Chapter 7

And the Alliance Continues?

Days past, and turned into weeks. Slowly the alliance began to reform. Jacob, Anise, Bray'tac, and Rya'c had known what to expect from Anne in how she would contribute to the negotiations. She would lead them. She had taken over so skillfully that at first Jack hadn't even noticed that he was no longer in control, but since he hated politics anyway, and since he thought it did little harm to let her continue, Jack let the 17-year-old remain in charge.

Everyone had known that getting the alliance back on its feet could take months, even years, but Anne seemed to be pushing all the delegates, even the Tauri, to face their problems with each other and to get over their differences. In fact, everything was going great, in terms of the alliance. In terms of the galaxy wide search Jack had started to find out more about the mysterious Lady Anne, however, not so much. As with nearly all of his 'Plan A's" something went wrong. In this particular case, Charlie found out.

"Why? Why did you start asking around for information on Annie? Do you know how dangerous that is for her!" Charlie yelled at his father. They were standing in his office, with the rest of SG-1, Annie wasn't there, Charlie couldn't tell her, not yet anyway.

"How should we know Charlie? All we know about her is that she was raised as the daughter of Apophis and Ammounet, and she doesn't have a snake in her head! That's all! How am I supposed to know that she's not a threat to my base? Tell me Charlie! Why the Hell should I trust her? And why don't we know her? If she's so great and wonderful why haven't we heard of her? And why shouldn't I try to find out about the daughter of a snake! This base is my responsibility and I have no guarantees, nothing even close to a guarantee that she's not a spy, that she won't try to destroy this base or hurt my people! Tell me Charlie why shouldn't we know more about her? Why are we being kept in the dark? Why should we not want to know more? The Tok'ra do! The Rebel Jaffa do! What makes us so different Charlie?" Jack yelled back at his son. Charlie was so much like him that at times Jack was amazed Hammond had put up with him for seven years.

"It's not that we don't trust you. Annie wants to tell you everything, she really does, but it's hard for her. She has accepted the truth because she had to and she's had years to accept it, but neither of us knows how the four of you will accept it. The truth can hurt Dad; you know that. Annie and I just don't want to hurt anyone. But by asking about her, you may have put her in danger. Her husband is very skillful at finding information related to the Tauri. You could say it's an obsession of his, and I don't know what he would do if he found out that Annie was working with the Tauri or if he knew that the Tauri, especially SG-1 knew about Annie. You should have just asked us for the truth, or waited until Annie was ready to tell you. Now we probably have to deal with her husband and that's not good." Charlie's anger had run its course, and he could barely marshal the strength to yell now. He had never been able to hold onto his anger for long, but, while his anger lasted, it was deadly. His parents had hated his incredibly short fuse and had loved the fact that his anger lasted as long as his temper. Annie was really the only one who could put up with him all the time in all his moods.

Charlie sighed heavily, he knew exactly how much work it was taking to keep Annie's husband in the dark about this trip, and now it was going to take even more work. And then there were the possible consequences to Annie, he wouldn't hurt her; at least Charlie thought he wouldn't hurt her. But when it came to Annie and her safety, Charlie took no chances, and neither did the rest of his team.

"We can protect her Charlie. We haven't discovered much, but she certainly seems to not be a threat. So remaining here is an option Charlie." Sam said, hoping that if Anne stayed then Charlie would remain also. She had known of the hole in Jack's heart for seven years now. She knew that nothing could heal that hole except Charlie. She loved Jack no matter what, even on his darkest days, in his darkest moods, she loved and accepted him, but for the past few weeks, ever since the alliance summit had begun and Charlie had returned, Jack had been a different man. He was kinder, gentler, and more open; he was being the man he must have been before Charlie's accident. Sam knew that before Charlie's accident Jack had been heavily involved in Black Ops, knew that the darkness that had weighed so heavily on his heart was caused by more than Charlie's death. But before he had been able to deal with it better. He had been able to keep the darkness at bay, and now it seemed as if he was able to that again. And for Jack's sake she wanted it to continue, she knew that Charlie's death had nearly destroyed him, she had sat with him on Christmas morning, on Charlie's birthday, on Charlie's anniversary too often to not know how close he had come. Sam wasn't sure if he could survive losing Charlie again, even if Charlie was just out in the galaxy protecting Anne. She also wanted to keep the father and son, who were so much alike in their tempers, from saying something that both would regret. They had just found each other again; Sam desperately wanted to keep them from driving the other away because of their tempers and their pride.

"We both have to go back. If Annie doesn't then her husband will know something is up. If he were to discover that Annie was here on Earth, he would destroy this world to get her back. In a way, Annie is his world. He doesn't love her, she useful to him, she adds to his power. And he won't let her go, not without a fight. And the ways things are now, he would when that fight. It's almost safer for her to with him. He won't hurt her, she's too useful, and she can influence him in ways that are beneficial to the cause. But we can not stay here, it's not safe for Earth, for you. Especially now," Charlie continued to plead with them. They had to understand why they couldn't know about Annie, to understand why he and Annie couldn't remain here on Earth as refugees.

"Who is Lady Anne's husband CharlieO'Neill?" Teal'c spoke up.

"Yes Charlie, who is she? We can protect her from him," Sam said, thinking Anne's husband was like Jonas Hanson.

"No you can't. She hates it when people try to protect her. Besides, protecting her is my job, not yours. SG-1 can do so many things, but you can't do this. Annie and I have to live our own lives, just like the four of you do, and our place is not here. It would be great if it was, but it's not." Charlie looked at his Dad, part of him wanted to stay here. Wanted to be with his Dad, but that part of his life was over. His life wasn't on Earth anymore, wasn't with the Tauri, his life was with Annie, out there among the stars.

"Why not? The two of you are just kids!" Jack both understand Charlie's point and didn't. To him they were young adults but he couldn't let go, not yet, anyway.

"No we're not General O'Neill," came Anne's voice from the door. Slowly, holding her head up, she walked into his office. "Charlie and I are not kids, though based on age alone, we might be considered children. We are both meant to play a role in this war against the Goa'uld, and we cannot do that from here. Both of us are pawns, as our fathers are, in this game Fate is playing. And like our fathers' we are linked. Charlie can no more leave me than I can leave him. I must return to my husband, it is necessary for the role I play in this war and it is necessary because the Tauri cannot yet defeat him. Until you or I can destroy him and the rest of his kind, I will remain with him. Though before the year is out I may send a gift here for safekeeping. This gift will be something of great importance to my husband's plans, and knowing those plans, I cannot, I will not let those plans continue any further than I must. I know all of this is hard to accept, but this is how it must be. I know you want to know everything and I will tell you soon. Tonight even, if you want, but not now, not here. But right now is not the time and this is not the place."

"What do you mean?" Daniel asked confused, after all where else but the SGC? Anne had never been anywhere else on Earth. As far as he knew she knew little of Earth, only bits that Charlie had told her over the years. Besides, Annie might not be considered an overt threat, but when Teal'c had come to the SGC it had taken months for him to be allowed off base, and that was under the supervision of SG-1, how was Jack going to justify letting an alien, a relative unknown, leave the base, even under supervision. Daniel's innate believe in the good in all people, however, made him want to trust her, and coupled with his natural curiosity made him want to hear her story. Daniel had watched Anne over the last few weeks, watched as she took over the alliance summit, as she pushed the Tok'ra, the Jaffa, and the Tauri to work out their differences. He was impressed with her, she was a talented and skilled negotiator, better even than Dr. Weir. There was something about her also, the familiarity that he had noticed when he first met her, it was still there, gnawing at him constantly, and he couldn't figure it out. But despite that, he trusted her.

"Annie means the base CO's office. It's a little too formal for something like this, even if my Dad is the most informal Base CO the SGC has ever had. How about we meet tonight at Dad's house? It's been a while since I had a good BBQ." Charlie grinned, trying to lighten to mood. The office had become quiet, serious, and very dark. As far as he was concerned, that was not a good thing

"Charlie you can't eat, can you?" Sam asked trying to remember the short time Orlin had lived with her. She was interested in the scientific aspects of Charlie's ghostlike existence, as well as just being curious about her CO's son.

"Yeah, the PTB's thought everything would be easier if I could 'fully interact' with Annie. So I can become corporeal without giving up my membership card to the Ascended Club. And that is my multi-syllable word of the day. So who's coming to the BBQ?"

Since everyone was interested in the mystery of Anne, they all agreed to meet at 1900 that night at Jack's house. They would have tried for an earlier time, but none of the adults wanted the two teens to know how much they wanted to know the truth about Annie.