Family Day at SGC

By: Sasusc

Spoilers: General Season 9 knowledge

Summary: It’s that time of the year again when SGC has their annual Family Day Picnic. The picnic allows one Cameron Mitchell to reveal to his team the girl he has been dating: Cassandra Fraiser. Cassie/Cameron

---

Chapter Two: Ripple Effect . . . Of a Phone Call Between Aliens

EARLY THE NEXT MORNING

The couple entered the house covered with sweat. They had gotten up early to run several laps around the neighborhood. Cassie went directly to the refrigerator for a couple bottles of water. She handed one to Cameron before twisting off the cap of the bottle.

“Refreshed?” she asked him.

He gulped down the water. “Yeah, feels like I just got out of bed,” he commented sarcastically. “You run like that every day?” he asked seriously, his breath finally having caught up with him after the hard run.

She shook her head. “No, only twice or so a week. Mostly I jog or do some power walking a few times around the neighborhood. How about you?”

“I try to jog several times a week,” he commented after another long sip of his water. He ran a hand through his hair causing it to spike up. “Do you have any plans for today?”

Cassie nodded. “Vala called me last night after you dropped her off.”

“Really? What did she want?”

“She wanted to know if I’ll go shopping with her. She has a date for that picnic tomorrow. She told me that most of her clothing didn’t make the trip over here--some weird, freak accident blew up most of her clothes and personal items.”

“Really?” he asked with little concern in his voice.

She ignored his tone. “She mentioned needing to find someone to pick her up, so I volunteered you. Is that alright?” Cassie didn’t believe that the man had made any plans for today that didn’t include her. He had gone to his apartment after taking Vala home to collect an overnight bag. He hadn’t plan on coming back to his apartment until after the picnic. “If you don’t want to do it, I can. I figure that you could get her while I go run out to get cupcake mix and icing.”

He mentally groaned. He’ll have to send another day with Vala interrupting his time with Cassie. Vala had surprised him last night, and behaved herself around Cassie. She didn’t even act that well around Daniel or General Landry. And he also had to admit that she hadn’t annoyed him endlessly yesterday afternoon as he had grown accustomed to.

But there was one question he wanted answered before agreeing to bring the alien woman back here. “Why did she ask you?”

Cassie turned around after throwing the water bottle away to giving him a look. “She doesn’t have many friends. She only knows the people the two of you work with. She didn’t feel comfortable asking them.”

“And she was comfortable asking you, a complete stranger to her?” He pulled off his sticky t-shirt. “You don’t have to be nice to her, you know,” he said coming closer to her.

She backed into the counter behind her. “Cameron Mitchell!”

“Now, don’t ‘Cameron Mitchell’ me, sweetheart. I’m glad you like her. It’s just that I wanted to spend more time with you. It’s not often that I get this much free time for myself.” He leaned into her, bracing his hands on either side of her. He nuzzled her neck before taking a small nip.

Her hands traveled up his bare chest before locking behind his neck. She tilted her head to the side to allow him better access to her. Her movements belied her following words.

“Stop. I need to take a shower. I’m all sweaty.” She tried to hold in her whimper as his head and lips traveled south. “And I…promised Vala you would be there in an hour or so.”

“Shower’s good,” he said into her skin.

Cassie made an incoherent sound and closed her eyes. Cameron took the sound as an agreement. He swept her into his arms. She opened her eyes in surprised and stared into his blue eyes. The lopsided smiled she loved some much graced his face.

“Shower?”

She leaned forwarded and kissed him. “Shower.”

---

Cassie was glad that Cameron had decided to allow her and Vala to shop alone. There were a few things she wanted to discuss with the woman without him hearing. It was something she should have realized yesterday while talking to the woman. She held a nagging feeling in the back of her mind all throughout dinner about this woman. If she hadn’t been around Sam as long as she had, she would have been able to identify the nagging sensation yesterday. As it was, it took a night’s rest to come to the conclusion of what was wrong about Vala. Vala had naquadah in her blood. One did not acquire naquadah on Earth.

She directed Vala towards the woman’s section in J.C. Penny’s as she gathered her thoughts on how to broach the subject. The woman beside her had that fascinated look in her eyes as if all this was a new sight for her. It might very well be true if her suspicions were correct.

“What do you want to look at first?” she asked her.

“Everything,” Vala replied. Her eyes wondered around the store taking in the different selections offered and the people drifting from one rack to another. She had never been on a planet that held an indoor marketplace quite like this.

Cassie pulled her towards a rack holding lacey halter tops. She found a deep blue top and held it out for Vala’s inspection. Vala shook her head, and pulled out the matching top in pink.

There was no one standing near them to overhear their conversation. Cassie kept her voice low as she spoke. “You have naquadah in your blood.” Cassie figured the direct approach was best.

The statement startled Vala. She glanced at Cassie in surprise. “What?”

“Naquadah. I know you have it. I can sense it.”

“You can sense it?” Vala was stun to realize that she hadn’t given it a second thought. She was used to being around people that had naquadah in their bloodstream. Cassandra Fraiser’s statement reminded her that the Tau’ri didn’t possess the mineral naturally.

“Just who are you?” Vala asked her. “You’re not . . .”

Cassie smiled a reinsuring smile. “A Goa’uld? No, are you?”

Vala bit her lip. What was she suppose to say? Cameron had warned her not to say anything, but he hadn’t counted on Cassie mentioning something to her.

She noticed the indecision in the woman’s eyes. “When you mentioned you weren’t from here, did you mean that . . . ?” She pointed into the air.

Vala actually glanced up, before realizing that she meant space, another planet. She pointed up as she repeated her question back to her. Vala was determined not to loosen her lips first. She didn’t want to be blamed for spilling this planet’s guarded secret.

Cassie nodded her head slowly. She only ever told one person about her alien status, her former boyfriend Dominic. She truly had thought that she and Dominic would spend the rest of their lives together. She had confided in her mother and Sam about her desire to tell her secret to him. They both gave her a long talk about her decision; but in the end, they told it was her secret to tell. So she did. Dominic took the news well, and he asked her many questions. She couldn’t possibly explain to him everything, but enough for him to understand. Their relationship lasted another year. She still talked to him. He always came to her when he heard about extraterrestrial phenomena. She told him what she could, which wasn’t much.

“Really?” Vala lean in closer to whispered, “Where you once a, you know, a host?”

The younger woman shook her head as she fiddled with the rack in front of her. “One of them experimented on my people. How about you?”

Vala replaced the top back onto the rack and shifted to the next rack. “I was a host until ten years ago,” she answered softly.

“I’m sorry.”

Vala smiled thinly. “Don’t be. It’s all over now.” She held a purple top up against her body. “How do you like this one?”

“That’s pretty,” she commented. She wasn’t ready yet to end this conversation. “How long have you been living here?”

“Months now.” Vala as moved to yet another rack.

Cassie followed her movements. “How did you get here?” The Stargate was the first and obvious answer, but she learned that the obvious answer was not always the correct answer when dealing with alien matters. Her mind shifted towards Cameron. Was he a SGC personnel, or even a Trust operative? He had told her that Vala worked with him. Was he her ally or enemy? Would Vala’s answer lead to her questioning Cameron’s motive for their relationship? She held her breath as she waited.

“Your people call it the Stargate.”

Cassie released her breath. Cameron Mitchell worked for the good guys. She had became so used to not questioning her mother or Sam and the rest of SG-1 that she felt it was completely normal not questioning Cam on his work. The long absences and the many business trips would fit into the mold of a SGC personnel.

“Well, I guess they’re not your people, are they? I should have said Cameron’s or Daniel’s people--”

“That’s alright. This is my home now. It has been for nine years now.” Cassie zeroed in the name she mentioned. It was also mentioned yesterday. “Mind if I ask you a question?”

Vala studied a price tag on a top, quickly calculating the sale price of the item. “I can’t promise to answer.”

“Daniel. Who is he?”

“Hmm?” Vala glanced up. “Daniel? He’s the whole reason for my being here. I deal with rare items, and Daniel was the only person who could help me.”

“Rare as in ancient?”

“Sometimes,” Vala replied. “Are you interested in rare items? Because if you are, I’m sure I have something you would like. I have this cute little--”

Cassie laughed. “No, but does this Daniel have a last name?”

“Jackson, why?”

“Dr. Daniel Jackson,” Cassie confirmed.

Vala nodded. “Do you know him?”

Cassie smiled a woman who was searching through a rack in front of her. “He’s also part of the reason I am here.”

---

Mitchell had left Cassie and Vala alone to wander around the mall an hour ago, confident that Vala wouldn’t cause any trouble. She seemed to want to be on her best behavior around Cassie. He wondered over to the food court and bought himself a Pepsi. Cassie had told him to meet him back here within the hour unless she called him. She hadn’t called yet.

His cell phone rang just has he sat down. He pulled it out and checked the caller ID. Daniel, not Cassie. Should he take that as a good sign?

“Hello,” he drawled out.

“I hear that you took Vala off base again.”

“Yep. Why? Do you want her back?”

“Oh, no, not really. It’s just that I finished that treaty. I was surprised not to see my lab in pieces.” Daniel paused. “What are you two doing anyway?”

“Shopping.”

“Shopping? Shopping for what?”

“Clothes for the picnic.”

“What? General Landry told her she couldn’t go.”

“Apparently she didn’t get the memo.” Cameron took a quick sip of his Pepsi. “Hey, wait a minute. Aren’t you taking her there?”

“No. I thought about taking her as a reward for being good, but I haven’t had the chance to talk to her yet. Did she tell you I was taking her?”

“No, but she said she had a date. I assumed it was you.”

“Huh,” Daniel said.

Cameron copied him. “That’s strange. Who would she be going with?”

They started naming people, but each name seemed unlikely. Cameron noticed Cassie and Vala searching for him through the crowd. He stood up and waved to gain their attention.

“I got to go. It looks like they finished shopping.”

“They?”

“Didn’t I mention she was shopping with my girlfriend?”

“No,” he replied. “You think that’s wise?”

“They seemed to like each other, and Vala hasn’t done anything yet.”

The two men said their goodbyes. Mitchell slipped his phone back into his pocket. He walked the few remaining steps toward the two women.

“Ladies,” he greeted. “How was the shopping? Did you get everything?”

Vala nodded eagerly. “I didn’t know you had places like this here. And there was a wide variety of things I could get.” He stared at the bags questioningly. Vala rolled her eyes. She pulled out a credit card. “I used this nifty little thing.” She smiled. “They take them everywhere.”

He grabbed the card and glanced at the name printed on it. T. Murray. Who the hell was T. Murray? “How did you get this?”

Vala smiled and leaned closer to him. “Quite simply, really. I just mentioned to a certain someone that I didn’t have any funds in my name.”

“And this certain someone would be?”

“Why, my date of course!” Vala smiled. She knew a change of topic was in ordered. “You wouldn’t believe how many different stores they have in here! Did you know that make a shop just for lingerie?”

Cameron frowned at Cassie. “Did you take her in there?”

She gave him a mock glare. “Should that really concern you?” she asked him. One of her eyebrows rose in a familiar imitation of a tall Jaffa he knew.

The lieutenant colonel smiled at her. “I’m not asking for me, sweetheart. I’m asking for a friend of mine. I don’t want him to come yelling at me when he finds her wearing something skimpy in his bed. Something skimpy, I might add, she brought while out shopping in my care. I don’t even want to go there,” he said with a meaningfully look aimed at Vala Mal Doran.

Vala held tightly to her bags as she glared at him. “He can’t blame you for something I bought. And for your information, I haven’t jumped into Daniel’s bed in quite a long time. And I can’t even tell you if he noticed or not!” Vala hated that he implied that she only brought the clothes for Daniel’s benefit. It was far from the truth. When she had arrived at the SGC, she only brought with her one bag full of her belongs. Most of that was packed full of rare and special items she hadn’t yet found a buyer for them. “Anyway,” she said with a twitch of her lips, “my new mystery man might not enjoy it if I jumped into Daniel’s bed. Unless, he’s kinking…” The alien woman gave that some thought. Before her imagination could take her farther away, Cameron Mitchell made a face and an awful gagging sound that pulled her back to reality.

She shrugged her shoulders in response to his actions.

Cassandra’s cell phone began ringing. She quickly fished it out of her purse and answered it. She had set that number to its own ring tone for easy and quick identification.

Cameron became jealous of the smile that covered her face as she answered the phone. Who could be calling her that made her that happy to hear them? His girlfriend didn’t even allow him to learn the person’s name. She walked out of earshot to talk in private. He turned to look at Vala. She was glancing around the crowded mall.

“You haven’t been giving away any secrets?” he asked her.

“Of course not,” Vala replied snidely. “You reminded me enough times yesterday and today about how your people aren’t allow to learn about the Stargate program. Maybe you should have a little chat with Cassie.”

“What?”

Vala grabbed his drink and took a sip. She grinned at him between the straw as she sat down.