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Honor Amongst Thieves: Points of View
Part 3 of ?
Synopsis:  Through the eyes of those who met Daniel and Vala in the course of their adventure in AU-dom.

POV #3: Cassie

Cassandra Frasier's nails clicked against the steering wheel as she tapped her fingers idly, waiting for the traffic light to change.  It was a dreary, ugly day outside, heavy clouds spilling over the mountains and threatening to rain.  She hoped it wouldn't, though, as that would put a damper—no pun intended—on her day off.  College was a lot harder than she thought it would be, and she was thankful for the reprieve the Thanksgiving holiday offered.

Ha! Thankful for Thanksgiving, that was a good one.

The hardest part about going to school in Los Angeles was not the classes but the distance.  She'd long thought going away to school would be an exciting adventure in independence, but she never counted on missing her "family" in Colorado Springs.  More than anyone, she missed her adopted mother, Janet, the diminutive doctor with the enormous heart.  She also missed her "Aunt" Sam, who was a unique blend of mom and big sister and always great fun to be around.

Then there were her "uncles", Jack and Teal'c. Jack was simply a big kid in a grown man's body... though he also had a clone who was a grown man in a teenager's body.  That was just too weird to think about at times, and "John" was every bit as funny as his template, though she hadn't seen him for a few months.  Then there was Teal'c, her fellow "transplant" to Earth, with whom she shared her frustrations with adapting to local culture.

She didn't consider Jonas one of her uncles, though.  He was a nice enough guy and a fellow alien, but she hadn't had much interaction with him yet.  There was always some planet to save, some bad guy to kill, and never enough time for friendly get-togethers at Jack's or Janet's houses.  Sadly, they'd needed the relaxing benefits of a backyard barbecue even more since Daniel... ascended, but had never found the time.  She doubted any of them had really tried.

A horn sounded behind her, jarring Cassie out of her reverie.  She accelerated through the now-green light, continuing on toward home.  She'd spent the afternoon with her boyfriend Dominic—home from school in Seattle—but then he and his family had to leave to get to his grandparents' house in New Mexico.

As she made her turn onto the main road leading to their subdivision, her cell phone rang.  A quick glance at the screen showed the call was from the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, so she guessed it was her mom.  Knowing Janet would scold her for talking on a cell phone while driving, Cassie pulled over and parked, then answered the call.

"Cassie!" Janet Frasier exclaimed.  "You and Dominic still catching up?"

"No, he and his parents headed for Santa Fe.  I'm almost home."

"You aren't talking on the cell phone while driving, are you?"

She rolled her eyes.  "No, Mom, I pulled over to the curb.  What's up?"

"Well, I just wanted to know if you'd like to meet me here for supper."

"Mom, you know how I feel about the food at the mess."

"I meant meet me here so we could go get something to eat.  O'Malley's, maybe.  No, can't go there.  Well, we'll think of something when you get here."

"It's the day before Thanksgiving, most places will probably close at six.  We'll never get there in time."

"Okay, so I'll phone an order in to O'Malley's and you can pick it up for us and bring it here.  For that matter, I'll ask Sam and the rest of the team what they want and we can all eat together."

"Aren't they coming over for dinner tomorrow?"

There was a pause.  "Yee-es, but I figured we could eat with them tonight, too.  We just got back from that mission Monday, so we're still feeling the need to spend time together.  I can't go into details, of course, but it really hit home how important family is."

"Guilt trip, guilt trip," Cassie teased.  "Okay, Mom, just phone in the order and I'll pick it up.  I'll have the gate guard call down when I get to the mountain so somebody can come help me bring everything down."

"Thanks, honey!" Janet replied.  "See you soon."

Pitching the cell phone back at her purse, Cassie turned the car around and headed back into town.  An hour later, she was pulling into the base lot, the backseat of her Toyota filled with white plastic bags containing what looked to be enough food to feed a small army... well, Air Force, anyway.

The Toyota was another thing she had missed while in L.A., and had hugged her mom fiercely when she met her at the airport in it yesterday.  The little car was her pride and joy, mainly because it had been Daniel's.  Jack, Sam, and Teal'c had spent weeks sorting out Daniel's affairs after his "death", a task compounded by the colonel's insistence they not have him declared dead.  "Once was enough," he griped when it was mentioned.  "Twice was even worse.  I am not going through all the paperwork to have him legally resurrected a third time!"

It was never brought up again. Officially, Daniel was considered to be on sabbatical, participating in a potentially significant dig in the Middle East.  Rather than selling his car like they had most of his furniture, Jack had insisted Daniel would have wanted his car to be donated to a charity or given to Cassie.  Handing the keys to the teenager, he then declared it an early birthday present from the absent archaeologist, and used his power of attorney to transfer the title to Janet's and Cassie's names.

Perhaps absence made the heart grow fonder, but Cassie didn't see how that was possible when she was already quite fond of Daniel before he'd disappeared.  She knew for certain that she'd missed him terribly, though, especially on the "family" days.  Fourth of July, Daniel's birthday, Thanksgiving, her own birthday, Jack's birthday, Janet's birthday, Christmas, New Year's, Sam's birthday, Teal'c's "I do not celebrate the anniversary of my parturition" day, and—of course—her high school graduation.

Then, in her first week of university classes, she'd turned on her cell phone during the break between her Western Civilizations and Latin classes—two courses which never failed to remind her of her lost uncle—discovering three messages from Janet, all asking her to call as quickly as possible.  Since her mom never called during the day, Cassie had panicked, thinking something had happened to Sam, Jack, and Teal'c.  When Janet explained that SG-1 had just returned from a planet from which Daniel had only recently departed, she nearly leapt for joy.  Her Uncle Daniel, who perhaps understood her better than anyone else in her adopted family, was alive and apparently well, though amnesiac.

A gentle rap on the car window signaled the arrival of her food delivery help, assistance rendered in the form of an enigmatically smiling Teal'c.  Unlocking the doors, she gave the large Jaffa a quick hug, then retrieved her purse and opened the rear door.  Though he could easily have carried all six bags, the unfailingly polite man left two for her to carry so she would feel useful.  Together, they headed through the checkpoints and into the mountain's depths.

To her surprise, they stopped on level fifteen, rather than continuing down to the infirmary or the mess hall.  At Cassie's obvious confusion, Teal'c explained that they would be dining in guest quarters, rather than subjecting base personnel to the enticing aroma of O'Malley's steaks and baked potatoes.  Teal'c shifted the bags he carried to one hand to pass his card through the reader next to the door, then pushed it open and gestured her into the small bedroom.

"Hey, Cass!" Jack grinned, looking up from where he was wrestling two rectangular tables together.

Cassie smiled back.  "Hey, Jack! Need a hand there?"

"Nah, I got it," he declined, bending back to his task and finishing quickly.  "Sam and Janet went to get the drinks and oher stuff and Jonas will be up here in a few minutes.  Whaddya bring?"

"Mom phoned in O'Malley's," she replied, setting her bags on the table next to Teal'c's.

"Sweet!"

The electronic lock buzzed again, admitting Sam, Janet, and one of the mess hall's two-tiered carts.  They'd filled it with cans of colas, a silver carafe, a stack of plastic cups, flatware poking out of the top of a ceramic mug, Corningware plates, and a styrofoam cooler that probably carried ice.  Stepping around the cart, Sam wrapped Cassie up in a quick hug and a kiss to the forehead.

"Quit blocking the doorway, you two," Janet teased, stepping over to the food and distributing the styrofoam containers to each of the chairs Jack placed up to the table, some settings getting more than one box.

Cassie counted chairs.  "Jack, there are eight places.  I thought we were waiting for only Jonas?"

Jack opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the door being unlocked and opened again.  Cassie turned, expecting to see the Kelownan, but felt her jaw plummet to the floor.

"Daniel!" she shrieked, and before she knew it, she'd practically tackled the man.  Just as quickly, she drew back, recalling Janet's phone call months ago that Daniel was apparently missing his memory.  Had she just scared the man?

"Your mom did the same thing," her long-lost uncle laughed, looking her up and down.  "Holy crap, you've grown!"

A grin stretched her face and seemed to have taken up permanent residence.  "Not since the last time you saw me, I haven't."

"Yes, but my memory likes to play tricks on me and shows me the little-girl-lost from Hanka, instead," he replied, giving her another squeeze.

"Janet's not from Earth?" asked the pretty dark-haired woman who'd followed Daniel into the room just ahead of Jonas.

"Janet is, Cassie isn't.  She's adopted," answered Sam.

There was a brief moment of silence, interrupted by the woman clearing her throat.  "Daniel?"

"You're going to make me introduce you every time, aren't you?" he sighed.

"I never get tired of hearing you say it," she grinned.

"Cassie, this is Vala Mal Doran, the thorn in my side, my partner-in-crime, and most-recently, my fiancée."

"That's the part I never get tired of hearing," Vala sighed, affecting an exaggeratedly-dreamy expression.

She couldn't believe it.  Daniel was back and getting married!  "Partner-in-crime?" she managed to squeak.

Jack laid an arm around Daniel's shoulders, the other going around Vala.  "What we have here is a pair of notorious space pirates."

"Space pirates?"

"Long story," Daniel replied, eyes rolling in amused exasperation.  "Suffice to say, part of how Vala and I made our living these last three months included stealing ships.  The last one we stole was the Prometheus."

"Hey!  You didn't steal it, you tried to steal it," Jack protested.

Vala lifted her chin.  "Would you honestly have been able to stop us?"

"Well, no, but—"

"Then we would have stolen it, so it counts."

Cassie snickered.  Not many people could make Jack splutter, but Daniel's new lady friend—his fiancée—was managing just fine.  She couldn't wait to find out more about Vala, perhaps exchanging her own expertise in assimilating to Earth culture for insights into how this woman had stolen the archaeologist's heart.

After Daniel's wife died, the then-fourteen year-old Cassie had thought it would be a great idea to try to hook him up with Janet.  One evening while he was over to help her with her French homework, she'd innocently sprung the suggestion on the adults and waited for their reaction.  After a moment of stunned silence, Janet explained that though they loved one another dearly, it was as friends.  Daniel later confessed to Cassie that he wasn't sure he'd ever again love anyone as much as he'd loved Sha're.

Clearly, he'd been wrong.

"C'mon, let's eat," Jack griped.  "The steaks are getting cold."

"O'Malley's?" Daniel guessed.  "Weren't we banned from that place?"

"We still are.  Janet ordered, Cassie picked up," Sam grinned.

Moments later, they were all seated at the table, digging into the food and conversing merrily.  Jonas seemed a little down-in-the-dumps, but everyone, even Jack, was making an effort to cheer him.  Before she could ask if she had the need-to-know to find out what the matter was, Daniel cleared his throat.  "Janet told me you were going to college now, Cass.  Not that I'm not happy to see you, of course, but what are you doing home in the middle of the week?"

"Tomorrow's Thanksgiving," she answered, smothering a laugh as Vala used Daniel's momentary distraction to sneak a piece of broccoli off his plate.

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah," Jack answered.  "And there's a lot we have to be thankful for, you know."

Jonas lifted his cup.  "To family," he announced with his first genuine smile of the evening.  The toast was quickly echoed around the table.

Vala took that moment to nab some cauliflower.  When Daniel shot her a bemused look, she mumbled "What?" around a mouthful of stolen food.  "I'm eating for two, you know."

"You're pregnant?" Cassie blurted.

"Just a few weeks," she admitted, cheeks pinking slightly.  "Daniel wants a girl, but I'm hoping for a boy."

The teenager grinned. "Maybe you'll get both."

"Maybe... or we'll just have to keep trying!  And trying... and trying... and trying..."

Daniel blushed as everyone laughed at his expense. "So... uh... Cass, what school are you attending?"

"USC," she replied.  "Southern California.  I plan to go pre-med, of course."

"Of course," Daniel smiled.  "Wow, I bet Los Angeles is an adjustment."

She nodded.  "Definitely, but I'm managing."  Her lips quirked as she waited for him to take a drink from his cup.  "If all goes well, in four years, I'll be attending the Keck School of Medicine."

Daniel choked on his Sprite, accidentally spraying Jack.  "The what?"

"That is an... unusual name," Vala frowned.

"Care to share?" Jack griped, mopping his face with a napkin and pointing a thumb at himself, Sam, and Janet.

"Kek is the Goa'uld word for death," Teal'c answered.

"The 'Death School of Medicine'? Okay, that's just creepy."

"A creepy coincidence," Daniel grinned.  "Sorry about the—you know."

Jack rolled his eyes.  "Yeah, sure.  But if I'd known you didn't like your drink, we could have found you something else."

"Oh, I like it fine, Jack," Daniel began, "it's just that—"  He paused, eyes widening as Janet dumped the last of the flatware out of the mug and began to fill it with dark liquid from the carafe.  "Is that... coffee?"

Cassie laughed.  "Welcome home, Daniel!"

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