Chapter 4

So Who Are You?

Neither father nor son moved, tears falling down both their faces. Anne was not surprised, Charlie had stopped suppressing his emotions and hiding behind a tough guy/class clown persona around her long ago. Sam was more surprised, she had never once imagined the General breaking down like this, at least not in public. Of course, he wasn't the General right now, she thought, he's just Jack, and I don't know Jack. Those stupid frat regs have kept me getting to know him, the real him. And because of those regs I can only help him as his 2IC. Not that that's such a bad thing anymore, I am engaged, I have got to stop thinking about Jack, it's not fair to Pete.

But both Anne and Sam knew better than to disturb this moment that both Jack and Charlie had long needed. Anise, however, she didn't seem to grasp how important this was. "General O'Neill, about the alliance?" Anise asked, earning her glares from everyone in the room, especially SG-1 and Anne.

"Anise, why don't you and Rya'c go and discuss Tok'ra-Jaffa relations? This would be a definite start on the alliance negotiations," Anne was still glaring at her and made sure that Anise could hear the tone of command in her voice.

"Lady Anne, you are not with your husband nor anywhere near his territory. You have no power here, and certainly no power over me," Anise or Freya, it was hard to tell, was angry. After all, who was Anne to be giving her instructions at the SGC?

Anne did not like it when her authority was questioned. However, as much pleasure as she would have received from putting Anise in her place, Anne had to get the entire situation under control. Besides that, she knew very well that Charlie had to be seen being emotionally vulnerable, just has his father did, giving Charlie and his father all the time they truly needed was impossible, so hating herself for disturbing the father and son, Anne walked over to where Charlie still knelt and gently placed her small hand on his shoulder. Sighing, he rose from the floor and, with Anne's help, cleaned his tear-stained face.

"Anise, no matter where Annie is her influence remains the same. She is a special person, special to everyone here and to the Ascended. We give her the authority she has, not her husband's and not her adopted father's. Working with Rya'c on Tok'ra – Jaffa relations is a necessary part of these negations. I would suggest that you do that," Charlie one again showed how much Jack's son he was, the tone of command was as unmistakable in his voice as it had been in Anne's. He understood that the alliance had to take precedence, and besides showing emotion around Annie and crying in front of a group of people were too different things. Silently, Charlie shot Anne a look of thanks, and received a smile in return.

Just as silently as Anne helped Charlie, Sam helped Jack. Quietly handing him a Kleenex to dry his tears she blocked him from the eyes of the rest in the room as he worked to bring himself back under control. Once under a semblance of control, he shot Sam a look filled with not only his thanks for her understanding and help, but full of his overwhelming love for her. In return Jack received one of the brightest most loving smiles Sam had ever given him, and even better to him, her eyes returned his love.

"Come Anise, we have many things to discuss. Perhaps we could take our discussion to the commissary and partake of the variety of foods served there." Rya'c took Anise's arm and led her to the door, as both father and son regained control of themselves, and just before he exited the room he turned and shot Charlie and Anne a look that said 'You so owe me for this.'

"You know Annie, we owe Rya'c now," Charlie grinned at her.

"And he will collect, no matter what." Anne grinned back.

"Think it's a Jaffa thing?"

"Nope. I always collect and I'm not a Jaffa."

"True, guess I can't say it's a girl thing either, Rya'c would most definitely kill me if he fount out I said that."

"Yeah, he would, and he would find out."

"A Jaffa thing?"

"No, I'd tell him. Its fun seeing him beat you at sparing all the time."

"He does not beat me, I let him win. Besides, I'm Ascended why do I need to learn to fight?"

"Because one day you might choose to descend, or like Dr. Jackson here, be kicked out for breaking the rules. And knowing how you are with rules, the second might just happen."

The adults in the room watched the pair in amazement, they were so familiar with each other and it seemed like this conversation had taken place many times. For the adults, the manners of the two were familiar also. Daniel figured Charlie seemed familiar because he was Jack's son and since Daniel had been friends with Jack so long his son was bound to seem familiar. But he couldn't for the life of him figure out why Anne seemed so familiar. Maybe, he thought, because she and Charlie act a lot like Jack and Sam, at least before Sam's engagement. But if wasn't just her behavior and the way she acted around Charlie, and in all honesty, away from him that was familiar. Her face, the way she spoke, her facial expressions, they were all so familiar, almost like he knew her, or someone related to her. "Lady Anne, who are your parents?" he asked, unable to contain his curiosity any longer.

"Please Dr. Jackson, Anne will do, Lady Anne is far too formal," she said, trying to avoid the question. Charlie picking up on her evasion quickly added, "And if you call her Annie she usually doesn't get too mad."

"All right, but please, call me Daniel."

"I'm afraid not Dr. Jackson. I was taught respect for my elders."

"Okay, then. Anne, who are your parents? You seem very familiar, but I can't place you." Daniel said again, he had also picked up on her evasion, all those years around had taught him something.

Anne glanced at Charlie, seeking support, confidence, and the answer, "My adoptive parents, the ones who raised me were Apophis and Ammounet."

"Apophis and Ammounet? How come we never heard of you?" Jack was suspicious now. Not only did he want to know who is son's friend was, but if her parents were Goa'uld then she could be a spy.

"Um, well, they accelerated my growth from when I was a baby to the age of ten. This process only took a year, and after that I was married to my husband. So I was never truly around for you to know about. Besides when I was younger, there was no reason for SG-1 to know of me." At that comment Charlie, Jacob, and Bray'tac looked at her. It was obvious to Jack, Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c that those three knew the entire story and didn't quite agree with the condensed version.

"So who are your birth parents? Or did they never tell you?" Sam asked continuing to press Anne for the complete truth.

"Oh, I know who my birth parents are. But right now we have more important things to be discussing than my past. Later, perhaps, I will tell you, but this alliance comes first. So how about we start?"

"Do ya want me to jet down to the commissary and rescue Rya'c?" Charlie asked, understanding why Anne didn't want to talk about her birthparents, at least not right now. There was a time and place for everything and to his mind, and Annie's, this was not it.

"Rya'c in need of rescue? Never. It's Anise who probably could use the rescue." Anne laughed at him, grateful for the break in the somber mood.

"Ha, ha. Anise is scary, besides she might not remember that Rya'c doesn't like her."

"Well he is married Charlie and very much in love with his wife. Besides, I don't think Anise goes for younger guys."

"True. So that means I'm safe, right?"

"Would you send Orlin with me if I said no?"

"Nope, I'm still mad at him and I definitely don't trust him with you now."

"Charlie, you couldn't have done anything if it had been you with me instead of Orlin. You need to stop blaming him, it was not his fault, and it happened, you cannot change that now. Go get Rya'c and Anise; we'll talk more about this later."

"Yeahsureyabetcha." With that, Charlie disappeared in a flash of white light.

Anne turned to the adults in the room, "I apologize for that, Charlie, and I have a hard time remembering when we are around people who don't know us. Especially when we know, we are in a safe place. And General, I also apologize for bringing Charlie with me. His job is to protect me and he takes his duty very seriously, he insisted on coming."

Jack waved her apology off, "So you know Orlin?"

"Yes sir. He is one of my other guardians. Anyway, Rya'c and Anise will be here momentarily, so why don't we get started?"

As Rya'c and Anise came in and Charlie reappeared, they along with Anne, Daniel, Teal'c, Sam, Jacob, Bray'tac, and Jack sat down at the briefing table, which now seemed so much smaller than normal, and began to try to salvage the Tok'ra-Jaffa-Tauri rebellion.