• SPOILERS : Not sure at the moment, but most definitely "Show & Tell"...
• SUMMARY : Jack is missing Charlie and decides to go visit the Tok'ra Homeworld... Maybe not the best decision he's ever made, but at least his heart was in the right place...
• PG [A] [D] [HC]

Chapter One

Visiting the Tok’ra was *not* exactly something he ever thought that he would *willingly* do, but since he now had vacation time and, for some unknown reason, he felt that fishing was *not* going to soothe the soul that was missing someone, he, maybe *against* his better judgement, decided to visit the Tok’ra Homeworld. If he’d had a choice, he had to admit that it would have been better if Charlie could have visited *him*, but, and more than likely as far as he was concerned, maybe there was a chance that the little guy had forgotten him. 

‘Agh, not a good thought,’’ Jack thought as he stepped down the stone paved steps that appeared requisite for every Stargate. He mentally shook himself, bolstered his courage, before he could seriously talk himself out of this visit, then looked up and smiled in greeting for the only elder Tok’ra that he had any amount of respect for. "Hey there, Jacob," he muttered, holding out a hand for the shaking.

"Jack," Jacob replied, shaking the proffered hand and returning the smile. "So, what brings you to our little corner of this galaxy then..." he asked, and as he looked around Jack, he added with a frown, "...on your own?"

Jack instinctively turned three-quarters away from Jacob and looked behind him, expecting someone to be there, but not seeing anyone, he pivoted around back to face Jacob and with a shrug of his shoulders he said, "Oh, well, I just thought I’d see how Charlie was doing. You know, ‘long time, no see,’ that type of thing."

"Ah, okay," Jacob nodded, but frowned.

"Is there a, uh, a problem with that?" Jack muttered, feeling his stomach clench with concern. ‘Maybe I was right after all?’ he thought.

"Not as you would think," Jacob carefully replied.

"Not as *I* would think?" Jack muttered with his eyebrows raised. Then, with a sigh he sarcastically added, "Just like a Tok’ra, always so *very* clear with the details."

Jacob raised an eyebrow at him, however, on the shrug of Jack’s shoulders and a mouthed ‘sorry’ from him, he relented, sighed and then said, "What I mean, Jack, is although Charlie’s symbiote repaired the damage to his vital organs, that he’s healthy... well..."

"Well?"

"Well, he’s still experiencing some headaches."

Jack frowned as he processed the information, then he shook his head, unable to comprehend the seriousness that was apparent in Jacob’s voice and manner. "So," he eventually replied, "you thought to give him some aspirin?"

"Jack," Jacob warned, "this is no laughing matter. We’re concerned. We’ve talked to Prantek, the symbiote, and he assures us that he doesn’t feel any rejection from Charlie and we’ve spoken to Charlie to see how he’s responding to Prantek. Both assure us that they are absolutely fine with this, but there are still the headaches."

"And this is serious, because?" On Jacob’s sigh, Jack protested, "Look, Jacob, you might think this is serious, but, well, like I said, have you given his some aspirin?" And on the Tok’ra’s raised eyebrow that clearly and indignantly said, ‘What the hell do *you* think, Jack?’ Jack added, with his hands raised in supplication, "Okay, Jacob, will you stop with the evil eye, I only asked."

Again Jacob sighed, the most he had done in months and months and knew he would be the moment he’d seen Jack at the Stargate. Somehow Jacob knew that his patience would be tested by the Colonel and, despite the effort it took to convince himself that maybe, just maybe, this time would be different, Jack had shot down his optimism in the first seconds of greeting him. "We’ve run X-ray’s," he began in explanation, "thinking that maybe Prantek had missed something, and confirming that the blending had not been successful, but they came back clear. We gave him the *aspirin*, but nothing we’ve done has stopped them."

"You think they’re life-threatening?" Jack hesitantly asked, biting his lip with what *might* be the answer.

Jacob shrugged his shoulders, "Who knows," he simply replied but could have bitten his tongue off when he noticed that Jack had gone silent, and despite the effort it was taking the Colonel not to show his concern, Jacob could still feel it. "Look, Jack," he said, attempting re-assurance, "maybe your visit *has* come at the right time. Maybe he might open up to you and *tell* you what’s wrong."

Though the information of Charlie’s illness had him concerned, there was no way Jack was going to admit as much to Jacob, so with an almost non-committal shrug of his shoulders he said, "One can but try."

However, unbeknownst to Jack, whom Jacob believed he could read like a book that did not have the hard backed cover to obscure what was within, he saw the look of concern flitter across his daughter’s friend’s face, moments before it was swiftly replaced beneath a façade of bravado. He had to admit that it was refreshing to see.

When he’d first met the Colonel, his Daughter’s Commanding Officer, he’d not been impressed at all, but he had quickly learnt that despite the annoying quips that appeared never-ending to him, and also to Selmak, there, just below the surface was a sensitive, thoughtful man whom cared deeply for those he would call ‘friend’; someone who feared for their safety far more than he should do.

Military had taught Jacob and he was sure Jack O’Neill had learnt it too, that friendships were a no-no; deemed inappropriate when they could undermine a command decision, and Jacob, though he would never *ever* admit this to Jack, respected and admired him for being able to *make* that command decision; despite what it could cost him in the long run.

He moved forward, took a hold of Jack’s shoulder, gave it a quick squeeze of re-assurance, then as he led him away from the Stargate he said, "Let’s at least go find him and then I’ll take you to where you’ll sleep... if..." he quickly added, a little unsure, "you’re planning on staying a while that is?"

"Yeah," Jack shrugged, then proudly announced, "The General’s given me two weeks off for good behaviour."

"That’ll be the day... The good behaviour, Jack, *not* the two weeks," Jacob muttered with a hint of seriousness, but soon broke out in laughter, which was quickly joined by Jack’s.

# #

"Hi there, Charlie," his friend Maleanesh greeted, then added with a frown, "Are you okay?"

"I’ve got a headache again," Charlie whined, rubbing at his temples. He briefly glanced at his stout friend and tried to smile up at him when a look of concern was returned to him, but the pain of his headache caused him to wince instead.

"You want me to get you something?"

Charlie shook his head, which he immediately knew that he shouldn’t have and gasped, "No thanks, it’ll go in a minute. They always do."

When he received a squeeze on his shoulder, he thought of Jack. Thought about the last time his hand had been on his shoulder, just before he’d been forced to take Jacob’s hand and leave Jack behind at SGC. How he’d wanted to look back but didn’t because he was afraid that he’d have run straight back into Jack’s arms and with a vow that he’d never leave, even if it had meant his death. But he hadn’t.

He hadn’t because he could see, as Jack could have seen in his own eyes, unshed tears that had begged to be expressed. It had broken his heart. He had just lost his Mother and not long after he’d also lost someone whom could have taken her place. Not the same, because Jack still lived, but he hadn’t seen him for months now and it looked like he never would again.

He missed him, more than he guessed he should, more than apparently Jack missed *him* and that too broke his heart. It *had* been months now since he’d walked up the ramp in the Gate Room; months since he’d consoled himself that it would only be a *little* while before he would get a visit from Jack... Months...

He brushed away a tear that Jack had told him was okay to shed and then rubbed at his temples again. Sure enough he could feel the headache receding, so he took a deep breath in, let it out with a sigh and looked up.

He blinked not believing what he was seeing; convinced that maybe his months of wishing was actually making him see things now; but when he rubbed at his eyes and looked again, there, by the door was Jacob, standing next to a kneeling Jack whom had his arms out and had a huge grin on his face.

"Jack?" he eventually whispered.

"Hey there, Charlie, you gonna come make these arms feel welcome or you gonna stay there all day?" Jack called.

Despite what he might have been feeling only a few moments before, Jack was here now and he wanted to hug him and it really looked as though he wanted to hug him as much as he wanted to hug Jack. He sniffled, got to his feet and ran to him with a squeal of pleasure, "Jack!"

# #

Yep, Jacob had frightened him, right to the soles of his boots. Not good. ‘Was he gonna lose another Charlie? He’d lost his son, he’d lost Kowalski, whom his son had been named after, was he about to lose another?’ These morose thoughts occupied his mind until Jacob stopped at a doorway and indicated the farthest wall of the room.

He looked to where he was pointing and felt his heart skip a beat. Hunched over, wiping a tear from his face and rubbing at his temples was Charlie. ‘Another headache,’ he thought and looked to Jacob for silent confirmation. It was given with a slight dip of his head. He tried not to show his concern, he did, but as he looked over at Charlie again, he knew that his eyes showed it, no matter how hard he tried not to let it. ‘Okay, Jack,’ he told himself, ‘plaster that smile on your face. The last thing Charlie needs is for you to look scared. C’mon, you can do it.’ And he did, just in the nick of time.

The look that Charlie gave him at first was a pained one, then it turned to disbelief and quickly transformed into one of absolute joy. It bolstered his heart and filled it at once. It appeared to him that maybe he hadn’t been forgotten and by the squeal he’d just heard maybe this was going to be as good a reunion as he hoped it would be. If he were honest with himself, he thought he hadn’t really missed the boy, but seeing him here and now, the pleasure Charlie showed from just seeing him, he knew, without a shadow of a doubt that no matter what, he *had* missed him and this was gonna be one heck of a leave.

With a laughter that could have broken the rafters had there been any, Jack collected Charlie up in his arms and swung him around. He stopped after the second spin and looked into his face. "Hey there, kid," he whispered, "you miss me?"

Charlie nodded and then sniffled. "Yeah," he whispered in reply and then hugged Jack around the neck.

"Yeah, me too..." Jack just as softly whispered and returned the hug. He eventually pulled his head away from Charlie, lifted the boy’s head up and looked him in the eye. "So, you gonna show me around this place then?" he asked.

Jacob stepped forward at that point with a *ahem* muttered around a loosely fisted hand at his mouth.

Both Charlie and Jack looked at him with such a look of innocence that, the Tok’ra thought, even if they weren’t related, then they should have been. He shook his head and sighed again. Jack was good at eliciting such a thing from him. "And how many times do I have to tell you, Charlie," Selmak warned, "that *that* look will never and *has* never worked before?"

Charlie pouted as he thought about it, then, with a glint of amusement in his eyes, he said, "Not sure, but I *guess* I could work on it."

"That’s my boy," Jack proudly whispered in his ear, which caused him to giggle. Jack then looked at Jacob and on receiving not only a raised eyebrow but also a glare from him, he silently shrugged his shoulders and mouthed, ‘Whoops!’

"So, two weeks you say, Jack?" Jacob huffed indignantly. As he received a breathy, ‘Yeah,’ from Jack, he could not help but feel that maybe it was about to be the longest two weeks of his life. It did not help matters when he received a silent confirmation of that thought from Selmak. "Okay, Charlie," he eventually muttered, "you need to get back to your class, and Jack here needs to be shown where he’s staying."

Jack put Charlie back on the ground, but kept a hand on the back of his neck as he asked, "So, when does timeout happen around here, then Charlie?"

"Not for another two hours," Selmak replied, "and only if all the work is caught up by then," he added with a raised eyebrow at Charlie.

Charlie looked away, finding his fingers that twisted and turned in his hands, far more interesting that the look that Selmak was giving him. "I’ll catch up," he softly promised and when he looked up again, he said with undisguised hope, "And Jack can stay with me if he wants to."

"We’ll see," Selmak replied and sternly added, "Now back to your lesson and I’ll bring Jack back when you’re finished."

"Okay," Charlie brightly replied, then hugged Jack around the hips before letting go and walking backwards to where his friend Maleanesh was seated; a big grin lighting up his entire face.

Jack found it just as hard to turn away, but eventually he did and started to follow after Jacob. "So, Jacob," he asked, "Where exactly *am* I staying then?"

"With me," he muttered.

Jack stopped walking, "With *you*?" he muttered incredulously.

"Uh-huh," Jacob confirmed, "unless of course you’d prefer somewhere else?"

"Well, uh, why can’t I stay with Charlie?"

Feeling Jacob’s apprehension, Selmak decided to answer for him, "Because we have integrated him with another family and considering that you are a part-time Father, at the best of times, then we thought it advisable to keep you close, but not as an intrusion in what we have achieved thus far with Charlie."

Oh boy did that sting. ‘Part-time Father’. They say that truth hurts and this time it did, right to the very core of him. ‘Part-time Father.’ Hadn’t he always been a Part-time Father? He swallowed hard at that, pushed down the angst that always travelled as company to such thoughts and ordered his feet to move; anything than to concentrate on what Selmak had stirred up in him.

Jacob turned and seeing the distress on Jack’s face he immediately apologised, "Jack, I’m sorry. Selmak can be a bit... a bit blunt."

"Yeah, well," Jack whispered, "when it’s the truth, I guess it always seems that way."

Jacob sighed. The last thing he had intended was to upset Jack, and though it had actually been Selmak that had done so, he still felt partially responsible for such a thing. He internally rebuffed the symbiote and re-iterated why what had been said and *how* it had been said had upset Jack. And he continued to do so, despite the continual interruptions that Selmak tried to make in her defence.

Chapter Two

Jack decided to pace two and fro outside the classroom. He thought to go inside but came to the conclusion that maybe he'd just distract Charlie rather than help him.

He thought on Charlie, the first time he'd seen him in months and smiled. It felt good that he hadn't been forgotten and it also made him feel guilty that he hadn't visited before. Too many missions and too many close shaves that had left him weary to the bone and not much for company. He now wished he'd forced himself to visit, but his mistrust of the Tok'ra and that he was fully aware that that mistrust doubled when he was tired, had stopped him every time. However, the recent mission had gone without a hitch and he felt the best he'd felt in along time. That had been the major incentive to visit and he was glad that he had.

"Jack!"

He turned to find Charlie striding out of the classroom almost beaming as bright as the sun on a particularly sunny day. Jack groaned at his internal musings and just decided to greet the young boy. "Hey there, Charlie, you free to show me around now?"

"Uh-huh," Charlie nodded enthusiastically, "I got caught up all right, so they said that I could go now."

"Exc-ell-ent!" Jack grinned, then placed an arm about Charlie's shoulder and turned from the classroom. "Where to first?" he asked.

"Well, I have to take my homework back home, so I can introduce you to the family that I'm staying with and then, if they let me, I can show you around then."

"Alright," Jack nodded with satisfaction, "sounds good to me."

Charlie giggled with anticipation and took a hold of Jack's hand. It felt good there and he didn't let go until they reached the front open doorway of his home. He glanced up at Jack when the older man appeared to hesitate there. He grinned, despite feeling surprised that he would feel so apprehensive, then grabbed the front of his jacket and hauled him inside.

Jack stumbled a moment as his locked knees suddenly gave way to the pull, but he quickly straightened and walked in.  He surreptitiously took Charlie's hand from the front of his Jacket, smiled down at him when he received a fond chuckle from the young boy and then kept a hold of his hand as they moved further into the room.

He was tempted to touch the sides of the room, wondering if he would actually pull away a bloodied hand. The spikes and the crystals that made up the walls of this room had always fascinated him and he often wondered if anyone had died by simply falling against one. However, he decided not to touch and also to ask Jacob if such a thing had ever happened.

"Tialek?" Charlie suddenly called.

Jack felt his hand slip from his own and then watched as went in search of whomever it was he was calling for.  He saw a middle-aged woman enter the room, wiping her hands on the front of a pinafore. "Hi," he greeted and smiled at her a little uncertainly, feeling as though he was intruding somehow. That uncertainty did not fade when he received a puzzled frown in answer to his greeting. "Uh, Charlie said that it would be okay," he said in explanation and immediately grimaced as he thought that just about sounded like a school-friend had visited against whatever curfew this woman had imposed on Charlie. He decided to just shrug at her and try the smile again.

Thankfully Charlie returned and immediately hugged the woman with a sigh and an exclamation of, "There you are. I thought you'd left me."

‘And that was the crux of it, wasn't it?’ Jack thought, thinking it strange that Charlie had not said that he had missed her, but that he thought she had left him. ‘Hell, why not?’ he added to his thoughts. ‘His Mother had left him... Okay *not* her fault and although it had been *Charlie* walking away from *him* to go to the Tok'ra, Jack knew that he'd only done that because he'd said that it was the best thing for *him* and *not* because Charlie had *wanted* to leave.’ He sighed. Yeah, now he understood the choice of words Charlie had used and he took the portion of blame that was his to take and embraced it with a thought that maybe he should let Charlie know that he would always be there for him and, if it was in his power, that he would *never* leave.

He watched as Charlie turned the woman to face him and then heard, "Tialek, this is Jack O'Neill, my friend, my... my..."

"In all intents and purposes, Ma'am," Jack interrupted Charlie's indecision, "his Dad. Maybe a very poor substitute for one, but, well, there ya go..." It was good to see Charlie's face light up at what he'd said, but Jack just wished that the same could be said for Tialek. He actually swallowed hard at her look and if looks *could* kill then he was convinced that he would be pushing up daisies right at this moment in time.

Charlie was oblivious to the discomfort that was being felt by the adults in the room and simply bounded to Jack and hugged him around the waist.

Jack smiled awkwardly down at him and then just as awkwardly shrugged his shoulders at Tialek. She continued to scowl, which, as far as Jack was concerned, bode ill well.

Another voice called out, "Tialek?"

Jack turned to face the open doorway and saw a man stride into the room and then stop stock still two steps in.

The man's eyebrows drew together and he practically glared at Jack.

"Brantel," Charlie exclaimed, "this is Jack O'Neill, my... my Dad."

Brantel's frown deepened and then he angrily scowled, "So, *you* are the one that has caused Charlie much distress."

"It, uh, it would appear that way wouldn't it..." Jack replied a little taken aback by the animosity towards him. But then he frowned wondering why they would think he'd caused Charlie some sort of anxiety. He looked down at the young boy, still grasping his waist, and wondered.

The boy in question suddenly stepped away from Jack and said, "He has not!"

Brantel's glare waned as he looked at Charlie and with a sigh, he said, "Perhaps not, Charlie, or perhaps the wrong choice of words."

Jack put his hands in his pocket and watched the banter with interest. He was secretly pleased to hear Charlie come to his defence, but wouldn't he anyway? He looked at Brantel and saw an underlining anger that, he surmised, had nothing to do with Charlie but with him. He took one step forward, placed a hand on the boy's shoulder and said, "Why don't you get changed, Charlie. I think your... your Mom and Dad wanna have a word with me."

Charlie turned to face Jack and whispered, "They're not my Mom and Dad, Jack. I stay with them, that's all."

Jack winced down at him and sent an apology in his look to Tialek and Brantel. Eventually he muttered, "Well, whatever, I think they wanna talk, so..." he said with a gentle shove and a silent indication with his head, "you'd best go get changed."

Charlie nodded and started to walk away towards his room. He then stopped, turned back to face Jack and asked, "You'll still be here though, won't you Jack, when I come back?"

"Wild horses, Charlie... Wild horses," he promised with a smile of assurance.

Charlie nodded, returned the smile and then continued on to his room.

# #

The moment Charlie had disappeared from sight, Jack took a deep breath in and braced himself for some harsh words, if the looks were anything to go by, from Tialek and Brantel. "So," he muttered on the exhalation, "Charlie been behaving himself, then?"

"Charlie is a lovely child," Tialek replied.

‘Oh good’ Jack mouthed then frowned with puzzlement, "So?" he asked with a shrug of his shoulders.

"So?" Brantel harshly asked with a frown of puzzlement of his own.

"Well, you, uh, both of you look like you wanna say something to me, so..." Jack muttered once again bracing himself.

Although Tialek opened her mouth to say something, Brantel was the one that actually spoke. He took a step forward and stood in front of Jack as he said, "We give the boy a good home. We show him what it is to love and instil within him that not *everyone* leaves. We, both of us, show him that there are some that can be relied upon and that he should not be afraid to show his feelings or stop himself from feeling them. We too invite him to tell us when he is scared or when something is troubling him."

"That's good," Jack replied.

"What disturbs us," Brantel continued as though he hadn't heard Jack, "is that whenever Charlie *has* come to us with a problem, this problem invariably has had something to do with you."

‘Ah’, Jack mouthed and distinctly started to feel uncomfortable.

"Charlie has shed many a tear since he has been with us," Brantel added, "and those tears have been after he has told us of his feelings towards you. How much he has missed you. How much he wanted to stay, but knew that he couldn't. How much he wished that you'd visit."

"Look, I... I can explain," Jack said, but stopped when Brantel held up a hand.

"We understand, O'Neill," Brantel explained, "however the pains of seeing your child in tears and the helplessness you feel knowing that there is nothing you can do to help erase those tears becomes a burden that soon is rather heavy to bear."

Jack winced at him, unable to form a sentence that would explain. He knew how that felt and it had come close on many occasions whether he should have gone on that mission that had separated him from his boy, especially when Charlie had spent their time together crying on his shoulder; missing him already even though he hadn't left.

"And now you are here," Brantel sighed.

"And you wish I hadn't come," Jack stated rather than questioned.

"Yes..."

Jack looked to the floor and scuffed a boot. ‘Maybe I shouldn't've,’ he silently admitted. The only reason he'd visited in the first place was because he'd missed Charlie. He hadn't thought about what might have happened since he'd left and, despite the harsh looks, which were understandable now, Tialek and Brantel were good parents. He looked up as Brantel started to speak again.

"Our greatest fear is that once you have gone again, will Charlie return to the state he was in when he had first been given to us?"

"Wouldn't do any good to promise to make the visits more regular, huh?" Jack asked.

Brantel shook his head.

"I didn't think so," Jack muttered, then added, "So, what do you think would help Charlie?"

Brantel sighed again. He was beginning to understand this O'Neill. He saw the same look in his face that he himself felt whenever the boy would come to him with a troubled mind. He could see that O'Neill cared for the boy, cared deeply for him, but to his mind it was not enough. He fervently believed that whilst love need never be expressed, the one whom had a problem expressing such a thing had to at least be in some proximity to the one he had difficulty informing. And this O'Neill had not been for many months now. Still it did not make what he was about to say any easier to say.

He took a deep breath in and said, "Perhaps this visit should be the last. If Charlie descends to the state he was in when he first came to us, we at least know that it would be the last time he would do so."

Jack swallowed hard at that. Not see Charlie anymore? He'd just got back to him again. He looked at Tialek and Brantel, Tialek's look of hope bringing a lump to his throat. He swallowed again and despite how he truly felt about never seeing Charlie again, he couldn't bring himself to admit that he didn't care if they were going to be forced to go through that sense helplessness again. He did care and that's what had him silently nodding. "Hey," he roughly whispered with a shrug, "anything for Charlie, huh?"

"I'm sorry, O'Neill," Brantel said with warmth and understanding.

Jack opened his mouth to say something, but his voice had left him, so he shrugged, tilted his head to one side and smiled the best that he could, even though his heart ached with the decision he'd just made.

"Thank you," Tialek whispered and then left the room.

Brantel looked at O'Neill and smiled a smile that hopefully informed him that he understood. "I'll go see where Charlie has got to," he eventually muttered and left Jack standing in the middle of the room alone and deep in thought.

Jack silently nodded and turned to face the open doorway. He was tempted to leave, but his promise to Charlie had him standing there facing his only escape, but without the gumption to move. ‘Maybe, just maybe, this wasn't going to be as good a leave as he thought.’

Chapter Three

Jack wandered the halls of the Tok'ra Homeworld with Charlie holding his hand and felt as though he'd fallen from a great height. His heart ached and no matter how many times he told himself that he had two weeks of seeing Charlie, being with him, to look forward to, he felt like he'd already left and was never going to be seeing him again.

"Jack?" Charlie softly called and pulled at his arm to get his attention.

"Hmm?"

Charlie frowned up at him and then eventually asked, "Don't you like being here?"

‘Agh, God,’ flittered through Jack's mind the moment he'd heard the question. Now with his silence he'd managed to make Charlie believe that he wasn't happy to be here. He was... it was just the 'after' bit that he couldn't come to terms with. With a sigh, he gently pulled on Charlie's hand so that they stopped their walk, knelt down so that he was eye level with the boy and said with conviction, "I couldn't be happier, Charlie." He smiled when the boy hugged him around his neck and he returned the hug.

After he thought that enough time had passed he released himself from the hug, then he stood, keeping a hold of Charlie's hand, and said, "So, you got a place where we could get some ice-cream?"

Charlie frowned, "Ice-cream?" he asked.

"Yeah, you know, cold, gooey, frozen milk, uh, type of, uh, thingy..." Jack replied with a shrug and a cringe that expressed maybe he hadn't been as clear as he thought he had been; and judging by the look of confusion he was getting from Charlie, he surmised that he wasn't too far from the truth. "Okay, no ice-cream," he eventually muttered, "Uh, so, what *do* you do to have fun around here then?"

Charlie's face brightened in an instant and he gleefully spent the rest of the day showing Jack all the places that he construed as having fun.

# #

"Hi Jack," Jacob greeted him with a smile, but frowned when he saw the pensive look on his friend's face. "Bad day?" he gently asked, a little surprised that Jack hadn't returned full of life and excitement at seeing Charlie.

"Kinda," Jack shrugged, "kinda not..."

"And you say the Tok'ra are obscure with the facts," Jacob chuckled.

"Yeah," Jack breathed out at him, "Funny that, huh?"

Jacob's frown deepened and even took on a look of confusion. "All right, Jack," he eventually muttered, "You wanna talk about the ‘kinda not’ part of your day?"

"Not really..."

"I might help you know?" Jacob gently offered.

"It might," Jack softly agreed, "but it might not."

Jacob shook his head, but whatever he had been about to say was drowned out by the sudden whine of the warning klaxons blaring out at them. Instead he muttered, "What the...?"

"What's happening, Jacob?" Jack yelled.

"I don't know," Jacob replied running out of the room with Jack right behind him.

A loud 'Boom' shook the tunnel they were in that caused a dust cloud to billow around them and shake free several crystalline boulders from the roof. Both Jacob and Jack lost their footing and were thrown to the floor.

Jack landed heavily in a foetal position to cover his head, the air knocked from him in a 'whoosh'. Once the tunnel had stopped shaking, he slowly sat and tried to look past the dust cloud. He blindly placed a hand on Jacob's shoulder and wheezed, "You all right?" He blinked open his eyes in time to see the elder Tok'ra nod his head. "What the hell's going on?" he exclaimed.

"No idea, Jack," Jacob replied, then stood and started off on a run towards the conference room.

Jack followed for a moment, but suddenly stopped and tapped Jacob on the shoulder, his heart pounding, but not from the run.

Jacob turned with a frown of puzzlement and shouted above the klaxons, "What?!"

‘Charlie,’ Jack mouthed and turned and started running in the opposite direction.

"Jack!" Jacob yelled, "this could be the Ga'ould attacking."

"I know," he yelled back as he ran, "but I gotta find Charlie and make sure he's okay." His thoughts then channelled into finding the boy. 'If I ask nothing else,' he desperately thought, 'just let Charlie be okay.'

He hurdled some of the roof that had fallen in his path, waving his hands in front of him as the dust rose with him disturbing it. He coughed it from his lungs, feeling it coat that back of his throat, but kept on running. He stumbled when another 'boom' shook the tunnel he was in and he instinctively planted a hand against the wall to stop himself from falling. He winced when the sharp shards of crystal dug into that hand. 'Well,' he perversely thought, 'I guess that answers my question.'

He pulled the bloodied hand free with a wince, then covered it with a handkerchief and started running again. He got to the end of the tunnel and froze. Where the open doorway to Charlie's home had been was now completely blocked with crystalline boulders. He swore his heart stopped a beat or two with fear and only started again when he heard a weak call of his name. "Charlie?!" he yelled, his voice hoarse with not only the dust, but also with complete and utter fear.

"Jack?"

He turned and saw Charlie limping towards him, waving the dust away from him.

He closed his eyes as a potent sense of relief washed over his body. He then took a deep breath in, ran to Charlie and picked him up in a hug. "For crying out loud, Charlie," he whispered, his voice wavering with his fear, "you scared ten *years* outta me." He then felt a shudder go through Charlie's body and felt his tears on his neck. He hugged him that little bit tighter and then tighter still when he heard a choked whisper of, ‘So did you’.

Eventually he moved his head away from Charlie's shoulder and then grabbed a hold of one side the boy's head and tilted it one way and then the other, checking for any wounds. Sighing with relief when he didn't find any, he then whispered, "Where's Tialek and Brantel?"

Charlie simply pointed at the boulders.

Jack looked at the boulders and winced. He then gently placed Charlie back on the ground, tight to the wall, and as he started to move off, he indicated with a hand that Charlie should stay put. He approached the boulders and started to look for an opening. Another 'boom' shook the tunnel they were both in and several crystalline shards fell away from the walls. Jack shifted backwards and as another 'boom' hit the tunnel, he turned and started to make his way back to Charlie.

He heard a distinctive crack above him and looked. There in the middle of the roof a huge crevice had appeared and it shook as another 'boom' resonated in the tunnel. Another loud crack. Jack looked at Charlie, the fear he felt showing on his face, and suddenly screamed, "Run, Charlie, run!"

Instinct took over and that's exactly what Charlie did. He turned and started to run back down the tunnel they'd just come from.

Jack took one more perverse look at the roof, then took off after Charlie. Another 'boom' shook the tunnel and he lost his footing; twisting his ankle on some of the rubble that littered the floor. He quickly turned onto his back and took another look at the roof. The crack was growing, following him. He picked himself up, double-ran on the spot a moment when his feet skidded in the rubble, then he shoved himself forward with a grunt and dove away from the crack, right at the moment the roof caved in.

# #

Charlie stopped and turned back. "Jack!" he shouted in fear, "Jack!" He started running back to the older man. "Jack!" He coughed hard bone shaking coughs as one dust cloud after another whooshed towards him, but he ignored them. He had to get to Jack. His eyes started to tear with the fear that the man he loved unconditionally, the man that was happy to be his Dad, was underneath the latest rock-fall that had occurred and his heart beat twice as hard with that fear.

He whimpered as he drew closer. "Jack!" he whispered; his heartbreaking with each step he took. Then his eyes grew wide and his heart sped up. He heard a groan to his right and choked back a sob of relief when he saw Jack lying by the wall, slowly turning on his back. He was beside him in moments. "Jack?" he whispered, laying a shaking hand on his shoulder.

# #

Jack blinked back the darkness and the dust that had fallen in his eyes and blearily looked up. "Ch-Charlie?" he whispered, "You okay?"

Charlie nodded, wiped the tears away with the back of his sleeve and whispered, "You?"

Jack did a quick self-analysis and although his ankle screamed at him, in no uncertain terms that it hurt, other than that he felt pretty good. He shrugged and pushed himself to a seated position, immediately regretting it. The tunnel swam away from him and he felt the nausea rise in an instant and threaten to spew from him. He grasped his head and lay back down with a groan.

"Jack?"

He could hear the fear in Charlie's voice and he wanted to soothe it, but right now his head hurt and he really *really* wanted to be sick. He gritted his teeth as he forcibly ordered the pain back, then he blinked open his eyes and looked up at the young boy. "S'alright, Charlie," he gruffly whispered, "just got a bit dizzy there, that's all."

"You sure?"

"Sure," he reassured, then added, "You, uh, wanna help me up here?"

Charlie nodded then took a hold of an arm and pulled.

Jack took a deep breath in and on the exhalation he pushed himself up to a seated position again. The room swam again, but he scrunched his eyes shut until the nausea left him. He opened them again, slowly stood with a hand on Charlie's shoulder to lever himself upright and then took a look around. He winced with pain, not a physical one, but an ache that was deep inside him, when he now realised that there was little chance that Tialek and Brantel could have survived. He glanced down at Charlie and he knew then that the boy hadn't come to realise the same. All his focus was on him. Jack silently prepared himself for the moment when Charlie *would* realise.

Eventually he muttered, "C'mon Charlie, let's go find Jacob, see what the hell's happening around here."

Charlie placed an arm about Jack's waist, nodded and started to move off with him.

# #

"The Jaffa have infiltrated our west wing, Selmak."

Jacob nodded as Selmak replied, "We need to get to the ring transporters and stop them from there."

"I agree," the female Tok'ra nodded, "but how?"

"Only one option available," Jacob replied, "the good old fashioned way." He pulled out his 'Zat' gun and started to issue orders, "Plaelak, Haeris, go to the east wing. Saemin and Turek go to the south. Collect as many as you can to take with you."

All of them bowed slightly and left the room.

"What of you, Selmak?" one other Tok'ra asked.

"My friend," Jacob replied, "O'Neill, is in the North tunnel. I'll meet up with him and we'll take out the northern ring transport." He then left the Tok'ra in the conference room and started off down the tunnel that Jack had taken, what felt like, an age ago.

# #

Jack suddenly stopped and pulled Charlie close to the wall of the tunnel. He placed his fingers on his lips, signalling silence, then took a step towards the corner; tuning his ears for any sound. The chinking armour of the Jaffa told him everything he needed to know and his heart missed a beat. He quickly returned to Charlie and quietly whispered, "Charlie, go back further into the tunnel. Stay close to the wall and stay there until I tell you otherwise."

"I wanna stay with you, Jack," Charlie whined.

"I know you do, but not right now." He could hear the footsteps now and knew that the Jaffa were close. He turned back to Charlie and urgently whispered, "Do it, Charlie, do it now or we're *both* dead." He hated the look of fear on Charlie's face but he had to do what he was telling him to and if fear was the only way to accomplish that then that's how it had to be.

He watched the boy a while, urging him deeper into the tunnel with a swift wave of his hands, then he turned back to the corner and waited. He hadn't thought to bring any weapons with him this time, because there hadn't been a need to. Or, at least, he hadn't thought so. He'd learnt an excruciatingly painful lesson with his son's death and he wasn't about to repeat the same with his namesake. He'd promised himself that he was *never* going anywhere near Charlie with a weapon of any sort.

'This was going to be untidy,' he thought just as a burst of orange blew a portion of the tunnel away from him. He turned away and ducked and then lunged for the Jaffa that had just fired. He dived through the dust cloud and grasped at the Staff Weapon. He managed to keep two hands on the weapon and heaved with all his might, taking the Jaffa with him. 'Ah crap,' he thought as he fell with the Jaffa on top of him. He felt some ribs cave in with the weight and he gasped with pain, but that's all he afforded himself.

The Jaffa looked as surprised as him and he took advantage of that surprise. He pulled at the weapon and managed to prise it from his opponent's fingers, all the while desperately scrambling backwards and away from him. He gingerly stood and whilst the Jaffa tried to stand, he fired the weapon sending a bolt of orange light straight into its chest. He saw the Jaffa fly backwards into another that had just appeared, which in itself was fortunate, but no sooner had they fallen when another two appeared and automatically fired at him.

He dived to his left, wincing when he felt the edge of the blast singe his trousers, and then ducked and rolled to his feet; ignoring the painful protest his knees gave him. He could see Charlie wanting to come to him, but he furiously shook his head, forced himself to his feet and went to the corner of the tunnel again. He could hear Charlie whimpering from where he was, but at the moment, he knew he could do little to ease the boy's fear. Instead he turned back to the corner of the tunnel and waited again.

He shifted as his leg protested, and in that moment, something caught his eye. He looked up and fired without thinking, sending one of the Jaffa onto its back, however before he could react, the other Jaffa fired.

He threw himself backwards and groaned when the blast hit him on chest and singed a trail up and over his collarbone. Though a horrible, sickly darkness threatened to take his senses from him, his thoughts of Charlie and the danger he was in had him instead refusing its comfort, sitting up and firing his staff weapon again. 'Bullseye', his mind silently supplied with relief, when the last Jaffa flew backwards and landed several feet from him.

Though his body protested any movement, Jack slowly got to his feet and stumbled to the corner of the tunnel. He cautiously peered around it and listened. Nothing; other than several distant panicked shouts that were coming from the Tok'ra and as many distant whine's from a number of Staff weapons and 'Zat' guns. However, just who were firing them he didn't know.

He looked back at Charlie with a sigh of relief and urged him forward with his hands. The boy was in his arms in an instant. He groaned as the pain two-folded and he almost passed out with it, but he needed to get to Jacob. "Charlie?" he whispered.

"Yes, Jack?" came the whimper.

"Not sure if I'm going to be able to make it back to Jacob." He winced when the whimper grew louder, but continued, "You need to go find him."

Charlie furiously shook his head. "No! I wanna stay with you."

Jack gently rubbed a hand over the young boy's head and soothed him a little. "Shhh," he whispered, "I.... I know you do, I know, but... but you can't."

"Please, Jack," he begged, his tears now falling, "please don't make me leave."

Jack closed his eyes. He hurt all over. As much as Charlie didn't want to leave, neither did he want him to leave. He knew he should have made him, but he was tired to the bone and he just couldn't make himself force the boy. He took a breath in and winced when his ribs flared to life. "All right, we'll go together," he eventually relented.

"I'll help you, Jack," Charlie whispered and held out an arm for him.

Jack took a hold of it, then placed the hand on the boy's shoulder and levered himself painfully to a standing position. He swayed a moment and gripped a little harder on Charlie's shoulder until the dizziness left him. He swallowed the bile that had risen then took his first shaky step forward. He hated being this weak and he hated the fact that Charlie was privy to it, but there was nothing he could do about it.

As they moved he looked around the tunnel. The corridor was full of rubble and also more than just the three Jaffa that Jack had taken out. 'Advance party', he thought. He was tempted to take their Zat guns, but, not only did he not have enough hands to carry them, and no way on earth was he letting Charlie handle one, the priority was to find Jacob.

After many moments of silence had passed, Charlie looked up at Jack. He could see the pain in his eyes; he could hear it in his breathing; even though he knew he was doing his best not to show it. He'd done that when his Mother had died and he was doing it again. "Jack?" he softly muttered.

"Yeah?"

"It's, it's all right you know..."

"It is? What is?"

"To cry..." Charlie simply replied.

"I guess," Jack whispered, but gritted his teeth against expressing that pain.

"Then cry, Jack," Charlie implored him.

Jack winced with embarrassment. Unbeknownst to Charlie he was already cursing his weakness and to break down, 'nope,' he told himself, 'can't do it.' Aloud he whispered, "Uh, no can do, Charlie, not yet anyhow..." he softly amended, "Not 'til we find Jacob."

"And then?"

"Then... then we'll see," Jack replied, giving Charlie some hope, but himself knowing full well that that would be the *last* thing on his mind. He took a breath in, bolstered himself for the long walk back to where he'd last seen Jacob, then gritted his teeth and moved off; keeping a hold on Charlie's shoulder that was fast becoming his only lifeline to consciousness.

Chapter Four

Jacob fired again, cringing against the plaintive shouts that assaulted his ears. He was losing people here and there was nothing he could do about it. His thoughts, as he fired again, strayed briefly to Jack and whether he'd found Charlie or not. He also wondered what the hell he could do against the invasion without any weapon to speak of. ‘Dammit,’ he thought, ‘If I'd been able to get there?’ But he hadn't. He'd not gone far down the Northern Tunnel before he'd run into trouble. And here he'd been forced to stay, pinned but fighting back; along with other Tok'ra that had followed not far behind him.

He ducked as another blast from a Staff Weapon took a chunk out of the wall behind him. He fired his Zat as he straightened, hitting the Jaffa dead centre in the chest. He fired again and watched as it twitched from the electrical beam of the Zat and then lay still.

"Selmak!" a Tok'ra shouted in warning.

He turned and ducked under an unarmed Jaffa. He head butted it in the stomach and then shoved himself forward. He continued to move until both he and the Jaffa hit a wall. He felt his neck jar, but ignored it as he rolled away and then on one knee he fired his Zat Gun. Again the Jaffa twitched as the energy beam hit him. And then fell. Jacob got to his feet, breathing heavily and then ‘zatted’ the Jaffa again.

At that moment a sudden a disquieting silence fell. The shouting from the Tok'ra had ceased as well as the constant whine of staff weapons and Zat guns being fired. He blinked as if his ears had popped, the sensation similar to when he was taking off in the latest aircraft the Air Force had developed. He blinked and listened hard for any further outbursts, but nothing came.

Then and only then, did he let out a sigh of relief, even though Selmak helpfully supplied that it was far from over. ‘You know,’ Jacob silently told her, ‘sometimes you’re as bad as Jack.’ He almost chuckled at the indignation that spewed from his symbiote, but the thought of Jack and, by proxy, Charlie wiped any thought of hilarity from him and instead he anxiously looked down the corridor he was in.

He slowly stood and took an appraisal of his surroundings. He could see a couple of dead Tok'ra that he did not know, but whom Selmak did, and gave them a silent sending off. He then took in the rest of his surroundings and counted five dead Jaffa's in close proximity, but guessed there'd be many more before he had finished his search.

"Jacob?" a weak male voice called to him.

He turned expecting it to be an injured Tok'ra, but was surprised to find Jack and Charlie stumbling towards him. He immediately went to them, placed an arm about Jack's shoulder, surprised at just how much of his weight he had to take, then led them both to a wall and sat Jack down. "Okay, stupid question Jack, but then you must be used to them."

Jack simply raised an eyebrow of indignation his way.

"Well, anyway," Jacob shrugged, "are you okay?"

Jack still carried that look of indignation when he replied with, "Well, at least you *know* when it's a stupid question," he groused.

"Yeah, I guess, but that's usually Selmak."

"The asking or the knowing?" Jack simply replied, unable to stop himself from taking a verbal poke at Selmak.

"I assure you, Colonel," Selmak instantly replied with as much indignation as Jack was conveying with his look, "that it is the *knowing*."

The indignation remained, but with a quick shake of his head and a curling of his lip, it grew, until he muttered, "Yeah sure, like I should believe *you*."

"Will you two just stop it!" Jacob practically yelled and silently remonstrated Selmak when his symbiote suddenly, though just as silently, whined back at him, ‘Oh yes, take his side why don't you.’ Jacob's reply was, ‘Aren't you supposed to be the *wisest* of all Tok'ra?’ Thankfully and with a sigh, Jacob heard his symbiote's capitulation and then turned his attention back to Jack and Charlie.

"You got a little problem there, Jacob?" Jack asked in voice that dripped with sarcasm, and also with a slight wave of his hand to his head.

"No more than usual," Jacob sighed, but added, "But, on second thought, yeah I do, Jack, and you're not helping much."

‘Oh,’ Jack mouthed, which quickly turned into a wince and then a groan of pain.

"Alright Jack," Jacob muttered as he stepped forward and helped the Colonel to stand, "let's get you to the infirmary before we do anything else."

"Uh, not... not sure I can make it that far, Jacob," Jack muttered with another wince, "Why don't you, uh, send Charlie to get someone?"

At first Jacob frowned. Never before had Jack admitted that this was the end of the line and he was going no further, but when he saw a slight rise of his eyebrows, a minute waggle of them and then a nod in the direction of the infirmary, Jacob instinctively knew that Jack was trying to get the boy away so they could talk. He nodded, then looked at Charlie and said, "Okay, good idea. You think you can do that for us, Charlie?"

Charlie looked from Jacob and then to Jack, not wanting to leave, but knowing he was going to have to. "You'll still be here when I get back, won't you Jack?" he asked, a little afraid that because of what had happened Jack would want to be as far away from this planet, and him, as quickly as possible.

"Not going anywhere, Charlie," Jack fervently promised, then as Jacob helped him to sit again, he lightly tapped Charlie's leg and whispered, "Hurry back."

Charlie nodded, satisfied with the promise and then took off as quickly as he could.

Jacob watched him a moment before he looked down at Jack and said, "Okay, well that gets rid of the boy, now you wanna tell me what it is that he couldn't hear?"

"You know you're gonna have to go back to SGC don't you, Jacob?"

"No, I don't know that, Jack," he replied and added, "Why don't *you* go?"

"Because in all likelihood I might just fall flat on my face the moment I step through the Stargate and where will you and all your pretty little Tok'ra be then?"

"Jack!" Jacob warned.

"Yeah, yeah," Jack sighed and held up a hand of apology, as the apology was expressed, "I'm sorry, okay? But it doesn't change the fact that you're going to have to go."

"All right, I'll go."

Jack smiled up at him, even though his eyes conveyed just how much pain he was in, then he whispered, "Uh, and do us a favour?"

"Okay... what?" Jacob asked, having no clue whatsoever of where this was going.

"Take Charlie with you."

"You know he's gonna wanna stay with you, Jack."

"Yeah, I know, but... but he can't..." Jack whispered, then grasped his ribs and groaned as a sharp shot of pain took his breath from him.

"Jack?"

"Jacob... just... just make sure... Charlie *goes* with you..." And without waiting for a response, Jack closed his eyes and passed out.

Jacob caught him falling sideways, placed a hand on the side of his head so that he could not bump it anywhere and then gently guided him down to lie on his side next to the wall. "Godammit Jack!" he softly exclaimed.

"Selmak?" another Tok'ra called.

"Here," Jacob yelled and turned to see a Doctor arriving. "Okay, Jack, help's here," he whispered as he stood, then quickly informed the Tok'ra of what was wrong. Once the Doctor was apprised, he stepped around him, as he went to Jack, and moved over to Charlie. He placed an arm about the boy's shoulder, gave it a quick squeeze of re-assurance and added to that re-assurance with, "He's gonna be okay, Charlie. Trust me, he's had a lot worse and still managed to survive."

"He has?" Charlie whispered a little fearfully and then looked down at the Jack lying unconscious beside the wall. He wanted to go to him and wake him up, but he knew that the Doctor wouldn't let him and he knew that he would get lecture 2001 from Jacob, or more accurately from Selmak. He sighed instead and then grasped Jacob around the waist. "Are you sure he's going to be all right, Jacob?"

"Trust me, Jack doesn't know what it means to *not* survive."

Charlie looked up at Jacob and really tried hard to smile. A brief one lit his face, but it soon fell when he thought about what had just happened. Eventually he whispered, "Can I stay with him when he wakes?"

Jacob knelt in front of Charlie, gently took him by the shoulders and shook his head. "I'm sorry Charlie," he softly denied, "but you're coming with me back to the SGC."

Charlie yanked his shoulders out of Jacob's hands and stepped back, his back rigid with annoyance, "No!" he yelled, "I want to stay with Jack."

Jacob re-took his shoulders and stated in a voice that would brook no argument from him, "Listen to me, Charlie, this base has been compromised. There will be many *many* more Jaffa coming here soon. They will kill you and any others that are still here. They won't think twice about it. Now," he softly added, "I made a promise to Jack that I'd take you with me when I go back to SGC to get help."

"No," Charlie stubbornly announced and accentuated that stubbornness with a quick shake of his head, "No," he again re-iterated, "I'm not going to leave Jack here."

"Then I guess I'll just have to take Jack back with me too then," Jacob sighed.

"I'm sorry, sir," the Doctor suddenly announced, "but he can't be moved at the moment, let alone go through the Stargate."

Jacob briefly nodded at the Doctor as he digested what he had been told, then he looked back at Charlie again and said, "I promised Jack, Charlie."

"No, Jacob, I won't go," Charlie stated, "I've just got him back again and I'm not going to leave him, like I did before."

"Charlie, you had no choice then, but now, you do."

"Yes, I know and I choose to *stay* this time."

Jacob closed his eyes, raised his head heavenward and deeply sighed. ‘Jack's gonna have my hide for this,’ he thought, just before he said aloud, "All right, Charlie, you stay, but when Jack comes around you make sure you tell him that this was *your* idea and nothing I could say could convince you otherwise, okay?"

Charlie silently nodded with a genuine smile on his face, then hugged Jacob around the neck and ran to sit next to Jack.

Jacob turned and sighed. It wasn't really the fact that Jack would most likely try and skewer him the moment he realised that Charlie had stayed, it was more to do with *himself* not liking the idea of Charlie staying. He knew he was placing every Tok'ra in jeopardy by allowing the boy to stay. If Charlie was caught by the Ga'ould they would do their best to get what they could from him and Prantek and *then* kill them. It didn't help to know that Jack would die first before that could come about, because Jacob was convinced that it might just come to that.

He shook his head and then looked around at the Tok'ra that had mingled around. He suddenly announced, "Go get the children and their mothers. I'm going to SGC for some help."

They all nodded and scurried off.

Jacob looked down at Jack and sighed again. "Stay with him, Doctor." The moment the Doctor nodded, he started to run down the tunnel and head towards the Stargate.

# #

"Incoming Traveller," echoed in the Gate Room and SGC suddenly came to life. Through the corridors several armed Military men ran towards the Gate Room, the lead shouting orders as they ran.

General Hammond left his office and quickly stood beside the Sergeant that had announced the incoming traveller. "Any idea on who it is, Sergeant?" the General asked in his thick, slight gruff Texan drawl.

The Sergeant looked at the screen and then frowned before saying, "It's the Tok'ra, sir."

At that moment Samantha Carter arrived and on hearing that it might be her Dad coming through the Stargate, she frowned with puzzlement, then looked at Hammond and said, "You don't think the Colonel's upset him *that* much, do you sir?"

Hammond chuckled before replying, "Actually, Major, it wouldn't surprise me."

‘Oh,’ Sam mouthed, then with a slight cringe she whispered, "Whoops!"

Hammond chuckled again, shook his head, asked for the Iris to be opened and left the viewing area to go and greet the Tok'ra at the bottom of the ramp there.

Sam followed behind him, mentally bracing herself for the indignation she believed her Father was about to utter. However, when she saw her Father holding the hands of two Tok'ra children and that many more were appearing behind him as he walked down the ramp, she frowned with puzzlement and said, "Dad?"

"No time, Sam," he muttered and he looked to Hammond as he added, "George, the base has been compromised. Any chance of some help?"

George immediately turned to face the viewing area and announced, "Sergeant, get SG3, SG5 and the rest of SG1 here... on the double."

"Yes, sir," the Sergeant spoke into the microphone and then immediately carried out Hammond's request.

"You might want a medical team to accompany us too, George," Jacob stated and when he looked back at Sam he winced with regret as he said, "Jack's been hurt."

"Bad?"

"Staff weapon blast across the chest and leg and maybe some broken ribs."

Sam swallowed her concern, then turned to Hammond and said, "Permission to get ready, sir."

"Of course," the General muttered and watched her leave. He then turned to Jacob and indicated that they should at least get off the ramp. Once at the bottom he said, "They can stay here, Jacob, until this is resolved one way or the other."

"Thanks George," Jacob gratefully whispered. As he herded the children to the back of the Gate Room, he added, "I've got to get back."

"You'll have company, Jacob. Just wait a moment for them."

"We might not *have* a moment."

"Well, it won't hurt to wait then, will it?"

Jacob sighed, his feet itching to move, but he knew that George was right. The minutes it would take to assemble the SG teams wouldn't make any difference. One way *or* the other. Still, he'd never been a patient man and blending with a symbiote had not changed that fact, so he turned to face the General, but as he was about to argue the point with George, the door to the Gate Room opened and sure enough the teams appeared one by one.

George moved up the ramp, indicated for the sergeant to start dialling the Tok'ra temporary Home-world into their computer DHD and then addressed the teams that were assembled before him, "Okay people, the main objective is to ensure the safety of the Tok'ra that are still there. Their base cannot be saved, so get the Tok'ra and send them back as soon as you can."

A resounding "Aye, sir" echoed in the packed Gate Room.

George smiled tightly at them all and then moved to the bottom of the ramp. He turned as the Event Horizon spat out at those assembled at the bottom of the ramp.

The moment the unstable vortex snapped into place, Jacob placed a hand on George's shoulder, briefly squeezed it with a whispered, "Thanks, George," then moved to stand beside Sam, who was standing beside Daniel and Doctor Frasier. He smiled at them as they all moved up the ramp.

"God speed, people," George announced as his teams, one by one, disappeared from sight.

Chapter Five

Jacob itched to move. Two things preyed heavily on his mind. The first and foremost was to get to Jack and Charlie and from there to get to the Northern ring Transport. ‘At least,’ he thought, ‘we’d have a chance to stall the invasion a while if we could knock that one out.’ He looked up as his daughter started issuing orders.

"All right, SG3 take the Southern Tunnel," Sam began pointing in the general direction of it. "Anyone you find, send them to the Stargate. Davies, Ford and Cooper you'll take them. The rest of you go to the Southern Ring Transport and make sure that it's immobilised. SG5 you take the East Tunnel and do the same. Tyler, Lucas and Smith you're to take any Tok'ra back. Dad?"

Jacob momentarily blinked at his daughter, then "Hmm?" he muttered.

"The West ring Transport. Has that been breached or immobilised?"

"It's been breached, not sure if it's been immobilised though."

"All right, Santon, Pierce and Chane, take two from SG3 and SG5 and make sure." All three teams nodded and started to move off. They momentarily stopped when Sam added, "The priority is to stall, not to take. Just make sure the transports are immobilised then get back here and help with the evacuation."

All teams nodded and then set off for their tasks.

Sam then turned to Jacob and said, "Lead the way, Dad..."

He nodded and started to run. Sam, Daniel and Janet followed behind.

# #

He heard for what seemed the thousandth time a whine of discharge and ducked as another bright orange ray hit the tunnel above his head. He groaned as the burn pulled again and winced when he felt the warmth of his blood trickle from the wound. He had a hand tightly grasping Charlie's shoulder and was pulling him along with him. He ducked inside a room, pulled Charlie down to sit next to him and sat breathing heavily next to the opening. "I can't believe," he suddenly gasped through gritted teeth of pain, "that you didn't go with Jacob like I asked."

"I couldn't leave you," Charlie whimpered at him.

"For crying out loud, Charlie," Jack yelled, "this is not a game. You get struck by one of those weapons and you're dead, no coming back. You're dead and..." He faltered, swallowing back the pain, not only from his wounds, but also from what he was about to say. He left the sentence where it was, unable to finish it.

"Jack," Charlie softly whispered as he gently placed a hand on Jack's arm.

"Stop right there... Don't..." he warned.

"I love you Jack," Charlie whispered, "and I didn't want to leave you... like last time..."

Jack gently banged his head against the wall behind him. Not the time and place for such a conversation, he knew, and it was killing him to hear it. "Charlie, you had no *choice* last time," he eventually whispered and quickly added when Charlie opened his mouth to say something, "Later... Please," he begged, "later..."

Charlie nodded and then hugged Jack's arm a little tighter than before.

Jack moved the arm to squeeze Charlie's shoulder and then quickly looked past the opening into the tunnel. Seeing no-one there he tapped Charlie's shoulder, indicated with his head that they were moving again, grabbed the boy's arm and pulled as he moved; gritting his teeth against the constant thrum of pain that accompanied each movement he made.

He was soooooo gonna have Jacob's hide for this. All he wanted was to know that Charlie was safe, but what did that Tok'ra do? He left a *boy* in one of the most dangerous places without *any* form of defence. It took only one blast to take out the Doc and that was it. One blast; where the noise had painfully woken him, just in time for him to fire upon the Jaffa that had already taken aim on Charlie.

He suddenly stopped and pulled Charlie up close and then he leant into the wall. He winced when the points to the crystals on the wall pinpricked his back. "For crying out loud," he muttered in exasperation, "If I wanted to be a pincushion I'd've *asked* to be one." He then closed his eyes, relaxed his breathing as best he could and listened out for what had stropped him in the first place.

He could hear fighting a little way off to their right, but nothing close by. He ignored the fighting in favour of getting to their next target. He tapped Charlie on the shoulder and when the young boy looked up at him he silently nodded with his head to move off. He took a hold of Charlie's shoulder, gave it a squeeze of re-assurance, but knew deep down that it was the only thing that was keeping him upright. Just the connection with another human being; it was enough and also something he desperately needed.

They both soon reached the end of this tunnel and Jack immediately saw the outline of the ring transport not two feet from him. He turned to Charlie, placed his fingers on his lips to indicate that he was to be quiet, took one hesitant step forward and then fired the Zat gun on the ring that circled the floor.

Sparks flew and exploded in front of him. He was about to duck back down beside Charlie when a burst of Orange exploded just above his head. He looked to where it had come from and saw two Jaffa approaching. He ducked beside Charlie, hoping and praying that he could take them out; chewing his lip with anxiety. He felt Charlie grasp the bottom of his pants. He turned to him and whispered, "Let go." He saw the reluctance written on the boy's face, but he sighed with relief when he did so. He gently patted him on the shoulder and added, "S'alright, Charlie, we're gonna be fine."

He then turned his attention to the corner of the tunnel again, then he bolstered whatever energy he had left, rolled to his side, letting a howl of pain pass his lips, then on one knee he first fired twice at one of the Jaffa, ducked and rolled as the other fired and then again fired twice at the other Jaffa.

He breathed a sigh of relief when the Jaffa fell and was about to tell Charlie to come out from his hiding place, when all of a sudden rock after rock started to fall from the roof. His hands instinctively covered his head, but one got through and knocked him to the ground. He heard Charlie cry for him and he knew without looking that the boy was coming towards him. He lifted his head from the ground, saw what he’d thought, raised himself to his knees, grunting as each rock hit him on the back, then leapt as far forward towards Charlie as he could. He grasped the boy around the waist and took him down with him. He scrambled forward, ignoring everything other than covering Charlie with his own body.

# #

Jacob suddenly stopped and swiftly pivoted around a full three hundred and sixty degrees. He saw the body of the Doctor lying dead with a blast mark still smoking in the centre of his chest. He looked up and down the tunnel, but couldn't see any sign of Jack or Charlie at all.

"Dad?" Sam whispered, concerned with the look that had appeared on her father's face. "Dad!"

"They... they should be here Sam," Jacob whispered, unable to completely dispel the fear he felt. "*Jack* and *Charlie* *should* be *here*..."

"Well they're not," Sam stated, and added, "Any ideas?"

"Only one and you're not going to like it."

"Capture..." Sam whispered.

Jacob nodded and winced.

Despite how she felt about that, the fear that gripped her heart, Carter knew there were more important things to contend with, such as the ring transport. Then she thought that if they took this one out, they'd have no way to get to the Colonel and Charlie, but if they didn't immobilise it then the safety of the Tok'ra would be in jeopardy. She looked to her father hoping to get some inspiration. A silent question of ‘What's more important?’ Personally, there was no question that the safety of her Colonel and friend and his surrogate son was the most important, but on a military and political level they *had* to make sure the ring transport had been taken care of.

She looked at Daniel and then Janet and knew they were not going to like her decision. She gritted her teeth, took a deep breath in and said, "We look for them after. The Transport needs to be taken out."

"Sam..." Daniel interjected but grew silent when Sam looked at him.

"Don't Daniel, just don't..." she warned him, "You might just talk me into looking for them, but it'd be wrong."

"You sure, Sam?" Jacob softly asked with a hand on her shoulder.

"No," she replied, "but the ring transport has *got* to be the priority."

Jacob nodded, hating the sadness that was emanating from his daughter. She'd made a decision that all good commanders one time in their lives have had to make. He wanted to tell her how proud he was, but knew that it was neither the time nor the place and that right at this moment in time, if his daughter was *anything* like him, pride would be the last thing she was feeling.

"All right," he gently conceded and added, "This way..."

# #

"Jack!" Charlie screamed, squirming underneath the body that was covering him. He burst into tears as the fear he felt took a chunk out of his heart and painfully ate at his soul. "Wake up, Jack, please, please, wake up," he whimpered as the tears he cried left muddy tracks down both sides of his face, "Please," he begged.

Jack groaned and tried to turn over, but his body screamed at him to stop. He felt something soft underneath him and gently placed a hand on it. He felt a face that was wet; a child's face. "Ch-Charlie?" he croaked and promptly swallowed a mouthful of dirt. He gagged and wretched as his stomach tried to dispel it. As the last convulsion dissipated, he relaxed and wearily placed his sweaty forehead onto the ground.

Charlie squealed a little, the tears drying in an instant, and then choked out, "You're... you're squashing me..."

Jack moaned. "Charlie, I'm sorry," he gasped and tried to push himself to his knees, but his arms shook uncontrollably when he'd only managed to lift the top half of his body a little way from Charlie. "Argh!... Charlie try and... and push yourself from... from under me..." he urged in a hoarse whisper. He gritted his teeth as the boy squirmed beneath him then bit his lip when his arms threatened to collapse on him. "Hurry, Charlie," he urged, "Hurry."

Charlie whimpered with fear as his feet skidded on the rock-fall. His whimper grew when he saw the look of pain on Jack's face. He quickened his scrambling and finally managed to get his body and legs free. He watched as Jack suddenly collapsed with a groan and then lay still.

He moved on his hands and knees to Jack's head and placed a hand on his hair. He began a gentle soothing circular motion and softly called, "Jack?" He was relieved to hear a muffled grunt and he choked back a shaky breath on hearing it.

Jack blinked open his eyes; tiny dust clouds lifting with each breath that he took; and scraped his head along the ground until he could look at Charlie. He hated the fear that he could see, despised the fact that he'd put it there. "Charlie?" he called in a bone-weary voice.

"Y-yes, Jack," Charlie replied.

"You know... you... you should've gone... with... with Jacob, you know?"

"No I don't know..."

Jack wearily moved his hand and grasped Charlie's. He tried to smile but he knew it had come out as a grimace. Nevertheless, he added, "You're a good... good boy, Charlie..."

Charlie's lip wobbled, but he fought back the tears and whispered, "And you're a good man, Jack..."

"Nah," Jack breathed out at him, "I... I could've... could've been better..."

Charlie opened his mouth to say something but instead a sob came out and his body started to shake with them. His vision blurred with his unshed tears as he looked down at Jack. As his other hand soothed Jack's head and as the first of his pain-filled tears fell, he shakily whispered, "Not... not to me..."

# #

General Hammond looked to the clock for what felt like the hundredth time in as many seconds; his whole body tense with his anxious thoughts. His 2IC hurt and it had sounded bad, even though he suspected that Jacob had been light with the details. Three teams out on the Tok'ra Homeworld, trying to save as many people as they could, but he knew that some might not make it back. He looked down at the packed Gate-room at that point and thanked the heavens that at least they had managed to save many. ‘Still hope,’ he thought, but they quickly turned to worrying again.

This was the time he hated the most; where he couldn't see with his own eyes or help in any manner at all on the mission he had sent his teams on. This was the bug he had to bare by accepting the position of General. It was never easy and he would wager with anyone that it was worse than actually being there. He turned to his Sergeant and whispered, "How many injured Sergeant?"

"Twenty-three Tok'ra sir and four of our own."

"Bad?"

"Jenkins is critical, but the others will be fine, sir," the Sergeant relayed and took a look at Hammond to see how he'd received the news; instantly wishing he hadn't. "Sorry, sir," he whispered instinctively.

Hammond laid a hand on the man's shoulder, then when he gently squeezed it he said, "Nothing to be sorry for, son. Nothing we can do, but wait... The hardest part," Hammond solemnly added.

"Yes, sir," the Sergeant nodded and then turned back to face the Gate-Room to see a group of Tok'rans appear.

# #

"Dad?" Sam called.

"Not far now Sam," Jacob called back, then turned a corner, only to duck back again as a blast of a staff weapon took out a chunk of the wall.

Sam raised her P90, indicated for Jacob to move back then scurried to the corner. She took a deep breath in and then stepped away from the wall and fired. The sound of the multiple shots reverberated in the tunnel, until the thuds of each bullet hitting the Jaffa took over. She fired again when another one appeared behind the first that she had taken out and flinched when Daniel's P90 joined hers.

It was a massacre she knew. They had no chance at all once she and Daniel had started to fire, but such was war and the enemy was as ruthless if not more so. She stepped back and around the corner to her father's side and said, "How far, Dad?"

"Up to the end of this tunnel turn right and we should be there," Jacob replied.

"Okay, you and Janet stay behind Daniel and me."

"Sam!" Jacob replied a little put out by the assumption that he needed to be looked after, "I've been doing this since before you were born."

Sam simply raised an eyebrow at him and then said, "You can look after our sixes."

Jacob rolled his eyes and sighed, ‘Goddammit,’ he thought, ‘Smartass!’

"And I know what you're thinking, Dad, but this isn't the time or place."

"Can we just go?" he asked.

Sam nodded, moved to stand beside Daniel, made sure that Janet and her father were behind them and then started to move off again.

# #

"You... you still here, Charlie?" Jack softly asked.

"I'm not leaving you, Jack..."

"Should..." he whispered, slurring with the pain, "might... might be more..." He grimaced when another shot gobbled up his nerves and he groaned with relief when it released him. "Not... not feeling... feeling too good, Ch-Charlie..." he eventually admitted.

"I'm not leaving..." Charlie re-iterated.

"Don't... don't want you to..."

"You don't? But..." Charlie frowned with puzzlement.

Jack simply shook his head, his left cheek scraping along the floor. "I... I missed you, you know?" he softly admitted and squeezed Charlie's hand to strengthen that fact.

"I missed you too, Jack..." Charlie replied returning the squeeze, but noticing at the same time that Jack's was weakening.

"Yeah," Jack slowly breathed out at him, "and... and I'm sorry..." he added, then groaned, "Hurts..."

"You... you gonna cry now, Jack?" Charlie asked.

He shook his head as he softly admitted, "Nothing... nothing left, Charlie... Not... not for a long time..."

Charlie looked down at Jack and despite a desperate fight he felt his bottom lip wobble, his chin dimple and his eyes fill with unshed tears. "Not..." he began, "not since Charlie, huh?"

Jack slowly shook his head and whispered, "S-sorry..." He then closed his eyes and let all of the regret he felt, all of the pain he was feeling, all of the hope that he had wash away from him. He sighed another ‘sorry’ and then let a darkness, that held no promise of a return, take him.

Chapter Six

Sam turned the corner the same time as Daniel; quickly and hugging as close to the tunnel wall as possible. Both had their P90's raised and ready to fire, but lowered them the moment they came upon the scene before them.

Charlie was bent over the prone body of O'Neill and was weeping uncontrollably; his body shaking with the sobs that permeated the air about them. His whispered begs reverberating off each wall.

"Oh God!" Sam whispered, looking at Daniel with unmistakable fear in her eyes.

Daniel simply ran forward, "Jack?" he called, "Don't do this, not now, not ever."

Charlie stopped his sobbing and turned to face one of Jack's friends. "Do something," he begged, his breath hitching on each word. "Please," he begged again.

Daniel was on his knees in a moment and turning Jack over. He cringed when he saw the dirtied bandage on his friend's chest and leg. "Agh!"

"Daniel, move," Janet ordered him and swiftly took his place. She prised the t-shirt up and away from Jack's chest and then took the bandages off. She was far from surprised to find the wound there weeping and flame red with infection. She turned and announced, "We need to get him back to SGC now!"

"Doc?"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief to hear Jack. It didn't matter that it was a whisper and it could have been a groan or a grimace and they still would have been relieved.

Janet turned back to her patient and pushed all of her concern to another place in her mind and smiled down at him. "Yes, sir," she replied.

Jack swallowed the grittiness in his mouth and licked his lips. "You, you got some... some water?" he asked in a whisper. As Janet sifted through her pack Jack suddenly started to panic. "Charlie, where's Charlie?" he croaked and started to try and sit.

Janet pushed him back down and only relaxed her hold on the Colonel's shoulder when Daniel appeared with a hand about Charlie's shoulder and said, "He's here, Jack and he's fine."

Jack closed his eyes and sighed with relief. "Good, good to see you Danny boy..."

"You too Jack," Daniel whispered, "you too."

"Sir?" Sam suddenly announced.

"C-Carter?"

"Yes, sir," she replied, "I'm sorry to interrupt...."

"You okay?" Jack interrupted unintentionally.

"I'm fine sir, but the ring transport..."

"All taken care of, Sam," Jacob gently informed her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Carter?"

"Yes sir."

"All work and no play, makes..." Jack gritted his teeth at that point and rode out the pain, until he gasped, "Makes for a... a *very* dull day..."

"Yes, sir," Sam replied.

"Colonel, sir, would you please lie still?" Janet asked.

Jack looked up at Janet and winced when he saw her prepping a needle. "Don't you ever... ever run out of those things?" he whispered disgustedly.

"Well, sir," Janet replied with a raised eyebrow, "if you keep getting hurt there's a *chance* I might."

Jack eyes brightened a little when he said, "Yeah?" but the brightness dulled a little when he realised it meant him getting hurt again. "Ha... ha..." he muttered and pouted a sulk. He winced when the needle entered his arm and then the pout was back.

Charlie giggled, despite the fear he felt.

Daniel simply shook his head and smiled. To him it was good to see the play that his friend was enacting. He knew that Jack still had a fight on his hands but it was still good to see.

As the warmth of whatever Janet had given him started to relax his body, Jack whispered, "Jacob?"

"Yes Jack?"

He waggled his fingers indicating for the Tok'ra to come closer.

Jacob knelt beside him and leant in a little.

Jack smiled this evil smile just before a hand whipped up and cuffed Jacob at the side of his head. It wasn't as hard as he would have liked, but he still felt a certain amount of satisfaction when he saw the surprised look on his face. "You... you know what that's for..." he whispered and raised his eyebrows.

"Look Jack," Jacob said, knowing exactly what that was for, "You knew and so did I..."

Jack slowly nodded. "Yes-s-s-s," he slurred, "but... but I would've carried h'm..."

Jacob glanced at Janet with concern asking with his look alone whether this slurring was to be expected.

Janet simply nodded her head, though also took a hold of Jack's wrist to note his pulse.

Jacob turned back to Jack and said, "We'll talk later, Jack. You just rest."

Jack slowly nodded, held his hand out for Charlie and then closed his eyes when the boy had a good grasp of it. "You did good, Charlie," was the last thing he whispered before succumbing to the pain relief and losing consciousness.

Epilogue:

Jack tuned his ear to hear for any sign of Charlie. ‘Had he gone?’ he wondered. He hoped he had. Though he'd never admit it out loud, he knew he was in trouble. It hurt to breathe, his head was spinning, causing his stomach to roil, and the fact that he couldn't feel the pain of his wound on his back was just as worrying to him, than when he *could* feel it.

The boy had already witnessed his Mother's death and the last thing he wanted was for Charlie to see his own. He tried to turn over and managed at least to get onto his side, before each and every pain that used to be his body screamed at him to stop. He gasped, completely exhausted, even after what he thought was an easy task of lying on his side. He then groaned as a pain persistently dug him in the ribs and ate away his resources.

"Colonel," an annoyed voice snapped at him, "Will you just lay still and rest."

He wanted to open his eyes but they felt weighed down by the entire world. He sighed and nodded and relaxed as best he could.

Despite where he thought was and what had happened to him he felt a smile rise. Charlie... He was very thankful at this moment in time. He hoped Charlie was gone and that he couldn't see him right now. Jack knew he'd been scared before, but he was certain that the boy would be petrified if he could see him now. Hell, he was scared himself.

He'd heard Charlie beg him not to die and he really hoped he could keep a promise for him, but right now, with the pain still eating away at him, he wasn't too sure he could.

‘Ah, c'mon, Jack,’ his inner Irish voice softly argued, ‘haven't you already been to Hell and back and survived before?’

He nodded in agreement but just as softly replied, ‘But this time I don't think old Beholdzebulb, you know the *Devil*, is gonna let me go so easily.’

‘Bit maudlin, don't ya think?’

‘Maybe,’ he agreed again, ‘maybe not.’

‘Thought you were better than that...’ he heard his inner voice sigh at him.

‘Yeah...’ he sighed in return, ‘me too...’

‘And what about Charlie?’

‘Which one?’ he silently asked and felt, rather than saw his inner voice raise an eyebrow at him. ‘Yeah, okay,’ he sighed, ‘I *know* which one. What of him?’

‘You think he'd be content to know that you welched on a promise?’

‘Have not...’

‘Have too...’

‘Not...’ Jack silently replied.

‘You sooo have,’ the voice sing-songed at him, ‘Well, you will have,’ it added, ‘if you go with the thoughts that you're thinking right now.’

‘Oh and you of course *know* what I'm thinking right now, do you?’ Jack silently argued.

‘Considering that I *am* you and you *are* me, well, I think that answers your question.’

‘You know, you can be such a smartass sometimes, you know that right?’ Jack silently remonstrated at his inner voice.

‘So,’ it sighed and sarcastically added, ‘nothing *better* to do than insult yourself?’

Jack winced. He had, he'd just insulted himself. ‘If I could just get my hands on you, I'd...’

‘Ah, ah, ah,’ the voice interrupted, ‘you'd only be killing yourself you know.’

‘Well, at least it'd shut *you* up.’

‘True,’ the inner voice agreed, ‘but what would Charlie think, hmm? Fearful for you, frightened, begging you to stay alive but knowing he'd failed because you'd died? How do you think Charlie might feel about that?’

‘What do you think?’

‘Uh-uh, I asked first.’

‘Well, smartass, considering you *are* my thoughts you should know that answer already,’ Jack silently argued.

‘True, I do, but it would nice for you to at least *say* it?’

‘It'd kill him, okay? You satisfied now?’

‘Almost, but not quite.’

Jack sighed.

‘What would you want to do to ease Charlie's thoughts and feelings?’

‘Not sure I *could* do anything, considering that I'd be *dead*,’ Jack sarcastically replied.

The inner voice sighed, ‘All right then let's put this in a way that you can understand shall we.’ And before Jack could make any comment on that at all, the voice added, ‘How do you feel about it *now*? Given that you're still alive... just...’

‘Oh, I *so* thank you for stating the obvious,’ Jack silently muttered, but sighed when he just received another raised eyebrow. ‘I don't know *what* I'd do,’ he silently relented, ‘but whatever it was, I'd... I'd make sure he didn't *feel* that way, okay?’

‘You do know, Jack,’ the inner voice then suddenly but softly urged, ‘that that is *exactly* how Charlie is going to feel if you just... give up... And given that you would be dead, he wouldn't have anyone to console him and let him know that he'd done his best?’

‘Okay, I've got the point,’ Jack sighed, ‘no giving up, okay? Jus’, can I get some sleep now? This *chat* has kinda worn me out.’

‘Only if you promise you won't give up...’

‘I just have, haven't I?’ Jack silently groused.

‘Okay Jack, well sweet dreams and all that...’

Jack nodded, sighed and then closed his eyes as the exhaustion he felt gently washed over him and took his senses from him.

# #

‘Time to wake up Jack,’ the inner voice called.

Jack blinked and groaned and slowly became aware. He heard someone calling for him.

"Jack?"

"D-Daniel?" he squeezed out between the shots of pain he felt. "Daniel?" he tried again, a little stronger this time.

"Yes, Jack, now you wanna open your eyes for me?" Daniel asked.

"Not particularly," he softly groused gritting his teeth as another shot of pain took his breath from him. He swallowed hard, trying to get it back. "Ch-Charlie?" he eventually asked.

"He's here, Jack, and he's all right."

"Tell... him... Tell him I'm okay will ya?"

"I will, the moment you open your eyes for me."

‘Easier said than done, Danny boy,’ he thought. What he really wanted to do was go back to sleep where the pain didn't hurt and he could think of things that made him happy and smile. ‘Wuss,’ his inner voice ridiculed. Jack frowned at it.

"Jack!" Daniel yelled and shook his shoulder.

‘Ah crap,’ Jack silently moaned, ‘will you just leave me alone...’ and tried to turn away.

"Colonel, please lie still," Janet asked and pulled on his shoulder as gently but as forcefully as she could without hurting him. "How about you open your eyes now?" she gently asked once he was on his back again.

"Doc?" he asked with a frown, but added, "You gonna stick that light in them?"

Janet looked at Daniel and raised an eyebrow. She was tempted to laugh, but her concern for her patient had her instead replying with, "I promise that will be the *last* thing I do, Colonel, but if you don't open your eyes *right* *now*, you *will* regret the moment you *do* open them."

That threat alone had Jack trying hard to open his eyes but they felt glued shut. ‘S’bit hard, Doc, what with some joker gluing them shut,’ he silently groused.

"Come on, Colonel, I know you'd do it for Charlie," Janet cajoled.

Charlie... Yeah he'd do anything for Charlie. He'd give up seeing him again. ‘*Nice* pun there, Jack,’ he silently sighed. But then he thought of Tialek and Brantel and the crystalline boulders and their deaths. ‘He's got no-one... No-one but me... Poor kid, not exactly a gift...’ he thought.

There and then he made up his mind and the pain came back two-fold. He gasped and then gritted his teeth. Very slowly he blinked open his eyes and then shut them again when they watered from the light above him.

"Daniel, switch the lights off," Janet softly ordered and then turned back to her patient. With a hand she indicated for Charlie to step forward.

Charlie was there in an instant and took a hold of Jack's hand. "Jack?" he whispered.

Jack blinked open his eyes again and automatically turned his head towards Charlie's voice. He continued to blink until the blurred image steadied and he looked into the tearful eyes that expressively looked back down at him. He smiled and squeezed the hand that was in his own. "Hey there, Charlie," he whispered.

"Hi Jack," Charlie solemnly replied with a smile that wavered a little.

Jack started to convulse with an "Ah crap, don't make me laugh, Charlie..."

Charlie turned fearfully towards Janet and then quickly looked back down at Jack. "Jack?" he whispered with concern.

Jack gritted his teeth again, waited for the bubbles of his laughter to dissipate and said in explanation, "Hijack as in... *Hijack*..."

Daniel started to chuckle and shook his head. He'd said that before and though the circumstance had been far from humorous, he still found it funny, especially now. He placed a hand gently on his friend's shoulder and said, "There's someone to see you, Jack," and on Jack's frown he added, "It's good..."

Jack's frowned deepened and he asked, "You sure?"

Daniel nodded, "Very," he said and then with a parting smile and a pat on his shoulder, he turned, indicated for someone else to take his place, and left.

Jack looked up with a puzzled frown until the woman he thought he would never see again appeared in his view. "Tialek?" he gasped.

Tialek nodded with a smile and said, "Yes, O'Neill, it is I."

"Where's Brantel?"

"He's dead, Jack," Charlie whispered and grasped Tialek's hand for support.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Tialek... Sorry..." Jack whispered, a lump forming in the back of his throat as he took in the sadness in the Tok'ra woman's eyes.

"There," Tialek softly whispered, "there is nothing for you to apologise for, O'Neill."

"Please, call me Jack," he whispered in response.

Charlie then suddenly spoke up, "Mother wants to talk to you, so I'm going to leave you until she has."

Jack nodded, squeezed Charlie's hand and then slowly let him go. ‘Boy that must have been one hell of a talk if Charlie's regarding her as his mother now,’ he thought. ‘Wish I’d been there.’

Charlie smiled down at him. He then bent and lightly kissed him on the cheek; promising he'd be back in a minute. He then turned and left.

Jack followed him with his eyes, believing that maybe that was the last time he'd see him. He then slowly looked up at Tialek and, with a gently nod in the direction where Charlie had just left, he whispered, "He's a good kid..."

"Yes, yes he is...Jack..." Tialek whispered with pride, and added, "and he is whom I wish to speak with you about."

Jack slowly nodded, fearing the worst. "It's okay Tialek, I understand," he whispered, wishing that he didn't and that he had the energy to fight for the right to see Charlie, but he didn't and the last thing he wanted to do was inflict more of the suffering this woman and her spouse had already gone through.

"I don't believe you do, Jack..." Tialek simply replied and when she knew she had his full attention, she said, as though it was the greatest of revelations, "Charlie does not suffer those headaches any longer."

Jack frowned up at her not knowing where this was going or what Charlie's headaches had to do with him never seeing him again. A part of him wished she would just get this over with.

Tialek simply smiled down at him and continued, "At first Brantel... Brantel and I were convinced that they were to do with the blending but when all tests came back clear and that they both had accepted each other, we surmised that it was stress. This is why we were attentive towards him and allowed certain indiscretions go unpunished. We wanted him to have a good environment to live in and hoped that the headaches would go in time, but to our dismay they appeared to worsen."

Jack nodded, however he was still confused as to what all of this had to do with anything. He was tempted to say, but the sadness in Tialek's face had him silent instead.

"Charlie's headaches disappeared the moment he saw you. If nothing else, what he has just experienced should have invoked the headache tenfold, but they have not re-appeared."

"That's good then," Jack whispered.

Tialek sighed, "You still have no clue as to what I'm alluding to here, do you?"

Jack opened his mouth to contest that, but instead frowned and shook his head.

Tialek nodded. "Whilst I would never want to go against Brantel... especially now," she added unable to keep her sadness from her voice.

Jack took a hold of her hand and squeezed it, "Please," he whispered, "don't..."

Tialek took a deep breath in and on the exhalation she determinedly whispered, "I must..." She squeezed Jack's hand, hoping to convey that she was grateful and said, "Though I do not wish to go against Brantel's wishes, especially now, I must, for he made a decision without knowing the true solution." She took another breath and said, "I have spoken at length with Charlie about this and it is his wish to see you again."

Jack blinked up at her, feeling his heart skip a beat, taking his voice with it. He looked to the door and then back at Tialek. "More than anything," he eventually whispered, "I wanna see Charlie, but..."

"But?"

"But Selmak was right... I'd be part-time at best..." he whispered, his heart aching.

Tialek nodded in agreement with Jack, but added, "Perhaps Selmak *is* right, but it should *not* be the excuse *never* to see Charlie. Charlie has no concept of what Part-time means... All he is concerned with is that sometime in the future he will see you again. That is good enough for him."

Jack blinked up at Tialek, her image blurring with unshed tears. His only excuse simply explained to him that it wasn't good enough. If the truth were known he hoped it wouldn't be, but until now he hadn't thought of any way out of it. Until this woman, whom had recently lost a loved one had explained it to him. He swallowed past the lump in his throat, squeezed her hand again and whispered. "Thank you." He felt her hand squeeze his own and eventually, when he was certain he could actually speak again, he softly asked, "What will you do now, Tialek?"

Tialek smiled down at him and said, "In all other aspects, I shall honour my husband's name and raise Charlie as he would have done."

"He was a good man, you know."

"Yes, he was... The finest..."

"I'm sorry..."

"Again there is nothing for you to apologise. You have safely brought back my son to me and for that I will be eternally grateful. Where one is lost another is gained and you have given that to me."

Jack smiled at her, but it wavered. He was going to be able to see Charlie again. He hadn't lost him. One tear fell from his eyes and left a track to his ear. "Thank you," he whispered again.

"Jack?" Charlie whispered with astonishment, "You're crying..."

Jack let go of Tialek's hand and held up his arms. ‘Go hang, Doc,’ he thought indignantly, ‘I'm gonna hug him if it's the last thing I do.’

Charlie was in his arms in an instant and hugged him for all his worth. "Why are you crying, Jack?" he whispered.

"These are good tears, Charlie... Trust me... Very good tears..."

Feedback: "Constructive flames keeps the fire smouldering, but the good stuff gives it life..."

© June 21, 2003 The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.