Author's Note: here we are again. Another day and another chapter. I'm liking all the reviews and my smile has never been bigger. Thanks guys. Here is the next one, enjoy.
After that first afternoon, Cassie came home with Charlie, on the bus, to spend time with Morgan or Sam. It was easier for her to have someone to come home to, now that Sam was at home each afternoon for Morgan Cassie enjoyed being with them. Charlie seemed to be wary of Cassie, and at first, he stayed away from her.
Cassie made a few attempts to spend time with Charlie, but he would just get up and walk out of the room when it was only the two of them. If Morgan or Sam were in the room, he would stay, but once he and Cassie were alone, Charlie fled, usually to his room where he'd lock the door and hide.
Today he had chosen to hide up on the telescope loft. He was leaning against the railing staring off into nothing. He'd hoped that no one would find him up here. It was so hard for him to be around Cassie, she looked just like his Cas, but she wasn't the same person. She didn't know all his secrets and his fears, but he was terrified that she might have wanted to.
He heard someone coming up the ladder, thinking it was Sam, he said, "I'm up here."
The voice that spoke startled him, "I know I'm not her, but that is no reason to be rude. I'm not trying to be the other me, I just want to be your friend, that's it." Cassie said from where she stood at the top of the ladder, and he could hear the hurt in her voice.
He didn't look at her, he'd known that this would happen. Cassie, no matter which universe she lived in, wasn't the type to let him run. He was being a big jerk and he knew that she would tell him, he just thought that he had a little more time.
When he didn't say anything, she kept talking, "You need someone. Everybody needs someone to talk to." she crossed the deck to where he stood. Reaching out, she was going to touch him but stopped, "I'm here if you want someone to listen. I understand a lot of what you're going through. I can listen to the things you can't tell anyone else. I understand, let me help you." she waited and he still didn't say anything or look at her, "Charlie, I mean it, if you ever want to talk, I'm here for you."
She waited a little longer before she turned to head back down the ladder, leaving Charlie alone with his thoughts.
Once she was gone, he pulled a picture out of his pocket. It was a little battered and it had seen better days. The two people inside it smiled at each other as they posed in front of a cheesy cupid background. He and Cas looked so happy. That had been the night of their first date, the school's Valentine Dance and when he'd dropped her off at home, he'd kissed her goodnight on her porch.
It was his first kiss and now the memory was bitter sweet. A week later, everything had come crashing down and his life was in ruins and he didn't know if she was alive or dead. Even now, all these months later, he still didn't have any better of an idea of who made it through the gate and who didn't.
He wasn't sure that he could tell Cassie all that, was it even fair to burden her with his thoughts of her other self? She was right about him needing to talk to someone.
He'd tried to talk to Sam and Jack, but it was hard. They seemed to handle everything so well and he didn't want them to think any less of him because of his emotions.
His Cas had always listened to him and it seemed that this Cassie wasn't any different. Getting to his feet, Charlie took one last look at the picture and then placed it back in his pocket, climbed down the ladder and went to find Cassie.
He found her in the backyard, sitting alone on the glider swing. He stood in front of her, "I'm sorry. I know you are not her and I know that you're not trying to be her, but all this is hard for me." he dropped on to the swing beside her, "This whole thing is so much harder than I thought it would be. Everything is the same yet different. This is my home but not."
Reaching out, Cassie covered his hand with hers, "I understand what you're talking about. My experience was similar. I came here to Earth from my world and these people took me in and loved me. All I wanted to do was go home. I knew that there was nothing left for me on Hanka. I had watched everyone I loved slowly die, but I wanted that life back, it was mine. This one wasn't mine, not yet. I had to wait and accept that my old life was gone and make my new one here." she squeezed his hand, "Charlie, is that what you mean. It is natural to want your old life, it was yours and you mourn for it, but you have to choose to live here or you get stuck in the past."
"I know, it's just that I don't know if that life is truly gone. Cas and other people I know, might still be alive. I feel like I should still be there, helping them instead of being here and safe." he looked away, as though he was ashamed of how he felt. Morgan needed him and their other world was not the place for her to grow up, it was better to stay here.
Cassie softly brought his face back to her so that she could look in his eyes, "You need to tell Sam and Jack how you feel. They will understand; they love you."
Charlie pulled his face away and looked down at their linked hands. This felt so right, but so wrong, to be sitting there beside her. He was about to get up when she said, "Tell me about your life before."
He looked at her for a moment and then began to talk.
Sam watched the two of them from the window and felt relieved. Charlie needed someone his age and experience to talk to and Cassie was the best choice. No other child around knew about the Stargate and all the other strange things that this boy had been through.
She'd been worried about the two of them, Cassie seemed to be willing to initiate a friendship, but Charlie seemed very reluctant and had been avoiding being alone with Cassie.
This behavior had hurt Cassie's feelings, and the other day, Sam had found her crying in the same spot she now sat with Charlie. The two of them had a long talk about what Charlie was doing and why. Then they had come around to what she should do about it. Sam had made a few suggestions, after dealing with Jack and his moods for so many years, Sam decided that Charlie probably wasn't much different.
Outside, Cassie wrapped her arms around Charlie and held onto him as his shoulders shook with sobs. Turning away from the window, Sam thought that Charlie and Cassie would be all right.
A few days later, Jack returned home from cleaning out Sam's place to find her at wit's end. Morgan had emptied all her drawers and hidden her clothes all over the house. She had managed to find some interesting hiding places to stash her new clothes.
Sam, Charlie and Cassie were trying to find them all before it was time to put the little girl to bed. Seeing the other's frustration, Jack went to find Morgan and ask her what she had done with them. He found her sitting in her room playing with her 'My Little Ponies'. Crouching down beside her, he asked, "Morgan, where did you hide your Pjs?"
The smile that crossed her features was a little devious, "They're in my drawer. I put them back. I thought that I would help Mommy." her face was so earnest that Jack almost believed her.
Opening the right drawer, Jack found everything in it proper place. Getting her to her feet, he changed her into her nightgown. They spent a little bit of time talking about wasting Mommy's time and how what she had done wasn't nice.
Then he took her hand and called "Sam, where are you?"
Her voice was muffled when she answered, "Downstairs. I still can't figure out where she hid those Pyjamas." following the sound of her voice, he found her in the utility room.
"Ah, about that-" he stopped when he saw her with her head behind the dryer, searching.
Sam pulled herself out, curious about the tone of Jack's voice. Her eyes fell on Morgan, now dressed in one of her nightgowns. She let out a frustrated breath and closed her eyes as she counted to ten. "Where were they?"
Jack was trying hard not to smile, "In her drawer where they should be. She put them back when you started searching. I'll put her to bed; you and the others relax. I'll come in a minute." he leaned over and kissed her cheek.
After Jack read Morgan a story, he asked her, "Why did you do that? It wasn't very nice."
Morgan looked at her hands and shrugged, "I didn't want to watch TV any more and I read all the books you bought me. I looked, but I couldn't find any more."
Jack was taken aback, "You mean you looked at all the pictures?" he was a little confused.
She shook her head, "No, I read them all. I had harder books in my other place, but I had to leave them behind. Mommy had given me her copy of Little Women because I could read big girl books; I had to leave it behind when Charlie took me away. Do you think you could find me another one?"
Jack stared at this little girl in front of him. He expected Sam's child to be bright, but he hadn't expected this. "Uh yes, I'm sure we can find you one. From now on, if you're bored, you tell us, don't play tricks on us. We're still getting used to all this, just like you."
Morgan nodded slowly, "Okay. Please find me one soon. When I lost the book, Jo was in an awful mess, and I need to know how she got out."
The smile that crossed his face was big, "I want to hear my big girl read to me. Pick a book and I'll listen." He loved this little girl and he never wanted to let her go.
When she finished, she yawned and Jack lifted the covers and motioned for her to lie down, "'Night Princess."
She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a sloppy kiss and said, "Okay Daddy, I'm sleepy now," before laying down.
Jack pulled the covers up around her and sat beside her until she was asleep.
He found Sam in the kitchen, attacking the dishes mercilessly. Without turning around she said, "I heated you up some food." she was unsure how to bring up Morgan and what the little girl had done.
Jack sat down at the counter and began to eat. It was only when he heard a barely contained sniffle from the sink that he realized that Sam was crying. Dropping his fork, he crossed over to where she stood, and pulled her into his arms, "Hey, what's with the tears?"
"Morgan knows I'm not her Mom and she hates me. I can't do it the same way SHE did and no I'm-" Sam hid her face in Jack's neck, ashamed at her feelings of inadequacy.
Grabbing her face gently between his hands, Jack made her look at him, "Hey, it isn't that. She was just bored. All those picture books we bought, she has already read them. Not looked at, read! I listened to her read one of them to make sure." he looked over at Charlie, who sat in the living room with Cassie doing homework, "Charlie, he had a hard time reading something like those books at the end of grade two. She asked me for a copy of Little Women so she could find out what happened to Jo."
The expression on Sam's face changed in an instant, "Is that all? I thought all sorts of horrible things and she was just bored? That I can handle." her face split into her mega watt smile, "Little Women huh? I should have a copy of it in my books, I'll leave it by her bedside so she can find it when she wakes up in the morning. I guess we should see about putting her a grade ahead then."
Jack just nodded his head, "I guess so."
The next day with a little push, Sam and Jack were able to get Morgan pushed up to the first grade and she seemed to settle in quickly and enjoy the challenge.
So there you have it. My oldest was reading at three and a half so I'm sure that Sam child would be reading that early if not earlier.
Leave a review and make me smile. ~Kelleth~