Ok folks, and now we hit the main event. Just FYI I have been to the parade once and I hope it is at least mainly realistic but I don't claim to be an expert. I will happily take any thoughts about how I have written this but please flames are not necessary. Hope you all enjoy, thanks for the contunuing encouragement through reviews.

Chapter 5

At 1100 on the dot the executive coach organised by the White House pulled up in front of the hotel. It had been provided to take some of the families down to The Mall area where they could explore freely, and to take the O'Neills and selected others to the Presidential Grandstand where they could watch the parade. Some families, especially those with older children, had already set off into the centre of the city, which was only 4 blocks away, so they could really enjoy the atmosphere.

As Jack got himself and his tribe settled on the bus, he decided that he was very grateful to have a place in the Presidential Grandstand waiting for him. For one thing, it meant he'd have a seat for what he knew would be a long parade. And, most importantly, he'd been reliably informed that the bullet-proof viewing area had air-conditioning, a godsend in the heat of a DC summer.

The bus meandered its way through the crowds, passed through several police checkpoints and then along Constitution Avenue to the allocated drop-off point. Jack felt this was as good a time as any to have a word with his eldest child.

"Grace, before we get off the bus we need to talk," he said in all seriousness. "Now, you can see that Mommy isn't here yet. She'll hopefully arrive soon, but until then I need you to help Daddy. Can you do that?"

Grace nodded very seriously.

"Okay, good. Daddy has to look after all of you, and you know what that could mean…"

"A recipe for disaster," she solemnly quoted back to him the words she'd heard her mom say jokingly on many occasions.

"Yup!" Jack nodded. "Now, the best way to avoid that is for you to be on your best behaviour. Can you do that?"

Again Grace's little blond head bobbed up and down.

Jack smiled at her; she was generally a well behaved little girl but trouble did find her easily. "Good girl!"

"Jake, take Grace's hand while we get out. Okay, let's go!"

They made their way out of the bus and crossed the road to go into the bullet-proof Presidential Grandstand. They entered from the back and, after showing their IDs - which they all had around their necks - they were shown into the seating area. Many turned to see the striking sight of a 2-star General, complete with diaper bag and carry seat, preceded by the little blonde girl with pigtails and the little boy with an Air Force tie and baseball cap on. Not many of the people gathered knew what to say to them.

"C'mon, Jake, let's go to the front!" Grace spoke, pulling her brother with her. "The new President... not President Henry but I think he'll do a good job... he told Mommy that we had seats at the front. She told me last night when she brushed my hair." Grace was about to bolt for the front when Jack spoke her name in a firm tone. She stopped dead and turned to face her father.

"Oops! Sorry, Daddy." She turned to face her brother and in a very big-sister tone continued, "Jake, we need to let Daddy go first, 'member?" As she effectively scolded Jake for her plan some of the people nearby began to laugh at the sight.

Jack shook his head and walked through the crowd, nodding to a few people whom he recognised from the Pentagon, occasionally saying hello to those he knew better. As promised they did have seats at the front, all named and everything. Fortunately, there was a wide area between the front row and the window, which meant that there was plenty of room for Dan's seat and for the kids to move around. There was even a seat at the end of the row waiting for Sam. A nice touch, Jack thought, especially as she might not join them for a while

The parade had already started and was beginning to make its way towards them by the time they were settled in their assigned seats. The President would be arriving soon and Jack took the opportunity to get himself organised, re-checking the bag for the fifth time.

Grace, having found her seat to be to her satisfaction, now had her face pressed against the glass, straining to see down the long straight road. "Daddy, I no see nothing yet," she moaned.

As if on parental reflex Jack immediately reached into the diaper bag for the kids' Nintendo DSs. He knew what her next statement would be before she'd uttered it. Sure enough, around a minute later she turned from the glass. "Daddy, Grace is bored now!" Ah, there they were, the immortal words that parents around the world dreaded to hear. Jack heard a low chuckle from along the row as he handed over the small computer to Grace, who sat down on the floor in front of her seat with her legs crossed, concentrating on the small screen with an intensity Jack had seen many times on Sam's face.

The man who had laughed at Grace's antics turned to face Jack. Jake had joined Grace on the floor so there were now only empty seats between the two men.

"You know, that's just what my daughter used to say." The older man wasn't wearing a uniform but Jack could spot a military man at one hundred paces.

"She did?" Grace piped up before Jack had a chance to answer the man, looking up at the stranger. It never ceased to amaze Jack that Grace could look focussed on one thing but actually know exactly what was going on around her.

The man looked down into Grace's face. "You know, you look awfully familiar," he addressed the little girl.

Before the conversation could go any further Jack decided to introduce himself; they may have been in the Presidential Grandstand but Jack still didn't warm to strangers trying to strike up a conversation with his first born. "Jack O'Neill," he said in a tone that normally put fear into raw recruits.

The other man sat back in his seat, clearly receiving the message to back off a little. He then leaned over to Jack. "It's good to meet you, General," he replied, noting the stars on the blue dress uniform.

The man was looking at Grace, clearly trying to figure something out. He spoke to Grace while flicking his eyes to Jack. "If you don't mind me asking, little one, who's your mother?"

Now having spent a good part of the last 15 years trying to avoid the NID Jack was immediately on alert at the direction the conversation had taken. Jack was about to ask exactly who this guy was when Jake looked up from his DS and answered the question posed to his sister. "Col... no, General Sam O'Neill," he said proudly, remembering at the last minute her new title.

"Well, another General! It must run in the family," the man responded.

Jack had now fully decided he did not like the possible insinuation the man could be making, although he was stopped short before interrogating him as the man smiled a genuine smile at the kids and at Jack himself, before asking, "Well, young man, can you tell me what her last name was before she married your dad?"

Jack was again caught with his mouth like a goldfish when his eldest child spoke up. "Carter, it was Carter. Daddy still sometimes calls her that," Grace stated, completely intrigued by this stranger.

The man sat back and smiled. "Ah, I thought so. Has anyone ever told you that you look exactly like your mother? I bet your Grampa does."

"I does?" said Grace, blushing at the compliment. Her mommy was really beautiful.

"We no have a Grampa," Jake said sadly and quietly from the floor. "Me got the same name as him, though," Jake finished a little brighter.

The man looked almost crushed and amazingly that made Jack relax a little. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know." He looked at Jack as if asking for forgiveness. Jack gave a brief nod of acknowledgement. "I should introduce myself. General Robert Simons, retired." He held out his hand and Jack only hesitated a moment before shaking it. "I knew your Grampa Jacob and I knew your mommy when she was around your age," he said, turning from Jack to Grace.

As always Grace felt the need to explain everything to her younger brother. "Jake, did you hear that? He knew Grampa Jake…" She looked back up at the General. "Can you tell us stories… please?" Grace's voice took on the tone that Jack only usually heard when she wanted something very, very badly.

The older General smiled and asked a silent question of her father, who nodded. He moved along a seat to be closer to the two children and they crowded together at his feet. Jack figured they were in no danger here; his gut had calmed down when the man had revealed his friendship with Jacob.

Jack took the opportunity to take a now wide-awake Dan out of his carry seat. He was nine months old now and growing into a burly boy. He had Jack's dark hair colouring, unlike the other two: Jake's was light brown while Grace was fully blonde like Sam, just as the General had noticed. However, Dan's face was all Sam; his face was Sam's from top to bottom, right down to his smile.

Jake, on the other hand, looked like Jack. He also looked a bit like Charlie had at that age, which sometimes made Jack do a double take when he looked at Jake, although there was enough of Sam in him that it wasn't a common occurrence. But sometimes Jack could see his older son in Jake when he had a certain expression on his face, the one in which his eyes lit up when cake was in their sights.

Grace, however, like the man pointed out, was the spitting image of Sam, from her blond hair right down to her toes. But in her blue eyes there was the O'Neill spunk that made her look like Jack even without the facial features that were her father's.

Jack turned back to the man who was now in full flow and decided to listen in to the story. Although he and Sam shared everything, their childhoods had not been a huge topic of conversation and Jack had to admit that he was curious. It wasn't just that he could maybe get some excellent ammunition for the next time he needed to bribe his wife, although you never knew when such information could come in handy.

"Did your mom ever tell you how she broke her arm?" General Simon's asked.

"No," they both replied, enthralled by the older man.

"Well, your mother was the adventurous type. She'd watch your Uncle Mark and my son, James, play all the time and, although she was three years younger, she always wanted to join in. Well, on this particular day in the summer, the boys were jumping from a branch in a tall tree. They both said they could go higher and higher, daring each other. Well, once they'd jumped from a branch that was quite high up, your mom wanted to show them that she was braver than both of them. So she climbed higher and higher until she was at the highest branch that would hold her weight then she called down to the boys and to me and your dad. Before any of us could stop her she'd jumped right out of the tree. It all went well until she landed because she landed so hard that she broke her arm."

Grace and Jake gasped while Jack had a smile picturing the scene, but then grimaced, thinking of his daredevil daughter and hoping Grace wouldn't get any ideas.

General Simons grinned at the shocked looks on the children's faces. "Well, your Grampa was angry at her and at your uncle for letting her climb up the tree. Your mommy was trying to be so brave and not cry, but she was in lots of pain so we took her to the hospital and she had to get a cast on her arm. But do you know what she did next?"

Jack could work it out; he knew Sam wouldn't have changed too much.

"She spent all her time when she had her cast on working out what had gone wrong with her jump and the first day after her cast was taken off she jumped again…" He left a pause for dramatic effect. "Only this time she got the landing right and landed safely."

"Wow! Really?" Grace exclaimed.

"Sounds like Carter," Jack commented.

The other General looked at him. "I take it not much has changed, especially if she's now a General. Jacob would be very proud," he finished sincerely.

"He was," Jack answered quietly.

Just at that moment the President arrived. Everyone stood as he was announced and then they settled back down to watch the parade, which was fast approaching. The O'Neill kids were again plastered to the glass and Jake turned to Grace. "Mommy gonna miss it," he said sadly.

"Is okay, Jake, we just have to 'member everything to tell her, okay?"

"Okay!" Jake brightened and Jack smiled proudly at Grace.

"You have a beautiful family," General Simons said.

"Yes we do." Jack smiled.

"Look, Jake, I can see the first band!" Grace squealed, causing all the other children in the glass box to run to the windows, and adult eyes to look down the road. They were very close now.

"Daddy, whose band is that?" Grace asked. The flags were just a little too far away for her to make them out.

Jack didn't have to wait or look to know the answer; he already knew. "The Air Force, Honey."

"That's our band… cool," she replied with awe. Grace fully believed that being the child of two Generals - and more importantly of SG-1 - meant that she at least part owned the entire Air Force. They were hers.

"Look, Daddy, that's our flag!" Jake jumped up and down excitedly on the spot. He was looking beyond the first band to the first troops who'd been given the honour of marching past the President. All eyes went to the SGC troops.

"Mommy!" both Jake and Grace shouted incredulously at the same time.

Just at that moment Sam looked up at the box from the front of the parade and saluted. It was to be directed at the President, but most who looked closely could see it was aimed at the kids, and especially at her CO and husband. They all returned the salute. The rest of the SGC troops did the same, firmly saluting their own commander before the Commander. Jack was touched at the gesture. He looked proudly along the smart lines of men and women with SG-1 at the front - Daniel and Vala were marching, which really pleased Jack - then right down to SG-17. Other units had been off-world but that was still a good complement of airmen. They were followed by scientists and medical personnel, some in their dress blues, others in suits, depending on who they were. Jack was convinced he hadn't had a prouder moment as an officer.

Grace and Jake were jumping up and down wildly by the window, earning themselves a wink from Daniel, a nod from Teal'c, and a special salute from Cam, Dave Dixon and Reynolds. It was a moment they would remember for a long time to come but, once the SGC troops had passed, Jack knew he was going to have to face the music.

As one his two children turned their attention from the parade to eyeball their daddy.

"You didn't tell us, Daddy," Grace said, looking angry and, to Jack's dismay, a little hurt.

"No, Sweetie, we thought it would be a nice surprise. Mommy will come now and join us and watch the rest of the parade," he tried to placate her.

Jake suddenly sat down, as if the weight of the world had landed on top of him. "Mommy lied to us this morning," he said, putting the pieces of the day together in his logical brain. He could now see that there hadn't been a crisis; his mommy had left and told a lie. He continued in a very quiet voice, "Mommy always said not to lie, 'specially to other O'Neills."

As Grace sat on the floor and tried to comfort her little brother, whose bottom lip had begun to quiver, Jack realised that this had not been the smartest idea his wife had ever had.

AN: OK so I have no real idea if the President actually attends but I thought, why not. And obviously I don't know who is involved in the parade but I thought it would be nice if the SGC troops got the chance of public acclaim which they never get. Thanks for reading, more to come, how will the children react when Sam arrives?