Training Wheels

Part: 1
Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on
paring: ensemble cast

Summary: Felix Gaeta is moving on but things are hard. And different. He needs the help of training wheels. This is the sequel to In Lord Iblis's Secret Service.

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. Stargate and its characters are creations of MGM. We make no money off this.

Part One

"What are you reading?"

Felix jumped at the sound and pushed away from his desk. Doors weren't as noisy as hatches and he… had begun to relax a to at least. He didn't lock the door to his quarters. The people in Stargate Command weren't likely to steal or sneak in to attack him and his living quarters weren't on the beaten path. In fact, he was fairly certain his room had been a storeroom before.

It was still bigger than his old rack on the Galactica. And unlike the cell in Iblis's fortress, he could open and close the door. Walk down to the cafeteria for food, or to the locker room if he wanted a shower. It still felt odd, to be able to walk around.

Dr. Janet Fraser stepped into the small room. "I didn't mean to startle you." She gestured to his desk. "I just saw you reading. I wanted to see how you were feeling." She smiled. "I haven't seen you in a week. I was worried."

A joke. He had spent his first three weeks in the small sick bay and had periodically been forced back due to illness or allergies since. "I've been all right… I was reading a book… The Shining…." He didn't really understand it, it was confusing and it seemed to based on Earth beliefs that didn't make a lot of sense, but the language was interesting.

She looked around the small space. He had gotten a few things, Jonas had helped, and it did look better. He had new sheets and a blue quilted blanket called a comforter according to all the advertising. The truth was that Jonas had encouraged him to buy a lot of things. New towels, despite having perfectly serviceable issued towels from the U.S. Air Force, several civilian outfits, new shoes he didn't even need, some wall hangings he didn't really understand but had intrigued him, and books to fill the empty places on his shelves. Dr. Frasier looked at the wall hangings, a smile on her face. " You like Salvadore Dali and Van Gogh?"

"Who?" He felt dumb. The truth was that he usually felt dumb when the people in Stargate Command talked about things other than technical issues with computers and physics. They had a completely different way of living and never really seemed to notice it.

" The artists… who painted these pictures. I had these prints when I was in college." She blinked, as if suddenly realizing something. "These pictures… they are prints of famous paintings. 'Starry Night Over The Rhone" is pretty famous and so is 'A Persistance of Memory'." She looked at him. "Why did you pick them?"

He pointed to the picture of the melting clocks. " This is interesting to look at. It almost makes me tired to look at it, but its…. Intriguing. I don't…. I don't know much about art to be honest. I took a class in high school." She merely waited so he pointed to the other picture. " This…. Is pretty. It looks like the city at night in the old days… Where I used to live." He had already gotten the impression that talking about a planet other than Earth was bad. It made sense, of course. Earth was nice, but in a lot of ways it was pretty primitive and the average Tau'ri would react badly to learning he wasn't from Earth. Dr. Frasier knew where he was from of course, and so did the average member of Stargate Command but he was trying to be careful.

"You know what you like, then," Dr. Frasier said easily. She looked around. "Have you thought about what you're going to do? You really can't stay here in Stargate Command forever, you know."

"General Hammond is arranging some credentials so that I look like a legal resident, and not… an illegal alien." That was apparently wasn't hard, but it took time to insert his identity and to build a legitimate history. He saw where Dr. Frasier was going, though. "I know I can't live in this room forever, I just…" He felt stupid saying it but, "I never had a place that wasn't my adoptive parents house, the children home, or a room on campus or base." He gestured around the small windowless room. "This is more room than I've had since…. A long time. And living on base, I never had bills…" He had looked at some of the apartment ads, mostly at Jonas's urging and things were much different on Earth. He hadn't even understood what 'utilities included' meant until Jonas had explained. And he didn't have a car, and he didn't want to ask for a car considering that everything including the clothes on his back had already been given to him. At the same time, NORAD was hardly walking distance from the local towns where a lot of the personnel lived. He was certain that there was a lot more he was missing. It was weird, because he had never really thought about how things had been taken care for him for so long. He didn't even know how to boil water, let alone make himself a meal. And soon he would need to live alone, in housing away from Stargate Command. It made him feel stupid, because everything was good for him and all he could do was worry.

"I had wondered if it was a little overwhelming. Do you have plans today?" Frasier smiled. "I thought I'd take you out for lunch and maybe show you a place. That way you have someone around to ask your questions and its not awkward. And you can meet my daughter. Come on it'll be fun." She eyed him. "You could use more fresh air."

He knew when he was beaten.

~*~

"It's ok to call me Janet," she said as the waitress took away the dishes. "And you need to work on the sirs. Women, even officers, are never called sir. Right Cassie?"

"That's right," the young girl said brightly. " Men are 'sir' and women are 'ma'am' and if someone is older than you, you should open the door for them. Right Mom?"

"Right." Janet found Felix almost childlike outside the walls of SGC and that made her glad that she had insisted on her plan. He was institutionalized, that was one of his biggest problems and she was surprised, and somewhat pleased, that he was willing to acknowledge it. She wasn't a psychiatrist, but she had talked to Felix's therapist and the man was concerned that unless pushed, Felix could easily end up in an institution. Felix had fit in well with the researchers at SGC and had already helped them make some important discoveries. Sam was very impressed with his mathematical knowledge, but Janet suspected that it was almost too easy for Felix. He was being handed a new uniform and was almost playing a role. And she suspected that it was a very easy role for him and that was why she wanted to make sure that the needs of Stargate Command didn't lead to him being completely unable to function outside of a military base. "So did you like your lunch?"

Felix nodded. "I don't see why they call this barbeque…. It's more like stir fried food."

Cassie liked Mongolian barbeque and Janet had thought the local restaurant would be a good place to see how Felix handled a lot of choices. Jonas had advised her that Felix had been unsettled and nervous at the small shopping mall but hadn't had any serious issues. He had been a little hesitant in the restaurant about picking what he wanted from the grill's many choices of vegetables and meats, but to a point she suspected he just didn't know what some things were. He readily accepted Cassie's advise and had asked if certain things were good or not. Cassie seemed to like him, which was definitely a plus considering what she had planned.

"This is one of Cassie's favorites," she said. "I'm glad you like it." And the Saturday lunch crowd was usually light, so it was a little easier. Felix seemed fine though. Nervous, but she had a feeling that his natural setting was going to be nervous for some time. He didn't seem unusually nervous and he had even been smiling as Cassie talked about the goings on at her school. "I know a place, a private home, where the owner is renting a basement apartment. It's really nice and the owner agreed to let me show you the place. It's close enough to the base that you can commute by car in five minutes."

"But I don't have a car," Felix said after a moment. "They don't look hard to learn, they seem pretty similar to what we used, but I'm not even sure how much money I make. Cars seem expensive."

"Once your identity here in the United States is firmly established, it won't be too hard for you to get a car. I think you're going to end up as a first lieutenant or a captain and that is a pretty reasonable paycheck." And Sam was already talking about how some of the innovations that Felix considered standard technology were revolutionary. Felix didn't know it but his identity was being established very carefully so that he could be set up with some good credentials. It would help when it came time to patent things. The Air Force would get a cut, a sizable cut, but she suspected that Felix would not be concerned about money for long. Still, she liked that he was concerned about it. It meant that he was thinking beyond his past, and was thinking about what the future was going to be like. She stood up. "Now come on. Let's at least check it out."

She thought her plan was a good one. Felix's therapist had agreed. He needed to learn how to live normally without feeling a huge amount of pressure. It wouldn't be a long term solution but it would given him the time he needed to figure out how to pass himself off as American. Or Canadian.

"It's bright out," he said, wincing slightly, as they stepped out into the early afternoon sun. He donned the stylish pair of sunglasses that she knew Jonas had encouraged him to buy. A handsome fellow, she thought with no small amount of amusement as she led him to her car.

"You're probably going to be light sensitive for a while," she said as they got into the car. "You're lucky that you're not fair, because I can't imagine what would happen to me if I had been out of direct sunlight for so long, but you can still burn and you need to be careful."

"I know," he said as he got into the car. It was hard to tell if he was annoyed or just frustrated. He was a hard read in a lot of ways. It was obvious that somewhere along the line he had been taught that showing fear or pain was wrong.

"You'll acclimate. I think eventually even a lot of your allergy issues are going to fade." It did worry her. Felix was worse than Daniel in a lot of ways. She suspected it was that a combination of how he had spent so long in almost complete isolation, the fact that he was a unique blood type, and the simple fact that Earth was loaded with different allergens. He was lucky to escape food allergies but once she had realized there was a problem, she had make sure to have him tested for all the common and most of the uncommon food allergens. That didn't help with the ragweed and pollen issues, and she suspected that respiratory infections were going to be a long term problem, but there were worse things.

The drive was fairly short although it went through a much less settled area. Lots of mountain views and farmland and she could see Felix was trying to not be upset. Still, it was clear he was turning an off grey color for a reason. "Try taking a deep breaths and counting to five," she said after a moment. "You're inside the car."

Felix wasn't agoraphobic according to his therapist, just very unfamiliar, and unused to horizons and outdoor space. Coupled with all of the other sudden changes in his life, the outdoors could trigger panic attacks. It was one of the reasons she wanted him out of Stargate Command. It was too easy for him to hole up inside the mountain if he was never required to leave. He took a deep breath and held it for a moment. "I'm ok," he said, just a touch breathlessly.

"Good," she said as she turned on the car's cd player. Felix liked music, although he was hesitant to admit to liking anything, and she had made sure to have a classical cd in the car just in case. Vivaldi's Four Seasons began to chime in the car and she could see him begin to relax. "See? That's the place."

"There's a *whirlpool Jacuzzi*," Cassie said excitedly. "And there's a big yard." Cassie went about how nice the yard and stream and woods were. It was a little gratifying, all things considered. Cassie was being a big help, a better help than she had any right to expect from a twelve year old.

"Is the owner here?" Felix said hesitantly.

"Yes," Janet said brightly as she led him to the front door. "In fact you've met the owner already."

"Really? Someone from work then?" His look was quizzical.

"Yes, this is my house, Felix. I used to rent the basement out to medical students when I first moved here, and then Cassie came along so I didn't have time for renters and a child. But she's a little older, and you need a place. It might not be what you're looking for but I thought I would show it to you so you could at least get an idea of what is out there." She was fairly certain he would agree for no other reason than that it appeared easy and convenient. So she made sure to be honest. "I'm worried about you. I don't want you to keep living in the mountain because you're stuck here and you need to learn how to fit in. You won't learn that by staying in Stargate Command. At the same time, I don't think you can pass right now as an American military officer and I am against just sending you out to rent an apartment. You need to wet your feet in an environment where you can talk about where you're from, without worrying about it. I know you're not from Earth, and Cassie *isn't* from Earth so you would be helping her as well."

That was a bit of a fib in that Cassie had been young enough to adapt to a world that was much higher tech than her own, but she didn't see the need to spell that out to Felix. "And," she said forcefully, sensing the next potential issue, " it's not charity. You will pay rent and that rent pays the loan I took when I bought this too big house."

After a moment he shrugged sheepishly. " I think you're being too kind," he said easily, " but it would be rude for me not to look."

She had made sure that the basement apartment had a suitably blank look to it. It wasn't really an apartment at all, the house just had a large basement that the previous owner had finished. There was a large bedroom, a full bathroom and a big extra living room with a bar alcove. With four bedrooms on the ground floor, it was really a much bigger house than she needed, but she had gotten it in the divorce and there hadn't been any pressing need to move or downsize.

"Wow…. This is huge…" Felix said appreciatively as they walked down into the basement. He looked at the leather couch, and easy chair, and then at the small bar that her previous tenants had used as a kitchen. He grinned suddenly. "This room is bigger than the Admiral's quarters. Is there a bed? Like a pull out?"

Janet let herself smile as well. Felix really wasn't used to even a middle class lifestyle, which surprised her a little, and years of deprivation hadn't helped. He was fun to surprise with things that she hadn't even considered luxuries. "This is your living room. There's an actual bedroom down that little hallway. And your own bathroom."

He was so surprised, he let Cassie pull him into the bedroom to show him the queen sized bed. "You even get your own door out to the Jacuzzi!" Cassie said excitedly. "We have to use the stairs from the deck."

"It is like your own little private patio," Janet added. She knew, from his expression, that he was overwhelmed so she made sure to keep it light and not let him think too much about it. "Here's the downside. It's really not a separate apartment, you don't have a kitchen. So you'll eat with us upstairs in the kitchen or the dining room. The laundry is down here, so both Cassie and I will be down here occasionally. I don't have a second tv so if you want to watch tv, you come upstairs and watch the one up there." In other words, he would need to interact with people instead of eating by himself in a cafeteria and then reading by himself in an underground ex-storage closet.

"What about work? I still don't have a car." He looked at the bedroom wistfully.

"Until you get a license, General Hammond agreed that you can work the same schedule I do." Which meant less work all around since Hammond and Felix's psychiatrist agreed that the man needed to learn how to relax and function on a normal schedule. The ten years as a Goa'uld prisoner and subsequent rescue hadn't done much to Felix's work ethic. He worked until someone told him to stop and tended to treat every request as a crisis. "And like I said, this isn't charity. You will be used around the house for home improvement projects. You will carry things. You will cook dinner and when winter comes, you will shovel snow."

"Well…. I've never actually seen snow….." He looked at her shrewdly. "You… volunteered for this didn't you?"

"I suggested it actually." She took him by the hand. "I think you have spent an awfully long time devoting yourself to helping and protecting other people. It's all right to accept some help for yourself. It's not going to be easy to fit in here without some training wheels."

After a moment he nodded. "All right… but what are training wheels?"

TBC...