Disclaimer: All recognisable characters are the property of MGM/Amazon. No copyright infringement intended. I am simply taking my favourite two Gaters for a walk in an Alternate Universe.
Rating: Still T...
Episode Tags: Takes place in Season 7 after 7.16 Death Knell. Tag to 1.15 Singularity, 2.20 Show and Tell and 7.17/18 Heroes
A/N: No specific triggers in this chapter. I have no beta, so all mistakes are my own.
Chapter 6: Condolence
Pulling up in my driveway, I cursed myself for not taking the General up on his offer to have an airman drive me home. P3X-666 had been a disaster zone. SG-3 and SG-13 had come under extremely heavy fire. General Hammond had deployed me to provide medical assistance with Daniel supporting, and SG-2 to assist with the extraction. I owed Daniel my life. If not for his quick thinking, that staff blast would have hit me instead of the trauma med kit he threw in my direction moments before impact, its contents absorbing the worst of the blast. My only injury, a bruised coccyx when the blast sent me from my crouched position onto the ground with jarring force. Unfortunately, Daniel's decision meant I was unable to stabilise Senior Airman Wells, and we lost him to heavy blood loss.
I had not been home in 4 days, which meant that I had yet to break the news about Sam to Cassie. Doing it over the phone just felt wrong. The news might be late, but at least we would have each other for comfort. I sighed at the awful task I had ahead of me. Opening my car door, I stepped out and shuffled more than walked toward my door. I could already hear Cassie's music blaring from the living room. Why that girl had to turn it up so loud boggled my mind. Four days of mail spewing forth from my mailbox greeted me. Of course, because a teenager checking the mail was a phenomenon of epic proportions. Coming through my front door, I can only imagine what I looked like juggling the mail and my bag whilst also trying to cover my ears. Admittedly, I liked the most recent album from the Chili Peppers [1], just not at such a high volume.
"Cassie!" I yelled at the hairbrush wielding, manic dancing teenager in my living room. Nothing. Dumping everything I had on the floor, I marched over to the sound system and pressed stop.
"Hey!" She whined immediately, "I was listening to that!" She huffed, hands flying to her hips.
I scoffed, "Yeah, so was the entire street. You do know what that will do to your ears?" I said pointing toward the CD player.
"Huh?" She replied, putting her hand up to her ear before smirking and laughing. "You look tired Mum; you should sit down. I'll get you a drink." She offered. I watched as she headed to our kitchen.
I took her advice, "You are spending far too much time with Colonel O'Neill." I called out, my eyes falling on a picture of the four of us taken the day the Colonel introduced us to Buddy at the park. Suddenly I remembered what I had to do. I felt my smile fade.
"Where is he anyway? He missed our Sunday walk with Buddy, and Sam missed our chess game on Saturday." She responded, looking at me quizzically. "Mum?"
I looked up as she walked back into the lounge with two glasses of orange juice. I felt my eyes mist over. How was I going to tell her. Sam had been a constant in her life since the day SG-1 brought her back through the gate almost 7 years ago.
"Mum? What's wrong…" Cassie pressed, placing both glasses of the coffee table and giving me a look of impatient consternation. "C'mon Mum, you're worrying me." She said, her face showing concern as she walked over to my side, her hand falling on my shoulder.
I couldn't hold it in anymore. "It's Sam… she's… she's… oh God, Cassie, she's dead." I burst out, a flood of emotion making itself known. For someone who had been the bearer of bad news on more than one occasion in my professional life, I was surprised at my inability to keep it together. I hadn't let myself believe it until now.
"No… no… she can't be…" Cassie faltered, shaking her head, taking a few steps backwards.
I stood up to take her in my arms. "I'm sorry… Cassie."
"No…" She shook her head again, fingers pressed into her temples, tears welling up in her eyes. "She's not... she can't be…" Her voice cracked.
"Cassie…" I cried as she continued to back away from me.
"NO!" She shouted. "She can't die… she can't…" Cassie mumbled, her legs bumping against the couch behind her. She let out a wracking sob just as I made it to her. Wrapping my arms around my adoptive daughter, we sank down to the couch as one grieving unit. "She promised she'd always come home… she promised…" Cassie's agonising cries breaking my heart as we rocked together, her warm tears spilling onto my forearm.
"I know honey… I know." I whispered, cradling her as best I could while she fought against me, her repetitive whispers of "she promised" fueling my tears.
We stayed like that for what felt like ages, taking solace in each other's pain, our orange juice all but forgotten. Eventually the tears slowed.
"What happened?" She asked, wiping her face. I passed her a tissue.
"A Kull warrior shot her at the Alpha Site." I replied. "We don't know how it found her. She was there with her dad working on a prototype weapon. I'm so sorry Cassie." I watched as her tears started flowing again. Suddenly she looked up at me, her face a paler shade of white.
Her face hardened, her normally warm brown eyes growing cold, "Is it dead? Did they kill it?" She asked with a level of malice I had never heard from her before.
"Yes, Sam killed it, but not before it got off its own shot." I explained, pulling her head back to my shoulder. She went quiet for a while before suddenly jerking her head up again to look at me.
"Oh my God, what about Uncle Jack. Is he OK? He called me before he left to make sure I hadn't forgotten about Sunday."
I shook my head, "He saw it happen, she…" I faltered on the next part. I closed my eyes and breathed before attempting to continue, "…oh Cass, she died in his arms." I said, my tears starting up again. I couldn't imagine what he was going through. "He wasn't injured physically, but he's…" I looked down, not sure how to tell my 18-year-old daughter about Jack's state of mind. "…not good. He's in a bad way."
She stood up quickly, grabbing another tissue. "We have to go to him Mum, he needs us."
"I don't think he would want us hanging around, Daniel and Teal'c are already there."
"I don't care what he wants, I care about what he needs. He's the closest thing I have to a dad. I know what he is going through. I won't let him suffer like he did after Charlie. He was there for me after Hanka, just like Sam was. I need to be there for him." She said, her hands balancing on her hips.
"You know about Charlie?" I asked. Colonel O'Neill had been famously tight-lipped about Charlie. Only a few people even knew he had had a son.
She smiled sadly, "Yeah, he told me a few years ago, you remember when he was shot by the invisible alien?"
"Yeah, you joined SG-1 for their team night because I was on call." I replied.
She nodded, "They were discussing the little boy that came through the Gate and how he asked Uncle Jack if he could be called Charlie. I was curious, so I asked."
"He talked about Charlie in front of his whole team… openly?" I asked, surprised since I knew how much of a sore topic it was.
She shook her head, "No, not straight away, but later after the others had left for the night, with just me and Sam, he just started talking. He called the both of us his girls. I think he had had too much to drink." She smiled happily. "It was nice, like I had my dad back again."
I sighed. Clearly, she would brook no argument from me on this, "Well, if you want to go, I'd be happy to drop you off in the morning." I said, coming to my feet, "Right now, I really need to sleep."
"You know if you let me get my licence, this would be much easier."
"Cassandra. Can we not do this now?" I scolded, not wanting to tell her that I had planned with Sam and the Colonel for them to show her the ropes. Maybe when he was feeling more himself, we would approach the topic again.
She looked down at me, her eyes still rimmed red. At some point, she had overtaken me in height, not that I was surprised by that. "Fine! Do you mind if I call Uncle Daniel? I'd like to go tonight." She asked.
I smiled weakly, "Sure Cass." I replied, smoothing her hair. I stopped to give her a kiss. She was right about one thing, after losing everyone she had ever known, I had no doubt she could be a pillar of strength for the Colonel. God knows, he needed it. I bade her goodnight and headed up to my room.
I watched Mum amble up the corridor. I don't think I had ever seen her so tired. She was hurting as much as I was. I cast my eyes over the forgotten OJ glasses and sighed. I no longer felt like that kind of drink. The night had become an ice cream and hot chocolate night. I picked up the two glasses and carried them to the kitchen. I considered funnelling them back into the bottle, but since Mum would no doubt drink them tomorrow morning, that seemed to defeat the purpose of pouring them in the first place. I covered each glass with plastic wrap and placed them side by side in the fridge before picking up the phone and calling Uncle Daniel.
"Hello." He said, I noted his voice was drawn.
"Uncle Daniel?" I said with a broken voice. No. I would not break, not now. I had to hold it together, at least until I arrived at Uncle Jack's place. "I just found out – and Mum is really tired, she's gone to bed, and I really really want to see Uncle Jack – I…" I rattled off so fast my words were bleeding together.
"Whoa, whoa Cass, take it easy. Are you sure? He's not really talking right now."
"Yes, please – it doesn't matter if he won't talk. I just – I need…" I wasn't sure how to explain what I needed. Hell, I didn't know what I needed. Something told me that I had to be there. Uncle Jack didn't need talking right now, he needed silent support. I knew I could give him that.
"OK, give me 15 minutes." He replied.
"Thank you." I said, before hanging up the phone.
I almost ran to my room, grabbing my school bag from the study on the way. Once in my room, I unceremoniously upended it – books, notepads, my pencil case and what looked like a week-old apple – spilled onto the floor. Giving the bag a test sniff and deciding it didn't smell like fermented fruit, I shoved in a pair of jeans and two shirts along with an assortment of underwear. Moving to the bathroom, I deposited my toothbrush, hairbrush, and a few other personal items then slung the bag over my shoulder. The thought that I'd never be able to enjoy a girl's pampering night with Sam again hit me. A surge of emotion bubbled up, threatening to burst. I closed my eyes and willed the hurt away, there would be time for this later. I bent over and retrieved the evil apple from my floor and chucked it in my bin before leaving my room and heading to the back door.
"Hey Buddy." I said as I kneeled and ruffled the fur around the Australian Shepherd's [2] floppy ears. He cocked his head and looked at me. Sniffing at my face, he made a funny little mewling noise. It's like he knew what had happened. Uncle Jack always said that dogs had a sixth sense, that you could always trust a dog to know when you were sad. I smiled. "I think you can come with me. Uncle Jack needs a friend right now." I said, ruffling his neck again. Coming to my feet, I reached behind the door for his leash. "C'mon." I swear he almost smiled. Walking into the kitchen with the tap tap tap of doggy claws on the tiles, I opened the cupboard and snagged his container of biscuits and a few cans of night time chow. I hadn't washed his bowl and I figured I'd be able to use one of Uncle Jack's. A few minutes later I heard Uncle Daniel knock on the door.
"Hi." The first thing I noticed was his red eyes and streaked face. Oh boy, this was going to be hard.
"Hey Cass, hey Buddy. Ready to go?" He asked.
"Yeah. Thanks again for coming Uncle Daniel."
"Anytime Cass." He said with a wane smile. "Can I take that?"
I looked down at my arm load of doggie treats. "Yeah, thanks." I said, handing them over. Together, we trudged out to the car, completely silent. I had no idea what to say. My mind was squarely focused on keeping it together until I saw Uncle Jack. I knew once I saw him, no amount of willpower would keep my tears in check. I had been waiting for years to see them finally come together, ever since that team night when I came out for a drink of water to find them curled up asleep on Uncle Jack's couch together. It was so unfair.
[AN1] 'By the Way' by Red Hot Chili Peppers dropped on 9th July 2002 and sold more the 280,000 copies in the first week.
[AN2] RDA's favourite breed of dog. :)