Chapter Text
Prologue
2003
Jack O’Neill watched the young man as he walked up to the giggling girls in the high school yard. He knew that the boy was, for all intents and purposes, an exact copy of himself. But he was different. Just in the short amount of time that he’d spent with the boy, he knew that this boy was not going to make all the mistakes he had.
At least he hoped he didn’t make all of them.
As he drove away, he looked back once as young Jack pulled his sunglasses off and began to talk to the girls.
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Chapter One
- SGC Cheyenne Mountain Complex, 2009
Second Lieutenant Jonathan O’Neill reported to his commanding officer at the SGC. He didn’t know the guy; General Hammond had been in charge the last time he was here. He had been saddened when he’d heard that General Hammond had passed away. The man had been like a father to him -- to Jack. He had sneaked into the back of the church for the funeral and slipped out before anyone saw him. He owed Hammond that much.
General Landry cleared his throat. “Jonathan O’Neill?” The general raised an eyebrow. “Any relation?”
“No sir, Sir,” he stammered.
Okay, so he was nervous. Very nervous. Why he had requested this duty was beyond him at the moment. Oh well, he’d make it through like he did everything else. He’d pretend to himself that it simply wasn’t important.
~~
General Hank Landry actually knew exactly who this boy was. He had read about him the first week he’d been at Stargate Command. He had wondered then if and when the young man would show up at their door.
“Well, Lt. O’Neill, I have decided to put you with Mitchell and Jackson on SG-1. They’re the first team and you’d make a good fourth for them.”
“Who is Mitchell? Where’s Carter? Or Teal’c?”
“Carter is commanding the George S. Hammond. Mitchell is the team leader now and Teal’c spends most of his time on Chulak.”
“Who else is on the team?”
“Vala Mal Doran, an alien who joined us several years ago.”
“Yes, sir!”
“You can stop that too. We are a bit more informal here than your average base but I expect that you already know more about this place than I ever will.”
Young O’Neill blinked in surprise.
“Yes, Lt. O’Neill, I am aware of who you are. Just make me proud, boy.”
O’Neill would have laughed except that he could see that Landry actually meant what he said. What an odd fellow this Landry was. The General called for Walter to help the young man find his quarters and settle in. “Chief, make him feel at home,” Landry called as they left the General’s office.
“He a good commander?” O’Neill asked.
Walter nodded. “He’s one of the best, sir.”
O’Neill shared the room with three other junior officers. None were present at the time so he put his stuff on the empty bunk and looked around the room. What was he to do now? He knew more from memory than most of the people here would ever know. Maybe this had been a mistake.
He put his things away and wandered down to the mess hall. There was cake! Some things never changed. He grabbed a piece of cake and some coffee and found a table. Not many people were there in the middle of the morning but the ones who were weren’t familiar to him, except the older fellow who was pushing his broom slowly across the floor. The man had always been a fixture here.
“Ah, there you are!” It was Daniel. “Jack--”
“I go by Jonathan, Dr. Jackson. It seemed the right thing to do.”
Daniel was completely undaunted as he turned to the man behind him. “Jonathan, this is Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell.”
He started to stand but Mitchell motioned him down. “Good to meet you, Lt. O’Neill.”
“Did you get settled in? General Landry said you’d be living here on base for a while,” Jackson asked.
“Yes, I have roommates. Haven’t met them yet though. I believe they’re all out on missions.”
“We came down to ask if you wanted to go out to dinner tonight with us and Vala, sort of a get to know you thing.”
“But I already know you,” Jonathan countered.
Jackson smiled at him, “But you’ve not met our other team member.” Mitchell grinned too. What was this Vala? Some horrid alien monster woman?
“General Landry didn’t give me any duties yet so why not? I’m all yours.”
He returned to his room and rearranged his stuff a bit then changed into jeans and a t-shirt. Seeing Jackson had been good. He had missed him, Carter and Teal’c too but now it looked as if Jackson was the only one of the old gang left. Maybe it would be easier for them all that way.
They met at six o’clock for dinner and O’Neill almost choked when he saw Vala. She certainly wasn’t what he expected. She was gorgeous with that curvy figure and dark mane of wild hair.
“Hello, um, Jonathan?” She shook his hand and smiled a bit lamely at him. Her voice was as sexy as she was too.
“That’s me,” he finally managed. God, he was acting like a simpering boy!
“They didn’t tell me how much you look like the general,” she breathed at him as Jackson grabbed her elbow and dragged her into the restaurant. He remembered eating here with SG-1 before. It had a pretty good steak, if he was correct. Looked like Jackson had his hands full with Vala. Jonathan smiled. Jackson needed a woman like her to keep him on his toes. He’d always felt bad about Sha’re.
“I, - uh, yeah. I do look like Uncle Jack.”
“I thought you told me--” she turned to Jackson.
“I had to tell her, Ja- Jonathan. She is on the team and it might be important that she know someday,” Jackson explained.
“So who’s buying?” Jonathan was as cheap as Jack, something they all expected. All who knew Jack anyway.
They all decided to go Dutch. The dinner was good as always and Mitchell sprang for the cake they had for dessert, which pleased his youngest teammate.
*
Jonathan’s roommates were back when he got back. They were 2nd Lt. Sims, who was assigned to SG-5, and two brothers, Majors Marcus and Matthew Burke, who were on SG-7. They seemed like regular guys and Jonathan was pleased that they had no idea who he was.
As he lay in his bunk just before drifting off to sleep, he wondered what in the world he had gotten himself into.
~~~