I did it again.
sg1_five_things captured my attention.
There's
Five times that Thor beamed Jack up at a really inappropriate time.and
Five classes Rodney McKay will never admit to taking in college. (hey, he counts for SG-1 as well as SGA)
And finally, this prompt which was especially fun for me because it was mine. (Although I had never thought about how to answer it when I posted it in the comm):
Five Things Carolyn Lam learned about Janet Fraiser after becoming SGC CMO. Actually, #5 ended up being its own story, which I'm sharing below:
Title: Unexpected Visitor
Rating: G
Word Count: ~650
Category: Gen, friendship, drama.
Warnings/Spoilers: No warnings, set early season 10
Summary: Sam, Vala, and Carolyn stop by Sam's before a night on the town, but Sam's got an unexpected visitor...
Sam, Vala, some of the ladies from the Level 19 labs, and SG-8's Stacey Martin were getting together on a rare night off. Sam asked Carolyn, who was driving her and Vala, to drop by Sam's place before meeting the others at the restaurant. "You can come in. I just want to get changed into something more comfortable than the civvies I wore onto base."
"Depending on what who we meet at the bar, you may want something less comfortable," Vala called out as they entered the room.
Carolyn never heard Sam's planned retort because the Colonel was staring in shock at the young woman lounged in front of her tv eating a bag of potato chips. "Cassie! I didn't know you were coming into town."
Cassie got up from the sofa just in time to meet Sam's embrace. "I had a four day weekend from classes, and you guys have been so busy, I figured I'd better see for myself you were all still fine."
"We're fine. Daniel and Teal'c will be so glad to see you."
Carolyn was shocked when Cassie responded. "Been saving the galaxy lately?"
Apparently Vala was equally surprised. She said in a loud whisper to Sam, "I thought we weren't supposed to talk about the...s-t-a-r-g-a-t-e."
Sam and Cassie exchanged grins. "It's okay, ladies, Cassie's cleared."
"Plus, I can spell," Cassie added.
Sam rolled her eyes and spoke up again before Vala countered with who knew what. "Cassandra Fraiser, meet Vala Mal Doran and Carolyn Lam."
"Fraiser? As in...?"
"Yeah, my mom." Cassie's voice got quiet. "Lam. I heard about you. You're the new CMO?"
Carolyn nodded. Cassie studied her sadly, and Carolyn didn't know if it was in appraisal or understanding. Finally Cassie spoke again. "I know you've got your work cut out for you."
The tone made Carolyn realize she wasn't trying to judge her as "Fraiser's replacement", like so many of the others on base seemed to at times. Odd since she should've had that reacionmore than anyone. But Cassie probably also knew, more than most, the pressures that came from the job by seeing the strain it took on her mother.
Obviously attempting to change to a more lighthearted conversation, Cassie had turned to Vala. "And you're the infamous Vala."
"Infamous?" Vala raised an eyebrow.
Cassie started ticking off her fingers and speaking in a way reminiscent of General O'Neill. "Sure, former Goa'uld host, stealing our big honkin spaceship, holding Daniel hostage, saving that Mitchell guy's behind by using a healing device, and oh yeah, stopping an invasion of our galaxy by some really pale evangelists before coming back from another galaxy with more info on them."
"How cleared are you?" Carolyn couldn't help but ask.
"More than she should be," Sam replied ruefully. "I think you've been taking too much advantage of that level General Hammond bestowed on you."
"Jack updated it," Cassie shrugged.
"Of course he did," Sam sighed.
"Hey, you never know when my perspective as someone from 'Toronto' could come in handy." She nudged Vala and winked. "I'm also an a-l-i-e-n."
Carolyn hadn't had a chance to read all the back issues of reports; she could barely keep up with the SG teams' current injuries. But she thought she would've heard if Major Janet Fraiser was an alien.
Sam explained. "About nine years ago, we found Cassandra as sole survivor of a planet devastated by the Nirrti."
"That bitch!" Vala spoke up with unusual vehemence. She blinked as she realized the rest of them were looking at her. "I mean, Nirrti. Even Qetesh thought she was hassack."
"Yeah, massive understatement," Cassie and Vala exchanged a knowing look. Carolyn assumed Nirrti was some Goa'uld, and vowed to do some reading when she got back on base.
Sam was continuing her story. "So, Janet adopted her, and well afterwards, um..."
"Afterwards, I ended up inheriting overprotective grandfather, three uncles and an aunt. It's a wonder I have any social life at all." Cassie smiled at Sam and gave her arm a squeeze as if to say everything was okay. "But looks like I'm the one intruding this time."
Carolyn could take a hint. "We can go, leave you guys to catch up."
"No!" Cassie held up her arm. "I don't mean to spoil plans."
"You could join us," said Vala. "It would be nice not to be the only alien at the table...although I do question that Nicole from the botany lab as being strictly from Earth..."
"Vala!" Sam and Carolyn chastised at the same time while Cassie giggled.
"I don't have any groceries in the house," Sam started wistfully, "But..."
"No buts. That's settled," Cassie rubbed the last salt off her hands and shoved Sam towards the back of the house. "Go get changed so we can get to cocktails."
Sam paused to look back with an arched eyebrow. "You're not twenty-one yet."
"Oh please, two measly months. And you guys made up that date anyway."
"It's what's on your id...your real id."
"Yeah, yeah, get changed. Scoot."
While waiting for Sam to return and Cassie and Vala talked, Carolyn thought about what she'd learned. Cassie must've been only 11 or 12 when she lost everything. Carolyn wondered if given the same circumstances, she would've made the same choice Janet did; she knew she wouldn't have done as good a job raising a child. Anyone wondering about the legacy of Janet Fraiser, it wasn't in those files on base. It was personified in the poised young woman before her.