So this should be a pretty long chapter. The next chapter should be up pretty soon, I've got a good chunk written out already. So yes, it is finals week, so I hope you all appreciate my efforts to get the story out while attempting to keep up my grades :) The next chapter is going to be very experimental for me, so I hope that this one serves as a good bridge. There will be plenty of action soon. I'm still working on writing those parts, I think that's probably my weakest area, so feel free to send me any criticism, please!

Six reviews the last chapter, pretty good... I'm a brat though, I need more!

ThanksRomieG,Col. Natalie Evans, scottie dog for yourpositive reviews!

Whirlwind- it's possible...

Slayerboi- awesome review. Which areascould use more detaildo you think?I'malways looking to improve upon my writing

And Emerald Green Queen- thank you! Your review is always thelast one I wait for before proceeding with the next chapter. More action soon! I'm trying to gradually build up to that. Let me know what you think.

Thanks everybody! Keep reading and reviewing! Summertime is almost here, and with that should come some faster updates since I will be in severe withdrawl from having a life :-P Good luck with finals to all the students!

And now... on with the story...

xxxxx

Janet usually was very respectful of Cassandra's privacy. She knew that her daughter trusted her, and would come to her when necessary. After Cassie's refusal to talk about the events of last night she was a little more leery, and decided to hang around the kitchen while the girls ate their French toast. So far it sounded like Haley had caused quite a stir the night before. Definitely a handful, she told herself. What was worse, Haley seemed very proud of herself. Her thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell.

Cassie and Haley were rinsing off their dishes when their respective parents and Sam entered the room. "I got a new chess set Sam!" Cassie excitedly told her. "It's glass."

Haley went to retrieve her bag while Jack and Janet chatted. "Where's Danny boy?"

"He left early this morning for his mission."

"Oh yes, how can I forget the castle?" Janet gave him one of her patented you exasperate me to no end O'Neill but I still love you smiles. "Haley give you a hard time last night?"

"No… it does sound like the girls had an interesting evening though. You may want to ask her about it."

"Anything I should be worried about?"

"The girls were good. There was drinking, but they both abstained-" at Jack's instantly cross look she added "I made sure they were telling me the truth." He nodded for her to continue. "The boy Cassandra has a crush on got sick and vomited on her." Jack tried his hardest not to laugh out loud. "Be kind, she's very upset about it still."

"Did you tell her about the time Daniel-"

"No."

"Don't you think it'll make her feel better?"

"He would never forgive me."

"I, on the other hand, don't mind so much if he's pissed off with me."

"Jack" Janet's pleas were interrupted by Haley's entrance.

"Okay I'm ready to go!"

"Did you say goodbye to Cassie?"

"Yes!" Haley put her arms around Janet. "Thanks for having me last night!"

"It was my pleasure," Janet responded. "I'll see you Monday night."

"Monday?" Haley asked.

"Oh, yeah, I've got a mission," Jack told her.

"Thanks for keeping me in the loop," she grumbled. Jack put his arm on her shoulder and spun her around.

"Goodbye Janet, thanks for the hospitality!" he called behind him as they walked out the door.

"Where's the car?"

"Sam dropped me off. We're going to walk home."

"Daddy, I don't know if you noticed, but it's kind of cold out and we don't live that close."

"How are you going to go skiing if you can't stand a little snow? Come on, don't be so lazy."

"Fiiiiine," she let out a huge sigh. For a few minutes they walked in silence. Haley looked her father up and down and her brow began to furrow. "You know, it's not that hard to put the dirty clothes in the hamper and pick a fresh tee shirt out every now and then. People are going to think I live with a slob."

"You're wearing the same clothing as yesterday too."

"Yes, but I slept over at my friend's house. You have no excuse."

"I had a sleepover too," Jack defensively countered. Haley cocked her head to the side for a moment and quickly her face scrunched up in disgust.

"Well it's your turn to do the laundry; I've got reading to do."

"Homework, eh? You actually do that stuff?" Haley giggled.

"It's this weird thing called school. You might have heard of it, I know it was a VERY long time ago that you went. I heard that they had kids write on stone back then." Next thing Haley knew she was shoved into the snow bank. She let out a giant squeal and Jack walked over and extended his hand to her. As he was helping her up a grin crossed his face and he pushed her back into the snow. Haley let out another squeal, and when she got up she jumped on top of her father, knowing he'd fall down. If she was going down, she'd take him down with her.

Once the pair went back to their original path home, Jack decided to question about last night. "I heard Cass had a crappy time."

"Yeah, she's still kind of bummed."

"Did you have a good time?"

"Yup!"

"Crowds of people coming to tell you how much they love you?"

"Of course. Everybody was thrilled to have me around. They adore me," she tossed back her head in a model-like pose.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Was Tommy there among your worshippers? "

Haley suppressed a smile and quietly answered yes. "He apologized to me for being such a jerk."

"And you forgave him?"

"Did I say I forgave him?"

"So you're not back together or anything?"

"Nope."

Sweet, I was so not ready for her to be dating.

"I'm going to date around."

Doh! "What? You are way too young to be doing that!"

"Daddy, I'm almost sixteen. I'm old enough to make my own decisions." To that Jack just laughed. "I'm serious!"

"Hales, I wasn't thrilled about you seeing this Tommy kid, but I wasn't going to make you break up with him. But this is ridiculous. I'm not going to let you…" he waved his fingers in the air, "run around wild!"

"I'm not running around wild! Why can't you just let me do what I want?"

"Because I said so."

"Because you said so? That makes no sense. At least give me an answer that makes sense."

"I'm really not required to. See, that's the great thing about being a parent, you can make up whatever rules you want," Jack happily replied. Haley started to raise her first to yell when a something came over her. Jack watched as her angry features slowed down and transformed into a look of concentration. Her open mouth slowly shut and he could see her lips twitching, holding back a smile.

"Fine."

"Fine?" his eyes narrowed and he studied her carefully. She nodded. "Fine?" another nod. Nothing felt right about this. If Haley was anything like him she'd yell and fight until she got her way. What could she possibly have up her sleeve? He didn't like this one bit. Not one bit at all. The rest of the walk home they talked about how Haley was starting school on Monday and how excited she was to go back. Jack felt bad that he wouldn't even be around, but the sooner he got these last few missions over with, the sooner he was done traveling off world (for the most part) for good.

xxxxx

Jack was lighting a fire as Haley strolled into the room, changed into dry clothes and wrapped in a blanket. "I'm freezing!"

"Wuss."

"Want to make me some hot chocolate?"

"Not really."

"Oh… fiiiine."

"How are you going to go skiing if you can't stand a little chilliness?"

"Layers," Haley stated as she trudged off to the kitchen, and a few minutes later bounced back into the room. "Wanna see a movie?" Jack thought for a few moments and agreed. "How about… Miss Congeniality?"

"How about no way?"

"Save the Last Dance?" Jack looked at her with a yeah right expression. "Sugar and Spice?" still a funny look. "The Wedding Planner?"

"How about Snatch? I heard some of the guys at work saying it's funny."

Haley tightened her lips into a thin line, and squinted her eyes, pretending to think really hard. "Brad Pitt's in that, right?"

"I think so."

"Okay, just for you. But next time I get to pick, 'kay?"

"Sounds good to me."

The movie worked out pretty well. Both Jack and Haley enjoyed the film (expect Haley was very bummed that she couldn't understand the majority of Brad's dialogue) and it killed a few hours. The two spent the rest of the weekend being lazy, catching up on missed TV shows Jack had taped (mainly The Simpsons), and hanging out playing games. The highlight for Jack was teaching Haley how to play poker. He still refused to let her in on his poker night with the buddies, but he promised that they could have their own family tournament sometime soon. Monday came around somewhat quickly and neither was fully ready at 6:45 am.

"Maybe I don't need to go back to school, after all," Haley moaned as she attempted to make a bowl of cereal. Attempted being the key word, since she was too tired to master opening the plastic bag that held the cereal. Finally Jack grabbed the box from her, opened it, and shoved it back in her hands.

"You're going. You asked for this. I might have considered giving you some time to get reacquainted with being home, but you wanted to be with people your own age."

"What was I thinking?"

"If you're anything like your old man, you probably weren't." Haley made a face, and wolfed down her cereal while Jack went out to warm up the car. Eventually, Haley emerged from the house, books in hand, ready to face her friends. Perhaps she was so tired because she had stayed up late trying to pick out the perfect outfit. Finally she had decided on her favorite jeans and a blue long sleeve shirt speckled with rhinestones. It was comfortable, pretty, and not trying TOO hard to stand out. She wanted to fit in today, slide under the radar of the where have you been's and what where you doing's.

As Jack pulled to a stop in front of Haley's school he felt a slight pang of nervousness. He wasn't sure if he was ready to send her off on her own yet. But there was no use in keeping her locked up. It seemed like the Asgard were done with her… for now. Jack swallowed down his thoughts, and turned towards his daughter. "Go home with Cassie today, you'll stay with her if I get back really late."

"Why can't I stay with Monica?"

"Because it's a school night and trouble usually seems to find you quicker when you and Monica are left together."

Haley rolled her eyes. "Fine, hopefully I'll see you later tonight." She reached over to give her dad a hug.

"Have a great day," Jack said, hugging her back. "Try not to start too much trouble, k?" Haley nodded, and bounced out of the car.

xxxxx

Jack played with his keys as he walked through the garage. As he arrived at the elevator a large smile spread across his face. "I was hoping you'd be here."

"You're going to see me in a half hour anyways."

"Yes but I can't kiss you in a half hour."

"You can't kiss me now either," Sam gently pushed him away, looking around for other people. The elevator arrived, and the two stepped inside.

"Just think, in a few weeks I can kiss you in the elevator, and nobody can stop me," Jack said, a smile creeping across his face. "We could do whatever we want and nobody can stop us."

"Within reason Jack."

"Yes… reason. Funny word." Jack stepped closer to Sam, as she backed into the wall.

"Please, Jack, stop."

"Oh fine," he stepped back a few spaces. "I missed you this weekend."

"I missed you too."

"I can't believe you actually spent the day here yesterday."

"There was a device SG-7 brought back a few weeks ago that I just haven't had the time to study. I had nothing else to do yesterday, so why not come in?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because you could have relaxed, read a book, come and hung out with me…"

"You were spending time with Haley. I didn't want to intrude."

"Your presence would never be intrusive."

"No, but you two needed some time to be together. Besides I had enough fun Friday to tide me over for the rest of the weekend, didn't you?" Jack smirked and nodded. "I had a good day yesterday, I enjoy what I do."

"I don't think I'll ever truly understand you, will I?"

"Probably not."

"I'm probably going to kick my ass later for asking this, but what kind of device did you find?"

"Well…"

xxxxx

Jack led the briefing for their recovery mission, and soon enough he, Sam, and Teal'c (who had returned last night), SG-3, and SG-15 were on P3X-232. Of course it was raining. Wasn't that always the case in these kinds of situations? Not just a drizzle, but more of a downpour. Jack, Teal'c, Major Carmen, and Lt. Col. Lyle were firing at the few remaining Jaffa while covering Sam, Captain Avery, and Captain Lane. The three scrambled to get all the necessary equipment together while their team held back the Jaffa.

"Carter, how much longer?" Jack shouted over his shoulder.

"Just another minute sir!"

Jack radioed SG-3, "Wade, get the gate open!"

"Okay sir, we're ready," Sam called out as Jack and Teal'c laid cover fire before she could finish the sentence. Carter, Avery, and Lane scrambled from their position, and were quickly surrounded by the rest of their respective teams, ready to run back to the gate. They outnumbered the Jaffa, and soon enough there was nobody left to chase them down. The team still moved at a jog though, and Captain Avery managed to land his foot in a small hole just a few yards from the gate.

Never a dull moment Jack sighed, as he helped the limping Captain down the ramp at the SGC, never a dull moment. Carter and Lane made a bee-line for the locker room, before the men hogged it for a few who knew how long. Both were covered in mud and eager to get clean. Before leaving the room, Sam quietly said to Jack "easy breezy, huh?" His reply was simply a shrug.

At the debriefing Hammond announced that SG-1 was needed elsewhere, and they were to ship out immediately. P2X-555 was in need of assistance rescuing a missing community member, and SG-1 was the first team that came to mind due to Teal'c's extensive tracking knowledge.

This took about five hours. Turned out they were looking for the son of one of the community's leaders. He had run off into the woods and never returned. Turned out the kid hadn't managed to get too far, but fell into a pit that was pretty well hidden. The team returned the boy (who Jack was pretty sure had a crush on Sam), and returned home, exhausted. They did bring promises of trading medicines, but Jack wondered if they couldn't have saved the day without SG-1. Hammond sent them home for a good night's sleep. It was only 2100 hours, so Jack opted to pick Haley up from Janet's.

xxxxx

"How was your first day back?"

"Alright," was Haley's short response.

"How were your classes?"

"Okay."

"Did you have homework?"

"Yeah."

"Did you finish it?"

"Uh huh."

"Were your friends happy to see you?"

"Yup."

"What'd you have for dinner?"

"Spaghetti."

"Do anything fun with Cassie?"

"Homework."

Jack sighed, not sure if she was intentionally trying to drive him crazy. The rest of the car ride was relative silence. Haley hummed along to the songs on the radio, while Jack imagined going to sleep. As they walked into the house Jack threw one more question at Haley. "Get into any trouble at school today?"

"Of course," she smiled, and walked upstairs. Jack groaned, and headed off to bed.

The next day was no better. Hammond had them scouting out a moon for a potential research colony. It was a small enough planet that they could cover the surface in just two and a half days, there and back. It was a hassle nonetheless. Jack left Haley instructions to stay with Janet yet again. He promised her that he would repay her somehow down the line. The planet was pretty boring. Nothing too notable. Sam did a few soil readings here and there.

"How's Rya'c doing?" Jack asked Teal'c.

"He is well."

"Drey'auc?"

"She is well too."

"Bra'tac?"

"I did not get to see him on this occasion."

"That's a shame."

"Yes it is."

Jack felt a familiar sense of déjà vu to the night before and decided to just stop talking for a little while.

"Okay I'm done here, we can keep moving," Sam informed them, packing away her supplies.

"So Teal'c, how's your family doing?" Sam asked.

"They are well. Rya'c sends much gratitude for your thoughtful gift."

Sam gave one of her dimpled smiles, that Jack enjoyed looking out for. "I'm glad he liked it. And how is Drey'auc?"

"She seems to have settled very nicely. She has taken up dressmaking as an occupation."

"So the Land of the Light seems to be a good place after all. I know that the last time you visited they were getting somewhat restless."

"I think the people have since won them over."

"Gotta love Tuplo and his gang," Jack added. "Am I the only one who feels like Tuplo is the name of some sort of Lego?"

"That would be Duplo, O'Neill, and Daniel Jackson has corrected you on this numerous times in the past."

"Oh… So has anybody seen Snatch?"

"Nope." "No I have not," were the responses given.

"Oh…"

xxxxx

Two (and a half, as Jack continually pointed out) days later the trio was back at the SGC. With very little to report, except for the soil samples, SG-1 was sent home early. Sam opted to stay and work in her lab, while Jack needed some time to relax. Janet stopped Jack on his way out, telling him she would be working later today, would he mind feeding Cassandra as well? Cassie ended up staying the night at his house, as Janet was held back due to an emergency at the base. Jack was woken up several times by the sound of giggling, until finally he sent the girls to opposite rooms around midnight. He thanked whoever was up there that he did not have two daughters the same age. Jack also had to wonder how Janet kept the girls in line so much better when they were at her house. Who am I kidding, she's the doc. She's the scariest person I know!

The next day Jack was greeted with yet another mission to a planet that the SGC had promised supplies to. It was simple enough, just a very long day. So close to the weekend was Jack's mantra the whole day. When he returned home he realized it was Thursday, which meant pizza night.

"Carter."

"It's Thursday."

"Yes," Sam replied.

"You're still at the base working."

"Well I did answer my line here, didn't I?"

"It's Thursday."

"I'm pretty sure we established that already." Jack waited a beat for Sam to add, "OH. I've got a lot of work to take care of here."

"Something tells me that any assigned work has long been taken care of and you're just dealing with the stuff that's making you curious at this point." There was silence on the other end. "You've got a half an hour. That's how long it will be until the pizza gets here."

"Wait, no, this is really important research!"

"It'll still be important tomorrow!" Finally a long sigh was heard.

"Half an hour, but only because I don't break promises."

"Excellent."

Jack fell asleep on the couch after dinner while Sam looked over Haley's math homework. She had helped catch her up a little the previous week, and surprisingly she hadn't missed all that much in her nearly two-month-long absence from school. Haley progressively started yawning uncontrollably. She still wasn't used to being up so early, and sitting through school all day. Sam convinced her to go to bed.

Sam tiptoed until her face was an inch from Jack's and whispered, "wake up sleepyhead." She was completely taken off guard when Jack's arms came flying up towards her. He moved fast. Before Sam knew what hit her Jack had pulled her down, flipped her over, and had her pinned down on the couch. Sam laughed into Jack's chest. "I'm exhausted, let's go to bed." Sam wiggled out from underneath Jack, and pulled him off of the couch. "Do I need to carry you?" she questioned.

"Who do I look like, Daniel?" Sam playfully hit him in the arm.

"That is not nice!" Jack just shrugged and started walking towards his room.

"Daniel sent a message back today. There's some kind of amazing light thing on that planet. He requested to stay longer."

"Janet's going to miss him."

"Eh, she'll survive," Jack declared.

"Look who's talking. Once I'm off on missions and you're back on Earth, I bet you'll be pacing the gate room."

"A little cocky there Carter?" Sam gave a winning smile, but her mouth was fool of toothpaste.

"I jssh know how you cahh be."

"Hey watch where you get that toothpaste." Sam rinsed out her mouth and turned around to face Jack.

"You mean… like here?" she took the toothpaste container and dabbed it on Jack's nose.

"If I wasn't so tired I would declare war right now."

"Yeah, yeah."

"How are you so energetic still?"

"Didn't you know, I designed a battery operated power booster for myself."

"You know, that wouldn't surprise me."

Sam hopped into bed waiting for Jack to finish cleaning up and join her. "I need to be up early tomorrow."

"Well I'll be up at 0600 to get the kid off to school on time."

"Actually, I'll be leaving earlier; I need to get back to my lab."

Jack appeared in the doorway from the bathroom, arms crossed. "Sam, is this the same thing you were working on earlier?"

"I left early tonight to be with you, but I need to finish this up."

"When you say need…"

"Jack, I came to be with you tonight, please don't give me a hard time about going in to work early in the morning. Honestly, if you hadn't called I'd probably still be there."

Jack started to fight, but figured it was useless, and climbed into bed. "Will you at least get some relaxation this weekend?"

"First of all, this, right here, is relaxing. But yes. I'll try."

"Good enough," Jack grumbled, and pulled Sam up against him. Hammond had promised him downtime a day early tomorrow if he got all of his paperwork done by noon. He was fairly confident that he could convince Sam to take her time as well. As long as she didn't get Daniel's message to come join him and test out that light thingy.

xxxxx

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