a hurt tone. That's what they were talking about? Me?
"Sweetie, that's not what I mean."
"Then what do you mean? You're telling me that you called Daniel! In spite of my wishes. That's not exactly remaining neutral."
"Cassie…" Claire tried to defend herself. "You don't understand."
"No, Claire. I just don't care." Cassie stormed out of Claire's apartment. How could she do this…I thought Claire understood me. She was crying freely now, making her way through the city to Lindsey's and her apartment, where she was going to pack up. Pack up and abandon the Folds family, as they obviously didn't care what about what Cassie wanted.
I hate this. I thought I had found a new family. But this one is just about as supportive as the last one. Time to separate myself once again.
She threw herself up the stairs and pushed the door open. Cassie headed straight towards her room, but unfortunately for her, ran into Lindsey before she could make it.
Lindsey was decked out in her best pair of plaid boxers and camisole. "Cassie, what are you doing? Why are you crying?"
Cassie just pointed and with a sob, mustered "You."
"What?" Lindsey was very confused. She hadn't done anything to upset her…had she?
"You." Cassie didn't dare try to say more. She pushed past Lindsey and started throwing things from her dresser into a suitcase.
"Cass, just tell me what I did, and I'll make it right." Lindsey pleaded, pulling clothes out of the bag just as quick as Cassie was putting them in.
"Leave me alone! I'm out of here. You couldn't pay me to stay here with you, you prying, no-good…" She trailed off, too angry to finish.
"Please." Lindsey tried once more. "I want to make it better."
Cassie finally gave up, annoyed to death with Lindsey. She was making this walking out thing harder than it was supposed to be.
"You got Claire to call Daniel on me!"
Lindsey stopped moving her hands, but Cassie kept packing, now with increased speed, taking advantage of Lindsey's pause.
"Cass, I'm really sorry about that. But they deserved to know."
"And I don't deserve to be respected? Lindsey, you knew what I wanted. And you did the complete opposite." She ran to the bathroom and grabbed her toothbrush, and something new occurred to her. "How did you get the number anyway?"
Lindsey cringed. If she lied, Cassie would be even angrier. "Well, Mom took your cell phone when you ate there the other night."
"That's horrible."
"…And we went through your stuff that night when they all came to dinner."
"Ben went through my stuff too?"
"No!" Lindsey was oddly defensive of her brother. Hey, if she could keep that young woman's anger away from one person in the world, it was a service to humanity. "He was opposed to the whole thing. Calling them, too."
"Well," Cassie half yelled. "I'm glad to see someone in your family has an ounce of morality!" She zipped up her bag. Cass was sure she was forgetting something, but she didn't care. Getting out of there was her only goal.
And when the door slammed, even Lindsey could hear its tone of finality. She realized Cassie had really just left. A sob escaped her and she reached for the phone, dialing her mother.
"Mom?"
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"And then she said that she would work on Cassie for us."
Jack looked at Daniel. "So, no progress?"
He winced. Being a General had gotten Jack too used to getting what he wanted done quickly. "Well, she hasn't called back yet."
"And you talked to her on what, Tuesday? It's now Thursday, Spacemonkey."
"I know, Jack. But Cassie is a woman. And you should know by now that women are complicated, with many layers to their emotions."
Jack waved a hand at him. "I don't need you to explain women to me, Danny. I just want this Claire woman to call us back."
"Right." Daniel started to leave the office but turned to face him once more. "You can't just snap your fingers in the real world, Jack. That only works for you on the base." With that, he left the General at his desk.
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Daniel had gone from the Generals office to his own to call Claire, but as he walked through the door, his phone was already ringing. "Daniel Jackson," he answered it quickly.
"Cassie ran away."
It was Claire. Daniel sat down in his chair. "Yes, to New York. And now she's with you, right?"
"No," Daniel then detected the sob in her voice. "She left us, too."
Daniel sunk his head into the desk in front of him. "I don't believe it," he said to himself aloud. Claire heard him.
"I pushed her too hard. But I was just worried that she would end up like me. If I hadn't fought with Janet…"
Daniel sat up and interrupted her at the sound of Janet's name. "Cassie's mom Janet? Janet Frasier?" his tone became urgent.
"Damn it." In New York, Claire realized she had slipped up.
"You knew Janet?"
With a deep sigh, Claire knew she couldn't avoid this. "Janet was my younger sister. I didn't realize Cass' mom was named Janet, so I didn't realize it until you said her name on the phone Tuesday." She paused for a moment to fit in slow, steady breaths. "Janet and I used to be very close. Unfortunately, we had an argument and I haven't talked to her in…quite a while. I didn't even know she had adopted, let alone divorce her husband."
"Does Cassie know this?" Daniel used a soft tone. Claire was clearly distraught, and now he was concerned not only for Cassie but Claire as well.
"No. She ran out before I could tell her."
That makes things even more difficult. "I'm coming to New York."
"Daniel, that's not necessary. Really…I think Lindsey and I can handle this."
"No," Daniel said adamantly. "I should have done this in the first place. Plus, I'm interested in meeting you. Janet was one of my best friends…I'd love to meet her family."
"Fine." Claire surrendered, but she obviously didn't like it. "…Just you, or is the whole group coming?"
"I'll see…but most likely the whole group." There is no way Jack and Sam would let me go without them.
"Let me know your flight plans, and in the meantime I'll try and track down Cassie." She almost set the phone down in the cradle, but added a few words before hanging up. "I look forward to meeting you all. Maybe we can pound some sense into that crazy girl."
Daniel grinned crookedly, still too worried to be too cheerful. "One can only hope."
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Ben Folds was playing around on his piano when a frantic knock came. He shuffled over to the door, in no big rush, and opened it a crack to see who it was. There stood Cassie, looking like hell with a bag slung over her shoulder. He opened the door and let the young woman through the threshold.
"Ben, I'm sorry for barging in like this, but I have nowhere else to go." Cassie set down her bag and gave Ben a quick squeeze.
"It's no problem." He looked her over curiously and finally asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I told you, I have nowhere else to go."
"I know," he rolled his eyes. "But why don't you have anywhere to go?"
Cassie stared at the floor. "Claire called Colorado Springs."
"Ah." He made a knowing noise. "I didn't know for sure if they'd succeeded." Ben guided Cassie onto his couch, then cleared away magazines so he could sit next to her. "My guess is that wasn't really what you wanted them to do."
She snorted. "Yeah, you could say that."
The pair sat in awkward silence for a few moments. Ben finally broke it. "You're welcome to stay here, but I'm not going to lie for you."
Cassie looked up at him, alarmed. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," Ben started in that slow, easy way of his. "That if Lindsey calls here in tears saying 'Oh, Ben! Do you know where Cassie is?' I'll say, 'sure do. She's staying at my place.'"
"Why? If you're going to hide me, why are you doing it so half-assed?"
"Because, Cass, I believe in respecting people's wishes. The only reason I didn't want to call your family was because you didn't want us to. I think calling them is a good idea, but I'm not about to go out and do it." He took a breath and continued to explain. "If Lindsey wants to know where you are, I'm going to tell her."
Cassie stood up, furious. "Fine, then. I'll go somewhere else. Thanks for your time," she said sarcastically.
"Wait, Cass!" Ben yelled as she made her way to the door. "There's something I have to tell you."
She turned on heel. "Oh, really? Sorry, I've heard enough from the mouths of the Folds family."
"Cassie," he managed painfully. "This, you'll want to hear."
Cassie may have been skeptical, but she was mostly curious. Walking back to the couch, she told Ben, "Fine. I'll listen."
"My dad, James Folds, was not on the top of the list when it came to people my mother's family wanted her to marry. Her younger sister, especially." Ben paused, trying to come up with a better way to tell the story. "Do you know what my mother's maiden name is?"
Cassie shook her head. "Why would I know something like that? It's not like I'm family or anything." Her fingers were running through her hair with ever-quickening strokes.
"Actually, you are." Ben gave her an intense stare, but Cassandra just laughed.
"I know you guys have become attached to me in the time I've spent among you, but come on."
"I mean it in the actual blood relation way. Well, at least to your adoptive mom. My mom's maiden name was Frasier. Her younger sister was named Janet." He watched the reaction play over his younger cousin's face. She was surprised, to say the least. But there was so much confusion on her fair features. Neither spoke for a long time.
Cassie's eyes flew to the posters on the walls, Ben's piano, his guitar, the floor, anywhere but his face. She had a whole inner struggle. What did this mean? Was this information even important? Should Cassie run away once more?
"Cassie? Please…what are you thinking?"
She cleared her throat. "I'm thinking that I don't know what to think." Cassie still wasn't looking at him.
"I know what that's like." He chuckled a little, causing Cassie to actually look at him.
"Do you ever decide what to think?"
He met her eyes, cleared his throat, and told her, "You'll know once you think it when you decide that's what you think."
It was a tense moment, but then suddenly Cassie burst out laughing. She fell into Ben, struggling to keep her breath. "What," she struggled to form the words. "..The hell does that mean?"
Ben started laughing too. The pair collapsed in a heap. "I don't," Ben started, breath labored. "…think I know…but I'll decide what I think it means…when I stop laughing…"
Cassie snorted, then started laughing harder because she snorted. Ben had the same reaction, and the formerly tense room had dissolved.
After they had calmed down slightly, Cassie enveloped Ben in a huge hug. "We must be related."
"Yeah," he said. "There's no doubt after that."
They stayed in that embrace. It's nice to be with family. I miss SG-1 more then I thought.
"I don't know what to do." Cassie went back to the dilemma. She was still pissed at Claire and Lindsey, but she didn't want to leave. It hurt her the first time she ran. Running again would cripple her emotionally.
Ben sighed and released his cousin. "Well. That sucks."
Cassie snorted. "Yeah. Totally."
Ben grinned and sat up a little straighter. "Seriously, you need to think about it. I don't think this is something I can give you advice about."
She groaned. "Why not?"
Ben gave her an annoyed, 'you know why' stare. Cassie collected up her bag and gave Ben a quick squeeze.
"I do know why." She walked towards the door. "When I decide, I'll stop by."
Ben walked over to the kitchen. He took out a beer and made his way to the piano. Cassie watched him, waiting for some kind of goodbye. But there was nothing like that. Ben used the bottom of the piano bench to open the bottle, took a good swig, and stated playing.
Cassie slipped out, knowing that whatever she would end up doing, she and the Folds would have to start over again. Maybe she could stay with them if only she could forget.
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