I recently re-watched "Learning Curve" and caught the mention of Cassie's former teacher and how Jack knew her and the kids. Of course, this fits in perfectly with this series. Honestly, I don't have the time or the patience to re-arrange the chapters in order, so just keep an eye on the chapter titles to see what year we're in!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
December, 1997
Scooping up three packages of juice boxes under his arm, Jack followed Sam, who was holding two containers full of sugar cookies. Daniel and Teal'c were behind them, each laden down with small bags of pretzels and chips, sprinkles, and pouches of icing. They all gathered outside the door of Cassie's sixth grade classroom and shared a look that often passed between them before they battled a battalion of Jaffa.
Cassie had settled into school without much trouble at all, and had proved time and again just how resilient she was. She was a smart little girl and was catching on to her school work faster than anyone had expected. Sam, of course, had taken it upon herself to be Cassie's personal tutor. Hanka did have some basic schooling, and they had been a literate society. Cassie did have some extra support from the school so she could catch up (they had told the school district that she had been home-schooled before Janet had adopted her), but they all thought that Cassie wouldn't need it after the new year.
The homeroom mom for Cassie's class had reached out to Janet to see if she wanted to get involved in some class activities. Janet had volunteered to bring snacks and cookies for the holiday party, before the kids went on their winter break. Sam had volunteered to help as well, and between her, Janet, and Cassie, the men of SG-1 had found themselves roped into becoming classroom helpers for the day.
Early that morning, around 3 AM, Janet had received a call from the SGC. SG-3 had come under heavy fire on their return from a routine mission, and their lieutenant had received a rather severe injury. The lieutenant was already in surgery, but they had wanted Janet there just in case there were any complications.
So Sam had come over and had seen Cassie off to school, assuring her that SG-1 would see her with the party supplies after lunch. Sam had gathered up the snacks and cookies and had met Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c at Cassie's school. Janet had finished up with the surgery just as Sam was leaving; the lieutenant had survived and though he had a tough road ahead, Janet was confident that he would make a full recovery. She still had to clean up and fill out some paperwork, but she was sure she could make it to Cassie's holiday party before the end of the day.
All of SG-1 knew of Janet's determination to provide as normal a life as possible for Cassie. She was so young and had already been through more than most adults faced in their lifetimes. Even though it made the most sense for someone at the SGC to adopt Cassie, there was still an element of danger and uncertainty that came with their jobs. Janet wasn't often in direct danger, as the base CMO, but they all knew that the time would come where the SGC might become compromised. In extreme medical situations, Janet could also go off-world, and that held its own separate type of danger.
Luckily, Janet hadn't really needed to go off-world too often, and they were getting better and better at the security measures needed to protect the SGC. SG-1, the rest of her adopted family, could face a life-or-death situation on any given day while they were visiting another planet. Cassie took all of this in stride. Having lived through the destruction of her entire planet, she unfortunately understood the risks all too well, and had developed some ways to adapt to them.
These moments helped. Cassie knew that as the flagship team, Sam, Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c were considered experts on Stargate travel and were often busy. Janet, as the CMO, was often just as busy, if not more so, given all the medical emergencies that tended to occur at the SGC. The fact that they all regularly made time to do these things with Cassie thrilled her, and she cherished every moment.
Jack reached out and put his hand on the doorknob to the classroom. "You guys ready?" he asked with an arched eyebrow. They had faced quite a few things on their missions exploring the universe, but there was something about a classroom full of sixth graders that was a little daunting.
"Ready," Daniel answered almost immediately. As always, he was one of the first willing to jump into any unknown situation. He fixed his meeting-the-natives-for-the-first-time smile on his face and pushed the door to the classroom open.
They were met with something that could only be described as controlled holiday chaos. Cassie's teacher, an older woman with a friendly smile, was leading a group of students in making snow globes out of mason jars and pine cones. Frosty the Snowman was playing in the background, and another group of students were happily watching the movie. Others were coloring and reading, and Christmas music was playing quietly in the background.
Three other mothers were at some tables towards the back of the classroom, organizing food and decorations. Jack blinked at the flurry of activity and said, "I thought we were all here because they needed extra help. There are already a ton of people here!"
Sam smiled, more than a little amused at seeing her normally stoic commanding officer looking so off-kilter in a room of twelve year old children. "These class parties are well-oiled machines, Sir," Sam explained. "There's a group of moms that run all of this regularly. The rest of us just volunteer when needed."
Jack let out a low whistle at that. "This is quite the operation," he muttered under his breath. Catching sight of Cassie's teacher crossing the room towards them, he put his own charm smile on. Out of the corner of her eye, Sam saw one of the classroom moms perk up at the sight of it, and she pressed her lips together to keep a giggle in. Daniel might have been their resident diplomat, but Jack could play it up when he wanted to.
Their attention was pulled back to Cassie's teacher. "Welcome! I'm Mrs. Struble. You all must be Cassie's family. Thank you so much for volunteering to help out with the party today."
"It's not a problem, ma'am," Jack said. "Just tell us where to go and what we need to do."
The rest of the introductions were made before Mrs. Struble told them, "Why don't you bring the snacks over to the table? Captain Carter, can you please help me set up cookie decorating station?"
"Of course!" Sam said. She brought the containers of cookies over to a set of four desks pushed together in a square. By that point, Cassie had caught sight of SG-1, and she ran over to greet Sam first. Wrapping her arms around Sam's waist, Cassie squeezed tightly, babbling a mile a minute about how much she loved Christmas and how she couldn't wait for Sam and the rest of the team to come over so they could build gingerbread houses.
Sam listened patiently as she laid out icing, sprinkles, and spatulas. She opened the containers of sugar cookies and lined them up, along with a stack of paper plates. Everything was lined up with military precision, and Cassie sent Sam an amused look.
"Is Mom on her way?" Cassie asked.
Sam wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. "She called right before we left. She just had to fill out some paperwork and she'll be right over."
Cassie glanced around to make sure no one was listening and then lowered her voice. "Everything is okay, right?"
Smiling, Sam hugged Cassie again, this time using both arms. This little girl had already been through so much in her short life, and had adapted to her new life better than anyone would have expected. Her sweet and empathetic nature rounded everything out—despite all of the pain Cassie had experienced, she still was more concerned for other than she ever was for herself. Sam knew that the Stargate program had given her a lot of great things in life, but Cassie was definitely one of the best.
Cassie, not entirely sure what Sam's emotional reaction was about, nonetheless accepted it and hugged her tightly in return. "I'll take that as a yes, then," she said with a laugh.
Of course, that was when Jack appeared beside them. He was already snacking on a sugar cookie, and had an opened juice box in the other hand. He was mid-bite when he paused and cast a concerned look between Sam and Cassie.
"Cass? Carter? Everything alright? What's with the…" He gestured between the two of them with the juice box. "…hugging?"
Sam sniffled slightly, embarrassed to have found herself so emotional in a sixth grade classroom. She squeezed Cassie one more time before letting go. "Nothing, Sir, Cassie is just a great kid…" She trailed off when she caught sight of the snacks in her commanding officer's hands.
Jack, noticing where Sam's gaze had went, tried his best to look innocent. Given the half-eaten cookie in his hand and the look that his second-in-command was giving him, Jack knew that he wasn't being slick.
"Sir." Sometimes, Jack found it amazing that Sam could take a word that was meant to signify that she was his subordinate, and use it to chastise him. "You do know that those are for the children, right?"
"Right." Jack shoved the juice box into Cassie's hands. "I got the juice for Cassie!"
With a smirk that she likely picked up directly from Jack O'Neill, Cassie gave the juice box a little shake. "It's almost empty," she told them.
Yeah, Jack should have known that Cassie was only on his side when she wanted to be. "I'm a child at heart?" he tried again. When Sam just arched an eyebrow at him in response, Jack shoved the rest of the cookie in his mouth and gave a disgruntled huff. "Come on, Carter, cut me a break. One of the classroom moms wouldn't stop hitting on me. We're in a room full of 12 year old kids, for crying out loud!"
"Which mom?" Cassie asked immediately. "It was Ms. Katz, wasn't it? She was totally checking you out earlier—"
And just like that, Cassie was acting like any other typical Earth kid in middle school. Sam let out a loud laugh and clapped a hand over her mouth in an effort to stifle it. Jack shot her a look, but didn't say much of anything else. Instead, he took Cassie by the shoulders and steered her towards the cookie decorating table.
"Come on, Cass. I'm gonna stick by you for the rest of the party," Jack declared. "And maybe I'll use Daniel to run interference…"
No longer bothering to hide her laughter, Sam followed Cassie and Jack. Someone needed to supervise them, after all. As Sam joined them at the cookie table, she heard Mrs. Struble ask Jack if he and the rest of the team would be willing to come in for career day. Before Jack could respond, Cassie was already agreeing for all of them. Jack caught Sam's eye and grinned. It looked as if the next team night was going to be all about educating Teal'c on what, exactly, a career day was.
I meant to have this up before Christmas, but there was this whole thing where a tree was in danger of falling on my house at Christmas Eve (everyone is fine, the tree was able to be safely taken down and it didn't fall), so that drama paired with the holidays completely exhausted. I just started another semester of graduate school as well, so I have to carve out time for writing on top of my school work. As always, thank you for the reviews, and thanks for taking the time to read this!
