Title: Foretelling
Author: MegTDJ
Category: Missing scene; fluff
Rating: K
Pairing: None - Daniel/Cassie bonding
Spoilers: 1969
Summary: Missing scene for 1969. Daniel gets a message from Cassie. #14 in the Love Comes Softly series.
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1, its universe and its characters are not mine. The story itself is, however, so please don't archive without my permission.

Author's notes: Thanks to Misty, Julie, and Kerri for their help on this one. I can't believe it took me the longest amount of time to write the shortest fic I've ever written. shakes head

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Foretelling

"I will tell you this - your journey's just beginning."

Daniel stared at the old woman in disbelief. It hadn't quite sunk in yet that it was Cassie he was looking at. The little thirteen-year-old girl who had just three weeks before fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder while watching It's a Wonderful Life for the first time with her mother and SG-1. She'd been so childlike and exuberant over the Christmas holiday, and when he'd last seen her she was just heading back to school. Now here she was... old and grey.

Even after all he'd been through over the last few days, this seemed too outlandish to be true.

He was just trying to determine how old she must be when Jack moved past him towards the gate. Daniel reluctantly dragged himself away, even though there were a million and one burning questions flowing through his mind.

The others were just passing through the event horizon when he heard her call his name.

"Daniel?"

He turned around to see her gliding gracefully up the ramp towards him.

"I can't resist," she said with a laugh, throwing her arms around his neck as the young Cassie had often done. She gave him a quick squeeze as Daniel hugged her back. "Father of my heart," she whispered, so quietly that Daniel wasn't sure whether he was meant to have heard it.

He barely had time to question in his mind what she meant by it before she pulled away and cupped the sides of his face in her hands. "Never forget that you are loved," she said with an intensity that left him feeling even more confused than ever. "Go," she added, and gave him a gentle push towards the Stargate.

Daniel smiled and moved to obey, Cassandra's actions and the tone in her voice reminding him so much of her adoptive mother. "Bye," he said.

He wished he could say more, but he knew there was no time. He stepped through the event horizon, knowing that he'd be arriving in the right place at the right time.

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Janet opened the door before Daniel had even finished knocking, and flashed him a bright smile. "Hello, Daniel. What brings you here?"

"Um..." Daniel realized as he went to reply that he didn't actually know the answer to that question. None that the "needs to know" classification of his latest adventure would allow him to give, anyway. "I, um... I came to see how Cassie's doing," he said quickly, hoping she wouldn't notice his hesitation. "I heard she had the flu or something while we were gone."

Janet gave him an odd look and laughed. "It was more of a sniffle, actually, but come on in," she said, opening the door wider to let him pass. "I'm sure she'll be glad to see you." She left him standing just inside the door to remove his coat, and disappeared down the hall calling Cassie's name.

"Just a minute, Mom," he heard Cassie call back. "I'm almost done."

Janet returned a moment later with an apologetic smile on her face. "Sorry, Daniel," she said. "She's been in the den all morning working on a history project for school. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you went in."

"Thanks," Daniel said. He knew where the room was, so he showed himself down the hall and peeked through the doorway of the den.

Cassie was lying stomach-down on the floor in the middle of the room, adding what seemed to be the finishing touches to an all too familiar scene in miniature - the pyramids of Giza.

"Wow," he said as he stepped into the room. "Did you do this yourself?"

Cassie looked up at him in surprise. "Hey," she said, pulling herself up to sit cross-legged as he squatted down beside her. "Mom helped me with some of it, but I made all the pyramids myself," she said.

Daniel gaped at the scene in awe and a fair amount of pride. Somehow Cassie had taken a cat litter box and turned it into a 3-D photograph of ancient Egypt. Not only did she have each of her paper pyramids in almost exactly the right places, but she had also made tiny little people and animals and set them up as though they were hard at work. "It's amazing, Cass," he said. "This is A+ work."

Cassie grinned. "Thanks," she said. "Did I do everything right?"

"You bet you did," he said, laying his hand on her head and ruffling her hair.

Cassie squawked and swatted his hand away, but Daniel could tell from her smile that she was pleased with the attention. "Will you come help me with my presentation tomorrow?" she asked. "None of my friends have ever met an archaeologist before."

Daniel could feel his face beaming as a warm glow started in his stomach and spread through his entire body at the hopeful look on her face. He thought back to the words the other Cassie had whispered thinking he couldn't hear - that he was like a father to her. He'd come to the conclusion that she must have come to feel that way about him later on in life, but now he was starting to wonder if she already did.

He wasn't about to dissuade her.

"I'd be honoured," he said, not even thinking about how much he hated standing in front of an audience and speaking about his work since the last time he'd done it. Cassie wanted him there, and that was enough.

"Thanks, Daniel!" Cassie said with a squeal. She got to her knees and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You're the best."

"Never forget that you are loved," she'd said. As he squeezed Cassie tight until she giggled in his ear, he knew it would be an easy command to obey.

The End