Chapter 15: Choosing Your Family
Morning greeted him with the sound of the television next door and he padded over to find Danny and Teal'c sitting on the floor watching the morning cartoons. Danny captivated, and Teal'c in open curiosity. Sam was still in bed, the covers drawn up over her head. Deciding the boys were absorbed in the television, he ducked into the bathroom for a quick wash and change, then after another quick peek to ensure the three kids hadn't moved, he went to the commissary for breakfast for all of them.
He was back in a few minutes carrying a tray with four bowls, spoons, several small cartons of milk and a choice of small boxes of cereals, ones that didn't have too much sugar in them. He'd even forgone his usual Fruit Loops. The last thing he needed was more fistfights.
Deciding there was no harm in letting them eat right there in front of the TV, he set the tray in front of them. They barely took their eyes off the screen as they helped themselves to the food. Jack shook his head, and turned his attention to the youngest.
Pulling the covers down to reveal her head, he called to her softly. "Hey Sam. C'mon sweetie, time to wake up, breakfast is ready. You don't want Teal'c and Danny to eat everything do you? Sam?" The pillow moved, only to be drawn over the seven year olds head. Jack grinned, sitting on the edge of the bed, and tugged at the covers, revealing the curled up ball that was the childish body of his 2IC. Some things never changed, and although as an adult she tended to sleep lighter, she still favored the curled up on her side position most of all. Apparently, it was a habit cultured since childhood. He pulled the pillow up and peered underneath, bouncing up and down on the bed at the same time. "S-a-a-a-a-m? Time to wakey wakey!" he called a bit more exuberantly.
She tugged the pillow back and tried to roll over, curling into a tighter ball, "G'way," he heard, although the words were muffled.
His grin widened, and he snatched the pillow away, keeping up his bouncing. She whined, her arms coming up in a stretch over her head, but not before he caught the traces of a faint smile under the bruises from the previous day. He realized that little Sam was difficult to wake up, but was also playing with him. This called for more drastic measures.
Jack stopped bouncing. "It's too bad Sam doesn't want to get up." He sighed dramatically. "Because now I'm going to have to tickle her!" Without warning, his hands snaked up under the T-shirt she was wearing, finding her ribs and stomach. Within seconds, she was squealing and giggling, writhing on the bed, her small hands vainly trying to push his away. He gave her no mercy, lightly tracing ribs, digging under her arms, going after her feet, trying behind her knees and neck, seeking out all the potential ticklish spots, and discovering that she had quite a few. Finally, he decided she'd had enough, but by that point she was nothing but a giggling, panting pile of mush half sprawled across his lap, clothes rumpled, hair tousled, cheeks rosy.
She smiled up at him, and abruptly sat up, her arms wrapping around his neck. Before he knew what she was doing she had planted a wet kiss on his cheek and scampered off the bed, plopping down between the two boys, and helping herself to the cereal. Jack sat staring at her, wondering what the hell had just happened and suddenly knowing he was in love. Not in a romantic sense, but truly in love with these kids. Without a doubt, he knew he'd die for them, and any doubts he'd had the day before about his decision had melted away. He would do whatever was necessary to make sure these three didn't get split up and sent away, because he'd be caring for them himself until such time a solution was found, no matter how long that took. And if a solution was never found, well, he'd deal with that too.
Jack stood up from the bed, and moved to join the kids in front of the TV, pouring his own bowl of cereal, sorely missing his Fruit Loops, but telling himself it was for the greater good. He'd have to remember to pay attention to the sugar content of things from now on, because he didn't think this little group needed a whole lot of sugar, and he knew they'd be exposed to plenty of occasions outside of his own control where they'd get it. But at least he could limit it in his own home. He sighed. There would be a lot of things changing.
At the next commercial break, Jack grabbed the remote and muted the set, catching the kids' attention. Three sets of eyes turned to look at him. He cleared his throat. "So. How would you guys like to come and stay with me for a little while?"
"All of us?" asked Daniel.
"All of you," confirmed Jack.
"What about my Mom?" Sam looked worried.
Closing his eyes briefly, Jack wished for a way to make it better. "I'm sorry Sam, your Mom still can't be here right now, and your Dad is still away on a mission."
"Okay," she answered, subdued. Danny moved a little closer to her, and Jack didn't miss the move.
"I would be most grateful to stay with you Colonel O'Neill," said Teal'c, nodding solemnly. At Teal'c's agreement, the others added their own affirmatives.
Jack smiled. "Ok, it's settled then. I'll tell General Hammond. It will be another day or two, because I haven't had kids at my place for a long time, and we're going to need a few things. We're going to have to do a little shopping ok?"
The kids all nodded and Danny piped up with a question, "Will we have our own rooms?"
"Well, I only have two extra bedrooms, so you and Teal'c will have to share the bigger room if that's ok, and Sam can have the smaller one." Mentally reviewing the furniture in the two rooms, he decided that the full sized bed in the smaller room would do fine, but the large queen sized bed would have to go in the other. He'd let the two boys pick out the beds they wanted. He was leaning on bunk beds that could be stacked or left separately. Since the boys were getting new furniture, he'd probably have to let Sam get something too, and since that room was rather sparse it wouldn't hurt to let her pick out a little desk or something. And they'd all need some bedding. He frowned. He'd have to see if there was a spending account for this sort of thing, he thought there was.
Danny and Teal'c had looked at each other at the mention they'd be sharing a room. The two had been wary around each other since the other day, but had seemed to reach some sort of unspoken agreement. Wordlessly, they looked at each other, and then back to him before nodding, and all three faces had perked up at the prospect of leaving the base to go shopping.
Several hours later the kids had all had showers and changed into clean sets of donated clothing. Jack had given his decision to General Hammond, and the General had started the paperwork, giving him leave to deal with the new family situation effective immediately. He'd also supplied Jack with a credit card to finance things absolutely necessary, since the children were technically "wards of the state," and secret ones at that. Paperwork was filed to initiate the process of granting Jack guardianship status and a cover story was created for the three children. They decided to make the story simple, and make all three kids foster kids, with Jack the foster parent. It would explain their different last names, and their different appearances, despite the fact that it wasn't typical for a single parent to be a foster care provider. If questioned too closely, he could say there were extenuating circumstances that prompted the children to be placed in his care.
Now he just had to explain it to the kids. Gathering them around, he sat on the bed, and Sam curled into his side, Danny sitting on the floor and Teal'c choosing to stand in front of him. Taking a deep breath, he started. "Ok, you guys remember that big ring? The one we all came through that was like a roller coaster ride?" The kids all nodded, eyes wide. "Well, it's called the Stargate, and it's a secret, and so is this place, not this base, but down here, where the Stargate is. You guys know what a secret is right?"
"That's when you know something, and you can't tell anybody else," said Sam.
"That's exactly right." Jack squeezed his arm around Sam's shoulders, and she smiled at him, pleased with the praise. "So," he continued, "The Stargate is our secret, and we can't tell anybody…"
"Why?" interrupted Daniel.
Jack blinked. It was a good question actually, and he really couldn't tell them the real answer, that the world wasn't ready to face the fear of possible alien invasion and being enslaved by false gods. Nope, that wouldn't fly. He'd have to think of a different reason. "Because," he said slowly, "They'd all want to ride on our Stargate, and it's really not big enough. Then we'd never be able to go on it." He watched in satisfaction as realization dawned on all their faces and they nodded. Sharing was something they all understood.
"But why don't you just build another Stargate?" asked Sam with the perfect logic of seven years old. She was too smart already.
Jack thought fast. "Because you need really big magnets to make one, and we only had enough to make one Stargate. That's why." Teal'c was staring at him skeptically, but the other two were nodding in understanding. He decided it was better to change the subject. "Ok, while we're on the subject of secrets, we have another secret we need to talk about. When people ask where you kids are from and why you are staying with me, Teal'c, people don't know about you, ok?" Teal'c nodded, and so did the other kids, who didn't understand what Jack was talking about. "Danny and Sam, you guys are easier to explain, and the story for why all three of you coming to live with me is that you are all in foster care, and I'm going to be your foster parent for a little while." He received nods from Sam and Teal'c and a vague shrug from Daniel. Foster care was nothing new to Daniel. Deciding they'd probably have to work on it a little over the next few days, he stood up, pulling Sam to her feet in the process. "Ok guys, we ready for some shopping?" At the exuberant cheers, he led the way off base.
A/N: So, other stories get like a million reviews every time Sam and Jack kiss. So, I figure Jack kissed Sam last chapter, and this chapter, not only did Sam kiss Jack, but Jack has fallen in love, so I should expect loads of reviews right? That, or ya'll are going to throw stuff at me, like rotten tomatoes and old shoes. (Ducks and hides just in case.) Heh. But still… They kissed right? That's got to be worth something! Ahahahaha!