Fic: The Shoebox
Sep. 6th, 2012 09:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wyndewalkerTitle: The Shoebox
Author: Wyndewalker
Xover Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Summary : Fulfilling the terms of his mother's Will brings Xander to the father he never knew about.
Challenge: twistedshorts August-Fic-A-Day
Authors note:
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,213 according to Word
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Stargate SG-1 or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. All rights belong to their owners and I merely borrow the characters for your amusement.
Jack had just settled onto the couch with a cold beer, a bowl of chips and the remote control to watch the hockey game from the night before when the doorbell rang. He growled softly contemplating shouting for Daniel to answer it or just ignoring it. But Daniel was working on a priority translation for SG-7 and his mother had spent a lot of time drilling manners into his head. Heaving a sigh, he got to his feet ambling to the front door. It rang again just as he got there.
"Yeah, yeah," he groused opening the door and stopped. Jack felt like he'd been flung forty years into the past, to his early teens opening the door to find his favorite uncle waiting for him.
"Jack O'Neill?" The apparition spoke and suddenly he could see the differences between the young man in front of him and his long dead uncle. The most obvious being the eye patch covering his left eye.
"Are you Jack O'Neill?" The young man repeated frowning.
"Yeah. Yes, sorry. What can I do for you?"
"Sorry to bother you. My name is Xander Harris. My parents died in the Sunnydale quake last month." Xander waved off the condolences Jack automatically started to say. "Thanks. The reason I'm here is my mom left this for you. She had it stored in a bank in LA for some reason. Her Will asked that I get it to you so," Xander shrugged holding out the battered shoebox he'd had tucked under his arm, "here."
Jack looked at the shoebox then back at Xander. "Not to be rude, kid, but who was your mom and why is she leaving me something?"
"Hell if I know. I'd never seen this before a week ago and her name was Jessica Harris."
"Maiden name?" Jack clarified.
"Rogers. It was Jessica Rogers."
"Well, shit," Jack muttered doing the mental math and coming up with a son he'd never known about. He took the box then stepped aside to gesture him in. "You'd better come inside."
"Uh, why?" Xander frowned, glancing back at the car on the street and the young woman Jack had just noticed standing beside it. Seeing Xander's look, she straightened from her bored slouch but didn't move from there.
"Friend?" Jack asked casually.
"Yeah, and chauffeur if I had problems," he gestured at his patch.
"That's good. As to why, if your mom is who I think she is then you and I need to talk."
"I'm going to regret this but who do you think she is?"
"A woman I spent two weeks of leave with about twenty two years ago."
"Oh God, this is a Luke, I'm your father conversation isn't it?" Xander groaned.
Jack couldn't help the bark of laughter. "Sorry, kid. This is a surprise to me too. Why don't you invite your friend in? Or she can wait outside," he said when Xander grimaced.
"No, she comes in otherwise my friends freak and decide I need rescuing. Just," Xander sighed. "I know you're in the Air Force so I need to ask. What do the letters NID mean to you?"
"Goddamn sonova..." Jack cut himself off taking a deep breath. "Please tell me you're not involved with those slimy amoral backstabbing weaselly bastards?"
"Hell no. And I'm guessing by that little rant that they aren't on your Christmas Card list either."
"Not until I can figure out how to attach a grenade to it," Jack smirked. Xander returned the smirk then turned to wave the young woman forward.
"Oh, I apologize in advance for Faith. She, uh, likes to get a rise out of people. She's mellowed some but, yeah." Xander shrugged.
"I think I can handle it," Jack smiled. Up close Jack could see why Xander felt the need to warn him. She wore skintight black leather pants, biker boots, a fitted low-cut dark blue shirt and a cropped black leather jacket. And she walked like a predator. Based on Xander's earlier comments about his friends freaking she was more bodyguard than chauffeur.
"Everything five by five, Xan?" Faith asked as she stepped onto the porch, eyeing Jack.
"Everything's good. Apparently there are a few things Mom never bothered to tell me."
Faith looked between them for a moment then asked, "Estranged uncle or real dad?"
"How... I... How?" Xander spluttered.
"You look like each other," Faith said with a shrug. "It's in the eyes and the nose. Plus you mentioned your mom. Not that hard a leap to make. Real dad?"
"Pretty sure I'm his real dad," Jack answered her. "I know for a fact that my only sister is alive and well in Minneapolis. At the same time you look exactly like my Uncle Peter but I know he never had any kids. So, real dad. Sorry if that's bad news, kid."
Xander and Faith both snorted but it was Faith who said, "I only met him once but it was more than enough to know Tony Harris was a drunken asshole who should have been removed from the gene pool a long time ago."
"Faith," Xander sighed.
"What? I'm just saying it like it is."
"Yes, but do we really need to do this now? I've only just met the man. I'd rather ne not know how big a loser I am just yet."
"You are not a loser," Faith snarled, getting in his face as she poked his chest with one finger. "I have met a lot of losers in my time and none of them could have ever done a fraction of the things you've done. You're the damn Heart. B's White Knight. You lost your eye and still walked into Hell a week later. I tried killing you and you still wanted to help me. Don't you dare call yourself a loser ever again. You hear me?"
"Yeah, I hear you," Xander agreed stunned by her vehemence. "How did you hear about...?"
"Me and Angel talked about a lot of things including you. He might not be your biggest fan but even he can admit you've got a set made of solid brass."
"Thank you, Faith, for that lovely image," Xander groaned. Jack was about to comment, because their conversation had definitely intrigued him, when Daniel made an appearance.
"Jack?' Daniel asked entering the foyer. "What's going on?"
He paused when he caught sight of Faith and Xander. He looked from Xander to Jack to Xander and back to Jack. He raised an eyebrow. "Something you want to tell me, Jack?"
"Am I the only one who didn't automatically see this?" Xander asked plaintively.
"Sorry, X-man," Faith grinned, clearly anything but sorry. "It's not like you spend a lot of time looking in the mirror."
"Alright. I think it's time we all went inside so that we stop giving the neighbors a show. We'll get some drinks and talk about what happens next. Good? Great. Everyone in the kitchen. Now."
Xander and Faith sheepishly filed past him, following Daniel to the kitchen. They took seats at the two places that didn't have placemats. Drinks were passed out though Daniel refused to give Faith a beer unless she could prove she was 21 so she settled for coffee while Xander had orange juice. Daniel had his over-sized mug of coffee while Jack had a regular sized one. He'd decided against finishing his beer considering Faith's comments about Tony Harris being a drunk asshole. Once they were all seated Daniel looked between the three of them.
"Which of you didn't know about the relationship between Jack and... I'm sorry, I didn't get your name."
"Xander Harris and this is Faith Lehane," Xander introduced them.
"Nice to meet you. Daniel Jackson. As I was saying, who didn't know before today?" All three of them raised their hand. "Huh. Then why were you here?"
"Mom left him that shoebox in her Will," Xander pointed to the box Jack had in front of him, which he obligingly opened at Daniel's look.
Inside was a small stack of letters addressed to Jack, a number of photographs and a copy of Xander's birth certificate. Daniel picked up the birth certificate while Jack took the letters. Xander and Faith sorted the photos.
"This lists an Anthony Harris as the birth father," Daniel commented, showing it to Jack.
"Your middle name is Lavelle?" Jack demanded.
"Yes, thank you for reminding me," Xander grimaced, glaring at Faith's chuckle. He held up a couple of the photos he'd been looking at. "I'm guessing this is you with my mom?"
"Yep. That was in San Francisco. Just before I left for Para-Jumper training."
"Air Force Spec Ops," Xander said at Faith's puzzled look. "What do the letters say?"
Jack filed away Xander's slightly unusual knowledge of military forces for future questioning. "She didn't realize you weren't Tony's son until you were five," he said reading over the letter with the earliest date. "You broke your arm and had your blood typed for the first time?"
"I vaguely remember breaking arm at that age. No idea about the blood type thing though I do know it's O-. Universal donor."
"Yeah. Problem is according to this Jessica was Type A and Tony was Type AB. It's impossible for you to be Type O and be Tony's son."
"What're you?"
"B- so it's possible."
"I'd still get a paternity test for everyone's peace of mind," Daniel suggested.
"I don't have a problem with that," Xander replied poking at the pictures of him as a toddler. "What I'd like to know is if she knew I wasn't Dad... Tony's then why didn't she tell you? Why didn't she tell me?"
"I don't know why she didn't tell you, Xander," Jack said softly, "but she did try to tell me apparently."
"And what? You blew her off?"
Jack shook his head. "She never actually got in contact with me. The first time she tried I was a POW in an Iraqi prison. And I was married. She didn't think it would be a good idea to show up on my wife's doorstep and say, Hi, I know your husband is in a foreign prison but I happened to have a child with him six years ago and just wanted to let him know."
"Yeah," Xander winced, "that would have been bad. You said that was the first time? What about the second time?"
"My son Charlie had just been born. Jessica didn't want to cause any problems."
"I have a little brother?" Xander perked up.
"Had," Jack managed to get out before getting up from the table. Daniel watched him go before turning to Xander and Faith who were watching him worriedly.
"Charlie died, accidentally shot himself with Jack's gun when he was eight years old. He'd be seventeen now if he'd lived. Jack never really forgave himself. He and his wife Sarah divorced about a year later." Daniel explained.
"Crap. I didn't mean to..."
"It's not your fault," Daniel smiled slightly. "Finding out about you was bound to stir things up."
"Gotcha." Xander fidgeted, straightening out the already straight pile of photos in front of him. "So, how long have you two been together?"
"I've known Jack for close to nine years now," Daniel said deliberately misunderstanding the question.
"Uh-huh. How long of that time have you guys been doing the horizontal mambo?" Xander smirked when Daniel turned beet red. "Look. I'm not military so I don't give a crap about Don't Ask, Don't Tell and, frankly, I think it's a dumbass policy. If Jack is really my dad I just want to know that he's happy."
"I am," Jack said from the doorway, "and we've been together about a year now. Daniel died and I realized all the time I'd wasted because I couldn't get my head out of my ass long enough to see what was right in front of me. How long are you going to be in town for? There's the blood test but I'd like to spend some time getting to know you. Maybe introduce you to Sarah if you don't mind?"
"We can do that, I guess. I hadn't planned to be in Denver long. Basically just deliver the shoebox then head on to Cleveland for a couple of weeks before we leave for London and then I'm headed to Africa for awhile."
"Africa? What are you doing in Africa?" Daniel asked before Jack could.
"Uhm, well," xander scratched the back of his head, glancing at Faith who just shrugged. "We, uh, work for a group that just recently imploded so we're working to rebuild it. I kind of volunteered to go talk to the, uh, personnel located in Africa. Mostly because I didn't want Europe and Willow already claimed South America."
"How long do you think you'll be over there?"
"Don't know. At least six months, maybe a year. Some of them are in, uh, pretty remote locations."
Jack and Daniel exchanged glances. It was clear Xander was leaving something out but considering the secretive nature of their own work they didn't have much room to talk.
"I can write and call when I get a chance though. If you want?" Xander suggested.
"Sounds good to me," Jack agreed with a smile.
Finis
Jack had just settled onto the couch with a cold beer, a bowl of chips and the remote control to watch the hockey game from the night before when the doorbell rang. He growled softly contemplating shouting for Daniel to answer it or just ignoring it. But Daniel was working on a priority translation for SG-7 and his mother had spent a lot of time drilling manners into his head. Heaving a sigh, he got to his feet ambling to the front door. It rang again just as he got there.
"Yeah, yeah," he groused opening the door and stopped. Jack felt like he'd been flung forty years into the past, to his early teens opening the door to find his favorite uncle waiting for him.
"Jack O'Neill?" The apparition spoke and suddenly he could see the differences between the young man in front of him and his long dead uncle. The most obvious being the eye patch covering his left eye.
"Are you Jack O'Neill?" The young man repeated frowning.
"Yeah. Yes, sorry. What can I do for you?"
"Sorry to bother you. My name is Xander Harris. My parents died in the Sunnydale quake last month." Xander waved off the condolences Jack automatically started to say. "Thanks. The reason I'm here is my mom left this for you. She had it stored in a bank in LA for some reason. Her Will asked that I get it to you so," Xander shrugged holding out the battered shoebox he'd had tucked under his arm, "here."
Jack looked at the shoebox then back at Xander. "Not to be rude, kid, but who was your mom and why is she leaving me something?"
"Hell if I know. I'd never seen this before a week ago and her name was Jessica Harris."
"Maiden name?" Jack clarified.
"Rogers. It was Jessica Rogers."
"Well, shit," Jack muttered doing the mental math and coming up with a son he'd never known about. He took the box then stepped aside to gesture him in. "You'd better come inside."
"Uh, why?" Xander frowned, glancing back at the car on the street and the young woman Jack had just noticed standing beside it. Seeing Xander's look, she straightened from her bored slouch but didn't move from there.
"Friend?" Jack asked casually.
"Yeah, and chauffeur if I had problems," he gestured at his patch.
"That's good. As to why, if your mom is who I think she is then you and I need to talk."
"I'm going to regret this but who do you think she is?"
"A woman I spent two weeks of leave with about twenty two years ago."
"Oh God, this is a Luke, I'm your father conversation isn't it?" Xander groaned.
Jack couldn't help the bark of laughter. "Sorry, kid. This is a surprise to me too. Why don't you invite your friend in? Or she can wait outside," he said when Xander grimaced.
"No, she comes in otherwise my friends freak and decide I need rescuing. Just," Xander sighed. "I know you're in the Air Force so I need to ask. What do the letters NID mean to you?"
"Goddamn sonova..." Jack cut himself off taking a deep breath. "Please tell me you're not involved with those slimy amoral backstabbing weaselly bastards?"
"Hell no. And I'm guessing by that little rant that they aren't on your Christmas Card list either."
"Not until I can figure out how to attach a grenade to it," Jack smirked. Xander returned the smirk then turned to wave the young woman forward.
"Oh, I apologize in advance for Faith. She, uh, likes to get a rise out of people. She's mellowed some but, yeah." Xander shrugged.
"I think I can handle it," Jack smiled. Up close Jack could see why Xander felt the need to warn him. She wore skintight black leather pants, biker boots, a fitted low-cut dark blue shirt and a cropped black leather jacket. And she walked like a predator. Based on Xander's earlier comments about his friends freaking she was more bodyguard than chauffeur.
"Everything five by five, Xan?" Faith asked as she stepped onto the porch, eyeing Jack.
"Everything's good. Apparently there are a few things Mom never bothered to tell me."
Faith looked between them for a moment then asked, "Estranged uncle or real dad?"
"How... I... How?" Xander spluttered.
"You look like each other," Faith said with a shrug. "It's in the eyes and the nose. Plus you mentioned your mom. Not that hard a leap to make. Real dad?"
"Pretty sure I'm his real dad," Jack answered her. "I know for a fact that my only sister is alive and well in Minneapolis. At the same time you look exactly like my Uncle Peter but I know he never had any kids. So, real dad. Sorry if that's bad news, kid."
Xander and Faith both snorted but it was Faith who said, "I only met him once but it was more than enough to know Tony Harris was a drunken asshole who should have been removed from the gene pool a long time ago."
"Faith," Xander sighed.
"What? I'm just saying it like it is."
"Yes, but do we really need to do this now? I've only just met the man. I'd rather ne not know how big a loser I am just yet."
"You are not a loser," Faith snarled, getting in his face as she poked his chest with one finger. "I have met a lot of losers in my time and none of them could have ever done a fraction of the things you've done. You're the damn Heart. B's White Knight. You lost your eye and still walked into Hell a week later. I tried killing you and you still wanted to help me. Don't you dare call yourself a loser ever again. You hear me?"
"Yeah, I hear you," Xander agreed stunned by her vehemence. "How did you hear about...?"
"Me and Angel talked about a lot of things including you. He might not be your biggest fan but even he can admit you've got a set made of solid brass."
"Thank you, Faith, for that lovely image," Xander groaned. Jack was about to comment, because their conversation had definitely intrigued him, when Daniel made an appearance.
"Jack?' Daniel asked entering the foyer. "What's going on?"
He paused when he caught sight of Faith and Xander. He looked from Xander to Jack to Xander and back to Jack. He raised an eyebrow. "Something you want to tell me, Jack?"
"Am I the only one who didn't automatically see this?" Xander asked plaintively.
"Sorry, X-man," Faith grinned, clearly anything but sorry. "It's not like you spend a lot of time looking in the mirror."
"Alright. I think it's time we all went inside so that we stop giving the neighbors a show. We'll get some drinks and talk about what happens next. Good? Great. Everyone in the kitchen. Now."
Xander and Faith sheepishly filed past him, following Daniel to the kitchen. They took seats at the two places that didn't have placemats. Drinks were passed out though Daniel refused to give Faith a beer unless she could prove she was 21 so she settled for coffee while Xander had orange juice. Daniel had his over-sized mug of coffee while Jack had a regular sized one. He'd decided against finishing his beer considering Faith's comments about Tony Harris being a drunk asshole. Once they were all seated Daniel looked between the three of them.
"Which of you didn't know about the relationship between Jack and... I'm sorry, I didn't get your name."
"Xander Harris and this is Faith Lehane," Xander introduced them.
"Nice to meet you. Daniel Jackson. As I was saying, who didn't know before today?" All three of them raised their hand. "Huh. Then why were you here?"
"Mom left him that shoebox in her Will," Xander pointed to the box Jack had in front of him, which he obligingly opened at Daniel's look.
Inside was a small stack of letters addressed to Jack, a number of photographs and a copy of Xander's birth certificate. Daniel picked up the birth certificate while Jack took the letters. Xander and Faith sorted the photos.
"This lists an Anthony Harris as the birth father," Daniel commented, showing it to Jack.
"Your middle name is Lavelle?" Jack demanded.
"Yes, thank you for reminding me," Xander grimaced, glaring at Faith's chuckle. He held up a couple of the photos he'd been looking at. "I'm guessing this is you with my mom?"
"Yep. That was in San Francisco. Just before I left for Para-Jumper training."
"Air Force Spec Ops," Xander said at Faith's puzzled look. "What do the letters say?"
Jack filed away Xander's slightly unusual knowledge of military forces for future questioning. "She didn't realize you weren't Tony's son until you were five," he said reading over the letter with the earliest date. "You broke your arm and had your blood typed for the first time?"
"I vaguely remember breaking arm at that age. No idea about the blood type thing though I do know it's O-. Universal donor."
"Yeah. Problem is according to this Jessica was Type A and Tony was Type AB. It's impossible for you to be Type O and be Tony's son."
"What're you?"
"B- so it's possible."
"I'd still get a paternity test for everyone's peace of mind," Daniel suggested.
"I don't have a problem with that," Xander replied poking at the pictures of him as a toddler. "What I'd like to know is if she knew I wasn't Dad... Tony's then why didn't she tell you? Why didn't she tell me?"
"I don't know why she didn't tell you, Xander," Jack said softly, "but she did try to tell me apparently."
"And what? You blew her off?"
Jack shook his head. "She never actually got in contact with me. The first time she tried I was a POW in an Iraqi prison. And I was married. She didn't think it would be a good idea to show up on my wife's doorstep and say, Hi, I know your husband is in a foreign prison but I happened to have a child with him six years ago and just wanted to let him know."
"Yeah," Xander winced, "that would have been bad. You said that was the first time? What about the second time?"
"My son Charlie had just been born. Jessica didn't want to cause any problems."
"I have a little brother?" Xander perked up.
"Had," Jack managed to get out before getting up from the table. Daniel watched him go before turning to Xander and Faith who were watching him worriedly.
"Charlie died, accidentally shot himself with Jack's gun when he was eight years old. He'd be seventeen now if he'd lived. Jack never really forgave himself. He and his wife Sarah divorced about a year later." Daniel explained.
"Crap. I didn't mean to..."
"It's not your fault," Daniel smiled slightly. "Finding out about you was bound to stir things up."
"Gotcha." Xander fidgeted, straightening out the already straight pile of photos in front of him. "So, how long have you two been together?"
"I've known Jack for close to nine years now," Daniel said deliberately misunderstanding the question.
"Uh-huh. How long of that time have you guys been doing the horizontal mambo?" Xander smirked when Daniel turned beet red. "Look. I'm not military so I don't give a crap about Don't Ask, Don't Tell and, frankly, I think it's a dumbass policy. If Jack is really my dad I just want to know that he's happy."
"I am," Jack said from the doorway, "and we've been together about a year now. Daniel died and I realized all the time I'd wasted because I couldn't get my head out of my ass long enough to see what was right in front of me. How long are you going to be in town for? There's the blood test but I'd like to spend some time getting to know you. Maybe introduce you to Sarah if you don't mind?"
"We can do that, I guess. I hadn't planned to be in Denver long. Basically just deliver the shoebox then head on to Cleveland for a couple of weeks before we leave for London and then I'm headed to Africa for awhile."
"Africa? What are you doing in Africa?" Daniel asked before Jack could.
"Uhm, well," xander scratched the back of his head, glancing at Faith who just shrugged. "We, uh, work for a group that just recently imploded so we're working to rebuild it. I kind of volunteered to go talk to the, uh, personnel located in Africa. Mostly because I didn't want Europe and Willow already claimed South America."
"How long do you think you'll be over there?"
"Don't know. At least six months, maybe a year. Some of them are in, uh, pretty remote locations."
Jack and Daniel exchanged glances. It was clear Xander was leaving something out but considering the secretive nature of their own work they didn't have much room to talk.
"I can write and call when I get a chance though. If you want?" Xander suggested.
"Sounds good to me," Jack agreed with a smile.
Finis
