New Life, New Love, In Canada

by Bethany

URL: http://www.stargateslash.com/asb/bethany7/newlifen.php
Summary: Jack is a cop, when his wife, Janet Frasier, gets shot & dies. Home in Canada with his & Janet's son, Jack once again joins the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, alongside old friend Benton Fraser. He meets, & falls in love with Ben's friend, Daniel Jackson!

When his wife, the Doctor on call, that night, died at the Police Station where he worked, Jack O'Neill knew he could never work there again... Janet Frasier had been his world.

So, when Constable Benton Fraser, of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police back home, told him to get back to Canada, and there'd be a job waiting for him, Jack and his son moved up to Canada... Jack wasn't sure whether being around his old friend Ben, a man with a remarkably similar surname to the wife he was grieving for, was the wisest thing – That reminder every day... But, he went back home.

____

"Jack O'Neill," Benton Fraser began, "meet Daniel Jackson..." Ben purposely left off Daniel's title of Doctor, as in Doctor of Archaeology.

"Hi..." Jack shook Daniel's hand.

"Daniel is another friend of mine who has just moved here..." Benton explained.

"Oh?" Jack replied, looking at Daniel.

"Uhu." Daniel smiled. "Had enough of travelling, being around so many people a lot of the time..."

"I get that..." Jack said. "What did you used to do for a living?"

"I'm an Archaeologist." Daniel answered. "Or at least, I was... These days, I'm a Researcher..."

"Cool." Jack grinned. "Never been that much of a book-worm myself, but my son's better than I was at that kind of schoolwork. He takes after his mother... She was so proud of him!"

"My wife and I never managed to have children." Daniel mused.

"Sorry." Jack said simply.

"Me, too." Daniel stated genuinely

___

"You two should enjoy some fishing up at my cabin this weekend..." Fraser suggested. "Ray and I are heading Due South for Chicago once again..."

Ray Vecchio nodded, as he ate his pizza, with Deifenbaker, the wolf, watching his every mouthful. "You're coming, too, Deif!" He mumbled around his mouthful. "And, in Chicago, we can get Pizza we don't have to cook ourselves!"

"You're Italian, Ray, one would think that you would know how to cook a pizza!" Benton chided him kindly.

"Benny, my Ma never lets me in her kitchen!" Ray replied.

"We do not cook our pizzas in her kitchen, Ray!" Ben stated.

___

"Are you okay?" Daniel asked Jack, as they headed up to their friend, Ben's, cabin.

"Jus' thinking about Shane, hopin' he'll be okay at his buddy's house..." Jack replied as he drove along.

"We have a radio, and our phones. His parents should be able to contact us somehow, should he want you to collect him..." Daniel assured Jack.

"Yeah..." Jack replied.

____

In front of the fire that evening, eating the spaghetti bolognaise Jack had cooked, he and Daniel sat at the table in the little living room and talked.

"So, you have Italian blood, too, do you... Like Ray?" Daniel asked, as he sipped his red wine.

"Partly... My Da' was Irish, but my Mamma, she was the Italian!" Jack smiled, lapsing back into the old, appropriate accents of his childhood. "Translation..." Jack smiled ruefully. "I am an entirely lapsed Catholic!"

"I have Polish blood in me, from my Maternal Grandparents' side, but they settled in America many moons ago... My mother didn't even have an accent." Daniel recalled.

"You an orphan, too?" Jack carefully asked.

"An orphan, and a widower, like you..." Daniel said.

Jack nodded.

"Been an orphan since I was eight." Daniel didn't know if he should mention that.

"The same age as Shane..." Jack noted.

____

In front of the fire, now sitting on the sofa, Jack and Daniel continued to talk all night.

"I met Sha're while I was on one of the digs in Arabia..." Daniel used the place's old name. "Married her, but two years later, she was killed by a jealous man, who knew she was not his to take..." Daniel said bitterly.

"Was he caught?" Jack asked.

"He faced justice..." Daniel drank down his wine, and then, poured himself another.

"The guy who shot Janet in the police cell certainly made sure he got himself a life sentence." Jack said, thinking of how he'd also got Jack one, too, and Shane...

__

As the night wore on, Jack and Daniel still sat, facing each other, at either end of the same sofa.

As Daniel got closer, Jack did not flinch, but he was surprised when Daniel kissed him.

"Did I get it wrong?" Daniel asked. "You're not Bi, too?"

Jack swallowed past the tears caught in his throat at hearing the truth spoken out-loud, even if by another man...

"Sorry... I shouldn't have. You're not ready. Janet's still with you too much..." Daniel said.

"It's not that, not that I didn't love her... It's just, you said what I've never been able to..." Jack told Daniel.

"Janet didn't know?" Daniel asked.

"It was an unspoken truth between us... She knew I loved her..." Jack said.

"You hate speaking about love and her in past tense, don't you?" Daniel asked knowingly.

"It seems disloyal, but..." Jack began. Then, he kissed Daniel to prove his point, and broke away again... "Shane will never understand this of his Dad..."

____

"Did you know?" Jack asked Ben.

"Know what?" Ben asked, as he stood at the filing cabinet in a corner of the office, back in Canada.

"About Daniel's orientation..?" Jack prompted.

"His orientation skills?" Ben asked innocently.

"No." Jack said calmly. "His orientation."

"Is it a problem to you? I would not have thought so..." Constable Fraser mused.

"It's not a problem." Jack whispered. "Not until I admit that..." Jack trailed off.

"That what?" Fraser asked.

"That something happened, and that I feel the same way..." Jack managed.

Benton smiled.

"It's not something to smile about..." Jack puzzled. "How do I explain it to Shane? What would Janet think? What would the courts think, if they ever had to know... Charlie..." Jack spoke of his son, who died, from his first marriage. Jack still blamed himself. "Then, Janet, and then this apparent change in lifestyle... I'm supposed to be finding another Mamma for Shane, not another father!"

"Charlie," Ben began. "was not your fault. Neither was Janet. One was an accident, one was murder, perpetrated by someone else, neither incident was any fault of yours. That's clear! And you have a dozen character witnesses in your friends and colleagues. Besides, bisexuality, Jack, is not as uncommon as you might think..."

___

"Shane, you know I loved your Mamma, right? That part of me still will, forever?" Jack sat his son down in their living room.

"Yeah..." Shane said.

"And you know how we once talked about how, one day, I might find someone... You know what I mean?" Jack furthered.

"I'm not that stupid, Dad!" Eight year old Shane O'Neill replied.

"I know!" Jack grinned. "Has anyone ever told you, explained to you at all, about how some men love other men, some women love other women, and sometimes, a man, or a woman, can be attracted to both their own gender, and the opposite sex..?"

"I've heard stuff about it... Like I said," Shane said matter-of-factly, "I'm not that stupid!"

"What do you think about it?" Jack asked his son. "Do you think it can happen?"

"I guess so..." Shane fathomed. "Mom always said, it's the person inside that counts..."

"Wise woman your Mom..." Jack said proudly.

"Why, Dad?" Shane asked. "Are you bisexual?"

Jack was taken aback. He paused, for a long while, and then, he answered. "Yes."

"But I don't have to see you kiss whoever you bring home, a woman, or another guy?" Shane pondered.

"No. You don't!" Jack laughed.

"Who is it??" Shane asked.

"A man named Daniel..." Jack answered simply.

___

Jack opened his front door, and found Daniel on his doorstep, smiling.

Jack smiled back, despite his nerves. "Hello, you!"

"Hi..." Daniel said warmly.

Part of Jack wanted to kiss Daniel there and then, to rekindle the heat of their weekend away, the love they'd ended up making... "Come indoors..." Jack stepped aside from the door. "Shane!" He called, as he closed the front door.

Shane came from his room. "Hi." He said, as he stood now, with his Dad and Daniel.

"Hi." Daniel said easily.

Shane stuck out his hand for Daniel to shake.

Daniel shook it.

Jack grinned.

____

"That went well..." Jack smiled, as he handed Daniel a coffee, and spoke of dinner.

Daniel smiled, taking the cup. "It did!" He said genuinely.

"Cool, huh?!" Jack sat down on the sofa.

"Way cool!" Daniel laughed happily.

Shane had just been taken to hockey practice for the afternoon, by his friend, and the boy's parents, Murray and Samantha Carter.

"There will be some people who worry about my relationship with you though..." Jack said awkwardly.

Daniel nodded, as a sip of coffee went down. "You talked to Shane about that too, didn't you?"

"Yeah..." Jack said.

"Are you going to speak to your friends?" Daniel queried.

"Those I trust..." Jack answered. "I've already spoken to Ben, and to the parents of George, Shane's friend, and Ryan, George's half brother , the Carters, whom you just met."

"Did that go well?" Daniel enquired.

"It was the most awkward thing I've ever done..." Jack said. "But I thought, maybe, honesty would be the best bet!"

"You're right..." Daniel replied. "How did they respond?"

"I think they appreciated the lack of covertness..." Jack answered his lover.

"I'm glad!" Daniel stated, with hope. "Now, let's just hope that everyone else is as kind and un-bigoted..."

Jack reached across, taking Daniel's coffee, and putting it down on the table by the sofa, with his own... He turned back to Daniel, and he kissed him. "I love you..." He promised Daniel, while he prayed to his late wife Janet, and to the God he tried to believe in. He so wanted everything to be okay...

The End

Author's Note: I make no money, and mean to step on no one's toes at all,by writing my stories... Feedback welcome as long as it is always polite.