AN: Ok, since I've had to make yet another tweak, resulting in 5 parts total (that's it, I swear!), I'm being nice and giving you a nice long chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter Four
The unhappy, unwilling group is silent as they make their way to the parking lot. Daniel and Carter actually came separately, explaining Daniel's late arrival to the lecture, so Jack feels even dumber joining the line of three cars like they're some kind of parade. If nothing else, they represent an excellent lesson for people to learn - Jack's learned the hard way that it is possible to wait too long, to push people too far, to deny something too vehemently. He's tempted, very tempted, as they merge onto the interstate, to change lanes and head in the other direction, to go home instead. But his legs are as uncooperative driving as they were when he was standing by the door. His legs, apparently, are quite curious to meet Carter, to see the child of the two people he once considered his closest friends. His heart knows it will break, once and for all, but his legs have already decided.
He tries to tell himself that it's good for Daniel and Carter - he winces when he realizes he needs to think of her as anything but Carter now - to have kids. He figures it's good for humanity to have them in the gene pool. But no matter how much he knows he never would have begrudged his friends having children, he has to admit he never envisioned them having children together.
It only takes a few minutes for the caravan to arrive in Old Town. Jack tries not to be annoyed at the perfectly average, above average technically considering the size and the neighborhood, townhouse, the perfectly manicured lawn, the perfect landscaping, the perfect mailbox with " Jackson" painted on the side in perfect white letters. Carter - so much for the name thing - and Daniel pull into the garage. As Jack pulls into the driveway behind them, he finds himself hoping his car has an oil leak or something, just to leave a mark in their perfectly perfect world. Anything to remind them that they aren't as perfect as they'd like to believe.
Daniel's practically skipping as he comes out of the garage to lead Jack to the front door. Jack watches him, trying to decide if he should follow or if he should steal Carter's suggestion and claim there is something extremely important that he has to do right away. He watches Carter trudge into the house through the garage, flipping the switch to close the garage door behind her. Daniel isn't perturbed by his wife's blatant lack of welcome to their visitor.
Jack is truly torn. Daniel has always been his friend and still appears to be, despite Jack's less than respectable behavior towards his wife. Jack has always loved Carter and tried to follow her wishes, which are clearly indicating that he shouldn't be there. Jack is stuck between the two of them. Daniel wants him to stay. Carter wants him to go. He's unsure where his loyalty ought to lie.
Eventually he gives in, deciding that Carter is hardly putting up enough of a fight to outweigh Daniel's sincere desire for Jack to stay. He follows Daniel mutely into the house, straight into the kitchen, unhappily realizing when he smells something delectable, that he's starving and won't be able to pretend he doesn't want dinner.
Jack wants to laugh when he sees a woman, who's most definitely not Carter, in the midst of preparing a meal. He never pegged either of his friends for the type to have a housekeeper.
Daniel grins. "Jack, you remember-"
The woman turns at Daniel's words, launching herself at Jack before Jack can even recognize her. But her delighted squeal at seeing him sounds the same as it had twenty years earlier when he had last seen her.
Jack smiles, an absolutely heartfelt smile, as he hugs her. "You certainly grew up, Cass."
She pulls back far enough to meet his eyes. "That happens when you disappear for twenty years, Jack."
Jack is shocked, still smiling vaguely at Cassandra, trying to reconcile the thirty-seven year old before him with the teenage girl he remembers. Cassie returns to the stove, throwing a smile to Daniel over her shoulder.
"I figured you guys wouldn't feel like cooking tonight." She nods toward Jack. "I guess it's a good thing I came a day early or poor Jack would have had to make due with whatever soup you could find."
Carter walks into the kitchen, passes Jack without a glance, and hugs Cassie. "Poor Jack can take care of himself. Have you seen Carter?"
Cassie glances between Carter and Jack, noticing the tension. She'd been so young when she'd last seen the two of them together that she hadn't fully understood. All those years had taught her a lot, but it also made her curious to see them interact. She shakes her head. "No, he wasn't here when I got here. But he's probably not expecting me until tomorrow anyway."
Daniel is setting the table and he hesitates with a fifth plate in his hands. "Sam, is Carter supposed to be here for dinner?"
"He's still grounded. Not that it seems to make much difference."
Daniel mumbles something under his breath that Jack doesn't catch and finishes the fifth place at the table. "Cassie, are you about ready?"
Thirty minutes later, Jack is staring uncomfortably at his food. He's hungry and the food smells great, but he's never been so miserable in his life and he's too busy trying to disappear to actually eat. Daniel and Cassie have chattered away, giving Jack updates on everything they can think of. Cassie tried about ten different careers before she settled on art. She's been successful and is well-known in the art community for her visionary work. Everyone who knows her and the truth about where she's from knows where she gets her inspiration, but the art world is continually amazed by her unearthly landscapes. Daniel's been a professor at George Washington for over ten years and he jokes about torturing his students with wild tales about artifacts and revels in it when they get the same glazed over looks that Jack used to get.
Jack finds it comforting, if only slightly, that Cassie doesn't live with them, but is only staying in the house with Carter while they're away.
Jack finds it discomforting that she has to stay there as a condition of Carter's probation since he's not allowed to stay unsupervised. The last thing Jack ever expected Daniel and Carter's combined genes to produce was a juvenile delinquent.
The boy hasn't actually shown up yet and Jack is extremely curious to find out about him. But he can't ask. He'd been expecting a small child, something cute and cuddly, much like he suspected Carter and Daniel to have been like as children.
Jack watches Carter - Sam - as she stares at the empty plate next to her. She keeps glancing at her watch and occasionally at the doorway. Jack gets the feeling from both Daniel and Cassie's disinterest in the subject that young Carter does this sort of thing often. Sam, on the other hand, is growing more and more distraught by the second as only a mother can.
Daniel, who has been trying unsuccessfully to drag Carter unwillingly into some sort of conversation, drops his fork on his plate and sighs. "I'm not covering for him again, Sam. If the police show up, I'm telling them to arrest him."
Carter looks up, fear shining in her eyes. "No! You can't do that. They'll send him to that horrid detention center again!"
Daniel, in an uncharacteristically angry voice, responds in such a way that Jack once again wonders if Daniel's talking about something besides their son. "He needs to be taught a lesson before someone gets hurt."
Jack watches in horror as tears well up in Carter's eyes. Even though he knows it's not his place, he wants to run to her, to pull her into his arms, to promise her that everything will be fine. But before the argument goes any further, they all hear the sounds of someone coming in the front door. Sam is on her feet, pulling him into a one-sided hug before the boy even gets into the dining room.
"Carter, I was so worried about you!" Her voice is tearful and Jack's heart twists in his chest.
Carter pushes past his mother, dropping down into a chair and scooping food onto his plate, without responding. Of course, Jack can only assume he didn't hear his mother due to the earphones blasting so loud that Jack can hear the music from across the table. He's not anything like Jack expected. He's taller than both of his parents. Although he has the same sloppy over-sized style of clothing his father always preferred, Jack can tell the boy is considerably scrawnier than Daniel. He does have that same mass of thick, untamed brown hair that Daniel sported for several years.
Daniel reaches over and snags the keys Carter dropped on the table.
Although Jack would expect the boy's father to know how to press his buttons, Jack is surprised that Daniel is actually willing to do so. He never seemed the type to deliberately upset anyone. Carter looks up immediately, removing the earphones as Daniel planned, although he doesn't turn them off. "What's with that, dad?"
"I'm taking the car."
Carter stuffs a heaping forkful of macaroni in his mouth, not caring how rude it is to talk with his mouth full. "Taking it where?"
"I'll give it to the police and have them give it back to whoever you stole it from."
"Daniel!" Sam looks horrified, but Jack's more surprised to hear her voice, sharp and loud, for the first time in twenty years. "He said he didn't steal the car."
Daniel glares between his wife and son. "Then where did he get the money?"
Jack is amazed when Sam looks down, unable to answer. He doesn't know if that's an admission that she knows the boy stole the car or an admission that she gave him the money, but Jack can't comprehend that she has such a weakness, not even if it's her own son. Sam turns and walks away. Jack expects someone to follow her.
Daniel's voice sounds again as soon as she's out of earshot. "Carter, your mother and I are leaving in the morning. You should have been home."
"Whatever, dad." He tries to put his earphones back in, but Daniel interrupts.
"We have guests, Carter, don't be rude." Daniel sounds like an irritated father and Jack finds it creepier than he'd like to admit. He wishes he could just get up and leave; he's not convinced anyone would notice.
"Cass doesn't care. And I don't really care about impressing your boring professor friend here."
Cassie, who was pretending not to be there the same as Jack, glares. Daniel glares.
Jack can't help but laugh. "I've never been mistaken for a professor before."
Daniel continues, insisting on introducing his son to Jack, apparently unable to realize how embarrassing the situation should be for him. "Carter, this is Jack."
Carter's fork drops right out of his hand. A second later, Carter's face turns up to look at Jack for the first time.
The first thing that Jack sees is a pair of brown eyes that biology couldn't possibly attribute to Daniel or Sam.
Jack's fork drops right out of his hand. Suddenly, he wishes he'd taken that aspirin when he'd thought of it earlier. Because he knows that he might well have a heart attack staring into the shocked eyes of his son. It's like he's looking at himself at sixteen.
Carter recovers first, but not fully. His adolescent angst is gone, replaced by such fear that he looks childlike. "Mom!" He doesn't even give her a chance to respond. "Mom!"
Sam responds to her son's cries instantly, exactly as Jack knew she would. She folds the now willing boy into her arms. Although he's taller than she is, he suddenly seems tiny as he clings to his mother.
Jack is too stunned to move. He can't think. Except for one painfully cruel thought his mind feels compelled to shove at him. No wonder she tried so hard to reach you.
"Carter, wait!"
He doesn't listen to her, grabbing the keys away from Daniel's side before anyone even realizes he's moving.
"Carter, don't you dare walk out of this house!" Daniel's loud, angry voice shakes Jack to the core. Daniel should have known what would happen. Daniel should have warned someone.
Sam stays where she is in the doorway, blocking Carter's path. "Don't go, please."
"Move!"
Jack winces, recognizing the harsh tone in Carter's voice that is so much like his own. He can't imagine what she must have gone through, raising a child that was so obviously his. He stops caring about the aspirin. He'd welcome a heart attack. He wants to die for what he's done.
"Carter, please, don't leave."
"Why didn't you tell me Jack was coming?"
Jack hears the words, but his shock delays the processing. He still can't quite believe that he has a son, but his son seems to know him. Jack's eyes turn accusingly on Daniel, finally understanding. Jack is the only one there who had no idea of Carter's paternity.
Cassie's hand falls softly on Jack's skin. "You didn't know?"
Jack feels tears building in his eyes. He can't talk past the lump. He just shakes his head and the tears spill down his cheeks. Whatever wrong he did to her by running away, she's paid him back a hundred fold by never telling him about his son.
"I need some air, mom." Carter ducks under where Sam's arm is stretched across the doorway.
She doesn't try to stop him. She doesn't even move. "I love you, Carter." Carter doesn't answer.
Jack hates that his son can't say it either. Because he remembers all too clearly when she'd said it to him. He never believed that it was true, but he knows now that it was. And he remembers all too clearly that he'd ignored her - the same way Carter had.
He looks up at her, searching for her eyes to center him. He's overwhelmed with emotion. He doesn't know what he feels, besides every feeling he's ever had. He needs to see her, to hold her eyes, to reaffirm that unspoken bond that they'd once had.
But her head is hanging down and all he sees is her arm, still positioned across the open space to prevent the escape of someone who is already gone. He sees the way her sleeve has pulled back from her wrist in protest of the stretch. He sees the angry red scar that starts at the base of her hand and disappears several inches later under the sleeve. It's too neat, too precise to be a battle scar.
And he knows, of all the things that he regrets, that is the biggest of all - seeing, albeit seventeen years too late, what his unexplained departure had reduced her to.
She remembers a moment too late about her scar and Jack sees the carefully practiced way she drops her arm and shakes her sleeve back in place. She disappears down the hall, the telltale sounds of her feet on the stairs and a door closing revealing where she's gone.
Cassie stands up a moment later. "I'm going to check on Sam." And then she's gone too.