Consolation Prize

Consolation Prize

9pm. 2100. Not late, but it was dark outside. In his house in Colorado Springs, Jack O’Neill was dozing lightly on his sofa. Beside him on a small table rested a half drunk bottle of beer, the bubbles slowly diminishing as it went flat. Elsewhere, the TV obediently remained on the same channel which some hour or so previously had been showing a live hockey match, with the remote still untouched beside the beer.

Jack snored quietly, the noise barely discernable over the chattering of the TV.

It had been a hard week.

Interrupting the calm of the pleasantly cool evening, an unnatural light flashed in the living room, suggesting to any observers who knew him well, that perhaps Jack’s opportunities to go fishing during his time off might turn out to be rather more limited than he’d anticipated. Certainly, moments later as the light faded, a small, clearly alien, being reached out to touch Jack’s arm. Not exactly shaking him awake, the creature seemed much too fragile for that, but nonetheless waking Jack from his slumber.

“O’Neill.”

Jack’s eyes raised themselves cautiously, his fingers almost subconsciously reaching for a sidearm that he wasn’t wearing, his body instantly tense. “Wha…”

He relaxed. “Thor?”

“O’Neill,” repeated the little alien, inclining his head in a gesture that would’ve been faintly reminiscent of Teal’c, but for the dramatic difference in stature.

“You know, buddy, I don’t object to you butting in, but you gotta know, I’m on vacation. I have orders, no saving the universe for at least a week.” Jack slid upwards in his seat, trying to prepare himself for whatever news his long-distance friend might be bringing him. He wasn’t hopeful, a visit from the diminutive Asgard rarely coincided with tidings of joy, universal peace and harmony.

“Your vacation is not in danger, O’Neill. I am here about other matters,” replied Thor patiently.

Jack frowned, wracking his brain, unsure if the blank he was coming up with was sleep related or not. “Right, that’s great,” he nodded, vaguely gesturing towards a chair and wondering if Thor would be able to comfortably sit on it. Note to self, he half grumbled, might need to get kid-sized furniture for uninvited Asgard guests. “You want a beer?”

“No, thank you, O’Neill. I have not come here for socialisation.”

Interesting. Jack’s increasingly confused mind tried to grab hold of the facts he’d been presented. He suspected that even Carter might have struggled with this particular riddle, whether or not she’d just been dreaming away the evening. “Well, then, I don’t wanna be rude, but I think you’re going to have to explain. I got nothin’.”

“It seems I have found a way to repay some of the debt we owe you,” began Thor. “Although I must admit, this is not an entirely selfless act. It has come to my attention that we may need you to be functioning efficiently at relatively short notice.”

Jack’s heart sank. Increasingly, this sounded like it was going to turn into a Daniel’s gone therapy session. He wondered if the Asgard had psychological problems back home. Would big brains make that more or less likely? For that matter what exactly would an Asgard therapist do? Shaking his head, partly at his particularly worrying idea that Thor might intend to wipe his memories of Daniel as a mercy, Jack replied. “Thor, I’m functioning just fine - if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were embarrassed. Will ya just spit it out already?”

“Very well, O’Neill. I have brought you a gift.”

“Is it a great big hunkin’ space ship again? Coz I’ve got to admit, that thing was sweet.” Please, whatever it is, no mind-altering drugs.

“It is not,” Thor inclined his head slightly, giving no useful indication of his interpretation of Jack’s last comment, then suddenly a second brilliant white flash filled the room.

Jack blinked, his eyes taking several moments to focus on the ‘gift,’ which had been deposited on the chair opposite him. At least it didn’t look as though it was likely to be out to wipe his memory. In fact, it looked suspiciously human.

“I’m afraid I was not able to wrap your gift, it did not seem appropriate,” added Thor.

The smart remark which had been forming on Jack’s lips died abruptly, had Thor just told a joke? Do Asgard tell jokes if they can’t smile? It seemed like a potentially painful prospect. “Thor?”

“Yes, O’Neill.”

“That’s a kid.”

“It is, O’Neill.”

“I don’t like to be all unintellectual and disappoint you, but why?”

“Jack O’Neill, I would like to introduce you to Daniel Jackson.” Thor’s spindly arms gestured in the direction of the boy, who appeared to be sleeping soundly.

“He’s shrunk a bit.”

Thor bowed his head slightly. “I am afraid I was unable to provide you with a fully grown version. It is one of the side-effects of the anti-cloning marker you were each given. Sometimes the clone will be close to mature in these cases, but here I would suggest that he is approximately 6 years old.”

“Like I said…. Thor, this is a really nice gesture and everything, but he’s not exactly a puppy, you can’t just treat a kid as if he’s a gift.” Nonetheless, Jack found himself staring at the sleeping figure. That was Daniel?

“Then you do not want him?” Thor nodded slightly again, making Jack momentarily flinch as he waited for the boy, Daniel, to suddenly disappear. “I am sorry, O’Neill, I had only thought to ease some of the pain you and your team were feeling, to put things right. This seemed the best way.”

“He’s a little young to be hopping planets,” Jack observed.

“He is the intellectual equal of Dr Jackson, and houses all of his memories as though they were his own. However, I regret that with the marker having such a significant effect, perhaps he will lack the stamina for off-world travel with the rest of the team.” Thor paused. “I am sorry, O’Neill, I will find the boy another home.”

“Wait! Thor! You’re gonna just take him away like that?” Jack found himself sidling towards the boy, instinctively making a move to grab him before Thor could beam him anywhere. Almost afraid to admit to himself that half a Daniel would still be an improvement over none at all.

“It is for the best. I do not wish to burden you, O’Neill, only to assist in the improvement of your well-being as a sign of our gratitude.” Thor continued to stand before Jack, scarcely glancing at the kid on the chair behind him, his huge black eyes barely blinking as he observed the Colonel’s reaction.

Silent until now, Daniel chose to groan deeply in his sleep, clearly troubled by something within his dreams.

“He will awaken soon, O’Neill,” Thor turned to study the boy impassively.

Jack swallowed, knowing from the moment Thor had brought his little gift, the kid’s fate had been sealed. “That’s OK,” said Jack, for once understanding Thor’s implication perfectly. “He’s staying.”

“You are certain, O’Neill? I do not wish you to accept this gift out of obligation.” Was there a trace of smugness in Thor’s face? Jack decided he’d be better off not knowing.

“I’m sure,” he replied. Jack was no longer looking at the little alien. As he and Thor came to a decision which would affect the rest of the young clone’s life, the boy’s eyes slowly opened, taking in his surroundings with a bleary but untroubled gaze.

“Then I will bid you farewell. Enjoy your vacation O’Neill.” Thor turned slightly. “Goodbye Dr Jackson.”

The two humans regarded each other for a few moments, digesting the abrupt, and blinding, departure of their long time ally.

“Jack?” Daniel struggled to sit up upright in the huge chair. “How did I get here?” He coughed purposefully. “And what’s wrong with me?”

Scientists, always have to start with questions. “C’mere.” Jack held his arms out, ignoring Daniel’s bewildered look. It was several minutes before the archaeologist finally slid off the chair and moved towards him uncertainly, aiming more for the seat beside him than for Jack’s outstretched hands, but nonetheless, it was a start.  

Jack ignored Daniel’s discomfort. As Daniel went to haul himself up onto the sofa, Jack swung him into the air and onto his lap, muttering under his breath about his friend’s continuing inability to follow any kind of instruction. “I’ve missed you, kid.”

Buried beneath Jack’s shoulder, barely able to breathe and suddenly far more grateful that he’d apparently misplaced his glasses, Daniel managed to mumble, “But I haven’t gone anywhere. Unless you count this, err, weight loss.”

Weight loss? That was one way to put it. Finally acknowledging Daniel’s need to behave more normally, Jack backed off, allowing the uncomfortable archaeologist to slide off his knee and onto the sofa beside him. “You don’t remember? Oh thank God! I tell ya, I was thinking that Thor might not have really thought that whole dying thing through so well when I saw you having that nightmare.”

“Dying? Jack? Explain.What’s going on? What’s happened to me?”

Jack sighed, even with the tiny, 6 year old, voice and the miniaturised gestures, Daniel was as persistent as ever. “Well if it was a bedtime story you were after, you only had to ask.”

“Jack.” Daniel glared, it was cute.

“Fine, fine, but you know I do a mean bedtime story.” Jack informed him, stalling for a few moments as he got his thoughts together. He frowned. “What’s the last thing you remember before you woke up here?”

“I was talking to Jonas on Kelowna.”

“Ahh…. Good old Jonas. Well, err, how to explain this. Danny, you died.”

“I what?” Daniel’s small face mimicked his adult features almost perfectly, pulling an expression which somehow looked slightly out of place. Then again, Jack wasn’t sure there was a good order to put your features in when you just discovered you’d died and been reincarnated as a 6 year old gift for your best friend.

“It was saving the planet,” added Jack, hoping to soften the blow a bit.

“Which planet?”

“Kelowna, or whatever it is they’re calling it this week,” Jack grumbled slightly. “How many planets were you thinking of saving?”

“Well, Earth, mostly. Possibly Abydos,” shrugged Daniel casually. “How did I…?”

Jack shook his head. That part hadn’t been good. Really, really not good. “I’m designating that need to know.”

Daniel frowned.

“Danny,” Jack was exasperated, “can you get it through your thick skull that I might find your death hard to talk about?”

“Ah, oh.” Daniel shuffled his small body closer to Jack’s again, finally recognising the need for Jack to reassure himself for what it was. “Sorry.”

Silently, Jack composed himself, reaching over to ruffle Daniel’s hair as he did so. “It’s OK, kiddo, you weren’t to know.”

The look in Jack’s eyes was almost sufficient to make Daniel stop asking questions, at least for the moment, as the pain of losing Sha’re, his parents, and on occasion members of his team – however briefly – flared up and he realised just how selfish dying could be. Then he caught sight of his suddenly tiny hand as he patted Jack ineffectually on the shoulder.

“I don’t suppose you know how come I’m, errr, like this do you?” Daniel finally blurted out, quietly, his voice still laden with sympathy for his friend.

Jack smiled sadly. “Well, that my boy, would be an entirely separate and, so far, much happier story.”

Daniel nodded, trying to be patient, although a growing twitch in his legs as they hung several inches clear of the floor was starting to give him away.

Jack dived right in. “You were a gift.”

Daniel spluttered, Jack was briefly worried he might choke. “You accepted me, like this, as a gift! You, didn’t think that…?” The argument died in his throat as Jack raised an eyebrow in a signal that would have made Teal’c proud. “Oh yeah, I did that too…”

Jack raised both eyebrows, looking slightly smug.

“Why am I like this?”

“It seems Thor had a little accident with his Daniel cloning machine, pressed the wrong button, got a hot wash instead of cold and you were shrunk.” A glimmer of mischief twinkled in Jack’s eyes, then quickly subdued itself. “He said you were about 6, if you were curious. Good age, I’d say, it suits you.”

“I’m a copy?”

Seeing the crestfallen expression on his friend’s childish face, Jack patted Daniel on the back. “Since the original is dead, I’m thinking being the copy is a bonus,” pointed out Jack gently.

“I’m six years old forever?” asked Daniel.

“Well, I was assuming you’d grow up eventually, I guess we’ll have to check with Doc Fraiser though at some point.”

Daniel winced, “Not now though, right?”

“Nah, I’m on vacation. If you can manage to stay out of trouble for that long, then I’ll give you a full week before I let Janet stick you with a single needle.”

“Thanks,” said Daniel, despondently, his body sagging slightly as his mind ran through the prospect of having to grow up all over again.

“It’ll be different this time kid, you’ll see,” promised Jack, telling himself that if it was the last thing he did, he would make sure that Daniel never faced the nightmare he’d had to live through the first time he’d been growing up.

This time, it truly would be different.

They sat in silence for several minutes, both lost in thought, and Jack had to admit – even if only to himself – that he wasn’t sure how he’d take the whole reincarnation as a scrawny kid quite as well. Then again, maybe for Daniel it wouldn’t be that big a deal, after all, most of Daniel’s assets were in his fully functional brain anyway. It wasn’t something Jack felt he would’ve been able to claim in the same position.

Then again, Jack pondered, as he looked down at his once again snoozing companion, Daniel didn’t normally need quite this much sleep. Somehow, Jack thought that might prove to be a distinct sticking point the next time the archaeologist wanted to pull an all-nighter fuelled only by coffee.

For the moment, however, it wasn’t a problem, and Jack figured he could live with ignoring a problem or two for the moment. Gently lifting Daniel’s slumbering body, Jack quietly made his way to the spare bedroom. Tomorrow, they’d get this thing right.

                                                *************

It was disconcerting, Jack had decided, no matter what his brain knew about Daniel in his 6 year old body, there was something not quite right about watching a little kid down a huge mug of coffee.

God knows what effect it was going to have on him, he’d probably be impossible to live with all day.

If he was honest with himself, Jack felt something along the lines of his own fruit loops might have been a safer option. Even as he’d watched Daniel preparing his favourite beverage, Jack had been considering the repercussions of forcibly removing the drink from his friend. In fact, on rejecting that as a bad idea he’d pondered the pros and cons of ceasing to stock coffee in his house, period. And that was after he’d forced himself not to leap up and remove any hot liquid from Daniel’s hands ‘in case he spilled it.’ That really would have been a tremendous start to the day.

Jack had a strong suspicion that Daniel was going to turn him into a nervous wreck. Without even trying.

“So what do you want to do today?” Jack enquired, peering down at his young house guest, praying silently for a lack of adventurous spirit – just for the moment.

Daniel grinned. “I was thinking about checking out some of the artefacts Jonas said I could take a look at when we were on Kelowna. I promised him I’d give him a hand with a few of the trickier translations.”

“Umm, Daniel,” Jack began cautiously, “I don’t think you’re going to be held to any promises you made to Jonas. You died.” In fact, Daniel, why don’t I just go ahead and tell you that there’s a small part of me that still blames Jonas for still being alive when you’re not? Except you are, but… Jack put a stop to that train of thought as Daniel began to protest. Naturally.

“Well, sure, but I’m here now. Just because I was dead, doesn’t mean the promise doesn’t exist now I’m alive again.”

Somehow the death thing, being as it was cured, was slightly easier to approach than the permanent midget thing, which Jack suspected was probably a bit of a sore point at the moment, so he took a different tack. “I’m assuming that these various exciting artefacts are in fact at the base. Probably with Jonas actually, as he’s now living on said base.”

“He is?” Daniel jumped up, making Jack flinch as he realised that the coffee mug wasn’t completely empty. “How come? I should go see him then! This would be the perfect opportunity.”

“Daniel!” exclaimed Jack. “Sit!” For emphasis, the Colonel put his hand on his friend’s shoulder, gently encouraging him back into his over large seat. “One, Jonas isn’t going anywhere, he’s on the base permanently and will still be readily available next week.”

“But..”

Jack gave him a look, raising a second finger. “Two, you’re in no condition to drive yourself there, and three I’m on vacation and have no intention of driving either of us anywhere near the base for 7 days.”

“I could call a taxi,” put in Daniel.

Jack rolled his eyes, wondering exactly whose wallet Daniel thought he was carrying, but simply nodded, “you could, I imagine once you’ve got through security Janet will be really pleased to see you.”

The wind flew straight out of Daniel’s sails. “I can wait.”

“Excellent, that’s what I like to hear!” Jack clapped Daniel on the back. “So, I ask again, what would you like to do today?”

“Well, I guess if it’s OK with you, I could probably do with popping by my apartment…”

Jack gave him a look, this was going so well!

“…Oh.” Daniel sighed. “How long have I been dead?”

Jack started flicking fingers up and down, then shrugged. “Seems like forever, a few weeks though, I guess.”

“And it’s too late…?”

“Well, yeah. Although I’ve got some of your stuff here,” offered Jack. “If you want it back. And – when we get round to it – your books are all still on the base, you didn’t lose anything.”

“Oh, thank God,” breathed Daniel.

“Third time lucky?” Please, please, something easy. Jack wasn’t prone to praying, but it did occur to him that it might be a good time to start. Lifting his eyes to the heavens, he briefly sent a prayer to the ascended Daniel – in the theory that if anyone was going to influence this kid, it would be him. Not that he was here.

Daniel tilted his head to one side, then conceded. “I think I’ll let you decide.”

Jack beamed at him. Thank you, thank you.

                                                *************

“I have to admit Jack, I was expecting fishing,” commented Daniel, vainly trying to remove his hand from Jack’s firm grip.

“Will you stop it!” Jack grumbled. “Imagine we’re undercover or something. You look like you’re 6 years old, and we’re trying not to attract attention whilst in the mall, you’re going to have to hold my hand.”

Daniel glanced round, his expression a cross between a grin and a grimace. “I think if we really want to blend in, I’m going to have to start kicking and screaming, are you sure that’s what you want?”

“Can it, Daniel, you know that’s not true,” Jack nodded in the direction of a girl of approximately Daniel’s, err, size. “See.”

“So anyway, Jack,” said Daniel conversationally, finally conceding to Jack’s logic and focussing on his initial query. “Why are we in the mall?”

“Because I thought you’d look silly in my clothes, and if you don’t stop squinting at people you’re going to get a massive headache and then Fraiser will have a field day – possibly with me rather than you,” grumbled Jack, trying not to imagine what the determined physician would have to say to him, or just how unpleasant his next few visits to the infirmary might be afterwards.

Daniel’s shoulders dropped. “You have a point.”

“Well, thank you Daniel. On the other hand, the mall is not only a place for necessities, it is also a fine place to begin your education.”

“Jack, I’m not actually a kid, and they don’t have schools in malls anyway,” protested Daniel, instinctively pulling once more at Jack’s hand.

“Not that sort of education! Besides, it’s Saturday. I’m going to teach you about being a kid,” grinned Jack, absently wondering if perhaps now would be a good time for another prayer.

“Because I look like one?”

“Because you are one,” persisted Jack. “Look Daniel, I know you have the memories of your grown up self, I know you’re my friend and you’re a valuable member of SG-1, but since Thor can’t make you full size, you’re going to have to grow up all over again. Therefore, I would suggest that the first step should be learning to act your age, because knowledgeable or otherwise, if you can’t do that, at least as a release, you’re going to be truly miserable and a bugger to live with.”

Daniel pouted.

“Not my favourite kid thing, but a fine start,” nodded Jack with a degree of satisfaction.

Then, cautiously, he brightened slightly. “I can live with you?”

His heart breaking as yet another reminder of Daniel’s previous childhood emerged, Jack squeezed his friend’s hand gently. “Absolutely, definitely, no matter how annoying, you are living with me,” he promised. “Now can we get on with this and get to the fun part?”

The fun part, when they finally made it, turned out to be the largest toy shop Jack had been able to find in the local area. It was colossal, vast rows of brightly coloured, enticing toys lined every one of the shelves, with practically every corner filled with drooling, hopeful children. Jack positioned Daniel in front of him, and rather than grabbing for his hand, simply nodded at him.

“Go choose something.”

Hesitantly at first, Daniel made his way into the shop. Even in his small body, which should have blended right in, Jack could see the self-consciousness in his friend that wasn’t present in the others. But then that was only to be expected, he could learn, already he seemed to have accepted his fate to some extent.

Better, he’d been positively pleased that Jack intended to take care of him. Daniel’s simple question might not have healed Jack of missing Charlie, but somehow, even if it was only a little bit, it truly helped. A child, even a strangely grown up child, trusted him again. Jack found himself smiling, remembering happier times with Charlie, when he was Daniel’s size and had thought the world of his old Dad.

Jack was only pulled back from his reverie when a small boy almost fell over his feet. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, it was hard to be sure, but as he looked up he realised that Daniel was no longer in sight. He was unprepared for the flash of fear that struck him with that revelation.

It’s a toy shop, he told himself. How much trouble can Daniel get into in a toy shop? He’s not really six. We’re not off-world. There are no Goa’uld in the mall.

And yet. Something in Jack suggested that in some ways, Daniel really was six. It wasn’t just Jack, something inside Daniel himself was trying to persuade his mind to fall into sync with his body.

Plus it was Daniel, and Daniel could find trouble anywhere.

As methodically as he could, given the circumstances, Jack began to search.

Elsewhere, Daniel remained oblivious to his friend’s dilemma. As much as he felt ridiculous, not only in the shop but with the situation in general, he could see Jack’s point. It was clear that even his closest friends were going to have quite a hard time treating him as they would have treated a full sized Daniel, leaving him doomed to live a kind of half life unless he could take back some of the advantages offered to him by his condition.

Not that they were immediately obvious, but he was sure there must be some. For a start, there were probably still some toys that would be fun. Adults could have toys too, they just had to feel slightly embarrassed about it.

Grinning, although far from happy with the situation, Daniel wondered if Jack would agree to push him on the swings in the park. Somehow he’d always found swings very relaxing, good for helping him think when he was stuck on a problem.

He wandered further, wondering what he might find to attract his attention and fulfil his latest task from his CO.

Or his ex-CO, Jack was purely Jack now, Daniel decided regretfully.

Quietly alarmed by just how far Daniel’s short legs appeared to be capable of carrying him in so short a time, and just how difficult one six year old was to spot amongst hoards of others, Jack paused for a breather, trying to come up with a better strategy than peering unsuccessfully down each aisle in turn when the object of his search could so easily be obscured. Toy stores hadn’t been covered even in basic training, although Jack was thinking that perhaps they should be.  

“Lost someone?” A friendly voice which he belatedly recognised as belonging to the woman whose kid nearly fell over him addressed him.

“Yeah, can’t see how he got so far,” grumbled Jack.

The woman smiled in sympathy. “Don’t worry too much, he’s probably just holed up next to his favourites,” she motioned to the toddler at her feet, who was currently gazing intently at his brand new colouring book. “The staff here are generally very good at keeping an eye out at the exit. What sort of toys does your boy like?”

Jack swallowed, suddenly feeling like a failed parent. “He’s always been more into his books than flashy toys I guess,” he managed.

She smiled knowingly, “How old is he?”

“Six,” Jack grimaced. She seemed nice, probably good moral support if he’d lost a real kid and felt remotely capable of answering her questions, but just at the minute all he could see in his mind’s eye as she talked to him was an image of her declaring him an unfit parent and calling social services. For a kid that didn’t exist. Now there would be a challenge. Time to extricate himself. “Listen, I’d better…”

The woman smiled again, “Good luck.”

His favourites? So what exactly does an archaeologist like to play with? Jack quizzed himself as he strode down yet another aisle, nearly tripping over a remote control car as it flew into the space in the shadow of his right foot, just as he’d intended to put it down. The owner of the controller was nowhere to be seen, so Jack hopped slightly, barely recovering his balance in time to avoid his leg shooting out from under him as the car moved again. It felt like Daniel was making him do this on purpose.

But where would he go? What would he like? Pretty much anything that he can really put his mind to. He’d seen him, didn’t matter if it was his own stuff or not, if he could spend time thinking about it, then he enjoyed it. Hours of watching him in the lab with Carter even when he didn’t have the first clue what she was talking about proved that.  So….

Eventually, Jack found Daniel with the board games, reading through the instructions in a manner that would probably have attracted attention had the surrounding adults not typically been rather preoccupied themselves. Nonetheless, the relief he felt was palpable. Not only was Daniel completely safe and unharmed, but somehow Jack himself was vindicated – board games had only been third on his list of toys Daniel might try. “Daniel!”

“Jack, hey,” Daniel smiled. “Do board games count?”

Oblivious to it all, as always, Daniel didn’t have a clue what he’d just put Jack through. Still, resisting the urge, on this occasion, to point out just what had happened, partly due to his own embarrassment, Jack glanced at the games he held. Of course, they all featured hefty instruction leaflets and strategy guides. This was really going to make his head hurt. “Sure, if you let me choose something too.”

Daniel shrugged, “Sure,” and tucked two of the games under his arm, mildly alarmed by the weight they suddenly seemed to have taken on.

Jack reached over, taking both the games and Daniel’s hand, then headed off into the shop once more with a purpose.

Ten minutes later, the two of them stood outside the shop, Jack loaded down with the day’s purchases, which now included not only the games, but a particularly difficult looking puzzle, and a large box of Lego. Daniel held only the case for his new glasses. Finally, they were prepared. Somewhere a little nagging doubt in the back of Jack’s head that suggested that Thor was only leasing him the kid, began to quieten down. If he had clothes, and glasses, he must be staying.

“Right,” said Jack, moving on with his plan. “Ice cream, I think.”

“Don’t you want to dump this stuff first?” asked Daniel.

“Yeah, two handed job ice cream, especially kids and ice cream,” his friend grinned, teasing gently.

“You go to the car, I’ll get the ice creams in,” suggested Daniel.

Jack paused, unsure, unready for a repeat of his search in the toy store.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve seen kids buying ice cream,” observed Daniel. “It won’t be a problem.”

Cautiously conceding, Jack pulled out several dollar bills, handing them to Daniel. “You’d better not go wandering off though. You do that and it’s fishing tomorrow for sure.”

Daniel rolled his eyes.

                                                *****************

Daniel slumped into Jack’s sofa, his face the picture of misery. “I can’t do this, Jack,” he grumbled.

Jack raised his eyebrows, trying not to notice just how typically childish Daniel’s current pose appeared. “It comes to my attention that you’ve barely tried, Daniel. Presumably at some point you’ve had to do something you found difficult? You’ll get there.”

“What if there’s not somewhere I care to go?” his friend muttered.

Jack sighed, all this because of an ice cream. “I’d say you had to give it a fair chance first. You gave us a chance, why not this?”

“Us?”

Jack’s arms waved around, “The SGC, the military, me personally, all those things that you used to be violently opposed to.”

“But then I was making a difference,” replied Daniel quietly, the pain in his voice betraying how much he already missed his old life.

“You’re still making a difference, Daniel. It’s just smaller, call it localised,” grinned Jack.

“I’m not.”

“Are too!” Jack frowned, taking a seat beside his friend. “You’re making a difference to me.”

Daniel blinked, his eyes turning up to face his friend’s with just a hit of water in them until a small arm was wiped fiercely across them. “Yeah, I’m making a mess of your life too.”

“You know what I mean,” responded Jack, a little impatiently. “And that guy had no right selling ice cream if he was going to get upset about a little spillage like that. It’s inevitable.”

“When your body thinks it’s six and doesn’t know how to control itself,” agreed Daniel, morosely.

“Hey, given that the last time you used your body you were about twice the size, I think it’s a miracle you can put one foot in front of the other without tripping up, so failure to juggle two ice creams and 3 nickels seems perfectly justifiable.”

“He shouted at me,” mumbled Daniel.

“Would’ve thought you were used to that from me,” observed Jack, as the pieces finally began to fall into place.

“I…” Daniel trailed off, suddenly unsure.

“Now, you can argue with your wise old Colonel in a minute if you wish…”

“..Jack…”

“Uh uh,” Jack waved his finger, “in a minute!” He turned Daniel to face him once more. “I suspect that what you’re actually upset about is that, for a moment, when that idiot ice cream seller shouted at you, you really did feel like a kid.”

“Well. Maybe,” conceded Daniel.

“And maybe you remembered that being powerless like that can be hard?” suggested Jack.

“He shouldn’t have scared me,” muttered Daniel. “I’m a grown man!”

“No you’re not,” said Jack, “not anymore.”

“It’s not like he was Apophis or something, he was just some guy with a bad temper. He wasn’t even armed.”

Jack shuddered at the thought of a bad tempered ice cream seller with a sidearm, then got back to the point. “He didn’t need to be armed Daniel, not anymore,” he told his friend gently, praying that he would learn the lesson well enough to avoid diving headlong into any potentially dangerous situations - at least for a little while. “And you don’t need to be scared.”

“I couldn’t help it,” Daniel’s head bowed, as tears uncharacteristically began to dribble down his cheeks.

“You don’t need to be scared because you’re not alone in this, Daniel. You’ve got to remember that.”

Daniel sniffled slightly then, refusing to face Jack, made his way to the bathroom before blowing his nose loudly.

Looking down at their purchases, which now lay discarded on the floor, Jack sighed, it was going to be a really long night. At least he had some idea of what was going on in the kid’s head now though.

Still got it, he grinned to himself, before heading off to calm a small figure still hiding in the bathroom.

                                                            ************

“C’mon Danny, brand new day outside!” Jack shook his friend awake, waving coffee under his nose as he did so.

“Ugh, Jack? Is it morning?” Daniel blinked a few times, then fumbled round for his watch, peering myopically at it as his other hand continued its quest for his glasses.

“Well I brought coffee, figured that was enough to make up for any little early morning inconveniences,” shrugged Jack. “Thought maybe we’d go fishing.”

“Fishing?” Daniel nearly choked on his coffee. “I thought that was just if I annoyed you yesterday?”

“Oh for crying out loud, Daniel. It’s my vacation, that’s what I do on vacation! Besides, it’s even better when there are two of you, and I figured you could do with some chill out time.”

“But, Jack…”

“I’ll let you drink some of my beer,” Jack grinned.

“I’m not….”

“OK, you can bring a book, will ya just come fishing with me Daniel. Please?”

Daniel smiled, conceding to the plea in Jack’s voice more than anything. “Sure, I can do fishing. Just no throwing me in the water, I’m not sure I’ve learnt to swim yet.”

Jack’s grin widened. “It’s OK, I was prepared.” He reached down to reveal a deflated rubber ring, sagging loosely in his hand. “What with your talent for finding trouble, I thought I might need to be.”

Daniel coloured, but held fast, recognising how important this trip was to Jack. “But I can still take a book, right?”

“Sure, as long as you’re ready to go in ten minutes.”

Daniel began to tilt his hand back, ready to inhale his coffee, only to find Jack gently removing the mug. “Jack, I hadn’t finished!”

“Sorry Daniel, but I don’t think that body’s going to withstand that sort of onslaught, did you never think to let it cool a little first?”

Daniel’s eyes narrowed. “You were the one who said we were in a hurry…. Fine, I’ll get it before we go.” He almost fell out of bed then, turning to face Jack again as he reached the door, performed a salute worthy of an Oscar, despite his diminutive stature.

“Ouch.” Jack winced. Oh yeah, that was still Daniel in there, as keen on taking orders as ever. He wondered what he was getting himself into.

Picking himself and his inflatable contingency plan off the floor, Jack headed back downstairs, whistling cheerily to himself. It’d taken Daniel dying to get the kid fishing with him, but they were finally going to make it. He’d got the beer – for himself – he’d got the rods, and an assortment of milkshakes that was probably going to make Daniel want to kill him, but honestly, Jack told himself, milkshake is the perfect food for fishing.

They were set.

There was a knock at the door.

“Crap.” Jack glared at it, trying to encourage whoever was currently pounding at his door to go away. “I’m not in!”

“What was that, Jack?” He could hear Daniel’s voice drifting from upstairs.

Crap. Wondering what exactly he was going to do with Daniel, should this visitor bring tides of some sort of global crisis, Jack headed reluctantly for the door.

“What?”

“Sir. I thought you might like some company.”

“Carter! Janet kick you off base?”

“General Hammond, sir.”

“Even better, good to know you rate the really big guns now. So….. thinking of taking up fishing?”

“Sir?”

“I’m on vacation. As every member of SG-1, and possibly every member of the SGC knows, when I’m on vacation I go fishing. Hell, I think Thor knows I like fishing! Although he still hasn’t got back to me on the latest off-world hot spots.”

“Thor?”

“What? Oh, just an example,” Jack tried to backtrack, knowing as he did so that he was making Carter suspicious. It wasn’t that he didn’t want Carter to see Daniel. She’d missed him as much as he had, but it was nice to catch up on his own for a bit. Hell, Daniel had even agreed to go fishing… He could hold off on this, maybe take the kid round to see her tomorrow, spend the whole day.

No chance. Jack sighed, there was no way she’d ever forgive him if he didn’t explain it to her straightaway. “Well, at least, Thor may have stopped by last night.”

“Jack? Who’s that?” A small voice called from the stairs. “Are you OK?” Jack groaned inwardly. Granted, the timing wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been, but if he could’ve just hung on for a few more minutes.. Figures, Daniel wasn’t known for his timing. He was going to have to have words with Daniel about coming downstairs if he really thought Jack had potentially dangerous company too, although wisely Jack thought he’d better hold off on that discussion until Daniel was feeling a bit more comfortable with himself. In the meantime he was going to have to hope that no one unsavoury came calling.

He wondered how long that could last.

But then, he had other problems to deal with for the moment. Out of the corner of his eye, Jack witnessed Carter’s brief sideways glance in his direction as she turned to face the stairs. “Do you have visitors, sir?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, you. And…. Daniel,” Jack managed to splutter, just as the boy emerged into the room, coffee in hand, still looking slightly bewildered.

“Is he your neph…, holy Hannah – that’s Daniel.”

“That’s what I just said. Isn’t that what I just said, Daniel?” She’s going to kill me for not telling her right away. At least, she would if she could figure out a way round the whole chain of command thing. But then this is Carter – I could be in real trouble.

“Pretty much,” mumbled Daniel, blushing dramatically as Carter continued to stare openly at him.

“You’re alive,” she finally managed.

Aha! Jack figured with a response like that he was probably off the hook.

“Most of me anyway,” observed Daniel, wryly. “Hey Sam.”

“Daniel!” She beamed at him, rushing up to where he stood on the last step and sweeping him off his feet into a crushing hug. “Thank God! I missed you so much! How did this happen? Are you back from…?” she pointed skywards.

“Not exactly,” said Jack. “He’s a thank you gift from Thor. Which I might point out, he didn’t even bother to wrap, although he did have the good grace to apologise for that, which he never does for dropping in uninvited.”

“A-a gift?” Sam was momentarily stumped, more so than when she’d realised that the small boy was in fact their long time friend.

“Hey!” Daniel wriggled out of Sam’s grasp, sliding onto the floor. “Still here you know, and not deaf.”

“Or dead, so call it a plus,” pointed out Jack. Really hoping to avoid seeing you die again too, if you can manage that Danny.

“I have to get Teal’c,” declared Sam, turning back to the door rather abruptly.

“He’s here too?” Jack’s eyebrows were once again on alert, he didn’t know why he was surprised. If one of them showed, the others were sure to follow. He probably should’ve been surprised that Thor didn’t beam them all in when he delivered Daniel.

“He’s in the car. He said he’d come in provided you weren’t going to take him fishing, sir.”

“Oh for crying out loud, I am going fishing! With Daniel, right now. You’re ready, right Daniel?”

“Well, yeah, but don’t you think we should…” Daniel’s blue eyes fixed on Jack’s hopefully.

OK, with that look, there was no way Jack was going to manage to stop Daniel from doing anything. He should probably ask Fraiser at some point if there was any sort of drug that would make him resistant. Definitely way harder to say no to than regular Daniel begging. “Fine, fine, get Teal’c, Carter. Tell him it’s safe, we’ll go fishing tomorrow. Give me time to get that damn ring inflated anyway.” Jack turned and leant his rods against the wall carefully before turning back to Sam. “So, Carter, beer?”

Reaching into the fridge, Jack wondered if maybe he shouldn’t have brought more, he had a feeling they were all going to be needing it before they were done.

Probably Daniel most of all.

                                                ************

“It is most perplexing to hear the voice of Daniel Jackson coming from the body of this child,” observed Teal’c. “I believe it will take a significant period of adjustment for many of the Tau’ri at the SGC.”

“Voice down, Teal’c, he’s sleeping,” whispered Jack, looking down at Daniel who now slept peacefully on the sofa, tired out from hours of animated conversation with his astounded friends.

“He’s so cute,” grinned Sam. “Not that he, err, wasn’t always, but he’s really adorable.”

“Carter…”

“Sorry sir.”

“The fact is, he’s Daniel, but he’s also a kid. We need to work out what’s best for him. Do we take him to the SGC? Does he take up his old job? Should he go to school?” Jack looked at his two friends. “He can’t stay in limbo forever.”

“Well, to be honest, sir, I’m not sure. But I can’t imagine Daniel wanting to stay away from the SGC, he loves the work we do there.”

“Sure, but it’s not like we can take him through the gate with us. I mean look at him!” Jack’s voice grew in intensity. “Are you sure that taking him to the SGC wouldn’t just be a cruel reminder of what he can’t be doing anymore?”

“I do not believe that Daniel Jackson would willingly do otherwise. He is strong, he will learn to cope with the more frustrating details of his condition, as one might with any handicap.”

Jack swallowed. Handicap. As serious as he knew the situation was, naming it made it sound a whole lot worse. Then again, people could overcome all sorts of handicaps, and Daniel’s was actually reversible – more or less.

Given the right amount of time anyway.

And an awful lot of patience.

Carter looked similarly stricken by Teal’c’s comment. Her face paling as her gaze lingered once more on the boy resting on Jack’s knee.

“Do you not concur, O’Neill?” asked Teal’c, apparently confused by the silence.

“Yes, dammit, I concur, I just wasn’t going to face this yet, OK,” grumbled Jack. “Can’t we just be pleased for a little while? Is that too much to ask?” I mean, the guy’s back from the dead, and quite likely in better condition than if Jacob had healed him. There’s definitely a window for gratefulness here.

“I apologise.” Teal’c inclined his head. “I had thought that we wished to determine Daniel Jackson’s fate, and intended to provide insight.”

“I know, Teal’c, I just…” began Jack.

“Just what, Jack?” a small voice interrupted and the body attached to it quickly slid off the sofa and away from its team mates, drawing itself to its full height, albeit unsteadily. “You were all here to decide what should happen to me? Whether to just farm me off somewhere? Whether to let me even go to the SGC at all?”

“We…” Sam tried to intercept before Daniel got too carried away.

“Shouldn’t that be my decision, guys? Isn’t this my life?”

“We are sorry, Daniel Jackson, we were only concerned for your wellbeing. And I can assure you that there was no discussion whatsoever of farming.”

“Well I guess you’ve answered one question. There’s no way on earth anyone at the SGC can possibly take me seriously like this. My best friends can’t even manage it.” Daniel’s glare travelled the room as though it had existence in its own right, his reduced body mass doing little to reduce the effects.

“Daniel, stop that now!” shouted Jack. “We had your best interests in mind, and you know it.”

“Do I, Jack? Were you even going to let me have a say?”

“Yes! You were going to have a say, but if you hadn’t noticed, you’re not feeling entirely rational about this whole body transfer thing, and I find in that sort of situation having a few good friends looking out for you can make a hell of a lot of difference.” Jack pointed out. “If you’re gonna stay with me, you’re just going to have to get used to me having some input on your life.”

“Is that a threat?” asked Daniel quietly.

“An observation, you’re not planning on running off are you?” asked Jack, recognising the anger in Daniel’s voice as the usually expressive archaeologist suddenly became terribly quiet and focussed.

“You going to kick me out?” Even as his voice betrayed his anger, Daniel’s eyes held a plea that Jack knew was costing him a lot to admit.

“Never,” said Jack.

“Even if I never do what you say?”

“I might kick you out in twenty years or so, but only if you never go fishing with me,” offered Jack.

Slowly, Daniel smiled, doing his best to hide his relief as he held out his right hand solemnly for Jack to shake. “It’s a deal.”

Grabbing the proffered hand and pulling Daniel in for a hug, Jack concurred. “Absolutely.”

                                                            **********

It was earlier than Daniel liked to consider. In fact, he thought it was probably the earliest he’d ever been awake having actually been to bed, although he wasn’t totally sure that upright with his eyes closed counted, especially if he was planning on sneaking out without Jack noticing.

It occurred to him, that trying to get out without Jack noticing might have been a flaw in his plan that he hadn’t spent enough time considering during his more natural waking hours. It certainly wasn’t something he was up to thinking hard about now – he was just going to have to hope that Jack’s super alert senses were on holiday too.

And possibly leave a note, because if Jack started worrying excessively, he was in real trouble.

Finally fully opening his eyes with one last rub, Daniel began to tiptoe down the stairs, gripping the banister tightly as if that would somehow make noise less likely, he wondered if perhaps suddenly being so much lighter would make him better at this sort of thing. It was always possible – Jack was still asleep.

So far.

Patting his bulging pocket to confirm the existence of his very own, newly discovered, wallet and grabbing Jack’s keys from the table, Daniel silently opened the front door and headed outside. He was on a mission.

Granted, as missions went, it wasn’t particularly exciting. He’d been to other worlds for crissake, and met everything from evil alien would-be Gods to emotive crystals, but the little thrill of adrenaline that ran through him now seemed every bit as powerful. He stretched his shoulders slightly, trying to get the huge rucksack he carried comfortable before he took out his own knees with it. Oh yeah, this was going to be challenging.

He was on a quest for fruit loops.

And a few other bits and pieces, including a fresh supply of coffee. But the fruit loops had started it, so he figured they could be the mission. At least, they could be his way of thanking Jack, with a small measure of apology thrown in. It was perfect.

Even better, the grocery store was less than a block away, because Daniel wasn’t at all sure how far he was going to be able to carry everything.

Pausing first at the ATM outside the store, given that the machine was less likely to ask questions  about a six year old with a credit card than the average shop assistant, Daniel withdrew about $50 - plenty to be getting on with, given that he had to carry whatever he bought. Then he headed into the shop.

Thankfully, particularly after the unpleasantness with the ice cream man, the shop was both deserted and accessible, and as he collected his various purchases in one of the small trolleys Daniel found himself humming contentedly, somehow greatly encouraged to be doing something so, well, normal. It had been a rough few days.

He managed to maintain his upbeat attitude through asking a little old lady to pass him the coffee when the shelf was too high, some particularly patronising comments from a woman with a child of about his size, and even a barrage of mindless questions from the shop assistant, who seemed a tiny bit alarmed that he was shopping alone.

Daniel was positively proud of himself.

The trip back made all these efforts pale in comparison.

With the bag packed, it quickly became clear that it was going to take him all day just to lift it and take a single step. Certainly, his muscles weren’t what they used to be. Mildly wishing that he’d forgone the coffee, and the steaks he’d bought with the intention of doing some cooking himself later, Daniel nonetheless wasn’t willing to leave anything behind, so he needed another plan. Dragging the rucksack across the shop’s floor was all well and good, but once on the sidewalk outside friction began to outweigh the advantages of not needing to lift anything.

He needed to get a move on too, Jack would be getting up soon, and he just knew he was going to freak if Daniel wasn’t back.

“Need a hand with that, son?” A familiar voice behind Daniel made him jump, leaving him to spin round so quickly he almost tripped over the huge bag.

“I…..”

“Where are you headed?”

“J-just down the road to my friend’s house,” blurted out Daniel, unsure whether to introduce himself. Clearly General Hammond didn’t recognise him, but somehow not explaining seemed dishonest, even if it was going to make him late.

“Well, I think we can probably manage this between us,” the large, balding man smiled. “If you grab that strap there, I’ll take this one. Ready?”

“Ready,” nodded Daniel, wondering now if perhaps he should keep his mouth shut. Would the SGC commander be embarrassed if he realised that he was talking to a member of his staff? As he struggled to lift his side of the pack, despite the fact that General Hammond was almost certainly taking nearly all the weight, Daniel looked up into his eyes.

He couldn’t not tell him, he was a friend.

“My word, what have you got in here?” The older man gave a passable impression of being winded, despite evidence to the contrary. “You OK there, son?”

“I’m fine, sir,” said Daniel, wondering just how to introduce himself.

“Terribly polite too, I’ll have to tell your Momma what a good boy you’ve been,” smiled the General, digging Daniel into an ever deeper hole.

“I’m Daniel.” Perhaps not the most eloquent, for a linguist, winced Daniel, but he needed to get it out before the General said anything else.

“That’s a nice name, Daniel. I had a friend called that not so long ago. I’m George,” the General smiled paternally.

Daniel swallowed at the still grieving look in the General’s eyes. No matter how hard, he had to set this straight. “I mean I’m really Daniel, General,” Daniel persisted. “I’ve just had a bit of a… mishap.”

“Now I’m sorry, son, but my friend was a good bit older than you…”

“… You’re General Hammond,” pointed out Daniel.

“How in the world did you know that?” He wasn’t ready to believe yet, Daniel could see, but there was at least a little element of doubt there. Hopefully just enough for him to work with.

“It’s a long story, and since you’re here, you might find it a bit easier to swallow if Jack told you.” Daniel raised his eyebrows at the General in a manner that he hoped was far more fitting to an adult Daniel than the 6 year old who was present.

“Jack?” The General began to look suspicious. Not convinced exactly, but he’d stopped talking to Daniel as though he was truly 6 – probably just in case, Daniel figured. They’d seen enough strange things that nothing could really be discounted out of hand. “I take it you mean Jack O’Neill, since this is his house?”

Daniel simply nodded, motioning for the General to enter as he unlocked the door.

“Well lead on. Never let it be said that I don’t enjoy a good yarn,” smiled the General. “I could do with popping in on Jack anyways while I’m here.”

It didn’t take long to find Jack, somehow Daniel got the feeling that, despite the note, General Hammond was probably the only thing stopping him from exploding on the spot after he’d woken to find Daniel missing. Hopefully the groceries would go a long way to fixing that anyway.

Particularly the fruit loops.

As General Hammond placed the rucksack carefully on the floor, judging by the look on his face probably wondering what on earth possessed Daniel to think he was going to be able to carry that thing more than 2 feet, Daniel opened it up and grabbed both the milk and the fruit loops – obtaining a bowl and spoon before Jack had opportunity to say a single word to him.

“Do you want anything, General?”

The General looked uncomfortable. “I’ll take an orange juice, please, son.”

“You don’t want coffee?” Daniel glanced down at himself, still inwardly gritting his teeth at the frustration as he tried to maintain his earlier good mood. “I’m about to make some.”

The glance between General Hammond and Jack, spoke volumes, but bravely the older man nodded. “Coffee would be excellent.”

“So, General.” Jack spoke for the first time, “What brings you here?”

“It seems we’ve both been picking up strays, Jack.” The General glanced in Daniel’s direction as the archaeologist concentrated on ignoring them. It was all a necessary part of reclaiming some of his life, Daniel told himself. The General was a good man, and quite capable of coping with life’s little anomalies, they just need to stare a bit and question what they’re seeing at first.

So do I, he added, catching a glimpse of his reflection on the shiny surface of the microwave.

“There was this whole crazy gift giving thing with the Asgard, General. I’m thinking they were just a little late for my birthday, what with being on the other side of the galaxy the postal system is probably a bit of a joke.” Jack shrugged. “They felt this was what I’d always wanted.”

“A gift?” Daniel found himself cringing again as the General spoke those words again. He knew Jack was right, Sha’re had hardly complained and it hadn’t truly been demeaning to her in the end, but – he was a person! Well, a clone - but then Thor was a clone, and everyone had plenty of respect for him.

“The details aren’t important, sir. The fact is, that’s Daniel, just pint-sized,” insisted Jack, most likely picking up on some of Daniel’s less cheery thoughts.

“I would beg to differ, Colonel. I’d hardly think that an alien turning up with a member of my personnel, significantly altered but with all of his detailed knowledge of the SGC intact, would qualify as nothing of importance.” Gone was the kindly Grandfather figure, this was the General in full flow.

“I realise that, sir, but the Asgard have been nothing but reliable allies, and Thor did this with the very best of intentions,” put in Jack.

“Be that as it may, but I expect him to remain in your custody at all times, Jack, are we clear? It is imperative that his identity remain secret and he not be allowed to roam unaccompanied, such as during our little rendezvous this morning. We have no way of knowing what people would do to get their hands on his knowledge should they realise who he is, and in his current condition, Dr Jackson is hardly in a position to defend himself.” Daniel groaned silently, as if Jack wasn’t already paranoid enough, it’s not like people came attacking him every time he left the base normally.

“Of course, sir.” Jack shot a look at Daniel, tempered by the wink which followed it when the General wasn’t looking. Sure, he wasn’t going to let Daniel out of his sight, probably for the rest of Daniel’s natural life, but he did appreciate the efforts of this morning at least.

“I expect a report on my desk when you get back,” finished the General.

“Yes, sir. First thing,” Jack nodded.

“Dr Jackson?” Finally, the General addressed the young archaeologist again, this time with a tone which acknowledged his status as an equal.

“Yes, sir?”

“It’s good to have you back,” he smiled. “Take care, both of you.”

“General,” called Daniel, hating himself for the unnatural timidness he could feel creeping into his voice. “Thanks for the help.”

“Anytime, Dr Jackson, anytime.”

                                                            *********

Obviously, General Hammond had been tempting fate.

Not with the help, quite honestly Daniel wasn’t sure what he would’ve done if the SGC CO hadn’t happened along. Oh no, with what he said – the stuff about Daniel being in trouble. Although, Daniel supposed, he’d never mentioned jail.

Daniel was fairly certain, contrary to Jack’s belief, that he didn’t really attract trouble any more than the next SG-1 member. Today was a case in point. OK, so technically, Daniel had been the cause of the initial trouble, but the real problems weren’t him at all, they were all about Jack.

It had started soon after General Hammond had headed off to the mountain on his daily routine. He and Jack had been planning out their day once again, this time with fishing firmly placed on the menu. Apparently Sam and Teal’c had also put in word that they planned to stop by tomorrow, so Jack was inevitably left with insufficient fishing time, and Daniel conceded that it was pretty much a no brainer.

Daniel could only conclude that Jack was not intended to ever go fishing.

Within minutes of their decision, as Daniel had gone upstairs to grab a couple of books to keep himself occupied for the day, that was when things had started to head south.

Daniel wasn’t sure if Jack had been speaking to him before the front door opened, he’d been too engrossed in the task of finding suitable reading material amongst Jack’s rather limited collection. Wishing for the umpteenth time that a brief trip to the SGC wasn’t quite as much of an uphill struggle as he suspected it currently was, he finally selected a “Physics for dummies” book, which must have been a gift from Sam, and a book full of quotes from the Simpsons – on the grounds that if he was going to live with Jack for a while he was probably going to need to catch up on that sort of thing. Having made his selection, Daniel had suddenly become aware of voices downstairs.

Initially, he’d thought back to General Hammond, Sam and Teal’c. He knew his friends well enough, and how he would react in their place, he was sure for a while they’d be round at every opportunity, so Jack’s house suddenly being like Piccadilly Circus made perfect sense.

But then he didn’t recognise the other voice speaking to Jack, and somehow it didn’t sound quite as friendly as he might have anticipated.

So, trouble.

For the first time he could remember, Daniel had had absolutely no idea what to do. Oh, sure, he’d been in situations where he didn’t know the best course of action, but he’d always hoped that talking his way out of it would work, and been willing to risk the consequences of failure - or he’d trusted in Jack’s judgement when it clearly wouldn’t. Neither option seemed immediately available.

Silently, he moved to the phone in Jack’s room, punching in Sam’s number and, ignoring her lengthy and rapid questions, he told her what he knew and hung up. He could hear whoever it was leaving, but with Jack’s silence that wasn’t necessarily a good sign. He had to get a look at what was going on, before it was too late.

Daniel practically leaped down the stairs, groaning slightly as his ankles took the impact on the floor. Not good. He hadn’t been spotted though, the front door was already closed, and Jack was gone.

The house was a mess, but for the moment Daniel didn’t care. Without stopping to consider practicalities, he grabbed Jack’s keys and raced out to the huge truck in the driveway, pausing only when he was finally faced with climbing in and the technicalities of his problems sank in. This wasn’t going to be easy.

He checked out of the window, noting a single, large, black saloon car heading towards the end of the street and taking a right. He knew he had mere minutes to get the car going and follow, he had to think of something. Heaving the driver’s seat as far forward as it would go, Daniel decided that the seatbelt would only prevent him reaching the pedals, and instead sat on the edge of the seat, practically embedded in the steering wheel. If he crashed he was in real trouble, but at least he could make the monster move now – even if visibility wasn’t great.

He really wished it had tinted windows though. People were going to think the car was driving itself.

Thankfully, the other car’s windows were tinted, which at least made it easier to recognise. Daniel caught it just as it took another turn, this time a left, and headed out of Colorado Springs. Away from the mountain too, and Sam’s house – his chances of seeing her en route were already slipping from slim to none, he was going to have to find out where they were taking Jack all on his own.

Ruefully, Daniel regretted that it was so rare to do any driving off-world. If going through the gate had involved regular car travel he was sure he would’ve got all sorts of useful lessons in tailing cars with tinted windows without being seen, possibly even in catching them and taking them out, although Daniel was pretty certain that he’d be the one to come off worse in that sort of situation at the moment. But no, he couldn’t recall ever needing to drive off-world, not even when visiting the Tok’Ra or the Tollan. He supposed Kelowna might have had cars, but Daniel certainly hadn’t driven one – or chased anyone. Still, there was nothing he could do now. All he had to do was keep a reasonable distance, without losing them, and pray that they didn’t notice.

Daniel really wished that Jack had a less conspicuous vehicle.

Then the police had pulled him over.

                                                            ***********

Apparently it wasn’t common policy to lock up 6 year olds, and as he glanced round the police station, Daniel had to admit, for the first time he was grateful for his appearance, although in hindsight perhaps if not for that he wouldn’t have been pulled over at all. Either way, Jack’s kidnappers were long gone, and he wasn’t getting away until Sam turned up to pick him up – at least she wasn’t expecting to be long. He just hoped she could come up with some sort of explanation, because he didn’t think they were going to believe him.

“There you go, son,” a large, burly policeman handed Daniel a can of soda, pulling the ring pull without even asking if he liked it. Gamely, Daniel took a sip, hoping to appease him somewhat. It tasted terrible.

“Thanks,” he swallowed, trying to drink without letting his tongue touch the liquid and almost choking himself for his trouble.

“So, do you want to tell me your name?” The policeman smiled at him in a manner that was clearly supposed to be friendly, but to Daniel looked very much as though the man was hoping to eat him alive. He vaguely wondered if he was about to set a new record for youngest car thief in history.

“I’m Daniel.” He held out his right hand, offering to shake the man’s hand. OK, so it was a calculated move, but General Hammond had proved that if you looked like you were 6, acting as though you had fantastic manners could be very endearing, and traditionally, a policeman ought to accept it as a sign that he hadn’t been branded as a criminal – although Daniel suspected that the average police officer might not take that sort of thing quite so seriously these days. Either way, using his child-sized wiles to get him out of this was going to be a terrible blow to his pride, plus it was bound to get worse once Sam arrived.

The officer took the bait. “Nice to meet you, Daniel.” He shook his hand firmly, and looked the archaeologist in the eye with just a very slightly less predatory smile. He wasn’t persuaded yet, but Daniel suspected that most very young kids caught for this sort of thing weren’t prone to politeness. Maybe it was working. “Do you have a last name? So we can find your parents.”

Daniel swallowed, this time without the aid of the foul tasting soda. They were really going to have trouble finding his parents. He smiled weakly, “O’Neill.”

The man scribbled the name down, nodding intently. “And how about what you were doing with that truck?”

Ah, yeah, that. “I was borrowing it from my Uncle Jack,” Daniel told him, as convincingly as he could manage. “There were some men came and took him away, I wanted to stop them.” Definitely not good for the pride, but the man did at least look sympathetic now.

“And you called your Auntie Sam too, to tell her what had happened? That’s why she was at your Uncle’s house?” Daniel couldn’t believe it, it looked like the man might actually be buying it.

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you call the police, son? Most people call the police when things like that happen.” The burly man was leaning towards him now in a manner that Daniel found rather claustrophobic. On the other hand, any underlying anger was gone from his tone and expression. The man was almost certainly convinced that Daniel was more of a miniature super hero who’d seen too much telly, than the youngest car thief he’d met.

“I didn’t think of that,” Daniel told him, honestly. “Uncle Jack always wants me to call Auntie Sam if there’s trouble.”

“There’s a lot of trouble?” Alarm was starting to rise in the man’s voice now. Crap. Yes, there’s trouble constantly, thought Daniel, people just don’t seem to like us.

He shook his head. “No, but Uncle Jack made me practice, just in case. Because he’s in the Air Force.”

Now it was the policeman’s turn to look uncomfortable. “Is Auntie Sam in the Air Force too?”

Daniel nodded. “Yes.” Keep it simple, he kept telling himself. No elaboration. He’s buying it, don’t get to the point where Sam’s not going to be able to guess what you said. “Is Auntie Sam going to be here soon?” he added, hoping he wasn’t pushing his luck.

“Yeah, son, she shouldn’t be long now.” The man glanced at the clock behind them, giving Daniel time to take in the busy police station waiting area. “You do understand that you can’t go driving your Uncle’s car now, don’t you? Not until you yet your driving licence, in maybe 10 years, and he says you can drive it. OK?”

“It was an emergency,” observed Daniel obstinately, knowing that faced with the same situation again he’d have done the same thing.

“Not even in an emergency, kid. You could cause a whole load of other emergencies – you could get hurt. I don’t think your Uncle would want that, even if he was in trouble.”

“Probably not,” agreed Daniel, wryly. Make that definitely not, still, he couldn’t just leave it, even if it had led to him being stuck waiting for Sam before he could do anything.

“Do you know anything else about the people who took your Uncle?”

“Not really,” grumbled Daniel. “I didn’t get a good look at them, I was upstairs.”

“But you tried to chase them?”

“I heard them leave, and there was only one car on the street,” pointed out Daniel. “I didn’t know what else to do – I didn’t want them to get away.”

The man patted him on the shoulder, in a gesture that Daniel assumed was intended to be reassuring. He definitely believed him at least. “You were very brave to go after them like that, but you have to understand that you should leave that sort of thing to the police. What were you going to do if you caught them?”

“I’m not sure,” admitted Daniel, truthfully. “At least I would’ve known where they’d gone.”

The man had apparently planned to continue lecturing him about trusting the authorities, something Daniel suspected he would be best off not contradicting for the moment, but thankfully as the man began to speak again Sam finally walked in.

“Daniel! Thank God you’re OK!” Sam took one glance at the situation, and swept Daniel into her arms in a display of gratefulness and relief, some of which Daniel suspected wasn’t faked.

“Sorry, Auntie Sam,” he whispered into her ear. “I’m Daniel O’Neill.”

Daniel felt, rather than saw, Sam’s shift in posture, but he was aware of it nonetheless. As she continued to hang onto him, she turned to face the man he’d been talking to. “I gather he’s in trouble?” she asked.

“No, I think we can safely say he did what he did with the best of intentions,” the man conceded. “You’ve got one very brave little boy there.”

Sam grinned. “I’d noticed that.” She looked around. “So we’re good to go?”

“He is, with the proviso that he’s not going to do anymore driving outside of the playstation for another 10 years or so, but we did want to talk to you about what might have happened to his Uncle Jack. I take it he called you to the house?”

Ah, that, Daniel groaned, hoping that Sam had come up with something while she was driving. Sam was fast, but she’d really been doing nothing but driving from one place to another after him for the past 40 minutes, it was getting silly.

“I’m afraid the kidnapping of Colonel Jack O’Neill falls under air force jurisdiction, Officer,” Sam informed him, gifting him with one of her more brilliant smiles as she did so. “We have the matter under investigation as we speak.”

There was a pause as the man clearly pondered the merits of debating jurisdiction with her, quite possibly influenced by his conversation about trusting the authorities with Daniel. But then his frown receded. Daniel thought he’d probably had enough run ins with the air force to know that it wasn’t worth insisting on anything. “Well in that case, Ma’am, I wish you the best of luck,” he finally replied, nodding at them, and ruffling Daniel’s hair as he did so. With that he turned away from them, clearly declaring that the matter was closed, although Daniel suspected he could hear him already muttering to one of the guys nearest to him about the latest Cheyenne Mountain mess. Well, so be it, at least he wasn’t going to spend the day in jail.

Sam didn’t put him down until they were clear of the building, then, finally, she placed him on the ground and bent down to speak to him properly. It was embarrassing, but at least the tone she used was relatively normal, Daniel figured. “I can’t believe you managed to drive the Colonel’s truck!” she commented. “No wonder that cop nearly had a heart attack.”

“Yeah,” groaned Daniel. “I can’t say as I blame him, but I lost them when he pulled me over, I have no idea where they went.”

Sam shrugged. “Hopefully the direction will give us some clues, and in the meantime I’m pretty sure the Colonel can take care of himself, but you on the other hand…”

Daniel frowned. “Don’t even say it.”

Sam laughed. “Not a word.”

                                                            ***********

It seemed like an age since Daniel had been in the SGC, yet from his perspective it was only a matter of a few days since he’d embarked on the mission to Kelowna. His memory of returning was beyond his reach, something which he gathered both Thor and Jack had decided was for his own good, and this time probably not because he looked small and weak.

He had a feeling it had been really horrible.

It wasn’t just the looks people were giving him. Most of those were probably just wondering who he was – it wasn’t like he was instantly recognisable. If they’d been somewhere less secure, they probably would have merely assumed that he was some relative of Sam’s – his lightened hair, and blue eyes would’ve made that convincing enough, but down here there was no way he’d be let in without clearance, so it was more likely they assumed he was an alien kid.

The alien kids that ended up here had usually been through some pretty traumatic experiences, he knew he’d looked at a few of them with quite a lot of sympathy.

But then when Sam explained who he really was, the expression of sympathy invariably deepened.

Oh yeah, however he’d died, it really hadn’t been nice. Daniel was starting to be really glad he didn’t remember.

Jonas had been the worst. On Kelowna they’d been well on the way to becoming friends. Jonas was just the sort of guy Daniel enjoyed working with – smart, enthusiastic and willing to question things. Now he seemed almost nervous round Daniel, possibly even guilty. He was like a brand new intern who was afraid that the slightest mistake was going to get him fired. Jack had been right, apparently the promise to help Jonas with translations wasn’t something he needed to feel that he was held to. But, dammit, he wanted to – if Jonas would just calm down he was sure they’d make great progress.

Sam nudged him. “Just give him time,” she said, apparently reading Daniel’s expression to a tee. “He feels that it should have been him who died,” she added, rather cryptically. It was really making resisting finding out about his death difficult, when people kept dropping these little hints.

“Any leads on Jack?” asked Daniel, avoiding the previous subject again in an attempt to get away from it.

“I’ve been trying to obtain satellite images from the time of the chase, to pick up the car you saw. I’ve got all the relevant times and routes, so it’s mostly a question of picking the car up, although the chances are there’re a few gaps in the data – especially once they start heading further outside Colorado Springs.”

“Any thoughts on who it might have been who perpetrated this?” Daniel had to admit, that was the question that’d really been bothering him, or why. Somehow the timing was a little too coincidental for his liking. Sure, there were plenty of people who were after Jack, but most of them didn’t live on Earth, and even then, it was rare they went after him in his own home. They only did that when they thought he was working for them…

“NID, I guess,” replied Sam. “Doesn’t really tell us much, they’re always the first answer on everyone’s lips anyway.”

“Shocking,” agreed Daniel. “But why now?”

Sam looked at him, unwilling to put voice to what they were both feeling.

“Me then,” said Daniel.

“I think so,” she answered, reluctantly, giving him a sympathetic look that rivalled the ones he’d been getting when people were thinking about his death.

Daniel hit the desk, hard, hurting his hand as it connected with the table far more effectively than he’d expected. Damn. Jack shouldn’t be there. “It should’ve been me.”

“Maybe,” said Sam, “but beating yourself up over it isn’t going to bring the Colonel back. Besides, I have a feeling he had very good reasons for not wanting them to see you.”

Daniel’s heart sank, this sounded even worse. “Like what?!”

“Well…. you’re not exactly yourself,” she began tentatively. “It’s bad enough when you get taken by someone as it is – the Colonel always feels responsible for any of us, but it’s worse with you because you’re a civilian – even though we know you’ve got much better at defending yourself,” she added hurriedly. “But in this condition, it’s obvious you’re not going to overpower anyone, and no one will take you seriously… They’d be much more likely to try to turn you.”

“Turn me?” Daniel couldn’t help it, his voice seemed to have raised several octaves all on its own – he was practically squeaking.

“Indeed, Daniel Jackson, I too believe that the NID would regard your current condition as an opportunity to turn you to the dark side,” a deep voice interrupted them.

“Ah, Teal’c, I didn’t hear you come in.” Daniel paused. “What?”

“Star Wars, Daniel,” Sam told him. “You really need to keep up with your TV.”

“But that’s completely unreasonable! Why do none of you trust me all of a sudden? You’ve never been worried that I’d change sides and work for the NID before, you know I’d never do that! Why is this any different?” Daniel couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Daniel,” began Sam, calmly. “The fact is, that as much as you have your own real memories right up to the mission to Kelowna, we have no idea how your altered brain chemistry might affect them. Even the most resistant soldier can ultimately be brainwashed, but in your present condition, you’d have almost no natural resistance and on top of that your chances of physically escaping would be drastically reduced. Quite simply, Daniel, you are through no fault of your own, currently more susceptible to certain techniques.”

Oh crap. They knew he was alive. That trip to the ATM. Finally, as the reality of Sam’s words began to sink in, Daniel thought he saw the tiny thread of connection between what had happened to Jack and recent events. “It was my fault,” he said aloud, once more giving voice to his suspicions, although this time with a greater level of authority.

“It’s not your fault, Daniel,” said Sam, rubbing his arm. “It’s theirs.”

“You don’t understand,” he told her. “I used my credit card. They could know I’m alive.” He slapped his forehead, just hard enough that it hurt. “I can’t believe I was so stupid, I never even thought!”

“The NID never believed that you were dead?” suggested Sam.

“That’s why Jack left without much of a fight, he knew that if they searched the house they’d find me,” declared Daniel miserably.

“So they don’t know that you’re a kid,” said Sam, smiling slightly for the first time. “They’re looking for the adult you.”

“Probably,” agreed Daniel.

“In which case, it is indeed fortuitous that O’Neill prevented them from discovering you,” put in Teal’c.

Daniel looked miserable. He was. As if his world wasn’t spinning on the wrong axis already, now his friends seemed to be suggesting that it was perfectly acceptable for him to be the cause of trouble, but not for him to be captured himself. “Maybe they wouldn’t have recognised me,” he muttered. “We could’ve taken that chance, maybe fought them off between us.”

Teal’c raised a large, silent eyebrow. “I do not believe that your self-defence techniques would currently be effective,” he added.

“And they would’ve had you to hold over the Colonel – whether or not they knew who you were,” added Sam gently.

He hadn’t thought of that. As horrible as Jack kidnapped was, had Daniel been with him, as much as they might have been able to reassure one another, it would’ve put Jack in a terrible position. “Damned if I do, damned if I don’t,” observed Daniel quietly, praying once again that Jack would be retrieved unharmed.

Sam nodded at him and Teal’c, clearly recognising that a conclusion had been reached. “We need to know where they got Daniel’s bank information from,” she said. “They can’t have seen him, or they would’ve known he was a kid – and that he was staying at the Colonel’s house.”

“Why wouldn’t they have searched for me anyway?” asked Daniel. They knew to go to Jack’s, why would they take his word for it that I wasn’t there.

Sam’s face said it all.

They didn’t really believe him as such. Jack was just too much trouble to subdue while they searched. “They’re going to be watching the place,” said Daniel.

Sam shook her head, “Not necessarily, they’d know that you wouldn’t hang around after the Colonel was taken. Most likely they left someone there to search, or they waited for you to leave.”

“I did leave,” said Daniel.

“Well, not really. You don’t exactly look like yourself, whoever was watching probably didn’t twig what you were going to do until you actually got the car moving, and by then it was almost certainly too late.” Sam smiled grimly.

“So it’s a really good job I got picked up by the police then,” commented Daniel. “Now there’s something I never expected to say.”

“It’s almost certainly true though,” Sam’s thoughts continued. “Once the others were clear, it’s likely the last man would’ve gone straight back into the house and found you if you hadn’t left. As it was, he probably tailed you until you got pulled over.”

“I never noticed anyone behind me.” Daniel kicked himself again. “Can I put in an application for spy driving lessons?”

“It is my experience that even with lessons it would be difficult to detect someone both ahead and behind you simultaneously,” suggested Teal’c. “You cannot blame yourself for failing to notice.”

“But we can be grateful for your incredible luck,” grinned Sam. “OK, so they’re looking for you, but can’t possibly believe that you’re still at the Colonel’s house – whether they followed you when you left, or they went into the house. Certainly, there was no one there by the time I arrived. But we can trace the car, the bank access this morning, and we can look into any warehouses and so on in the area.”

“Major Carter, I would suggest that finding the operatives is unlikely to be difficult,” added Teal’c. “It is the retrieval of Colonel O’Neill which is likely to prove to be a formidable task.”

“Why do you say that?” asked Sam, as Daniel too observed the large Jaffa in bewilderment.

“Because it is Daniel Jackson who they wish to obtain. Therefore, O’Neill has become the lure in a trap.”

“And easy to find,” agreed Sam. Teal’c inclined his head respectfully. “OK, Teal’c, you talk to General Hammond about our back up, Daniel, you compile a list of reasons the NID might want you – anything from recent missions that might be relevant, anything at all. I’m going to see if I can work out where the Colonel is being held.”

                                                ***********

Jack was trying not to think. He hadn’t thought it’d be that difficult, in certain circles he was famous for not really doing a lot of heavy thinking, but somehow captivity when no one seems to want to ask any interesting questions, led to intensive and involuntary thinking.

He wasn’t worried about the NID goons, he’d met their type before. They were a nuisance, nothing more, and he was fairly certain they didn’t have the authorisation to kill him, so the worst that could happen was that they rough him up a bit,. However, instead they just left him alone. Chained to a chair. In a warehouse.

It was draughty, and he had a really bad itch on his nose that he couldn’t reach – it was making him tetchy.

Worse than that, if they weren’t asking questions, then it was fairly likely that they wanted him here for some other reason, and the only thing he could think of was as bait. Which led him right back to the thinking.

If the NID wanted him as bait, then they were looking for a member of the SGC, most likely SG-1, and try as he might, that thinking led him directly to Daniel every time he considered it. Despite barely meeting anyone since Daniel had arrived, someone apparently knew that the kid was back, and they were after him.

Definitely not good.

On the plus side, they apparently hadn’t got their hands on Daniel yet, which suggested that perhaps he’d at least had the presence of mind to get Carter or Teal’c to help him out, rather than attempting a rescue on his own.

That was really the only plus he could think of. It was going to be a really long day.

Bending over, Jack tried to scratch his nose on the table in front of him.

                                                **************

Daniel sat perched on an infirmary bed, peering back at Janet as she stared in shock at him.

“I can’t believe this, Sam,” commented Janet. “Jack said that Thor just delivered him like this? With his memories completely intact?”

“Almost,” corrected Sam, “he doesn’t remember much after meeting Jonas on Kelowna.”

“That’s just incredible. After all the things we’ve seen, sometimes I forget that the universe can still surprise us,” smiled Janet. “Plus he’s really cute.”

“I’m right here.” Daniel spoke through gritted teeth, his impatience with the situation increasingly obvious.

“Sorry, Dr Jackson.” Janet smirked, she didn’t look particularly sorry to Daniel.

“Can we do this later?” he prodded her. “I’m kind of in a rush.” Not to mention totally fed up with people looking at me like that, he added silently.

“You know full well that a thorough exam before any mission is essential.” Janet was calm but firm, much as she was usually when Daniel was desperate to abscond from the infirmary, although for once she also held a physical advantage over him, which Daniel had to admit made her more than a little intimidating.

“I’ll catch you later,” said Sam, waving to both of them.

“Please, Janet, we have to go after Jack,” pleaded Daniel. “He’s been taken because of me, we can’t leave him there.”

“We won’t,” said Janet quietly. “If you’ll just get this over with…”

As Janet went for the cuff to check his blood pressure, Daniel leapt from the bed. “There isn’t time for this!”

“Dr Jackson! Daniel,” Janet half scolded him, catching hold of his arm before he had chance to flee. “You are not going anywhere until I am satisfied that you’re fit. You’ve undergone a significant and potentially stressful alteration, and whilst your body might not feel any of the effects of cloning or other stresses, your brain is suddenly having to cope with limbs that are of a vastly altered make up.”

Daniel pulled at Janet’s hold on his arm, not quite willing to concede. “They’re going without me, aren’t they?”

“They have to, Daniel. I’m sorry.” Janet’s expression was filled with a sympathy much more immediate than that he’d been seeing all day around the base. More sympathy, as much as he appreciated their concern, Daniel was really starting to wish that people would come up with something new – a cure might be nice. Nonetheless, despite her empathy, Janet didn’t let go of his arm, instead grabbing his other arm and gently lifting him back onto the infirmary bed in order to look him in the eyes. “You know there’s no way you could’ve helped them in this, don’t you, Daniel? You’ve already done everything you can possibly do. Now you’re going to have to leave it to the others.”

“I could help them,” whispered Daniel, unwilling to even contemplate that he couldn’t.

“Perhaps,” said Janet, surprising him. “I imagine there are all sorts of things you could do. But in this particular case, we’re pretty sure it’s you they’re looking for. If they find out you’re a kid, you’re basically waving goodbye to any kind of life you could have here. Your life here depends on no one knowing who you are.”

“It’s not about my life, what about Jack?” Stubbornly, Daniel clung to the shreds of his argument. He was wrong, and somewhere deep down he knew it, but equally accepting his fate was terrifying.

“From what I saw when you died, and what Sam said about the Colonel the other day, Jack would be devastated if anything happened to you – including you needing to leave. I’m afraid you’re going to have to be patient.” Janet smiled at him. “Now, are you going to cooperate with me, or am I going to have to work out whether they make restraints small enough to keep you here? Because I’m not above making you stay – I want Jack back and happy as much as you do.”

“How do you do this?” asked Daniel abruptly. It wasn’t giving up exactly he told himself, not yet, merely acknowledging the possibility that she might be right.

“Do what?” Janet looked puzzled.

“Stay behind.”

“Well, it’s tough sometimes,” conceded Janet, “but knowing that by staying behind you might just be able to make sure that things work out in the end really helps.”

“I’m going to have to learn,” sighed Daniel in resignation, all pretence at following the others evaporating as Janet’s realism started to get through to him. “I don’t see Jack letting me go off-world much either.”

“I have to admit, it would be a pretty peculiar set of circumstances that had a 6 year old as part of a first contact team on any sort of dangerous mission,” agreed Janet. “Don’t see Colonel O’Neill letting you carry a gun either, somehow. General Hammond might let you join some of the quieter scientific missions though, if that’s what you want.”

“I suppose it might be nice,” Daniel tried to convince himself. “Not being shot at for a while.” He frowned. “Although those scientific missions aren’t always quite as soothing as the General might think,” he added, his mind drifting to an adventure with a certain giant Unas.

“So I’ve heard,” grinned Janet.

They both fell silent for a moment, caught in contemplation of the changes that had occurred in Daniel’s life. For Daniel, he found himself desperately clinging to the idea that he could cope with no longer being a member of SG-1, an idea that had been niggling at him ever since he’d woken up in Jack’s living room and was now truly starting to instil itself in his view of reality. Whether he could manage to do the same as General Hammond and Dr Fraiser – watch his friends leave through that gate without ever being sure of whether they’d come back, remained in question.

They always had so far – except possibly himself, given that he’d died – maybe he should try to give them the benefit of the doubt. Although that time he’d been stuck in the infirmary with appendicitis had been a bit stressful, he remembered that much.  Nonetheless, his choices seemed limited, somehow he figured by the time he grew up again, SG-1 might not exist anymore. Even Teal’c would be getting on a bit by then, and besides, he didn’t think he wanted the war with the Goa’uld to last another 15 years just so that he could go exploring.

Assuming he did grow up at all. “Janet? I will grow up, won’t I?”

She smiled again. “I’ve sent off your results for testing, but preliminary analysis suggests that you are a perfectly normal and healthy 6 year old boy, with no obvious reason for not growing up again equally normally.”

“That’s a relief.” Daniel couldn’t express just how much of a relief that was. It was like Teal’c had said, a temporary handicap. If there were people throughout the world who could manage to live with handicaps permanently, then somehow Daniel knew he’d manage with a temporary one. Even if his timing really sucked.

“Come on, how about we finish this, talk to General Hammond, then I’ll get you an ice cream in the commissary.”

Daniel smiled, despite his fears for the rest of his team. “You’re on.” If nothing else, the distraction might be nice. Somehow he had the feeling that getting caught by the police a second time for joy riding in one day would get even Sam annoyed. And Jack would kill him. So maybe Janet was right, it was time to accept his fate – at least for the time being.

This way he could still give them hell for leaving him behind when they got back.

                                                *****************

Just as Teal’c had inferred, the warehouse where Jack was being held was both easy to trace and easy to get to. Just on the outskirts of town, it posed no real danger to local citizens and gave numerous ideal vantage points for surveillance.

It smelled exactly like a trap.

Sam and Teal’c, motioning for their backup to remain at a distance for the moment, lay on their stomachs on the crest of one of these vantage points, making use of a pair of military issue binoculars as they attempted to assess their target.

Apparently there were only minimal guards.

“Major Carter, how do you intend to proceed?” asked Teal’c, his discomfort with the situation obvious.

“There are three entrances,” she observed, “here, here and here. If you take the far one, I’ll take this one and I’ll call in Lieutenant Henry to take the smaller, central one there.”

“The new recruit from SG-5?” asked Teal’c, his eyebrow raising sceptically.

Sam nodded, reaching into her pack and withdrawing two small items: a patch and a pair of glasses and winking unexpectedly at Teal’c. She tapped her radio, “Lieutenant Henry, are you ready?”

“On my way, sir,” came the reply.

Teal’c’s raised eyebrow climbed a little higher. “Lieutenant Henry seems rather nervous about this proposition, Major Carter.”

“Indeed,” grinned Sam, winking again.

Inclining his head, Teal’c raised himself slightly off the ground. “Then I shall make my way to my position.”

Sam nodded. “On my mark.”

Turning to Henry as Teal’c moved away, she pulled him down momentarily, handing him the items from her pack before gesturing to the smaller door between Teal’c and their current location. The young soldier nodded intently, then he too began to clamber away from her.

“SG-8?” Sam called into her radio.

“We’ll be waiting, as requested Major Carter,” came the familiar voice of Major Hanlon.

“Thanks guys,” replied Sam, clicking the radio off and making her way to her own entrance as Lieutenant Henry reached his position. Once at the door, she flicked her fingers in a silent countdown to Henry, watching as he relayed the information to Teal’c, then focussing once more on her door as her countdown reached zero, her zat held before her, ready.

Inside, there were barely any signs of life. Crossing the door into the building, despite both her and Teal’c’s instincts that this was a trap, she’d expected to see more in the way of overt resistance. Instead, all she saw as she entered was Teal’c and Henry, surveying the scene from their respective locations, and of course, Colonel O’Neill. The Colonel was chained in the centre of the room, and appeared uninjured, but slightly alarmed to see the three of them advancing on his position.

Sam nodded to Teal’c and Henry, ignoring any gestures Colonel O’Neill was making to her. “It’s OK, sir, we’re here to rescue you,” she called.

“Carter, not that I’m not grateful, but would you look out…”

The warning came too late. In a blaze of blue zat fire, all three of the advanced rescue team lay unconscious on the floor of the warehouse barely metres from Colonel O’Neill’s position.

“… behind you,” finished Jack.

Surrounding them, Jack vaguely recognised several members of the rogue NID as they closed in, weapons still held at the ready. Much as he’d suspected. What he hadn’t been prepared for were two other figures alongside them, one of whom was more familiar than he might have liked to admit.

“I know you,” observed Jack, frowning as he tried to place the face.

The tall, blonde woman ignored him, making her way instead to his fallen comrades. She moved with a quiet confidence that suggested she’d spent time in command, hard times too if the scar across her right cheek was anything to go by. Still, he couldn’t place her. As he watched, still unable to intervene, to Jack’s fascination she paid no attention to Teal’c or Carter, instead targeting the second man who’d come in with them, a younger guy who Jack wasn’t even completely certain he recognised.

She bent down, removing the glasses from the guy’s nose and peering intently at his face, her expression morphing into one of anger just as SG-8 burst through the outer doors and a second volley of zat fire ensued.

Given the poorly fitting glasses and the stiff looking SG-1 patch on the guy’s arm, Jack was beginning to get an idea of what was going on. At least, he had a fair idea of one side of the story, he was having a slightly harder time placing the woman though, despite the fact that she clearly knew him.

And Daniel.

Who exactly had Daniel pissed off this time?

The chains and nearly getting taken out by zat fire were starting to annoy him too, not to mention his nose. “Hey! Anyone thinking of letting me out?”

Carter, who was slowly coming to her senses, turned to look in his direction. “Sorry, sir,” she groaned. “We had to make sure that we’d taken them all out first.” She looked around to see SG-8 restraining several of the remaining NID members as they lay unconscious.

“Sure,” nodded Jack. “You think you can get over here and scratch my nose though, it’s been driving me crazy.”

Carter smiled, climbing to her feet rather unsteadily and making her way over to Jack, taking the time to catch the keys as Major Hanlon found them and threw them to her on the way over.

“Nose, Carter,” insisted Jack. “I could make it an order.” She smiled again, concentrating on the locks to the cuffs.

“Yes, sir.”

Jack stood and stretched his legs, relieved to be out of that chair after so long. “So I take it everything’s taken care of?”

“Yes, sir,” Carter confirmed.

“Any idea who these guys are?”

“Not yet, sir, but I don’t think we’ll have too much trouble finding out now.”

                                                *****************

“Colonel!” General Hammond greeted Jack as he arrived, none the worse for wear, back at the SGC. “Good to see you back in one piece.”

“Thank you, sir. Where’s Daniel, is he OK?”

“I’m fine Jack.” A small voice came from behind General Hammond, quickly joined by an equally small body as it pushed itself through to face Jack. “I’m sorry I couldn’t come after you, Jack,” said Daniel, his downcast face the picture of shame.

“From what I hear, you gave it a pretty good shot,” commented Jack quietly, glancing at General Hammond and nodding to him, gratefully watching as his CO returned the look and silently ushered the remaining SGC personnel out of the briefing room.

“Uh, well, that didn’t go so well,” admitted Daniel. “I’m afraid your truck is still at the police station.”

Jack grinned, trying to imagine what on earth the police had made of Daniel in the driver’s seat of his truck. “That’s OK, I’ll get Carter to give us a lift over there later.”

Finally, Daniel raised his eyes to look at Jack, a sad smile passing over his face. “I couldn’t help,” he said.

For a few moments Jack didn’t respond at all. He sat, silently regarding his friend as he imagined just what it would be like to be in that position, knowing the hard decisions that Daniel was currently facing. That they were all facing really, he knew that sooner or later SG-1 was going to have to go through that gate and explicitly leave Daniel behind.

It was going to be hard on all of them.

“You did the right thing though,” said Jack. “I’m proud of you.”

Daniel gaped, his big brain apparently completely failing to grasp what Jack was telling him.

“You acted in the best interests of the team,” explained Jack. “No matter what you personally wanted.”

It didn’t really make it OK, not by a long shot, that much was clear, but he thought it helped a little. There was just a little glimmer of hope that passed by Daniel’s eyes. “Thanks, Jack,” the boy nodded, a newfound respect for his friend showing through. “I’m still sorry I caused it all though,” he added. “It was stupid.”

Jack grinned. “Pfshaw. How on earth are you supposed to guess that there are bad guys after you monitoring your bank transactions when you’re actually dead?”

“Wasn’t my first thought, obviously,” admitted Daniel, the guilt still shining through his eyes.

“There you go then,” nodded Jack. “Carter’s taken care of the bank records, so I’m pretty sure NID can now officially confirm that you’re dead and someone in their lot screwed up. Plus in the meantime, I really appreciated the sentiment.”

Finally, Daniel grinned back.

“So, couple of loose ends to tie up, and I think the pair of us are back on vacation.”

“Loose ends?” Daniel regarded his friend quizzically.

“Well, there’s the small matter of who those guys who were after you are,” pointed out Jack. “The NID we can take care of, you’re officially, completely dead, and well – you know Kinsey or Simmons or someone’ll get them off, but they won’t work out who you are first, so that’ll be fine. But then there’s that woman and her sidekick…”

“Farrell,” said Daniel. “And I think her sidekick’s called Bolan, although I’m less sure of that – only met him the once.” Jack raised his eyebrows. “What? I took a look when I was on my way over to meet you.”

“And yet despite only meeting him briefly you pissed him off, apparently?”

“Not personally,” protested Daniel. “They’re from Euronda, I guess some of them survived.”

Jack’s heart sank. There was a name he’d hoped never to hear again, why did these places come back to haunt him. “Ahhh…. Lovely Euronda. Dark tunnels, bombs and a new Hitler, what a paradise that was.”

“I guess the NID thought they had a new way to get their hands on the technology,” suggested Daniel.

“With your life as part of the bargain?” Jack’s expression quickly turned to anger.

Daniel shrugged. “Well it’d cut down on the questions,” he paused. “My guess is they made a deal for some heavy water and I was some sort of extra guarantee. They’re probably dealing from somewhere off-world.”

“Let’s hope you being officially dead takes care of the worst of that then,” grumbled Jack. “I’ll pass the rest on to Hammond.”

“I did already,” grinned Daniel.

Jack raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. He couldn’t help it, Daniel had always been smart, but it was so much harder to deal with when he was in this… disguise. “Excellent, in that case that brings us to loose end number 2.”

“Which is?”

“Your identity,” said Jack.

“There’s something wrong with the one I have?”

“Uh uh, I think that might be obvious, even to you,” complained Jack. “If you’re officially dead, and you’re supposed to be 30 years older than you appear, not to mention you have government agencies and aliens chasing you, I think it’s a good time to consider an alias.”

Daniel looked alarmed. Jack supposed he couldn’t blame him, he was essentially surrendering his own history.

“Relax, it’ll be like when Janet adopted Cassie. We’ve just got to fudge a few official documents, make sure you’re untraceable. Carter’s pretty certain she can even get you access to your old bank accounts without it being traced.”

“Fudge official documents?”

“You know, the usual stuff. We can do this sort of thing in our sleep, one thing the military’s great at is hiding people.” Jack reached into his pocket, withdrawing a birth certificate dated 8th July 1996.

“My birthday,” commented Daniel, sounding almost surprised that Jack knew it.

“Thor really skimped on the paperwork.”

“Born, Giza, Egypt,” Daniel read, a smile crossing his face once more.

“Seemed appropriate, plus I thought it was close enough to accurate and would probably go a long way to explaining why you suddenly showed up here if anyone asked.”

“Mother Claire Ballard, father unknown,” Daniel continued.

“Sorry, Danny, didn’t want to risk giving too much away.” Jack handed him another sheet of paper.

“Adopted by Col. Jack O’Neill, June 2002.” Clearly incredibly touched, Daniel stared in awe at his friend. “You’re sure about this?”

“Too late now anyway,” shrugged Jack, mischievously. “Besides, I know exactly how much of a bastard you are to live with, wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Thanks, Jack.” Beaming at him now, Daniel threw his arms round the surprised Colonel’s neck. “You have no idea what that means.”

He had some, thought Jack, thinking of what little he’d discovered of the foster care system. “Even better,” added Jack, “I registered you for home schooling.”

“No one in their right mind is going to believe you’re going to home school me,” laughed Daniel.

“Hey! I resent that,” protested Jack, “besides, I can be very persuasive.”

“You haven’t had time to be that persuasive,” pointed out Daniel.

“Well, OK, Janet can be very persuasive.”

“That I believe.”

“Cheek,” frowned Jack, enjoying teasing his friend as the mood lightened.

Daniel shrugged gleefully. “My duty.”

Oh yeah, this was going to be an experience. Jack wondered just how much effect the transformation would have on the path his friend took, already he wasn’t quite the same as he used to be. Only subtly, but something was definitely different about him. “I’m assuming you’d still like to work at the SGC?” added Jack, glad he remembered to check.

“Yeah,” Daniel’s enthusiasm darkened a little. “I guess I’m no longer SG-1 though.”

“General Hammond’s agreed to your working as a consultant on base, and to your living on base while I’m off-world.”

“I don’t need a babysitter,” pointed out Daniel.

Exasperated at Daniel’s knee-jerk reaction, Jack sighed. “And exactly how long would it take my neighbours to object to me leaving my 6 year old kid alone overnight? Not to mention how you’re going to get yourself home? I’m not sure a repeat of your little joyride should be a regular occurrence.”

Daniel coloured. “Sorry. Hadn’t thought about that.”

Jack’s eyebrows lifted again. “Well now ya have,” he pointed out, ruffling Daniel’s hair to take the sting out of the comment. “The General has also agreed that, should the right circumstances occur, you are authorised to go off-world to investigate significant archaeological finds.”

“The right circumstances?”

“Namely SG-1’s availability to accompany you and SG-11, and certain assurances that the planet is totally uninhabited.”

“Totally uninhabited, huh?” It was Daniel’s turn to look suspicious.

“I may have had some say in that,” Jack admitted. “Even then, you know you’re bound to attract trouble somehow.”

Daniel managed to pull a ‘butter wouldn’t melt in my mouth’ expression so well that Jack almost accused him of practicing in the mirror. “Don’t give me that look,” he objected, knowing full well that it was intentional.

“What look?” Daniel’s wide eyed, innocent expression remained.

“You know what look.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Jack.”

“Oh God, I’m gonna regret this,” grumbled Jack, completely insincerely. “Come on, let’s go home.”

“Got to get Sam first,” added Daniel.

“Oh yeah,” groaned Jack. “I’m really gonna regret this.”

                                                ***************

Jack sank into his sofa, tired, but happy after a full day sat by the water’s edge, fishing. Granted, Danny hadn’t done a whole lot of actual fishing, but he’d read by Jack’s side quite happily without too many running commentaries on whatever ancient culture it was he’d been reading about, and he hadn’t even fallen in the water. Nope, no sign whatsoever of trouble – not that it’d stopped Jack from making him wear the rubber ring all day, much to the kid’s embarrassment.

It had been great. Relaxing. Easy. It’d even been sunny. Now Jack felt like he’d had a vacation – even if it was only the one day. There was always tomorrow anyway, they weren’t due back yet.

On the chair opposite, Daniel lay dozing lightly, his glasses slowly slipping down his nose towards his open mouth, and his open book still resting on his knees. Jack thought he’d enjoyed himself too, maybe more than he was initially willing to admit. He’d been so worn out after their day out that Jack’d even beaten him at their new strategic board game, Octiles, even though Jack’d only read half of the instructions and felt like his brains were exploding through his ears while they were playing.

Rising from the sofa, Jack made his way over to Daniel, removing the glasses to place them back in their case, and carefully marking the book’s page before putting that to one side too. It was getting late anyway, already dark outside and with the amount of sleep Daniel’s new body needed, plenty late enough to head for bed. Jack was pretty sure he wouldn’t mind getting some shut-eye himself.

“Time for bed, Danny,” Jack whispered, bending down to pick the kid up as he heard a noise, almost a reply, from within the kitchen behind him.

That wasn’t Daniel.

Silently, his senses on full alert now, Jack moved to his kitchen, looking round for any sign of intrusion whilst simultaneously keeping an eye on his sleeping friend. Their brush with the NID and the Eurondans still recent enough that he couldn’t help worrying over them finding out – even if they had done them a favour and made them all much more cautious.

“Who’s there?” he asked the air, not really expecting a response.

“Hey, Jack.”

Jack frowned. Before him, apparently sitting on the stove, which was something he didn’t want to think too deeply about, was Daniel. The full-sized, grown up version.

“Daniel?”

“It’s me.”

“Thor put you up to this?”

His friend’s forehead crinkled in puzzlement.

“Guess not, never mind, long story. How’re you doing? Long time no see.”

“Not from what I gather, Jack,” chided Daniel gently.

“You heard about that, huh?” Jack glanced at the younger, tangible Daniel once more. Still sleeping.

“Yeah.”

“So how’s it going with that higher plane of existence thing, Daniel? Is that working out for ya?”

“It’s fine,” said Daniel. “You know I was a pretty hard kid to live with, right?”

“I can imagine, anyway,” commented Jack, wryly. “He’s not exactly a kid though, he’s you in a little body.”

“You replaced me?” Daniel looked both hurt and touched, not to mention a little shocked. Jack started to wonder if he’d forget where he was hovering and fall through the stove or something.

“We missed you, Danny,” replied Jack, quietly. “So much so that Thor thought your clone would be a good way to repay all our efforts.”

Daniel gaped at him, his expression so similar to the one his younger counterpart had pulled earlier, that Jack couldn’t help glancing back again. “Thor did this?”

“He said it would make us function better,” Jack told him.

“Thor said that?” Daniel looked doubtful.

“Perceptive little guy,” confirmed Jack.

“I’m sorry I didn’t visit before,” said Daniel.

“Because we missed you, or because you didn’t want to be replaced?” asked Jack.

“I didn’t realise how bad it would be for you,” whispered Daniel, the catch in his voice betraying how difficult he’d found it himself.

“You had things to do, it’s OK, Danny. We understood.”

“You did?”

“Pretty much. I think Teal’c may have struggled a bit.”

Daniel smiled. “It’s good to see you, Jack, and I’m glad you’re all OK.”

“Me too,” grinned Jack

“Jack?” a small, sleepy voice came from behind him. “Daniel?!”

Damn, thought Jack, the little version was way too good at sneaking up on him. He looked down at the boy as each Daniel studied the other silently.

“How’re you doing?” The ascended version got over his surprise first. “Is Jack treating you OK?”

“You know how it is,” the boy shrugged. “He took me fishing.”

“Hey!” protested Jack.

Both Daniels grinned.

“No encouraging him,” Jack complained to the adult Daniel. “He’s bad enough as it is.”

Small Daniel was a bit more wary, clearly viewing the older version as a threat to his new life despite their initial banter. “I’ll never be you,” he observed sadly, almost under his breath. Jack suspected he probably didn’t mean his status as a clone as much as his loss of his adulthood.

“I won’t be here,” pointed out his ascended counterpart, waving his hand through the kitchen counter to demonstrate his point. “I won’t be around to help out. I’m not even allowed to interfere. I’m going to have to rely on you to make sure Jack doesn’t blunder into anything day to day.”

“So then we’re both powerless,” observed the younger version. “Figures.”

“Yeah,” agreed ascended Daniel. “It’s a nice place to stay though, even if you’re powerless.”

“You’re thinking of coming back?” Then smaller Daniel did look worried, something which both ascended Daniel and Jack reacted to instinctively, with Jack grabbing the boy’s shoulder in reassurance.

“I can’t come back,” countered Daniel. “And there’s a lot out here for me to explore anyway. I just thought it’d be nice to see my friends.”

“Just visiting then, huh?” asked Jack.

“Just visiting,” agreed Daniel. “But I’ll always be around, watching.”

“Not while I’m in the bathroom,” announced Jack.

Small Daniel smirked, catching a similar look in the eyes of his ascended double.

“I promise,” Daniel concurred, before glancing briefly behind him. “I should go. See you around?”

“Absolutely, kid,” agreed Jack. “You’re always welcome.”

As ascended Daniel faded out, Jack turned to the corporeal version. “You OK?”

He nodded, but Jack could see he was thinking. Too quiet, for Daniel.

“Spit it out.”

Daniel was obviously reluctant, but caved quickly enough at the look of exasperation Jack was giving him. “If he did come back, what would you do with me?”

It was hardly surprising, pretty much what Jack’d been expecting to be honest, but he paused momentarily to get the right phrasing before replying. “Daniel, you’re two different people. You were different from the moment Thor beamed you in here, and the more time passes, the more different you’ll be. If the other Daniel ever decides he’s coming back, by then you’ll be so different you’ll have forgotten you were ever the same person. Make sense?”

“We’re still basically the same, we’re bound to make a lot of the same choices,” observed Daniel.

“Powerless or otherwise, I think the difference between an ascended Daniel and a living Daniel in a 6 year old body is sufficient to make a huge difference in a matter of months. Hell, identical twins grow up in the same house with the same people for 18 years and they manage to be completely different by the time they leave home, you two are living in different galaxies!” exclaimed Jack. “Besides, there’s no way the other Daniel’s moving in with me if he comes back.”

“You do make a good point,” conceded Daniel.

“I know,” said Jack smugly. “It’s the wise old Colonel thing, catches you out every time. One thing though, to start you off on your separate journey.”

“What?”

“Do you think I can call you Danny?”

Daniel looked away, undecided for a few minutes, as though he was pondering something his life depended on. Finally, he turned back to reply. “That’s probably a good idea. Don’t want you getting us confused.”