Sam needed to leave after writing up her report; she had a seminar on the new forensics protocols to oversee. The seminar was a two-week meeting and they were only halfway through.
Daniel checked emails periodically, which was the only way anyone was going to get in touch with them until they turned the phones back on. Daniel logged into his private account which held considerably less new emails. Not too many people had his private account. He responded to many with short, brief sentences before he made lunch for the troops and checked on Jack who was still sound asleep. At least he was home. Daniel smoothed Jack’s hair and kissed his brow. Adults helped with homework and more than once shushed the kids. They could play outside in the yard, as long as the guards were present.
Daniel caught his daughter on her way out the door and kissed her loudly on the side of her head.
“Love you,” he informed her and released her.
“Love you, too!” she called out from across the room.
“Say it in…. French,” Daniel instructed.
“Sans tu je ne suis qu’un ver de terre,” she said impudently and ducked at the hand towel that was thrown at her. She laughed and ran out of the house.
“What did she say?” Jerrie asked, sipping on her tea. “I know that wasn’t ‘I love you.’”
Daniel chuckled. “She said, ‘I am an earthworm without you.’ Too smart for her own good, I think.”
It was dark again when Jack woke up for a longer period of time than to stagger to the bathroom and pee.
“What did you do to your leg and where is the bastard who did it?” Sam demanded as he walked back into the bedroom. Daniel looked up from his book to the bruise on the upper-inner section of Jack’s right thigh. “That looks like a staff blast.”
“It is,” Jack croaked as he collapsed back into bed. “Don’t worry; Teal’c reprimanded the bastard.”
There were a lot of bruises, cuts, and scrapes on Jack’s body. His partners picked him over, discussing each mark in heated whispers. Sam was taking pictures of each with her digital.
“Will you two knock it off?” Jack requested after being rolled over for the hundredth time. They sat back, frowning. “I’m fine,” he insisted. “I’m hungry.” They jumped up, not believing that they hadn’t considered food.
By the time Jack was done with both sandwiches, he was ready for sleep again.
The children knew better than to barge into their bedroom, so when the Parents didn’t appear in the morning, Jerrie got them ready and an SF drove them to school. A long talk with the principals assured them that the kids would be closely watched. Guards were posted at each school, anyway, much to the embarrassment of all the SGC kids who complained about babysitters.
When Jack woke up again, long enough to be semi-coherent, he briefed the president and Joint Chiefs, and world leaders via his council, and then begged leave for the next forty-eight hours; he and all his boys and girls needed time to get themselves together. Whether the world leaders liked it or not, Jack was taking time. This wasn’t a routine mission where a few hours of rest would cut it; they had just saved the galaxy AND the planet, for pity’s sake! Jack was cut a little slack.
When it finally registered on Jack that his mother was living a mile away in the senior’s condo, he scrambled to shower, dress, and high-tail it out the door. Daniel and Sam and the kids had all told him that they moved Maggie in during his absence, but Jack had been too far out of it to hear the information.
“Mom, I’m sorry!” he declared the moment the door was opened. “I’ve been sleeping. Jet lagged doesn’t cut it, more like an entire galactic shift….”
“Jonathan Charles, shut up and kiss me,” she ordered. Jack immediately placed several kisses on her cheeks and hugged her hard, lifting her off the ground and carrying her back inside.
“Put me down,” she said, smiling at him. He set her on her feet. “Nut. Have you been working out?” She gave his biceps a curious squeeze.
“Daniel makes me carry him,” he informed her. She waved a hand at him.
“Come on, I made a coffee cake.”
Jack followed his nose into the kitchen where his mother cut off a large slice of cinnamon topped cake and then poured a large glass of orange juice. Jack dug in like a starving man.
“Are you okay here, Mom?” he asked after inhaling half the cake. “Do you like it?”
She shrugged. “I miss our home, but it’ll do,” she said, her eyes sad and melancholy. “At least I see the children regularly, and Sam and Daniel have been very attentive. One of them comes with me to do my shopping, when I need something. They gave me an emergency button; they said a guard will come running, if I need help. Jerrie’s been over here a few times with the baby, too. I like Sam and Danny, Jack, you have good taste. Sara’s been over a couple times; I hope you don’t mind.”
Jack put his fork down. “No, I don’t mind. Mom, I really am sorry,” he said. “I really have been asleep most of the time I’ve been back. I’ve barely gotten in a couple of kisses with Sam and Daniel, much less the kids.”
She patted his hand. “I know, honey,” she said. “I do watch the news; I know what you’ve been up to. I cannot tell you how proud I am of you; I don’t have the words to express it. At times, I can’t believe you’re mine. I just wish your father could have been here to see all this happening.”
“Me, too,” he said softly, leaning over and kissing her cheek.
He told her what he could of the battle, and several times she reached over and took his hand as she listened intently. He kept the worst parts from her, but she knew when he was hedging around something and just let him talk of what he could. Jack needed his mommy, not the president, the Joint Chiefs, Dr. Edmonds, or his partners. He got his mommy as he settled his head onto her lap and she stroked his hair. She didn’t ask about the slight tremor or why he was gripping the fabric of her sweat pants.
He took her to lunch a while later, stared blankly at a couple of people who asked for autographs, and swapped handshakes with Sheriff Richardson who stopped by the diner when he heard Jack was in. Andy handed Jack a pin.
“Governor?” Jack read. “It’s about freakin’ time! Sorry, Ma.” He shook Andy’s hand again.
“You steppin’ up for me, Jack?” Andy asked.
“Are you kidding? Hell, yes!” He stood up and let out a piercing whistle, getting everyone’s attention. Not that they hadn’t noticed their local celebrity already. “Sheriff Andy for Governor!” he called out, raising a solidarity fist. Everyone stomped, clapped, whistled, or banged silverware on the tables.
Jack took a bag of pins and bumper stickers and promised to hand them out. He put a sticker on his truck the moment they left the diner. He argued, but the owner of the diner refused to accept payment for their meal. Jack left a big tip for their waitress.
“What?” he asked, looking at his mother in the passenger seat. She kept looking at him with a quiet smile on her face.
“Nothing,” she said with a shrug. “It’s just nice to see you have so many friends here. People who like you, Jack, and aren’t just kissing your tush.”
Jack hadn’t thought about it before; he did have friends. He had made a home in their small town outside of Colorado Springs, in the rural communities around Cheyenne Mountain, and he couldn’t see himself living anyplace else.
He forced himself to stay awake for the children and went to pick them up himself from their schools. Katie and Matthew made him come in and meet their JROTC commander. Jack returned the salute and then shook hands. He sat on the edge of a table and looked out at the young, shining faces of the cadets. All of them just babies.
Jack answered questions, taking note of a couple of kids he knew to be SGC brats. Vinnie Bosco was among the kids, much to Jack’s surprise. When they were questioned out, and Jack was talking quietly with their commander, he over-heard a few of the boys joke about getting more muscles built and how some of the others would never do it. A few surreptitious looks were s
hot at Vinnie, who was skinny and small, like Matthew.
“Why?” Jack broke in. The class quieted and turned back to look at him. “Do I look buffed to you? Have you seen the size of a cockpit? It’s a cramped space. I’m six foot two and I barely fit. If you’re over a certain weight, height, or width, you’re not getting into a fighter seat. Smaller guys are pilots. The big guys get the ground work. Everyone has a place and a job, and they are all important.”
Katie raised her hand and Jack nodded.
“D… Sir, what about women?” she asked. “Most of the talk revolves around men.”
“You’re right,” he nodded. “Unfortunately, our language doesn’t take into account for a general gender designation. I sound like Daniel. God. So, all talk of any position, despite the use of the masculine, is to be heard as both masculine and feminine. We have a lot of women in the armed services, and more coming on board. Women make great pilots because they are quick and agile. Mentally and physically.”
“Sir, what happens when a woman is off-world and her period starts?” one of the girls asked. The class laughed and Jack smiled. He knew she thought to fluster him, but he lived in a house with four females and a baby girl; he had heard conversations he never wanted to hear again.
“Not a problem,” he said with an easy wave of a hand when they settled. “Most of the women are on pills or some other kind of female thingy.” There were more laughs. “If she starts before leaving the planet, either someone takes her place, or her entire team goes on standby for the five days. My team had one woman on it, and we got used to the once a month standby. Cost us guys a ton in chocolate, I can tell you.” The cadets laughed again. He couldn’t tell them about the insert, it was still in trial phase and he didn’t have permission to spill that one. Publicly, anyway.
Settled back home with Katie and Matthew, Jack decided it was time for another nap. His brain was in a no-fly zone. The baby needed a bottle, so he took a pre-made bottle from the fridge, and brought her into bed with him. Olivia wasn’t sure about him; she had become used to Daniel and Sam. He pillowed her in and cuddled next to her. Daniel came in, sat in the crook of Jack’s bent knees, and kissed his hip.
“Are you alright?” Daniel asked quietly. Jack glanced up at him.
“I’m fine, why?”
“I’m getting the feeling that you’re still light-years away. You’ve been on rough missions before, but you’re still sleeping a lot and we’re worried about you.”
“Daniel, I’ve been home for only a few days,” Jack said in exasperation. “I have every country in the world hounding me for a report, please don’t you start on me, too.”
Daniel slid up along Jack’s back and leaned over.
“I’m not asking for a report, I’m telling you that we are worried about you,” he said. “If you need to talk, we’re here. If you need to be held, we’re here. If you need to scream, we’re here. If you need space, take your space. We’re still here. You’ve been in the center of chaos for three months straight and you come home to a full house going about daily life. You haven’t had breathing room. We understand this. Take time off, if you need it. Go find a deserted island. Whatever.”
Jack half turned to look at him.
“I need the daily life,” he said huskily.
Daniel nodded and smoothed Jack’s hair. He kissed Jack and moved to leave him to his nap. Jack wrapped an arm around Daniel’s neck and brought him back down, kissing him again, opening Daniel’s mouth. They stayed locked for a minute before Jack pulled away, touched Daniel’s face, and turned back into the pillow and stared at the baby before shutting his eyes. Daniel brushed Jack’s ear with his mouth and left them to their nap.
“He has a week, and then we call Dr. Edmonds,” he told Sam. She agreed.
Jack was fairly sure he was alright, just wiped out. He had no energy and his brain felt like a blank slate that was buzzing slightly. Everything was bright. Even light had smell. He wondered if he should mention to someone that he was reading just fine without his glasses.
He woke up a few hours later. It was dark out. Olivia was still sound asleep next to him; someone had covered them both in a blanket. Jack leaned over and kissed her soft, round cheek. He wiped her cheek and neck; she had four front teeth and was on continuous drool. He put pajamas on, carried her into the nursery and set her into her crib. She made a sound, a soft coo, made sucking motions, although the bottle wasn’t in her mouth, and went back to sleep. The house was quiet and he looked at a clock. Almost eleven. He checked on the rest of the brood. Covers needed to be pulled up onto Stacy, Katie was tucked in after taking a social studies book off her lap, Davy was bunched up on his belly with his butt in the air, and Matthew was asleep with the headphones still attached to his head. Jack removed them, shut the stereo off, and tucked him in; the big boy wasn’t too big, yet.
He stayed up, reviewing reports and putting together his own. Davy stumbled into Jack’s office at dawn, scrubbing his eyes as he climbed up onto Jack’s lap, straddled his legs and buried his face in Jack’s chest, dozing off. Jack continued to write around him and returned a few phone calls from the other side of the planet where the sun had been up for a while. A couple of the calls had been internet calls where he could see the person he was speaking with via the small camera ball at the top of his computer. The sleeping child had been given amused glances from heads of state, including the PM of England. Jack was taken aback when a couple people asked him if he would be running for US President in a couple years.
“Are you kidding?” he asked. “I’ve seen Henry’s job, I don’t want it. I want to teach my daughter how to walk and tie her shoe laces, not hold the hand of an entire country. Besides; I don’t think I’d pass the purity test. Wife, boyfriend, agnostic, getting beamed up when I least expect it…. Won’t work.”
Asia in general was pissed at Jack. Still. Once more, Jack informed the state department that when various countries clean up their human rights issues, and showed that they could be trusted with information and technology, then he would consider them for his sand box.
A message from General Landry told Jack that several alien nations had contacted them and wanted in on whatever unification the Tau’ri were planning.
“What unification?” Jack asked himself. He responded to Landry with the same question.
The sound of people beginning to stir was in the house, so Jack shut down his computer. Hank didn’t know what unification, either, he was just reporting on the messages. Jack carried Davy into the living room where he laid the boy on the couch. Since he was up, he started breakfast for the troops.
“Good morning,” Jerrie said softly, coming into the kitchen with the baby.
“Morning,” he responded. “We barely talked before I had to leave, Jerrie; how have things been?”
She set Olivia in the door swing, poured a cup of coffee, and sat at the bar dividing the kitchen from the dining area. “It’s been good, I think,” she told him. “I feel as though I was abruptly pushed into the deep end, but I float pretty well.” He smiled and put a dish of bacon on the bar. She took a piece and munched. “I love the children, Jack, they’re wonderful. That little guy out there is a handful and he has a beautiful heart. He very rarely says anything negative, have you noticed? Even for a bully down the street; he wanted to know why the boy was so unhappy that he had to make everyone else unhappy. That’s an extreme level of sophistication for someone like Davy. Most adults aren’t that intuitive.”
Jack jerked his head up and then looked back at the pile of pancakes that were building up. He set a couple in front of her. “And the other kids?” he asked.
“Let’s see…. The girls are arguing a little, but that’s to be expected. They’ll find their place with each other. They sound like sisters arguing, so I’m not worried about them. Matthew seems to have latched onto Daniel; I think he assumed Daniel wouldn’t like doing guy stuff, for whatever reason, but Daniel took him out a few times, weekends away, took him to a d
ig that Daniel needed to visit, and has also been doing a little sparring with Daniel. Matty’s looking at Daniel differently now; I think he’s seeing the man instead of the geek. Stacy got into a little argument with her English teacher. Seems the assignment was to pick a word, add a suffix, and use it in a sentence. Stacy was marked wrong on several words and she called her teacher onto the carpet for it. The teacher insisted that the words didn’t exist. Daniel was called in. He opened a dictionary and showed the teacher and the principal the words. The teacher accused Daniel of helping Stacy with her homework and Daniel informed her that Stacy was smart enough to open a dictionary for herself. Wasn’t that the assignment? Teacher isn’t happy with father OR daughter.”
Jack laughed, nodding as he pictured it.
“Everyone missed you,” she added. “There was a little angst when you left, but the visual messages between you and them helped a great deal; they knew you were alive and thinking of them. Oh, and I’m dating Dr. Lam. Hope you don’t mind.”
Startled, Jack almost dropped a pancake. “Wow, I pegged her for kinky, not lesbian,” he commented, shaking his head.
Jerrie laughed. “Daniel and Sam don’t have an issue with it,” she said. “They said my private life isn’t their business unless it affects the household. Carolyn’s been here for dinner, but she doesn’t stay over.”
Jack shrugged. “Okay by me.”
The rest of the brood came straggling in and helped themselves to breakfast.
“I checked out report cards,” he told them. “Good job, everyone. Matty, you’re having a little problem with math?”
“Yes, sir,” Matthew said, looking depressed. “Aunt Sam’s been helping me. I got a B on my test last week.”
“Good,” Jack nodded. Katie’s problem was in history, much to Daniel’s dismay, Stacy also had math issues, and Davy had understandably low scores in all his subjects. He did do better in English, though, and liked to write. He showed Jack his notebook which was filled with daily events over the past couple of months. Jerrie had recommended that Davy keep a journal which would help him with comprehension and English. Jack was looking forward to reading it.
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