[Stargate: Drabble] "Mothers & Daughters" [G]
Title: Mothers & Daughters
Prompt: writerverse challenge #13 weekly quick fic #4 (‘we learn more from loss than from anything’ & ‘just one more…’)
Bonus angst
Word Count: 487
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Setting: this is part of my post-series future!verse but can stand alone
Summary: The little girl was history repeating, but Cassie still doesn’t know how to help her.
Note(s): originally posted to the writerverse wv_library
Mothers & Daughters
Cassandra Fraiser had lived on Earth for much longer than she’d lived on her home planet. Sometimes, she had trouble remembering her life on Hanka. Daniel had searched SG-14’s video records for a picture of her parents, which her new mother had immediately framed and put on their mantle- and it was still there, beside the picture of Janet in her dress uniform.
Cassie still loved her birth parents with all her heart, still remembered their voices and their love, but standing in the doorway to her childhood bedroom, watching the child sleeping soundly in her old bed, it was Janet she missed most fiercely.
This little girl was history repeating- SG-1 had found her, the only survivor of a dead planet, and they had brought her back to Earth. Miranda was younger than Cassie had been, about seven or eight, but she had no trace of naquadah in her blood, no matter how close she’d gotten to the stargate. Cassie had let out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding when Carolyn Lam had given the girl a clean bill of health.
Sam and Jack had their own family now, so did Daniel and Vala, but none of them had questioned that Cassie would be the one to take Miranda in. Cassie hadn’t questioned it, either- she’d moved meetings, cancelled appointments and gotten two assistants to sign the SGC’s nondisclosure agreement and be read into the program, but she hadn’t left the mountain until Miranda had been cleared to go as well.
The girl made a soft noise and shifted in her sleep, and Cassie wondered if Janet had ever stayed up like this when she was little, watching her. She must have, because every time Cassie had woken from a nightmare of Hanka dying around her, Janet had been there to comfort her, even when Cassie had tried to push her away.
As if on cue, Miranda stirred, kicking out at her blankets. Cassie froze. If Janet had ever been this terrified of doing the wrong thing, she’d never shown it, so Cassie knelt beside the bed, reaching out to touch Miranda’s shoulder.
“Hey,” she said, softly, which didn’t feel like nearly enough. “Miranda, sweetheart, it’s just a bad dream…”
The girl blinked awake, looking wildly around the room, before launching herself into Cassie’s arms. “They’re dead!” she sobbed. “Everyone’s dead!”
Cassie rubbed her back, helpless, whispering nonsense into Miranda’s hair. In that moment, she would have given anything to have just one more day with her mom, not just because Janet would know what to say to Miranda, but to thank her for taking Cassie in all those years ago, for loving her and supporting her, for being who she needed even when she thought she didn’t need anyone.
Miranda hiccupped, resting her head on Cassie’s shoulder. “I want Mama,” she whispered.
Cassie hugged her tightly. “I do, too, sweetie. I do, too.”
THE END
Current Mood:
calm
Prompt: writerverse challenge #13 weekly quick fic #4 (‘we learn more from loss than from anything’ & ‘just one more…’)
Bonus angst
Word Count: 487
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Setting: this is part of my post-series future!verse but can stand alone
Summary: The little girl was history repeating, but Cassie still doesn’t know how to help her.
Note(s): originally posted to the writerverse wv_library
Mothers & Daughters
Cassandra Fraiser had lived on Earth for much longer than she’d lived on her home planet. Sometimes, she had trouble remembering her life on Hanka. Daniel had searched SG-14’s video records for a picture of her parents, which her new mother had immediately framed and put on their mantle- and it was still there, beside the picture of Janet in her dress uniform.
Cassie still loved her birth parents with all her heart, still remembered their voices and their love, but standing in the doorway to her childhood bedroom, watching the child sleeping soundly in her old bed, it was Janet she missed most fiercely.
This little girl was history repeating- SG-1 had found her, the only survivor of a dead planet, and they had brought her back to Earth. Miranda was younger than Cassie had been, about seven or eight, but she had no trace of naquadah in her blood, no matter how close she’d gotten to the stargate. Cassie had let out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding when Carolyn Lam had given the girl a clean bill of health.
Sam and Jack had their own family now, so did Daniel and Vala, but none of them had questioned that Cassie would be the one to take Miranda in. Cassie hadn’t questioned it, either- she’d moved meetings, cancelled appointments and gotten two assistants to sign the SGC’s nondisclosure agreement and be read into the program, but she hadn’t left the mountain until Miranda had been cleared to go as well.
The girl made a soft noise and shifted in her sleep, and Cassie wondered if Janet had ever stayed up like this when she was little, watching her. She must have, because every time Cassie had woken from a nightmare of Hanka dying around her, Janet had been there to comfort her, even when Cassie had tried to push her away.
As if on cue, Miranda stirred, kicking out at her blankets. Cassie froze. If Janet had ever been this terrified of doing the wrong thing, she’d never shown it, so Cassie knelt beside the bed, reaching out to touch Miranda’s shoulder.
“Hey,” she said, softly, which didn’t feel like nearly enough. “Miranda, sweetheart, it’s just a bad dream…”
The girl blinked awake, looking wildly around the room, before launching herself into Cassie’s arms. “They’re dead!” she sobbed. “Everyone’s dead!”
Cassie rubbed her back, helpless, whispering nonsense into Miranda’s hair. In that moment, she would have given anything to have just one more day with her mom, not just because Janet would know what to say to Miranda, but to thank her for taking Cassie in all those years ago, for loving her and supporting her, for being who she needed even when she thought she didn’t need anyone.
Miranda hiccupped, resting her head on Cassie’s shoulder. “I want Mama,” she whispered.
Cassie hugged her tightly. “I do, too, sweetie. I do, too.”
THE END
Current Mood:
calm