A/N:Thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter. And to skye, yeah, the doctor from Jersey is House, I forgot to put in a disclaimer for that in the last chapter, but if you thought that I owed House, then I suggest you see a doctor. Anyway, here's the next chapter, and um, it might be the last for a week or more. RL is hitting big time, I really shouldn't even be taking the time to post this, but I love reviews and well, I'm hoping you guys will review. Anyway, read, enjoy, and REVIEW! Reviews make me happy.
Chapter 12
Two weeks later, very little had changed. The Tok'ra still hadn't responded and so Tanith was in a medically induced coma, partly to control him and partly because no one could think of any other way to alleviate the mental horror that the host Hebron was being subjected to by Tanith, and that of being trapped in his own body. Teal'c was making the occasional sneak attack on the infirmary, though for each one Kate had managed to get him to back off. Jack and Sam weren't talking. In fact there was very little communication between the Colonel and Major and there was only icy-pain filled silence between Jack and Sam. The only good things to happen in the past two weeks were the learning of the host's name and the fact that the general population of the SGC had eased up on their disapproval of Kate. She was too much like her father for people to hate for long. But Kate had had enough.
She was sick to death of the icy silence between her father and Major Carter. Kate didn't understand why he didn't just talk to her. But being an O'Neill meant action, so tired of the awkwardness that had permeated the entire base, she confronted the problem head on.
"Colonel! May I speak with you?" She called down the hall at his retreating form. Jack turned slowly, and nodded completely resigned. There was no mischief in his brown eyes, no grin, even his trademark smirk was gone. Quickly stepping into his often-unused office after him and closing the door, Kate turned to him.
"What's up Katie Rose?" He asked, sitting heavily behind his desk, cluttered with weeks of unread memos and avoided paperwork.
"Talk to her."
"What? Why would I talk to who about what?"
"Don't play stupid with me. Talk to Carter. The two of have got to figure this thing between you out."
"What thing?" Years of Black Ops and four long months as a POW in Iraq had taught Jack evasion skills unparalleled by anyone else on base, except for Teal'c who few would ever even think to interrogate.
"Don't B.S. me Dad. You are in love with Sam Carter. It's simple, it's wonderful, and not telling her is destroying you."
"Wait a minute, young lady. You can't just go around making accusations like that on a military base. You know better…"
"What? You are going to give me a lecture on what? Military decorum? Insubordination? Dad drop the act. I don't want to have this conversation with the Colonel. I want to talk to my Dad," Kate quickly interrupted him, giving him no time to speak an raising her voice just a notch over his own voice level.
"Katie, Carter and I have nothing to talk about. As far as I know she and the rest of the team are doing fine with the personnel changes around here. SG-1 is scheduled to go off-world in two days, are you saying that there is a team issue I need to deal with?" As always he tried to cover any truth about his feelings with work and the team. But Katie had heard the excuses as often as everyone, and she had the advantage of having heard the truth just as many times.
"No. Daddy please, listen to me. You and Sam need to talk. Major Carter is doing as well as any 2IC could ever be expected to with finding out about her CO's grown daughter, but Sam isn't."
"Katie, Sam and Carter are the same person."
"No they aren't and you know it! And you know that she isn't doing well with all of this either, but you're hiding behind your rank, behind your mask, 'cause you don't want to deal with it. Because you're scared."
"Scared? Katie, I'm not scared…"
"Then why won't you talk to her? Is it me you're worried about? Daddy, you have my permission if that's what you want. Please, I just want you to be happy. And don't tell me that you are, because I know your not. You haven't smiled or cracked a bad joke since I came."
"You haven't called me 'Daddy' since you were 13."
"Well, right now I want to talk to my Daddy. I don't want to talk to the Colonel."
"Katie, you know all the reasons why Sam and I can't talk. Besides, she's with Pete now, she's happy with him." The defeat in his voice and eyes would have terrified anyone else who knew him, but Katie had seen him this desponded before, and she had seen him come out of it. She could only hope that he had the strength to do it again.
"She broke up with him two weeks ago, don't give me that look. Sam and I happen to share a best friend, and both of us are becoming worried about your mental state. And yes, I know all the reasons why you shouldn't talk, but not talking is killing the two of you. Can just talking, explaining things face to face really be that bad?"
"The Air Force sees it that way. Katie, I will never harm her career that way, I respect her too much to ever put her in a position where she has to chose between me or her career. I know how important the Air Force, and her career are to her. I won't do it."
"So for God and Country, the two of you will kill your souls? My God Dad! The two of you save the world every other week and you can't come up with a way to be happy? Both of you are geniuses, either one of you could put Einstein to shame and yet you won't even try to be happy. Do you want to be miserable the rest of your life?"
"Carter and I have made choices and taken oaths. Neither one of use will go back on our word, you of all people know that I have never broken my word, why do you suddenly expect me to?"
"Because, some things are more important than God and Country! All I am saying is talk to her, not get in her pants! If they want to court martial you for talking to her then screw them! They deserve to lose the two of you if they want to get rid of the two of you that badly, which they don't by the way. You have Hammond on your side, hell you've probably got her father, or at least his symbiote on your side. I know that the little gray guy, whatshisname, uh, Thor would stick up for the two of you. Talk to her. That's all I want. That's all I ask."
"Fine, if I promise to talk to Sam, will you let this drop?"
"Pinky promise?" She asked, watching his eyes and face for the truth.
A grin spread across his face, a real smile, not the smirk he threw around at work, but the full-on complete grin that Katie had grown up seeing, "Pinky promise, Katie Rose. Pinky promise. Now can we go back to being Doctor and Colonel? You remember how bad things got the last time we strayed from those roles while at work."
"Hey, that was your fault! I never asked to have to treat your Special Ops group at that field hospital!" She laughed at the memory, which at the time had not been so funny. They both had lost perspective of who they were when they were working and who they were in their personal lives. It had been an awful mess.
"Life preparing us for this?" he suggested laughing. The mess that their role confusion had created years ago hadn't happened again. Which was a good thing, but it had still been a kick in the gut for him to realize that she wasn't his little girl who did as he asked anymore, that she felt completely comfortable giving orders, giving him orders.
"Maybe, you know I just want you to be happy, right?"
"Aren't I the one who's supposed to want that for y? But yeah, sweetheart, I know. I'm getting back to happy, it's just slow."
"I know Dad. I'm getting back to happy too. It's just kinda scary, ya know? It feels like we've gone back in time. Our worlds seem to be colliding and I don't know where I fit in your world anymore." Her voice, normally clam, confident, and in control, was shaking, as were her hands. She hated it when her hands shook, for a surgeon, shaking hands were a death sentence.
"C'mere Katie Rose," Jack, for the first time in years, pulled his daughter into his arms. Even though his knees protested slightly, he settled his far too thin daughter on his lap, the way he had when she was a small child, "Yes, our worlds are colliding, but maybe they needed too. And yeah, it scares the hell outa me too, cause we both know how well I deal with change. You fit in my world in the same place you always have, the center. I know it seems like you're not the center of my world anymore, but that's only because I'm not sure where I fit in your world anymore. We will figure this out. Same as we always do Katie."
"I know. Guess I'm not as tough as I want people to believe huh?"
"Well if I was going up against Teal'c and his whole Jaffa revenge thing, I'd certainly want to be, oh I don't know, Superman."
"Captain America" she teased back. It was an old game they had played throughout her childhood and throughout Charlie's short childhood, whenever one of them got scared about anything they named superheroes, because no matter what they always won. They had started the game when she was seven and none of the doctors could figure out why she was sick. They had played it ever since.
"The Hulk." Jack was determined to get her to smile again.
"Batman."
"Wolverine."
"Gambit."
"Silver Surfer."
"Human Torch and Mr. Fantastic."
"One that's cheating, you only get one superhero per turn."
"Yeah well, they're part of a team, so they go together." He scrambled to find a justification.
"Then you should have said the whole group, not just two of them."
"Well…"
"Spiderman. I win."
"You got me there. He is the best. And he's even got a sense of humor." Jack conceded the victory to her. Over the years, she had noticed that she always won, but like always she didn't complain about it.
"Why do you think I named him?" Standing up and moving to the door, she gave her father a shaky grin, "Thanks Dad."
"For what?"
"For everything? Oh and remember to talk to Sam. You promised."
"And father's should never break their promises to their daughters?"
"Yeahsureyabetcha. Love you Dad."
"Love you too Katie. Love you too."
As Katie left his office, Jack's thoughts turned to two more conversations ahead of him. One with Sam and one with Hammond.
