Truth To Tell

by Bethany

URL: http://www.stargateslash.com/asb/bethany7/truthtot.php
Summary: Jack goes to visit his daughter and her kids. She makes him see sense about Daniel

Daniel looked at Jack, and tried not to remember the sight of the Staff-Gun blast streaking through his eyes... Those eyes were sad. "Go see her..." He told Jack. "Take your time, like you've told me to a thousand times," he said with a grin on his lips just a little bit, "and go see your daughter and Grandkids..." He rubbed Jack's black T shirted shoulder companionably.

***

Jack smiled at his daughter, and they hugged as she opened the door, the twins standing one either side of her. It was a beautiful picture.

"Hailey!" He kissed her cheek, hugging her again. His daughter, five years older than Charlie would have been, was named after Hailey's Comet, by her stargazing Dad, Jack O'Neill...

He bent down, and the twins rushed into his arms. It was one of those hallmark moments. Luke and Leanna, his grandchildren. Jack was so happy to be with his family again, but he always felt like someone was missing, and whenever he looked at Luke, his breath was taken away....

"I know... Looking at him, I worry, too..." Hailey admitted.

"Nothing will happen to him!" Jack squeezed his daughter's hand, as she took him through the house, with the children, out into the back garden on this summery afternoon.

"I know!" She tried to believe. "But he just looks so much like him!" She spoke of her brother Charlie, as she watched her children play safely.

"Yeah-sure-you-betcha..." Jack replied, quiet and contemplative.

"Things not busy at work?" Hailey asked. She, sort of, knew what her father did, how he kept them all safe, because of that incident about five years ago, when she and her mother, Sara, thought Jack had come home to see them, and make sense of it all...

"I just needed to see ya..." Jack said.

"You okay?" Hailey looked at her father carefully.

"Yeah, I'm fine – Just needed to come home, and a friend assured me I could..." Jack answered.

"I'm glad..." Hailey told her Dad. "You know you can, Dad. It's alright!" She knew her Dad was afraid he was a jinx to the twins,that something would happen again, and it would be his fault once more, in his eyes. Charlie's death wasn't his fault anyway. He'd been told to keep away from the gun. It was even locked up!

Jack smiled. "You want a cola or somethin'?" He asked, like he'd as her when she was a little girl.

"They're in the fridge..." She smiled.

"One each for us, and one shared out for the kids?" Jack asked.

She nodded. "Uhu..."

***

When Jack came back from the kitchen with the drinks, and when the kids had gone back to playing with the sandpit, he broached another subject. "You ok since Dale left?"

"I promise you I am..." Hailey replied. "I don't blame him for having the affair, Dad."

"Why the hell not??" Jack asked.

"Because I couldn't give him what he wanted..." Hailey paused a little.

"You gave him two glorious kids!" Jack pointed to the twins.

"And he's still in their lives, Dad. A heck of a lot! The split was amicable!" Hailey assured him.

"Can't live with, can't live without him, huh??" Jack touched her arm gently.

"I'm gay, Dad..." Hailey admitted, looking up at him.

Jack drew in a breath. "I'm sorry..."

"What for, Dad? You're not going to take the Air Force's stance, are you?" Hailey pondered, disbelievingly. He just lived by it, didn't have to agree with it.

"No way!!" Jack said firmly. "I love you, my daughter, no damn matter what!!"

Hailey smiled.

"I'm sorry because I might have to tell you something now. You and only you. I loved your Mom, I promise you that..." Jack started.

"Mom's not gay. It didn't get passed to me by genetics – That's just a theory, for some cases..!" Hailey replied.

"I know it is, but I wasn't talking about your Mom..." Jack looked to his daughter, and met her dark eyes.

"You?" She nearly whispered.

He looked at her, frozen. "Your Mom is the only woman I both lived with, and loved... I didn't use her, I swear, Hailey – But she was an answer to prayer for a very confused, young Airman who'd been told he couldn't live the way he wanted to..."

Hailey was amazed at her father's frankness... "And, later in life, now, you're dealing with your sexuality?" She asked bravely.

"Trying to, given the circumstances..." Jack said.

Hailey couldn't be angry. She believed her father utterly. He was a very loyal man. And she would be a hypocrite if she was insecure about what he'd just confessed. "Thanks for telling me, Dad..." She stood, and as Jack did, too, they hugged. "Is there anyone?" She asked.

He nodded absentmindedly. "How about you?"

"You can meet Justine on your next visit..." She promised. "The kids have. They really like her, and they're not confused. They know who a father is, who theirs is, too, Thank God, and they know that men and women still have relationships, too..."

Jack smiled assuredly. "Bet they'd get confused if Granddad turned up with a boyfriend though! He laughed a little.

"You're not an old man, Dad! You had us kids young, and you deserve a life!" Hailey told him. "I'm very secure that my kids know what's what, already, in life – They have friends with parents who've stayed together! You deserve a life, and happiness!" She repeated.

"Not while I'm in the U.S.A.F!" He said bitterly. "And I'm not even sure he knows..."

"Daniel, you mean?" Hailey asked.

"How did you know?!" Jack looked to her.

"We're a lot alike, Father!" She joked. "As we've just confirmed!"

"I don't know how he'd react, even if I could say anything...." Jack said.

"I think he'd be fine..!" Hailey smiled brightly, and prayed that she was right...

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.