I just wanted to say welcome to the new readers that have recently reviewed this story! Thanks for checking this out!

Very minimal research went into picking a spot for Cassie's field trip. Hey, I'm in my next-to-last semester of graduate school. I need to have some fun somewhere, so I'm hoping you guys will give me some creative license with this. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

March, 2000

Even though Cassie didn't think it was necessary for every single member of her family to chaperone her field trip, she also had to admit that it made her seem pretty cool among the rest of her friends.

Her school's day-long field trip to Cheyenne Mountain State Park had needed numerous chaperones. They were having a stretch without snow this winter, so the field trip was deemed safe enough for the group of students—provided that all students had the proper outerwear and hiking boots, of course. Janet had come, leading two other nurses for the first-aid team, as Cassie's entire grade was on the trip. Janet had also volun-told the rest of SG-1(who were all on two-weeks of downtime after their capture by the Bedrosians on P2X-416) to come along as they needed extra chaperones to manage the large field trip. It was cold, but everyone was bundled up for the day of hiking and observing nature, and it all would culminate in a campfire and cookout at the end of the day.

Given that they were stationed near Cheyenne Mountain Complex, it wasn't like Cassie was the only one with family members that worked for the Air Force, or the military in general. Even so, Cassie was the only student that had three family members with either high-ranking or respected positions in the Air Force, along with a guy who looked like a cross between a body builder and the most intense security officer ever, and an archeologist who gave Indiana Jones a run for his money. Cassie made an ick-face to herself when she remembered how two of her friends were gushing over how cute they thought Daniel was.

Needless to say, her friends and classmates were all rather impressed with Cassie. Which, for a thirteen year old girl getting close to finishing up middle school, was kind of a big deal. She was the coolest kid in eighth grade at the moment—it honestly didn't matter much to Cassie, but still. It was kind of neat.

While Cassie's family was the talk of the eighth grade, she had other things to be concerned with. All she had to do was take a look at how isolated each member of SG-1 was, and she knew that something really bad was going on.

Daniel, ever knowledgeable, was explaining the local history of the state park to a group of students who were enraptured by his long lecture. Teal'c was going over basic survival techniques with another group of equally fascinated students. Sam was off to the side, taking inventory of the supplies for the dinner and campfire later that night, while Janet was focusing on removing a splinter from one of Cassie's classmate's hands. Jack was with another group of students, patiently showing them how to work a compass.

Cassie didn't miss the way that Daniel, Teal'c, and Janet kept casting Sam concerned looks that conveniently disappeared whenever Sam happened to look over. And she didn't miss the way that Jack would watch his whole team, something dark and sad in his eyes that Cassie wasn't used to seeing. Oh, whenever one of her classmates were near him, that look would disappear quickly enough. Cassie saw it though, and kept shooting pointed looks at her mother, who was pretending she didn't see them.

Cassie knew that on a mission SG-1 had several months ago, Jack had been trapped off-world for over one hundred days. Janet had finally admitted to Cassie that Jack was missing after five weeks. In that time, Cassie had only seen Sam and Daniel once. While their off-world schedule—and work schedule in general—tended to be busier than most other members at the SGC, all members of SG-1 made a point of seeing Cassie as much as possible while they were on Earth. In the years since she had made Earth her home, Cassie had grown accustomed to seeing them at her soccer games, school concerts, talent shows, and science fairs. They were her family, and they wanted to her to know that she could always count on them.

So seeing only Sam and Daniel in the space of five weeks was unusual. Cassie tried to be understanding, of course. Teal'c had his own family that he didn't get to see nearly often enough, and Jack was a colonel, which was no small thing. He had many responsibilities, especially since he was the second-in-command of the entire base. So Cassie did her very best not to be too disappointed that it had been so long since seeing Jack and Teal'c, and tried to enjoy the time with Sam and Daniel.

There was something different with them, though, something off. Sam had looked tired and down in a way that Cassie hadn't seen from her since the very first time she had met her, when Cassie had been wrapped in a blanket and had been carried by Sam some twenty-floors underground. Cassie hadn't asked any questions, but once Janet had told her that Jack was trapped off-world, everything made much more sense.

Cassie didn't see anyone else from SG-1 after that, not for a very long time. She made sure to ask Janet once a week how the effort to get Jack back was going. At first, Janet was as cautiously optimistic as the situation would allow—she didn't want to lie to her daughter, but she didn't sugarcoat it, either. Cassie had seen too many things during her short life so far, and had much more knowledge of the universe and the horrors it held than she needed to. So Janet assured Cassie that they were still searching and working for a way to bring Jack home, but that it was slow going, to say the least.

As the weeks wore on, when Cassie would ask about Jack, Janet would get more and more vague, until all she was saying was that they were still doing their best to bring him home. Around weeks eleven and twelve, Cassie wanted to stop asking, because getting the same response over and over again was rather depressing. It was finally around week thirteen that Janet let slip how worried she was about the rest of SG-1, particularly Sam—Cassie knew that things had to be bad if Janet was telling her about it. Janet normally went out of her way not to share too much about some of the really tough things that the personnel at the SGC went through. It was very much like when Sam was host to Jolinar, and the rest of SG-1 gave Cassie a special insight into how things were going.

At week thirteen, Cassie finally demanded that Janet take her to the SGC so that she could see Sam and the rest of SG-1. And thank god that she did, because Cassie could swear that they were all hanging on by a thread. Sam was fairing the worst, working herself to the point of passing out in order to bring Jack home. Daniel and Teal'c were struggling to support Sam as best as they could, all while trying to needle their allies into offering more help.

Janet had Teal'c practically drag Sam away from her lab so that they all could have dinner together, which turned out to be a huge help. At first, Sam had vehemently protested being taken away from work. That's when Daniel had stepped in, with Cassie at his side, and said that they just wanted her for forty-five minutes.

At the sight of Cassie, Sam had finally softened and agreed to dinner. Cassie had spent the entire meal talking as much as she possibly could, filling Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c's ears with every single thing that had happened in her life over the past thirteen weeks. They had all—even Sam—participated in the conversation, and by the end of the meal (which had ended up lasting an hour and a half), everyone seemed just the tiniest bit more relaxed.

It turned out, a little over a week later, they had finally figured out a way to reach Jack. It had taken a few more weeks still to actually bring Jack home, and then SG-1 had dropped off the face of the Earth again for two more weeks. Jack had finally surfaced to visit Cassie, where she did her best not to ask too many questions about his time away from Earth. There was a tired, sad sort of look to him that Cassie had never seen from him before, but it wouldn't do any use to pry.

Right after that, Jack had gotten roped into the undercover mission to take down Maybourne's rogue NID cell, which only added more strain to the team. And the only reason that Cassie knew about that particular situation was because she had to go into protective custody during that time—since she had been adopted by the CMO of the SGC and was from another planet, the NID considered her a valuable asset. Never mind the fact that Cassie grew up in a farming community and was only almost fourteen years old. When the few, select people on Jack's undercover mission had started poking around, they had found out that Cassie had been tagged as a potential project for the NID. Jack had demanded security for Cassie and Janet at that point, and thankfully, General Hammond had called in some favors and made it happen.

SG-1 had managed to patch things up after that to start going on missions once again, but they were all acting rather professional with one another, interacting only when they absolutely had to.

Then the mission to P2X-416 had happened. With Jack, Sam, and Daniel captured, and Teal'c injured, it seemed as though SG-1 had all rallied together. Once they had returned to Earth, however, things had gotten tense once again—clearly, SG-1 hadn't ever really resolved any of their issues from those difficult missions earlier in the year. Right after Janet had handed down the orders to take some down time, she had coerced all of SG-1 into chaperoning Cassie's field trip. It didn't look like it now, but both Frasier women were convinced that it would do a world of good for the fractured team.

Cassie's friend Haley popped up next to her on one side. "You family is so cool," she whispered loudly.

"So cool!" Cassie's other close friend, Brooke, came around her other side. She sent Cassie a sly look and added, "I had no idea the history of national parks could be so fascinating. Although that might have something to do with the teacher."

Cassie rolled her eyes but didn't say anything to Brooke's not-so-veiled comment. Daniel was practically an uncle to her, and she found it gross that a lot of her friends thought he was cute. "Yeah, I like them. I think I'll keep them around," she said jokingly instead.

"They're all going on the hike, right?" Haley asked. "I heard your godmother talking about flying a fighter jet earlier, and like…" She shook her head in amazement, her honey blonde hair flipping behind one shoulder. "It was amazing. I have so many questions."

Holding back a smile, Cassie said, "Yeah, they're going on the hike. If you're taking almost one hundred eighth graders on a hike, I think it'll help to have some backup from the military."

Brooke made another halfway inappropriate comment about what kind of help she needed from the military (she was the oldest of Cassie's friend group, and as such tended to be the boldest one), but both Haley and Cassie ignored her once again.

"Come on, let's go get our packs," Cassie suggested instead. She had an objective during this hike, and it was one that her friends couldn't exactly be involved in.

She was going to figure out what was wrong with SG-1. And she was going to fix it.

Cassie's first stop was Daniel. It was a purely strategic move, since he was the most likely to give up information. He was also the most likely to be distracted by her friends, so that Cassie would be free to be as nosey as she wanted with everyone else. At least she wouldn't have to waste time asking her mother questions—she had already done that at home and had barely gotten anywhere. Of course, she was certainly going to do it again once they got back from the field trip. Sometimes, repeated insistence was the best way to get what she wanted.

The important thing with Daniel was to use his inherently sympathetic nature against him. She sidled up to him, sent a quick, pointed look to the little entourage he had formed, and waited for them to disperse before she plainly stated, "Daniel, I'm worried about Sam."

Daniel blinked at her, his blue eyes wide behind his glasses. There was a look of understanding there, but he still tried to play dumb. "What's wrong? What's going on with Sam?"

"Daniel." Cassie sent him a look, one that Daniel had seen from her mother way too many times in the infirmary. It was a little scary, how alike the mother and daughter duo were.

"Okay, fine." Daniel let out a little huff and glanced around, making sure that the rest of his team and Janet were sufficiently occupied. They were all doing their parts to make sure that the large group of teenagers were staying focused on the hike, so Daniel knew that he and Cassie could talk without anyone really overhearing them.

"It's been a rough couple of months for all of us," Daniel told her earnestly. "And we're all… it's taking us some time to bounce back." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked up towards the front of the group, where Sam was chatting with Janet as they directed the hike. "Sam's okay, Cass, I promise. She's just… she's taking some things a little hard, that's all."

SG-1 tended to band together and protect one another, no matter the cost. There were certain people—like Janet, Cassie, and sometimes even General Hammond—that got a little more insight into the inner workings of SG-1, that got to witness their incredible bond up close. Things must have been really bad if Daniel was openly telling Cassie that she was struggling.

Cassie bit her lip and thought about what Daniel had told her for a long moment. Since she was from another planet and had spent quite a bit of time in the SGC, she was privileged to some information that other family members of staff at the SGC weren't. Even so, Cassie was well aware of the fact that she didn't know everything.

The only reason she knew about Jack and how he had been stuck on Edora was because he had been missing for so long, and Jack was listed as one of her guardians and emergency contacts. Cassie knew about Jack's undercover mission because she had head Janet and Daniel gossiping about how Jack had been dismissed from the SGC, and Cassie had nearly broken her leg by running down the stairs as she loudly demanded to know what was going on—plus, there had been the whole protective custody thing, but that was less exciting to Cassie.

Still, there were plenty of other dangerous missions that SG-1 had been on that year, ones that Cassie didn't know the details of. Janet always tried her very best not to bring her work home with her, since everyone had decided that it was more important for Cassie to just be a kid than to worry about the world possibly ending.

Cassie's world had already ended once, and she was fortunate enough to have been spared. She didn't need the threat of that constantly hanging overhead now that she had found a new place to be happy, with a family that loved her. She understood what they were protecting her from.

And suddenly, Cassie let go of her mission to interrogate every member of SG-1. Instead, she just sighed and said, "This has something to do with Jack, doesn't it?" Daniel's words had been incredibly revealing, after all—and Cassie was just about the only person he would ever say them to. Everyone had seen the connection that Cassie and Sam had, especially after Jolinar had taken Sam as a host. Sam wasn't in a place that was quite that dark now, but it still didn't hurt to have Cassie in their corner.

Daniel gave her a sort of resigned look. When he had gone to that alternate reality and found out their Sam and Jack were engaged (yeah, Cassie had managed to squeeze that story out of Daniel—that first year she was on Earth, she could get any of them to tell her basically anything), it had been a marvel to Daniel that he had never given much thought to their connection before. Once it had been directly pointed out to him, he wondered how he had never paid attention to the looks that passed between Sam and Jack, or the little touches.

Maybe he hadn't noticed it because it had been like that with Sam and Jack from the beginning—it was only after someone had reminded Daniel of the regulations, that he realized the interactions between the two of them weren't… typical.

Still, Sam and Jack were nothing if not professional. They walked the fine line between commanding officer and second in command in their professional lives, and friends in their personal lives, with a startling sort of ease. Daniel endlessly admired his two friends, and he knew that Teal'c felt the same, even if he didn't quite understand the rules that governed the personal lives of some people on Earth.

That's why it had been so shocking, what had happened between Sam and Jack and the rest of SG-1 after Jack had been stranded on Edora. Things had only gotten worse with Jack's undercover mission, and they were only just beginning to recover. They had come together a little, after being captured by the Bedrosians. It had faded almost entirely after the mission briefing, however, and Daniel was keenly aware of how the team camaraderie was missing from their interactions. There was a stiffness there had that hadn't been present since their first few missions together as team.

Even though Daniel had drawn the short straw, he still hadn't minded being the one to go see Jack. He had the ability to be a bit freer with his emotions, in a way that Sam couldn't and Teal'c didn't often allow himself to be. And then Jack had revealed that the whole thing had just been a result of an undercover assignment, and that he hadn't meant any of it.

Sam, of course, had locked all of her emotions about Edora and Jack's undercover mission in a neat little box in the back of her mind, and had pushed it to a place that it couldn't reach her. Things had been a little better since then—she smiled more, she laughed, she started joking and teasing with them again. Still. It wasn't the same.

It had been a rough year for Sam in general. Even though it started out well, with her promotion to major, there were still things that cast a cloud over the year: the whole ordeal with Seth, rescuing Jacob from Netu, and multiple captures. To put Edora and Jack's undercover mission on top of that… well, Daniel was just glad that they were finally getting some real downtime, and that they got to spend some of that time with Cassie.

Cassie had been quiet all while Daniel had been musing over his inner monologue, watching him with eyes that were entirely too knowing for a teenage girl. He wondered, sometimes, if it was a good thing for Cassie to know what she did about what happened at the SGC. They didn't—couldn't—tell her everything, of course, given the nature of their work. Still, what else could they do? Cassie had been born on another planet, had survived the extermination of her people and the way that the Goa'uld tried to use her as a pawn to destroy Earth. She had all of her medical appointments at the SGC, and she still sometimes met with psychologists at the SGC to talk about how she was doing on Earth, and if she was still having any difficulties with her feelings about what happened on Hanka.

It was yet another fine line that they walked. Cassie didn't need to be sheltered from everything going on at the SGC—in fact, given her close relationship with the flagship team, the CMO, and the commanding officer of the base, it could be argued that she had a right to know of at least some things involving them. Still, she also didn't need to know just how many dangerous missions they went on, or the specific details of those missions.

Daniel finally managed a smile and wrapped his arm around Cassie's shoulders, drawing her close in a hug to his side. "You're a good kid, Cass. You know that, right?"

She grinned at him, then, trying to let go of some of her worry. "I've been told that once or twice." She waited another moment before she finally said, "But I want to help them, though. And I'm gonna need your help with that. We need to get them alone for at least a little bit tonight."

"I'm in," Daniel said immediately. "And I know that your mom and Teal'c will be on board too."

"Great!" Cassie beamed at him and looked around to make sure no one was listening before she leaned close. "Here's what we're going to do…"

The hike was a success, and there had only been one near-injury (Daniel, when he had tripped over a boulder and almost sprained his ankle. He was saved when Teal'c had snagged him by the back of his shirt). They were just finishing up with dinner and were getting ready to roast marshmallows over multiple firepits. SG-1, Janet, and the rest of the chaperones drifted in between each firepit, checking on the groups of teenagers and making sure that the fires were keeping hot and were within the fire rings.

Daniel, Teal'c, and Janet had already done a good job of circling the groups in such a way that Sam and Jack were close together, kind of walking the same path. Sam was lost in her own thoughts, but Jack kept sending somewhat suspicious glances Daniel and Teal'c's way. Still, he didn't say anything, so Cassie considered that to be a sign that she should carry her plan out.

Cassie had gotten a group of friends and had claimed one of the firepits. She chosen the one that was furthest away, on the outside of the circle their field trip group had made. Cassie had very purposefully let their fire get as low as possible, without drawing attention to themselves.

They were down to some flickering embers when Cassie called, "Sam! Jack! Can you build up our fire again please?" She had the perfect amount of whine in her voice as she added, "We want to roast some more marshmallows!"

Cassie had been very sure to call both Sam and Jack over, since she knew that neither of them would say no to her. As they made their way over to her firepit, she got separate but identical looks from Sam and Jack; they both knew that she was very capable of building her own campfire up, as she had been learning how to do it at Jack's house since she had first come to Earth. Cassie just smiled innocently at them; since they were on a school-sanctioned field trip, Cassie wasn't allowed anywhere near that campfire.

She smiled serenely with Brooke and Haley on either side of her, chattering about how they each wanted to roast more marshmallows for s'mores. Cassie had filled her two friends in on the basics of what was going on between Sam and Jack. Naturally, all classified, alien-filled details had been left out. Brooke was of the opinion that they should just "jump each other's bones" (her words, not Cassie's—and that was even after how Cassie had explained how highly Sam and Jack considered duty, and how professional they were), while Haley had really leaned into the whole forbidden romance aspect. Needless to say, they were more than willing to play along with Cassie's plan.

Right on cue, Brooke whined, "Cass, we need more chocolate for our s'mores!" Jack had already started hauling more wood over to their firepit, and Sam was carefully arranging each log so that it could make the best possible fire. They had already started helping, because it was for Cassie—there was no way they could back out now.

Still, Cassie had to put up appearances, and she had to make it look like she wasn't purposefully trying to get Sam and Jack alone. "C'mon, Brooke, can't you survive with the marshmallows and the graham crackers?"

Brooke (who enjoyed a performance as much as the next teenage girl), looked perfectly affronted. "Cass, it's offensive that you would even say such a thing!" Next to her, Haley nodded emphatically.

Jack chuckled and dropped a few more logs next to the firepit. "Cass, you guys go and get more supplies for the s'mores. By the time you guys get back, Carter and I will have a nice fire going for you."

They were barely out of earshot when Brooke started squealing and Haley said, "Oh my gosh, the way he called her Carter? It sounded like a pet name!"

Cassie laughed and nodded in agreement—she had said as much to Daniel six months ago.

Cassie and her friends had been away from the firepit for ten minutes. Cassie, of course, had a whole plan in place. If either Jack or Sam had asked what had kept them, Cassie was going to explain that one of their other friends had stopped them to talk and they got sidetracked. If worse came to worse, Cassie planned on having Brooke launch into a play-by-play of what had happened in that "conversation." Sam and Jack were great and had done some pretty incredible things, but there was just something about a teenage girl babbling that could wear anybody down.

As Cassie watched what was happening at the firepit, though, she really didn't think she'd need any of her contingency plans. Jack had finished carrying firewood over not long after Cassie and her friends had left. He'd sat on one of the low benches surrounding the pit, staring into the growing flames as Sam poked and prodded at the teepee of logs she had built.

Finally, Sam had deemed the fire as acceptable and stood up, looking around for a moment. She was clearly confused, and a little uncertain and uncomfortable. After a long moment, Jack nodded his head towards the low bench directly next to his. Sam hesitated for a moment before she sank down on it, curling her knees into her chest as she stared into the fire.

Another five minutes passed. Brooke and Haley joined some of their other friends at a different firepit. Janet was moving from group to group with the other parents, circulating to make sure that everyone had enough food and drinks. Teal'c was patiently following her around, carrying a case of water bottles and passing them out when one of the students indicated they wanted one.

Daniel was the one who joined Cassie, standing off to the side with her while she completely gave up subtlety and just watched Sam and Jack outright. Surprisingly, neither of them noticed that they were being watched. It spoke to the amount of stress they had all been under that she and Daniel weren't being glared at by Jack, at the very least.

It was another two minutes before Jack stopped staring at the fire and started watching Sam instead. Sam noticed that, almost instantly, even though she pretended that she didn't. She kept trying to sneak glances at him, clearly checking to see if he was still watching her. After another three minutes, she stopped checking and simply watched him in return.

They stared at each other for so long, and Cassie had the feeling that they were all getting away with something. Maybe it was because they were outside of the mountain, in an environment that was so completely different from what they were used to being in—and that was what Janet had intended all along when she had invited SG-1 on this fieldtrip, Cassie knew. This, somehow, had become a safe space for Sam and Jack.

They seemed to be having one of those silent conversations with one another. Cassie had seen it happen a handful of times before since she had come to Earth, and she had always wondered what it would be like to be able to communicate with someone on such a profound level. She wondered if Sam and Jack even realized that they were doing it, and just how amazing it was. From the slightly sad look on Daniel's face, Cassie was guessing not.

Just when Cassie couldn't take it anymore, Jack finally said something, and she saw the shape his lips made—"Thank you." Sam smiled beautifully in return.

Then, one of the kids at the next firepit over yelled as the fire popped loudly, sending ash into the air. The moment was broken, and Sam and Jack looked away from one another and then glanced around, as if finally realizing that Cassie and her friends hadn't returned yet. They found Cassie standing with Daniel almost immediately, but there were no chastising looks or sighs sent their way. Instead, as Sam and Jack made their way over to them, they were both smiling slightly.

Daniel wrapped his arm around Cassie's shoulders and squeezed her into his side. "You did good, kid."

Cassie grinned, not bothering to hide just how proud she was that her plan worked. It was probably the closest that they would ever get to resolving what had happened over the past few months, but for now, that was okay. Cassie held out hope that one day, Sam and Jack would get to say whatever they wanted to each other.

Thanks for reading!