Daughter of My Heart, Chapter Six
Sam was having a hard time remembering herself.
Every time she closed her eyes, something unbidden swam before her, a vision, a memory, a feeling.
The Goa'uld had died to save her, but had left a lot behind. She was sick with the weight of it all.
"Mom?," came a tiny voice from behind, and she was sure it was speaking to somebody else. Nothing more than an echo in her own tormented thoughts.
Then a warm weight settled in beside her, young arms trying to hug her pain away. "You're going to be okay," the voice said, and tears filled her eyes. Mom?
Cassie, her brain supplied, her heart suddenly swelling at what she'd just been called.
"Thanks for bringing us home," she said, still not entirely herself, but at least closer than she'd been a few days before.
"Don't mention it," Daniel replied, stepping out of the car to help them with their things.
Cassie skipped on ahead of them, getting the door. Sam was grateful to note that it'd been replaced sometime in the last few days, while she'd been...not herself.
"No, really," Sam said, pausing in her tracks. "And thank you for taking care of Cassie," she added after a pause.
"Yeah, about that," he said, lowering his voice uncomfortably. "I don't know if she's told you this or not, but she asked if she could tell her friends that I'm her dad."
Sam stared at him, dumbfounded.
"Look, I know it's not really my place," he said, "but she was pretty adamant. So I told her she could."
Sam nodded numbly. She couldn't even begin to process her feelings about that revelation right now. There was still so much confusion floating around in her mind...
Daniel sighed. "I'm really sorry, Sam. I know this is probably one more thing you don't need to be thinking about right now. It's just...I thought you should know."
She nodded again. "Thanks, Daniel," she replied, moving toward the house.
"Are you guys coming?," Cassie shouted, poking her head back outside the door.
"Yep!," Sam called, hurrying forward.
Daniel hung back. "Dad, are you coming too?," she called.
Sam froze in her tracks, suddenly glad Daniel had thought to warn her. Turning slowly, she gave an almost imperceptible nod, and Daniel started forward as well, grinning.
"Be right there!," he called back, jogging toward them.
This will be...different, Sam thought to herself.
Daniel was relieved to see that as off-colour as Sam had seemed on base, her relationship with Cassie seemed entirely unaffected by her time as a Goa'uld host.
The pair of them seemed joined at the hip, working side by side in the kitchen to come up with something edible for dinner, laughing and whispering as they worked. Daniel would have felt entirely left out had it not been for Cassie periodically handing him something to take care of.
Apparently his role in this odd little family was to be that of busboy.
"Dad, could you hand me that towel?," Cassie asked, gesturing vaguely in the appropriate direction.
"Oh, and grab the saucepan down below," Sam added, indicating the cupboard half-shrouded by the hanging towel.
Daniel obliged, handing each woman the desired implement before taking a seat once more.
They worked magnificently well together, he marveled, watching them side-step one another as they worked through different parts of the meal. They looked so natural together, he could almost believe this had been their family for Cassie's whole life.
Only Sam was having a hard time looking directly at him, and Cassie was still very much caught up in the novelty of having two parents again.
"Is there anything I can do?," Daniel asked again, already knowing the answer.
"Don't be silly. You'd only get in the way," Cassie chided, ducking under Sam's arm to reach another ingredient.
"You might be surprised," he tried. "I did learn how to cook on Abydos."
Both women turned to stare.
"What?," he defended.
"On Hanka, men weren't allowed in the kitchen," Cassie observed.
"Yeah, they weren't generally allowed on Abydos either," Daniel explained ruefully. "But Sha're got tired of answering my questions, and decided just to show me, instead."
Sam chuckled, tossing him her apron. "By all means, Doctor Jackson. Let's see what you can do."
It was a challenge, and he knew it, but he wasn't about to back down now. Catching the apron mid-air, he deftly secured it around his waist, and moved to the other side of the counter to help out.
Joining the choreographed process that was dinner-making in the Carter household was more challenging than he'd initially thought, but after a few clumsy moments, during which he more than proved Cassie right in her belief that he'd just be in the way, he settled in fairly well.
Soon they had pots full of vegetables and pasta, chicken browning in a pan on the stove. A small dish of marinade rested on the counter, ready and waiting for the final assembly of the dish, while a small batch of raspberry turnovers baked in the oven for dessert.
Daniel wiped his hands on the apron, rather astonished with what they had accomplished in such a short time. He shook his head.
"Sam, didn't you once tell Turghan that you couldn't cook?"
Sam shrugged, a small grin tugging at the corners of her mouth. "I may have underplayed my skills somewhat," she replied evasively.
"I'll say," he replied appreciatively. "This looks fantastic."
"It's not even done yet!," Cassie replied, shaking her head.
"It still looks fantastic," Daniel countered, pulling her in for a hug and planting a noisy kiss on top of her head. Cassie giggled, leaning against him a moment longer before remembering something she wanted to show Sam, and scampering off.
"You might want to check your veggies, there, dad," Sam said, nodding toward the pot of steaming vegetables. "Overcooking ruins the dish."
Daniel quickly grabbed the pot and drained it, stepping out of the way as Sam did the same for the pasta. Combining everything in a bowl, Sam added the chicken and marinade, tossing everything together and setting it aside to cool.
A moment later, Cassie skipped back into the kitchen with a graded assignment, and Daniel found himself pulling the turnovers from the oven before they burned.
The archaeologist felt a momentary pang of guilt as he took in the happy scene. Much as he was growing to love Cassandra, he couldn't help but feel that he didn't really belong here, intruding on Sam's personal life.
Catching his eye, Sam smiled.
"Have you seen this?," she asked, passing him the page. Pulling him into their moment.
"No," he said, grinning shyly. It was a history report, he noticed, and she'd used one of the myths he'd told her to expand on the topic she'd been assigned. He felt a swell of pride as he read it, recognizing the effort she'd put in even before he noticed the glowing comments of her teacher. "Cassie, this is really good!"
The little girl beamed happily. "Thanks, dad!"
Sam bit her lip, but smiled.
It would take some getting used to, he knew, but if it made Cassandra happy... well, who was he to argue?