Chapter Text
Jack O’Neill hates Monday mornings. Up to this point, he’s managed to avoid regular work hours for his entire adult life. But now as base commander of Stargate Command he has to deal with all kinds of bureaucratic crap he never even knew were issues someone needed to deal with. Bureaucrats, he’s learned, don’t do anything from Friday afternoon until Monday morning, when they make up for lost time by bombarding his desk with 3 days worth of paperwork he doesn’t care about. True, the frequent weekends free since he stopped going off-world are nice, but he’d trade those in a heartbeat for no more Monday mornings.
It’s currently 0930 and his eyes have been glazed over for at least 45 minutes when a blue eyed, blonde-haired distraction appears with a knock on his door.
“Carter, thank god. Please tell me there’s a crisis that needs my immediate attention.”
“Uh, sir?”
He sighs. “Never mind. How’s the…whatever you’re doing going?”
“The naquadah propulsion unit? It’s…slow going. I’m missing a component somewhere but I’m not sure what it is yet.”
“Well, you’ll figure it out.”
“Yes, sir. But that’s actually not why I’m here.”
“Oh?”
She fidgets, shifting her feet, stuffing her hands in her pockets then immediately bringing them back to her sides. She bites her lip before speaking. “Did Cassie call you?” she asks.
He raises his eyebrows. “It’s been about a week.”
“But she hasn’t asked you for any favors?”
“No…”
Carter huffs and shifts on her feet again. He’s always amused that the most impressive woman he knows can be so awkward. Except when he’d rather she just spit it out.
“Is everything ok? Something happen?” he prompts.
That snaps her out of it. “Oh no! Nothing happened. Everything’s fine. It’s, well, what are you doing this weekend?”
Another raised eyebrow. “Either working or sleeping, probably. Hopefully there will be beer.”
More fidgeting.
“Why?”
She looks up at him and rushes through the request like she’s racing a buzzer. “The semester is starting next week. Cassie’s moving into the dorms. I’m taking her to Boulder and I was wondering if you could come help. I’ll buy you a beer afterwards, if that motivates you.”
“You want me to help Cassie move. Me and my truck, you mean?”
She smiles, dropping her gaze, “Yes, sir.”
“Ok sure. I can do that. Pete doesn’t have a truck, I take it?”
“Oh, well no, he doesn’t. He does have an SUV, but…” She frowns the way she does when she’s working on an equation. “Well, actually I didn't think to ask him. Cassie suggested we ask you and that made sense to me.”
Interesting. Being chosen over the boyfriend feels like a definite victory. Jack decides to ignore the swell of masculine pride in his chest. “Sure, ask the old man with the busted knee and bad back to do your heavy lifting. Makes total sense,” he says.
The light fades slightly from her face. She gapes at him with wide eyes.
“Carter, relax. I’m kidding. It’s not time for me to check into the old folks home just yet. I can carry some boxes.”
She tries to laugh but it gets stuck in her mouth. “Right, of course, sir. I mean, obviously I’ve seen how strong you are hundreds of times in the field. You’re physically very…good at lifting things. But we haven’t really talked about your knee situation in a few—”
“Carter. At ease.”
She closes her eyes with a sigh. “Yes, sir.”
“Just let me know where I need to be and when.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you.”
As he watches her leave he tries not to think about her noticing his physical fitness.
***
Jack shows up at the Fraisers’ house at 0800 on Saturday morning. When Janet died, Cassie stayed with Carter for a few weeks, but when she turned 18 she moved back into the Fraiser home. Carter lives in a different school district, and with Carter’s work schedule, Cassie reasoned she would be mostly on her own either way. As Janet’s sole beneficiary, she inherited the property, so everyone agreed to let her live in her own house if that’s what she wanted. They figured she’d be ok on her own. The house is in a nice, residential neighborhood. Add to that frequent check-ins by Carter, various other SGC personnel, and Janet’s sister in Albuquerque who promised to come visit when she could, Cassie would have plenty of support if she needed it.
Carter’s car is parked on the curb and the front door of the house is wide open. Jack backs into the driveway and lowers the tailgate before heading inside.
In the entryway there are a dozen boxes in varying degrees of readiness. A few are taped closed but most have things piled into them haphazardly.
Carter is on the stairs. Even from a distance he can see the slightly manic look she gets when things are out of her control.
“Carter?”
She doesn’t quite hide her grimace before giving him an apologetic smile. “Sir. I thought we’d be further along by now.”
He nods, looking back at the mess around his legs. “How can I help?”
Before Carter can answer Cassie arrives at the top of the stairs with a giant mound of clothes piled high in her arms.
“What is that?” Carter asks.
“Clothes,” Cassie says.
“Right I can see that, but why aren’t they on hangers or folded or you know—“
“Dylan said the easiest thing is just to stuff them in a garbage bag,” Cassie interrupts.
Carter sighs. “Well Dylan is a teenage boy who’s probably never done laundry in his life.”
Jack snorts.
“Jack?” Cassie calls from behind her clothes wall.
“Hey, kid.”
“Hi!” Jack has one second to feel good about how excited she sounds. “Can you come up here and carry my bookshelf?”
He sighs. “Sure.”
By the time the bookshelf, which turns out to actually be a box of wood and screws that will eventually be a bookshelf, is in the truck bed, Carter has found a large suitcase and a duffel bag and is rolling Cassie’s clothes to pack them military style. Cassie arrives and drops another large pile on top of the pile Carter is trying to organize. Carter rolls her eyes.
“What else can I do?” Jack asks.
“Cassie, where’s the list?”
“Um…” she looks around, “I don’t know. Wherever you left it I guess.”
Carter closes her eyes. Jack bites back a smirk and says, “Cassandra, how bout you go make sure everything from upstairs is down here.”
“I still have to do my bathroom,” she says.
“Well, clock’s ticking.”
She rolls her eyes. “Ok, Dad.”
Carter snorts and looks up at him. “Sit down and help me roll, sir.”
As with every assignment, they work together with perfectly synchronized movements. Each is comfortable in the quiet, working in harmony to get the job done. Carter rolls and Jack packs, until they get to bras and underwear, which Carter packs herself automatically. Once the clothes are done they move onto the boxes.
They find Carter’s checklist in a box with school supplies. Inventory comes easy to them after so many off-world assignments. The boxes are already labeled by category: kitchen, desk, bedding, etc. They can’t make too many decisions without Cassie but it’s helpful to double check what’s still missing from the list. When he has a better idea of what they‘ll have when they’re done, he moves on to loading boxes into the truck.
When you’re a reasonably tall, in shape guy who drives a pickup truck, you do a lot of other people’s moving. He’s stopped agreeing in the last few years, mostly because he’s usually busy and his knees hurt. But in his younger days he was the go-to for all of Sara’s single friends and family. Usually it went down the same way: he’d volunteer to help women (and sometimes men) who didn’t know him well enough to remember he was doing them a favor, they’d talk to him as if they hired him and by the end, his temper would flare and he’d be forfeiting his house warming invite.
Today feels different. It doesn’t feel like a favor he’s doing to stay on anyone’s good side. He wants to be here, even if it’s sure to mean ice on his knees and heat on his back when they get home. Cassie and Carter are two of his favorite people to spend time with. They’re also the two people he’s least capable of saying no to, though he tries not to dwell on that too much.
He stands in the truck bed, arranging and rearranging boxes to make sure heavy items stay closest to the cab. Every few minutes, Carter brings a new box to add to the puzzle. When there’s nothing left to do they go back inside to wait.
Carter makes a beeline for the kitchen and comes back with two mugs. She hands one to him and with a silent cheers he takes a sip.
“Mm extra sweet. Carter, you know me too well.”
She smiles, “I know, sir.”
He tries to think of something charming to say, but he’s interrupted before any ideas show up.
“Sam! Could you come here please?” Cassie shouts.
Carter sighs. “Duty calls.”
He follows her upstairs. They find Cassie on the floor of her bathroom with toiletries scattered all around her. It reminds Jack of Teal’c and his candles. She looks up at them in the doorway, looking every bit the scared little kid he remembers from when they first met.
“What am I gonna do when I come home? If all my stuff is at school, what am I gonna do when I’m here?”
“Oh,” Carter says, shifting her weight. “Well—“
“Tell you what,” Jack interrupts. “Carter has keys right?”
The girl nods.
“Ok. You make us a list of everything you want restocked and we’ll make sure it’s back in here by the time you get your first break.”
“You guys will do that?” she says with a hopeful smile.
Carter is watching him. He can feel her eyes on him as much as see them. “Sure!” she says to Cassie. “Good idea, sir.”
“Are you sure? That would be super awesome. I don’t want it to feel like I’m just visiting my own house, you know? I want to have my stuff here,” Cassie says. “Thanks guys.”
Jack is marveling at how insightful this kid is when she speaks again. “I think it's hilarious you call him sir on the weekends, by the way. Like, who are you kidding?”
“It’s…protocol,” Carter says at the same time Jack says, “habit.”
She gives him a curious look but says nothing. They leave Cassie to her packing, with a reminder that they can’t stay here all day or they’ll miss check-in. She nods like she knows time is of the essence, but Jack is unconvinced. Carter carries a pile of girl stuff like a hair dryer and a mirror, and directs him to the newspaper on the kitchen counter so they can wrap things.
Sooner than he would have predicted, Cassie joins them downstairs carrying an overflowing shower caddy in one hand and what looks like a hot pink tackle box in the other.
“What is that?” He asks.
She looks at him like he’s an idiot. “Makeup.”
“A whole trunk of it?”
“This is so not that bad. It’s like a normal size. Sam, tell him.”
“Carter, you have one of these things?”
She looks at the pink thing while biting her lip. “Mine’s purple,” she says with a nod.
“See?” Cassie says. “Jack, you really need more women in your life.”
He takes a moment to picture Carter with a whole beauty routine. He’s never really thought much about her putting effort into looking pretty. He’s not completely sure of the point because he’s never seen her look anything less than beautiful and he’s seen her on most of her worst days. Then again, he does like seeing her all girly in her civvies. He shakes his head. These aren’t thoughts he needs.
“I don’t understand. Isn’t it just pencils and tubes and stuff? Why do you need that much of it?”
“Well you need different colors for different outfits and occasions and things. And there’s like, hair ties and perfume and stuff.” She looks at her feet, suddenly shy. “My mom’s stuff is in here too. She always bought all the really good stuff and I know she wouldn’t want it going to waste.”
Carter is watching them. “That’s true, sir. Janet took makeup and skincare very seriously. She wouldn't have been caught dead wearing anything from the drugstore.” She winces at her word choice but Cassie doesn’t seem affected.
“For real. If it wasn’t from Saks, or at least Nordstrom, it wasn’t worth wearing.”
“Skin is a vital organ,” Sam quotes.
Cassie smiles. “The biggest one you have, so you better take care of it.”
“All my best stuff was from her. She was really concerned about my pores,” Carter chuckles.
“Everyone’s pores,” Cassie says.
“Except Daniel’s,” they both finish with a laugh.
Jack puts a hand to his face. He’s only vaguely aware of what makes a pore ‘good,’ but he assumes Doc Fraiser did not approve of his.
“Anyway, I think I’m almost done,” Cassie announces.
It takes another hour before they’re ready to leave. Jack has to secure the tarp over all of Cassie’s boxes. While he does that Cassie remembers at least a dozen items she forgot to pack. Carter makes them all travel mugs of coffee. He hasn’t had a chance to ask what time she got started on everything today, but he knows all too well what she looks like when she’s running an operation on too little sleep. He’s glad they asked him to help. It means Carter can rest while he drives.
***
The drive is smooth. Cassie falls asleep before they even get to the interstate. Carter naps for an hour, waking up right as he’s navigating downtown Denver traffic. She pulls a thermos from nowhere and silently pours refills for them both. Then she reaches into a magical bag and pulls out a Krispy Kreme and sets it on the console between them. “I meant to bribe you with this earlier, but you didn’t complain once, so I forgot. So here, sir, have a present. There’s two more of them when you're ready.”
“Carter, you’re a god among men. And not a false god either. A real one.”
“Haha, that’s funny. Like a Goa'uld pickup line. Ooh are you a system lord? Cuz you look like a goddess.”
“Carter…just, no.”
“Sorry, sir.”
He shoots her a look but follows it up with a grin. She smiles back and ducks her eyes. “I’m a little loopy this morning I guess.”
“I can handle loopy. It’s cute. And it’s nice to see ‘cute.’ It’s been a long couple of… well, years.”
She smiles again. “Yes, sir.”
“What time did you start this morning?”
She makes a sour face. “Up at 4:30, packing by 6. Our young friend back there started about 20 minutes before you did.”
“You’re a good friend, Carter.”
She hums. “Maybe too good. I haven’t even been home since Thursday morning. I think fighting a system lord might be more relaxing than keeping a teenager organized.”
“So what about you? You weren’t messy as a kid?”
“Of course not.”
“I was,” he says.
She laughs. “Well some things never change…sir.”
He glares at her in mock admonition while she smiles at him behind her eyelashes.
“Being a teenager is different when your dad’s about to make general,” she says.
“Huh. My dad was just a general pain in the ass.”
He feels her eyes on him as he watches the road. “You never talk about that,” she says.
He’s about to remind her he doesn’t talk about a lot of things, when behind them Cassie shifts and stretches with a kick to the back of Jack’s seat. “Mmm, are we there yet?” she asks, yawning.
“Another 45 or so yet,” he tells her.
“I’m hungry.”
Carter turns to her. “I have protein bars, orange slices, pretzels, and turkey sandwiches. Or you can have one of the General’s donuts.”
“Hey,” he protests.
She shrugs at him.
Cassie hums. “Sandwich I guess. Can we stop for candy?”
“Closer to campus,” Jack says. Carter sends him an amused glance.
She passes Cassie a sandwich then unpacks one for herself, along with a pack of carrots.
“Can I have some of those?” Cassie asks her.
Carter wordlessly passes her the baggie. Jack stretches and resettles into his seat with one hand on the steering wheel. He feels an unexpected cloud of contentment surrounding him as his shoulders loosen for the first time in weeks. He’s always loved a good family road trip.
Until Cassie clears her throat to speak.
“Okay here’s the deal guys. You both love me right?”
He and Carter narrow their eyes, but agree.
“Good, so here goes. I really don’t want to explain to my new roommates that I’m an orphaned alien from another planet whose adoptive earth mother was recently murdered by an alien slave-soldier on a different planet. So at least for this weekend, you guys are my parents, ok? Here,” Cassie says, and hands them each a gold ring.
Carter gapes, eyes wide and unblinking. Jack’s eyes flick between the road and the wedding band Cassie is holding out to him. “Congrats,” she says. “It’s a girl.”
“What?” Jack asks.
“I need you guys to pretend to be my parents. Like real parents who had me and raised me and have never been to another planet or died. Just regular, boring, married Earth parents.”
“Hang on,” he says. He takes the exit a ½ mile ahead and pulls over at the gas station right off the ramp.
“We’re your parents?” Jack repeats, turning around in his seat.
“Yep. You guys still work for the Air Force. Mom’s still an astrophysicist, but retired from the service now. Dad does some tactical ops thing I don’t understand. He’s still a general. We moved around a lot when I was a kid but we’ve been in Colorado Springs since I was 11.”
“Cassie…” Carter says.
“Her and me?” Jack points between Carter and himself.
Cassie nods.
He stares at Carter, whose eyes might be the biggest he’s ever seen them. Her face has a pink flush that brings out her freckles.
“Well, Carter’s a physicist and was also a teen mom, apparently. Which makes your old Dad here a real scumbag. Possibly a predator.”
Carter bites her lip. It’s hard to tell if she’s holding back a laugh or a scream.
Cassie rolls her eyes, looking every bit the average earthling teen. “Trust me, Dad, no one's gonna think about that. You’ll be the age of the other dads. And Mom might be younger than the rest of the parents, but she’s still a total grown up. Maybe she just looks really good for her age. So congrats on your super hot wife, Dad. Everybody wins.”
Jack clears his throat. The ease with which Cassie can call him dad stirs something long buried in him. And that headstone is supposed to be right next to the shallow grave where he lays to rest thoughts of Carter as his hot wife.
“Cassie, I don’t know if—“
“Sam, please,” the girl says, her mask of bravado wavering.
“Why can’t I just be your favorite aunt? We’ll say your parents had to move back to Toronto.”
“And then who will Jack be?”
“I guess he'd be your uncle.”
Cassie groans then narrows her eyes. “If you’re my aunt and uncle, then you still have to pretend to be married. Unless you’d rather be brother and sister.”
“Well, I mean that could...” Carter starts.
Cassie cuts her off. “Ew no. Pretty sure people can get arrested for looking at their siblings like you look at each other.”
“We do not—“ Carter doesn’t bother to finish her sentence. They all know it was going to be a lie. She sighs, rubbing her forehead. “Cassie, it’s just really not a good idea.”
Cassie’s eyes fill with sudden tears as her chest starts heaving with anxiety. Jack hasn’t seen her look this vulnerable since Janet’s funeral. “Sam, please,” she begs. “It’s not even about Toronto anymore. Don’t you remember what it was like when people would ask you why your mom wasn’t with you at stuff like this?”
Carter’s chin drops to her chest. Jack remembers a conversation next to a campfire on a moon once, where Carter told him she moved herself into the Academy alone because Jacob had been too busy in Washington and her mom was dead.
Jack grew up in a part of Chicago where absent parents weren’t so uncommon. But now, he knows the torture of being asked if he has kids, and the particularly nasty combination of embarrassment and regret that floods to the surface every time he has to figure out how to answer. Cassie has already suffered way too much for someone her age, she doesn’t need any more emotional torture. He watches as she rubs her eye with her fist.
“We’ll do it,” he says.
Carter’s head shoots up to stare at him. She looks less angry than he would have expected. Instead, she lets out a resigned sigh.
“Really?” Cassie says, looking between them.
“Are you sure, sir?”
He shrugs.
“Yeah, ok,” Carter says. “We’ll treat it like a mission. Undercover. But I’m keeping my maiden name.”
“Speaking of names, don’t you think people might notice you don’t have the same one as either of us?” Jack asks.
“Oh, that’s all worked out. There was a mix up with my paperwork and now the university is convinced my name is Fraiser, which is actually my middle name. After my grandma. But my last name is really O’Neill. I thought about doing Carter-O’Neill but Cassandra Fraiser Carter-O’Neill is sort of a mouthful. Sorry, Sam. Nothing personal.”
“This is a little scary,” Carter says, glancing at Jack for back up.
“Uh yeah,” Jack says. “You know, if espionage is a major, you should think about signing up.”
Cassie’s face lights up. “That’d be awesome! But ok let’s work on our backstory. First things first, Mom absolutely cannot call Dad ‘sir.’ It’s super creepy. I can’t be from some weird cult family.”
Carter exhales. “Ok, I’ll try to work on that.” She looks toward the convenience store. “Since we’re here, I’m gonna go use the restroom. Cassie, come pick out your candy. Uh, Jack, do you want anything?”
He unhooks his seatbelt. “Gimme a minute, dear, I’ll come with you.”
He thinks this plan might be fun if the awkwardness doesn’t kill him. But they’re gonna have to tell everyone Carter has a sunburn if she doesn’t stop blushing.