To get the story moving a bit this chapter takes place a few months after the last one. Charlie's settled in school, Joey's around 14 months and Sean's well Sean, normal SG-1 activity has resumed and for more information just read on.
"Charlie get your butt down here now or you'll be late for school." Jack shouted up the stairs for the 4th time that morning, normally he was very good about getting up and even had time for an early morning jog but the previous night Charlie had come back from the cinema late and was now paying for it. "Don't make me come up there!" Warned Jack but both knew it was an empty threat that seemed to do the trick.
In the kitchen Sam was putting the finishing touches to breakfast, the one thing she could actually do that involved food for the kids as Jack had banned her from the kitchen after her attempt at Spaghetti Bolognese ad given him a mild case of food poisoning now all she was allowed to was put cereal in bowls and pour milk on them.
Sean had fruit loops, as did Jack, Charlie had cornflakes and Joey often had a piece of fruit, normally a mushy banana whilst Sam would just have coffee which greatly annoyed Jack as he said it set a bad example to the kids and breakfast was the most important meal of the day.
Things between her and Jack hadn't progressed more than the occasional hug and cuddle once the kids were asleep and the one solitary kiss that occurred when Sean started to ask why they didn't kiss anymore, but that of course, Sam lied to herself was just something that had to be done and the way neither of them pulled away before lack of oxygen became an important factor was all part of the act. They had both been so embarrassed afterwards that neither had spoke to each other for the rest of the day and had never spoke of the incident since.
She had learnt a lot about the man Jack O'Neill, all his little quirks and habits that made her fall in love with him again and again, he was no longer just this unobtainable colonel, he was now the unobtainable father of her children and object of the affections. Even though living and working with Jack made it much harder for her to concentrate as he was always around and on her mind she wouldn't change a thing. It had been hard at first as she wasn't the most important person in her life anymore she had to think about these 4 other people before she pulled an all-nighter at the base or did anything. And it had been hard dealing with all the problems kids get into, the mess and the constant noise that surrounded her as she tried to work and the total lack of privacy but even after such a short time Sam couldn't see her life being any different.
Jack had forgotten how much he missed having a child running around the house, it had been hard to begin with, having Charlie around all of the time and each morning waking up thinking it was a dream before realising the reason he'd awoke was because Sean was climbing over him of Joey was crying wanting to be brought into one of her parents beds. Sean had been quick to notice that his parents now had separate rooms and seemed quite worried about it Jack had quickly come up with some lame remark about him snoring, which Sean seemed to have believed.
After a week of moving into the house SG-1 had been recalled to active duty luckily by then they had a childminder willing to stay over their house and not ask questions as to why they were gone for days at a time. Mrs Hess, or Amanda to the kids, was in her early 50's and recently widowed she loved the chance of looking after the children as all hers had left home and she was often quite lonely. Joey, Sean and even Charlie loved her as she spoilt them rotten, she was almost like their grandmother fussing over the little two and leaving Charlie alone whenever he needed it, to do what he wanted.
It had been nerve wracking at first, leaving the kids as if something happened to them they would be orphaned once again and even though they had got used to the idea of leaving the children that thought always laid heavily on their mind. Sam also spent a lot less time at the base, preferring to spend time at home with her family, everyone at the SGC were sure that she had another motive, namely so she could spend more time with a certain Jack O'Neill when certain children were in bed.
Charlie reluctantly came downstairs just as there was a ring at the door, as he was closest and knew it would be for him. Sure enough on the other side of the door was Cassie waiting for him. "Hey" he said mechanically.
"You ok?" She asked concerned, the few months they had been together had made them almost inseparable even though he hadn't grown up with her Charlie knew all of her secrets, wishes and deepest fears told to him by his Cassie. They had the same group of friends and were probably best friends with the most in common as they had both come to this earth from another place, he was going through all the stuff she went through with the added bonus of having to pretend that he wasn't actually Charlie O'Neill, instead he had been placed under Jack O'Neill's protection as his life was in serious danger after being placed in witness protection.
Personally Charlie thought that was the stupidest thing he had ever heard, for one Jack and Sam were gone for days on missions and then he was in the care of Mrs Hess and that lady was too small to do any damage to people. The government and the Air Force could have at least come up with a more convincing story line, the principal of his school had been told along with some old friends of Jack's about the 'fake' Charlie and also O'Neill's ex-wife had been informed so there'd be no surprises if she saw him out and about she'd been told Charlie had had plastic surgery to look like an older version of her son which just made Charlie laugh every time, he also really hoped he didn't get in real trouble and need help from the government as they were so bad at it.
"Yeah I'm ok, just a little tired that's all." He said giving a little half shrug, "we set for this afternoon?"
"You're really going through with it?"
"Through with what?" Jack asked coming up behind them.
"Nothing, just school stuff, you know how it is." Charlie said, "have a good trip see you tomorrow." Charlie said exiting the house then calling "Bye mom" over his shoulder to be met with the reply of:
"See you tomorrow Charlie. Oh do you want any breakfast?"
"Nah I'll get something later." He said grabbing his bike from the side of the house and meeting Cassie who was already waiting with hers on the road.
When they were out of earshot they began to talk, "so you're going through with it?"
"Yeah you know how bad Selkin and who needs health class anyway."
"Charlie tell me the truth!" Cassie demanded stopping her bike abruptly Charlie stopped a few feet in front.
"Cover for me today then come round tonight and I'll tell you, I promise." Charlie looked at her begging her to understand eventually she sighed.
"Fine but if you get caught I don't know a thing, ok?" he could tell by the tone of her voice she was not happy so he decided not to argue.
"Thanks Cass you don't know what this means to me." At the next junction Cassie turned left on her way to school whilst Charlie turned right so he could cut through the park back to his house.
Charlie waited on the swings in the park for half an hour or so before checking his house to make sure his parents weren't home. If they were or Mrs Hess had decided to do her shopping later so she was there, he had left his homework behind which provided the perfect cover for coming home during school. As he turned the corner he saw Mrs Hess at the end of the street pushing Jo's pushchair, Sean standing next to her obviously on the way to the shops.
That meant that Charlie had one or maybe two hours alone in the house. He quietly let himself in, hiding his bike round the side of the house before running upstairs to his room and closing the door. He lay on the floor next to his sofa and ran his hand on the underside of the seat until his fingers touched a rectangular plastic case taped to it. Pulling the case free he sat up, his back resting against the sofa, CD case in his lap and just stared at it for what felt like hours, breathing slowly.
He could feel the back of his eyes stinging painfully as he forced himself not to cry. He had hidden it for a reason and still wasn't sure if he was ready to see what was on it, but on that day of all days he knew he had to. Charlie had not seen the CD since he had hidden it, the very day his room had been finished and before then it had been in the possession of Gen. Hammond. He was he only one Charlie had told about the CD, the only one who had seen it, when they had gone through the mirror it had been in one of Charlie's trouser pockets placed in there before they had realised they would not be going through the gate to safety and forgotten about until he was trying to get to sleep on his first night on Earth.
Charlie slowly got up from his position on the floor and booted his computer up. When he had learned they were going to be evacuated naturally he had wanted to take everything from his world with him, knowing this was impossible Charlie had taken various family photos to the SGC a few at a time, scanned them into the computers, compressed them down and eventually when it was done burned them onto disk using SGC technology.
Until now Charlie had not he the nerve to see his family photos so they had lay hidden, but today marked his parents anniversary. He placed the disk in the machine and let the mouse hover over the disk drive file before double clicking on it. Instantly images from his old life bombarded him, the smiling faces of his parents, Sean, Jo and himself as babies and small children; Sam and Jack both soaking wet after a water fight their laughter still ringing in his ears. Their many trips to the cabin captured in a few pictures, his parents in full military dress, the only formal picture Charlie had put on was of their wedding.
As he looked through them all Charlie could feel himself begin to lose control, all the pent up emotions were let out as the floodgates finally opened and Charlie cried properly for the first time in 6 months.
A bit of an unhappy ending I know so if you didn't like it I'm sorry, just a little warning in a few chapters it may get quite dark, but that won't be for a while so don't worry.