2
He still had no idea what the hell was happening, Carter had been removed from front line duty, which she was pissed about, though she had known it was going to happen the first time they found out. Women in her condition weren't allowed on the front lines, it was too dangerous. She had already been on world for over two months, dealing with problems here rather than out there… and she had been itching to get back into it when she found out she was pregnant.
However they wouldn't allow her to work on the tech coming through the gate either, there was too much that could go wrong, they said, and she was too valuable to risk. He tried to get her to see it the way he did, but she had stormed and ranted for over a week about how unfair it was!
Then the president had called him, and said he still wasn't allowed to retire! Even after all this, but he also didn't have permission acknowledge his marriage publicly! Like that was going to stop him! Basically it looked as if everyone was going to pretend it hadn't happened, or at least that the baby wasn't his, which was ridiculous!
He had started wearing his ring all the time, reminding them all that he was NOT going to pretend he was not the father of his baby.
And to top it off he had received an invitation to Cassies engagement party, in three weeks time, and he had no idea how the hell he could get out of it! He had tried telling her she was too young, she should wait… what happened when he was deployed somewhere and she was left behind… all the usual stuff, but she was as tough as her mother had been, and just as inflexible.
At least his plan to test all new officers, recruits and Academy intakes for the ancient gene was being put into effect, they would all soon know how many potential users there were, and officers and enlisted already in the field would be tested and then given the opportunity to go to Atlantis.
Jon, his teenage clone, had already volunteered and departed. Jack was glad, he had hated dumping the kid in high school and at least the current crisis had given him an excuse to get back in touch with the boy, after all if Jack had the gene his clone HAD to have it! It wasn't like he had to have loads of training in how to use things… hell he had a better background than anyone else already there!
The phone rang, his display told him it was Sam, so he got up and shut the door to his outer office before picking it up.
"Hi" he said
"Hi" she replied, her voice subdued "Look… sorry about going off at you when…"
"S'ok" he said gently "I understand how unfair it seems to you" and he did, there was no similar circumstance for men, this was wholly a female problem, and he knew how she hated being treated different to her male counterparts, but this couldn't be helped, she WAS different and things had to be done to protect her and the baby.
"Cassie has just got in touch AGAIN, she wants to know why she hasn't heard from you about the party" he should have known, Cassie, Daniel and Teal'c were the only three people who had known about the wedding and Cassie was not below using the knowledge to get her way.
He had been dodging her calls for the last 48 hours so she came at him from behind! He sighed "Look love, I'm not sure I can make it" he told her
"Jack, of course you can, it's our anniversary weekend, you arranged leave ages ago for it, that's why Cass chose that date!"
"Oh… I didn't realise." He had of course "I was planning on a surprise trip for the two of us" good thinking Jack, only now you have to plan something quick…doh!
"I can't miss this Jack, it means so much to her… why are you so reluctant to come?"
"No reason" he said lying through his teeth, "look why don't we have dinner the weekend before with the two of them? That way they won't miss us at the party" He could arrange to go down just for the one night, and back the next morning early, a pain in the arse but he could manage.
"That's a great idea" she sounded happy "but we are NOT going to miss the party Jack!" and she used that tone of voice that made him know she was determined. He was screwed.
"OK" he said "Tell Cass we will be there" he heard someone in the background say 'YES!' "She's listening in isn't she?" he asked, knowing the answer.
"Yes Uncle Jack" she shouted from what sounded like across the room, Sam giggled, doing wonderful things to his body when the noise travelled down the line.
He spoke with his wife for another few minutes, each reluctant to end the connection, but eventually one of his secretaries poked her head through the door and told him the chairman of he IOA was in the outer office and he had to say goodbye. He stood up as the annoying little man entered the room and pasted a smile on his face… who said he couldn't do diplomacy?
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The more he thought about it the more he didn't want to meet Cassies boyfriend, but there was no way short of being shot that he could get out of it, Sam had arranged for the young man to come to dinner with Cassie that night, she hadn't exactly threatened him when he had tried to cancel… well not in so many words, but being told the sofa was comfortable to sleep on was a broad enough hint that if he didn't turn up he better not think he was sleeping in bed with her for a long while.
After the amount of time he had spent sleeping alone, between being married to Sarah and marrying Sam, and the time he still was, when they lived so far apart, there was no way he was going to risk it! Actually Jack wasn't 100% sure that SHE could do it, but it wasn't worth trying to push it.
He caught a hop from DC to Peterson, arriving at 1800, sometimes being a General was cool, instead of waiting for 5 hours they 'just happened' to have a craft on the runway when he needed one. He just had to nip home and change into civvies before picking the girls up.
He borrowed a pool car from Peterson, his truck that he had asked Daniel to drop off at the base was nowhere to be seen, he hated driving strange cars, especially low ones like the one he had ended up with! It wasn't natural that a man of his height should be sat so low to the ground, but it was this or a jeep and he didn't think the basic sparse military jeep was suitable for taking the ladies out!
He had only just pulled away from the base when he developed a flat, he changed the wheel, somehow managing not to dirty his uniform at all, and was about to pull out again into the flow of traffic when a car pulled out of the base and rammed him from behind!
Someone up there hated him! Actually when he thought about it, a lot of people up there hated him!
No matter how many times he told the young Captain that it was a pool car and he should sort it out with the base motor pool, he kept getting apologies by the score, eventually he just got in the car and drove off leaving the poor man watching from the roadside. By that time it was too late to go change. He would have to go to dinner in his Class As!
He picked Sam up at the SGC and Cassie at the academy gates, her soon-to-be fiancé would meet them at the restaurant as he was busy until 1900, finishing up his last assignments as a pupil at the academy. Though Jack was tempted to wait anyway as it was already close enough… they all decided to go get their table and he could have a drink… he was going to need it!
"Crap" Jack said as he looked at the door from where they were sat in the booth, the young Captain who had crashed into him had just walked into the place with a friend, he hoped he wouldn't spot him, the last thing he needed was more apologies!
Of course the Captain saw him, he was easy enough to spot in his blues. The young man paled and Jack tried to glare at him as a message not to interrupt his dinner, but no, he just wasn't that lucky.
"SIR!" the Captain stood to attention and saluted, Jack waved at him, they were in doors and the man wasn't in uniform!
"Loose the salute Captain" Jack told him, "and if you don't mind I'm not on duty so go about your business" Sam and Cassie looked at him for an explanation but he was in no mood to talk about it.
The Captains companion walked over to them and Cassie stood and kissed him, Oh great, this was the boyfriend.
"Sam" he leaned over the table and kissed her on the cheek. Jack raised his eyebrows at the overly friendly act, Cassie was laughing at him, he could tell. "Sir" at least this was just a 'normal' type of sir, the type you would use to your girlfriends father rather than a senior officer.
"Uncle Jack, David… David, this is my Uncle Jack" he shook the proffered hand. The young Captain swallowed and paled slightly and then drew David aside.
"Give me a call when you want a lift back to the academy Dave, I'm off duty until 0200"
"Will do, and thanks for the lift Jon" he said
"Any time, after all she's going to be one of the family soon" he winked at Cassie and she blushed. Brilliant, as if Jack didn't have enough on his plate, he hadn't bothered checking the Captains name, but of course he knew who it was now!
"So" the young man sat down "I take it you want to know all about me sir" 'Not really', Jack thought, but he nodded his head and ordered a bottle of wine for the table, telling the waitress to give them a few more minutes before they ordered their meals.
"Well sir, I was born in Minnesota, just outside Minneapolis actually, my parents moved there after my youngest sister was born, I went to all the usual schools, did all the usual things and came to the Academy after leaving college and I am just about to be posted, which means that for a couple of years Cass and I will be separated. Which is the worst part of it, but we will cope" the young lovers gripped each others hands as if they were in danger of being sucked into a black hole, Jack could see their knuckles turning white!
"You haven't mentioned your parents much David, when we've met" Sam said
"You've met often?" Jack asked
"Quite a few times actually, Cassie introduced us a few months ago and you know I've been lecturing a bit more than usual" he winced at the dig at her not getting offworld.
"Well my parents are Grace and Michael Flynn, they are both Chicago born and bred, Dad was a Lt Col in the Air Force until about 5 years ago when he retired. Erm… I'm one of seven children… erm…" he seemed to run out of things to say, Jack threw back the glass of wine he had and helped himself to another. Sam looked at him strangely, she knew how much he hated wine usually.
"Lets order" Jack said waving over the waitress. Everyone ordered steak, and Cassie made sure that it was well done, of course. Janet had taught her well. They made small talk about the academy and where he was hoping to be posted until the food arrived.
"So David… one of seven eh?" Sam said, Jack concentrated on his food, ignoring the conversation as much as he could "Not a seventh son of a seventh son or anything are you?" she laughed
"No Ma'am" he laughed back "though we are of Irish stock I think my mother would have castrated my father if he wanted seven sons, she had the three girls first so it would have meant a lot bigger house!"
Everyone laughed, except Jack and Sam kicked him under the table. He didn't know what to say to the kid! He wished he had risked sleeping on the sofa.
"My dad moved around a lot, as they do in the services… well you would know all about that" both Sam and Jack nodded "but mom decided to stick near her parents until Grandma died, that's when the family all moved to Minnesota to be near to Great Grandma Ann, who owned a farm up there. Actually her name was O'Neill too sir, I would have thought we were related but she only had daughters so that doesn't fit… anyway, they moved in…erm… '78"
"'79" Jack said automatically, and wished to god he had kept his big mouth shut… why the hell couldn't he think before speaking?! All three of the tables occupants looked at him.
"Uncle Jack?" Cassie asked "Please don't tell me you did a Pete!" he almost spit the wine in his mouth out… 'doing a Pete!' did she think he would sink THAT low?
"What's 'a Pete'?" Sam asked and Cassie explained about Sams ex-fiancé and his background checks, which Jack had made sure she knew nothing about… sometimes Cassie had a big mouth too. Sam glared at him… oh she would so not let that drop!
"So Uncle Jack…?" Cassie pushed. He closed his eyes, hell they were going to find out soon enough anyway, he just wanted to limit the damage.
"I know Davids mom" he told them "I remember when she moved to Minneapolis" he hoped to god no one got the wrong idea about him and Grace! "His Grandma died in June of '79"
"You knew Grandma O'Brien too?" David asked
"Yeah" Jack confirmed
"Well Grandad is coming to the party next weekend, maybe the two of you can catch up?" he said, that was the last straw, Jack got up from the table and walked out of the place.
Sam followed him. "Jack!" she shouted "Wait!" he stopped, he had not thought about meeting HIM! He had hoped that he had died and no one had bothered telling him. He just wasn't that lucky!
"Sam love, sorry, I'm not feeling well, here the keys to the car, you drop everyone off, I'll meet you back home" he got out his cell and called for a taxi, one happened to pass as it was ringing and he flagged it down, he grabbed $40 from his wallet and handed her everything else.
He closed the cab door and gave the address before she could say anything else. Looked like he was sleeping on the sofa after all!
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