Second Verse, Same as the First
Feb. 28th, 2010 01:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jadelyntateAuthor: Jaded
Story: Second Verse, Same As The First
Disclaimer: I own the idea only. Joss owns Buffy, SyFy owns Stargate. No suing please!
Summary: When one life ends, another begins...
Warning: Contains slash pairings. Nothing adult, just know there will be homosexual relationships.
Previous: Prequel - One
We're not done yet
Not going quietly into the night, not me and my friends
We're not done yet, don't take us too seriously
It's just life we'll win in the end
And we walk on and on and on and we walk on and on
~ Superchick, “Not Done Yet”
Chapter Two
Keller had pushed the eight anxious possible parents far to the corner, not wanting to frighten the children. John watched as one of the three year old boys stretched, yawned, turned on his side, and promptly went back to sleep all without opening his eyes.
“He could be mine.”
John didn't know who said it but wasn't surprised—he'd just been thinking the same thing.
“Well, we can determine, at least, if any of them might be related to you,” Keller said, gently running a hand over the little redheaded girls arm. She shifted restlessly, as if the touch hurt. John felt an arm grasp his and he turned to find Rodney staring at one of the two year olds. She was tiny, with big brown eyes and short brown hair.
She was staring straight at Vala.
“Ma!” she cried and the woman in question went deathly pale. The little girl pouted and then turned to look them all over critically before looking at Vala again and holding her arms up. “Ma!”
Before anyone could say anything, Vala was next to the pod, holding the little girl. She patted Vala's cheek and didn't seem to notice when the woman flinched at the contact.
“Sad, Ma?”
“No, little one,” Vala choked out after a long pause. “Not sad. Not sad.”
“Mama?” a tiny voice whispered and John found a little blonde boy, also two years old, staring at Carter. The colonel swallowed before moving forward to squat next to the boys pod.
“How do they know?” Rodney asked under his breath, eying the two children warily. “They can't possibly know their mothers.”
“Ancient technology created them,” John reminded him quietly as he watched one of the three year olds, a chubby blonde, blink open pretty blue eyes. She sat up and looked around before, of all things, blushing.
“She doesn't seem to know,” Mitchell said and indeed, the little blonde was glancing between Mitchell and Lorne with a confused look on her face. Finally, she turned to Lorne.
“Dada?” the whisper was so soft John almost didn't hear her but Lorne was by her side before he could even blink. The little girl smiled shyly up at him before hesitantly opening up her arms. The major didn't hesitate in scooping her up and holding her close. John could see a pleased little curve of lips on the three year olds face, as if she wasn't used to the attention.
“Uh, Sheppard?” John turned to Rodney to find him locked in a tiny redheads gaze. “Why is she staring at me?”
“Dad!”
John didn't know whether to laugh or cry when the little girl turned completely red as her shout woke the rest of the children up.
It was bedlam for a few minutes as the adults all rushed forward to help a struggling Keller. At one point, John had his hands full with the other redhead, one of the year olds, before passing the crying child to Rodney. Once in his arms, she shut up and snuggled close to the surprised physicists chest.
A tugging on his pants made him look down to find two of the three year olds staring up at him. He swallowed. “Daddy, hungry!” the brunette announced as if she hadn't just been born.
“Hungry!” the blonde repeated and within no time, the chant was taken up by all the children who could speak. Speechless for one of the first times in his life, John wasn't able to answer. O'Neill, who was holding one of the three year old boys and talking quietly with one of the four year old boys, looked up and then pinned one of the watching sergeants with a look.
“You heard em,” he said. “Food. Now.”
“Sir, yes, sir,” the soldier nodded and then rushed out of the room. O'Neill rolled his eyes as the two little boys next to him giggled.
“I, uh, I'm gonna need blood samples,” Keller said and then faltered when she became under the scrutiny of too many pairs of eyes. “I need to figure out, um, who's who's.”
“This is my mum,” one of the four year old blondes announced, his voice surprising British. He looked up at Carter with a small smile before shooting the doctor a scathing look that was entirely too grown up for him. “Duh.”
John snickered when he heard Carter mutter something about O'Neill and smartasses.
“She said a bad word,” the other blonde four year old whispered, eying Carter from his place by Mitchell. The colonel looked down at the boy with a small, strained smile.
“That's cause she's a naughty woman,” he told him in a stage whisper. The look Carter shot him had nothing on the glare from her four year old.
“Take that back!” he demanded. “Mum's the bestest!”
“Yeah!” the two year old said but John knew he had no idea what was being discussed. He was two, after all.
“Ow! Let go!”
John was distracted from the fun of watching Mitchell try to respond to a four year old by the two girls who wouldn't leave his side. The brunette was holding onto the blonde's hair, tugging as the other girl tried getting away.
“Girls!” he shouted and bent down. “Let her go, honey.”
“She ma' fun of m'cothes!” the brunette said, sounding scandalized.
“Daddy, get her to sto-op!” the blonde cried. Once John got the brunette to let go of her sister's hair (and he didn't doubt now they were sisters), he looked between the two of them.
“We have got to figure out names for you,” he said, rubbing the blonde's back in soothing circles, like he remembered his mom used to do. Both girls perked up.
“Anya!”
“Cordelia!”
John looked between them for a long moment. “Those are your names?”
“Duh,” the brunette said and John closed his eyes and pinched his nose. For some reason, this sent both of them into hysterics.
~~~*~~~
Once the children were happily eating (or gumming, in certain cases) the food the sergeant had returned with, the adults moved off to the side.
“So, names?” Keller asked, looking expectantly at O'Neill. John had overheard varied snippets and knew all the children somehow managed to name themselves.
“Riley, four; Alexander, three,” the general beamed. The younger boy had announced he wanted to watch the Simpsons, to the generals utter delight and confusion. She jotted it down and then went down the line. Carter had four year old William and two year old Andrew, Vala had three year old Oz, two year old Faith, Jackson had four year old Angel, two year old Connor, and John had Cordelia and Anya.
“Tara said her name is Cassie,” Lorne reported, referring to the three year old blonde and the one year old girl who was clinging to his chest and munching happily on a cookie.
“Willow is older, Vivian younger,” Rodney said, face pale as he held the redhead as if he didn't know what to do with her. Which, you know, he didn't.
“Graham and Molly,” Mitchell said; like Lorne and Rodney, he was holding a little one year old, this one with Annie levels of curly brown hair.
“Anyone else get the feeling something is missing?” Jackson suddenly asked, frowning.
“Something or someone,” O'Neill agreed quickly. He looked at Keller. “You sure there are only sixteen kids?” Keller didn't bother responding to the question because as soon as he asked it, the general shook his head.
“I still feel like someone's missing,” Mitchell spoke up. “But...I'm also getting the feeling...”
“That this is how its supposed to be for now?” Rodney, of all people, was the one to finish Mitchell's sentence. The colonel nodded and Rodney made a face. “I was afraid of that.”
“Me too,” the man confided and the two exchanged wry smiles. Not for the first time did John curse himself for convincing Mitchell and Rodney to start writing as a way for two of his favorite people to get to know each other.
“This isn't coincidence,” O'Neill finally said. “It can't be. Alexander knows what the Simpsons are for chrissakes!”
“And those are Earth names, not Lantean ones,” Carter agreed.
“Oz is not an Earth name,” Vala frowned.
“Actually, he told me his first name is Daniel but he doesn't answer to it,” Jackson told her quietly. The woman made a face.
“The point is, this isn't random,” Carter said. She had a pinched look on her face. “At all.”
“So why'd it happen?” O'Neill asked, looking at the blonde and Rodney. “You two didn't press anything or...”
“No,” Rodney shook his head. “We were looking at a few power spikes but nothing else. Jackson?”
“Translating,” he answered helplessly. He kept looking over at the two little boys. “I don't think I did anything.”
“I wasn't thinking about anything but how amusing it was ya'll said Vala's name in stereo,” John broke in. He shrugged at their looks. “Not my gene's fault.”
“Mine either, I was, uh, not thinking about kids,” Lorne said, looking uncomfortable.
“Simpsons,” O'Neill said. Everyone looked at him and he shrugged. “I was thinking about the Simpsons.”
Ignoring the mutters from SG-1, John looked at Keller. “Is it possible they were pre-programed with information? That the wave...er...downloaded it from us?”
Keller looked highly skeptical. “I know the Ancients had that kind of technology but...it was different, wasn't it?”
“Very,” O'Neill agreed with a grimace. He glanced at the kids, of whom were chattering quietly. “They're very advanced for their ages, aren't they?”
“There's another possibility,” Jackson said, an arm still wrapped around Vala as Keller nodded in reaction to O'Neill's observation. “The Ascended Ancients had something to do with it.”
“You think that's possible?” Mitchell asked.
“Oh, I think its more than likely,” O'Neill said, staring at something. John turned and found himself staring at a young man with dreadlocks to rival Ronon's and a young boy. They smiled, waved, and then disappeared. “Daniel...”
“Skaara and Shifu,” the linguist sighed. “You were a bad influence on them, Jack.”
“I never even knew Shifu!” O'Neill argued, conveniently not mentioning Skaara. John watched, somewhat amused, as the two broke down into lighthearted bickering.
“Who are they?” he finally asked Carter. She blinked at him before shaking her head.
“I forgot you wouldn't know,” she apologized to him, Lorne, Rodney, Mitchell, and Vala. “Skaara was Daniel's brother-in-law from Abydos. Shifu was the son born to Daniel's wife, Sha're, when she was taken over by the Gao'uld Amonet. The father was Apophis. Oma Desala ascended Shifu because of the Gao'uld's genetic memory and Skaara ascended when Anubis attacked and destroyed Abydos.”
“Well, I wasn't the one to teach Skaara how to make moonshine!”
“I didn't teach Skaara to make moonshine, he already knew how.”
“Sir, Daniel?” Carter broke in, effectively shutting the two men up. They had the good grace to look sheepish at the watching group but when they thought no one was looking, exchanged looks that indicated the conversation was far from over.
Soft giggles made him look down at the older redhead, Willow, John thought her name was. “They funny,” she whispered.
“Tell me about it,” he told her and tweaked her nose. She turned red and hid her face in Rodney's leg. John's lips twitched at the pained expression on the man's face.
“I think what we need to do now is figure out what to do,” Vala broke in, her tone surprisingly firm. “I think its safe to say this wasn't an accident, since those two ascended showed up.”
“Skaara and Shifu wouldn't have left us with kids without a good reason,” Jackson agreed. “They're breaking some heavy rules doing the little they did—I doubt we're going to get a real explanation out of them.”
“If they even stuck around,” Mitchell pointed out. Jackson and O'Neill exchanged amused looks.
“Oh, I'm sure Skaara's still around here somewhere,” Jackson finally said. “He wasn't exactly known for following the rules very well. It was one thing his father consistently blamed on me and Jack.”
“He and Shifu must have figured out loopholes,” Carter mused as O'Neill snickered.
“I'm fairly certain this would constitute interfering” Jackson agreed. “Which means you're right, there must have been some sort of loophole they exploited. I can't see the Others just agreeing to let them hand us kids without one.”
“They want us to keep them,” Lorne said, voice faint.
“Why me?” Rodney demanded when Jackson nodded. “I'm not exactly father material.”
“They're family now,” John summed up quickly. “They must know you'd do anything for family.”
“And you're intelligent,” Carter added. “All of us are, in fact. Not to mention the gene and other natural abilities.”
O'Neill had an odd look on his face as he looked at Vala. “Second chances,” he said quietly and the woman started. She must have seen something in the general's eyes because she nodded.
“That does sound like something Skaara would do,” Jackson agreed with a quick look at O'Neill.
“That still doesn't answer how they have names and personalities, and, well, everything,” Keller, who'd up until then had remained silent, broke in. “And how we're going to explain this to the IOA.”
“The IOA can take a flying leap.” John wasn't the only one surprised at Lorne's outburst. “McKay's right, they're not getting within ten solar systems of the kids.”
“I think I'm detecting a problem with this,” Rodney said, staring at the group. “Half of us live on Earth.”
“Jack'll just have to finally approve my transfer,” Jackson shrugged. “It's not like I haven't been asking for one for ages.”
“This is true,” O'Neill sighed after a very long, grumpy pause. “And I wasn't supposed to tell you this, but Bra'tac and Rya'c finally convinced T to take a leadership position among the Jaffa. He's resigning from the SGC, effective once we get Ba'al.”
“I very much doubt the IOA's gonna approve keeping Vala on Earth without Jackson,” Mitchell noted. He smiled at the woman. “No offense.”
“None taken,” she waved it off. “To be honest, the quiet was starting to bore me.”
“Well, that's one thing you'll never have to worry about in the city,” John drawled.
“Mitchell, looks like its up to you and me to figure out our broods,” O'Neill said and the colonel nodded.
“The logistics are gonna be a bitch if I transfer in,” Mitchell agreed.
“That can't be good.”
Distracted from the plan of Mitchell possibly transferring in, John turned to Rodney, who was staring at the kids. All of them were huddled in a group, whispering. John got the first stirrings of worry in his gut.
“Hey, kids, whatcha talkin about?” O'Neill asked and John decided then and there it was a good thing one of them had experience raising kids.
“Security plans if those IOA guys come,” Angel answered seriously.
“We protect our own,” Riley agreed with a glare at Jackson's oldest. There was history there, John was sure of it.
“You do huh?” O'Neill asked, squatting down so he was eye level with his new son. John saw him grimace as a loud cracking came from the direction of his knees. “Why do you have to protect each other?”
Riley's face screwed up as if he was trying to figure that out. “I don't know,” he finally answered with a shrug and a bewildered look. “We just do.”
“What do you remember?” Rodney asked, looking down at the four oldest boys. “Anything?”
“Pain,” Graham answered quietly. “Fear. Sorrow.”
“A whole lotta light,” William said. He hesitated but then added, “It burned.”
The adults all exchanged looks when Angel nodded his agreement. That didn't sound good.
Story: Second Verse, Same As The First
Disclaimer: I own the idea only. Joss owns Buffy, SyFy owns Stargate. No suing please!
Summary: When one life ends, another begins...
Warning: Contains slash pairings. Nothing adult, just know there will be homosexual relationships.
Previous: Prequel - One
We're not done yet
Not going quietly into the night, not me and my friends
We're not done yet, don't take us too seriously
It's just life we'll win in the end
And we walk on and on and on and we walk on and on
~ Superchick, “Not Done Yet”
Chapter Two
Keller had pushed the eight anxious possible parents far to the corner, not wanting to frighten the children. John watched as one of the three year old boys stretched, yawned, turned on his side, and promptly went back to sleep all without opening his eyes.
“He could be mine.”
John didn't know who said it but wasn't surprised—he'd just been thinking the same thing.
“Well, we can determine, at least, if any of them might be related to you,” Keller said, gently running a hand over the little redheaded girls arm. She shifted restlessly, as if the touch hurt. John felt an arm grasp his and he turned to find Rodney staring at one of the two year olds. She was tiny, with big brown eyes and short brown hair.
She was staring straight at Vala.
“Ma!” she cried and the woman in question went deathly pale. The little girl pouted and then turned to look them all over critically before looking at Vala again and holding her arms up. “Ma!”
Before anyone could say anything, Vala was next to the pod, holding the little girl. She patted Vala's cheek and didn't seem to notice when the woman flinched at the contact.
“Sad, Ma?”
“No, little one,” Vala choked out after a long pause. “Not sad. Not sad.”
“Mama?” a tiny voice whispered and John found a little blonde boy, also two years old, staring at Carter. The colonel swallowed before moving forward to squat next to the boys pod.
“How do they know?” Rodney asked under his breath, eying the two children warily. “They can't possibly know their mothers.”
“Ancient technology created them,” John reminded him quietly as he watched one of the three year olds, a chubby blonde, blink open pretty blue eyes. She sat up and looked around before, of all things, blushing.
“She doesn't seem to know,” Mitchell said and indeed, the little blonde was glancing between Mitchell and Lorne with a confused look on her face. Finally, she turned to Lorne.
“Dada?” the whisper was so soft John almost didn't hear her but Lorne was by her side before he could even blink. The little girl smiled shyly up at him before hesitantly opening up her arms. The major didn't hesitate in scooping her up and holding her close. John could see a pleased little curve of lips on the three year olds face, as if she wasn't used to the attention.
“Uh, Sheppard?” John turned to Rodney to find him locked in a tiny redheads gaze. “Why is she staring at me?”
“Dad!”
John didn't know whether to laugh or cry when the little girl turned completely red as her shout woke the rest of the children up.
It was bedlam for a few minutes as the adults all rushed forward to help a struggling Keller. At one point, John had his hands full with the other redhead, one of the year olds, before passing the crying child to Rodney. Once in his arms, she shut up and snuggled close to the surprised physicists chest.
A tugging on his pants made him look down to find two of the three year olds staring up at him. He swallowed. “Daddy, hungry!” the brunette announced as if she hadn't just been born.
“Hungry!” the blonde repeated and within no time, the chant was taken up by all the children who could speak. Speechless for one of the first times in his life, John wasn't able to answer. O'Neill, who was holding one of the three year old boys and talking quietly with one of the four year old boys, looked up and then pinned one of the watching sergeants with a look.
“You heard em,” he said. “Food. Now.”
“Sir, yes, sir,” the soldier nodded and then rushed out of the room. O'Neill rolled his eyes as the two little boys next to him giggled.
“I, uh, I'm gonna need blood samples,” Keller said and then faltered when she became under the scrutiny of too many pairs of eyes. “I need to figure out, um, who's who's.”
“This is my mum,” one of the four year old blondes announced, his voice surprising British. He looked up at Carter with a small smile before shooting the doctor a scathing look that was entirely too grown up for him. “Duh.”
John snickered when he heard Carter mutter something about O'Neill and smartasses.
“She said a bad word,” the other blonde four year old whispered, eying Carter from his place by Mitchell. The colonel looked down at the boy with a small, strained smile.
“That's cause she's a naughty woman,” he told him in a stage whisper. The look Carter shot him had nothing on the glare from her four year old.
“Take that back!” he demanded. “Mum's the bestest!”
“Yeah!” the two year old said but John knew he had no idea what was being discussed. He was two, after all.
“Ow! Let go!”
John was distracted from the fun of watching Mitchell try to respond to a four year old by the two girls who wouldn't leave his side. The brunette was holding onto the blonde's hair, tugging as the other girl tried getting away.
“Girls!” he shouted and bent down. “Let her go, honey.”
“She ma' fun of m'cothes!” the brunette said, sounding scandalized.
“Daddy, get her to sto-op!” the blonde cried. Once John got the brunette to let go of her sister's hair (and he didn't doubt now they were sisters), he looked between the two of them.
“We have got to figure out names for you,” he said, rubbing the blonde's back in soothing circles, like he remembered his mom used to do. Both girls perked up.
“Anya!”
“Cordelia!”
John looked between them for a long moment. “Those are your names?”
“Duh,” the brunette said and John closed his eyes and pinched his nose. For some reason, this sent both of them into hysterics.
~~~*~~~
Once the children were happily eating (or gumming, in certain cases) the food the sergeant had returned with, the adults moved off to the side.
“So, names?” Keller asked, looking expectantly at O'Neill. John had overheard varied snippets and knew all the children somehow managed to name themselves.
“Riley, four; Alexander, three,” the general beamed. The younger boy had announced he wanted to watch the Simpsons, to the generals utter delight and confusion. She jotted it down and then went down the line. Carter had four year old William and two year old Andrew, Vala had three year old Oz, two year old Faith, Jackson had four year old Angel, two year old Connor, and John had Cordelia and Anya.
“Tara said her name is Cassie,” Lorne reported, referring to the three year old blonde and the one year old girl who was clinging to his chest and munching happily on a cookie.
“Willow is older, Vivian younger,” Rodney said, face pale as he held the redhead as if he didn't know what to do with her. Which, you know, he didn't.
“Graham and Molly,” Mitchell said; like Lorne and Rodney, he was holding a little one year old, this one with Annie levels of curly brown hair.
“Anyone else get the feeling something is missing?” Jackson suddenly asked, frowning.
“Something or someone,” O'Neill agreed quickly. He looked at Keller. “You sure there are only sixteen kids?” Keller didn't bother responding to the question because as soon as he asked it, the general shook his head.
“I still feel like someone's missing,” Mitchell spoke up. “But...I'm also getting the feeling...”
“That this is how its supposed to be for now?” Rodney, of all people, was the one to finish Mitchell's sentence. The colonel nodded and Rodney made a face. “I was afraid of that.”
“Me too,” the man confided and the two exchanged wry smiles. Not for the first time did John curse himself for convincing Mitchell and Rodney to start writing as a way for two of his favorite people to get to know each other.
“This isn't coincidence,” O'Neill finally said. “It can't be. Alexander knows what the Simpsons are for chrissakes!”
“And those are Earth names, not Lantean ones,” Carter agreed.
“Oz is not an Earth name,” Vala frowned.
“Actually, he told me his first name is Daniel but he doesn't answer to it,” Jackson told her quietly. The woman made a face.
“The point is, this isn't random,” Carter said. She had a pinched look on her face. “At all.”
“So why'd it happen?” O'Neill asked, looking at the blonde and Rodney. “You two didn't press anything or...”
“No,” Rodney shook his head. “We were looking at a few power spikes but nothing else. Jackson?”
“Translating,” he answered helplessly. He kept looking over at the two little boys. “I don't think I did anything.”
“I wasn't thinking about anything but how amusing it was ya'll said Vala's name in stereo,” John broke in. He shrugged at their looks. “Not my gene's fault.”
“Mine either, I was, uh, not thinking about kids,” Lorne said, looking uncomfortable.
“Simpsons,” O'Neill said. Everyone looked at him and he shrugged. “I was thinking about the Simpsons.”
Ignoring the mutters from SG-1, John looked at Keller. “Is it possible they were pre-programed with information? That the wave...er...downloaded it from us?”
Keller looked highly skeptical. “I know the Ancients had that kind of technology but...it was different, wasn't it?”
“Very,” O'Neill agreed with a grimace. He glanced at the kids, of whom were chattering quietly. “They're very advanced for their ages, aren't they?”
“There's another possibility,” Jackson said, an arm still wrapped around Vala as Keller nodded in reaction to O'Neill's observation. “The Ascended Ancients had something to do with it.”
“You think that's possible?” Mitchell asked.
“Oh, I think its more than likely,” O'Neill said, staring at something. John turned and found himself staring at a young man with dreadlocks to rival Ronon's and a young boy. They smiled, waved, and then disappeared. “Daniel...”
“Skaara and Shifu,” the linguist sighed. “You were a bad influence on them, Jack.”
“I never even knew Shifu!” O'Neill argued, conveniently not mentioning Skaara. John watched, somewhat amused, as the two broke down into lighthearted bickering.
“Who are they?” he finally asked Carter. She blinked at him before shaking her head.
“I forgot you wouldn't know,” she apologized to him, Lorne, Rodney, Mitchell, and Vala. “Skaara was Daniel's brother-in-law from Abydos. Shifu was the son born to Daniel's wife, Sha're, when she was taken over by the Gao'uld Amonet. The father was Apophis. Oma Desala ascended Shifu because of the Gao'uld's genetic memory and Skaara ascended when Anubis attacked and destroyed Abydos.”
“Well, I wasn't the one to teach Skaara how to make moonshine!”
“I didn't teach Skaara to make moonshine, he already knew how.”
“Sir, Daniel?” Carter broke in, effectively shutting the two men up. They had the good grace to look sheepish at the watching group but when they thought no one was looking, exchanged looks that indicated the conversation was far from over.
Soft giggles made him look down at the older redhead, Willow, John thought her name was. “They funny,” she whispered.
“Tell me about it,” he told her and tweaked her nose. She turned red and hid her face in Rodney's leg. John's lips twitched at the pained expression on the man's face.
“I think what we need to do now is figure out what to do,” Vala broke in, her tone surprisingly firm. “I think its safe to say this wasn't an accident, since those two ascended showed up.”
“Skaara and Shifu wouldn't have left us with kids without a good reason,” Jackson agreed. “They're breaking some heavy rules doing the little they did—I doubt we're going to get a real explanation out of them.”
“If they even stuck around,” Mitchell pointed out. Jackson and O'Neill exchanged amused looks.
“Oh, I'm sure Skaara's still around here somewhere,” Jackson finally said. “He wasn't exactly known for following the rules very well. It was one thing his father consistently blamed on me and Jack.”
“He and Shifu must have figured out loopholes,” Carter mused as O'Neill snickered.
“I'm fairly certain this would constitute interfering” Jackson agreed. “Which means you're right, there must have been some sort of loophole they exploited. I can't see the Others just agreeing to let them hand us kids without one.”
“They want us to keep them,” Lorne said, voice faint.
“Why me?” Rodney demanded when Jackson nodded. “I'm not exactly father material.”
“They're family now,” John summed up quickly. “They must know you'd do anything for family.”
“And you're intelligent,” Carter added. “All of us are, in fact. Not to mention the gene and other natural abilities.”
O'Neill had an odd look on his face as he looked at Vala. “Second chances,” he said quietly and the woman started. She must have seen something in the general's eyes because she nodded.
“That does sound like something Skaara would do,” Jackson agreed with a quick look at O'Neill.
“That still doesn't answer how they have names and personalities, and, well, everything,” Keller, who'd up until then had remained silent, broke in. “And how we're going to explain this to the IOA.”
“The IOA can take a flying leap.” John wasn't the only one surprised at Lorne's outburst. “McKay's right, they're not getting within ten solar systems of the kids.”
“I think I'm detecting a problem with this,” Rodney said, staring at the group. “Half of us live on Earth.”
“Jack'll just have to finally approve my transfer,” Jackson shrugged. “It's not like I haven't been asking for one for ages.”
“This is true,” O'Neill sighed after a very long, grumpy pause. “And I wasn't supposed to tell you this, but Bra'tac and Rya'c finally convinced T to take a leadership position among the Jaffa. He's resigning from the SGC, effective once we get Ba'al.”
“I very much doubt the IOA's gonna approve keeping Vala on Earth without Jackson,” Mitchell noted. He smiled at the woman. “No offense.”
“None taken,” she waved it off. “To be honest, the quiet was starting to bore me.”
“Well, that's one thing you'll never have to worry about in the city,” John drawled.
“Mitchell, looks like its up to you and me to figure out our broods,” O'Neill said and the colonel nodded.
“The logistics are gonna be a bitch if I transfer in,” Mitchell agreed.
“That can't be good.”
Distracted from the plan of Mitchell possibly transferring in, John turned to Rodney, who was staring at the kids. All of them were huddled in a group, whispering. John got the first stirrings of worry in his gut.
“Hey, kids, whatcha talkin about?” O'Neill asked and John decided then and there it was a good thing one of them had experience raising kids.
“Security plans if those IOA guys come,” Angel answered seriously.
“We protect our own,” Riley agreed with a glare at Jackson's oldest. There was history there, John was sure of it.
“You do huh?” O'Neill asked, squatting down so he was eye level with his new son. John saw him grimace as a loud cracking came from the direction of his knees. “Why do you have to protect each other?”
Riley's face screwed up as if he was trying to figure that out. “I don't know,” he finally answered with a shrug and a bewildered look. “We just do.”
“What do you remember?” Rodney asked, looking down at the four oldest boys. “Anything?”
“Pain,” Graham answered quietly. “Fear. Sorrow.”
“A whole lotta light,” William said. He hesitated but then added, “It burned.”
The adults all exchanged looks when Angel nodded his agreement. That didn't sound good.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-28 08:35 pm (UTC)Also, Keller = Kayley? Y/N?
Oh, forgot:
“They can't possibly know they're mothers.”
I think you meant their, possessive, not they're they are. Unless you're talking about the mothers, in which case the sentence is confusing.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-28 09:26 pm (UTC)Also, um, not sure if you realize this, this is chapter two? There is a prequel and chapter one before this.
A little past note to explain Vala and kids since you said you're not a SG fan: she became the unholy mother of the Orici, think a female, evil Jesus. Adria (the Orici) grew in a day to an adult and led the armies of the Ori in trying to take over the universe. Vala ended up having to watch as Adria was destroyed by an ascended Morgan le Fey.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-28 09:53 pm (UTC)(And I did see the prequel and first chapter, I just didn't comment on them--in too much of a hurry to read the next bits...)