This one is for Ursula. She wanted a crossover between Stargate: SG-1 and NCIS. The main players had to be Jack O'Neill, Sara O'Neill as Jack's divorced wife and Tim McGee as Sara's son. Most of this will be set before Stargate the movie or during SG-1 season one; NCIS will be set just after Gibbs leaves in Hiatus roughly season 4/5...
Starlight, starbright,
The first star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight
Colonel Jack O'Neill sighs as he listens to the young voice whisper the age old saying. He still can't believe that he and Sara created this perfect replica of himself. Charlie finishes his starlight prayer with "I wish I had baby brother."
Jack almost reveals his location when he hears the whispered words. He and Sara had talked for several years now about giving Charlie that very thing. A brother to tag along and pester him; that best friend to talk to during all hours of the night, claiming all of Charlie's attention when Charlie would be trying to woo a new girlfriend. Well, Jack had talked and Sara…Sara turned a deaf ear.
With Jack still being active Air Force, Sara and Charlie were alone more often than Jack was home. Jack smiles wistfully as he slumps against the wall outside of Charlie's room. Yeah, he'd be willing to take that promotion now, that secret project that General West's office kept trying to pawn off on him. Hell, he'd move to Timbuktu if it meant that he could have more time with his family. To try and create at least one more little Jack or maybe this time a little Sara.
Jack stands up and wipes his hands on his jeans. He hadn't told Charlie that he'd be home; wanted to surprise his son this Christmas with the present of one Jack O'Neill (with two L's). He gives a soft knock on the casing surrounding Charlie's door and Jack peeks around the doorway.
"Hey sport!"
"DAD! Dad, you're home!"
In that one instant, Jack O'Neill knew true happiness. His son flying into his arms, leaping from his position beside the bed to hug him like tomorrow would never come. Jack chokes back a reply, wanting only to hold his son; to love and cherish this young man for as long as God would allow him to.
Hours later, Charlie sleeping soundly in his arms finds Jack extremely introspective. He studies the young face as Charlie slumbers; his son's joy at Jack being home second only to Jack's joy at being able to hold his son again. This last tour had taken him away for almost a year. Jack sighs and smoothes a strand of hair off of Charlie's face before picking him up and tucking him into bed. Jack lingers for a few more moments, not wanting to leave yet knowing that he still needs to talk to Sara.
It's been so long since they've seen each other and he knows that she still thinks he's not serious about settling down. That it's all just verbal bullshit meant to pacify her until the next time he leaves and doesn't come home for six months or a year…if at all. The main downside to being a military wife…according to Sara anyway was the not knowing. Not knowing when Jack would come home; how to contact him when things went a little ca-ca. Not knowing if the next military car to enter the cul-de-sac would be the one telling her that Jack had died in the line of duty.
Jack walks into the living room where he'd left his wife some two hours ago when he'd gone upstairs to listen to Charlie's prayers. Sara's still sitting in the recliner, staring into the dying fire. Jack stokes the coals up a bit and adds another log to the fire before turning to her.
"Heeeere's Jackie. Okay, obviously not a night for Carson or the Shining. So, how was your day? Mine was great you know why? I spent the last two hours with our son listening to his prayers and watching him sleep. He's decided he wants a little brother, did you know?"
"Jack…"
"It's all right Sara, I'm not going to pester you my first night home in 10 months. I just want to sit down and have some quiet time with my wife."
Jack sits down in his recliner, watching the flames dance across the logs in the fireplace. It's just as Jack's eyes start to droop and he seriously considers heading for the bedroom that Sara announces,
"I want a divorce."
###
Jack's eyes pop open and he swears that he just heard his wife of almost ten years asking for a divorce.
"Did you hear me; I said that I want a divorce."
"Okay, now I know I wasn't dreaming. May I ask why you want one?"
"I'm not pregnant if that's what you're insinuating."
"Wha—why would I even think that? Unless you really are having an affair behind my back."
"No…no Jack, I just I can't do this anymore…this waiting to see if you're coming home every time you leave. It's tearing me apart and now it's starting to affect Charlie too."
That catches his attention. "What do you mean it's affecting Charlie? He seemed fine."
"Jack, he misses you. We both do and you're just never here."
"I could be; I have that offer that I was planning on telling you both about. I wanted to share it with you and Charlie tomorrow, as a Christmas present to all of us."
Sara sighs as she sees the pleading in her husband's eyes. She knows that she'll cave in and truth be told she really doesn't want a divorce; she's just terrified of losing Jack to some sniper's bullet or dogfight. She wants time with her husband and more than that, it's Christmas. She's not about to spoil Charlie's Christmas due to her fears.
"Alright, but you're going to tell us no later than noon."
"Agreed." Jack stands up and makes sure that the screen is in front of the fireplace and that the embers are starting to die down. He reaches out a hand for Sara and she lets herself be pulled into his hug.
"Thank you, for agreeing to hear me out before you make any final decisions." He whispers before heading into the shower.
The next day, Jack tells his family that he has a surprise for them.
"I've been approached by General West's office. They have a project that they'll be starting up around the Colorado Springs area and have offered me the chance to be a part of it."
"Doing what Dad?"
"Don't exactly know yet, just that it's on the table and I've been given the next few weeks to make my decision. Once I do that, it'll be hurry up and wait for more weeks until they make their final decision as to who will be assigned to what position. The bad part is that I'll have to work five days a week and be home with you guys every weekend."
His eyes are smiling and his lips are curved up in a saucy smile as two sets of eyes stare back at him.
"You mean it? For reals, no more gone for months on end?"
"For reals, and there's more. We would have to move…to some obscure state called Colorado; you'd have to bring your fishing pole so that we can take grandpa out fishing on the weekends."
Sara stares at him and the meaning behind the words. She's wanted to see her parents for several months now and the fact that Jack is willing to take a position closer to her own family brings her to the brink of tears. Glad now that she hasn't pushed the divorce papers through, she hugs her husband and son as they wish each other a Merry Christmas.
For four months the family is kept busy with moving and transfers and waiting for the final commitment of the powers that be. Finally Jack is told that he's got the position; he'll be training new recruits to be fighter pilots. Jack races to Sara's dad's house in Winter Park, Colorado. The small family has been staying with him until they knew for sure that Jack had the job.
As Jack swept Sara into his embrace he finally felt like they could be the family they'd always wanted to be…and then they heard the gunshot.
Three years later:
Jack is escorting the blue alien back through the Stargate; the one who had accidently knocked Jack out and tried to heal him without knowing that the hurt Jack suffered from was emotional, not physical. That Charlie had died and could never be returned, at least not on a physical level.
The alien Charlie turns to Jack as he starts dialing the Earth's gate address. Jack hasn't hit the red button that activates the gate yet, when the alien reaches out and touches his hand one last time.
"Remember to ask Sara O'Neill about Tim. He is a hurt that she has not yet recovered from."
Jack nods and jumps back through the gate. He is just getting ready to head out of the base and towards Sara's house when another mission gets in the way, and the name Tim escapes Jack's mind for years to come.
###
NCIS (loosely set in season 4/5)
"McGee what do you got for me?"
"Nothing yet Tony, we haven't had a case called in." Tim McGee smiles behind his latte as he watches his partner for the last several years digest that information. Before Tony can come up with a reply Tim adds,
"Unless you mean the lemon poppy seed muffin sitting on your desk with your standard cup of coffee."
Tony dashes for his desk before Gibbs can come in and take away his breakfast. Then Tony remembers that Gibbs isn't there…he hasn't been since walking away from the team almost four months prior. Tim comes over and hands him a file.
"Sorry Tony I didn't mean to bring up our missing link."
"Not your fault McGee. We'll just keep going like we have been…one Gibbsless day after another."
"You do know that he is coming back, right?"
"Sure McGee and if that's the case I'll be feeling a head smack any second now."
Smack! Only it's Ziva and she's smiling as she sits at her desk. She looks at her bran muffin in surprise and raises her cup of tea in salute to Tim. She knows that the younger man is just trying to raise their spirits with Gibbs continual absence and has no doubt that the entire staff has been treated to muffins and either coffee or tea.
The elevator dings and out steps a distinguished looking man dressed as a general. Tony looks up at Tim who shrugs and even Ziva has no idea who the man is. Abby is escorting the general who has a faintly amused, and seriously lost look on his face as the woman chatters non-stop about nothing at all and her Mass Spectrometer in particular.
The three MCRT agents watch as Abby leads the general into Director Shepherd's office. Once Abby bounces back into the bullpen, Tony's immediately by her side asking questions.
"So, my lovely little forensic goddess, who is our visitor? Why is he here and why didn't you introduce him to us?"
"Actually Tony, the only thing I know about him is his name and rank. He's General Jack O'Neill. That's with two L's by the way."
Without saying another word, Tim is inputting Jack O'Neill's name into the system and inhales when he sees all the blacked-out information.
"Tony, he's special ops of some kind. Probably something to do with Homeland Security from what I'm reading so far."
"Really? Do tell McGee."
"I can't…there isn't enough there to say anything pertinent."
Just then Tim's desk phone rings and he answers it. "Agent McGee. Yes, director I'll be right there."
He glares at Tony certain that the older man has somehow managed to get him into trouble once again.
###
Inside the office, Jack paces. He hadn't planned on coming to NCIS today; heck forty eight hours ago he'd had plans to meet with the President and after that his team was coming out to have dinner with him.
That was before the call from Sara's dad. From what the old man had said, Sara's car had been sideswiped and it wasn't certain whether or not she'd live. Jack didn't know what to think; he and Sara had gone their separate ways almost a decade before. Why did the old man think Jack could help.
"Use your connections to find Sara's son. If he's still alive, she wants to meet him; she wants to see him one last time before she dies."
Sara's son? Sara had a son? But, when and why hadn't she told him while they were married? Rather than dwell on the questions that plagued his overtired brain, Jack called in a few favors and managed to find out that Sara had been date-raped a few years before they'd met. Sara had ended up pregnant. As she was still a minor and living at home, she'd signed papers giving up her baby for adoption.
"Sara tried to make it work Jack, but she couldn't; she was just too weak those first few months and we asked her to put Tim up for adoption."
Now Jack remembers a fleeting conversation about asking Sara about Tim. About her deepest unhealed hurt. Charlie hadn't been Sara's only son. It had been an unknown factor in their eventual divorce. Jack finishes telling Director Shepherd his story and asks if she knows of a young agent known as Timothy McGee.
Jenny studies the man in front of her. As the director of NCIS she's met quite a few top secret organizations and Jack O'Neill has not only been part of one, he's currently in charge of the program. She personally calls down to Tim's desk and asks the younger man to come up to her office. Within minutes Tim is knocking on the outer door and Jenny calls out for him to enter.
"Agent McGee, I'd like you to meet General Jack O'Neill. He's here to ask you a few questions."
"Oookay…did I do something wrong?"
Jack smiles at the kid's insecurity. So far, his manners remind him of Daniel Jackson and the first time he'd met that young man.
"No, sorry didn't mean to scare you that way. I just wanted to know if you were adopted."
###
Tim blinks in surprise and slowly starts nodding his head. Jack can almost see the wheels turning in the kid's mind. Clearly he wants to know what is going on.
"What do you know about your adoption, may I call you Tim?"
"Yes sir, and quite a bit actually. I was in an accident when I was sixteen and needed a transfusion. I know that they called several blood banks looking for donors due to my unusual blood type. Most of that time period is hazy, but I clearly remember Mom and Dad on the phone begging someone to donate blood to help their son. A few days later, I asked them what was going on and they told me that they'd adopted me."
"Did they tell you anything about your birth mother? Anything at all? Her name or where you came from?"
Tim shakes his head as if to say no, then stops and looks up at Jack.
"There's a memory; I can hear a young female voice reciting a poem.
Starlight, starbright,
The first star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight
"I used to wish that I could meet her and thank her. Is that why you're here sir?"
Jack nods; he's in a bit of shock, hearing the familiar poem. One of the last things that Charlie had recited their last Christmas together. Jack smiles through misty eyes.
Tim looks at the director concerned by the other man's tears.
Jack clears his throat as he gets back to the situation at hand; bringing Sara's son to Colorado. It had been just in the last few minutes that Samantha Carter had called, letting him know that Sara was fading. She and her father Jacob/Selmak had been trying every healing technique known to man and Tok'ra kind to no avail.
"I have some grave news. Sara, your birth mother was in a car accident a few days ago. They're not sure she's going to survive another 24 hours and she's been asking for forgiveness from someone named Tim."
Tim is the one blinking tears away now. He looks up at Jack, and asks, "Am I the one you need?"
"Yeah, kid. From what our team of experts has been able to find out, you were adopted 30 some years ago by the McGees. Your birth mother had tried her best but she was still a teenager when she was raped. Rather than get rid of her child she chose to try raising him, but was too sick to do so even with her parents help. She put you up for adoption, hoping that you'd be raised in a good happy family."
Tim listens carefully to all that Jack says and then at what he doesn't.
"She's special to you."
Jack nods, "We were married for ten years when our son died and neither of us got over it. We divorced a few years later."
"You still care for her."
"Yeah, kid I do and that's why I came here today to find you and take you to her. It's her dying wish to see you one last time."
###
Tim's already nodding his head. He's wanted to meet the woman for too long not to do this. Jack sighs in relief. He'd been afraid that one of two scenarios would come to pass and neither of them did.
Jack looks at Jenny Shepherd and says, "You don't see this happening."
He touches a button on his lapel and both men disappear from Jenny's office.
The teleportation was definitely one of Jack's more brilliant ideas on this trip. With Thor being ready to help Jack out at a moment's notice, the two men are out of D.C and in Thor's newest ship in seconds . Tim's first reaction had been immediate awe of the ship and its computers. Then the two men were again teleported inside the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. Jack had insisted on Sara being moved to the Mountain when he'd gotten the request to find her son. It had been his only condition.
Now, Tim stands outside the medical room, uncertain of just what to say when Jack softly whispers,
Starlight, starbright,
Tim nods and walks inside. The monitors are beeping steadily but slowly and Tim knows that they've gotten there just in time.
He steps closer to the bed and taking Sara's uninjured hand says, "thank you for loving me enough to give me up. For knowing that you couldn't give me what I needed at that stage in my life. If I could make a wish it's that we had more time together; to get to know each other better."
Sara opens her eyes and sees a handsome young man with bright green eyes and sandy brown hair sitting beside her. She smiles as she realizes that Tim, her first born son is there, holding her hand, with love and tears in his eyes.
"I love you, Tim."
"I love you too, Mom. Mom? Will you say it with me one more time?
Starlight, starbright,
The first star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight
"I wish that you could live at least a few more years; I'd love to spend time getting to know you. But I realize that you have to go and I don't want to keep you from the loving hands that await you."
Tim leans down and kisses his mother on the cheek. "I love you Mom. Thank you for my life."
Jack wipes tears from his eyes as he watches his first love fade away. Tim stands up a while later and turns to face Jack.
"Thank you, for coming to get me. I know it can't have been easy on you; especially well, you know why."
Jack nods, not daring to say a word for fear of bursting into loud sobs. Tim then does the one thing Jack isn't expecting; he holds out his arms.
"I won't tell if you don't."
Jack embraces the young man and quietly they both start sobbing. When they pull apart, both are embarrassed by the show of emotion and Tim asks Jack if he can call D.C and let them know that he'll need some personal leave.
Jenny Shepherd was about to deny Tim's request when she realizes that she can have Tony start his newest assignment that much sooner. With Tim out of the way, no one will be questioning Tony about the two cell phones that he'll soon be carrying and by the time they do, Tony will be in deep enough that he'll have a cover story in place.
"You've got two weeks McGee. Use it wisely."
Tim and Jack spend the next two weeks in each other's company. Tim asks Jack to tell him about his mother and Jack spends the time learning about Sara's son. Jack soon finds out that Tim could easily out distance Jackson and maybe even Carter when it comes to brains but this kid had chosen yet another way to go and use his computer skills.
"I like working for NCIS. I can't handle being on board a ship for too long as I get seasick."
"You remind me of my buddy Daniel. He used to use a box of Kleenex on all our missions; said it was allergies caused by travelling."
Tim smiles; he's met the SG-1 team, who'd rallied around their friend when Sara had passed away. Teal'c in an odd way reminded him of Ziva and how she had/has problems with the idioms that Americans tend to use. Samantha Carter was simply brilliant, like Abby without all the bouncing and tattoos. Jack reminds him of Gibbs and his seriously lacking computer skills. Daniel Jackson had reminded him of someone, but he didn't realize who at the time until Jack made that reference.
He smiles again and then asks Jack "I…can I ask you something? Do you think she'd mind?"
"Mind what kid?"
"Do you think that Mom would mind if I called you Dad?"
###
A/N: For now this story is complete, but there is a lot of room for more stories to come out of it if anyone is interested...once I finish some of my other WIPs. As always I thank you for reading and reviewing... Tigyr