Chapter 6 - The O'Neill fan club
"Sam, you stated yesterday that your return to Earth happened three years after the events of Atlantis," Malcolm said.
"Yes."
"What about you, Jack?"
"Well, while Sam was grabbing the universe in her hands. I was flying a ginormous desk full of political crap if you pardon the expression. That's the main reason why I was always looking for ways to get out of there. Visiting the wife was the other," Jack answered, winking at Sam.
"Once I was back on Earth, he even threatened to move the Home World Security office to the SGC," Sam chuckled.
"Hey, it was a good idea! They let you do it afterward," Jack pointed out.
"They ordered me to do it," Sam said, rolling her eyes playfully.
"Let you, ordered you...same thing," he joked.
"Yeah, sure," she shook her head, amused.
"Yesterday, you also mentioned the daughter of a General?"
"Oh, yes. Hell on Earth," Jach huffed.
"What happened?"
"It was 2011. I was back on Earth. Before I took my new post at the SGC, I took two weeks' vacation. So, I went to Washington to visit my husband."
2011
Sam stirred in bed with a pleased smile on her face. She touched his spot, and just like the past years, he wasn't there. Today, she sighed because she knew last night was better than nothing and smiled for today differed from any other previous days.
Soon, she could hear the loud approaching footsteps of her kids. Sam smiled and went to her daily ritual of pretending to be asleep. Seconds later, she felt the shifting weight on her bed and a silent 'shh.' Then another heavier weight climbed the bed. She mentally counted to five before the two weights heaped up on top of her.
"Mommy! Mommy! Wakey Wakey! Come on, Mommy! There's a pasture outside!" Alex's voice said as she shook Sam.
"And trees!" Terran added.
"Ok, ok! Mommy is awake, and it's not pasture is a garden," Sam said, turning around and managing to sit on the bed while each kid moved to one side.
"Morning, Mommy," the bundle at her right, said.
"Yeah, morning, Mommy," Terran mumbled.
"Morning Alex," Sam said, ruffling the brown hair on top of her, and then turning to face the little bundle on her left, she added, "Morning Terran. Can Mommy get a good morning kiss from her favorite little persons?" The kids nodded eagerly before they complied Sam's request with sloppy kisses on her cheek. Then, Alex stood up.
"Mommy, it's time for our morning bath!" Alexia screamed happily, jumping a little on the bed. The little girl loved taking a bath as much as her mother. Sam pulled Alex to her and pretended to smell her, then did the same with Terran.
"Yup, definitively, a morning bath is needed," she said, scrunching up her nose and making the kids laugh as she stood up.
She headed to the bathroom and turning the water to fill the bathtub. In a matter of seconds, she also got her girl and boy inside it, while they talked incessantly about all those things they wanted to do now they were home.
"Mommy, will you join us?" the girl asked sweetly.
"Mommy will have a shower after finishing with her two imps," Sam grinned, Terran chuckled at that.
"I'm not an imp mommy! I am a little warrior princess like that woman on TV," little Alex stated matter-of-factly.
"What woman on TV?" Sam frowned in confusion.
"Xena, The Warrior Princess!" Alex grinned.
"I see you have been watching TV with Uncle T again?" Sam asked, and Alexia nodded happily.
Sam shook her head as she made a mental note to limit the TV time when visiting the uncles. Her kids already used too many 'strange' words for a three-year-old boy and an almost six-year-old girl. They used too many words and learned too many languages already! Well, considering all the facts, it wasn't as strange.
Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she took her morning shower, got dressed, and then retrieved Terran out of her tub while Alexia stood out by herself. She was in that funny little stage where she wanted to prove how big she was. It was a routine now hearing Alex say, 'I'm a big girl now, mommy, I can dress myself!'
Almost an hour after she woke up, Sam was in the kitchen making breakfast and talking with her kids. She was pouring milk on Alexia's cereal when the bell rang. Sam had no clue about who could it be, after all, they arrived home for a little vacation time the previous night, and she had no idea who could visit Jack on a Saturday.
"Mommy, someone it's pressing the bell," the little boy said.
"Ringing the bell, Terran. Here, they ring the bell," Alex said to her little brother while rolling her eyes. The little guy watched at his bright sister in awe. Sam laughed at her kids' antics as she went to see who could press, err, ring the darn bell so early on a Saturday.
'Oh well,' Sam thought as she walked to the front door, 'I am the fresh flesh in the 'hood, considering they only have seen Jack living here alone for so long,' she sighed. It wasn't farfetched that neighbors would try to figure out who she was and what she was doing here.
'Or maybe not,' she concluded when she peered through the door's side window and saw four young-looking women with several packages in their hands. 'Please be cake,' Sam thought. Using her well-learned fake smile, she opened the door. The women were definitively not expecting her because they looked at her with really puzzled expressions.
"Morning Ladies, how can I help you?" Sam asked, noticing they weren't in any condition to speak.
"Hi, I am Amber. Sorry? Isn't this General O'Neill home?" The girl asked. Sam contained an amused smile. She realized Jack couldn't avoid being chased around by girls that could be his kids! Well, maybe hers too!
"Will you mind coming in, ladies? The kids are having breakfast, and I don't want a mess in the General's kitchen," Sam asked, hoping that the mention of kids and breakfast would make them say no to her offer.
"We brought him his favorite cake," one blonde answered while showing her a bag.
"Of course you did! I guess you know the drill," Sam said, pointing to their shoes and coats with a smile. Once the girls' covers were out of the equation, it was even more clear to her what they wanted from her General. She patiently waited for the group to finish, and finally, after what seemed forever, she led the group to the kitchen where the kids were eating quietly.
"Good Morning, ladies. How do you do?" Terran asked with a little smirk.
'God! He was as charming as his father,' she thought. Alex turned around and smiled politely when she saw the group.
"Greetings, how are things?" Alex added with a nod. Sam tried hard not to laugh at her kids. They were impossibly polite and really, really strange in a regular place.
"Oh! How cute they are!" One lady said, approaching them. The blond woman stopped right next to the table. Then she looked from the children to Sam, who was already waiting for the next question.
"Mommy, you told us it is polite to answer every salutation with another salutation," Alex frowned. "Shouldn't they answer us with anything by now?"
"Yes, sweetheart. They are just surprised by your word selection. I explained to both of you that your vocabulary could surprise people, didn't I?"
"Yes, mommy, " both kids said.
"These are your kids?" the blonde asked. Sam shook her head. She thought being called 'mommy' was enough to avoid such a question. Well, that and the fact that her kids looked mostly like her.
"Yes. Sorry, I didn't hear your name?"
"Uh, I'm Amy Lynn, Jessica, Mary-Kate, and Amber," she said, pointing to the other women around as she introduced them.
"Are you visiting or something?" Amber asked, somewhat bitterly.
"We are on a holiday retrieval," Terran stated from his seat. The women around laughed at him. He looked at his sister, and then at his mommy with a cute frown.
"It's holiday retreat, T. But you can say vacations… vacation is an easy word," Alex stated.
"I don't like it, Alex! Isn't vaca the name for cows?" He scrunched up his nose. "I'll ask Daddy later. But mommy, I like holiday retrieval better."
"Yes, Terran, vaca means cow in Spanish, but we are not speaking Spanish now, just plain English," Sam said, and the kids started to giggle. "Yes, I know plain old' English, just like your daddy likes. Are you finished?" Both kids nodded. "Ok, go play, read or paint, while I talk with the ladies."
"Let's go, T. Excuse us ladies, have a good day."
"Have a nice one, girls!" Terran said, winking. The kids jumped down from their seats and walked away. Sam looked proudly at her kids, and then, she turned around to face the girls who were standing awkwardly in the kitchen, all of them shared a strange expression on her faces.
"They grew up surrounded by adults, so they picked up the most unusual words for kids. Anyway, the General isn't here, and chances are he will be away all morning. Then he has this ball at night so he will be busy by then. And, whatever time in between, we will most likely use it to catch up a little."
"So, you are visiting. What are you? His sister or something?" Amber asked.
Sam snorted in her head, and with the corner of her eyes, she caught her reflection in the mirror. The shade of brown she used for the last four years was almost the exact shade of her General's now mostly gone brown hair and matched the tone that the kids ended up with to perfection. Sometimes, she missed the time when the kids were blond, and she didn't need to dye her hair.
"So?" Amber asked, again tapping her foot on the floor.
Sam didn't want to reveal anything. Her husband was a very private person. She was a very private person and there was the whole 'keep your wedding secret' situation. Sam answered with the truth.
"I am... an old friend," she said. 'Well, it was one truth,' she thought.
The sighs that escaped the other women were a giveaway of what they were looking for coming at a General's house on a Saturday morning covered with lots of make-up. And thankfully, it was winter; otherwise, she could imagine the even more considerable amount of skin she would see if it had been summer; not that they weren't showing a lot already.
"You are not into him, are you? It won't look good for a General to have a 'friend' with kids fooling around with him. It's unbecoming of a General's behavior," Mary-Kate started timidly. How could a woman showing half her body in winter be timid? For cryin' out loud!'' Sam thought.
"We are most definitively not fooling around. Besides, fooling around while being married might also fall into 'unbecoming of a General's behavior,' don't ya think?" Sam retorted and again heard them sighs.
"Oh! So, you must know then?" Amy Lynn asked.
"I must know? What exactly?" Sam asked, despite being more than ready to get rid of the group.
"You know, about his wife? Do you know anything about his wife? They keep telling us he is married, but no one seems to know her. We think she is dead, and he is mourning her. But he had lots of time to mourn a wife that is not here."
"Six years, " she muttered to herself.
"What was that?" Amber asked.
"If you must know, his wife is alive," Sam said.
"Okay. If you say so, girls, we should get going. We need to buy some gowns for tonight. You said he would be at the ball, didn't you?"
'Oh, joy!' she thought. It seemed she would get to see the gold-digger squad again.
"Yes, he will be there tonight," Sam said. "I thought it was a closed event."
"Oh, it is! Fortunately, our dads have enough medals or influence to get us inside."
"I see. Well, I'll see you around then," Sam said, plastering her fake smile again.
After the fakes 'for sure,' 'sounds great,' and 'bye,' she finally closed the door and thought all the good things of being around again. The gold-digger squad wasn't one of them. "At least I won't have to make a cake for dessert!" she let out happily.
2050
"In the almost seven years that he was settled in DC, Jack became the most wanted single in the city. Even if he told them he was a married man."
"I still don't know what possessed those girls to come after me," Jack shook his head. "I could've been their grandpa or something."
"If you looked like you do now, you probably didn't look like their grandpa," Malcolm said making them laughed.
"Oh, no... that was way before this happened," Jack said, waving toward his face. "Back then, my hair was almost white, and I had gained some pounds from being sitting the whole damn day. I could have been their grandpa."
"An extremely handsome grandpa," Sam grinned. "Anyway, the bimbo squad didn't see me coming."
2011
"Honey? Do you know why General O'Neill was in such a rush to get back home today?"
Since the Jack moved to D.C. or rather Arlington, he took a Saturday morning once a month to brief the President on whatever was happening at Homeworld Security. They used the meeting to get in touch with all external bases with a tight schedule. Usually, those meetings took all the morning, and by the end, Hayes always invited Jack to have lunch with them in the residential area of the White House. Being alone, he always accepted the invitation. Today was different.
"His family arrived at 0300 today, Honey. He was missing the wife," Henry Hayes said, smiling to his wife.
"The wife? You are telling me General O'Neill is married for real?"
"Of course he is," Hayes chuckled.
"But his wife is never here! I mean, we met him when you took office, and she wasn't here. When he retired, and you brought him to DC and back to active duty, he agreed. He mentioned a wife, but we never met her, I was inclined to believe that the rumors about him pretending to be married to keep women at bay were true."
"Well, they are not. Jack has a wife."
"Where is she then? A General's wife shouldn't leave her husband alone. She should be here with him, showing some support."
"Does it matter, honey? Don't worry, you will see her tonight. Please, be sure our girl doesn't try to fool around the General."
"I still can not believe he has a wife..."
"So, you won't believe me if I tell you he has two children too."
"Henry Hayes, you might be the President of the United States, but you are an atrocious liar," she chuckled.
He had to laugh at his wife. Well, maybe today he could convince Jack to show the pictures of his kids to his wife. Come to think about it. He could order Jack and his wife to show them the pictures. 'Yes, that sounds like a plan,' he thought with a smile.
2050
"The fact they were daughters of the President, Chairman, SecDef, and SecNav was something that caused many issues," Jack said.
"It was especially bad for us because of our secretly kept relationship," Sam added.
2011
"Honey, I am home!" Jack yelled as soon as he opened the door, and then he heard footsteps fast approaching him.
"Daddy! Daddy!" Two voices called him, and his two bundles of joy came to hug his legs.
"Oh, my God! You are huge now!" Jack said proudly, kneeling to be at the same level as his kids. Feeling observed, he looked up and saw Sam smiling at him. With that look, he knew they had their moment early in the morning, and this was the children's one.
"Daddy! I am big now! I can dress myself! Uncle T says he will teach me how to be a warrior. I will be a little warrior princess like the woman on TV!"
"Daddy? I like the real you better than subspace video," Terran said, hugging his dad as firmly as a three-year-old could. Jack gulped.
"I like your real you too, T. It's way better than subspace video," Jack smiled, and Sam felt her heart break out of that exchange. "I missed you both, my little imps," Jack said, sitting on the floor because his knees were hurting him.
"The last time I saw the real you, you were still using diapers Terran! And you, Miss. A, you wanted to be a singer!"
Sam stood some steps away, watching the exchange, remembering the last time they were together. It was the previous December when he went to visit the Gamma site under some obscure excuse, almost a whole year earlier! Suddenly, they heard a loud noise, Jack went red, and the kids started to laugh.
"Come on, kids! Go! Wash your hands! Lunch is ready, and Daddy's hungry," Sam instructed. The kids ran upstairs, and she helped Jack to get on his feet again.
"You know, daddy is hungry for mommy's kiss," Jack smiled mischievously. Sam laughed at his antics, but she complied. They only broke their kiss when they heard the kids coming downstairs, and all together went to the kitchen.
"Sweet! There's a cake for dessert! Oh no! I know this cake…" he trailed out, looking at her.
"Oh, yeah, there was a General O'Neill fan club meeting this morning in your kitchen. It was quite informative too. Did you know a General shouldn't fool around with a woman with two kids?" Sam grinned.
"Really?" he asked, embracing her loosely.
"Yup, it's unbecoming. So, I assured them they didn't have to worry about me fooling around with you."
"Nope, we are most definitively not fooling around," Jack said, tightening his embrace to have her as close as she could be.
"And then, they told me you are still mourning the death of your wife," she added almost against his lips.
"That's interesting. I didn't know my wife passed away. Should I make sure you are real?" he asked, looking down at her lips.
"You are silly, Jack," Sam said with a bright smile, and the kids started to giggle.
"You are silly, daddy," Alexia said to his dad in between giggles.
"Hey, you know the rules!" Jack said in a severe tone.
"No giggling!" The kids said at the same time.
"That's right, no giggling," he said.
"I am most definitely not giggling, General," Sam grinned.
"Oh, I sure can fix that!" Jack said, and then, she busted out laughing when he started to tickle her. Sam ended up sprawled on the floor with her husband and kids tickling her until they were all laughing hard.
"Uncle! Uncle!" she screamed, laughing. They let her go, and she sat on the floor with laughing tears rolling down her face.
"Oh, oh, daddy! You kiss mommy better! She's crying!"
"That's right, T. I should kiss mommy better, and then we eat!" Jack said, cleaning Sam's tears with his thumbs as he kissed her.
"Lunch and then, we go find me something to wear for tonight," Sam added once the kiss was over.
"Oh, boy! We go shopping?" Jack asked in dismay.
"Yup! Don't look so sad, Jack. It's the first time T goes shopping."
"I guess there's that too," he shrugged.
"Are we going to leave them at the Pentagon daycare tonight?" Sam asked as they moved around the kitchen.
"I'll call Henry and ask if we can take them with us. Maybe we can set them in a room, so we don't have to stop at the Pentagon to get them before we get home. Certainly, I don't want you all dressed up running around the Pentagon!"
2050
"After meeting the O'Neill fan club at my house, we had the day all figured out, and during the night, we had a ball to assist."
"I told the President I had a hot date! He was jubilant since he loved Sam."
2011
"I hate you can go all fancy, and I have to wear my everyday clothes!" he said, looking at his wife, she was sitting in front of her vanity, placing the last few touches to her makeup.
"We can trade," Sam said, with a mischievous smile she added. "You look hot in your dress blues, General. I am sure your gold-digger fan club will be pleased to meet you."
"Yeah, I'm so not looking forward to that," he said, donning his jacket.
"Oh, if I weren't already dressed, General, I would have my wicked way with you."
"I am so looking forward to that," he grinned, placing a chaste kiss on her lips. "Do you have the kids' things?"
"Yes. I can't believe you convinced Henry of giving us a room for them."
"Hey! He is the one that started all this, and you know it. Also, you know that half of the men that will be there are guilty of our situation," he huffed.
"They rejected your resignation again?" She asked, looking at him through the mirror.
"Yup. Anyway, I am ready. Let's put our best faces and show them that whatever they do, they won't split us."
"Sir, yes, Sir!" Sam grinned, she gave herself one last look and stood up.
"After you, ma'am. Our chariot awaits!"