Reading Time: 102 Minutes

Title: The Last Strawberry You’ll Ever Eat
Author: SASundance
Fandom: Stargate SG1
Genre: Angst, Episode Related, Family, Hurt/Comfort, Kid!fic, Science Fiction
Relationship(s): Gen
Content Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Major Character Death. Alien Abduction; Temporary minor character death; Grief, and loss of a child through gun violence; discussions of canonical elements of slavery, genocide and rape: discussions canonical element of ethical issues of child autonomy and abuse; mild character bashing
Author Note: British spelling and grammar. Big shoutout to my Beta, who was operating under huge impediments. TWBMW <3
Beta: Aussiefan70
Word Count: 113,104
Summary: Dr Janet Fraiser, CMO of Stargate Command, greatly respects her superior officers, General George Hammond and Colonel Jack O’Neill. But they’re all facing a huge challenge over which option to take to repair the dying Reetou Charlie’s poorly cloned body. Will she have to overrule the two highest-ranked officers on the base?
Artist: CoCo
Artist Appreciation: Thanks so much, Coco. Loved your images that have brought the story to life.

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Chapter 14: Like a Big Pizza Pie, That’s Amore

“Pizza is the answer, no matter what the question is” ~ unknown

Meanwhile, leaving Cassie and Charlie in the living room, the adults, sans Dr Fraiser and Jack, migrated outside so they could talk privately, while the colonel was inside the Asgard healing pod that Thor had beamed down from his ship. Sam noted that the Beliskner must be cloaked since NASA and their international counterparts in Russia and China had no clue they were there. Their cloaking technology would also explain how Loki had gone on his merry way undetected, abducting Jack and others like him, searching for humans who possessed the Ancients’ genes. Although she still wasn’t sure what Loki wanted with humans who possessed the Ancients’ gene, or genes like the colonel but that said, she was very glad he had been meddling or the Colonel would never have been able to unlock his Ancients’ healing knowledge to revive his son.

While it was chilly outside and the weather was somewhat bleak, the snow from the storm three days ago had mostly melted, and everyone was rugged up. Plus, Major Ferretti’s team had been busy erecting a large tent, used for operational purposes along with camping stools and a table, to keep them out of the intermittent wind which had sprung up. It was still chilly but better than nothing, especially with the steady supply of coffee and the takeout pizzas that Sergeant Toohey had been sent to collect from the nearest town in their desire to celebrate a fantastic outcome to what had been an awful situation.

Somehow, Cassie had sniffed out the food, despite having scarfed down scrambled eggs and toast not so long ago and dragged Charlie out of the room where Jack was undergoing healing in an Asgard healing pod. She insisted the boy she regarded as a little brother had to try pizza too, that he’d love it. Everyone was delighted to see Charlie have an appetite, and they sent them back inside where it was warm, with one of the pies to share.

Meanwhile, Teal’c shared his thoughts about his discussion with General Hammond concerning security concerns before O’Neill had healed Charlie. Daniel and Sam shared looks of shame; how could they not have seen the possible threats like Teal’c had? They had been there during the attempt to seize the Tollans and gain control over their own teammate, too. The extended group, including SG-2, the helicopter pilot, Captain Lorne, and her dad and Selmak, looked at possible scenarios of what might happen to Charlie O’Neill now that the colonel had healed him.

“As soon as the government factions, such as the NID and military intelligence groups learn of Charlie O’Neill’s existence, if they don’t already know, especially his additional Reetou DNA that enabled him to see beings from another dimension, they will wish to gain access to him,” Teal’c summarised the situation succinctly.

He exchanged ominous looks with the other individuals seated inside the khaki-green tent.

“A lot of bad actors would pose an existential threat to Charlie,” Daniel declared angrily.

“I do not understand, what would people who appear in movies want to harm young Charlie O’Neill?” Teal’c asked curiously.

As several people choked on their pizza or coffee, Sam answered matter-of-factly, used to this type of misunderstanding on the team.

“Bad actors in this context is a collective noun for all the shitbags who want to steal technology and knowledge uncovered by the Stargate Program, then use it for their own evil ends,” she explained, flashing a look at her father.

She didn’t usually use foul language in front of him…hence her Holly Hannah epithet! She was relieved to see he hadn’t batted an eyelid at her use of the word shitbags, he actually smirked.

“I see, thank you, Captain Carter.” Teal’c looked at her gratefully, before addressing Daniel again. “You are correct, Daniel Jackson, he would be nothing more than a lab mouse to be experimented on by those rogue scientists,” Teal’c agreed.

The others had not forgotten the disgusting attempt by dodgy politicians and unethical scientists to use Teal’c when he was attacked by the giant alien bug that had overwritten his Jaffa DNA. They hadn’t tried to save him; they wanted the alien bug to take him over and the archaeologist wasn’t the only one there who was remembering how badly their Jaffa friend had been treated.

Realising that Teal’c had raised an excellent if highly disturbing point, Carter asked,” Have you thought of any plans to prevent them from abducting him?”

Sam understood now why he insisted on having this conversation outside in the frigid cold air rather than in the cosy warmth of the cabin. She admitted that looking around Jack’s cabin, she expected something a whole lot more rustic and was rather surprised at the hominess of the log cabin. He’d been nagging them for ages to come to Minnesota, but they’d all turned him down, thinking they’d probably be bored, but surprisingly, it had most of the creature comforts of home: a generator supplying lighting and hot running water, a decent enough kitchen, the cosy central fireplace that kept not only the living areas warm, but both bedrooms which backed onto the fireplace too.

Sam refocused her wandering attention back to their immediate problem, listening closely as Teal’c outlined his solution. He recommended smuggling Charlie off-world to P3X-797, also known as the Land of the Light. He could live there, at least temporarily, with Teal’c own family, Rya’c and his wife Drey’auc, who were living there in exile, after it became unsafe for them to remain on their home planet of Chulak when Apophis kidnapped Rya’c to lure Teal’c back there.

Carter conceded it was a well-thought-out plan. Realistically, she just couldn’t see the colonel allowing his son, who had nearly died–no, he had died-to go and live there on another planet without him. To be honest, from the way Charlie had clung to the colonel, she couldn’t see how they could separate him either. The only way she could see it happening was if the colonel went to P3X-797, too, which would inevitably mean him resigning from SG1.

She wasn’t keen on that outcome, knowing that their replacement would more than likely be Colonel Makepeace, the Marine colonel who was pretty gung-ho. She wouldn’t mind if Ferretti took over SG-1 so much; he’d served under O’Neill, and he was Air Force. She questioned the Marine colonel’s ability to lead such a disparate team as SG-1, even if Jack, on occasion, might get exasperated with Daniel when he didn’t follow orders. Or Teal’c when his Jaffa honour was invoked, like when he insisted on facing Cor-ai on Cartego for the death of Hanno’s father, during his time as First Prime of Apophis, much to the colonel’s frustration, who’d been trying to save his stubborn Jaffa ass. With all their eccentricities, Colonel O’Neill led the team well, making a difficult job look like a piece of cake. She didn’t think that under Makepeace’s command, the team would stay together very long because the Marine was too much of a by-the-book type of leader.

This wasn’t to say that Colonel O’Neill was a pushover, not even when he let them voice their opinions and he considered them carefully. Yet the fact remained, with the amount of Black Ops Jack O’Neill had carried out, he could be ruthless when the job required it. He just knew when to use a velvet glove in the iron hand to forge a brilliant and highly effective team.

As Sam contemplated the team’s grim future if Jack O’Neill left to live off-world with his son, she heard the front door of the cabin open. Assuming it was Cassie and her new partner in crime, Charlie, hoping for more pizza, she turned around to tease them about being bottomless pits when she almost choked on her coffee. The sight that greeted her eyes must have been transmitted to the rest of the guys, as they turned around to follow her gaze, taking in the truly bizarre sight of Thor.

The Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet was decked out in a turquoise-coloured child’s snowsuit (which Sam assumed must belong to Charlie), blue snow boots, a grey, blue, green and scarlet striped scarf and a matching beanie with a big fluffy pom-pom on top. The pièce de résistance was his matching pair of turquoise mittens. His huge black eyes, sans discernible pupils, watched implacably as everyone fell silent at the sight of him in children’s snow gear. Carter couldn’t help wondering if this bizarro sight in any way made up for her missing out on getting a peek at the inside of an Asgard spaceship – her inner geek said no!

“Cassandra Fraiser and Charlie O’Neill insisted that it was far too cold for me to venture outside without clothes. While they are most warm, I find them to be quite cumbersome to move in. Or is it just me?” he asked whimsically, although Sam was pretty sure he hadn’t intended to be quirky or endearingly witty.

After people assured him that snowsuits were indeed awkward, limiting normal movement, but good for preventing frostbite, Thor nodded solemnly before moving on, delivering a sitrep on the colonel.

“Colonel O’Neill will be in the healing pod for several more hours,” he informed them gravely. “His neural damage was more extensive than we first thought. Without the healing pod, it would take at least several of your Earth weeks for him to heal himself, as self-healing is much more difficult to master,” he explained gravely.

“Dr Fraiser insisted on remaining with him to monitor his condition. She is the most dedicated healer.”

Jacob looked at the rest of the SG-1 and muttered sotte voce, “Should we be worrying about them breaking fraternization regs?”

Daniel looked shocked, Teal’c seemed puzzled, and Sam felt her stomach drop at the thought that they might be keen on each other, even though she denied having romantic feelings for her CO. She felt her father’s eyes on her, but there was no way he knew anything. After all, there was nothing to know. Just because she felt a stab of jealousy at the thought of her best friend being with her CO, it didn’t mean anything at all.

“They’re just good friends,” Daniel assured Jacob. “The colonel has been very supportive, helping her out with childcare when he isn’t on missions, after she adopted Cassie. Jack’s brilliant with kids, and Cassie adores him.”

Jacob seemed to accept Daniel’s opinion that there were no fraternization regs in danger, as everyone there readily agreed with him that Jack was besotted with Cassie.

Thor started talking again. “I must confess that I have excellent auditory acuity, so I couldn’t help overhearing your concerns regarding O’Neill’s son, which is why I joined you. I believe I may have a solution to this problem, but I thought I’d run it by everyone to see what you all thought before I suggest it to Colonel O’Neill.

Daniel, as their linguist, frowned as did they all at the expression before his frown cleared suddenly. “Ah, Thor, I hope you don’t mind me mentioning it, but the saying is to run something by you, not march it by you,” he said kindly.

The eccentrically dressed Asgard blinked, his eyes remaining shut for approximately five seconds before he opened them again. His large black eyes watched Daniel as he said. “But surely if I were to run it by you, you might not catch the full implications, and I desire carefully considered opinions, not injudicious ones.”

“Hey, I never said it made a lot of sense,” the linguist countered laughingly. “A lot of our metaphors and maxims are very odd and sound nonsensical, which is why many people think English is an idiotic language. But that said, please go ahead and tell us your plan.”

“I could offer Charlie O’Neill the chance to enter the pod, not only so I could determine if O’Neill was successful in not just resurrecting him but undoing the damage that his clumsy cloning by the Reetou caused to his organs and longevity. If required, I could repair any damage that O’Neill overlooked.

Sam smiled, “That sounds like a brilliant plan, Thor. I’m sure the colonel will gratefully accept your offer.”

Yes, I think you are right, Captain. But after listening to your discussion, if I understand the situation correctly, I’m wondering if it would help if I were to remove the extra genetic material that was added to his DNA profile during cloning. Then he could no longer see and hear the Reetou, nor act as intermediary between the humans at the SCG and the Reetou government. If these shitbags who want to study him learn that his unique ability no longer exists, then surely, they would lose interest in wanting him to become a lab mouse.

This time, no one corrected his incorrect use of idiom because he picked it up by listening to Teal’c, and both individuals were aliens after all and spoke the language exceptionally well. Sam giggled, thinking that in a lot of ways, they spoke it better than many of her fellow Americans did, but she was horrified she’d corrupted him, teaching him foul language. Although if everyone else’s attempts not to laugh were anything to go by, it was also pretty funny.

Meanwhile, Sam noticed the Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet was eyeing the various boxes of pizza on the table that Ferretti’s team had appropriated from the Colonel’s woodshed. Thinking Thor might be hungry, she offered him a slice of pie.

Regarding the various half-eaten pizzas, he asked gravely, “This is sustenance?”

Once assured that pizza was food and running down the various options so he could choose, he asked, “The mushrooms are plants?”

Sam nodded. “Fungi, if you want to get technical, but yes, they are.”

Thor took off the mittens clumsily, saying, “Then I’d like to try that one.

The Asgard have not consumed animal flesh for over a millennium. So physiologically we can no longer digest it, it makes us ill,” he informed them, before taking a large bite and moaning in what they hoped was bliss as the little grey being swallowed, declaring it to be the best thing he’d tasted in over a century.

Sam experienced a moment of panic, realising that pizza had cheese on it, which, while it was not strictly meat, was not plant-based, either. Maybe the Asgard were lactose intolerant, and she hoped she hadn’t given Thor diarrhoea. As she was freaking out about it, Ferretti’s 2IC, Sergeant Toohey whispered to her that the cheese on the mushroom pizza was vegan cheese made with cashews because Maria was a Vegan. She’d volunteered to do the pizza run so she could ensure there were a couple of vegan-friendly pizzas that she could eat. Since her teammates weren’t big on vegetable pizza, they didn’t notice the substitution.

Smiling in relief, Sam told him, “Glad you enjoyed it, Thor. We are celebrating Charlie’s…er rebirth and as we often say, ’pizza is the answer, no matter what the question is.’”

Major Ferretti agreed, calling out, “I’ll second that, Captain Carter. My mother weaned me and my three siblings on good old-fashioned pizza.”

Looking confused at Louis Ferretti’s boisterous response, Thor said, “But I did not ask a question, I was making a statement.”

Jacob, joining on the light-hearted silliness, revelling like everyone else in the welcome news that Thor was willing to help Charlie stay on Earth with his father and not become a target for shitbags trying to exploit him for their own selfish ends.

The general said, “Doesn’t matter, Thor, the great thing about pizza, apart from how it tastes, is that there’s a quote for every situation. My favourite is a quote by Yogi Berra who famously said, ‘You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six,” he joked.

Thor looked completely mystified. “That statement is nonsensical.”

Even Selmak got on board with the hilarity, explaining, “I believe that to be the point of the joke.”

Teal’c asked Daniel, “But I thought he stole picnic baskets in Jellystone National Park. Do the baskets contain pizza, Daniel Jackson?”

After Daniel set the Jaffa straight on the difference between a cartoon character and an American baseballer player, which then set off an argument between Daniel and Ferretti about Berra not just being a baseball playing but one of the all-time great, with Jacob siding with Ferretti and most of his team against the archaeologist, it was Teal’c who brought the whole silly pizza conversation to a halt, shocking them all.

“According to your scientist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, ‘On Venus, you can cook a 16-inch pepperoni pizza in just seven seconds by holding it in the air,” he informed them gravely. “He did the math!”

The baseball debate ended abruptly as everyone regarded him incredulously, however, it was Thor who had the final word in the pizza discussions. “Thank you for that most helpful information, Teal’c. The next time I’m passing by Venus, I must test out that claim, and I’ll let you know if it is correct,” he said with a poker face before he decided it was only polite to reciprocate their hospitality and share some Asgard food with them.

He beamed down nutrient blocks from his ship, which seemed to come in various prime colours, exhorting them to try the yellow ones, which were his favourite. Sam, Daniel, Teal, Selmak and Maria from SG-2 were all curious to try the hard little blocks of nutrients and cautiously took bites, as Thor observed their reactions impassively. Having tried a lot of strange foods in her time serving on SG-1, which inevitably was a First Contact unit, Sam had to say that they were the most disgusting things she’d ever tasted. Even Brussels sprouts, her least favourite food growing up, were positively delicious by comparison to the Asgard nutrient blocks.

No wonder Thor thought the mushroom pizza was so delicious! The Asgard might be a great race of beings, but Carter was forced to make a hurried exit so she could discreetly spit out the Asgard nutrient block because there was no way she could swallow that. Nor was Sam the only one, either. Teal’c was the only one who managed not just to swallow down the disgusting crap, but not vomit it straight back up again. Honestly, she didn’t know whether to admire her teammate’s stoicism or question his sanity. So, when he voluntarily tried the yellow ones, too, which Thor assured him were delicious (which she could attest to being a big fat lie, they were not), after he’d eaten a red block. Sam decided the Jaffa warrior was insane.

Although it sure earned him brownie points with the little grey guy. Hopefully not nearly enough to get to go for a private ride in the Beliskner before she did!

~o0o~

One week later:

Janet and Jack emerged from the cabin to the heartwarming sounds of childish laughter and excited squeals as Cassie and a rapidly recovering Charlie O’Neill were being chauffeured around on the quad bike by his 2IC, Captain Carter. Meanwhile, Teal’c and Daniel chatted politely with the Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet as they looked on. Jack couldn’t swear to it, but he thought he caught a momentary look of longing on the features of the alien, but he couldn’t be sure because Asgard physiognomy was so vastly different to humans.

Glancing at his team, he felt a rush of gratitude for them insisting on being here today to guard Charlie in his absence, hoping it would make it easier for Charlie to cope with Jack’s extended absence back at the SCG. They all knew the separation anxiety went both ways, it would be difficult for them both.

Jack thought about everything that had occurred this past crazy week. As if being abducted by an Asgard rogue scientist and then experimented upon wasn’t weird enough. All because he had freaky ancient Ancients’ genes, which he honestly tried not to think about too much because it meant he had aliens in his distant family tree. Nope, that wasn’t creepy, MUCH!

Then there was the whole Thor rescuing him from the insane Loki, who was looking for a cure for their evolutionary ills by investigating the genetics of Human-Ancients hybrids. And well, that also was just off the wall freakazoid weird to learn that Thor and his fellow Asgard had lived countless millennia, cloning new bodies when their old ones ran out and transferring their consciousness into the new ones. Oh… and facing an evolutionary crisis in the not-too-distant future because the copy of a copy of a copy was destined to fail in the end. So, hell, yeah, he was still trying to wrap his head around that little snippet Thor had shared while helping Jack to get a handle on his newfound ability to heal.

That said, he felt anger and frustration that he hadn’t been able to use his healing ability to save the first Charlie, although Thor had helped him work through those feelings of overwhelming regret and guilt. The little guy explained that while he had always possessed the Ancients’ healing gene, until Jack had been exposed to the database the Ancients left behind on P3R-272, containing their knowledge acquired over many millennia, he couldn’t use the Ancients’ gift of healing Jack inherited. That made him feel slightly less guilty about not being able to save his firstborn, but he was very grateful that after Teal’c gazed into the Ancients’ storage device and nothing happened because of his Goa’uld symbiote, Jack had been the second one to stare into the contraption and not Daniel or Carter. Then, thanks to Loki’s meddling, he was able to heal Charlie.

When he shared these thoughts with Thor, the Supreme Commander explained that even if Carter and Daniel did look in the database, it would have responded to them in the same way as it had done with their Jaffa teammate. It had only been accessible to him because he possessed a strong gene that had allowed him access to the Ancients’ technology, since he was one of their descendants, and neither Carter nor Daniel was. The database had recognised his Ancient antecedents and released the data, which on one level was a relief that the Goa’uld couldn’t get access to it..

And on the topic of possessing Ancients’ genes, Jack was aware that both scientists were more than a tad pissed off that neither of them had the Ancients’ activating gene. Although, from what Sam told him, the guy in charge of studying the sarcophagus, a Canadian called Dr Meredith McKay (who’d wisely chosen to go by his middle name, Rodney), was furious that while his DNA test revealed he had the gene to activate tech, it was a recessive gene and unable to activate any Ancient tech. McKay reportedly believed he was the most intelligent person on the planet, and when he’d learned (thanks to Loki’s nocturnal abductions of his sibling in Canada) that his younger sister (who also had a comparable IQ to him), had tested positive and her Activation gene was dominant, he threw a hissy fit of epic proportions.

Jack also couldn’t help noticing that Sam was rather uncharacteristically enjoying Dr McKay’s tantrum rather a lot…or perhaps enjoying the reason why he was having such a massive meltdown. McKay was earning himself something of a reputation at Area 51 as being someone difficult to work with, or under.

As he watched Charlie holding tight to Cassie, as Carter zigged and zagged on the bike, O’Neill felt intensely grateful for the little grey guy’s help in removing the Reetou DNA, which ‘Mother’ inserted into Charlie’s reticular formation when she cloned him. Hopefully, along with the soon-to-be mass-produced T.E.R.s able to detect the rogue Reetou (or other creatures and beings who were out of phase with their world), Charlie losing his ability to see or communicate with Reetou wouldn’t be a problem.

Even if it had been, the protective father would still have gladly consented to Thor removing the alien DNA from his child because it painted a massive target on his kid’s back. Sure, they were still trying to figure out how to keep Charlie safe, having called in two specialist operatives to help track down the rogue elements in the SCG and NID. Until they could remove the bad actors, Charlie would remain here at the cabin and let the security experts figure it out.

They stayed here this week (along with Janet and Cassie, who were being a couple of mother hens), except for a flying visit to Cheyenne Mountain on Janet’s insistence, despite Thor’s all clear and Selmak’s concurrence that they were both healthy. Janet declared that she needed to run extensive medical tests on Charlie to make sure he was healthy and there were no ticking time bombs waiting for him further down the track. As Jack already knew, there was no gainsaying the CMO when she was wearing her scary Napoleonic Power Mongering shoes – she’d kick you in the patella if you got in her way!

This was why he’d surrendered somewhat meekly to her demands. Well, that and his knowledge, she had been nursing Charlie, cuddling him when he drew his last breath, so he wouldn’t be afraid to die. For that action alone, Jack couldn’t refuse her any request she might make.

Something made him turn around again to watch the two kids. There was something about that turn of phrase – ticking time bomb – which made Jack shiver like someone had walked over his grave, but his unease didn’t feel connected to Charlie. He couldn’t help thinking that somehow it connected to Cassie, which freaked him out almost as much. Particularly when she had already nearly died when that insane bitch, Nirti turned her into a suicide bomber to blow up the Earth;s stargate.

After confiding similar feelings and thoughts he’d been having to Thor, the ancient Asgard (ancient in the sense he had lived for millennia). who had explained that apart from the activating gene, five other Ancients’ genes had been observed in hybrid Ancient-Human descendants such as himself. They strongly correlated to five abilities that the Ancients had cultivated, healing being only one such gift. Thor found that Jack possessed another one of the Ancients’ genes, whose ability, for want of a better word, was prescience, in Jack’s DNA profile, but it was much weaker than his healing gene.

Thor encouraged him not to ignore strong feelings he got about future happenings, as they could very easily be linked to his Ancients’ prescience gene. So, he vowed to keep an even closer eye on Cassandra Fraiser, who was like a daughter to him. Even if he hadn’t considered them family before Charlie entered the picture, for the love she and Janet showered upon his kid, he’d do anything to repay them and ensure their protection, too.

Thankfully, their lightning-fast trip to Janet’s infirmary confirmed that Charlie O’Neill was now a remarkably healthy and normal eight-year-old and was cause for a celebration, complete with delicious pieces of pie from the commissary. There was also a flying visit for Jack from the SCG to Nellis, to successfully activate the cobbled-together sarcophagus as the research team celebrated it was now fully functional, if a bit singed.

A demure Japanese scientist approached him shyly to thank him for his assistance with the sarcophagus and to express how happy she was that Charlie was healed, diffidently offering him an origami crane to give to Charlie, a gesture which touched him deeply. After seeing Dr Meredith Rodney McKay in his natural element, he pitied her having to put up with that jerk. Carter had not been exaggerating about his pique over his recessive Ancients’ gene. Dr McKay emoted very loudly about needing to start looking for ways to switch on recessive genes, despite being a physicist, not a geneticist.

O’Neill made a mental note to talk to Thor about manipulating the Ancients’ genes, trying to switch them on, having people running around using devices they had no understanding of. His gut feeling was that it wasn’t such a great idea, and, in the meantime, keep close tabs on one volatile Meredith McKay.

After the successful activation of the sarcophagus, thankfully, it was time to head back to Minnesota. The trip was completed in record time, courtesy of Thor and his super cool beaming technology, which he swore was straight out of a Star Trek episode. Jack deliberately tried not to think about what might happen if anything went wrong. Just like he tried not to second-guess what might happen to them while they were in the wormhole, and transmission was interrupted. Okay, disturbingly, another of those unpleasant feelings washed over him. He was starting to believe Thor’s theory that his weak prescient gene was trying to attract his attention, but frustratingly, he wasn’t sure what it was trying to warn him about.

He just hoped it would give him a shout-out when they were in real danger. ‘It’ seemed okay regarding the Asgard Supreme Commander of the Fleet beaming them back to Minnesota, so fingers crossed.

Once they were safely back at the log cabin, the Fraisers and the O’Neills hunkered down as they tried to come to terms with everything that had happened. Cassie was starting to open up to them about her massacred family, especially her little brother, five-year-old Whillin, and her mother and father. It was painful for her, but it was also necessary, and it was not healthy for a kid to keep everything bottled up. It probably helped that Cassie’s dog Elto, and the spitz-mix joined them at the cabin, since Charlie, fascinated by the wolves they encountered on their adventures, was no longer terrified of the small canine. Elto was definitely a helpful addition to her life, and he was happy she didn’t have to leave him in Colorado.

Sure, Charlie was still a bit apprehensive, but he was gaining more confidence with the even-tempered little doggo. Meanwhile, Cassie mourned the fact that Elto was probably the first canine ever to be beamed aboard a spacecraft, and she couldn’t brag about it to her friends. Elto didn’t care…he was just ecstatic to be out of the boarding kennel and reunited with his mistress once more.

Janet also used their time out at the cabin to talk to Jack about Charlie’s mother, and in turn, he confided in her about his deep conflict and guilt at not informing her of Charlie’s existence. Knowing that it was Charlie’s wish to meet his biological mother, even though he was desperately missing ‘Mother’, the alien who cloned him and raised him, and that he was now healthy and would hopefully live a long, happy life, had quickly transformed O’Neill’s previous reluctance to inform Sara. If they could ensure everyone’s safety, which General Hammond was working on doing, Jack was hoping that Sara and her dad, Mike, would help him raise their son.

They endured a long, fruitless week of negotiating to obtain permission to read Sara’s father into the Stargate program, and finally resorted to asking the President’s approval when they hit a roadblock with some of the obdurate military and NatSec personnel. They’d argued he didn’t need to be read in on the Stargate Program because Sara O’Neill was his parent, and she already knew about the program, thanks to an alien contact last year.

However, Jack and George Hammond were adamant, insisting that Charlie’s grandfather needed to know for a whole score of reasons, and ultimately, the President agreed. He’d ordered that he should be read in, pending his signing of the standard Stargate Non-Disclosure Agreement. Today was the day they finally read Mike in on the program, and Thor had offered to beam him to Cheyenne Mountain to save time. Jack, who was loath to leave Charlie, even with Janet, Cassie, and his team all watching over him in his absence, gratefully accepted his offer. As he made his goodbyes to Charlie, he hugged his dad fiercely, who returned the gesture.

“So, you’re going to tell the real Charlie’s mom about me to see if she wants to meet me?” he asked shyly, clutching the paper crane Dr Kusanagi had given Jack for Charlie, saying it was for good luck.

Miko didn’t know about his secret wish to meet his mother; she just wanted him to have good luck and good health in his life for what he’d done for them all. He had been touched by her kindness, even though she had never even met him and hoped he could thank her one day.

Jack shook his head. “Hey, I thought we already talked about this, buddy. You are just as real as the first Charlie. Just because Mother cloned you doesn’t make you less real than he was. Sara is your mom, too,” he said emphatically, although he could understand that Charlie was nervous about the idea of meeting her. He understood he would need to be constantly reassured that he was as loved as his dead brother during this stressful period.

“And no, I’m not going to tell Sara about you, because I already told her about you and she is so happy, she can’t wait to meet you. I guess you must have missed that bit when you were eavesdropping on my conversation with Janet last night,” he teased him gently.

“It was Cassie who was listening,” Charlie said guilelessly as Jack smirked. His boy didn’t know how to lie to protect himself or others, probably because of his unique upbringing. He had a lot of catching up to do.

“Oh, she was, huh? I’ll have to have serious words with her,” Jack teased him as Charlie frowned, looking nervous.

“Cassie said I should talk to you before you went to see Sara.”

Jack stared at him anxiously. “Have you changed your mind about wanting to meet your mom? If you’re worried that she won’t like you, don’t be. She’ll love you as much as I do,” he tried to reassure his son gently.

“I…I still want to meet her, too, but would you be mad at me if I wanted… to change my name? I don’t think I should be Charlie anymore. It’s a great name, and I like it better than Son, but I think I’d like to have a name of my own now, after I died and got reborn. And I think it would make Sara sad if I kept his name because she misses Charlie so much. Cassie thinks it’s a great idea for me to have a new name, too.”

Jack was fast discovering that Charlie put great stock in what Cassie thought – the two kids were becoming more sibling-like every day.

“Oh, she does, does she? Well, if you really do want to change your name, then I think it’s a great Idea, and you have my permission. But don’t do it just because you think it might make your mom or me feel better. Or because your big bossy sister tells ya to,” he said teasingly, giving his son a reassuring hug.

“Okay, but I really, really, really want to, Dad. It’ll be great!”

“Have you decided what name you’d like?” Jack asked curiously.

“Can I still have Charlie as part of my name because I’m a part of the real…er, first Charlie,” he corrected himself before Jack could.

“Yeahsureyabetcha; sounds like a plan. Charlie would like that, I reckon. Maybe it could be your second name. What about your new name?”

“I’m not sure. Cassie said I could pick a name that means Charlie, like Chuck or Carl or Carlos or a name that sounds similar to Charlie, like Harley, Marley or Farley. What do you think?”

“What about looking for names that mean reborn or new beginnings?” Jack suggested, not liking the idea of Farley Charlie O’Neill, which could lead to teasing from other kids. Besides, his second son was an individual and deserved a unique name, not to be constantly reminded of his dead brother.

“That sounds like a great idea,” the little boy enthused. “What are they?”

Put on the spot, because the only ones he could think of when put on the spot were Phoenix and Keanu, he called out to Daniel. “Hey there, Space Monkey, can ya come here? We need your help.”

Seeing his son’s confusion, he explained as Daniel arrived. “Danny Boy speaks lots of different languages, so I’m sure he can suggest some names that mean rebirth or a new beginning. Charlie wants to choose a new name that is different from his brother’s,” he explained as Daniel frowned.

“Well, there are lots of names, although I’d have to think about it,” he began as Jack exhorted him.

“Just off the top of your head, I’m sure you can think of a few,” Jack cajoled him, eager to nix Harley, Farley and Marley if his son wanted to keep Charlie as a second name.

“Okay, well, there’s – Theo, it means divine gift, symbolising rebirth through grace. Asher means blessed or happy and is associated with new beginnings and good fortune. Um… there’s Soren, that’s Danish and means stern, symbolising a powerful new beginning. I think that one is great.”

He thought a bit more. “How about Darian, upholder of goodness? The Persians associated it with positive growth and change. Or what about Caleb or Novak?” he reeled them off enthusiastically.

Hugging his son, having received the signal from Thor that he was ready to beam him up, he said, “Okay, campers, behave yourselves and listen to Doc Fraiser. I’ll see you as soon as I can.”

Charlie stopped him. “Are you bringing my …Sara back here to meet me, Dad?”

“I don’t know yet, kiddo. Your mom and I are going to tell your grandpa about you today. He doesn’t know about the Stargate and all the other planets and people because it’s a secret. It might take him a while to get used to the idea, but I know she can’t wait to see you,” he reassured him. “If she can’t come today, we’ll try to organise something tomorrow.”

“Oh, for crying out loud, I was hoping to meet her today!” he exclaimed, much to Jack and Daniel’s amusement because Jack may say that sometimes, and his kid may have picked it up from him.

“I’ll do my best,” his dad told him, chuckling as Thor beamed him away.

Perhaps he should be concerned about weird or obscure names Danny might come up with, but he reckoned Janet and Sam would stop him from encouraging anything too outlandish that might make it difficult for his son to fit in on Earth.

 

Chapter 15: The Naked Truth

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

Thirty minutes later, Jack was greeting his ex-wife, Sara and her father, Mike Wade, at the security gate of the Cheyenne Mountain complex, home to NORAD and the SCG, which occupied the lower levels of the ultra-secret military facility. Mike was decidedly glacial, which Jack understood. He knew Sara had been emotionally shaken up after the crystalline alien had sought them out, pretending to be Jack, but he didn’t know why. Luckily or maybe not, Mike wasn’t there when the fake Jack started dying, in a horrifically spectacular fashion, freaking his ex-wife out. Not that he could blame her; he freaked out about stuff like that happening on the regular, and he already knew about the SCG. When he and his team showed up, she realised the ‘other’ Jack was an impostor.

When she encountered the crystalline alien again, who’d morphed into their dead son, Charlie, when he emerged from the hospital with Jack on their way back to the SCG, the cat had been let well and truly out of the bag. The powers that be agreed that she needed to be read in on the Stargate but had steadfastly refused clearance for her dad. Which left her with no one to support her, going through the trauma of what happened, learning that aliens were real and stirring up her grief over her child. So her refusal to talk to her father made Mike madder than a mule chewing on bumblebees. Naturally, he blamed Jack.

Now, as O’Neill escorted them through the security needed to get civilians onto the base, Mike’s animosity was still palpable. Sara kept giving him apologetic looks, and Jack nodded to let her know he wasn’t blaming her. He wasn’t even pissed at Mike, not really because the stubborn old coot didn’t understand what had happened, so he believed it was his ex-son-in-law’s fault that Sara was distraught. In a way, it was his fault…because of his extremely dangerous job, an alien entity came through the Stargate, and no one at the SGC had even noticed.

When Jack finally showed them into the SCG briefing room on a floor that consisted purely of administrative offices and gave no clues as to the ultra-top-secret nature of the complex, Sara put her hand on his chest, keeping him in the doorway, in case he tried to slip away from her.

Sotte voce, she asked him, “Is he here?” Jack gauged her, seeing only nervous excitement and longing.

Gently, he replied. “Nope, he’s waiting back at the cabin,” and was ecstatic to see she was disappointed. She seemed as eager to meet him as Charlie was to see her.

He ushered her in and pulled out a chair for her to sit. He headed to the carafe of coffee in the corner of the meeting room (that was used mostly for inductions into the program), pouring them all some, noting gratefully that it had been freshly brewed. Mike took his mug with a sneer of thanks, and Jack was just grateful when General Hammond and Major Paul Davis from the Pentagon walked through the door. The tension in the room was becoming unbearable.

After the Military salutes and Jack’s introduction of his former father-in-law and ex-wife were out of the way, the three officers sat down. Major Davis passed the standard Stargate NDA, several inches thick across the table, to Mike, who glowered at it resentfully before glancing at his daughter.

“Where’s yours, Hon?”

“Oh, for the love of Mike, Mike,” she groused at him, addressing her dad by his first name. “I signed mine already. Read it and sign it,” his daughter directed him impatiently.

He could tell; her self-restraint was being sorely tested by Mike’s passive-aggressive bullshit. Although, to Jack’s way of thinking, there wasn’t exactly much passivity going on, mostly aggression.

“You did? When did you sign it?” he demanded to know, coming off as a jerk.

Sara glanced at Jack, asking if she was permitted to answer. He nodded.

“Late August 1997,” she retorted shortly.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” he said, looking hurt at being kept in the dark.

Throwing her hands up in the air, she exploded. “Because I signed a non-disclosure agreement. If I said anything, I would have been locked up, you dumb lug!”

“Pfft, that’s just bluster, Sara,” he scoffed.

General Hammond was getting pissed off. Jack exchanged alarmed glances with the Major, wondering if they needed a medic on standby, just in case it got ugly when Hammond inevitably came out swinging.

“I can assure you that it most certainly isn’t bluster. Your daughter witnessed something highly classified. So top secret it took a lot of persuasion on Colonel O’Neill’s behalf to allow her to be read in about the program, instead of being locked up somewhere so she wouldn’t talk about what she’d seen. Jack tried to have you read in, too, but the powers that be decided you were too much of a hothead to be trusted,” he said bluntly.

Glaring at Mike, he said, “Frankly, Mister, I’m starting to see their point. Clearly, this was a huge mistake!”

Jack groaned softly, and Sara kicked her dad under the table. Mike yelped, but her glare-of-death look froze the words on his lips.

Trying his best to pour oil on troubled waters, Major Davis, the eternal politician, stepped into the breach to smooth things over.

“General Hammond is correct, Mr Wade. After the most recent developments, Colonel O’Neill petitioned the Commander in Chief, who owes him a huge favour, asking for you to be read in on the classified situation now. Everyone at the Pentagon and the Intelligence services was still against you knowing, so the President had to overrule them to make this happen,” he said dryly.

Hammond, seeing stubborn pride in Mike’s eyes, interjected sharply, “So either stop being such a jackass, and read the NDA or go home and stop wasting our time. Just so as you know, this is a once-off offer; you won’t get another. And let me say, as one father to another, you’ll be giving up the chance of a lifetime, Mister,” he told the gob smacked man.

Sara decided to turn the screws a bit more. “What he said, Dad. If you knew, you wouldn’t want to miss this chance of a lifetime, but it’s up to you to make up your mind – ya stubborn old goat,” she cursed him in frustration.

“Just bear in mind, Dad, I already know why the President granted Jack such a huge favour, and I’m doing this with or without you. It’s your choice, but if it’s going to happen without you, then you can’t and won’t be a part of my life anymore.”

“Sara, what are you saying? You’d wash your hands of your old dad, who’s stuck by you when he ran off and left you?” he asked her incredulously, jerking his head to indicate Jack.

When his daughter didn’t seem moved by his manipulation, Mike Wade directed his anger at his former son-in-law instead. General Hammond, already reaching the end of his patience, couldn’t help remembering something a former commandeering officer used to say when he was pissed off, about being ready to chew up nails and spit out a barbed wire fence. It was a colourful yet surprisingly accurate summation of Charlie’s grandpa.

“This is all your fault,” Mike told Jack venomously. “I told you when you came back eighteen months ago that if you hurt my daughter, I’d make you pay, and you didn’t listen. She was upset and crying for months and wouldn’t tell me what was wrong. It was pretty damn obvious that you did something, you pathetic Irish bastard!” he raged at Jack.

“He didn’t do anything; Jack and I couldn’t share anything with you because it was classified.” She stood up.

“I’m so sorry my father wasted your time, General Hammond, Major Davis. Looks like it’s just gonna be me heading to Minnesota. So long, Mike,” she told him bitterly as she prepared to leave.

Suddenly, realising he was on the brink of losing his only child, Mike capitulated. “Now hang on a minute, Sara. Did I say I wouldn’t sign it? Because I don’t recall doing that. And why are you going to Minnesota?”

Sounding thoroughly fed up, she clapped back at her father, telling him, “That’s not how the rest of the room reads it, Mike. You’re coming off as a real jerk, and they are bending over backward to try to do you a huge favour. Grow up! You don’t get to know what’s in Minnesota, so why don’t you take a dive off the nearest boardwalk?” she told him grimly.

Looking at the distraught woman with sympathy, the general glanced over at Jack. “Perhaps Sara would like a tour of the complex, Colonel and a trip to the commissary for a cup of proper coffee.”

“And cake,” Jack joked, although everyone who knew him even moderately well knew that cake (and pie) was no joking matter for Colonel Jonathan O’Neill.

~o0o~

After O’Neill had escorted Sara out, closing the door behind them, Mike had the gall to act like the injured party. “Wow, I guess, she’s pissed with me. A fine way for a daughter to treat her father.”

Hammond stood up, clearly fed up with the likes of Mike Wade. “I’m just sorry that a fine man and upstanding officer wasted a valuable marker with the president of the United States on a stupid dick like you. Major Davis, would you be so kind as to escort Mr Wade back up to the exit, please?” he said dismissively.

Mike looked panicked. “Now, hold on a moment. If the President wants me to be read in, it would be unpatriotic for a veteran like myself not to sign the Non-Disclosure Agreement,” he backtracked, trying to save face.

George had had more than enough of this man’s bluster and called him out immediately. “Oh no, I think you have gotten hold of the wrong end of the stick, here, Mister. The President doesn’t give a flying fig if you’re read into the program, but what he does care about is that Jack wanted you to be read in. He told POTUS it was so you could support your daughter, but I reckon Jack was wrong about that. You’re too big of a jackass to be there for her, because you’re too damn busy trying to be right to realise you’re just making a damn fool of yourself,” he said scathingly as Mike subsided.

Pulling the thick file towards him, Mike started reading without another word of protest.

Hammond looked at Major Davis, jerking his head to the door. Exiting, he told the Major, “If he decides to sign the NDA, then go ahead and brief him on the program, but leave the Charlie O’Neill situation to me. I’ll deal with him, stubborn old jackass! I thought my father-in-law was a piece of work, but Mike Wade really does take the cake. Poor Jack,” he grimaced in sympathy.

Davis diplomatically replied, “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”

George raised an eyebrow. “That’s most insightful, and also a rather jaundiced point of view, Son.”

“Thank you, Sir, but I was quoting Arthur Schopenhauer, a philosopher, who has been accused of pessimism,” he said mildly.

“I didn’t know you were into philosophy, Paul, specifically 19th-century German philosophers?”

“Not really, General, but I minored in philosophy in college, and it seemed rather apt.”

“Fair enough. Let’s hope we’ve managed to cleave our way through Wade’s violent opposition. If he signs the NDA and he proceeds without any more stupidity into accepting the truth as self-evident when we arrive at the big reveal,” he snarked with a scowl towards the door.

“Yes, General,” Major Davis replied before diplomatically changing the subject by asking, “How goes the gene recruitment process, General?”

The major was referring to the list of victims obtained from the rogue Asgard, Loki, who’d abducted thousands of humans, had discovered a small proportion of humans possessed the Ancients’ gene, like Jack. People with the gene could activate and deactivate the Ancients’ technology, which the supposedly highly advanced race left lying around the galaxy when they ascended. Honestly, who was that stupid to leave dangerous technology for other races like the Goa’uld to scavenge and use to wage war on innocents? Paul thought the Ancients were a bunch of dumbasses!

“It’s going great! Two are already signed up,” George said with satisfaction. A cop who has a contract on his head after the Mafia Don’s son got pissed off that the old man ordered the undercover cop off limits for bringing down their organisation. It seems like the Don has more respect for the cop than he did for his own offspring, and Don Jr. is jealous.

“Aside from the hitman targeting him, he just found out his current partner is a dirty cop, so he’s pleased to get away, especially when the Marshals wanted him to go into Witness Protection. He’ll be our AFOSI agent, policing the SCG, and while AFOSI agents are usually in the Air Force, the powers that be are already signed off on his appointment,” he said with satisfaction.

“I thought that AFOSI agents were appointed from the Air Force, General?”

“Mostly, but there have been exceptions. Given that the man is an outstanding detective and had strong Ancients’ genes too, his assignment was a no-brainer, Major,” Hammond responded.

Davis nodded. “Understood, Sir”

“The second recruit is an army ranger with impressive combat skills, both armed and unarmed, who we’ll probably put on a Marine team.” George had no intention of telling Davis or anyone else, for that matter, but both men had agreed to go undercover at the SGC. They would begin by ferreting out moles and looking for security leaks, particularly coming from rogue sections of the NID.

“There’s also a Scottish geneticist carrying out research at Johns Hopkins, with a moderately strong activating gene, but we’ve yet to recruit him since he is on sabbatical back in Edinburgh. We have an Air Force pilot currently in Afghanistan, who is being assigned to Cheyenne Mountain ASAP. Against the odds, we found another Air Force pilot who is already one of ours. He has a strong dominant gene, thanks to Loki’s alien abduction sorties, although according to Thor, he was abducted and identified several years before his transfer here.”

“Who is it?” Major Davis asked curiously.

“Captain Lorne,” he said, grinning.

“Wasn’t there a US female on the list, too?” the major asked.

“No, she’s Canadian, but we are still trying to figure out how to recruit her,” Hammond said, looking at his watch. “Anyway, call if you need me,” he said, grimacing again at the thought of the idiot in the briefing room as Davis saluted him. Returning it crisply, George made his way to the elevator to head down to his office.

~o0o~

After showing Sara the gate room and the Stargate, she saw the SG-6 team heading off-world, on a diplomatic mission. Watching them disappear into the blue event horizon of the wormhole was pretty damn cool. Knowing about gate travel and seeing it in action were two very different things, and people disappearing made it all seem real.

“And you do this, too?” she whispered in awe.

“Yeahsureyabetcha,” he told her playfully, inwardly cursing Mike for being such a dick, before turning serious. “With my team. You met them briefly at the hospital with the alien who was impersonating me,” he reminded her.

“And one of them is also an alien,” she recalled.

“Yeah, Teal’c. He’s a Jaffa from Chulak. The others are from Earth, although Daniel married a chief’s daughter from Abydos. That was the first planet we went to,” he said guiltily, falling silent as he remembered volunteering for the mission, believing he wouldn’t return.

“Tell me about Charlie,” she entreated him impatiently. “The new Charlie, I mean. I want to know everything about him. I can’t wait to meet him,” she said tremulously.

Jack headed towards the commissary. “How about we pick up some coffee and cake to go, and head down to my office, where we’ll have some privacy? There’s such a lot to tell you, I honestly don’t know where to start.”

“Just start at the beginning, Jack,” she said immediately as she ordered coffee, then added extra creamer. Having been a military wife for more than a decade, she knew from personal experience that the coffee was bound to be strong…too strong for her taste. Jack took his black, of course, and he pondered for several seconds between choosing the chocolate walnut torte and carrot cake, before picking the chocolate. He was a sucker for chocolate, although strawberry was quickly becoming his favourite flavour.

She picked a slice of carrot cake, deposited it on Jack’s tray and smirked at his look of longing, “You want to go halves?” she asked shyly, because back when they were married, Jack could never make up his mind when it came to cake or pie. It was his Achilles’ heel.

He chuckled. “Yeah, that sounds great,” he said. “Corporal Tobert was a pastry chef before he joined up. His carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and his chocolate walnut torte are both fantastic. I’ve missed them while we’ve been staying at the cabin. But Charlie does love his s’mores,” he said with a grin as they left the commissary. “We’ve been eating a lot of s’mores!

She could barely contain her impatience as they made their way along a series of gunmetal grey corridors with coloured lines on the ground, passing various personnel who all saluted him and said it was good to see him. Sara was glad Jack seemed to know where he was going because she was well and truly lost. It was obvious after their years of marriage that he wanted to be somewhere private before he talked about the new Charlie. And as anxious as she was to learn more than the few brief details he’d told her yesterday, she knew he would be much more forthcoming in his office, since he was someone who didn’t open up to others easily.

As they made their way down another identical corridor, she asked,” Do you have a photo of our son?”

“A whole bunch I shot after we got to the cabin. They’re in my office desk drawer,” he told her, turning right and walking past several doors before stopping outside one whose name plate proclaimed it was the office of Colonel Jonathon O’Neill. She opened the door, a little surprised it was unlocked.

After they entered his office, Jack deposited the tray from the commissary on his desk, which was surprisingly empty until she remembered he had been at the cabin. Sara divvied up the pieces of cake while Jack rooted around in his desk before holding up a manila envelope in triumph, handing them over to her to look at as he started to demolish his half of the chocolate walnut torte. Stopping every so often to take sips of coffee, she could tell he was enjoying his cake. However, she also knew her ex-husband extremely well and knew he was avoiding something, but she’d learnt the hard way it was never any use to confront him head-on.

With Jack O’Neill, it was always better to ‘bide a wee,’ as her Scottish grandmother used to say. Staring at the early photos Jack took when they first arrived at his cabin, she drank in her first sight of her flesh and blood, eager to know everything about him. It struck her immediately how gaunt-looking and ill he seemed, and just how much he looked like their dead son. That must have been difficult for Jack to cope with, she realised sadly.

In more recent images, he was starting to look much healthier. He had some colour in his cheeks and even seemed to have a little more flesh on his bones. His hair was beginning to grow, whereas in the earlier photos, he was bald. Did he need chemotherapy? Did he have leukemia? Also, while he still looked a lot like their dead son, there seemed to be subtle changes so they looked more like siblings and less like a doppelganger of their dead child. She could admit to herself, even though she would never say anything to this precious child or Jack, she was relieved that he no longer looked like a perfect copy of her dead son.

Sara also recognised the other members of Jack’s team whom she had met briefly on that terrifying night when she thought Jack was dying due to some bizarre scientific experiment. It scared the crap out of her, and as mad as she was at him for leaving her, because he was unable to live with his guilt over their son’s death, she realised something that night. Not only did she love him, but despite everything they’d been through, she was still deeply in love with him. When the real Jack, her Jack, turned up with his team, issuing orders in his cool, authoritative manner, striding down the corridor and embracing her, she wanted to scream at the gods for destroying everything they had together.

She also noticed the statuesque and beautiful young captain on his team. Maybe she didn’t realise it, but she so had a crush on her former husband. Sara almost felt sympathy for her; it was so cliché to fall in love with your commanding officer, but she also knew Jack. He was oblivious to her feelings, and besides, he would never break fraternisation regulations or destroy someone’s career. So, she felt sorry for her, knowing her crush would remain unrequited. However, in the photos, another woman with dark auburn hair and a strawberry blonde daughter was captured in many of the pictures with Charlie, and Sara wondered if Jack had found a single mother to date.

Sighing, she looked at her former husband.

“Start at the beginning,” she urged him patiently, even if she wanted to know everything about this child of hers and Jack’s. All she knew so far was that some alien had acquired some of their dead son’s DNA and cloned him in a lab, like scientists were trying to bring back to life extinct species of animals. Like that sheep…Dolly had been all over the news and the movie Jurassic Park, except that Charlie was human, not a sheep, and this wasn’t fiction; it was real life. Which was all Sara knew, except that something had gone wrong, and Charlie was sick, or he had been. He was healed now, and Jack’s photos seemed to bear that out. Oh, and Jack said he wanted to meet her.

Putting down his empty portion of chocolate cake and ignoring the half slice of carrot cake, he regarded her steadily before finally beginning. “I know you want me to start at the beginning, but it is really very complicated, so I’m just going to settle for the Cliffs Notes version, and later I’ll go back and fill in all the blanks, I promise. But I don’t want to leave him alone with Janet and Cassie for too long without me because he gets very anxious when I’m not there.”

Seeing she was going to ask who they were, he forestalled her by holding up his hand. “If you come back to the cabin with me today, you’ll meet them for yourself, but let’s just focus on how Charlie got here.”

She nodded reluctantly as he took a deep breath. “You remember when I came around to the house after the fiasco at the hospital to take you to Cheyenne Mountain, so you could be read in on the Stargate after the alien told you about it?”

She nodded, Yeah, I gave you Charlie’s baseball mitt because you seemed fixated on it, except it wasn’t the real you, even though he looked like you. He was much more open in sharing his feelings,” she said.

He gave a wry chuckle. “Sounds about right,” he said. “Anyway, I drove you here, and you were read in on what had happened and the whole existence of aliens…”

“Which I admit freaked me the hell out,” his ex-wife admitted.

“Yeah, it’s a lot to take in,” Jack sniggered like a schoolboy. “If Mike ever signs the NDA, how do you think he’ll react?” he asked curiously

“Insist it’s a massive hoax,” Mike’s daughter predicted with a long-suffering sigh.

“You’re probably right. Well, anyway, after you gave fake-me Charlie’s mitt, I ended up bringing it with me to the SGC. I keep it in my desk,” he admitted, opening the drawer and pulling it out reverentially.

“I often pull it out and hold it while I remember him,” he admitted, sounding overwhelmed and guilty. “So, when a Reetou, who is an alien from another world, followed one of the off-world teams back through the Stargate, she told cloned Charlie that she collected DNA from this baseball glove. Specifically, she took cells from inside the mitt, which obviously belonged to our dead son and cloned them in a lab back on Reetou. So now you know why it’s my fault that she cloned our Charlie,” he told her, looking and sounding guilty.

“Jack,” she said sharply,” it’s no more your fault than it is mine for giving you Charlie’s mitt, or the alien I thought was you. He loved playing baseball with you, and it only seemed right that you had something to remember him by that was special to him. But why did this alien clone our boy? I don’t understand what purpose it served.”

Relieved that she didn’t blame him, he was about to begin what he’d said would be the short version of the long story when his office phone rang.

Jack sighed, trying to contain his irritation at being disturbed as he was just getting started. Sara knew just how he felt. Somebody had lousy timing, she huffed in exasperation

~o0o~

Jack groaned in exasperation, because finally, he’d started to open up to Sara, about how Charlie had been clone (his fault again) but to his surprise, Sara didn’t blame him for it, which helped a lot and he was starting explain who they arrived at this point when the phone rang. Whoever it was, their timing couldn’t have been worse.

With an apologetic look at his former wife, he picked up the receiver with a curt, “O’Neill”.

It was the General, ringing to give them a sitrep on Sara’s father. “Mike Wade caved in after you left and agreed to read the NDA. He only finished a little while ago. Thought I’d let you know so you can tell his daughter. Major Davis is briefing him about the SGC, and when he’s done, I tell him about Charlie.”

“Thanks, Sir. So that’s probably going to take at least another three, maybe four hours. I was hoping to be back at the cabin before then,” he admitted, feeling frustrated and unnerved.

Even though his team was providing security, Jack agreed that rogue elements would likely do anything to get their hands on him. Plus, after all that had happened, he might be suffering from a bit of separation anxiety, even if he knew Charlie was okay. After all, his kid had died, and he wasn’t there – he was off being used as a lab rat on a cloaked Asgard ship, with a mad alien scientist studying his freaky Ancients genes. So, shoot him if he was freaked out about being separated.

“How about if Sara wants to see Charlie immediately, you take her back with you. We’ll give her father a night on his own to get his head on straight and to pack warm clothes for himself and Sara, then Captain Lorne can fly him in tomorrow via helo,” Hammond suggested.”

“Sounds like a plan. Thanks, General,” Jack replied gratefully.

After the phone call concluded, he said, “Right, well, the short story as to why Mother cloned Charlie was so that she could use Reetou DNA that would enable him to see her and other Reetou, and he would be able to communicate with them and also with us.”

Seeing her questions, he sighed.

“Okay, so this sounds so weird, fantastic even, but the Reetou are an insectoid race who exist in our dimension but are 180 degrees out of phase to us, and the elephant in the room (or that should be the Reetou in the room) is that they are invisible to us. We can’t see them even when they are in the same room.”

“Seriously, Jack?”

He ran his hand through his regulation grey hair, before saying, “Look, I know it sounds crazy, but Carter or Fraiser can probably explain this much better than me. But here’s the thing; while we can’t see them, apparently, they can see us,” he grimaced, seeing Sara’s look of horror.

“Creepy, ain’t it?” he said sarcastically. “So, the Reetou who Charlie called Mother, made him with some extra Reetou genetics, so he could warn us that a rebel faction of her race planned to kill all humans, and because the Reetou were invisible to us, without special equipment, we didn’t even know they existed.

“Are there other alien races out there that we can’t see?” Sara asked, sounding freaked, as well she might.

Sighing, Jack admitted. “Theoretically, the experts say it’s possible, even probable that the Reetou aren’t the only lifeforms who exist out of phase from us.”

Shakily, she nodded. “Okay, go on, Jack.”

He stared at his uneaten half of the carrot cake absently, but he wasn’t thinking of cake, he was thinking of potential aliens who they couldn’t even see.

Finally, he started speaking again. “Mother’s people wanted to warn us about the danger we were in. Every time we went through the Stargate, they could follow us back, and we would be none the wiser that they were here, which the Rebels did, even after Charlie warned us about them. There was a battle, right here in the SGC, and Mother, the female Reetou who cloned him, died protecting him and us.”

“And the rebels?”

“Dead,” he said succinctly. “Well, the ones who infiltrated the base. The others are still out there,” he admitted.

“How can you be sure they’re dead, if they are invisible?” Sara asked, understandably afraid.

It was a logical question, Jack conceded.

“Because our allies, the Tok’ra, have a weapon that detects them, and they helped us sweep the base to make sure. And they gave us one of their weapons, which we will reverse engineer and make lots more,” he said, not bothering to go into detail right now.”

“Okay, I’ll hold you to that promise about more details later. C’mon, let’s hit the road, Jack,” she quipped as he smiled at the pun, even if it wasn’t the first time he’d heard it.

“It’s a long drive to Minnesota, so why don’t we discuss what happens now, in your truck on the way back to the cabin, because I want to meet our son today,” she chivvied him.

“Not driving, Sara. It takes too long, and I promised Charlie I’d be back before dinner.”

“Okay, we can talk when we’re in the air then,” she said, impatient to be on their way and figuring as he was a pilot, he could fly them in.

Chuckling, he told her, “Not flying either. Thor’s going to beam us. Only takes a few seconds.”

“Thor…isn’t he the alien who you said healed Charlie and removed his alien DNA?” she asked, talking about the brief phone call they had yesterday when he’d organised for them to talk over a secure phone line.

“Yeah, that’s the one. Cute little dude, wicked smart. Grey, about three foot tall. Loves Charlie and Cassie to bits. Just don’t eat his nutrient bars; they’ll kill ya. They’re positively vile,” he said jovially.

“Jack, did you say he’d beam us to Minnesota, as in Star Trek, ‘Beam me up, Scotty?’” she squeaked, sounding horrified.

He grinned, “Yeahsureyoubetcha. That’s how I got here from Minnesota this morning. It’s safe, I swear. The Asgard are one of the oldest races in the galaxy, except technically, I guess, they aren’t from the Milky Way. Though they hang out here in our galaxy a lot, protecting planets from the Goa’uld,” he told her reassuringly.

“And you’re sure it’s safe,” she asked sceptically.

“They’re super advanced, but if you don’t want Thor to beam you, then the general is going to arrange for Mike to be flown to Minnesota tomorrow by chopper, and you’re welcome to bum a ride with your dad.”

It took her mere seconds to make up her mind. “I’m coming with you. I know you’d never knowingly put me in any danger,” she told him decidedly.

“I never would, Sara,” he said in total seriousness as he looked deep into her eyes, and it felt like he could see into her very soul.

He clapped his hands together, declaring they needed to talk about Charlie and what happened next, as he picked up his cake and started to eat.

He spoke at much greater length about how they were creating a fake file that would be leaked deliberately to the bad actors who might try to grab Charlie for research. Meanwhile, they would be moving into base housing a couple of doors down from Dr Fraiser, the CMO, and her adopted daughter, Cassie. Seeing her look of askance, he briefly explained about Cassandra’s background as an orphan whose entire world was wiped out by a bioengineered plague and how the two kids had bonded due to having a lot in common. He pointed out that Cassie knew all about their son’s background and that wouldn’t be the case with friends he would make in the future.

Sara nodded, comprehending the complex nature of the situation. “So, in effect, Cassie and Janet are like his extended family?”

“Exactly, and after watching him die, the two kids are practically siblings,” he said with a soft smile.

“So, because Charlie can’t read or write and doesn’t have basic numeracy skills, we will need to homeschool him?”

“Yeah, and get him up to his age standard, but right now, the risk analysis we ran says it’s too dangerous to send him to school,” Jack told her somberly, “even if his literacy and numeracy skills were on par with his age mates. Which they’re not!”

“Cassie is the only social contact he’s going to have, since he can’t attend school,” Sara observed sadly.

Jack realised he hadn’t given his social skills a lot of thought and was glad she had brought it up. It was a concern, but there were a few possibilities.

“There’s a new guy on the SGC – Major Dixon, who has four kids. I’m sure we could arrange some get-togethers a bit further down the track, and there’s the General’s granddaughters. There are probably other people with security clearance who have kids that he can spend time with, but don’t forget, just because he was cloned using our Charlie’s DNA, he’s not the same as his brother. He’s lacking self-confidence, and he’s mourning the individual who created him, whom he called Mother. She died right in front of him, protecting him.”

Sara thought about what Jack was trying to tell her. “I need to forget that he is Charlie’s clone, don’t I?”

“I’m hoping you might be open to being his mom and helping raise him if it isn’t too painful. He’s a great kid, but he’s never had a hug until a few weeks ago, and he’s lapping up all the physical contact. But I realise you never got a choice about being his mother, so if you just want to have occasional contact, he will still be as pleased as punch with anything you’re willing to give him. Even though he isn’t Charlie, and he never will be,” he said emphatically, but so clearly besotted with the little boy.

Sara rose from her chair and grabbed him before she proceeded to hug the stuffing out of him. At first, she was too overwhelmed to speak, but finally collected herself enough to tell him, categorically, “I’m all in, Jack. I want to be a real part of his life and help you raise him, and I can’t speak for Mike, but I reckon he’ll probably leap at the chance to be a grandpa again.”

Jack heaved a sigh of relief and embraced her just as fiercely. He was willing to do whatever he had to, to seize this second chance and not let this son down. While he knew he could count on his team, Janet, Cassie and George, plus others at the SCG, to help him raise Charlie, he wanted him to have his mom and that stubborn old coot for a grandfather, too.

Almost as if Sara read his mind, she told him, “I’m so sorry Mike’s been such a jerk to you, Jack. I told him you weren’t to blame for why I was so sad after the alien came to the house, pretending he was you, but he didn’t believe me,” she said apologetically.

“It’s okay, he was just looking out for you.” Jack shrugged off her apology because she wasn’t responsible for her father.

“He couldn’t know that it wasn’t me whom he had a long conversation with, or that the alien, when he scanned my memories, couldn’t understand what happened to Charlie. He went to your place thinking he could heal him and bring him to me so I wouldn’t destroy his brethren,” he said, willing to let bygones be bygones for the sake of his son having a grandfather.

Jack knew how important his own grandfather had been to him, and he wanted that for his son, too. Even if he and Mike couldn’t get along, he would pretend everything was fine so that Charlie would have a good relationship with Mike. A boy needed his grandpa.

It was at this point, the former husband and wife realised they were pressed tight against each other. Neither party seemed ready to let go, even though Jack felt things were about to head for the next level of awkwardness due to a certain part of his anatomy that had a mind of its own, when Sara reluctantly pulled away from him. He felt a pang of deep loss as they separated that had nothing to do with his dick and a lot to do with his war-torn heart.

Then, like a bolt of lightning, it struck out of the blue. Jack O’Neill realised he was still in love with his ex-wife, or maybe he’d fallen back in love with her. He didn’t know, and perhaps it didn’t really matter.

He didn’t know what it meant for them and their relationship, and even more importantly, right now, he didn’t know what it meant for them as a family, but he did know that here and now, it wasn’t about Jack or Sara. His son was all that mattered. If being a family meant they might be able to reconcile their marriage someday, then that was a bonus. Right now, they must stay focused on keeping Charlie safe and showering him with the love and nurturing he missed out on that would help him lead a happy life and have a fulfilling future.

Maybe someday, he and Sara might be able to heal their own relationship, too, because there was still a lot of hurt and anger they’d buried deep down, but it was still there. However, their new son’s needs must always be their priority because of who he was and how and why he’d been conceived. Jack wasn’t about to let anything, or anyone, jeopardise Charlie’s future, which hopefully would now be a long and happy one.

He must have been freaking Sara out because as the awkward silence between them increased, she said, “Okay, let’s talk more about what the future looks like after you’ve introduced me to our son. Let’s get this show on the road.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” he joked, revealing his playful side again. “I’ll call for our chauffeur, shall I?”

Giggling a little nervously since it wasn’t every day you got beamed onto an alien spaceship, she nodded as he reached out to a communicator that looked a little bit like a river pebble and spoke to it.

“Ready when you are, Thor,” he said cheerfully, taking her hand and squeezing it gently.

~o0o~

Even knowing Jack would never knowingly put her life in danger, Sara opened her mouth to ask what it felt like, but before she could get any words out, there was a gentle buzzing in the air. She felt a fizzy sort of tingling in her body before it passed, leaving her somewhat dazed. Looking around, Sara realised she was now in a cavernous all-white spaceship, trying not to freak out, even though Jack was right beside her, holding her hand comfortingly.

“Greetings, Sara O’Neill. I am most honoured to meet you,” a strangely modulated voice welcomed her, and she spun around, spying a grey, small-statured alien, all arms and legs and a big head, sitting in a chair.

She recalled Jack’s description, ‘Cute little dude, wicked smart. Grey, about three foot tall.’ and saw he hadn’t been exaggerating any. Before she had a chance to feel overawed or shy, she remembered that he’d also said he loved Cassie and Charlie to bits so she tried not to feel intimidated by such an obvious alien looking err Alien seated in what reminded Sara of a throne.

Almost as if he read her mind, Jack announced in a stage whisper, “Is it just me or does Thor’s chair look like a throne and the captain’s chair in Star Trek, mated and this was its offspring?”

She looked at her former husband, grinning at her wickedly and she cracked a smile, silently admitting he had a point.

Thor was looking at Sara unblinkingly with his huge black eyes, and knowing Sara thought he looked a lot like the so-called Roswell Greys, rumoured to have crashed their spacecraft in the desert near Roswell, New Mexico in the 1950s.

Suddenly realising he’d greeted her, and she should probably respond, she mustered her aplomb and managed to stutter, “Umm h-h-hello.”

“I am Thor, Supreme Ruler of the Asgard Fleet,” he introduced himself when Jack didn’t.

“You are the per…um the one who helped Jack heal, my son. I thank you,” she managed to find her words, although as he nodded, accepting her thanks, she suddenly noticed he wasn’t wearing any clothes.

With her mental and social filters momentarily frozen – and later she would claim that it was the fault of the beaming technology – she blurted out unthinkingly, “You’re naked! Do all aliens not wear clothes?”

Jack burst out laughing, he had not been expecting that reaction. As she shot him a dirty look, the nonplussed Asgard blinked as he considered her questions carefully.

“Does my lack of clothes offend you? We have not worn clothes ever since the Asgard found more efficient means of reproducing ourselves than meiosis, what you call sexual reproduction. We found it most inefficient and messy, to be blunt,” Thor said calmly.

“Umm…oh,” she mumbled incoherently.

“We did not see the point in having male and female genders and therefore did not need genitalia. In my experience, most races do not take offence to the Asgard’s lack of clothing since we lack sexual reproductive organs.”

“Okay, I guess that makes sense, but how do you reproduce?” Sara asked curiously.

Jack answered gravely. “Mitosis. They clone new bodies and transfer their consciousness into the new one; however, over many millennia, they have rather boxed them into an existential evolutionary corner.”

“That is true, O’Neill, and we hope with your healing ability, maybe we can one day undo this error,” he said before making Sara almost swallow her tongue.

“It seems your son shares your opinion about our lack of clothing, Sara O’Neill. He insisted I wear something called a snowsuit, although it was not made of snow, coverings for my feet called boots, and a beanie that I will concede was very warm and soft. However, in Charlie O’Neill’s case, I believe his concern over my lack of clothes had less to do with modesty and more to do with worrying that I might feel cold,” he said, his small mouth pouting in what might possibly be considered a grin…or constipation!

Sara was looking highly embarrassed at this point and also a bit appalled about the genderless, no-meiosis status because sex was great, it almost made up for being pregnant for nine months. Okay, not the whole birthing experience – if there was a way around that, she could kind of understand it because it sucked!

Thor, however, seemed undeterred by Sara’s state of acute embarrassment, instead turning to the second of her clothing questions.

“Some alien races, like the Asgard, obviously and the Unas, eschew clothing. Others like the Nox or the former race known as the Ancients or the Jaffa, do wear clothes. The Goa’uld are renowned for wearing gaudy, distasteful apparel, as Jack O’Neil will no doubt attest.”

Jack nodded fervently. “Yep, it’s all true, and then there’s the Tok’ra, who look like they were trying to emulate or just outdo the Nox’s woodland nymph Fall Collection and failing miserably with their downtown trapper crossed with urban guerrilla chic look,” he smirked. “Aside from Anise/Freya, who looks like she just stepped out of an S & M private club, forgetting they were wearing their dominatrix outfit, sans the riding crop, whips and chains.”

Sara felt totally lost, since she had no idea what Jack was talking about, but was also highly disconcerted seeing her ex-husband joking with an alien. A NAKED ALIEN!

Thor closed his eyes for maybe five seconds, and she had a sneaky feeling that perhaps Thor was secretly laughing at Jack’s antics, but maybe it was not fitting for a Supreme Commander to express amusement.

Thor opened its saucer-like black eyes to say very politely, “As much of an honour it was to meet you, Sara O’Neill, I must beam you to the cabin in Minnesota now. I have an errand I must attend to in Cimmeria, but I will see you soon. Charlie has invited me to go kayaking with him tomorrow. I have offered to provide the refreshments, so please remind your team that there is no need to bother bringing extra rations, O’Neill. I have sufficient quantities for everyone.”

At that assurance, Jack laughed his head off. “Have the others figured out yet that you’re trolling them all with those disgusting nutrient blocks?” he asked as Thor activated the beaming device, saving him from a response.

As they re-materialised at the cabin, Jack retorted mockingly, “Yeah, guess that would be a no, then!”

Once again, Sara had experienced a swift humming and a fizzing as her molecules were being de-materialised, transported from Colorado and sent to Minnesota before she found herself deposited in Jack’s cabin. It had been some years since she had been here, but she had no eyes for her surroundings. She rudely ignored everyone else in the room but for one small boy, who looked a lot like Charlie. Thankfully, there were enough minor differences (thanks probably to Thor) to make it easy to remind herself that this child was not her firstborn Charlie.

Smiling at the child, she kneeled and opened her arms, inviting him in for a hug. Instinctively, he found himself drawn into her arms as he asked in wonder and a touch of wistful longing, “Are you Sara O’Neill? You’re pretty!”

Enfolding him in a loving embrace that only a mother knew how to give her own child, she replied, “Why, thank you. And no, I’m not Sara O’Neill, Charlie. I’m your mom!”

Returning her embrace, he wrapped his arms around her neck and told her in a slightly wavering voice, “I’m not Charlie; he died last week. Dad healed me and gave me a new life, and I picked a new name. My name is Soren Charlie O’Neill because Soren means a powerful new beginning, and I am a part of my brother, but I’m me!”

 

Chapter 16: Gamechangers

“Hope is like a bird that senses the dawn and carefully starts to sing while it is still dark.” ~ Jim Rohn

Jack’s Cabin March 19^th, 1999:

Wandering out of his cabin, Jack wrangled a large platter full of finger foods that his second son, Soren Charlie O’Neill, particularly liked. Little mini pizzas, mini quiches, chicken nuggets, finger sandwiches, potato skins, onion rings and breaded fish bites jostled for space among the healthier options consisting of carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, baby sweetcorn and cucumber slices. Janet had also added bite-sized pieces of fruit to encourage healthy snacking and had been surprised but highly approved when Jack insisted on having a huge bowl of strawberries. It was all a part of her campaign to address Soren’s nutritional deficiencies and ensure he put on weight, albeit in a healthy fashion. Since it was his birthday celebration (his first one ever), Cassie and Jack conspired to ensure that Soren had a few non-approved options, too.

After all, what would a birthday be without pie, s’mores and a birthday cake? Sara, his mom, had declared it was her right and her honour to bake her son his very first birthday cake, while Sam and Cassie had been busy too, baking a bunch of mini pies: apple, cherry, lemon meringue, pecan and pumpkin (hoping to placate Janet with the orange vegetable) as she was acting like a real mother hen when it came to looking after her patient’s health. Since Charlie had died a couple of weeks ago, and there wasn’t a thing she, as a doctor could do to prevent it, it had hit her particularly hard.

Thanks to Jack’s newfound gift of healing, he had brought him back from the dead, but they were all still very protective of him. Some people might go so far as to say they were overprotective, so Jack cut her some slack on her fierce determination to set Charlie (now Soren) up for a long life of good health. Jack had diplomatically tried to point out that she needed to chill out a bit once or twice, even if he feared the wielder of those honkin’ big needles she liked to sadistically jab him with, during post-mission physicals. Although Doc Fraiser might be short in stature, she made up for it in sheer determination. It was best to just get out of her way and let her have at it once she made up her mind on an appropriate course of action, but this was Soren’s first ever birthday and his first ever birthday party, and Jack was determined it would be special.

Fraiser’s nickname on base, the Napoleon Power Monger, although first coined by a disgruntled Colonel O’Neill, had spread around the SCG like wildfire and was swiftly appropriated by many of the personnel at Cheyenne Mountain who crumbled under the weight of her tyranny. Still, as much as Jack grumbled frequently about her autocratic tendencies, it was clear to everyone that he also considered her a good friend. He owed her big time for all her help and support with Charlie, now Soren.

Jack was incredibly grateful that she and Cassie were willing to be there for his boy. With her adoption of Cassie, both mother and daughter were uniquely qualified to understand the special challenges he faced integrating into his new home, as Cassie had already gone through the same challenges. Of course, she had been twelve, not eight, but the process was essentially the same. Not being able to tell any of her peers that she came from a different planet was especially difficult; it emphasised she was an outsider, and he wished it wasn’t necessary, and he worried about how his son would cope. At least his son would have Cassie in his corner to support him.

Eventually, he would need to attend school, too. Jack didn’t want his boy to grow up being homeschooled, ostracised and unable to mix socially with his peers, yet that day was still a long way off. Firstly, they must ensure he was safe from the unscrupulous bastards who constantly circled like carrion around the outskirts of the SCG, trying to acquire cutting-edge scientific knowledge or alien tech at any cost just so they could exploit it for profit, power or both.

From O’Neill’s perspective, they were no different from the bottom feeders who rose to a new level of evil during the holocaust, knowingly abetted by unethical scientists, working in Nazi death camps, carrying out perverted vile so-called ‘medical experiments’ on children, the elderly and the mentally challenged that had sickened anyone possessing a moral compass around the world. Thankfully, they had finally been charged with committing war crimes when the world declared, ‘Never Again.

Sadly, that hadn’t deterred this generation of amoral entrepreneurial types, looking for fast money and personal aggrandisement, enabled by their eager partners in crime, vile scientists who made it possible for them to satisfy their own puerile curiosity. It genuinely sickened him beyond belief, and the fact that many of them were in the military infuriated him. It defiled the courage and sacrifice of everyone who took an oath to protect their country and constitution against enemies, foreign and domestic, and faithfully kept it.

With this horrific possibility in mind, a strategy was developed to thwart possible attempts by these monsters to get hold of Jack’s son and a fake file on Soren O’Neill (previously known as Reetou Charlie) was created. All references to Soren being Jack and Sara’s biological son were destroyed to limit the opportunity to use him as leverage, and individuals outside of his team who knew of their true familial status had been threatened with dire consequences for discussing it.

In place of Soren’s real DNA profile, a false one was planted in the file from a DNA cheek swab donated by an obliging fellow from the Planet of the Light. As for Soren’s biological father, Janet recorded that his parentage was unknown. She theorised in the fake file that ‘Mother’ (the Reetou who cloned him) could have collected his DNA on more than a hundred planets where humans had been seeded across in the Milky Way galaxy.

Also included in the file, as it had been common knowledge that Charlie’s badly cloned body was failing and he would die prematurely, in weeks, perhaps days, was the story that Thor recommended they use.

This was because Charlie did not wish to become a Tok’ra host. Colonel O’Neill, whom the child had bonded with, most likely due to Mother’s opinion of Jack as the only trustworthy officer, after the situation with the Salish People on PXY-887, offered to take the boy to his cabin in Minnesota. O’Neill argued, after providing Earth with a warning of the existential threat they were facing with the Reetou Rebels, that the least they could do was let the boy die peacefully. Having lost his son a few years before, O’Neill didn’t want Reetou Charlie to die in the SCG infirmary, but somewhere close to nature.

Meanwhile, Loki, a rogue Asgard scientist, was looking for answers about how Jack had been able to use the information from the Ancient Database. He used the opportunity to abduct Colonel O’Neill while he was in the wilds of Minnesota and conduct experiments on him. Loki hoped to learn valuable information to help the Asgard, who had almost cloned their race to the point of extinction. Unfortunately for Loki, he didn’t realise the Asgard Freya, who had helped Jack when he turned up in the Othalla Galaxy seeking help, had tagged Jack, just like human scientists tagged, animals on Earth to alert the High Council should anyone experiment on him. The tag having alerted them, Thor turned up right before Charlie died to catch Loki red-handed.

Partly to appease what could be a highly damaging diplomatic incident and simply because the Asgards valued life so highly, and especially treasured children, even though they didn’t reproduce sexually, the Asgard commander had saved Charlie’s life. As the Asgard had a lot of expertise in cloning, finding and repairing his cellular damage caused by inferior cloning techniques was easy for them. Thor also removed the alien Reetou DNA, which he realised was incompatible long term, when it combined with human genes. So, by removing it, Thor ensured the human child could expect to have a normal life expectancy.

Of course, no longer possessing any Retalian DNA, he was now incapable of detecting the out-of-phase Reetou aliens. This last fact was no fabrication. Thor had taken away Soren’s ability to perceive the Reetou.

Jack was grateful that the Asgard Supreme Commander had also used his advanced medical pod to subtly change his son’s appearance, including his eye colour, which was now slowly becoming green, and the shape of his face and nose, so he wasn’t a clone of his brother Charlie O’Neill. Even his hair was a lighter colour.

If Soren had been a carbon copy of Charlie, it would have been much harder to sell the fiction that he and Jack weren’t related. Although there weren’t many photographs out there of his first son, it was wise to be cautious. Hopefully, the differences would prove to be sufficient to discourage suspicions about Soren being his biological child, because even if he could no longer see Reetou, Jack wouldn’t put it past corrupt individuals to abduct his son to leverage national security.

To that end, a new security expert, who was going to be part of an elaborate undercover mission to weed out moles at the SCG and NID, had also helped craft Soren’s new security file. A file that they were sure would fall into the wrong hands, even if they had to leak it themselves, via those same undercover operatives. The expert (according to the General), an undercover genius, after recovering from his initial shock upon learning about the SGC, suggested that they use Thor to explain why Soren had been ‘officially adopted’ by O’Neill and his ex-wife.

The pseudo-story documented in Soren’s phony medical file was that although the Asgard were no longer capable of sexual reproduction, they had a genuine soft spot for the offspring of other races. This also had the benefit of being demonstrably true. Their fondness, in part, was the catalyst for the Asgard to create the Protected Planets Treaty, so that people such as the Cimmerians could live and evolve peacefully, without fear of being invaded and subjugated by Goa’uld Warlords.

So, the fake backstory was that having healed Charlie (now Soren), Thor had been captivated by the small child and felt incredibly protective towards him. Unfortunately, Thor, given the arduous duties involved with his position as Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet, clearly was not in a position to rear the boy himself, and even if he was, had felt it would not be in Soren’s best interests. What he needed was to be with his own kind, and having learnt from speaking with Charlie that his Reetou mother had considered Jack to be the only honourable person in authority within the SCG, Thor decreed that Jack should be the one to adopt and raise him.

Then, as a further safeguard, they let it be known that he placed their latest advanced technology tracking devices in Soren, and his ‘adopted’ mom and grandpa, plus he updated Colonel O’Neill’s tag, too. This ensured that if anyone abducted them, he could instantly track them down and retrieve them and deliver Asgard retribution on the culprits.

Hopefully, this mostly true story would be enough of a deterrent to any would-be abductors to persuade them to leave the O’Neill family alone. The beauty of the fake story was, Jack mused, as he watched the shenanigans of the partygoers with pleasure, that much of it was true. Oh, not the fake DNA profile or that Soren was not his biological child. Obviously, that was false, and O’Neill wished he could proclaim to the entire planet that Soren was his real son, but most of the stuff about Thor was factual. Although Jack had resurrected his dead son (not Thor), the Asgard completed the job, removing the Reetou DNA that had wrought so much damage to Soren, and so were the tracking devices, except that Janet and Cassandra were now tagged too. Also, it was true that Thor was utterly smitten by the youngster, grasping any chance to spend time with him, and Cassie as well.

Since Thor was helping Jack hone his genetic healing abilities, utilising the Goa’uld hand-held healing device to mask the presence of his Ancients’ gene, it also gave the Asgard commander regular contact with Jack’s son. They had a weird but delightful friendship, and it struck Jack that as much as Thor was a huge help getting a handle on his new ability to heal, Soren’s friendship with Thor also had a huge payoff for him too. By discovering a world of wonder, innocence and play, he was sharing it with his grey-skinned buddy, Thor.

Honestly, Jack wouldn’t be all that surprised if, ultimately, the Asgard’s constant exposure to Soren’s joie de vivre and unconditional love and acceptance might cause the Asgard to collectively reassess their evolutionary decision to forgo sexual reproduction in favour of cloning. Especially when Jack learnt that the race was facing an imminent threat of extinction. Owing so much to the Asgard, he was determined to add his weight to the race opting to go back to meiosis, even if that meant going back to earlier cloned versions of their physical bodies rather than lose such an empathetic and wise (well, except for the cloning themselves into oblivion evolutionary stumble), race of beings. Particularly when the universe had truly evil foes plotting their demise.

Jack was shocked to learn that, as advanced as the ancient and highly advanced Asgard race were, they still faced a formidable adversary. One who was threatening their very existence back in their own galaxy. It was a fact that horrified him. What if the Asgard race were no longer around to help humans on other planets because they’d been defeated? That could mean that the SCG might be fighting enemies on two fronts, which was a terrifying scenario and why he’d been quick to offer his assistance, if required. Little did Colonel Jack O’Neill realise that his help might be called upon a lot sooner than he’d ever expected, though for now, he was in blissful ignorance of what was in store for him, his team and the planet.

For now, he chose to live in the moment as he witnessed the incredibly bizarre sight of his 2IC, Captain Samatha Carter, yahooing around the relatively flat grounds on which the cabin had been built, riding the quad bike she’d arranged to be transported to his cabin when he’d first brought Charlie, here. He frowned a little at her antics as she pushed the bike to the limits of what Jack considered safe. He knew that quad bikes had frequent issues with safety and stability and that their inherent instability meant they were prone to flipping over, often landing on their riders, even killing them. He also knew Carter was aware of this weakness and that the astrophysicist was a skilled motorcyclist. Normally, he wouldn’t be so concerned as she was an excellent officer, however, she had some very precious cargo sitting behind her, shrieking joyously, exhorting her to, ‘Go faster, Captain Carter!’

And then there was his son, Soren, clinging on like a limpet to the caramel fleece-lined jacket worn by the Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet, at Soren’s entreaty because he explained that it was cold on the bike. Oddly enough, his son hadn’t offered Thor any pants, but O’Neill was sure it made perfect sense in the child’s mind. Still, watching Carter being, in his opinion, just a little too cavalier with her priceless passengers, freaked him out. Realising with somewhat of a start that aside from the platter he’d already brought out and deposited on the makeshift table, Janet, Sara, Mike and Cassie had also brought out the rest of the food while he was wool-gathering, he called out to the trio.

“Food’s up, you guys. Do ya want pizza, Thor?” noting with amusement that the Supreme Commander tapped Carter on the shoulder and suggested they return before people ate his vegan pizza.

He exchanged an amused look with Cassie, knowing she hadn’t put any of the vegan mini pizzas out, saving them all for Thor. Cassie adored Thor, not just because the Asgard was kind and funny, although Jack still wasn’t sure if the Asgard just had the driest wit outside of the Sahara or had no clue that he was being hysterically funny. However, aside from possessing an engaging personality, Cassandra Fraiser idolised Thor because the little grey guy helped to heal Soren and remove the Reetou genetic material that had endangered his health and lifespan. Plus, he made subtle changes to his appearance, so now Soren wasn’t a carbon copy of his brother but his own person. Which meant, apart from security considerations, would make it easier to grow up as a truly unique individual. She might only be thirteen, but Cassie was smart enough to know just how important it was.

The icing on the cake as to why Cassie was so besotted by the alien was the top-of-the-line protection Thor offered Soren, who she regarded as her little brother, by fitting him with a sophisticated locator device. Granted, she was a little peeved that it allowed Thor to cheat when the trio played hide and seek, as the Asgard could easily locate Soren every time, though she confided to Jack, it was a small price to pay for safety. She’d consented to having one implanted, which made Janet extremely grateful to the Supreme Commander. And if all that wasn’t reason enough for the young teen to have adopted Thor as an honorary member of her extended family, the Asgard’s friendship with her beloved dog, Elto, had certainly sealed the deal.

Thor was fascinated by the canine, although Cassie confided to Janet and Jack, “I’m glad Thor likes Elto, but I won’t be giving him to Thor like Sam did when she gave her cat, Schrödinger, to that alien guy from Tollana. She didn’t even check to see if there were any prey animals Schrödinger could live off on New Tollana,” she said indignantly. “Cats are obligate carnivores, you know. That means they can’t survive without eating meat.”

Jack had gravely admitted that it could be a problem. Cassie’s teenage cynicism attributed Sam’s impulsiveness, with respect to Schrodinger’s future residency, was solely due to the alien guy making cow eyes at her. Jack could barely contain his amusement, while privately, he agreed with her; Narim was too smarmy for his taste. Never mind him being an apologist for Omac, who was a rude, ungrateful and exceedingly arrogant jerk. He could give the Goa’uld a run for their money in the obnoxious personality stakes. Anyone who could insult High Councillor Tuplo from the Land of the Light for offering the Tollan’s sanctuary on his planet was a prick of the highest calibre. Omac would fit right in with the likes of Apophis and his cronies!

As the quad bike daredevils joined the party, everyone raised their glass in a toast to Soren’s first-ever birthday and wished him a long and healthy life. Their glasses contained fruit juice with specially sliced strawberries on the side of their glasses for Cassie and Soren, non-alcoholic wine for Thor, Teal’c, who was also a teetotaller and Jacob (in deference to his symbiote, Selmak), also with a juicy read strawberry as garnish and champagne (naturally with strawberries for everyone else). Even Cassie’s dog Elto got a cup of Minnesota water and a sliced-up strawberry in a paper cup, held patiently by Soren as the little dog drank it. Thankfully, Soren overcame his initial fear of the spitz cross rescue dog that Jack had given Cassie when she first arrived on Earth. Since he was destined to spend a fair amount of time in the company of the two fair Fraiser ladies, it was great that he was now friendly with their canine member of the family, too.

After they had toasted the birthday boy and Jack fielded a lot of curious inquiries about the significance of strawberries, including the large bowl of ripe red berries, which he pointedly ignored, the guests began to attack the monumental mound of food with gusto. Soren was nibbling on the mini food excitedly, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the birthday cake his mom had baked for him, and Cassie helped decorate, which was taking pride of place in the centre of the long wooden table. Meanwhile, Thor created quite a stir ditching his jacket, with the rather lame excuse of not being cold as they weren’t zipping around on the bike anymore. Personally, Jack had a strong hunch that the Asgard Supreme Commander wanted to show off the present Janet and Cassie had given him, a loud Hawaiian shirt. Jack concluded he was correct regarding the motivation, since Thor continued to sport the woollen beanie, which matched his jacket and boasted an outsized pom-pom on top.

Everyone’s reaction to seeing Thor, who normally eschewed clothing, wearing the boldly coloured floral shirt in shades of red, purple, orange, pink and yellow was everything Jack hoped for. Not that he was offended by the Asgard’s nudity, although he couldn’t help wondering when Thor was sitting in the Supreme Commander of the Fleet’s chair during heatwave, if his ass didn’t ever stick to the seat.

Grinning at the whimsical image, Jack, playing host, started to make his rounds, checking to see if anyone needed a top-up. Most of those present who drank alcohol had switched to beer. Daniel, who was a cheap drunk, only needing a couple of beers to end up blotto, refused until Jack informed him that he’d purchased non-alcoholic beer for him and Teal’c. When the retired Jacob Carter realised what they were drinking, he requested one too, commenting that it had been ages since he’d had a beer. He’d been treated for lymphoma for many months before blending with Selmak, and chemo had made him too nauseous to tolerate it; it was a luxury he wasn’t expecting to experience again. Curious, Thor interrupted the conversation with Carter about something science-y and highly obscure, also wanting to try a no alcohol beer, while she opted for a regular alcoholic one.

Collecting a regular beer for himself and topping up Sara and Janet’s glasses with the rest of the Champagne, he resumed his seat. Having discharged his hosting duties for now, Jack paused, taking a sip of his beer to listen in on Daniel’s rather intense conversation with Jacob and his symbiote, Selmak. Teal’c and General Hammond appeared to be following their conversation, too. Unsurprisingly, the topic of conversation was the joint sarcophagus research project they had been working on at Area 51, trying desperately to get it operational in time to save Charlie’s life. They hadn’t been successful, although technically the Braintrust consisting of: Dr Rodney McKay (and his group of cowered geeks), Captain Carter, the Tok’ra symbiote, Anise and her host Freya, along with Daniel, Jacob/Selmak and Teal’c, to their credit, had cobbled together a sarcophagus using workable bits of Hathor and King Pyrus’ sarcophagi, along with spare crystals scavenged over time by the Tok’ra.

Their progress stalled when Anise correctly surmised that, due to the hodgepodge of parts, their new (old) sarcophagus needed to be reactivated by an Ancient, or someone who possessed an Ancient switching-on/off gene. After Loki, the rogue Asgard geneticist, abducted Jack, it was revealed that he had the gene. Thor also supplied them with a list of other humans Loki had discovered to have the Ancient gene located due to his systematic abduction of random humans over the years. Some might say at least something good came out of freaking out hundreds, probably thousands of innocent people on Earth by abducting them, though Jack reckoned it was very doubtful his victims would agree, were they ever to be informed of the situation. So many of them were regarded as whack-jobs by their family, friends, neighbours, colleagues and even medical experts if they spoke up. Invariably, they were doped up with antipsychotic drugs, frequently misdiagnosed as being schizophrenic or a grab bag full of other psychiatric conditions and further ruining their lives. Who could blame them for being pissed off!

Concerning the sarcophagus ( which was stuck in switched off mode), Thor and Jack had beamed to Nellis Air Base in Nevada last week, where the science team in Area 51 had been working their geeky asses off, trying to get the sarcophagus operational for his son. Thor coached O’Neill through activating it, switching it back on so that it functioned despite possessing three lots of crystal technologies. Only Dr McKay and Dr Kusanagi were read in on the situation, since they decided that Jack’s possession of an Ancient activating gene should remain highly classified. The story fed to the rest of McKay’s team was that Anise and her host, Freya finally figured out how to get the sarcophagus to work but had arrogantly refused to explain how she did it, and they needed McKay’s help to sell the fake story.

So, they had a working sarcophagus and had to figure out how it should be used wisely without falling into the same trap as the Goa’uld and King Pyrus. Of course, being able to switch it off, gave them a failsafe option so if it were to fall into the wrong hands, he or one of the others who’d inherited the strong technology switching on/off gene could deactivate it.

As Jack swigged more beer, he immediately noted that Sam and Janet had joined the conversation, leaving the kids, Sara and Mike to occupy themselves down the other end of the table, to participate in the crucial dialogue. The others soon learned the two scientists had valuable theories to contribute. Daniel summarised their conversation as Jack, Sam and Janet joined them, it was a role he often assumed during technical briefings at the SCG.

“So, tentatively, we are proposing that an interplanetary authority needs to be formed to oversee the judicious use of the sarcophagus and save lives when other methods aren’t available. We all agree that for any one race to control the sarcophagus, it is too much of a temptation to abuse it, like the Goa’uld do. Its lure is just too insidious,” he shivered involuntarily, having first-hand experience of its power to subvert and addict the user.

George Hammond asked curiously, “How do you propose such a scenario would work?” looking at his old friend and colleague, General Jacob Carter (retired).

Jacob smiled briefly. “The sarcophagus should be transferred to a suitable location off-world, where it would be housed and protected by a joint security force. We were just now discussing setting up an underground facility, which, with the Tok’ra’s tunnelling technology, is a relatively simple and fast procedure.”

“Oh, there’s going to be a lot of people unhappy with that proposal,” Hammond predicted cynically.

“Which is precisely why we feel that its use needs to be carefully overseen by a committee representing Earth, the Tok’ra and other races. Potentially, the people on this committee would have to approve or reject applications to use the sarcophagus, which would only be used in dire, life-threatening situations, when other measures have failed,” Selmak spoke gravely.

Janet and Sam exchanged unspoken looks, and Hammond was quick to pick up on it. “You ladies have something to contribute, since so far it all sounds eminently reasonable to me?”

By tacit agreement, Janet stepped up. “So, I get why you want to limit its usage to catastrophic medical emergencies when all other options are off the table. After nearly losing our resident linguistics and anthropological expert here when he became addicted to the effects of using the sarcophagus repeatedly, I endorse tough restrictions being placed on how it’s used, General.”

“I’m sensing a rather large but coming,” George quipped with a mock wince.

“Yes, there’s a but!” she admitted ruefully. “I think maybe we should consider a limited use of the sarcophagus for research purposes,” she said, as most of those present looked sceptical.

Thor leaned forward, keenly interested. “Is this just general intellectual curiosity because I understand that perhaps better than most, or do you have a specific area of exploration in mind, Janet?”

Sam gave him a heart-stopping smile that it seemed even the Asgard weren’t entirely immune to.

“You’re correct, Thor. We do have a particular topic in our sights,” she admitted enthusiastically. “Janet and I were talking about when Hathor infiltrated the SCG,” she said, giving her male SCG colleagues a look of apology as Hammond, Daniel, and Jack grimaced.

She and Janet knew this was a painful topic for them, particularly Daniel, who Hathor raped while he was under chemical mind control and used his DNA to create Goa’uld embryotic symbiotes.

At this point, Janet gave Thor a brief, extremely clinical sitrep of what had occurred when Hathor had taken over the SCG. Even though the Tok’ra symbiote and Jacob had already heard about it before, they still seemed appalled, and Thor? Well, the Asgard wasn’t giving much away apart from watching the male members of the SGC’s reactions closely.

Finally, Thor asked gravely, “And this research you are proposing?”

After a mutual glance, the two officers and friends seemed to be communicating without speaking.

Janet answered Thor’s question. “After Hathor transformed Colonel O’Neill into a Jaffa in preparation for implanting one of the Goa’uld symbiotes she’d spawned, she wiped out his immune system and created a pouch. We found him in the process of being implanted. After I ascertained that he hadn’t been infected yet, Teal’c informed us that without his immune system, he would soon die,” she said, her voice low so Cassie and Soren didn’t hear this information.

“We had no way to reverse his natural immunity, but Sam suggested we put him in the sarcophagus. We had no clue if it would work but we had no other options, so I figured what harm could it do?”

Jacob/Semak and Thor were all regarding O’Neill intently. Feeling super uncomfortable with being under scrutiny since he was still intensely bothered (not traumatised, but who wouldn’t be bothered by the whole turned into a snake incubator against his will ordeal), he took a swig of the dregs of his beer.

He stood up, before ripping up his shirt to reveal a lack of the typical Jaffa pouch, quipping, “Ta da! No Jaffa or Prim’tah here, folks,” in his typically irreverent fashion, before sitting back down on the handmade wooden bench again.

“As the colonel just demonstrated so succinctly, the sarcophagus worked” Janet spoke dryly, although those who knew her well detected a fond sufferance in her demeanour towards her superior.

“His physiology was returned to that of a normal human, and most critically, it also repaired his immune system,” Sam confirmed eagerly.

“Right from the start, Teal’c and I have been trying to find a way to free the Jaffa from the slavery of the Goa’uld. They control and enslave his race using the threat of death by removal of their larval Goa’uld if they disobey the War Lords they serve, who pose as Gods,” Janet said, watching them all gape as they considered the implications of what she proposed.

“Because with no immune system, they depend on the Prim’tah to act as their immune system, and in return, it gives the Jaffa a superior ability to heal and extends their life expectancy. Without a Goa’uld larva, they would die a horrible death,” Thor stated, looking intrigued.

Sam, Teal’c and Janet all nodded.

George Hammond, though visibly stunned, asked, “Why is this the first time I’ve heard of this possible use of the sarcophagus?”

“Well, as we had no access to a functional sarcophagus, Captain Carter and I didn’t see the point and tried not to think about the possibilities. Now we do, which is why we are raising the possibility now,” Janet replied respectfully.

Sam was quick to add a caveat to their proposal. “Before we get everyone’s hopes up too much, remember that the colonel was never implanted with a Prim’tah. It remains to be seen if Jaffa who have a Prim’tah could be returned to their pre-Jaffa state with their own immune system restored, which would not depend on Goa’uld larva to survive. That’s why we need to research, to see if what we are proposing is possible.”

Having blown the minds of the SGC and their allies, everyone agreed in principle that using the sarcophagus for crucial research should be a legitimate use of the technology that they now possessed. Approval on a case-by-case basis would need to be obtained, but in principle, there was unanimous agreement for the idea that the sarcophagus should be used to examine if it could help free the Jaffa from the evolutionary yoke they found themselves under by no fault of their own.

Nor was Jack the least bit surprised when Teal’c immediately offered to help as a Jaffa guinea pig in their research efforts. Their friend and teammate was desperate to help his son’s generation live their lives free from Goa’uld tyranny. It was a major reason why he’d thrown his lot in with SG-1 when Apophis ordered him, as his First Prime, to kill them and hundreds of other potential human hosts after Sha’re and Skaara were selected as hosts for his son, Korel and mate, Amonet.

The two scientists sat back, calmly sipping on their beers and looking rather smug after pulling the rug out from under the party guests. Everyone else was still trying to come to terms with what a game-changer it would be if they could use the sarcophagus to give the Jaffa their freedom. Unsurprisingly, the discussion of how to administer its use to safeguard against its dangers had soon stuttered to a stop.

While there was a lot of work yet to be done on the composition of a separate administration overseeing its operational use, not to mention logistical details aplenty, they were still trying to wrap their head around the potential game-changer that the Napoleonic Power Monger and Sam Carter had so casually lobbed into court.

General Hammond had raised the obstacle of the US government surrendering the sarcophagus to a federation of planets, although Thor further shocked them with an offer for himself and the Beliskner to transport the sarcophagus to wherever it would be housed off-world. Jack also suggested that since Enterra had contributed parts to the restored sarcophagus, they should have representation on the federation and be able to petition for its use when the miners had life-threatening injuries, which everyone agreed was only fair.

Meanwhile, by mutual agreement, further discussions on the game-changing implications were shelved until a later date, although it didn’t stop many of the birthday guests from thinking about them as the party progressed.

~o0o~

Teal’c felt stunned by the possibility of using the sarcophagus, Hathor’s sarcophagus, in a way that may yet be what the Tau’ri referred to as the ultimate game-changer. Could it free his fellow Jaffa from generations of cruel enslavement to the Goa’uld? It was…well, he couldn’t find words to express how monumental it would be if what Dr Fraiser and Samantha Carter believed possible turned out to be correct. The implications of such a thing occurring were too big for the former First Prime of Apophis to contemplate.

Instead, he dared to dream that if the Goa’uld sarcophagus, no Thor had confirmed it was the Ancients’ sarcophagi, scavenged by those foulest of parasitical creatures, which perhaps one day could enable his people to exist without prim’tar, what would it mean for himself, his loved ones and friends? He knew that Master Bra’tac was seriously considering refusal of another larval Goa’uld when his current one matured, fervently wishing to die free from the yoke of tyranny. It meant that Drey’auc, his wife and his son, Rya’c, would never again have to debase themselves to Goa’uld slavers to obtain a prim’tah to survive, because he was a shol’vah for his defection to the Tau’ri. He dared not dream further than that…not until they found out if it were possible.

He also knew if their theory proved correct, a single sarcophagus could not free the thousands of Jaffa from dependence on the prim’tah, but it was a start. He was so deep into contemplating a future where his family, his people, might yet know freedom, he didn’t notice his friend and fellow warrior, O’Neill, approach or when he sat down beside him, and handed him a drink, having noticed he’d finished his old one.

“Hey Buddy, what’cha thinking ‘bout?” he asked, as Teal’c startled, ever so slightly, but O’Neill noticed.

“I was thinking about the sarcophagus and what it would mean if Samantha Carter and Doctor Fraiser’s theory is correct,” he said pensively.

Speaking gently, knowing how much it would mean to Teal’c, he responded, “Of course you were. Be a real game-changer, huh?

“Indeed,” Teal’c agreed, bowing his head, emphasising how affected he was by the possibility for his people’s future.

“And what conclusions did you reach, Tee?”

“That hope is like a bird that senses the dawn and carefully starts to sing while it is still dark.”

O’Neill smiled at him. “O-kay, is that an adage on Chulak, Teal’c?” he asked curiously.

“No, Old Friend, it is a Tau’ri observation from that book, Daniel Jackson gave me on my birthing day.”

O’Neill frowned and leaned forward to yell down the table to their favourite archaeologist engaged in conversation with the Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet, “Hey, Space Monkey, no more gifts of inspirational quotes for Teal’c. He’s enigmatic enough, already!”

“I second that,” General Hammond joked as everyone began laughing.

The light-hearted banter and subsequent laughter reminded them of what brought them all here together at O’Neill’s cabin in Minnesota. This was a birthday celebration for a special child. Soren Charlie O’Neill was celebrating his eighth birthday, and it was also the first birthday he ever had. Teal’c conceded this sounded contradictory, but then, his whole existence had been bizarre.

Yet, the Jaffa warrior mused, was his existence more odd than the Argosians? Due to the interference of the Goa’uld, Pelops and his nanites, he had engineered the humans on Argos to live a full lifespan in less than one hundred of Earth’s days. It was debatable, but maybe because Soren Charlie O’Neill was cloned from O’Neill’s dead son’s cells, it affected them on a much more visceral level. Although if O’Neill had been lost to the SCG when he was infected by the Argosian nanites and began aging rapidly, Teal’c suspected they may not have been so daf’ash about the disturbing incident.

Luckily, his friend stumbled on a way to help himself and the Argosians, even after all hope seemed lost and the SGC resigned themselves to his loss. Just as he saved his son, who was dead temporarily, but now lived again, thanks to the healing knowledge O’Neill had acquired from the Ancients’ repository of knowledge and Soren Charlie O’Neill had been recalled from the realms of death by a father’s love. Thor then used his race’s vast knowledge on cloning to correct the errors that occurred when the Reetou, ‘Mother’, created O’Neill’s son from cells of his firstborn. To the relief of all, Thor assured him that he would now experience a normal, healthful life.

This was why they gathered to celebrate the small boy’s new life and give thanks, as they had much to be grateful for. So  Teal’c chose to focus on that and leave his fierce desire for the freedom of his people to ponder at a later time. Living with the Tau’ri, he soon learned they considered one’s birthing day worthy of celebration, unlike the Jaffa, and not just for children. Indeed, his team commemorated his birthing day with festivities as well as their own. Furthermore, O’Neill informed him that as an honorary uncle, it was expected he attend his nephew’s birthday celebrations.

He, Teal’c -former First Prime of Apophis, son of Ron’ac – First Prime of Cronus, father to Rya’c, was greatly honoured by his friend’s trust in him. He vowed to attend every birthing day celebration and hoped it was the first of many more.  Maybe next year, General Hammond would allow him to bring his family too.

Notes: daf’ash ~ Jaffa word meaning blasé – (don’t try to locate it in a Jaffa lexicon, I made it up!)

 

Epilogue: Family, Friends and Strawberries!

“There is nothing better than a cake, but more cake.” ~ Harry S. Truman

By mutual accord, the folk from the SCG, plus their guests from other worlds, Thor and Selmak, focused their energies back on their reason for being here at Jack’s cabin. Presents for the birthday boy were mysteriously produced and given to Soren with the appropriate salutations of health and happiness. All the gifts were small, gratefully received, and colourfully wrapped as had been requested by his parents, if anyone wished to give him a present for his first ever birthday. Jack and Sara asked that they keep presents simple and not overwhelm him, since only a month ago, he didn’t even have a name of his own let alone a lot of possessions.

Respecting Jack and Sara’s wishes, most people gave Soren simple gifts: games, books or videos. Thankfully, no one was insensitive enough to give him toy weapons, not even water guns. Not even his grandpa had tried to give him anything remotely considered to pose a danger to him, not even a bow and arrow, thankfully. Thor, however, with the assistance of Carter and Daniel, had created a very special photograph of ‘Mother’ that could only be activated by Soren’s thumbprint (for obvious security reasons), its default setting was a picture of Soren on the quad bike with Cassie. Seeing the being who created, raised and died protecting him in a picture he could keep forever had overwhelmed him, and he’d shed tears after his dad assured him that crying over a picture of his dead mother was on the list of permissible reasons it was okay to cry. A lot of tears, and when he was feeling more composed, Soren eagerly tried out his newly acquired hugging skills on the threesome, unable to express his gratitude with words.

Equally dear to him had been the photo his dad had Sam create on her computer of Soren and his dead brother with his mom and dad. It was in a picture frame that said, OUR FAMILY. It, along with Thor’s gift, would become his most prized possession and he would take them both wherever he went.

Finally, it was the turn of all of his guests to receive a gift. When Sara and Jack explained that it was a custom for your friends and family to give you a gift on your birthday, he wanted to give everyone a present too. He already had gifts to give to Janet, Sam and Cassie for helping him, but he thought it would be rude to give them a present and exclude everyone else. So, Cassie, his pseudo big sister, helped him to make clay figures of each of the partygoers, along with a special drawing for each of them. His thoughtfulness moved everyone greatly, and he got a lot of thank-you hugs in return.

After a short interlude as people displayed the artistic clay representations of themselves to each other and continued to nibble desultorily at the party food. Finally, there came a lull in proceedings. Sensing that their son was finding it a bit overwhelming since he was still finding it emotionally taxing being around large numbers of people, his ex-wife caught Jack’s eye and looked at the birthday cake. Her message was clear – it was time for the birthday cake for the birthday boy!

Jack grinned as they disappeared into the cabin to retrieve matches, and a cake-knife, plus plates and forks for the birthday cake, with Cassie to supervise the placement of the candles. This was the most important part of a truly momentous occasion – Soren’s first birthday cake and candles, and everyone singing Happy Birthday to their precious second son. Mike would record it for posterity, having battled with Daniel for the privilege to film it.

Frankly, this was something the proud dad wouldn’t have thought possible a month ago, and yet, here they were. How quickly things had changed for them all.

Heading into the cabin, he was grateful that Sara was up for being Soren’s mom and that her inflexible father was keen to step up as his grandpa. He wasn’t exactly sure what George Hammond had said to his former father-in-law back at the SGC, but his attitude change was dramatic and very welcome. Mike was a good man, even if sometimes he did act like a pig-headed old coot. His stonewalling when Jack was trying to get him read in on the SGC was the most recent example of his intransigence. Thankfully, he was now wholeheartedly a member of Team Soren, along with Jack’s team and close colleagues at the SCG. Which thrilled and relieved Jack in equal measure; it meant that if anything were to happen to him (because being realistic, they were fighting for survival against the Goa’uld), Jack knew if he fell, the rest of his people would step in to help his ex-wife raise Soren.

Sara had been a brilliant mother to Charlie, and he knew she would be an even better one for Soren. Having gone through the absolutely worst experience a loving parent could face in their child dying before them, he took comfort in the certainty that, like Jack, she would never take a single moment for granted. Not the simplest of conversations, nor opportunities to spend time together.

As for his former father-in-law, for all Mike’s faults, if Jack died on a mission, he couldn’t think of a better guy to step in and be a surrogate father figure to help raise Soren. He was kind, caring, reliable and protective, and his word was his bond, although he hoped Mike never had to step into his role. Jack was selfish enough to want to grow old, watching his son grow into an amazing adult.

Of course, much as Jack was incredibly grateful that Mike had come to his senses and decided to support Sara, despite his initial scepticism of military secrecy and downright disbelief over the presence of alien allies, enemies and neutral races out there in space. Perhaps it was a tad malicious of him, but Jack had gotten a real kick when they had introduced Mike to his first aliens, and he’d been forced to eat his words. His former father-in-law’s expression when he first saw Thor dressed in Soren’s puffer jacket, scarf and woollen hat was a sight the special forces trained colonel would never forget. So okay, it was unlikely that Mike would ever be allowed to forget because, as any long-suffering yet equally loving daughter might be tempted to do, having grown up with a stubborn father, Sara captured it on film. Still, even without her choosing to record it for posterity, Jack reckoned it was something he would never forget. EVER!

However, guided by his innate sense of decency, he had the grace to apologise to Jack for not having faith in him.

To be fair to Mike, Jack conceded with a smirk; their other guests’ reactions to Thor proved to be pretty wacky too. Selmak was frequently left speechless because, as old and wise as the Tok’ra was, Thor was thousands of years older, yet when he was with Soren and Cassie, he had revealed a delightfully childlike, whimsical side. It blew most people’s minds and their expectations of how such a highly advanced alien race would act.

Even more entertaining in Jack’s opinion had been when Mike met Teal’c and was introduced to Junior (the Jaffa’s Prim’tah). Soren’s grandpa looked like he wanted to throw up, but Sara had been grossed out too, although she’d fallen head over heels for their grey-skinned, three-foot-tall Asgard friend, like her son. She did raise a valid concern when she wanted to know how they could tell if it was Thor and not Loki, for instance. Thor gravely conceded it was not easy for humans to tell Asgard apart, so they decided upon a code word to prove his identity…pizza rocks! And yeah, he agreed it was two words, so it was probably more accurate to call it a code phrase.

Jack noticed with a wicked sense of amusement that, initially, Mike was far less awkward around Jacob and Selmak, despite being introduced as an alien called a Tok’ra who shared a body with a human host. Jack freely admitted he still found dealing with the Tok’ra quite confronting, even though Jacob had been one of their own. Somehow, the freaky way Jacob’s head would drop, and then Selmak would step in to speak in a weird, synthesised-sounding voice…well, it still kinda creeped him out. Probably always would. Anyway, once Sam explained to Mike that Selmak belonged to a subrace of aliens related to Teal’c’s larval Goa’uld he’d been forced to carry until it was mature, but the Tok’ra didn’t believe in taking hosts by force, Mike’s eyes had nearly bugged out of his head.

Jack almost wished he could introduce him to the Unas he and Teal’c had encountered on Cimmeria, but then, again, he didn’t want his kid’s grandpa to stroke out, either! Besides, the monster was dead, though it had taken the combined efforts of Teal’c and Jack to dispatch him, several times to be exact, and Thor’s hammer before it took.

The proud dad looked at the eight candles on the cake Sara had baked and Cassie helped decorate; it was quite an impressive undertaking. His former wife’s big heart had gone out to the orphaned teen, and she’d quickly become like an aunt to the teenager. Janet was ecstatic because when they moved into the on-base housing a few doors up from the Fraisers, once they deemed it safe to do so, it would make life much easier for both mothers. For example, when Janet was rostered on duty at the SCG overnight or in emergencies, Sara had assured Fraiser that Cassie was welcome to stay with them, taking some of the burden off the hard-working single mom. It also meant that Cassie didn’t have to go into the SCG when Janet had to work nights, so a win for everyone.

As he faced his former wife, observing Cassie’s placement of the eight red and white striped candles on Soren’s cake with a wistful expression, he reckoned Sara was remembering Charlie’s eighth birthday when he went ice skating with his school friends. Catching him watching her with a knowing look, she smiled sadly.

“Do you think he’s ever going to have a normal childhood? Be able to have a party with school friends? Will he even be able to go to school?”

“Doing everything possible to make that happen, Sara. But right now, even if it was safe for him, physically, we think he’s around eight years old, which is why that’s what’s on his birth certificate. We can’t lose sight of reality, though, because he was only cloned four, maybe five months ago. He can’t read or write yet, and you’ve already started teaching him, and he has no numeracy skills, although Cassie is helping too. Don’t forget she’d already gone through this process, and even though she was twelve, Janet didn’t send her to school for months either.”

She nodded, knowing Soren needed time to adapt to his new world.

“Even if he did go to school tomorrow, the kids would bully him for being (from their point of view) so far behind his peers academically, and that wouldn’t be fair to him. Plus, there’s still so much for him to learn about living here on Earth and being human. We mustn’t forget that he’s been raised by an incredibly alien race. So, we can’t begin to imagine what his life was like. Hopefully, he can start school on base next year,” Jack said optimistically.

Sara nodded. “I just want him to have a happy life.”

“Yeah, I get that because I do, too, but right now, it’s baby steps. In the meantime, I intend to make the most of this time. He’s a great kid, just like Charlie, but unlike Charlie, he’s been starved of any human love and affection, and he lacks confidence, mostly because of how he was conceived. Even if his numeracy and literacy skills were on par with his ‘age mates’ and it was perfectly safe for him to attend school, I don’t think it would be wise for him to go,” he told her gravely.

“You know him better than anyone, Jack. What do you think he needs?” Sara asks trustingly.

“He needs to gain confidence and be convinced we love him not because he was cloned from Charlie’s genes, but because he is his own person who deserves our love,” Jack concluded as Sara stared at him in wonder.

“What?” he said defensively.

“Who are you? Are you sure you aren’t a Crystalline Jack from that crystal world?” she teased him gently.

He stared at her before he shrugged rather awkwardly.

“Maybe I’ve been hanging around with the Space Monkey too long,” he quipped in the irreverent Jack O’Neill way she knew so well, even though she hadn’t a clue what he meant.

That was when he shocked her again, becoming uncharacteristically serious. “Spending time with Cassie, trying to help her deal with losing her family and entire planet, might have contributed to me being better at acknowledging my feelings,” he admitted slowly.

Sara shook her head before muttering, “That poor kid.”

Jack nodded. “Then finding this waif from Reetou, which I’d never even heard of, plus Mother trusting me with her kid after I stood up for the rights of a bunch of indigenous humans on a distant planet because it was the right thing to do, kinda shocked me. Discovering later on that he was my son, umm, our son, was pretty life-changing,” he admitted with a degree of honesty that had been missing in their conversations after Charlie died.

“I can imagine how tough it must have been.”

“Yeah, it was, but he is so awesome, Sara. He put his trust in me so completely, and although I’ll always blame myself for Charlie, I’ve gotta find a way to move forward and be worthy of Soren’s trust in me. I need to see to it that his brother lives the life Charlie couldn’t.”

Jack had already decided that he was going to find someone to talk to about Charlie’s death and not just bottle it up, but he wasn’t ready to share that with Sara or anyone else, either. He passionately despised shrinks, but Soren was worth pushing his discomfort aside.

Jack loved him. It was just that simple, so he’d do it for his kid.

Feeling overwhelmed by opening up about his feelings, he decided to deflect. He looked around the cabin for a suitable diversion before settling on the magnificent work of art that was Soren’s first ever birthday cake that now sporting eight lit candles, chocolate frosting and a message wishing Soren a ‘Very Happy Birthday’, he smirked.

“Cassie wanted it to be a Willy Wonka cake, didn’t she?” he asked, as Sara nodded, looking surprised.

“How did you know?”

As he herded her and her assistant out the door, grabbing the plates, forks, cake knife and paper napkins, Jack chuckled. “It’s one of her favourite books and one of the first movies she lent the movie to Soren to watch when we first came here to the cabin. To be honest, all the candy was a dead giveaway.”

He looked at the riot of colour that was a feast for the senses: the brightly coloured M&Ms, Skittles, jellybeans, Milk Duds, Hershey Chocolate Kisses, Kit-Kats, and many others used to cover the sides of the cake. Wow, he just hoped Soren wasn’t sick later!

As their son stood at the head of the table staring down at the flickering candles and the wild array of candy bordering the sides of the cake, the group gustily if not exactly melodically sang happy birthday to him, before encouraging him to make a wish; his mom and dad standing proudly on either side of him, Soren’s beaming smile said it all. They’d given him a first birthday to remember!

Surprisingly, blowing out the candles turned out to be a difficult task for Soren, but Cassie was quick to come to his rescue. She discreetly helped him blow them all out while he shot her a grateful smile for the assist. Jack decided they must practice it before his ninth birthday, so it wouldn’t cause him anxiety, now that he had expectations about what birthday parties were all about.

Watching his expression as his Mom started cutting the cake was priceless. It was a combination of wonder at what was hidden underneath the frosting and regret that the magnificent creation was being dismantled before his eyes. However, a couple of minutes later, as he took his first taste of birthday cake, both O’Neil and Sara couldn’t help but burst into laughter. His expression was practically identical to the one Charlie used to wear when he took his first mouthful of his mother’s delicious bakery concoctions.

Yet, as terrific as it was to be reminded of his sheer joy for life for both loving parents, it was also a little bittersweet. While this was just the beginning of many more birthdays for Soren, there were no more birthdays for Charlie. Jack knew Sara much too well, and he knew intuitively she was struggling even though she was putting up a brave front.

It was then that it hit him hard, and he realised just how selfish he’d been in his indulgent and private grief.

After everyone who was not staying had departed, thanks to Thor playing taxicab and beaming them all back to Cheyenne Mountain, Soren conned his grandpa into reading him a story before bedtime. They were alone as they sat on the sofa side by side, watching the red, orange and golden flames dance in the fireplace. Jack took a deep breath, taking his courage in both hands to speak to Sara, wondering why it was that he could lead his people into battle, but he baulked at the thought of sharing his painful feelings with anyone, even someone who had known him as intimately as his former wife.

Reminding himself it was for his family, he asked, “I was wondering what you’d say if I asked if you would consider seeing a grief counsellor with me? I’m not saying you haven’t got over losing Charlie, but it’s so damn hard sometimes when Soren says or does something that reminds me of Charlie. It feels like someone’s punched you in the gut, like when he had his first taste of your cake. Pure Charlie!” he said expressively, as the mother of his children stared at him, open-mouthed.

Finally finding her voice, she asked incredulously, her tear-filled eyes expressing hope that he meant what he said, “Do you mean that? You’d go with me?”

His ex-wife burst into tears, and somehow the physical distance between them melted, with her ending up in his arms. They clung together, seeking mutual comfort; finally sharing their grief, something Jack had never permitted himself to do before. After so long feeling like his presence must only bring Charlie’s mother more pain, since their son died because of his gun, he was starting to see that in his all-consuming guilt, Jack had hurt her much worse, leaving her alone to face her grief. He was finally starting to appreciate exactly how destructive his guilt had been, and in seeking to punish himself, he’d inevitably hurt her too.

Jack O’Neill hoped that together, they’d finally find a way through the mess he’d made of everything. His long overdue insight made him see that his guilt and failure to grieve for his son appropriately had dishonoured Charlie’s memory.

Jack was determined not to allow his issues with Charlie’s death to mess up his relationship with his new son, who, unlike Soren, had been a happy, well-adjusted kid. He faced many challenges that Charlie hadn’t. The biggest obstacle was that he felt he’d already fulfilled his whole reason for existing by having warned the humans on Earth of the threats posed by the Reetou rebels. Now, he was experiencing one helluva existential crisis that a kid his age should never have to worry about.

On that confusing journey ahead, Jack was determined to be there for him, for every step, every stumble as he made his way through what was hopefully a long and happy life. It meant getting his shit together and as he rubbed soothing circles on Sara’s back, he was realistic that it wasn’t going to be easy, but their second chance to be parents for Soren more than made up for the difficulties he knew lay ahead for the three of them as a family.

Soren Charlie O’Neill was definitely worth it. There would now be so many new and wonderful things he got to experience – it would not be the last strawberry he ever ate. Indeed, Jack fully intended to shower him in the juicy red berries as often as possible. At least it was a food that Janet also approved of, although he guessed her endorsement was probably for far less symbolic reasons than his. Luckily, Soren already loved strawberries… although perhaps not quite as much as he did his pizza, Froot Loops and s’mores, but Jack wasn’t too concerned. Thanks to Thor’s help and weirdly enough, even that asshat Loki, (meddling and abducting hundreds of poor humans out of their beds) his son now had plenty of time to change that. There would be Froot Loops with strawberries, strawberry s’mores, strawberry ice cream, strawberry shortcake; because, c’mon, even Harry S. Truman agreed, there is nothing better than a cake, but more cake. Now there was a sentiment Jack could get behind!

And hey! What about strawberry pizza…hmm maybe not pizza!? Not unless it was a dessert pizza; they were becoming kinda popular now. Jack thought back to his time on various NATO bases where he’d been stationed. Some of the troops introduced him to a chocolate hazelnut spread they ate on bread, like peanut butter and jelly, called Nutella. That could probably be used as the pizza base instead of tomatoes. A strawberry Nutella pizza sounds like something even the Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet might go for, and why the hell not?

As the song goes…When the moon hits your eye, like a sweet pizza pie – that’s amore! And there wasn’t anything better than pie…unless it was cake, of course!

The End.

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