Title: New Year, New Choices.
Author: KellethMetheus
Spoilers: none this is all my own story it takes place sometime after season 10.
Category: Gen
Summary: Cassie has a choice to make but is feeling a little lost.
Disclaimer: Not mine but I do own all of SG-1 and Atlantis, but my kids don't know it yet.
Warnings: None

Challenge: 12 Days of Christmas Challenge Day 9: Footprints in the snow

~0o0o0~

As Cassie climbed out of her car, she pulled her coat closer to her body but it didn't help protect her against the wind. The snow whipped around her and stung her cheeks, the melting snow helping to hide her tears. Mournfully, she wished her mother was still here to ease her burdens in the way that only Janet could. Cassie admired the way her adoptive mother had of looking at the world.

Cassie had left Sam and Jack's New Year's Eve party. With the onus of so many decisions weighing heavily on her shoulders, she just had to get away. What should she do?

There was a place for her at the SGC if she wanted it right now, but medical school beckoned. Ever since she had come to Earth she'd wanted to be a doctor.

She had explained all this to General Landry and he'd a given her a chance to go on a few missions over winter break to see if the SGC was what she wanted. The problem was that she did want to join the SGC immediately almost as much as she wanted to be a doctor.

The SGC needed trained medical personnel, but they were also in need of people to serve on the SG teams as well. Cassie knew she would be welcomed immediately because of her medic training, as much as the fact that she was from another another planet. People were quicker to trust her than SG-1, after the Ori threat. Some of the planets had traded with the people of Hanka before Nirti had exterminated the entire population.

On Cassie's Christmas Eve mission, her Hankan roots had saved her and SG-1. A villager warned Cassie of a planned attack by the Lucien Alliance, but the warning had come too late. Cassie hadn't been able to inform others in time.

Her eyes scanned the cemetery, but she could see no one else. The snow was still falling and it wouldn't take long for her footprints to disappear. She was alone tonight and that was how she wanted it to be.

Although it had been a while since she'd been here, Cassie had no trouble finding the right spot. Since she had returned to Colorado Springs, she had kept her visits to a minimum, but tonight she felt like she had to come.

School began again soon and Cassie felt like she had to make a decision before it did. She was still unsure which way to go and she thought a talk with her mother it might help.

Soon after her mother's death, she had left Colorado Springs to escape the memories it held, the worse of them all being Janet Fraiser's death.

She had lost her second mother to the same people who had taken the first. The actual perpetrator wasn't the same, but the Goa'uld had taken her family not once but twice now.

So, she had run as far as she could to a little desert town where no-one knew her, finding cold comfort and solace in the first bottle of alcohol she could find.

Sam had found her there four years ago and convinced her to come back to seek our the dreams she had once had, but now that she stood on the crossroads, Cassie wasn't sure where to go. What was she supposed to do with her life; which path should she take?

Cassie wove her way through the cemetery towards Janet's grave, and a headstone she'd chosen, but not actually seen. Finally she found it, and dropping to her knees, she ignored the snow soaking through her pants, and took a moment to read the epitaph: "Janet Fraiser, doctor, mother and friend."

Tears filled her eyes as she touched the stone. "I'm so confused, mom. I need you and you're not here. Please tell me what I should do. I need your advice."

The sound of soft footfalls drew her attention away from Janet's headstone and to a young man standing behind her. He wore jeans and a T-shirt topped with a black leather jacket.

Tipping her head in thought, she tried to place his familiar features. She knew she'd seen him before, but had no idea where.

He smiled. "You shouldn't stay out here too long, Cassie. It's cold and you'll catch a chill."

She furrowed her brows. How did he know her name? Curiosity grew and almost consumed her. "Who are you?"

The man crouched down to look her in the eye. "No-one. I'm no-one at all, but you, Cassandra Fraiser, are somebody. You're mothers would be very proud of the woman you've become. They loved you and wanted the best for you. Choose what you want to do, not what someone else thinks you should."

Suddenly she recognized him; he'd been ahead of her by a year or so at the academy. "What was he doing here?" She opened her mouth to ask him but he cupped her cheek, and pressing a kiss to her forehead, said, "Janet loved you so much, Cas, and so do Sam and Jack. Whatever you choose, they'll understand; they only want what's best for you. No matter what you choose you won't fail. I believe in you and so you should believe in yourself."

Overcome with emotion, Cassie closed her eyes, squeezing back the tears. The hand fell away and she suddenly felt so alone. When she opened her eyes, the man was gone leaving only his footprints in the snow.

Getting to her feet, she followed the footprints back the way they had come. They stopped at one gave stone. Cassie knelt down and brushed the snow away so that she could read the words.

It was a little older than Janet's stone. It bore the words: "Charles O'Neill, beloved son. We miss you." Cassie looked around confused. She never noticed the resemblance to Jack before, but not she couldn't understand how she had missed it. Who was this man? He'd been one of her Training Instructors after all. Jack's son? Or something else? She tried to think of his name and then it came to her. Jon O'Neill. She looked back hoping to see him; a thousand questions filling her mind, but he was gone.

Slowly she got to her feet and headed back to Janet's stone. "Mom, I'm going to do it. I'm going to be a doctor and then I'm going to join the SGC. They need me and I need them. I'm gonna make you proud of me."