By Biltong

"Who is it from?" Jack asked.

"It’s from Cassie," JJ said, staring at his cell phone.

Jack looked up from the roses they had both been pruning and stared at him quizzically.

"As in…Fraiser?" he asked.

"The same," JJ said, sitting on the edge of the patio with an athletic twist that had the older O’Neill grimace in envy. "She wants to see me."

‘Why?" Jack’s voice had a warning tone to it; one the younger O’Neill knew was not good. He was, after all, literally a chip off the old block, and knew what Jack was thinking. The problem was, he was thinking the same thing, only he wasn’t because-.

Oh hell, life had become a complicated thing recently.

"Coke?" he asked brightly, leaping over the rail and heading into the house before Jack could answer. He knew the older man would follow, but the precious moments he had given himself may be all he needed.

Things had become easier between them recently, something both he and Jack appreciated.

 Okay, so they would never be able to share a house together, and JJ would never give up his independence anyway, but he was spending a large amount of his time at Jack’s now.

Actually it was fun having a ‘parent’ who was a General, especially in Colorado Springs where seemingly every second kid was a military brat of some type. It also helped to be clever, no make that extremely clever, JJ ruminated, peering into the refrigerator.

Not that being a MENSA certified genius would help him now.

Hell no.

"JJ?" The voice was a low General like growl, one designed to stiffen the back of even the most lowly of recruits.

"She’s in my class," JJ said reluctantly, throwing a red tin at Jack, one he caught without even looking at it.

"I see your reflexes are as good as ever," he remarked lamely, hoping to change the subject.

"And I see you trying to wiggle out of being questioned," Jack said. "It won’t work."

JJ sighed.

"I can try,"

"Don’t waste energy and answer the question," Jack snapped. "Why is Cassie SMS’ing you of all people?"

"She wants someone to talk to," JJ said reluctantly, perching on the table and staring at his feet. "It’s spring. The birds are chirping, the sun’s hot and she misses Janet."

The sharp hiss of indrawn breath was expected.

"We all miss Janet," Jack said sadly. "I can’t believe it’s been almost a year."

JJ lifted his head and looked Jack in the eye. "Well it has, and now Cassie needs me."

"Needs you?" Jack asked.

"Yes," JJ said, staring the older man in the eye. "Needs. Me."

"Why you?" Jack asked.

"Because she’s in my class, and she’s my friend," JJ said in a rush. He had never told Jack that Cassie had been transferred to his school, and in hindsight that was a mistake.

"Friend? As in more ways than one?" Jack asked shrewdly.

"If I said yes, would it bother you?" JJ said, gauging Jack’s reaction. There wasn’t something between him and Cassie yet, not really, but there would be if he allowed things to continue.

"She’s Cassie," Jack said, looking unsettled. He slid into the booth and opened his Coke with a sharp crack. "She’s a young girl."

"To you she is," JJ countered.

Jack’s eyes narrowed. "But not to you?" he asked.

"Yes and no," JJ said, feeling confused, as confused as when he had first met her, still grieving after her mom had died. He had swept her into a bear hug and they had almost ended up kissing, right there at school. It had taken a lot of willpower to pull away, and Jack had chalked it all down to grief. She was after all 35 years younger than he was, right?

No she wasn’t, his body told him. She was his age, and had curves in just the right places.

What did it matter, his brain told him. His age was relative anyway. He was seventeen and she was sixteen and they would both live for a long time. Why not start out with someone who already knew his secrets, and moreover, was female and soo sexy.

Hands off, his subconscious screamed. She’s your colleague’s daughter.

It was to his subconscious he had listened to, until Mrs. Winner had paired both of them together for an essay on the Civil War.

Apparently they were both flunking it badly, and the Teach had wanted them together, where she could keep an eye on them. If course, if she knew just why they had been flunking it she would have run from the room screaming the clone thought sourly, staring at the alien.

The problem was, putting them together just reconfirmed the alien’s cuteness, and to make things worse, she held an uncertain smile on her face as if afraid of being slapped or something.

Oh crap. He heard all his resolutions crumbling like a distant earthquake.

So he had mended some fences and had rediscovered Cassie. Not the Cassandra Fraiser that Jack knew, but Cassie, warm, friendly, funny and extremely bright.

JJ had never known a sixteen year old quite like her, even when he had been sixteen the first time, but then again, back then he had been into maintaining his jock status. This time around he was the nerd, (albeit a dangerous one to cross, as the jocks had soon found out) and was able to see Cassie in a new light.

She was beautiful. She was brainy, well, for a normal kid, and she was his new study partner.

Oh boy...

At first he had been wary, wondering how she perceived him, wondering if she saw him as a freak or as a person in his own right. He kept her at a distance, knowing that he didn’t take rejection well; he was after all, still undergoing psychotherapy under Colonel Saunders for his botched suicide attempt earlier that year.

To his surprise she treated him as normally as anyone else. Gone was the respect she had always shown Jack, replaced with an easy camaraderie he drank in like a starved man. It was so good to be able to finally relax with someone who already knew your darkest secrets, and she seemed to feel the same.

Finally, after almost a month together in Mrs. Winner’s class, he took it upon himself to ask her out.

Just because there was a new movie out, he assured his subconscious. For no other reason than that.

To his surprise she agreed.

One movie led other movies which led to long discussions on everything from local politics to the policies of the Asgard, and to JJ’s surprise he found her easy to talk to. She became his friend, and perhaps something more, if he wanted it to. He knew for a fact that she did.

Besides, what could it hurt?

Staring into Jack’s eyes JJ knew precisely who it could hurt.

Him, and badly, if Jack’s reaction was anything to go on.

"How long has this," Jack used his fingers to claw the air, "relationship been going on?" he asked.

"We’ve been seeing each other for almost six months," JJ said, staring at his sneakers again. He seemed to be doing that a lot recently, as if Jack really was his dad. It would be irritating if he had minded, but all it did was give him a warm glow of being wanted. Being yelled at was nice, which definitely made him a weird person.

"Does she know who you are?" Jack asked. "Who you really are?"

"Yep," JJ said. "At first it spooked her out as much as her closeness spooked me, but after a time we really got to know each other. Do you know she collects coins?" he asked unexpectedly, making Jack frown.

"No. Should I?" he asked. She was Cassie for craps sake, that’s all he needed to know.

"That’s just the thing," JJ said, sounding just like Daniel. He even leapt off his chair and pranced around the kitchen, just like the linguist was wont to do, making Jack blink. "You know nothing about her, nothing, despite knowing her for most of her life."

He waved his hands in the air in a frustrated manner, trying to make Jack understand.

"She likes the color blue, has a fear of spiders and has a navel ring."

She does?" Jack asked, taken aback. "Just how close are you two?" he immediately asked.

"Not that close," JJ said coloring.

"Good," Jack said looking relieved.

"Yet," JJ finished, watching Jack frown.

"And if we were, would it matter? I am seventeen now." JJ stressed the word, hoping to get it through Jack’s thick head.

"Seventeen."

Had he always been so dense?

Jack sighed, trying to get his thoughts in order. Finally he shook his head and regarded his clone closely, this young man made from his DNA.

He was growing into a well adjusted kid, not like the screw-up he had been at the same age. Cassie could do far worse; he ruminated, and then realized with a shock that he actually meant it.

Cassie could indeed do far worse.

"You know, to me she’s just Cassie, Janet’s daughter and, well, almost my niece?" he asked cautiously.

JJ nodded. "I know and I’m pleased about that," he said. "But to me she’s more than just plain old Cassie now."

"You realize this could have repercussions at the base?" Jack asked. "Especially with SG1."

I know," JJ said. He shrugged. "I didn’t mean for anything to happen," he said quietly. "In fact I ran as far as I could, but somehow she just kinda -."

"You doing it yet?" Jack asked unexpectedly.

"What?" JJ lowered his Coke and stared at the older man.

"Don’t act shocked," Jack said. He was moving around the kitchen, not looking at JJ, but JJ knew that he had asked a serious question.

"No," JJ said, taking a cautious sip of his Coke. What was Jack up to?

"When you do, use condoms."

JJ sprayed the mouthful of Coke all over the floor.

"Jack," he complained, teary eyed. "Do you mind?"

"Weren’t expecting that, were you?" Jack grinned, throwing him a cloth.

"Ah, no," JJ coughed.

"Vive la difference," Jack said, finally making JJ smile.

"So where does she want to meet you?" Jack asked, signifying his final acceptance of the relationship, much to JJ’s relief. He was washing his hands in preparation for making lunch, and JJ suddenly realized he was starving.

"In Prospect Park in an hour," JJ said. He slid off of his stool and raided the fridge.

He needn’t have bothered. Jack had taken to keeping healthy things in there like tomatoes and lettuce and he wondered if it was because of him.

"Where are the donuts?" he complained.

"In the shop," Jack said vaguely, reinforcing JJ’s suspicions. "I didn’t buy any today."

"Then what are we going to have for lunch?" JJ whined, but he had a sinking suspicion he knew already.

"A nice crunchy healthy salad," Jack said. "Which neither of us wants, yet both of us know we must have."

"Full of vitamins and iron," JJ sighed, pulling the offending items out.

"And the occasional caterpillar," Jack said, making them both laugh.

"Carter must love the new you," JJ said half an hour later, making Jack flush. He made no secret that he and Carter were sleeping together, at least not from JJ, but was still embarrassed when anyone mentioned it.

"She doesn’t know," Jack said, taking their dishes to the sink. "I only get all healthy when I know you’re visiting. The donuts will be back there tomorrow."

"Hey, no fair," JJ said, but he wasn’t too upset. The salad had been surprisingly tasty, and like Jack said, he did occasionally need healthy foods in his life.

"So what are Cassie and you going to do for the rest of the day?" Jack asked casually.

"Oh, I don’t know," JJ said equally as casually. "Hang out at the mall I guess."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "On a Sunday afternoon?" he asked. "Isn’t that an exercise in futility?"

"Or we might catch a movie," JJ said, staring at Jack with a narrow eyed expression. He was up to something, but JJ had no idea what it was.

"I have a better idea," Jack said. "Why don’t you bring her here? The gang are coming around tonight and they haven’t seen her in ages."

"And face a night of a thousand questions?" JJ asked with a shudder.

"You are going out with Sam’s best friend’s daughter," Jack said, "and have been doing so for months."

He made it sound like an accusation.

"Almost six months," JJ said feeling defiant.

"Six months without our knowledge," Jack continued. "Now, Janet may be dead, but I think that Sam deserves to have some reassurances from you, and Cassie."

"We haven’t even kissed," JJ said sulkily, look at his feet again. His sneakers needed cleaning.

"You haven’t?" Jack asked, looking nonplussed.

"Well, not in a tonsil swapping way," JJ amended, making Jack grimace.

"Gross," he muttered, reaching for his keys. "Well, come on then."

"What?" JJ asked, completely floored.

"Let’s go and fetch Cassie," Jack said patiently. "She can ask her foster parent for permission on the way back here."

"You want to-." JJ asked, a sinking feeling in his gut. "I have a perfectly good motorbike," he said grimly. "You don’t need to do this."

Jack’s smile was saccharine. "Oh yes I do," he said.

"I don’t need a chaperone," JJ said defensively.

"She might," Jack said, making JJ scowl.

"Don’t you trust yourself?" he goaded.

Jack refused to take offence. "At seventeen?" he asked. "Hell no."

"I am scarcely going to jump her bones in the park," JJ said defensively, finding himself being steered towards the passenger side of Jack’s big Ford truck. Being smaller and scrawnier than Jack sure had its disadvantages he thought, watching as the gray haired man climbed in and stared at him with an encouraging expression.

"Besides," he said, surrendering and pulling himself inside, "she may not want to come to any soiree you may be having."

"And miss out on seeing Sam, Danny and Teal’c?" Jack asked, backing out carefully. "Be serious."

…

Prospect Park was a nice place to be at lunchtime, Cassandra Fraiser thought, looking around her. People always seemed happy there, something she had found elusive after her mother’s death. She had found the park almost by accident, walking aimlessly one day, trying to recover from yet another bout of depression. She had turned a corner and there it was, full of flowerbeds and happy people. It had been just what she needed – a retreat.

Now, when she was down, she sought solace in the park.

Today was no different.

"Hey there pretty thing, is this part of the bench taken?"

She loved JJ’s accent. For some reason it had lost the Minnesota harshness that Uncle Jack had, smoothing out and conforming to a native Colorado one. It was one of the reasons why she had never thought of JJ and Jack as one and the same person. The accent and the attitude.

"I’m keeping it for a good friend of mine," she said primly, "but you can sit there for a while."

"Why thank you ma'am," he said courtly, making her grin.

"Hey JJ," she said softly leaning into him, sighing when he automatically put his arms around her.

"Bad thoughts again?" he asked, his breath warm against her cheek.

"Thoughts are fine. It’s the memories that are getting to me," she said sadly.

"It’s normal," he said, sounding so knowledgeable. "It took me - Jack - years to get over Charlie."

"You still remember?" she asked, pulling away and staring up at him enquiringly.

"Sort of," he said with a grimace, a faint echo of Uncle Jack, something he could have copied rather than always had, she thought to herself. "It’s difficult to sort out the old memories from the new now, and sometimes-." He stopped abruptly.

"You feel adrift," she said softly. "As if you no longer know who you are, and this is a frightening feeling."

"How do you know?" he asked, his eyes dark. "How come you are so perceptive?"

"Because I know you," she said, hand splayed against his chest, feeling his heart beat.

"You are JJ O’Neill. Not Jack O’Neill, but another person entirely, despite starting out the same. You are now like me, alone on a strange world, full of secrets we cannot ever share; tainted with deaths we can never tell a soul about and trying to remain sane despite all of this."

"You are one eerie sixteen year old," he said admiringly.

"I was never sixteen," she said, pulling back and gazing deep into his eyes. "I grew up fast, thanks to Nirrti."

JJ sighed. "You know how difficult it is for me at present?" he complained. "It’s like I’m two people, one that remembers Nirrti and what she did to you, and one that doesn’t. I remember the details, but I just can’t seem to get them into focus."

"Yet you remember Mr. Grahams science class?" she asked. "I believe that was a blast."

"That was physics, not science," JJ growled, "and he was an idiot. Everybody knows Newton’s three laws of motion, and he was applying them incorrectly."

"I didn’t know someone called Newton even existed," Cassie said quietly.

"Yeah well, he had no reason to ban me from the class," JJ said, aggrieved.

"That was months ago," Cassie said. "He hasn’t allowed you back since?"

JJ shook his head. "Whilst he agrees that I could most probably write a book on what we are studying, he refuses to allow me to be a distraction. I have a double English lesson instead."

"Poor baby," Cassie said before returning to her original thought.

"But don’t you see?" she said. "All you are doing are repressing the memories that don’t apply to you. Your own memories, like how you felt when Mr. Graham banned you, are intact."

"Jack will be pleased to hear that theory," JJ said remembering how he got there. He nodded towards the far road, drawing her attention to the truck.

"Is he chaperoning us?" Cassie asked, sounding aggrieved.

JJ gave a short laugh.

"You and I Cassie, are one of a kind. I asked him that too."

"And what did he say?" Cassie asked.

"He insisted he wasn’t, but this relationship disturbs him."

"It feels wrong, like, almost like I’m a pedophile, taking advantage of a young thing like you."

Cassie gave him a long look. "Is that your thinking, or Jacks?" she asked.

"Both," JJ said with a sigh. "Mine, I guess," he amended sheepishly when she raised an interrogative eyebrow.

Cassie turned on the bench and faced him fully, suddenly looking ferocious.

"It’s time you faced something, JJ," she said, taking his hands in hers. "You are not, nor ever were, fifty years old."

"I know that," JJ said, trying hard not to look at the creamy stretch of thigh she unknowingly displayed when she turned to face him. "I do," he said adamantly.

"It’s just that in my mind I feel that this is wrong."

"I won’t walk away," Cassie said, her face tormented. "You’re too special to me now for me to ever do that."

"Why?" JJ asked, leaning into her softness. "What do you see in me?"

"I see my future," Cassie said, her face deadly serious.

He opened his mouth, only for her to place a finger against his lips, silencing him.

"I have always had a fondness for Jack O’Neill, but it’s you that I want. You are special and funny and just the right age, and I don’t know who answered my prayers, Loki and her technology or God in his Wisdom, but I have you now, and I never intend to ever let you go."

"What happens if I want to?" he asked lightly.

Her eyes widened. "Do you?"

"No," he said, meaning it.

"Good," she sighed leaning in close, "’cos I have great plans for us, starting with the Air Force and ending in a slew of kiddies."

"A slew?" he chuckled, his breath warm against her lips.

"A slew," she confirmed.

"That sounds like a good life plan," he said, and kissed her.

…

The problem with being a General, Jack thought irritably, was the fact that no matter where in the world he was the office was just an internet connection away. With his promotion to General came a laptop, and it was on this that Jack was grimly perusing the same documents he would have been perusing at the base had JJ not had a call from Cassandra.

At least it was a warm summer’s day, he consoled himself, even if he had to stay wedged in his truck and work instead of sitting in the sunshine. That couldn’t be helped due to the top secret nature of what he was working on.

Every now and again he cast an eye at JJ and Cassie, but so far they had no inclinations to move, and he had no reason to fetch them. Why should he?

In fact, the more he looked at them the more pleased he became. JJ deserved happiness. Hell, he deserved happiness this time around. One thing he was determined to do though was keep JJ out of special operations. It had been fun at the time, but then he hadn’t been married when he had first volunteered, and it was hell on relationships.

Not that the Air Force would ever let him do anything that dangerous, he reflected happily. JJ was a genius, and geniuses were usually kept stateside, where they could be nurtured. In fact he wouldn’t be surprised if JJ was forbidden to travel through the gate altogether.

"Oh boy, I can see that one going down well," he said aloud.

It was JJ’s fault actually, even if he was unaware of it yet. He was already a master at Greek, Latin, French and ancient Egyptian, and was slated to start on Astrophysics at the academy next year, just like Sam.

"And there goes my cover of not liking scientists," Jack moaned, a grin on his face.

Last memo duly read and authorized, Jack shut the case with a happy snap and checked on the kids.

They were -. Oh boy, he had better do something and quick, before they got arrested.

"Way past tonsil swapping stage now me boyo," he muttered in an Irish brogue, and leaned on the horn.

EINDE

BetaTested by CiGiK - Cape Town - South Africa - 11th April 2004