A thank you to all those who wrote to me wanting to be my beta, you guys are pretty cool, but not all can beta, but then again, no no only two got the part so a huge thank to them cuz with out them this story would have been put on a definite hold. Therefore, a huge thank you goes out to my two new betas.
Caroline O'Neill
&
Sci-Fi Girl
THE HERE AND NOW
Chapter 35
"Hello again my friend"
That night had been uneventful for three of the individuals and yet for the fourth it had been the night that made her realize something; she had been hiding and running away, she, Samantha Carter was in love with Jack O'Neill and she had run away from him, from that truth. So numb was she that she had fooled herself into believing a truth that was based on nothing more than her fears of acting upon her feelings.
She had deluded and fooled herself into believing that Pete was her solution to find happiness and in doing so, she had believed she was in love. A relationship based on lies was doomed to fail from the start, and yet it was not all a lie, she had loved Pete and he had given her what she wanted a happy home, a loving partner and a beautiful son. She was lucky and knew she owed Pete; she was going to try to make their relationship work for her son's sake, she was going to be civil and was going to try to help him do the same.
"Ah Sam?"
"Huh? Oh sorry Hailey I was thinking of something"
"Right well you ready for the meeting?"
"Yeah I'm ready how about you?"
"Oh I'm more than ready can you believe we actually get to interact with a holographic representation of the ancients?"
"I wonder if artificial intelligence gets bored"
Both women smiled at the thought of Daniel asking the poor hologram-boring question after boring question. Heading towards the briefing room, Sam saw that SG-1 was there alongside McKay and Sheppard, they seemed to be talking to Daniel and Teal'c, while Jack was looking at the hologram image of the ship.
"Sam, Hailey we ready?"
"Yes we are"
Table full of files and techno babble filling the room was not Jack's thing, nor was it Shepard's and while the scientist did there thing; the two discussed more pressing matters, such as how the war with the wraith was going. The hologram looked with interest at the humans, they were odd, while Jack, Sheppard and Teal'c the Jaffa were discussing battle strategies, two of the women and two of the men were discussing ancient technologies and culture.
"O'Neill"
Jack turned towards her with a smiled on his face, she smiled in return and he called her name for the first time since he had given it to her.
"Oh hey Lisa"
The silences that follow was unexpected and as all heads turned towards them, an exclamation soon followed.
"Lisa?!"
The exclamation was from all around the table and Jack frowned, he was sure he had told them the new name of the ancient AI, glancing at Teal'c he noticed that he seemed to be as surprised as the others. Standing up he walked towards the hologram projection of the ship is AI and smiled
"Guess I forgot, well this is Lisa"
"Lisa? Jack"
Daniel frowned and looked at the woman who inclined her head and nodded.
"I was named after his favorite character on one of your television shows"
The hologram seems to be pleased which was a bit odd since she had never showed discomfort when they referred to it as an item.
"You gave it a name?"
McKay as always blunt and to the point, and as his statement resonated throughout the small room; Sheppard could see the slight glare the woman now named Lisa threw at his friend.
"I would be careful at what you say Rodney"
O'Neill nodded and looked at the others on the table he was going to make this clear.
"She is not a thing she is intelligent so call her by her name she likes it right?"
"I do"
"There see now back to whatever you were doing"
He had seen way too many sci-fi shows in which computers turned against humans for the very fact that they were treated differently, hell all sci-fi movies had a meaning behind them and almost all of them had a machine, computer or whatever turn evil and try to kill humanity. He was not going to get this little hologram upset and besides he liked Lisa. She was fun, the woman stood beside Jack a content smile on her face and Sam frowned whilst Hailey smirked and laughed.
"What's so funny sparkplug?"
"N-nothing sir ah just thinking about the Simpson's is all"
"Ok let get serious what do you have to report? Techno things first then cultural things"
He glanced at Daniel who seems to pout and recline back in his chair; he was always such a brat when it came to not going first. Glancing at the three scientists, he noticed they were all talking about what to go on first, glancing at Sheppard and Teal'c he smiled and rolled his eyes these guys knew what he wanted to hear.
"I believe O'Neill wishes to see the big space guns"
Teal'c smiled at his friend who returned the smiled Sheppard looked at Rodney and nodded.
"Come on Rodney what you got for us"
"Ah well the ship is...ah can be repaired with help from the Asgard"
That would make Jack happy, a full working ancient ship, not bad, glancing at the others he saw the excitement was shared amongst them all.
"Sweet weapons?"
"The AI"
"Ah ah Rodney what did the General say?"
The man was stubborn but Shepard's look told him to be civil and looking at the hologram the doctor knew why.
"Lisa has a full array of defensive and offensive weapons that match even the strongest of the Wraith ships"
"The good news is that with…. Lisa's help even us Earthly people can use it"
Hailey interrupted and glanced at the woman beside the General, giving a nod, McKay frowned and sat down Hailey was clearly going to take it from here.
"Ok, Hailey what's the time frame to finish the reconstruction of the ship?"
"Well sir with the Asgard helping and Lisa's assistance we should be able to finish it in a month or so"
"Lisa however needs to remain on the planet with the repair crew."
Sam interrupted and Hailey nodded agreeing with her, Jack looked at the woman beside him and saw the frown on her face, apparently, AI could get bored.
"You don't want to go?"
"It is complicated to guide them in technologies they do not understand"
While humans had a basic understanding of their technologies, they still had a long way to go before they could even begin to grasp how it truly worked. Operating pod launchers, defense shields and weapons was one thing, actually understanding them and building them was hard for even the Asgard.
"Hey we've done pretty well in Atlantis"
"You only have the city at a 20 working order"
"Bringing the whole city to full operational status is a massive undertaking"
It was annoying to have to discuss such matters with a stubborn man whom prided himself in not being wrong, pride was a thing Lisa had come to know as an obstacle in helping these humans. Glancing at Jack she saw the bored look on his face, muttering something in ancient Jack began to chuckle.
"Ok let's resume another time we're all getting a bit tense here"
"What did she say about me? Did she say something bad?"
"Come on Rodney we need to report in to Doctor Weir"
"She said something about me I know it"
The two men walked out and Jack chuckled, Daniel on the other hand a frown on his face Hailey turned towards him and nudged him on the side.
"What did she say?"
"That the man should be glad she is not solid"
"Ouch"
"Okay every one dismissed"
Hailey turned towards the blond sitting beside her and smiled, the woman was glaring at the hologram. Collecting his files Daniel noticed the look on Teal'c, following the Jaffa gaze he saw Samantha frowning at the way the fake woman was smiling and walking out of the room with Jack.
There was something to be said about that, but right now all Daniel saw was the frown on the Jaffa's face and he didn't like it. Acting fast he cut Teal'c off and walked along side him out of the room, he needed to talk to Teal'c and together try and figure just what was going through Sam's mind.
"Hey Sam you ok"
"Y-yeah I'm fine just"
"Jealous much?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I have eyes"
She wasn't jealous; no she was just angry, the woman, a fake woman had a better relationship with Jack than she did. Not only that, the woman has only known him two days.
In truth she had seen the act from the minute she had walked back into their lives, he was civil but that did not mean that he liked her, or was happy to socialize with her. She could see the distance he had put between them and could see just how far they truly were. He treated her nicely with respect and as if nothing had happened and it hurt because she knew that the more O'Neill acted like this the farther away he was getting, and the harder it was going to be for her to get him back.
"So your husband is okay with everything?"
"Oh yeah I guess, he is not happy with me moving out of the house"
"Yeah I kind of figured that out. How is your kid taking it?"
"He's okay, knows that he can visit whenever he wants to and that his dad is welcome any time"
"I thought he was going to take it harder aren't you worried that he didn't?"
"I told our therapist about it and he said it was fine, Aron is not your average kid"
"I bet"
They share a smiled as they leave the room, Hailey smirks as she notices that Sam takes one last glance at the office housing Lisa and the man Sam is truly in love with.
Some things never change, inside the General's office Lisa looks at the man and wonders how this human can have the ancient knowledge deep within his mind, he is a basic human, advance yes but limited in his abilities, healing is just one of many the ancient possessed, he however seem to have blocked this.
"There was hostility in the room"
"You mean McKay?"
"He disapproves of me does he not?"
"Ah he disapproves of any one he sees as inferior to him don't worry about it just try to tolerate him it's what we all do"
This Human standing before her, even though flawed was a mystery to be unravel.
It is hard to understand this new world, this new area but Lisa is smart and she could learn. Looking at Jack she knew that he was going to be one of her greatest challenges, to learn from him and try to understand him was going to be hard and a challenge she knew she would enjoy.
Three hours later and Sam was finally ready to head home, she needed to go pick up Aron and see what his day entailed. She wondered if Pete was going to be difficult and would ask her to stay for dinner or ask her to stay a while, she did not enjoy those particular days and the questions were beginning to irritate her, she needed to discuss this next time she went to therapy. Breaking out of her thoughts, she notices Jack O'Neill standing near the elevator.
"Hey carter ready to go?"
"Yes sir. You?"
"Waiting for Janet"
Like a husband waits for his wife, she did not like that but knew that after five years the relationship between Janet and Jack had become stronger, she had left them and in the wake of her absence, they had formed a bond. A bond that she could not even begin to compete with; or to understand, the two were complex and Jacks distance keeping techniques told her that it was not going to be easy to breach his defenses or that of Janet. The woman was over protective of Jack another thing she did not like.
"So what's on today's agenda sir?"
"Same as always I guess spend some time with Janet and April"
"Oh and Cassie?"
The questions seem to throw Jack for a loop, yet he smiled and took a deep breath, signs that whatever he was going to tell her was important. Jack smiled as best he could but still it was like hell, here she was after all this time and he was going to tell her that she needed to talk to Cassie and deal with the kid's pent up emotions.
"Yeah she ah …I was going to tell you this sooner but Cassie wants to talk to you if that's okay"
That had surprised her and he could see that but he also saw the old Carter, the one who would fight tooth and nail for a friend the one who's fire he liked, and for a moment he found himself lost in a feeling he had lost a long time ago.
"Tonight? Or?"
"No, no ah I guess whenever your free we can even watch Aron for you"
"…if you can watch him tonight and Cassie is free than yeah we can talk tonight"
"Ah cool I'll call her and see"
"Jack!"
Down the corridor came Janet Frasier a bag on her shoulder and dressed to kill, they couldn't possibly be going on a date could they? No, she didn't think that was possible; there was no indication of it. No looks no nothing and yet now looking at the petite woman and glancing closely at Jack she could see that he was as surprised as she was it seemed that Janet did have a date and it was not with Jack.
"Janet what is…oh don't tell me"
"You forgot didn't you?"
"Sorry, sorry I… my mind was kind of elsewhere"
"Well I'm sure Cassie can help you out"
No she couldn't and Jack frowned, one kid he could handle but two, it was a gamble and he did not know if Aron was a hyper kid that needed constant attention, glancing at Carter he smiles and Janet knows that he had brought up the subject of Cassie.
"What did you do jack"
"Well Sam is free tonight so I thought maybe she could talk to Cassie"
"And she will leave the two kids with you?"
"If he can handle them then yes"
Sam trusted Jack and knew he wouldn't hurt Aron, the thing was Janet was giving him the be a good parent look; meaning Jack was a push over and would not be strict with any child. She hadn't considered that one thing.
Janet pulling them both inside the elevator' began to tell her of Jack's bad habits and now she understood the look Janet gave Jack. He was a spoiler he would give the kids whatever they wanted and feed them junk food all night.
"That's not being fair and you know it Janet"
"Last time April ate a whole steak or need I remind you that?"
"Fine I won't give Carter's kid any stakes or junk food"
"That's a relief"
Sam smiled and took a deep breath, this was good she was finally going to be able to talk to Jack and Cassie, maybe even try to breach the gap that had formed. She smiled and took a deep breath things were looking up; glancing at Janet and her outfit, she was sure she had plans so she wouldn't be there.
She wouldn't be there for Jack to hide behind and for Cassie to lie to her; she was ready for the harsh reality and words the young woman would tell and call her; she just hoped she would be ready for Jack's reaction.
As for our petite doctors, the date was a mystery to everyone besides Janet.
Truth be told he was never good at reading women; he was as much of a fool in the matter of the heart as any other clueless guy, so when Janet Frasier had asked him out, it had floored him to the ground; the petite doctor held nothing back and even gave him a very seductive smile.
Up until this point he had thought he had imagined the smiled, yet now that she was arriving to their table wearing that dress he knew that he had imagined nothing and that she had given him that smiled.
Short elegant and tight red dress and sleeveless knee length and oh, it hung to her curves like it was molded to her body, to say that she took his breath away would be an understatement, she had blown him away. Here he was with a beautiful woman on a date, a date he knew had huge repercussions based on what he did or said, in that moment he would trade all the languages skills he had for just one basic one, the one that would allowed him to speak to women.
"Janet you look amazing"
"Thanks you doctor Jackson you look pretty good yourself"
The archeologist who smiled in return did not miss the sly smile she gave him, she was teasing him and he liked it; flirting might have not been one of his strong points, but he sure as hell knew when a woman was sending signals and Janet Frasier was definitely sending the right signals his way.
"So this was un-expected"
"I guess then again this had been a long time coming"
"It ah it had?"
"Oh yes you are very attractive doctor Jackson"
That was out of character for her but she needed to be aggressive, she knew that Daniel would never make the first move; it was not in his nature to be the aggressive one. So she had to take that role and make him see and tell him of her feelings after that, all she could do was hope.
"Okay kids what do you guys want to do?"
He was nervous. After a long and boring elevator ride with both Janet and Sam he had been given a long list of does and don't, he disliked being told what to do; specially when it involved his kid, but since Aron was staying he needed to be on his best behavior, no sense in spoiling Carter's kid. Looking at April, he knew that she was going to ask him for things he was not going to be able to give her. Junk food being on the top of the list, not to mention staying up late and things like that.
"Don't be shy, dad is pretty cool"
"Yeah big guy come on since it's your first time with just April and me you get to pick what we do"
"Yeah it'll be fun. Dad is the best when it comes to games"
Jack could see the hesitation on the kid's face, and something told him that he was not to keen on playing or doing physical activities around the house, Carter's kid was indeed a bookworm or at least a very shy kid. He couldn't have that, being a bookworm yes, shy yeah but the kid was downright apprehensive, he was looking nervous and out of place.
"Come big guy you what do you want to play?"
"Yeah Aron, dad won't get mad if we break things"
"Ah right just don't try to break them"
He could see the faint smile on Aron lips, he was getting through to the kid; Aron looked around as if thinking then glanced at Jack and smiled.
"I want to toss the ball around like we did last time, which was fun"
"All right then lets clear up the living room April you know the drill"
"Yes sir!"
April smiled and led Aron towards the smaller furniture; showing him where to move it, and telling him why it was being moved. Jack smiled and began to move the large pieces of furniture, all the while thinking about how Janet was going to kill him; when she saw that things had been moved, and he was sure some of the things were going to be broken. He smiled thinking of Janet's little temper tantrum, yet the smiled quickly turned into a frown, now that he thought about it Cassie had inherited both his and Janet's attitudes. He just hoped that Carter could deal with the kid.
"So this is you new place?"
"Yeah sorry about the mess we just move in"
It was not the whole truth, she had moved in a few weeks ago but she had not had the time to put things away. Glancing at the woman sitting on her couch she wondered how to approach this how to talk to Cassie and breach the barrier the girl had placed upon herself.
"You do know I'm only here because of Jack and my mom right?"
"Yeah I know but at least it's a start"
"A start?"
"Look I know you hate me ok"
"I don't hate you"
She did not hate the woman; not after seeing Aron, she could not. She hated the actions she had taken, and the choices she had made. She however did not hate Sam, she was angry with her yes but after Jack and Janet had talked to her she had began to think long and hard, she found that Jack's words were right; even so she could still not look at Sam and forget everything that had happened the past five years.
"You don't?"
"I don't know how to tell you, the truth is I really am not so sure anymore"
"Cassie what I did it was not wrong I did however went at it the wrong way, I should of have included you guys into my life, made an effort to be with you and with Pete"
"Then why didn't you?!"
"To tell you the truth I didn't know, not until recently and I think it was because I was scared, and I ran"
"You have no idea how much that hurt"
No, she did not while she had been away she had been building a life, making friends, and living her dream. Her thoughts did wonder towards the people she had left behind but they were just thoughts and nothing more, she never dwelled on them and even blocked them out because she did not want to think of the people she had hurt.
"I screwed up big time Cass"
"HA, you just figured this now?"
"I guess…yeah pretty stupid huh?"
"You know I never once saw him cry, Jack I mean not once did I see him shed a tear; he just blocked everything out the pain and the sorrow and for a while he was falling hard"
She didn't want to hear this but she had to, Cassie needed to vent whatever it was that was inside her; she needed to let her know everything and to get everything out in the open. She was ready for this but just hearing the word Jack and sorrow hurt her, once more, she had caused pain to the one man whom tried his best to not harm her.
"Cassie I"
"Mom snapped him out of it you know, she talked to him told him we needed him because April needed him"
"y-your mom is very smart"
"Yeah that's what Jack said, but you know what? That didn't matter to me all that mattered was that you were the cause of his pain"
"God honey I"
"I hated you so much, you hurt my father so much and so many times, I wanted you to never come back I never wanted to see you I was not going to stand by and let you hurt my family, hurt me"
Tears were now filling the girl's eyes, Sam could only look on as her own tears began to fall such pain made her look away; Cassie was hurting so much and she couldn't even get close to her, she knew if she did that Cassie would push her away. She was still not okay with her Sam knew this much, it was going to take more to fix this one night only meant one small step.
"I was hurting too, I-I walking into Jack's office, I saw the hurt and I needed to get away I knew that if I stayed I would never be able to escape him"
"I can understand that…w-when I was little and you brought me to earth all I wanted was to have a family again"
"Cassie you have to understand please understand that I still love you w-walking away from you, from all of you was the hardest things I ever had to do"
"Then why did you do it?!"
"I wanted my own family…I wanted to be a mother to be loved….hoping to be with Jack was no longer enough"
"So you left him and left behind everything that reminded you of him"
It was the truth, the girl's words made sense and she froze. She had left them all behind because of her feelings for him; because she had never stop caring, if she had stayed in contact with them then it would have been too painful so she had simply left them all behind.
"So many reasons to be told so many motivations were behind my decision that up until now I hadn't seen them, but the final decision was mine and as selfish as I might sound right now it was because I wanted to live a life of my own"
"So you wanted to live a life away from us"
"N-not from you guys but from everything, the SGC, I wanted to start new and I wanted to just walk away and never look back"
"Something went wrong in your perfect life I gathered"
"I thought I could be normal"
"None of us are normal Sam after all we been through how can we be normal?"
This was not normal; Janet was hot so why was he realizing this just now? He had no idea but he did know one thing, she wanted him not as a lover or a one-night stand but as something more. Her eyes filled with an emotion he had only seen once and that had been a long time ago.
"So were here having a wonderful time and yet you haven't told me why"
"You haven't figured it out yet?"
"I'm slow Jan you know that, I might have an idea of what you might have in mind"
"And?"
"I'm flattered and surprised I umhh...thought you liked Jack"
She knew this was coming, she frowns and Daniel tries his best to clear his throat and swallows hard. This is beyond awkward but ever since she had been shot, he knew that he felt more than friendship for the petite doctor.
"I like Jack and I was with him but you were with Sara"
"You were with Jack?"
"I was so alone Daniel and….seeing you with Sara, hurt so much"
Seeing the close relationship was hell, and Daniel knew what it was like. He had felt annoyed at the close relationship his two friends had but as Janet said, he was with Sara.
"Are we all doomed to screw up this badly?"
"I don't know but I need to know Daniel is it me or do we….god this is hard"
Emotions were blessings and cursed, they brought joy and pain, sorrow and happiness. Such powerful feelings and such weak humans minds, how human live with them was a miracle and right now he felt one miracle happening. His hand seeks hers out and slowly he leans in and their lips touch.
The kiss is all she needs to know and all Daniel can give, he surprised himself with that one and now he is just sitting there staring at her a smile on his lips. Janet blush is clearly visible and she does not care she can finally stop wondering and finally see that he has feelings for her, as the night grows old the conversation has just begun.
"GO ARON GO!"
Aron was running up the last bases, he was clear to go straight to home and score the winning run and all Jack could do was try to catch him; he wouldn't of course. The kids were laughing and he was enjoying himself as he pretended to give it his best he saw the huge smile on April's face, the huge smile on Aron and he smiled they might be a handful at times but they were the greatest joy a father could ever known.
"Come on Aron, dad's catching up to you!"
Kids never knew that a grown up could run faster than them, they always believed they could out run them and when they won they always believed it was a true victory. Yeah they were naive but he didn't care the joy on their face was enough to make him run a bit slower and push his knees a bit harder, and when Aron finally made it the laughs rang out.
"We won!"
"Yeah we did!! I never won a game before"
"That's cuz you never played with me on your team"
"Hey it was two against one you know"
"Daddy you're a grownup"
"Yeah were kids"
"Why you little"
Therefore, the tickle fight began, and when the door opened and the big Jaffa walked in, Jack's brain had an idea.
"EVERY ONE GET TEALC"
"What?"
That was all the Jaffa could say as April jumped towards him, the smile did not go un-noticed by Jack who nudged Aron and pointed him towards the big guy.
"It's all right Teal'c doesn't bite"
"Yeah come on I'm losing over here"
April was now dangling from the strong mans arm, and Jack this time did laugh looking at Aron who was way too shy, so like with his mother he decided to give him a little push oh more likely a lift. In one motion Aron was in Jack's arms and was heading straight towards Teal'c who had a surprise look on his face; all the while Aron was laughing his head off.
Three kids that's how Teal'c saw the situation, O'Neill was no better than Samantha's child or his own. While Jack did stay out of the tickle fight he did however interfere and helped the kids out, while Teal'c got one kid off Jack immediately helped Aron or April get back on the big guy.
The kids played and ate and soon they we're asleep on the couch; Teal'c glanced at Jack and smiled.
It seemed that the Jaffa was as tired as he was, two kids were a handful, even if you were Jaffa.
"They are finally resting"
"Yeah about time too"
"I heard of doctor Frasier and Doctor Jackson's date"
"Yeah the doc is finally making her move"
Teal'c was never one to beat around the bush, he went straight to the point and Jack liked that, most of the time.
"You are dealing with this quite well I see"
"She loves him Teal'c"
"So I heard and you?"
"I will be fine, I guess"
Those words meant little to Teal'c; he had seen how fine O'Neill got when he was hurt. His friend was always hurt and fate it seems would not let up on him, every time there was a positive thing in his life fate would take something away. It was unfair.
Continue