Sam found her CO pacing in the infirmary. "Sir, any word yet?" she asked as she came into the room.
Jack looked up, momentarily surprised that she would approach him this soon. Then he remembered how close she had always been to Cassie and had to hold himself in check. "No, Carter, not yet. But, if you're here looking for an explanation, I'd prefer it if you'd stick with Michael's. I can't do any better than he did. Everything he said was true. We kept his existence a secret so that we can all keep our minds on our jobs. I don't regret that decision and I would make it again if I had it to do over."
Sam thought for a moment and then nodded, "Sir, I can understand your decision and the reason for it. It just might take me some time to accept it. In truth sir, it hurts me that you felt you couldn't trust us enough to do our jobs even knowing that you have a family. All the things we've been through together as a team in the past two years and you couldn't even say to me as we thought we were soon to die on several occasions, 'Carter, I have a son, tell him I loved him,' you couldn't even do it then. It took Cassie getting hurt and him having to bring her here for us to know that you have a sixteen-year-old son. I'm not looking for an explanation. But, I'm not sure if I can trust you with anything outside of our professional lives again."
"Oh, for crying out loud, Carter, just stop it. Stop making this all about you. Cassandra, the little girl you and I both regard as a daughter is in there right now. On the table. We don't know if she's going to be all right any time soon. So you found out today that you don't know everything about everyone. Either take it in stride and move on or request a transfer. But, please, do it quietly so I can get back to pacing," he stated with finality and turned his back on her. She found a chair and sat quietly wondering if he wanted her to request that transfer or if she could find it within herself to accept the situation for what it was and "move on" as he said.
Twenty-five minutes later Janet finally came from the OR. Jack and Sam both stood and waited for the doctor to speak. "It could've been worse. I removed her appendix but there was no other damage. She was very lucky. She should be awake in about an hour. She'll be very sore and I'll probably keep her here for a few days." The two soldiers let out a collective sigh. "You guys can sit with her but I don't want more than two people with her at a time. Jack, is Michael still around somewhere?"
"Yeah, Jan, he's in my office writing an essay, something about Shakespeare I think. Then, Daniel's going to help him with his Spanish conversation time. I think he was worried about getting it done since he can't meet up with Billy now. I hope he thought to call him. I should call my office and let him know Cassie's out of surgery. Is it ok to use your office?"
"Sure, go ahead," once he'd headed into her office, she turned to her best friend. "So, I guess you're pretty upset about Michael? I hope you can forgive me. I never wanted to keep him from you. It was all Jack's idea. He and Michael both have that soldier mind set and they convinced me to go along. There were times I wanted to tell you but I had promised both of them and I just couldn't go back on my word. Please forgive me, Sam." Janet was almost in tears by this point. Michael was very important to her and she just hoped that keeping him a secret for the past two years was not going to cost her her best friend.
"Yes, Janet I can. I know exactly how compelling Colonel O'Neill can be. I can only imagine how tough two of them can be. I wish he would've trusted us but that can't be changed now. Daniel and Teal'c have both taken this in stride and I guess I should have too." She turned as her CO walked out of Janet's office. "Sir, please accept my apology. I'd like to continue as your 2IC is that's okay. And I will do my best to follow Michael's wishes. At least now, you guys don't have to hide him from us anymore."
"Ya, know, Teal'c is able to go out there and do his job on each and every mission and his son is on another planet. When he first came here, he didn't tell us about his family. And once we knew, we didn't treat him any differently than we had before. So, maybe this can be a good thing after all. Janet and Cassie won't have to hide all traces of Michael when you come over to their place. And you won't have to wonder what I'm doing when you think I'm sitting at home alone getting drunk. I'll be safe with my son at the movies or a hockey game or maybe at Daniel's now that they know they can converse in Spanish together. We probably won't be able to keep the two of them apart. Does Daniel know anything about Shakespeare?"
"Umm, no," answered the archeologist in question as he walked into the room with the younger O'Neill in tow. "Actually, Shakespeare has never been one of my fortes. Cassie's going to be all right?" He asked with a look of concern.
"She'll be fine once she gets some rest. Daniel, why don't you and Sam go sit with her? I need to talk to my men here." As the other two headed into the recovery room, Janet turned to Jack and Michael, "You guys were wrong. I've said it before and I'll say it again. It was wrong to lie to them all this time. Do you treat Teal'c any differently in battle when you know that Ry'ac would be devastated if his father died? Of course, you don't. And they'll treat you no differently now that they know Michael. Now, I want both of you to put your paranoia behind you. Trust in your friends, Jack. They have saved your life many times over in the past three years. Let us all go forward from today as the friends we've always been and don't ask me to ever hide our son again because I won't do it."
Michael listened to his mother's tirade while sneaking glances at his father. Jack's face remained impassive while Janet spoke. When she finished, Jack nodded thoughtfully before agreeing with her, "Okay, you were right, they would have been able to handle it. I'm sorry, Janet." He then turned to face his son, "I apologize to you as well, Michael. I shouldn't have asked you to lie. I'll talk to Cassie when she wakes up too. On another note, how much of that home work did you get done?"
"I finished the chapter for tomorrow and had started on the essay when Daniel showed up so I put it aside to get the conversation time since the essay can get done later. I don't suppose you'd write a note to my teacher asking for extra time on account of the accident and the confusion and all would you?" The teen asked hopefully.
"We'll see. Maybe I can take you home after we see your sister."