Cassi tossed.
She turned.
She tossed again.
Turned.
Kicked.
Fidgeted.
"What is wrong with you?" Greg demanded tiredly, flipping on his back so he could prop himself up on his elbows. Cassi rolled her eyes and made a low growl in her throat. Her entire body convulsed and she started moving her fingers like she was typing madly on some invisible key board. The blankets were tangled about her long legs, and balled up on her chest. She'd been tossing and turning and rolling back and forth fitfully all night. She was exasperated and frustrated and completely un-at ease. Greg was unused to having her disgruntled. She was usually quite peaceful. But not tonight. Something was wrong. He turned on his side, using one hand to prop his head up so he could look down at her face. Makara had noticed that she looked strained, her muddy blue eyes weren't quite as vibrant as they should be, and there were circles under her eyes, a couple of days ago but had advised against saying anything. She had her pride, too.
"Well?" Greg reiterated. Cass rolled her eyes and whimpered. Then she shook again and started flaling her hands about like a child in a temper tantrum. She took a few deep breaths and forced her body to calm itself.
"It's...it's...oh!" she apparently couldn't find the words to say whatever it was.
"Sweetie...what? Do you sense something?" Greg prodded. She was still trembling, her muscles tightning and letting go, and then tightning again.
"They've been gone too long!" she finnaly revealed, closing her eyes and letting her breath out. Ah. Greg swung an arm over her shoulders, and fiddled with the edges of her hair. Moonlight spilled through sliding glass doors that led to the balcony, and it gleaned off her eyes and highlighted her cheeks and the blonder strands in her hair. She was lovely, Greg had always known that, since the moment he had stepped through the stargate and looked up at her through the bullet proof glass that over looked the gateroom. She'd slept in his bed before, but she had finally moved out of her parents house and into his only a few months ago, when she had decided the twins really each needed their own rooms. Teal'c still lived in the small room beneath the stairs, which he seemed to actually enjoy. Cassi had unleashed Richard and Amanda's minds, finally, when they had turned five, only two months ago now. She had begun the rigorous job of training them to control those powers they had inherited from their parents altered genes. In fact, their training was at such a critical point, that General Hammond had ordered her on detached duty, in one of the upper levels of the mountain, expressly to conduct that training.
"I don't know what you were like when you were young, Dr. O'Neill" he had said, "But I know what you're like now, and I know what your father is like, and if those twins turn out anything like you two, I think we're going to have some problems" Sam and Daniel had stifled laughs while Jack and Cass had exchanged "Who, me?" looks, but Cass agreed. She knew she had caused some trouble when she was young, and being as she was going to be the one having to deal with it all, she thought a little restriction for them would be good too.
The problem was, because of this detached duty, she couldn't go out with SG-1 when they went on missions. At first, no one had noticed anything. And then Cassie (Fraiser) had noticed she got a little edgy when they were gone for three days or more. But, lately, the team had been coming back in four or less days, and so nothing else had been made of it. But now, they had been gone an entire week and nobody could help but noticing that Cass wasn't all she usually was.
"They've been gone too long!" she repeated, rolling her head back and forth, pulling in breath after breath.
"They?" Greg said quietly, "Cass, don't lie to yourself. Dont' lie to me. You could handle it if it was just your mom, or if it was just Daniel. It's him" And there was no need to specify who "him" was. Cass had a special link with Jack, one that nobody understood. Beside her (soon to be) husband in bed, the 22 year old whimpered again, her whole body convulsing.
"UHG! It's like an addiction!" she cried, and her Tok'ra mate noticed the tears in the corners of her eyes, "It's...under my skin, it's an addiction"
"Tell me" Greg ordered softly, "Tell me" Cass kicked the blankets off angrily and sat up, feet dangling over the edge of the bed. Greg got to his knees behind her, wrapped his arms around her shoulders and waited for her to talk.
"It's...a link. I...I did it when I was only a few months old. It was a natural...natural thing. I suspect it would have been with Mom...had she lived. You know, a natural connection because we were a part of each other for so long. But" her head dropped, "I felt her die. Oh, god, I felt her die! I was completely open, I had no control over what invaded my mind, what left it...I had to latch onto someone, it was a survival instinct. I needed someone to filter everything for me. I didn't do it conciously...it was completely instinctual. I just latched onto him. The connection went so far...I've never been able to pull out of it"
"That's why you can't disobey him" Greg didn't mean to comment but the realization hit him with such force that the words just came out. He'd noticed, over the years, that when Jack ordered Cass to do something, she did it, whether or not she liked the idea. She nodded.
"And why he shares my dreams, and why I can hear his thoughts without trying, unlike the rest of...well, anyone. Anyway, like I said, it's an addiction. When he's away...when I can't feel him...for too long, it's like...it's like I go through withdraw. It's not an actual physical reaction, it's a mental one. One that is ridiculous, and I should be able to control it, but I never have been able to" She sighed heavily and leaned back into him. "Oh, Greg! I don't know. God, I just want them to come back"
"Sleep. It'll be better in the morning" Greg told her and pulled her back into him as he layed down. She shut her eyes and tried to lay still. And Greg did his best to help. He didn't know if it would really be alright in the morning. But, she was his mate, and it was all he could do.