Ok before I begin I thought I'd tell you all the ages of the kids now cuz even I've been getting a bit confused over that, basically the kids have been in this reality for about 9 months now which means:
Charlie is 14 years 2 months old
Sean is 3 years 9 months old
Joey is 19 months old
& Sam is about 8 week along in her pregnancy
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Jack was going to be late picking Sam up from the infirmary. The house was nowhere near ready for her return; Mrs Hess was off with a cold which she didn't want to give Sam or the kids, so the house was therefore a mess. Charlie was not around to help as school was not yet over and Sam's homecoming was supposed to be a surprise, Jack had no one to look after Sean and Joey because Daniel and Teal'c had yet to show up. And to top it all off Jack had spent nearly the past hour chasing Joey round the house after she had decided it would be fun to pour her lunch all down herself.
Jack had finally cornered her hiding under his bed, the fits of giggles she had been in was a slight give away as Joey thought this was a great new game. Jack had managed to grab her and had been ready to say a few stern word to her but the look of pure and utter delight reminded him so much of her mom that he too began laughing and tickling her causing her to squeal in delight. Jack had then drawn a bath and placed Joey in it.
She had then taken to one of her favourite games, trying to get her daddy just as wet as she was. It was for this reason that Jack's bathroom now looked as if there'd been an explosion in the bubble factory as bubbles and water were all over the place; and Jack. His favourite hockey jersey was now sopping wet and sticking to him and his jeans were not faring much better. Jack picked Joey out of the bath and bundled her into her frog towel, shaking his head like a wet dog over her causing her to laugh and squeal, "More, more dada!"
Jack had to stop when he felt the world begin to spin, "Sorry Jo-Jo if daddy doesn't stop now he'll fall over." He said tickling her and gently placing her on his bed whilst he took his shirt and trousers off and changed into a new pair of green combats and blue button shirt. He then grabbed Joey and began to wrestle her into some clothes.
Throughout all of this Sean had been quietly playing in the front room with some trucks and then some crayons whilst watching a tape of Barney on TV and helping himself to some cookies his dad had left on the side in the kitchen whenever he felt hungry. Sean knew that his uncles Danny and T were supposed to be coming around to look after him and his sister whilst his dad went to see him mom so when the door bell rang he was sure that was who it was. When he did not hear his dad come down the stair to answer it Sean got up from his position on the floor and tentatively went to the front door. He'd been told never to open the door unless told to but if it was only Danny and T then it was fine, wasn't it?
Sean was sure it was the right thing to do when the door bell rang again and his dad had still not appeared. Joey and Jack were making far too much noise to hear the door as Jack was trying to keep Joey's attention long enough for him to pull on her pink T-shirt and mint green dungarees.
Sean had to stand on his tip-toes to reach the door handle as it was much higher than the other one in the house. When he finally got the door open he saw a woman who looked a bit like his mom with shortish brown-grey hair.
The woman formerly known as Sara O'Neill looked at the boy in surprise. She knew that Jack had moved since she had last seen him, but she was sure that this was the right house. The letter she had received had said Jack was looking after a boy made to look like their son for the government, but it had not mentioned anything about any other children. It was for this reason that Sara had chosen this time to come as it would be unlikely that the other Charlie would be here as he should be at school. From the noise inside the house it was obvious this boy was not the only child inside and the fact that the boy looked so like Jack unnerved her slightly.
"Hello" Sean said, wondering why the lady had not spoken for such a long time and why she was looking at him with such a strange expression on her face.
It took Sara a few seconds more to find her voice, "Is Jack there please?" The boy gave her a puzzled expression and cocked his head to one side as if trying to remember where he'd heard the name, "Uuummm…Does Jack O'Neill live here?" She tried again.
The boy suddenly grinned, "Oh… daddy. He's upstairs with Joey, I'll go get him," Sean said bounding off to the bottom of the stairs. He left so quickly that he didn't see the look of disbelief in Sara's face. How could Jack have kids and not have told her about it, the boy must have been mistaken about who she meant.
"Daddy!" Sean shouted up the stairs, "Daddy!"
Jack had finally managed to get Joey dressed and her hair in two little pony tails when Sean called. "What do you think your brother's broke now?" He said scooping Joey into his arms.
Joey looked at him for a second then said; "Me hunge dada" Jack looked at her and smiled.
"Well miss O'Neill that's what you get when you pour your food down you instead of in your mouth. Let's see what your brother wants then I'll find you some food." Jack then heard his son shout his name again "Wait a second Sean I'm just coming down stairs."
"Ok daddy, but there's a lady here who wants to speak to you."
As they went down the stairs Jack could see Sean waiting at the bottom, "how many times have I told you not to open the front door?" he asked sternly.
"Sorry daddy, I thought it was Danny and T" Sean mumbled staring at his feet , he looked so sorry for himself that Jack didn't have the heart to tell him off properly.
"Ok, well don't do it again, now go back and play and I'll see if I can find youthat ice cream I promised you before Joey got all messy." He said ruffling his son's hair. Sean grinned and ran off. Jack then turned to the door, when he saw Sara standing there he was so shocked he almost dropped Joey.
"Hi Jack, it's been a while." Sara said with a smile that he could tell was forced.
The awkward silence was broken by Joey pulling on her dad's shirt saying, "hunge, me hunge dada."
"I know Jo-Jo; I'll get you something now." Jack then turned his attention to Sara, "Do you wanna come in and have a coffee or something and then we can talk." Jack said gesturing inside and waiting for Sara to pass before he closed the door. As Jack led the way to the kitchen and placed Joey in her high chair he could feel Sara staring at him. He gestured for her to sit down at the table across from Joey whilst he busied himself with preparing some fruit for Joey and coffee for himself and Sara and talking to Joey. Whilst Jack was doing this Sara's gaze fell upon the toddler in front of her as she responded to her father. Sara's gaze then fell upon the fridge behind the girl. It had various pictures on it obviously drawn by the boy and Joey and also a few essays by the other Charlie with 'As' on the top.
Jack passed Sara a coffee, which she was pleased to see was just the way she liked it and then he sat down opposite her, next to the girl she could only assume was his daughter. "Now do you promise to eat this?" He said playfully to Joey, "Cos I refuse to chase you round the house for another hour, you can just stay messy 'til your uncle's get here." He said placing the bowl in front of her and watching as she happily began to eat.
"So Sara how's things?" Jack said finally looking at his ex-wife.
Sara looked at him shocked that he could completely fail to explain himself, she knew that Jack was bad at expressing himself but how could he fail to mention the fact that he had children. Instead of confronting him Sara decided to tell him what she had come here to say, but by the look of things it probably wouldn't have as much effect as she had hoped.
"Do you remember Simon Page?"
"Yeah didn't you used to work with him?" Jack said whilst wiping some banana gunk off of Joey's face.
"Yes, well I bumped into him a few months ago and we started dating, last week he asked me to marry him. Before I said yes to him I felt I had to made sure that you'd be ok with it, but from the look of things you're fine." She said unable to keep her voice level throughout he little speak.
Jack was a little taken aback that Sara still felt he had a right to say what happened in her life. "Um… congratulations?" he said not quite sure what to say.
Finally Sara had had enough, "So were you ever going to tell me, cos I was under the impression that we were still friends?"
"Believe me Sara I tried to tell you so many times but something always got in the way."
"I know we haven't spoken for a year but from the looks of it your son was aroundbefore the incident with the other Jack at the hospital, and I mean we met up after that for crying out loud."
"You're right, Sean's nearly 4, well he's 3 and ¾ and Joey's 19 months. I would have told you about them if I could, you have to believe me, but at the time I didn't know, neither of us did. I can't explain it, if I could I would but it's classified." Jack said willing Sara to understand.
"Has it got anything to do with the precious Stargate the other you was going on about?" Jack nodded but was unable to elaborate. "And they are biologically yours?"
"Yeah" Jack said unable to stop a smile from creeping onto his face. Sara knew she had no right to feel as betrayed as she was feeling, as after all they were divorced and now had separate lives.
"Where's their mother?" Sara asked, unable to see Jack in the role of primary care giver as she thought the Air Force was too big a part of his life.
"She's in hospital, there was an accident, but she's getting better now. I finally get to bring her home today." Jack said quietly.
"She lives here?" Sara said shocked.
Jack looked at her and decided it all would come out eventually, and it was better coming from him and not one of their mutual friends. "Yeah she lives here, she's an air force Major, you've met her but she was a Captain then. Her name's Samantha Carter,"
Sara racked her brains for a second before the name connected with a face, "The blonde captain under your command but isn't that against some Air Force regulation?"
"It would have been until I resigned, my old job was just too dangerous and I didn't want to miss seeing my children growing up. I've been given a second chance, I took you and Charlie for granted and I lost both of you, I'm not going to let that happen again. Also with the injuries Sam sustained in the accident it doesn't look like she'll be able to rejoin the air force again."
Sara was shocked at how different Jack was, it was perhaps the most in depth and heart felt conversation she had ever had with him, this new life certainly agreed with him. "Also out of respect for what we had I think you should know that Sam's 8 weeks pregnant, you're only the 2nd person we've told so I'd be real grateful if you kept it to yourself for a while." Jack said trying to gauge Sara's reaction.
Sara stood up and walk round the table to Jack, whom she beckoned to stand up before hugging him. Jack stood stiffly until he eventually returned her hug. "I'm happy for you Jack, I really am."
"Yeah you too." He pulled away from the hug and looked at her, "you do realise I'm gunna havta meet this guy and see if he passes the ex-husband test." He grinned.
"And I want to know all about Sam and your new baby." Sara said as she gathered her bag up to leave. Jack followed her to the door and gave her another hug. "Don't screw this up" she said seriously to Jack before leaving.
"Don't worry, I don't plan too." He said smiling as he closed the door shut behind him.
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A pretty useless chapter really, I just wanted to give the whole Jack/ Sara thing a bit of closure.
