Nobody Said it Would be Easy

Disclaimer: See Prologue for disclaimer.
Rating: PG-13

Chapter 1

Two days after leaving Britain, Harry Evans and his son Teddy officially arrived in Colorado Springs. They looked worse for wear after two days of travel. Harry, both tired and stressed, had been up the entire 48 hours and Teddy was restless from the long plane ride across the pond. Harry apparated to a secluded part near their new home and after checking to see that everything was clear, walked up to the front door. It was past midnight and Harry was ready to fall over.

Pulling the house keys from his pocket, he opened the door and walked in. Searching around for a light switch, he finally found one after a few minutes. As the light came on he smiled and mumbled, “Thanks Dobby.”

The house was completely unpacked and set to rights. The furniture was arranged, there was food in the ice box and pantry and their clothes folded and hung in the closets. A small lab was set up in the basement for potions with a two year supply of the most used potions like blood replenishers, pain potions, pepper-up potions, skelegro, etc. However, the most comforting of all things in the house were the freshly made beds for both Harry and Teddy.

Teddy’s bedroom was perfect and Harry couldn’t help but smile. Each wall had a mural painted on it depicting a muggle fairy tale in vibrant colors. Toys and plush animals lined the walls and a large book case stood against one wall with hundreds of children’s books stacked neatly on it. Beside the book shelf was a comfy overstuffed chair that rocked, perfect for reading a good night story. There was a small changing table stacked with diapers, baby powder, rash ointment, you name it. A large crib stood near it with light blue fabric draped around it, giving a soft dreamlike quality to it. Above the crib was a mobile with all kinds of magical creatures hanging down from it.

“So, what do you think, Teddy? Is it alright?” Harry asked Teddy as he moved in a slow circle showing his son the room.

Teddy, who happened to be sucking his fist at the moment, stared up at Harry and gave him a sleepy smile.

“Guess it’s time for bed, Teddy. Huh?”

Harry slowly walked to the closet and opened it, searching for comfy sleepwear for Teddy. Once Teddy was changed, Harry laid him down in crib and set a monitoring charm on him to notify Harry if he woke up.

For the next hour Harry made sure that everything was in order and then secured the house with a few strong wards, anti-apparation wards for anyone but Harry and alarms to monitor the surrounding area of the house. He couldn’t perform a fidelius charm or an unplottable charm because they were living in a muggle neighborhood. So wards and other spells would have to do as protection.

He hoped that he had covered their tracks so that the Ministry couldn’t track them. Before the article in the paper, he had researched how to mask his magical signature and had performed the spell for both himself and Teddy. He wasn’t sure if the Ministry even had Teddy’s magical signature, but he wasn’t taking any chances. He had also, under a heavy glamour, acquired a new and untraceable wand to use. If everything went according to plan, they would never be found.

When he felt secure enough, Harry turned off the lights and made his way upstairs to the master bedroom. The room was nothing like his old room at Grimmauld Place. It was large and filled with a mix of traditional and cottage style furnishings. A large king size bed dominated the room and reminded him of his old bed at Hogwarts, just much larger.

It also had several windows and French doors that led out to a small patio that overlooked the large backyard and deck below. The backyard had been one of the reasons he purchased the home. It was about twice the size of the house with several fruit trees and a few large weeping willows. A swing set and small jungle gym sat about forty feet from the house, just waiting for Teddy to be old enough to play on it. A deck furnished with comfy lounge chairs and an outdoor table and chair set was just above the large in-ground pool.

The pool had been one of the first items Harry had Dobby take care of after he purchased the house. It was set with a charm around it, an age line. The idea had been inspired by Dumbledore’s age line that had surrounded the Goblet of Fire in Harry’s fourth year. It wouldn’t allow anyone under the age of twelve more than five feet near the pool unless an adult was nearby.

Harry had spent over three months looking for the right house. He had wanted to give Teddy everything that he never had and what Remus and Tonks weren’t able to give anymore. As the search had continued through the first month into the second into the third, he had felt ridiculous. He had found many houses that were more than acceptable, but nothing had felt right. Then when he was almost ready to give up and choose from one of the houses he had already found, he ran across a listing for the house.

It was everything he had been searching for. Large and spacious, in a good neighborhood, a large backyard with a pool, one of the best school systems in the state… but the final decision had been simply that it felt right; all of it added up to the right fit for them. Before the day was over he had purchased the house and began making plans to fill it.

Now that they were in the house, Harry knew it had been the right choice. It would be the perfect home to raise Teddy in. After the last year both of them needed normalcy in their lives. Teddy had only been a month old when Remus and Tonks died and within a few months they had been restricted to Grimmauld Place and The Burrow. With the threat from the Ministry, neither Harry nor Teddy was safe anywhere else.

Harry still had a hard time dealing with the events of the last few years. Since the moment he found out he was a wizard his life had been a non-stop roller coaster or nightmare really. So many had died and Harry was both angry and sad that that much life had to be extinguished to finally defeat Voldemort. First it had been Cedric, then Sirius and in the final battle nearly everyone. The ache of their loss was still so fresh. It was ironic that the reason he had fought Voldemort had been killed in the battle to defeat him. He had done it for his family and friends and in the end they were the ones to die.

He had accepted that he probably would die in the final battle, he had welcomed it. After so many years of pain and sorrow, to be able to free them all from Voldemort for good… it had been worth his death in exchange. However, in fate’s sick and twisted wisdom, Harry had survived and they hadn’t.

With a sigh, Harry changed into a pair of cotton pants and crawled into bed. A quiet ‘nox’ and the lights went out.

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At just after eleven a.m. Jack O’Neill pulled into his driveway. After a long night of debriefing that went into the early morning at SGC, Hammond had finally released them to go home. The Replicators were eliminated, at least on Earth and he and SG-1 had a second go round for a little down time.

Getting out of his truck, he was just about to walk inside when a spiffy new black Land Rover pulled into the driveway next door. The house had been empty for about four months, after his neighbors had sold the house to someone who had never even seen it before. A real estate agent had arrived, taken pictures of the house for her client and within the day, it had been bought. The old owners had moved out within a month and he hadn’t seen anyone since then.

The driver’s door on the Land Rover opened and a guy in his late teens stepped out. He was about five foot five, a hundred thirty pounds, lithe muscular build, messy black hair, glasses and startling emerald green eyes. He was in a pair of frayed jeans and a black t-shirt that molded to his body like a second skin. ‘He’s sex on a stick’, Jack thought and then frowned in annoyance. The kid was probably only seventeen or eighteen years old and Jack was old enough to be his father. He felt like a dirty old man perving on jailbait.

Jack watched as the teen opened one of the rear doors and halfway climbed in. He spent a few seconds doing something out of Jack’s eye line and then pulled back with a baby in his arms. The kid, no more than a year or so old, was giggling at the teen as he sucked on a neatly folded fist in his mouth and used the other hand to tug on the knit cap on his head. The teen put the baby down onto his feet as he shut the door and slowly walked the baby towards the house.

All of a sudden a small dog from out of nowhere came barreling out of the thicket near the house and barked. The teen was startled and lost his footing and tripped over a sprinkler head. The teen fell, letting go of the baby allowing the baby to fall back on its bottom to the grass harmlessly. The dog ran away just as quickly and the baby laughed and clapped his hands in excitement.

“Bloody buggering fuck!” The teen yelled.

“Fock!” The baby laughed as he clapped his hands again.

“I have been trying to get you to say ‘daddy’ for weeks and you choose that as your first word?” The teen said in a heavy English accent. “Figures.”

Jack couldn’t help but snort in laughter hearing the teen as he ran over. The teen cradled his ankle protectively and grimaced.

“Hey kid, are you okay?” Jack said as he knelt down beside the two.

“Yeah, just twisted my ankle a bit.” He answered. “I’ll be fine.”

He tried to stand, quickly fell back in pain with a groan.

“Looks like you need some help. Here let me help you up.” Jack stated as he stood up and leaned down to wrap an arm around the teen’s waist.

Once on his feet, he looked at the baby and then at Jack. “Ah… could you help me bring Teddy inside. I don’t think I’ll be able to hold him and limp inside.”

“Sure, kid. Oh, I’m Jack O’Neill by the way.” Jack said.

“Harry Evans and that’s my son Teddy.” Harry greeted.

Teddy, hearing his name, giggled and then squealed, “Fooock!”

Jack laughed and said, “I think he’s found his favorite word.”

“Apparently…” Harry replied in a dry tone.

“Here, can you hold yourself up while I pick him up?” Jack asked.

“Yeah.” Harry answered.

Jack leaned down and pulled up Teddy into his arms and read what was on the babies t-shirt. ‘Don’t look at me that smells coming from my Daddy!’ Jack laughed and then wrapped his other arm around the teen’s waist and walked into the house, Harry limping beside him.

“Wow, you got everything in here quick! I’ve only been gone for a few days.” Jack said as he led them over to a couch in the living room.

“Yeah… I ah… had a service do it for me before we came out here. Just got in last night.” Harry stated as he sat down on the couch and took Teddy from Jack’s arms.

“Did you just move here from the U.K.?”

“Yeah, I have been making plans for a while, like the house and stuff, but had to wait until the right time to move.”Harry replied.

“Do you have anything in your SUV you want me to get for you?”

“Oh, yeah, if you don’t mind. There’s some stuff in the rear.” Answered Harry as he handed the keys to him.

“Be right back.” Jack said as jogged out the door.

Harry from the couch looked out the window at his neighbor and whistled low. “They sure do know how to make them here in America, Teddy.”

Jack was tall, probably at least six one or six two, broad muscular shoulders, a trim waist, long legs encased in weather worn jeans and an arse that was made to be fondled. He had salt and pepper hair, warm brown eyes with laugh lines at the corners and kissable lips. He had a body that was created by physical labor not hours spent in the gym. In short, he was everything that made Harry sit up and beg, well physically anyways.

In the last few years, since he admitted he was gay, Harry had only a hand full of lovers; a blowjob here, a hand job there, nothing serious. His obligations and the danger to those he loved kept him from going any further. Since the end of the war he really hadn’t had time to even think about it. Harry had found himself becoming an instant parent overnight and had to learn how to care for a baby. Once he began to get the hang of things, his tenuous relationship with the wizarding world had kept him from even trying after that.

Now he was free of Voldemort, had a handle on being a single parent and was away from the wizarding world. He could finally contemplate having a relationship that actually had promise of being more. Of course, Jack seemed pretty straight and Harry was probably too young for him even if he was gay or bi.

“He’s probably married anyways…” Harry said to himself.

From the window Harry saw Jack grab the four shopping bags and walk inside. “Where do you want me to put these?”

“Just set those down on the kitchen table, please.” Harry answered and pointed to the kitchen.

A minute later Jack was back from the kitchen and said, “So do you have something to wrap that in and some aspirins or something. I can fix that up for you.”

Harry knew he could just use a quick healing spell, but couldn’t risk it now that Jack knew he was hurt.

“Probably not, I didn’t think of that when I purchased everything. It’ll be fine though; I can just put some ice on it and play around with Teddy here on the couch and rest it.”

“You know what I got a wrap and aspirins at my house, I’ll be right back.” Jack said quickly and then left.

Harry quickly pulled out his wand and cast a health check spell on his ankle. The spell showed that it was just a mild sprain, so Harry cast a light healing charm to ease the pain and swelling. It wouldn’t heal it completely, but it would help enough that he would be fine within a day or two, instead of a couple of weeks. He couldn’t risk doing anymore, unless he was willing for Jack to become suspicious.

Teddy currently stood against the couch, lightly banging his fist against the cushions and laughing. He bounced on his feet and waved a hand around, giggling at Harry. He pulled his hat off in a quick move and tried to hand it to Harry with an unspoken ta-da!

“That’s impressive luv, but what did I tell you about our hats? Hum? We got to keep your hair covered in public until you learn how to control your metamorphic abilities. I don’t think Jack would buy premature graying on a baby…” Harry said as he quickly put Teddy’s hat back on as he currently had salt and pepper hair that was very similar to Jack’s.

A few minutes later, Jack was back with a wrap for Harry’s ankle, some aspirins and an ice pack.

“Thanks by the way, I probably would have had to crawl inside with Teddy if you hadn’t come along.”

“It’s no problem. I took care of Sasha too.” Jack said and then explained more at Harry’s confused look. “That’s Greg Lowell’s dog, he lives a couple houses down. Greg hasn’t caught on that you can’t let your dog go running around without a leash.”

“It wasn’t too bad; at least Sasha wasn’t a big dog. I might of had had a problem then.” Harry replied.

“Okay, let’s take a look at that ankle…” Jack stated as he knelt down beside Harry’s lower half and raised up his pant leg. He unlaced Harry’s trainer and slipped it off. Harry gave a grimace as the shoe was removed. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

Jack removed the sock and then looked at the foot. “Not too bad, probably only need to be off it for a day or two.”

“Are you a doctor?” Harry asked.

Jack laughed and said, “Nah, my job’s just very active, so occasionally I get hurt.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m in the Airforce, I work out of Cheyenne Mountain. Pretty boring stuff for the most part.” Jack said casually.

Harry quirked an eyebrow in question. After years of Dumbledore’s vague answers he had learned a thing or two about spotting half truths. He could tell Jack had left a lot out of his explanation, but figured it was probably classified or something. Jack gave off a certain aura, one that told Harry that he was a solider through and through and that Jack had seen a fair amount of action.

“Except for the injuries…” Harry said with a smirk.

“Yeah, except for that.” Jack said with a small smile.

He started to wrap the foot securely and then placed the ice pack on the ankle. He walked into the kitchen and returned a minute later with a glass of water and gave Harry a few aspirins.

“Here, this should help.”

“Thanks.” Harry swallowed the pills and took a gulp of water.

“So, is there anybody to help you for the next few days?” Jack asked as he took a seat at the end of the couch.

“No, it’s just me and Teddy, but we’ll be fine. Teddy needs a nap soon anyways and by the time he wakes up I’m sure I will be well enough to at least limp around.”

Jack frowned and then said, “Well, at least let me help you today, you really should let it rest. You won’t be able to take Teddy around the house, especially upstairs. I have the next few days off anyways.”

“I don’t want to ruin any plans you had…” he started.

“Hey, that’s what neighbors are for.” Jack grinned and then he clapped his hands. “So, have you guys had lunch?”

“I was going to fix it after we got back here.”

“Well, why don’t we go into the kitchen and I can fix something for you guys.” Jack said as he stood up. He looked over towards the kitchen and saw there were a few steps up to it. Picking up Teddy he said, “Here you hold Teddy and I will carry you into the kitchen, those steps might give you a little trouble.”

Jack handed Teddy to Harry and then wrapped an arm around Harry’s back and another under his knees and scooped up both Harry and Teddy in his arms. Harry squeaked, in a very manly way of course, and then glared at Jack in challenge of mentioning the squeak. He held an arm tight around Teddy and wrapped the other around Jack’s neck.

“Are you sure we’re not too heavy?” Harry asked with a frown.

“Nah, its fine.” Jack answered with a smirk.

“Show off.” Harry said as he grinned back.

Jack walked them into the kitchen and then set Harry down on his good foot next to the kitchen table. Harry slipped Teddy into the highchair bedside the table and then sat down.

“So what did you plan on making?” Jack said as he opened the fridge.

“Just a sandwich for me and for Teddy just some sliced banana, sliced cheese and some of the chicken in there with some milk in a sippy cup.” Harry said. “Have you eaten?”

“Not yet, no.”

“Well, join us, since your making it and all…” Harry stated.

“Sure, sounds good.” Jack said as he began putting together the meal. “So what brought you to Colorado?”

“Teddy and I lost some family about a year ago. I thought a change would be good, a fresh start for us both.”Harry said quietly.

“Teddy’s mother?”

“Well, she was one of them. Teddy’s father and mother died as well as a number of friends and family…”

“His father? I thought you were his father?” Jack asked as sliced a banana up for Teddy.

“I’m not his biological father, no; I’m his godfather. When they died they made me his guardian in their will and asked me to raise him as my son.”Harry explained.

“How old are you?” Jack questioned.

“Nineteen, why?”

“Nothin’, so what happened?” Jack asked with a frown.

“It was… there was an incident and a group of people killed them.” Harry replied.

“They were caught right?” Jack asked in a low voice. He had an unreadable look on his face.

“Yeah, we caught them all or they were killed in the fight.” Harry said absently.

Harry didn’t know why he was telling Jack that, he shouldn’t be telling him that...besides it was hard to explain and it left Harry feeling empty. So many people died; so much loss because an evil megalomaniac decided he wanted to conquer the magical world.

“Anyways, I thought a change would be good for us, so we moved here.”

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When lunch was over, Jack carried a sleepy Teddy and Harry up the stairs for a nap, Harry directing him towards Teddy’s room. Jack, after entering the room, grinned down at Teddy. “Teddy, you hit the jackpot!”

“I wanted Teddy to have a room that made him happy…” Harry said with a smile.

“This room would make anybody happy… who did the murals?”

“Um… a friend of mine named Dobby. He loves Teddy as you can tell; he actually decorated the entire room.” Harry explained as Jack set him down on his feet next to the crib.

Harry leaned over and placed Teddy in the crib and covered him with his blanket. Teddy gave a contented sigh and then promptly fell asleep.

“He’s a good kid.” Jack stated.

“Yeah he is…” Harry said with a smile and then turned around and said, “Well, come on HeMan take me to bed, time’s awaisten.”

As soon as Harry said it he realized how it sounded and blushed from his roots to the tip of his toes.

Jack chuckled and wagging his eyebrows said, “Oh, yes Sir!”

Jack scooped Harry up into his arms and left the bedroom. Harry quietly pointed him in the right direction and once they entered his room he said, “You can just put me on the bed there.”

Leaning over the bed, Jack lightly placed Harry down. Their faces were an inch for each other’s and Harry could feel Jack’s warm breath on his lips. For a moment Harry tightened his arms around Jack’s neck and closed his eyes as arousal swept through his body. With an exhale of breath he opened his eyes to find Jack with a small frown on his face.

“Okay, I’ll let you two sleep for a while, just call me if you need me.” He said as he stood up and started to back away. “Do you have any preference on dinner, cause I barbeque a mean steak if you’re willing… I have some at my house if that sounds good?”

“Sounds great…” Harry replied. “Thanks, by the way.”

“No problem, like I said, that’s what neighbors are for…” Jack answered. “So just call me when you want to get up.”

Harry nodded as he got comfortable on the bed and then closed his eyes to sleep.

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Jack walked down the stairs with a frown on his face and in thought. He was attracted to Harry that was a sure thing. The kid was beautiful. But, there was something else, something in his eyes and the way he spoke that told Jack that Harry was more mature than any other nineteen year old he had ever met. There was a sad pained look in his eyes that even though Jack couldn’t explain it, said Harry had seen war; had lost too many lives and too much in that war.

Jack wondered what he had been through exactly and why. He could think of any major conflicts in England, not on that kind of scale anyways. A few years ago there had been some reports of a number of terrorist attacks in England, but the British government had made it clear it was a minor issue and that it would be handled locally. The American government had been leery of stepping in and after about a year or two, the attacks had stopped.

Harry had said that Teddy’s parents and a number of other civilians had died about a year ago and that had been around the time the attacks had ended… Jack wondered if Harry somehow had been involved in that?

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