I appreciate every single one of you that read, reviewed, and followed this story. It's been a loooong time since I had enough time or energy to write anything, let alone post it, so I really am thankful for the time you've taken to even read this!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of it.
August, 1998
Cassie ran through Jack's house and into the backyard, only stopping when she saw the person she was most looking forward to seeing. She took a deep breath, her young face cast in a frown much too knowing for someone her age.
Even though it was still light out, Sam was perched in front of the campfire Jack had going in his backyard. Her knees were drawn up to her chest, her arms wrapped around them, with her cheek resting on one knee. She had a vacant, sort of lost look in her eyes—it was one that they had all seen quite a bit since Jolinar's possession of Sam almost two months ago.
Cassie bit her lip, considering. She didn't hear Daniel come up beside her, but she did notice when he put her hand on her shoulder and crouched down next to her. She looked over at him, suddenly feeling like she might cry… which, at twelve years old, she was simply too old to do.
Daniel smiled kindly at her, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. "She's doing much better, you know," he told her.
Taking a deep breath, Cassie nodded her head. She knew that, of course. SG-1 had been on downtime since the whole fiasco with Jolinar had gone down, and they would continue with their time off the mission list for another two months. Everyone wanted to make sure that Sam—and the rest of SG-1, by extension—had a suitable amount of time to recover from the incident.
"I know," Cassie finally said. She remembered seeing Sam in the infirmary for the first time, once Jolinar had died within her. It had been much worse, then, but Sam had finally started talking a few hours after Cassie had visited. Still, Cassie wasn't used to seeing her friend so sad.
"She still gets sad sometimes, but she's getting better," Daniel continued. "I bet she'd like it if you went to go sit with her."
Cassie nodded again, slowly this time. It wasn't that she was afraid of Sam—she hadn't been since Jack had found her in her mom's office and assured her that he was going to fix this. Cassie just wished that she could do more to help Sam, since she had done so much for her.
Cassie patted Daniel's hand on her shoulder and then crossed Jack's yard, making sure to make enough noise so that Sam could hear her approach. Cassie was almost next to her by the time Sam looked up, and she managed a small smile for the young girl.
These team gatherings had been happening at Jack's house (sometimes Sam's, and sometimes Janet's) with some regularity since Cassie had first arrived on Earth almost a year ago. Since they had all been Earth-side for almost two months, they were now happening at least once a week. Cassie knew it was because they wanted to keep Sam was distracted as possible, and keeping her with her team was a good way to accomplish that.
"Hey, Cass," Sam greeted in a tired voice.
"Hi, Sam," Cassie returned as she sat on one of the benches that Jack had arranged around his firepit. She settled next to Sam, putting her hand on her arm and squeezing once. She leaned over, resting her head on Sam's arm and just sat quietly with her.
Eventually, Sam cleared her throat. "How's it going, Cass? Are you enjoying the last few weeks of summer vacation?"
Cassie perked up a bit at the mention of her summer vacation. She had been fascinated by the concept of Earth schooling, and of course had taken to it immediately. Cassie had done well in school, made a ton of friends, and had started playing soccer. She had been equally thrilled to discover that they got time off for holidays, and for the entire summer. The concept of summer camp had also been introduced to Cassie, and she had enjoyed swimming in lakes and making all sorts of crafts that she brought home to her mom and all the members of SG-1.
"Great!" Cassie answered immediately. "I learned how to fish in my last week of summer camp!"
"You learned how to fish?" That was Jack, who joined them with a cooler full of beer and soda, and juice boxes for Cassie. Daniel had plates, and Teal'c was carrying a platter of sandwiches in one hand, and had a camp table tucked under his opposite arm. Janet was following with bags of chips and cut up raw vegetables, pointedly ignoring Jack when he kept telling her that no one was going to eat them.
Teal'c set up the food and Janet passed out sandwiches, chips, and veggies. She made sure to put extra veggies on Jack's plate, just to annoy him, and Cassie giggled at the face he made. He winked at her in return before chomping loudly on a piece of celery. Next to her, Sam let out a quiet laugh as well, and Cassie saw that Jack noticed the sound. He smiled warmly at Sam, and her own broadened in return.
Cassie, noticing the interaction between two of her favorite people, smiled up at them. She had once asked her mom if Sam and Jack were dating. When Janet had spluttered and answered that they weren't, Cassie had demanded to know why not. Janet had patiently explained the regulations to Cassie at a level that she could understand, but Cassie had been pouty about it for quite a while after that.
Daniel noticed Cassie smiling and looking between Jack and Sam, and he turned his chuckle into a cough that he hid behind his hand. Janet sent him a knowing look, having picked up on what Cassie had noticed as well.
Jack passed out drinks and Daniel added another log to the campfire, and they all settled in to eat dinner. Jack sat on the other side of Cassie, effectively sandwiching the young girl between himself and Sam. Cassie laughed again as Jack wiggled on the seat, thoroughly jostling Cassie in the process, as he exaggerated getting comfortable by the fire.
Sam was smiling affectionately as she watched them, and Cassie had a feeling that Jack was being extra silly just to make Sam smile. Satisfied that Sam was now in a better mood than she had been when she arrived, Jack stopped shifting them all around on the bench so much and dug into his own food.
They were almost finished eating when Jack leaned over and said, just low enough for Cassie to hear, "You done good, kid."
Cassie glanced up at him, a questioning look on her face. Jack just grinned at her and ruffled her hair and didn't say anything else, but the pride was obvious on his face.
Cassie was close to all of the members of SG-1—Teal'c was the first one she had come in contact with, and she had inherently felt safe with him. Daniel was so kind and understanding, and loved to teach her about new things. Sam, of course, had given her a new home, and had protected her with great risk to her own life.
Her relationship with Jack was a little different, but nonetheless close. Once the mess with the whole device in her chest had been resolved and Jack was no longer concerned with some Goa'uld trying to blow them all up, he had welcomed her to Earth like he had known her his whole life. He was quick to introduce her to everything he knew about Earth, but never made her feel like she was alien from another planet. She was a part of his family, now, in a way that was complete and absolute.
He had explained to Cassie, when he had picked her up from soccer practice one weekend, that he had once had a son that passed away. She had seen the pictures in his house before, of course, and had asked Janet about it. Janet had sadly told her that that was Jack's story to share, but she must have told him that Cassie had been asking questions. Cassie didn't know the specifics, but she had told Jack that any kid would have been lucky to have him as a dad. Jack had watched her for a long moment, his eyes suspiciously bright, before he wiped underneath them and hugged her for a very long time.
They—Janet and SG-1—were her family now, her people. Having a first-hand experience with just how dangerous the universe could be, Cassie was in a unique position to understand just how dangerous her family's jobs were. Sam's blending with Jolinar was only further proof of that, and Cassie wasn't afraid to admit that that had scared her quite a bit.
SG-1 had rallied around Cassie just as much as they had around Sam, though. Cassie knew that as long as SG-1 had each other, her new family was going to be okay.
Jack stretched both of his arms over the back of the bench, reaching his arm behind Cassie until his hand could brush against Sam's shoulder. On the other side of her, Sam settled further back into the bench, until she was leaning more into Jack's hand. Both Sam and Jack were smiling again, and Cassie stared down into the empty plate in her lap, so no one could see how giddy that made her.
Yeah, her new family would be just fine.
In my re-watch of SG-1, I realized that I just can't get over how intense Jack was during "In the Line of Duty." Like, he had so many feelings in that episode, and it's interesting to go back and try and dissect it now. I could probably do a whole separate fic on it, honestly, even though it's all been done before. It would still be fun to try and do, though!
Um, I also realize that these first few chapters are pretty… angsty, which was not really my intent. But any episode that had Cassie in it will certainly be featured, and after the next chapter, things should lighten up a little bit! Thanks for reading!
