• SPOILERS: Too many to list—basically everything up to Full Circle
• SUMMARY: The title tells the basics, and the rest is about how everyone copes with Daniel’s return. Jack has difficulty with it.
• RATING: PG, possibly PG-13 Drama, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Action/Adventure in parts. Warning: 1. This fic only works if you pretend you have never seen Full Circle. 2. Because of my personal frustration with Jack’s superhuman ability to stuff his emotional responses to incredibly hard emotional circumstances, I take Jack to the emotional edge in this fic and push him over the cliff. If you don’t buy into Jack “going there”, this fic might not be for you.

Chapter One

The four members of SG-1 emerged from the Stargate on P4X-449 and immediately felt the humidity soak into their skin, which was getting dry from the late October crispness of a Colorado autumn.

“Boy, it’s a jungle out here! Anybody see any signs of a path we can follow?” Colonel O’Neill, leader of SG-1, asked his teammates as he craned his head to look around.

The out-pouching of the event horizon when the Gate activated had given the team a small clearing to stand in. The Gate on the planet was located smack in the middle of a jungle—an overgrown jungle at that. Large vines entwined the circle of the gate and were severed in places where the wormhole had been. Apparently, no one had been here for quite some time. Large green leaves and moss covered the DHD.

“There appears to be less developed vegetation in that direction.” Teal’c observed pointing in the direction where he had noticed the change. “Perhaps it is the remnant of a trail through the jungle, leading to civilization.”

“Okay, good enough for me, let’s move out,” said Jack O’Neill, indicating for Teal’c to lead the way.

The UAV had searched for miles in several directions but because of the density of the canopy, Samantha Carter and her research techs had been unable to determine if there were any signs of civilization. Ever the scientist, she had overseen several attempts to maneuver the UAV through the jungle at a lower altitude but they hadn’t been successful. Since there was nothing obviously threatening, General Hammond had acquiesced to Major Carter’s desire to explore the area on foot to gather anything in the rainforest that might be useful for scientific or medical research. Colonel O’Neill was willing to search for any signs of a civilization—for a while anyway. It would be his homage to Daniel Jackson—archaeologist, anthropologist—who would have begged and cajoled for the chance to visit the planet in search of something or someone he could study.

Most of the time as they made their way along the remnant of a trail, Teal’c and the others were able to sweep the vegetation aside. But every so often Teal’c didn’t hesitate to take a rhythmic swipe with a machete at whatever foliage blocked their way. Teal’c, looking every bit the warrior that he was, was a scary sight wielding a machete. Jack was glad they were on the same side.

The sounds of the jungle were quite similar to Earth’s jungles, a cacophony of differently pitched noises coming from all directions. In the heat, there was a lot going on that they could hear but not see.

“Baby, it’s WARM outside,” commented Jack in a singsong way, soon after they began hiking.

“And isn’t it a refreshing change?” replied Major Carter, smiling.

“Yeah, tell me that after spending an hour in this humidity,” Jack said smirking back at her.

“I like it, Sir. You have to admit, it sure doesn’t feel like today is Halloween when you’re making your way through a jungle. It’s a holiday you think of with autumn leaves, crisp weather, dry climate—”

An hour later, their faces were dripping with sweat, and their clothes were wet under their vests. Teal’c bore it with his usual silent stoicism, but Jonas Quinn, still new to off world exploration, was not handling it well.

“Boy, I’m really uncomfortable with this,” he said.

“Better get used to it, happens all the time with Gate travel. Even happens with travel on Earth, come to think of it,” Jack replied. “All part of the job, Jonas.”

“Oh, I’m not complaining, Colonel, just observing.”

“Ah.” Jack said under his breath, taking a drink of water from his canteen. “Make sure you all keep drinking,” he said.

They traveled some more in silence when a thought occurred to Jack, “So…you think there are snakes around here?”

Carter replied, “It’s hard to say, Sir. The Amazon Rainforest is full of them, however Hawaii and New Zealand both have rainforested areas but they have no snakes at all.”

“Aren’t those islands, Major? Maybe that has something to do with the no-snake thing.”

“Oh! Good observation, Sir. I didn’t think of that,” Carter said. Jack smiled, pleased with himself for getting one up on Carter.

“But that means, there probably are snakes around then,” she continued.

“Great,” Jack said rolling his eyes. “I HATE snakes!” he said, unaware that he’d done a dead-on imitation of Indiana Jones.

Carter laughed.

“What’s so funny, Major?” he growled.

“Nothing, Sir. You just reminded me of someone, that’s all,” she said grinning.

From then on, Jack watched every step he took, looking all around, just to make sure nothing was slithering around underfoot. Every so often he would whip his head around at some insect-on-steroids noise he’d heard. Why is it that every friggin’ planet has to have BUGS? Especially big honkin’ bugs? He looked over at Teal’c hoping he wouldn’t see any quite as big as the one that had once nailed him, turning the Jaffa into a medium for growing more of them.

Teal’c must have been reading his mind because he caught the look O’Neill was giving him and replied, “I will not enjoy this journey if we must fend off any insects similar to the mosquitoes you have in Minnesota, O’Neill.”

Jack smiled as he replied, “I was thinking of some that were a little more problematic than Minnesota’s state bird.”

Teal’c raised his eyebrow. “I was unaware of any insect life that would cause a bigger problem than mosquitoes.”

Now it was Jack’s turn to raise an eyebrow.

The next half hour was spent mostly in silence until Carter broke in. “Sir, I think there’s something up ahead. I can sort of see something through the foliage.”

“Is it a snake?” asked Jack.

Carter smiled. “No, Sir, I think it’s a building.” Carter squinted trying to get a better view through the foliage. “I can barely see it but it looks like if we deviate off this way a little, we’ll come to it,” she added as she gestured in the direction where she’d seen the structure.

Jack nodded as they turned to go where Carter had indicated. There was no path remaining now, so Teal’c had to hack back the jungle with every step they took, slowing their progress significantly.

“Say, Teal’c, would you mind if I tried that?” Jonas asked, pointing to Teal’c’s machete.

Teal’c handed it to him. Jonas took the lead and started hacking away, imitating Teal’c. Teal’c took the opportunity to drink nearly all his water.

“Thirsty, eh?” Jack observed as he walked past his stationary friend.

Teal’c looked at him but didn’t stop drinking. When he was finished, he took O’Neill’s place, bringing up the rear.

Eventually, SG-1 intersected a less overgrown track than the original trail. It still hadn’t been used for some time but was clear enough to follow more easily. Although the foliage brushed them as they walked, they didn’t have to sweep any aside. Beneath them, they stepped on dead leaves with new plants pushing up through the detritus.

The trail led to a small clearing, just big enough to contain a rectangular building with a pitched roof, like a typical building on almost any continent on Earth. The building itself was less familiar looking.

“Whoa. A little busy, don’tcha think?” observed Jack when he saw all the painted decorations and intricate carvings on every inch of the exterior. “What were these people thinking?”

Jack realized he’d been kind of waiting for a response. He was somewhat surprised when one didn’t come until he realized from whom he’d been waiting for said response.

Damn it, Jack! When are you gonna stop thinking about…

Damn it, Daniel! Jack shook off the thought and carried on with scouting the building and area. He came upon Jonas standing back and looking at the roofline with its intricately carved eaves.

“So what do you think, Jonas?” Jack asked the new guy who had to cover Daniel’s old turf.

“I think it’s pretty,” said Jonas. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

“Neither have I, but that doesn’t mean it’s cool. In fact, the coolness factor is definitely lacking here,” he added.

“It’s really interesting, Colonel! I mean, I haven’t been to many other planets yet, so it’s all new to me, but I haven’t seen anything like this mentioned in any of Doctor Jackson’s journals. I’m not sure if even he’s come across anything similar.”

Jack thought of how this whole discovery would have made Daniel Jackson drool with anticipation and run off at the mouth in a constant stream of excited exposition. He would have thought this place was the ultimate in coolness with such a density of information, no doubt placed there just for Daniel to study, while trusting completely in Jack to watch his six as he became lost in his own little archaeological microcosm.

Jonas moved off then as his attention caught on some detail that he wanted to examine more closely. Jack fell deep into thought as he stood there alone.

Jonas Quinn, despite his enthusiasm in being part of SG-1 and having read all of Daniel’s texts and journals, just didn’t have the intuitive genius salted with passion that had defined Daniel. He had yet to achieve Daniel’s skill for putting together diverse factoids in his mind and jumping to those ingenious insights that left most people trailing in his wake. And Jack knew Jonas still had a deferential attitude toward him, whereas Daniel’s had been far more irreverent, which had allowed Daniel the freedom to spin any theory to Jack—no matter how far-fetched.

Damn, gotta stop thinking about Daniel. This is way not cool.

“Busy. Waaayy too busy,” he said aloud to break his musings. “It’s like they put all the artwork of a whole civilization right here. Where’s Martha Stewart when you need her?” asked Jack rhetorically, thinking he was alone. He was surprised by an answer.

“Daniel would have loved this,” Carter commented. She must have crept up on him while he was lost in thought.

Not cool, Jack, what’s with you today?

He was angry with himself for another lapse in his vigilance. Then he brought his gaze down to look at her standing next to him looking at the building. She smiled sadly and continued, “He would have thought this was so cool!” she said.

What, is she reading my mind now?

“Carter? Shut up.”

“Why? Don’t you think Daniel would have loved this? We wouldn’t have been able to peel him away for—”

“Carter! Go scout the other side. Look for anything threatening; hiding places, you know the drill. And find Teal’c.”

“Already did that, Sir. The exterior’s secure. I don’t think anyone’s been here in a really long time. Years, probably.”

Jack then followed her around the building, listening to her report about what she’d determined, checking the evidence himself. Thoughts of Daniel kept breaking his concentration. He mentally chastised himself whenever it happened, wondering why today? And each time, he tried to return his focus to the task at hand. They came upon Teal’c toward the end of their search. He had checked the jungle perimeter around the building and had found it devoid of any potential threat. They decided it was safe enough to explore inside.

On some of their travels, getting into a building proved to be an exercise in frustrated puzzle solving or required the deciphering of some obscure language, but, in this case, getting in was straightforward…

The door swung silently inward at Jack’s touch. It was as thick as the walls, a good six inches but when he pushed at one edge, it was so well balanced it felt weightless. The interior of the building centered on a large dim rectangular room. SG-1 was standing in a vestibule attached to the main room at one end.

The large center room contained a series of columns in two rows, one row on either side along the length of the room, a few feet from either wall. The columns were painted with whole-body likenesses of extensively tattooed people, mostly men but a few women appeared too. Jack noticed Teal’c staring at each one with rapt attention.

“What’s so interesting?”

“These people appear to be a warrior race.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I am making an assumption based on their posture and facial expressions. In addition, tattoos often signify allegiance to a chief or tribe—,” Teal’c continued.

Or god? Jack’s thought interrupted his concentration on Teal’c’s conjecture.

“—or convey status. One of these figures looked reminiscent of a system lord. I noticed him by his lack of tattoos and by his eyes painted to look as if they were glowing,” Teal’c finished.

In between each column, up high in the wall near the ceiling, were small windows letting in light but not enough to brighten the room , making the painted figures show up in only muted colors in the dim light.

Even the ceiling was painted with a patterned design and the walls had patterns and geometric figures. Jack didn’t see anything that looked like any written language. Not that he was an expert on languages, but he had seen enough over the years to recognize pictographs or ideographs. This didn’t look like any of that.

They were all staring in different directions at the variety of décor in the room. It was a veritable feast for the eyes.

Daniel would have been happy here for days.

As Jack wandered around the large room, he noticed a stairway leading down at the back of the room. He silently crept down them using his P-90 to light the way. At the bottom of the stairs he saw what looked to be small doorways to windowless rooms. Each room had several other doors leading from it. It looked labyrinthine in its layout, each room leading to others. The building might hold some treasures beyond this artwork yet. These rooms were not decorated at all, just plain, and dark.

“Hey, guys,” he said, when he had returned upstairs.

The other three turned from their respective places in the room to look at him.

Jack gestured at the stairs behind him with an absent thrust of his head. “There are some other rooms down the stairs here. Wanna go take a look?” he asked.

Teal’c merely raised an eyebrow while Jonas and Carter walked up to Jack. Teal’c finally joined them as they went down the stairs.

“Teal’c you go with Jonas, and Carter you’re with me,” Jack said as they split up downstairs to explore the little rooms.

It soon became boring—at least for Jack. Each room was dark and small with plain clay walls and a clay floor. None of the rooms seemed to have any artifacts in them at all, nor did they find any evidence of previous inhabitants. Carter noticed Jack’s boredom.

“Sir, it looks plenty safe around here. We haven’t seen anything or come across anything even remotely worrisome. Why don’t you go back up to the main room and wait for us there? It’ll be a little more interesting than this at least.”

“Thanks, Carter.” Jack tried to hide his relief with a token offer, “You sure you don’t want me to hang around?”

“No, Colonel. You’re actually distracting me with your fidgeting. I think I’ll concentrate better by myself. No offense.”

“None taken, but you’re sure…?”

“Sir, go.”

“Okay,” Jack said with a “whatever you say, I’m not hanging around to argue” kind of shrug and he walked out of the room.

…And promptly got lost.

He wandered from room to room for a while, surprised that he’d gotten lost. With his Special Ops training he usually could find his way out of any mazelike complex. He wondered if there was something affecting his directional sense. He searched for the stairs longer than he should have before he radioed Carter.

“Hey, Carter?” Jack spoke into the radio clipped to his vest.

“Yes, Colonel?”

“Where’s the bathroom?”

“Beats me. Do you need one?”

“Just asking.”

“You’re lost aren’t you, Sir?”

“Uhh…kinda…maybe…”

“Stay there. I’ll come find you.”

“Okay,” Jack said but didn’t stay put. He kept wandering and before Carter could find him, he stumbled onto the stairway and made his way back into the large main room.

“Carter?”

“Yes, Sir?”

“Never mind.”

“You found your way out?”

“Yeah. Guess I’ll camp out here for a while in case any of you need me to come and get you.”

“Yeah, right. Okay, Sir.” Jack could hear the smile in Carter’s voice. He looked around once more at the large main room. It really was interesting and beautiful in its primitive way. As he looked toward the front of the room where the vestibule was attached, and where he was sure that SG-1 had come in earlier, he stared in puzzlement.

“What the hell?” Jack muttered. When he looked through to the vestibule, he saw no evidence that a door had ever been there. He aimed his gun’s light just to be sure then went over to where he believed the front door should be. He ran his hand over the area but couldn’t even feel any seams. It was a flawlessly smooth clay wall.

“Carter, Jonas,” he said into his transmitter.

“Yes, Sir?” he heard though the tinny earpiece, then “Yes, Colonel?” as they answered in succession.

“Meet me in the main room. We have a problem. Bring Teal’c, too.” He clicked off the radio and started tapping on the wall then pounded on it but to no avail. There was still no evidence a door had ever been there. He didn’t like being left without an exit.

When they arrived he showed them the problem, then they went back into the main room to discuss the situation.

“Any ideas?” he asked pointedly.

“Not right off the bat, Colonel,” Carter said.

“I could attempt to create a new opening with my staff weapon, O’Neill,” Teal’c suggested.

“Nah, I don’t think that’s such a good idea, T. Never know what a little electrical energy’ll do to an alien edifice, ya know? Let’s save that for last resort kinda stuff, okay?”

Teal’c dipped his head in acquiescence.

“I could, uh, study these columns for some clues. There are a lot of decorations here, maybe they mean something,” Jonas said.

‘Decorations’? Oy, where’s Daniel when you need him?

Daniel would be running off at the mouth, telling Jack what obscure meaning these ‘decorations’ conveyed. He would have never left this room. Jack would have had to drag him out bodily to explore the rest of the place. As soon as Daniel realized there were no other markings of any interest in the other rooms, he’d have been back before you could say, “Damn it, Daniel!”

Aaahhh, Daniel…

Damn, but grief hit at such inappropriate moments. He shook it off. Stay sharp, Jack. Don’t let yourself get distracted off world.

“Yeah, Jonas, go see if you can find the instruction manual or something. We’ve been here long enough. Time to go.” Jack wanted to find a way out before something else happened to give them even less control over their circumstances.

Carter walked back into the vestibule, followed by Jack. “Boy, Sir, I just don’t see any way out. This is weird. This building looks so primitive yet to have absolutely no sign a door was ever here…. Look,” she said, pushing on the wall where the center of the door should have been. “It doesn’t give any indication that it’s anything but a solid wall, yet it opened so easily in the other direction!”

“Maybe we should take Teal’c up on his suggestion and shoot it.” He was sure Carter would balk at that and give him ten reasons why that would be a really bad idea.

“I don’t see why not. We’re not coming up with any other ideas,” she said shrugging. Jack raised his eyebrows.

“Really?” he said, as he cocked his head in surprise. “I told Teal’c we’d save that for a last resort.”

“Sir, I don’t think it’ll hurt anything. After all, these walls look to be made of simple clay. I would think any damage would stay localized to the immediate area of the shot.”

“Teal’c,” Jack called to Teal’c who was still in the main room looking up at the windows. “Come here and shoot this thing, will ya?”

“Gladly, O’Neill.” And with that, Teal’c snapped around right where he stood in the middle of the large hall and shot his staff weapon at the center of the door. Carter and O’Neill practically did backbends trying to escape the staff blast as it split the space between them.

“HEY! How about a little warning before ya shoot! Ya could’ve shot US, fer cryin’ out loud!”

“You insult me, O’Neill. I am an accurate marksman with a staff weapon. You were in no danger,” replied Teal’c.

“Ya coulda fooled me! Next time how about a head’s up, okay?”

“My head was up, O’Neill. I would not have taken the shot without having my head up to aim correctly.”

Jack rolled his eyes. He’s getting to be a regular comedian these days.

“Colonel, there should be a large hole in the wall but look, it’s only scorched,” Carter said, running her hand over the burned area. “Ow! It’s hot!”

“Well, shouldn’t it be, after all that energy discharge?” Jack retorted, looking at the evidence of their lack of success. “So, Plan A failed. Any takers for Plan B?”

“Where’s MacGyver when you need him?” Jack heard Carter mutter.

Jack glared at her.

“O’Neill, I could shoot out one of the windows,” Teal’c stated.

“Okay, go for it, Hot Shot.”

Teal’c fired and watched the staff blast go right through the window with no effect.

“Okay, guess we didn’t need to bother with that. Looks like there’s no glass in the windows.” Jack said as he gazed at the opening they’d thought was a glass window. “Maybe we can get out that way. Any ideas how we get up there? It’s too high to reach standing on each other. Anybody want to tackle climbing one of these columns?”

“I don’t think that will work, Sir. See how they flare gradually as they rise? At the top there wouldn’t be any way to get a purchase.”

“Anybody have, oh, I don’t know, a grappling hook?” Jack asked. Forget MacGyver, Jack thought, where’s Batman when you need him? Or Spider-man. That would be cool—we wouldn’t even need a grappling hook then…

“We could tie a rope to something heavy and try to throw it up there…it could catch on the other side and function like a grappling hook,” Carter suggested. “Maybe we could try one of our weapons.”

“I don’t know, Carter, I don’t like the thought of losing the use of a weapon.”

“I’m not sure we have anything else that that we can use. The P-90 should have enough substance to hold our weight if it catches on the other side of the window. Sir, I think it’s our only viable choice,” Carter answered. “Besides, we haven’t seen anything even remotely threatening here. I think we can take the risk that one less weapon won’t matter.”

“It’s pretty high up,” Jack said as he craned his head. “You think any of us can throw that far?” But Jack’s question was merely rhetorical since he had already decided in Carter’s favor. He tied a rope onto his P-90, and handed the weapon to Teal’c, obviously their strongest member.

“Go for it, Big Guy,” Jack said, stepping back to give Teal’c some room. Teal’c hauled back and flung it underhand in a perfect trajectory. It only came about eight feet short. When it hit the floor with a clatter, the P-90 fired a few rounds, scattering SG-1 in horror. In the aftermath, no one noticed the room brighten for a few seconds.

“Crap!” Jack said grimacing. God, where’s my brain!

“Um, guess you forgot to put the safety on,” Carter said.

“Guess I forgot to remove the clip—” Jack started to say, then broke off as he had a sudden vision of what had happened the last time he had unwittingly left a clip in his weapon. The pang of grief hit hard, showing in his eyes before he could snap his emotional walls back up.

A concerned looking Carter started to say, “Colonel, are you—” but she was interrupted by Jonas.

“I don’t mean to be a pest, but you guys are kind of distracting me here,” Jonas Quinn said, from the other side of the room.

Ah! Saved by the new guy, who doesn’t know how to read me yet.

“Any luck, Jonas?” Jack asked, relieved. He knew Carter had noticed his brief descent into grief and remorse as he flashed back to the accidental death of his son.

Jonas climbed out from behind the column he had been studying and, unlike Daniel, he was careful not to touch anything. Fortunately, Jonas had been at the opposite side of the room from where the gun had gone off.

He answered Jack confidently. “No, I haven’t seen anything like this in any of Doctor Jackson’s library. It’s more like a picture book than a book of text, but it doesn’t make any sense to me. I don’t see anything that looks like it relates to the door mechanism. I see some pictures that look like war or battle scenes, some family-type scenes, but nothing that looks like any instructions. It looks to me like this might be some type of narrative history.”

“All right, why don’t you take a break? In fact, why don’t you all go take another look around the other rooms to see if we missed any clues?” Jack suggested. He was getting positively antsy now. This was taking way too long and things weren’t looking hopeful.

Maybe we should suggest establishing an off-world 911 service, eh?

“Don’t worry yet,” Carter said, in an attempt to comfort him. “The original people who used this building had to have had a way out. We haven’t found any bones after all.”

After the others left, Colonel O’Neill decided to return to the vestibule to study it again. He walked around looking at the columns in a cursory way to see if he could see any clues. Eventually, he found the system lord representation that Teal’c had mentioned before. Jack lightly ran his fingers over its glowing eyes. As he did, Jack thought he heard some low-pitched whispering echo in a language he couldn’t understand. Chills ran down his spine, the small hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. The sound was directionless and only lasted a few seconds. If he believed in such things, he’d have thought it to be the voices of the ghosts of these people.

“Trick or treat,” he said to himself.

Carefully, Jack made his way around the room to see if he could see where the sound may have come from. As he did, he heard more whispering, but he hadn’t touched anything to bring it on the way it had seemed to occur the first time. A small spike of adrenaline surged through him. The sound echoed away then started again with a longer string of whispered language in multiple voices. It was getting spooky but Jack refused to acknowledge the little prick of fear tingling his spine. Halloween. It figured.

He tried to look nonchalant—even though there was no one there to watch him—as he made his way back toward the vestibule. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye behind one of the columns. Now his façade of coolness immediately evaporated   as adrenaline put him in full watchful military mode. He took his flashlight from his vest pocket and turned it on to see better.

Jack saw something move again, followed by another chorus of whispering. Now it was apparent to him that he was on the right track about the whispering somehow coming with touching the columns. He crept closer to investigate.

Unfortunately, his weapon—with the rope still attached—was still halfway across the room where it had fallen. What is WRONG with me today? He was a Colonel in the USAF, for crying out loud! He knew the importance of keeping his weapon at the ready, yet there it lay, halfway across the room for any alien to pick up and shoot him with it. Jack looked back where he’d seen the movement. There was a stubby shadow showing from behind one of the columns about eight feet from his P-90, on the same side of the room. He was twice as far from his gun as the owner of the shadow.

Crap!

The shadow was moving in small ways, but didn’t give any indication it was going for Jack’s weapon, or even if it knew that Jack was in the room. Where had this thing come from, anyway? He hadn’t left this area except when he’d gone off with Carter and as soon as he returned he’d found the doorway sealed. He knew no one had been here before then. Did the others miss searching a room? Had it sneaked in from one of the rooms while they were distracted by their predicament? Again, he castigated himself for not being more vigilant, but damn! How could anyone be here? They were surely too skilled to have missed something.

Keeping his eye on the column and the shadow, he quietly returned his flashlight to his vest and furtively stepped across the room, slowly at first, while the column blocked the entity’s view of Jack. Then, when Jack could see the side of a seated figure just start to come into his view, he launched himself, sliding to his gun near the wall as if he were sliding into second base. With a coordinated roll he grabbed his weapon and crouched, turning to aim it at the body he was now in line with. The attached rope came up with him as he stood. He left the gun’s light off, not wanting to break the focus of this person just yet. The UAV had not seen any evidence of people in the vicinity. Where had this guy come from?

As Jack watched, the man, as Jack now thought this entity was, traced the pattern of a tattoo on one of the figures on the column with a finger, as if to decipher it by touch, then paused to listen to the whispering, which had begun at his touch. He cocked his head to concentrate on the voices, as if to hear what they were saying. Jack stared, trying to see him better, not paying any attention to the whispering anymore. Apparently, the man hadn’t yet realized there was anyone watching him. How could this guy not have noticed Jack retrieving his weapon? The man’s ability to focus on his task, oblivious to any danger, reminded him of Daniel. The man was sitting cross-legged less than a foot from the surface he was examining. Jack crept out closer to him to get a better look.

When he was about three feet away, Jack turned on the light in his gun and spoke to the man. “Very carefully, raise your hands—” At the same moment, the man turned his head, finally noticing that someone else was in the room.

“Hi Jack!” he said, totally ignoring what he had just been told.

What? Geez, he had Daniel on the brain or something today because that sure sounded like—

“Daniel?”

“Yeah, it’s me.” The man who claimed to be Daniel stood up energetically, completely disregarding the weapon trained on him. He certainly dressed like Daniel, complete with glasses, plaid flannel shirt and wrinkled khaki pants.

Jack didn’t lower his aim on his P-90, but he did relax his grip.

“Aren’t you supposed to be dead?”

“Ascended.”

“Whatever. How’d you get here?”

“It’s kind of a long explanation, Jack,” Daniel said, with a small grimace. “Don’t you remember when I came back to be with you when you were having that party with your new buddy, Ba’al? Ascended beings can show up anywhere we want, but—”

“Oh, really?” Jack interrupted. “I kind of figured I must have been hallucinating from one too many trips to the sarcophagus. You know how that is.”

Daniel pressed his lips together in reaction to Jack’s snide comment. He didn’t answer.

“Maybe I’m hallucinating now, too,” Jack continued. “Who knows, I could be breathing bad air or something. No way you can prove you’re not just a product of my, oh-so-active imagination. I mean, how else would you know about Ba’al?”

“Um…I could know about Ba’al because…I was there with you. You aren’t hallucinating now and you weren’t then either. I’m really here. In fact, Jack, didn’t we have this conversation already? Back when you were with Ba’al? I thought you were finally convinced that I could appear to you whenever I want. At least, you talked to me then as though you knew it was me…”

“Yeah, well, I wasn’t myself there for a while. Maybe you weren’t yourself either. In fact, Daniel, didn’t I throw a shoe through you?” Jack cocked his head to the side, squinting his eyes a little. “That doesn’t exactly lend itself to believability, you know.”

“Come on, Jack! I came back to be with you while you were suffering and now I’m here with you again to help.” Daniel said plaintively.

As he began to explain, he became animated, the same familiar Daniel Jackson whom Jack had been reminiscing about today. And Jack could only shift his feet and stare, not knowing how to react.

“Speaking of which, I’ve been studying these painted columns,” Daniel continued, oblivious to Jack’s reaction, “And, you know, these pictures are fascinating! It looks like an ancient Polynesian genealogy. And look over here!” Daniel raced over to one of the columns on the opposite side of the room. “There’s a running history of these people in their paintings, and when you touch one, it tells you the oral history of whatever you touched.” Daniel touched a column to demonstrate. “This is so great! This is the first time we’ve had any evidence of a Polynesian society making it off world. Did you know the ancient Polynesians on Earth rode thousands of miles in canoes from their ancient homeland to populate the islands all the way from New Zealand to Hawaii? Oh! Oh, and Jack!–”

Jack interrupted with a frantic wave of his arm. “Okay, maybe it really is you, Daniel, so how come Jonas didn’t know this? He’s read your entire library AND your journals. Where was this little tidbit stashed?”

“In my brain. I spent some time on vacation in New Zealand once and learned it on a tour—Jonas has read all my journals? Isn’t that an invasion of my privacy?”

“You’re DEAD, Daniel. Why wouldn’t we make use of your research?”

Daniel held up a finger of correction at Jack. “ Ascended.” Then he added, “Ummm… you didn’t read them, did you?”

“Why would I want to read something filled with endless details about artifact-thingies and all those rocks you find so enthralling? That’s for you, Daniel. Not me. Unless you wrote about me in there, too—” Jack trailed off, and looked at Daniel with growing suspicion.

Daniel looked stricken with guilt.

“Oh, for crying out loud! You DID, didn’t you? You wrote about me? What did you write? No—don’t answer that, I don’t think I wanna know.”

“There are more reasons to write in a journal than just making research notes, Jack. A lot of my thinking and synthesizing of hypotheses comes from writing in my journals.” As Daniel explained, he absently walked back across the room to face Jack again. “A natural extension of that is to write about my feelings, too. It helps me work out some of the emotional stuff I have to deal with. That doesn’t mean it’s necessarily bad, you know.” Then he changed the subject. “So, is Jonas working out as my, uh, replacement?”

Jack dully nodded, but his mind was on one word. ‘Replacement?’ No one can replace you, Daniel, and without you, it’s been so HARD.   Is this really, REALLY you? As he continued to converse with Daniel as if it were the most normal thing in the world to do, it gave him time to get a handle on the enormity of this miracle Jack was too afraid to believe in. How can you be here? To be safe, Jack subconsciously erected more walls to cope with his swirling emotions.

“How do you feel about having Jonas on the team, Jack?”

“What?” Jack stared for a moment, distracted, before his mind went back to the topic at hand. He shrugged, “He’s a quick study. He’s been using your office and computer since you left,” He said, to skirt around the real meaning behind Daniel’s question.

Daniel let his question go, merely commenting, “I miss my computer.”

Jack snapped back to the moment, his sarcasm in full protective mode. His words were sharp as he said, “Well, it’s not yours anymore, is it? Guess you’ll just have to get over it.”

Like I’m going to have to get over you showing up here and then disappearing again. Damn it, Daniel! What made it bearable when you left last time was thinking it was all a figment of my sarcophagus-addled tortured mind, but now I’m totally sane with all my faculties present…

Why can’t Charlie come back for a little visit like this now and again?

Just go away already, so I won’t have to hurt even more, Jack thought, not meaning it. He rubbed his face with a hand. He wasn’t used to having to cope in such an immediate way with his grief over losing Daniel. And should he even be grieving now? Shouldn’t he just be grateful for this moment with Daniel? But it brought out in Jack all the pain of all the moments, long, drawn out months of moments, when Daniel hadn’t been there. He almost wished Daniel really would go away so he could get back to the usual emotions he could cope with, the ones he was used to, the ones he had all safely hidden away.

“Jack…”

“What, Daniel!”

“Are you mad at me?”

Relieved, ecstatic, scared, worried, take your pick, Danny-Boy, but not really mad, although I might go mad…

Jack glared at Daniel who looked at him with his head cocked like a puppy who didn’t know why Jack wasn’t totally thrilled to see him. Jack still had his weapon pointed in Daniel’s general direction.

Jack saw that look from Daniel and remembered the same look coming from Charlie when he’d been five and had wandered away from Jack in a shopping mall…

Jack was frantic with worry. He searched the toy store everywhere, but Charlie was nowhere to be found. Charlie was wandering alone somewhere in the mall or worse.... Jack had the store call mall security to start a search.

Jack was panicked like never before in his life. Even the four months in the Iraqi prison, never knowing when his next meal would be and in nearly constant pain, had not panicked him the way he was right now. He was irrational with the security guards, a real unpleasant guy, berating them for ineptitude when they were actually doing a thorough job.

It took them two hours before their search finally turned up Charlie. He had discovered the stairway to the basement and had poked around down there until he’d found the mechanical workings of the mall, the plumbing and heating. Security guards brought a happy Charlie back upstairs, boisterously excited by what he’d seen.

When Jack laid eyes on him, he felt overcome and had to fight hard not to cry. Then, embarrassed by coming so close to tears in public, he started verbally berating his son. Charlie had given him that same puppy dog look of bewilderment that Daniel just had, not knowing what he’d done to make his father so angry and upset. Jack had spent the drive home chastising himself for taking out his worry (and relief) in anger at his precious son, whom he should have been hugging and kissing. By the time they arrived home, though, Charlie had already returned to his normal happy self, seemingly impervious to his father’s anger at him. Instead, he was trying to cheer up his Dad.

Daniel had always bounced back like that, too. Aside from the Goa’uld, he had never carried a grudge against Jack or anyone else.

There was another similarity between his son and Daniel too: they both tended to wander off, although with Daniel it was much more pronounced.

“Well…?” Daniel started.

That snapped Jack out of his reverie and back to the same angry emotional reaction he’d just remembered having so long ago.

“GOD, Daniel. WHAT?”

“Are you gonna shoot me with that thing?” he asked pointing at Jack’s gun still held at the ready. “Do you want to kill me, Jack?”

Jack felt that was making a mockery of a similar scene where Jack had spoken the same words to Daniel. That time, those words had broken the spell of Daniel’s addiction to the sarcophagus and he’d clung to Jack, sobbing. Now Jack’s control was just as close to breaking, but he held himself together by a thread. He lowered his weapon, letting it dangle from one hand. After all, if a shoe couldn’t hit Daniel, how could bullets? He had now dropped his physical defense, but an emotional one came to his rescue.

“How can I kill you when you’re already dead, Daniel? Or, excuse me, ascended, so why even bother wasting the bullets? They can’t hurt you any more than my shoe. In fact, why don’t you just leave already! We have all moved on. Why can’t you?” Jack flung the words out, knowing they must hurt, but to protect himself, he demanded of Daniel the thing he most dreaded.

“Jack—” Daniel started, then hesitated. He held his arms crossed over his chest, looking at Jack who glared back, challenging him to answer.

Finally, Daniel said, “I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt that you don’t really mean that. If you did, you would certainly be hurting me as much as I know I’ve hurt you. Jack, I didn’t want to die. I thought it was a worthy sacrifice, you know that….” He stopped.

Jack knew now that this had to be Daniel. He could read Jack better than anyone. He could see Daniel sizing up Jack’s emotional state trying to decide how to appease him. Jack was so tense he was about to lose what little control he had left, and he knew Daniel knew it.

“Look Jack,” he finally continued. “When one ascends there is also the opportunity to descend as well. I learned so much as an ascended being but I couldn’t interfere with any situation I came across. I’ve been observing SG-1 periodically and wanted to help you all so badly, especially you when you were alone and being tortured by Ba’al. I couldn’t touch you. All I could do was talk. I couldn’t get you out of there. I couldn’t heal you. It was so frustrating. That’s why I tried to talk you into ascending with me. It was all I had to offer. Except for my friendship. You have always had that, Jack. And you always will, no matter what you think of me.”

That last bit was hard for Jack to hear and a lump grew in his throat.

Stay angry, Jack! Anger is the safe way out of this.

“So are you telling me you’re going to descend now? What exactly does that mean anyway, Daniel? More metaphysical CRAP?”

“Oh, Jack,” Daniel sighed defeated. “I already—Look, I’m sorry I left you all. I heard what you told me when I was in the infirmary dying. I know what it meant. It was hard for me too. Please Jack!”

Jack’s face became unguarded as Daniel’s words threw him. He tried to scowl to bring the mask back up but failed. Finally, he said, in a tired voice, “Look, Daniel—” Jack stopped, not knowing exactly what he wanted to say. Before he could continue, Daniel stepped closer to Jack.

“I already did.”

“Did what?”

“Descend.”

“You did?” Jack now gave Daniel a yeah-right-I-just-tossed-my-shoe-through-you, look. “So what does that mean exactly?”

“Basically, that I’m not ‘dead’ anymore.”

“Just like that, you’re alive again?” Jack said, peeved. “For cryin’ out loud, Daniel, you have more lives than a cat!”

Daniel smiled at that one.

“Come here Jack and see for yourself. You can touch me. I’m corporeal.” Daniel held a hand out palm up beckoning Jack to him.

“So you’re a corporal now. Gee, you don’t look much like a military man.” Jack looked at the flannel shirt Daniel was wearing. So unmilitary. So familiar. So Daniel…He almost shook his head as he tried to clear his mind from the stray thought so he could get back to being skeptical.

“Very funny, Jack.” Daniel still had his hand out, palm up.

“What is this, feel the nail holes in my hands or something? Jesus, Daniel!”

“No, that was Jesus. This is just me.”

Jack took out his flashlight to see Daniel in a more direct light as he ran his other hand through his graying hair. It had been a long frustrating day and now he just felt drained. His fatigue brought the doubts back. Everything about this man screamed “I really am Daniel Jackson!” but they were off world sealed into a strange building with cryptic inscriptions. Maybe there was someone akin to the Gamekeeper here. Maybe “Daniel” was the Gamekeeper. How could he believe it was Daniel and not some fabrication formed from his memory and knowledge of Daniel?

“Daniel, if you are really Daniel that is, how do I know you aren’t a figment of my mind created by alien technology? You could be a hologram for all I know.”

“Come on, Jack! I thought I proved who I am already!” Daniel jumped up and danced around in a frustrated circle, throwing his arms up in the air. “Can’t you just trust me? It won’t kill you to believe me!”

Okay, hyper Daniel. Nobody would want to fabricate hyper Daniel. Except maybe Harlan. KumTRYa!

Jack took a step toward him but hesitated. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t like not knowing what to do. He wasn’t used to not knowing what to do, for cryin’ out loud! He felt like Fox Mulder: I Want to Believe…but he was more like Scully, always needing more proof.

Are you real? Are you staying? I have to know because, God, I’ve missed you, Daniel.

There, he’d finally admitted it. Jack missed Daniel. Every day, in some way, Jack missed Daniel. Before now, he had avoided such thoughts, but with Daniel looking right at him, it appeared fully fleshed out in a simple sentence of three words.

I miss you.

Jack was growing angry with himself for not being able to get a better handle on his thoughts. And yet, despite the vulnerability he knew he’d show, Jack slowly reached out to touch Daniel’s hand, which was warm and soft. Not prone to holding hands with Daniel, he had never actually thought about how Daniel’s hand would feel. He was surprised at the warmth and dryness. He didn’t know what he’d been expecting. Air, like the first time Daniel had showed up as an ascended being? Cold and clammy like death? But what met him was definitely alive and comforting.

Jack took one more step forward as he set his gun on the floor. He put one hand on each of Daniel’s arms just below the shoulders. He squeezed gently. This had to be real. If it wasn’t, he was a sucker, and whoever was behind this sure had his number. He took his hands and put them on either side of Daniel’s face. Daniel’s eyes were swimming with unshed tears, unlike Jack’s, which were still dry. Jack sighed then gave in to his emotions in a huge unselfconscious grin of pure joy as he exuberantly pulled Daniel into a hug.

Daniel hugged him back and then relaxed a little, but Jack didn’t let go. Daniel tightened his grip again and stood there, letting Jack cling to him. Jack didn’t move or relax his grip. Jack buried his face in the crook between Daniel’s shoulder and neck, overcome for the moment.

Because of the deaths of not only his son, but of so many others he’d been close to in his life, he had thought his guarded heart had become impervious to the pain of loss. After Daniel’s ascension Jack was able to keep himself under the tightest emotional control. But Jack had discovered that he had cared much more deeply about the man than he had ever intended. He had kept his mask in place with just enough humor and sarcasm to keep the rest of his team from hovering and “being there” for him, but alone in his weaker moments he had grieved. What he hadn’t counted on was Daniel’s return, which had brought a vulnerability to Jack he hadn’t seen in a very long time. In this one moment, he didn’t care.

Finally, Daniel spoke. “Ummm….Jack?”

“I’ve been hugging you for an embarrassingly long time, haven’t I, Daniel.” he said, not really asking it as a question, his voice muffled by Daniel’s shoulder.

“Uh…yeah….but it’s okay by me.”

Jack had an uncomfortable feeling they were being watched. “They’re here, aren’t they?” Jack said still not moving, his head still buried. Daniel opened his eyes.

“Yeah.”

“Crap.”

Jack felt Daniel’s facial muscles tighten and knew he must be smiling.

Jack raised his head, keeping his back to his team. Then he placed his thumb and index finger on either side of the bridge of his nose and spread them outward to massage the skin under his tired eyes. If it happened to wipe some tears away, Jack wasn’t going to let on. He stood erect then and still touching Daniel, he took a step away from him before he let go. Jack turned around to see what his team was doing.

They had come into the room to see Jack clinging to Daniel. Looking at them now, Jack could tell that they believed—just as he did—that Daniel was real. Jonas had a big grin on his face. Carter was trying to hold it together with tears in her eyes threatening to spill, while Teal’c already had two streaks running down his cheeks as he stood there, stock still except for a quivering chin. Jack wasn’t so embarrassed anymore to know that they’d seen him hugging Daniel as if his life depended on it.

Jack stepped aside and motioned for SG-1 to come greet their lost partner. Carter flung herself forward and just about jumped on Daniel. She hit him so hard with her body that they spun around half a turn. Jack gave them a bemused smile.

Jack saw that Carter was blushing. He knew she was embarrassed to have her CO watching, but when Jack saw her turn toward Teal’c, he knew she’d forgotten all about it. Teal’c was still standing at a distance, obviously trying to maintain a stoic demeanor. Carter stepped away from Daniel as she gestured for Teal’c to take her place.

Teal’c walked with quiet dignity to Daniel.

“Daniel Jackson.” He said. His voice had a tremor.

“Hi Teal’c. It’s good to see you again.”

“As it is you. You are alive again. How is your appearance possible?”

“I descended, Teal’c. I missed you guys. When I was ascended, I wasn’t allowed to interfere and found that more difficult than I’d ever imagined. Plus, I wasn’t allowed to touch anyone or anything. Imagine! Seeing the artifacts of your dreams, and I couldn’t hold them or touch them. It became too frustrating. The worst was when I visited Jack—”

Jack wasn’t ready to discuss that visit with his team yet, so he subtly shook his head, signaling to Daniel “Don’t go there.”

Too late.

“You visited the Colonel? When?” Carter asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” Daniel said, his eyes moving from Jack to Carter. What matters is that that was when I first realized I was becoming dissatisfied with being ascended.”

“Daniel—” Teal’c faltered before he got the “Jackson” out. Then he continued without it. “May I greet you in the Tau’ri fashion? I think it would be most appropriate for this occasion.”

Daniel smiled. “Sure, Teal’c, what Tau’ri fashion did you have in mind?”

Teal’c put his arms around Daniel and crushed him.

“Teal’c, I’m glad to see you too, but I can’t breathe!”

Teal’c let him go and stepped back.

Jack now noticed that Jonas had been watching from the doorway. He seemed tentative about with how to proceed after the intensity of SG-1’s response to Daniel’s presence. Daniel rescued him by going over to Jonas and shaking his hand. “Jonas, I hear you’ve been using my office.”

“Oh, I’ll find some other place to go right away if you’re coming back, Doctor Jackson.”

“That’s all right. Maybe we can share it.” Daniel smiled at Jonas before turning back to face the rest of the team. His friends stood there immobile and staring at Daniel, Sam and Teal’c with tear-streaked cheeks. After a few beats of silence, Daniel broke the spell.

“Soooo…what’s the game plan here? When do we go home?”

Jack was the only one who could currently speak. “What? Now you want to leave? With all these juicy pictures to decipher? Maybe you aren’t Daniel Jackson after all,” but he was smiling as he said it.

Sam spoke, her voice nasal sounding, “We can’t get out. The door sealed us in and we can’t find any mechanism to get it open again.”

“Didn’t you see the warning notice in the vestibule?”

“What warning notice?” Jonas asked.

Daniel then led them to the vestibule where he pointed out a smooth round spot on the plain clay wall high and to one side of where the door had been. “See this? There are tiny inscriptions on it. This building looks primitive, but I assure you, it is quite high tech, as you saw by the door. It keys on DNA from the skin cells of your fingertips. This is known as the ‘Big House’ in their language. It’s sort of a members’ only meeting house for this civilization’s people. They were warlike and used this as a type of war room, probably for strategizing or maybe celebrating victory, things like that. Anyone allowed in has their DNA scanned into the vestibule wall.

 “These inscriptions are warnings about the door mechanism, why it seals and all that. Any people not meant to be here are left without an exit, to be captured or left to die. But this tiny area here has the failsafe instructions. I think they assumed no foreigners would discover it. What you have to do is absurdly simple,” Daniel said as he drew a pattern on the smooth plate. Immediately, seams grew to outline the door then he merely pushed inside the outline and the newly formed door opened as quietly and easily as it had when they’d entered.

“Wow,” Jack mouthed then said, “Sweet.”

He motioned for the rest of SG-1 to go ahead through the door. Jonas first ran back to get Jack’s P-90, still lying on the floor, where Jack had left it with the rope still attached. He untied the rope and put it in his pack, bringing the gun to Jack who was now staring at the doorway shaking his head. Jack took it absently, blinking at the brightness as he stepped outside.

“When, exactly, did you come in?” he asked Daniel.

“Um, I came in when you were scattering like the wind from your weapon going off. I guess you were a little distracted and didn’t see me.”

“But how did you know about the door—you know—how did you know we could get out? You weren’t here with us to know we’d been trapped,” asked Carter, squinting less and less as her eyes adjusted to the brightness more quickly than Jack’s.

“I was here with you before I descended,” Daniel said as the five of them started making their way to the Stargate. “I was in the SGC watching to see where you were going,” he continued. “I followed you through the Stargate to this planet and into the building. I found the warning notice in the vestibule and realized that once the door closed, there was no way out for you except for my showing you the way. I could see none of you were able to decipher the language…no offense Jonas.”

Jonas shrugged to show he didn’t have any hard feelings.

That’s our Danny-Boy! It’s so great to have you back! Jack felt the lump return in his throat. Okay…better not be thinking like that just now—”

Daniel continued, “I saw that you were trapped and couldn’t just stand by anymore. I’m tired of not being able to help so I decided that now was as good a time as any to descend, but before I did, I had to get some clothes, you know, since I left without any….”

Jack shrugged, not caring about the details of how Daniel might have procured clothing.

 Daniel glanced at him, but continued, “Anyway, it took a while to figure out the best way to sneak some BDUs from the SGC—”

“But you’re not wearing BDUs,” Jonas noted.

 “—and then I remembered about the mimic devices. So I, uh, swiped one. That way I could walk around and get the BDU’s without anyone noticing.”

Carter asked, “How’d you know where the mimic devices were?”

“I was ascended, so it’s not hard, you know…actually, you don’t know…but that’s beside the point…anyway, trust me, it wasn’t hard.”

Jack asked, “Did you know there were fake ones out there? You were lucky to get a real one. Someone recently had my real one and the result wasn’t pretty…”

But before Daniel could comment, Carter interrupted, obviously curious. “So whose mimic device did you take, Daniel?”

“I should have checked, but at the time I was in such a hurry to get away before anyone realized it was missing, I just took one at random. I didn’t test it out before I left.”

“So whose was it?”

“Uh, mine,” Daniel said sheepishly.

Jack snorted. “You got your own?” It was the first time he’d felt like laughing in a long time.

“Actually, it worked out perfectly in the long run. I realized I didn’t need to try to sneak around to look for any clothes anymore, just come back here and descend.”

“So where did the clothes you’re wearing now come from?” Jonas asked.

“Uh, I’m not wearing any, Jonas. I descended right outside the building, stuck the mimic device on me and came inside. See?” Daniel showed them the glowing device on his chest.

“Ewww! So we all hugged a naked guy. Thanks a lot Daniel!” Jack said.

“Oh, I don’t know, Sir, I don’t mind the concept…” Carter said, raising her eyebrows at the Colonel as she smiled.

“Shut up, Carter,” he said, feeling his face grow warm in a rare blush and hoping she didn’t also notice.

Her eyes twinkled as she continued smiling at him. She’d noticed.

“You’re all naked under your clothes, too, you know, so what’s the difference?” Daniel said.

Jack couldn’t disagree with that, but he still stood a little farther away from Daniel.

“You know, Jack…” Daniel teased, “If I’d known it was going to bother you so much, I would have swiped the clothes from your locker instead.”

Jack opened his mouth to take Daniel’s bait when Teal’c interrupted.

“O’Neill,” Teal’c said, “If he is wearing Daniel Jackson’s mimic device, how do we know this person is really Daniel Jackson?”

Oy, and after all that work I did earlier to figure out for myself that it’s really him! It HAS to be Daniel… “Good point, Teal’c.” All thoughts of Jack’s locker disappeared.

“Doctor Jackson, maybe you could go behind one of those giant leaves right there and take off the device for a second,” Jonas said.

“Oh, sure, Jonas.” Daniel went a few feet off the trail to behind a large leafed plant. He made sure to keep his head and chest visible as he removed the device. He shimmered and his clothes disappeared as did his glasses. His hair was slightly different, too. But it was definitely Daniel.

“Yup, you’re Daniel, all right,” Jack said, satisfied (and very relieved.) Daniel put the device back on. “And great Daniel costume, by the way,” Jack said, casually pointing at Daniel’s plaid shirt. “Looks just like you—did you know it’s Halloween today?”

They resumed their hike to the Gate in silence until Jack spoke again. “Daniel…Just how, exactly, would you be getting into my locker?”

“Uh, I know the combination, Jack,” Daniel said.

“Great,” Jack said scowling. “And just when did you learn that little tidbit of information?”

“Oh, about five years ago. You have an easy combination. All I had to do was watch you open it once and I was good to go.”

Jack had been walking with Daniel and Jonas, but now he twisted his head to look at the other two walking behind. “Did you guys know about this?”

“All of the original members of SG-1 know the combination to your locker, O’Neill,” said Teal’c. “I do not know about Jonas Quinn.”

Jack turned around fully and walked backward, looking at Carter. “Is this true?”

Carter turned red. “’Fraid so, Sir.”

“I for one use your razor to shave my head. The pivoting head makes it a pleasurable experience,” Teal’c continued.

“You use my razor? Is that why my blades are so dull all the time? And I always thought it was my beard of steel!”

“No, it is I who have the beard of steel, O’Neill,” Teal’c said with one of his Mona Lisa smiles. For Teal’c, this was akin to chortling. “Furthermore, before you chastise me, I must inform you of the difficulty I have in procuring the necessary toiletry articles since I am rarely off base with time to go shopping.”

Jack could say nothing in response, however he did give frequent hard glances towards Teal’c’s face and scalp, which resulted in Teal’c walking with an air of superiority. Whether it was from pride in besting O’Neill or from the satisfaction of having Daniel back, was hard to tell. Jack saw Carter and Daniel silently sharing amused glances whenever they looked at Teal’c and Jack. Jonas smiled, too.

They hiked on for a while in the heat and humidity. No one had water left and they were fatigued from their time trapped in the building, except for Daniel, who looked quite energetic and bouncy as he walked along. SG-1 lapsed into silence as they trudged along sweating and distracted by their emotions.

Jack figured each one was thinking about Daniel’s return and he wondered what impact it was having. Jack was uncertain how Jonas would react. He knew Daniel and Teal’c had a deep, respectful friendship and he was certain the Jaffa would be quietly pleased at his friend’s return. Carter was pretty good at accepting unexpected things. In fact, she often surprised Jack with her even-keeled temperament.

Jack realized he was musing about Daniel again just as he had been earlier this distracting day, which had been a day filled with thoughts about Daniel. And who could have ever guessed that the outcome would be…Daniel! Things like this never happened in real life. Happy things. Good things. He was far too used to the bad stuff, things like being tortured while imprisoned, his best friends dying (or ascending), his son dying…but never good things. How did you handle this when all the coping skills you’d developed over the years were for the bad stuff?

Jack had to stop thinking before he went crazy. Thinking was Carter’s job, not his. At least, not like this. This was musing. Kind of more like Daniel’s style of thinking. Now I’m thinking about Daniel again. Crap. He tried to think about something else, but every time he promptly came back to Daniel. It was hard not to when he was walking right beside him.

Descended.

Alive again.

In the flesh.

Incredible.

When they reached the Stargate, Carter pushed the code on her GDO, but they gave Daniel the honor of dialing the Gate for home.

“Wait until the General sees us!”

As they stepped into the Stargate, Jack put his arm around Daniel.

I missed you, Daniel.

Past tense! And didn’t that feel great?

Each one’s last thought was about the miracle of them all being together again.

Chapter Two

“Incoming wormhole!” The klaxon sounded. “It’s SG-1’s signal, Sir,” the sergeant said as General Hammond arrived. Hammond left right away to greet them in the Gate room, as was his custom.

Jonas was the first one through the Gate. He was most of the way down the ramp before anyone else came through. “Sir,” Jonas said to the General then he smiled as he walked past the General and stopped.

Major Carter came through then, quickly followed by Teal’c. Hammond was bewildered at the odd sight of Teal’c with a full-out teeth-showing unselfconscious grin. When he looked at Carter he saw she was about to cry as she unsuccessfully tried to speak to him.

“What’s going on, Major?” he asked. “What happened out there?”

Jack O’Neill popped through the Gate with his arm around—

“Oh my…” General Hammond whispered, and turned pale, as he saw who Jack had his arm around. “Doctor Jackson?” He whispered hoarsely, his voice breaking.

Jack still had his arm around Daniel, grinning. They stopped in front of the General. “Trick or treat!” Jack exclaimed.

“Doctor Jackson,” the General said again, cautiously. This couldn’t possibly be the real Daniel Jackson, he thought, but he was in doubt of his own skepticism as he saw how the others were reacting to Daniel’s presence. “To what do we owe this pleasure?” he asked somewhat formally.

Daniel’s grin didn’t break as he told the General, “I descended. I’m back.”

“Descended? Can you do that?” General Hammond asked, then he fixed his eyes on each team member in turn. He didn’t say anything else, merely watched them all, absorbing their expressions, trying to figure out if this could possibly be real.

“General, I know what you’re thinking,” Colonel O’Neill spoke, in answer to Hammond’s doubts. “Believe me, I had my doubts—maybe still do—but I sure don’t know who else this could possibly be besides the old rock duster himself. He’s got me convinced,” he said smugly. Then as an afterthought he said, “Mostly.”

General Hammond considered his words for a moment before breaking into a grin as big as Teal’c’s. “Daniel Jackson!” he said as he moved forward to embrace Daniel after Jack dropped his arm. “To say it’s good to see you, son, would be an understatement.” When General Hammond let Daniel go, he had tears in his eyes and was surprised to see every member of SG-1 did too.

“I think you had all better go to the infirmary,” he added.

“But General, we’re fine. And we’re convinced this really is Daniel, Sir,” Sam said, finally able to make her voice work.

“I know. That’s not why I want you to go. There’s someone else who needs to see this for herself.”

“Ah.” Jack said with a thrust of his head.

The five current and previous members of SG-1 trooped off to surprise Janet Fraiser in the infirmary.

-----

“You guys want to have some fun with Doc Fraiser?” Colonel O’Neill asked as they walked down the hall.

“What do you have in mind, Jack?” asked Daniel.

“I was thinkin’ we could just go in like any normal post-mission checkup and see how long it takes her to notice you.”

Sam laughed as they stopped at the elevator, “You don’t think she’ll notice right away?” She pushed the elevator button.

“Maybe, maybe not, what do you think?”

“Let’s take bets, what do you say?” Jonas suggested as they all got in the elevator.

“Okay, but if this is gonna work, only four of us can go in so how about y—”

“You want me to stay out? Sure, no problem,” Jonas said smiling.

“Teal’c, you create a diversion so she’s not paying attention to us,” Colonel O’Neill suggested. Sam could tell he was teasing.

“As you wish, O’Neill,” Teal’c dipped his head.

“Ohhh, this could be good,” the Colonel said, rubbing his hands together and smiling broadly as the elevator doors opened.

Jonas hung around just beyond the door to the infirmary as the other four entered. Teal’c bent over a little, holding his belly. Sam thought he must be glad he no longer had a prim’ta to agitate just now.

-----

“Teal’c! What’s the matter?” Janet asked with concern when she saw him.

“I am uncertain, Doctor Fraiser. I have a pain in my pak’tal.”

“Your what?”

But before he could answer, Teal’c let out an impressively loud fart.

None of them had ever heard Jack giggle before, so they all turned to watch him as he dissolved into laughter so intense he fell back onto one of the beds. It was infectious. Sam and Daniel joined in, and even Teal’c looked most satisfied with their reaction to his impromptu performance.

Janet recovered first to say, “Come on guys. Teal’c could be suffering here,” but when she looked at him she noticed that he too was in on the fun. Janet glared at them all realizing she’d been had.

“Okay, you four. Sit up all of you.”

They moved to obey, each giving knowing looks to the others since Janet had not yet noticed anything out of the ordinary. All four sat in a row on one of the infirmary beds. She looked at all four of them, knowing from the looks on their faces that something was up.

“What?” Janet asked, feeling a little duped. “One of you want to tell me what’s going on?” Daniel looked the guiltiest so she would start with him. And why is he already in civilian clothes when they’ve just come back from a mission? she thought.

Daniel?

Her heart skipped a beat, but as she was about to react to his appearance she saw the glowing mimic device peaking out from his shirt. Two can play at this game, she thought, wondering in the back of her mind how she could increase their suffering during their next physicals for this cruel joke.

She put on her best don’t-mess-with-me demeanor as she said, “Hey, wait a minute! You’re not supposed to be here, Daniel. I think you’d better leave now.” Gotcha! she thought, trying as hard as she could not to laugh as she saw the stunned looks on all four faces. In fact, “Daniel” looked positively crushed.

“I thought you’d be happy to see me…” he said dejectedly.

“But Daniel, my job has been so much easier with you gone. Less stressful too,” she said in all mock seriousness. “And it’s really helped the infirmary budget.”

“Boy, that sure backfired,” he told the others. Janet was surprised to hear actual pain in his voice. She felt a little vindicated because what they had intended as a Halloween prank had brought on fresh pangs of grief over Daniel’s absence. But she was also feeling guilty that she had ruined their fun. They had so few actual lighthearted moments anymore. She couldn’t keep up the pretense any longer.

“I’m sorry, guys. I didn’t mean to spoil your fun, it being Halloween and all. Jonas, you did have me fooled for a minute but you should have hidden the mimic device better,” she explained.

“I’m not wearing the mimic device,” Jonas said peaking around the doorway, entering the infirmary. He was smiling.

Janet looked at him across the room, shocked, “Then who…?” but rather than ask she reached out to pull the mimic device off ‘Daniel’.

-----

Whenever Sam looked back on this scene, she always remembered it in slow motion: Janet reaching out to pull off the device, Daniel’s face turning red as soon as he saw what she was about to do, the Colonel thrusting an arm out to stop her while he squeaked out “Doc! Don’t!” and Teal’c impassively watching, trying hard but failing to keep the smile off his face.

Since Colonel O’Neill was sitting at one end of the bed, with Daniel at the other, he couldn’t reach Janet to stop her even though Sam saw him thrust his arm out in the attempt. As Janet pulled off the device, Daniel’s arms went right to his groin as he hunched over with a horrified look on his face.

“Put it back! Put it back!” Daniel yelled.

“Daniel!” she whispered, standing there with her face frozen in shock as she gaped at Daniel. His hair was a little different but it was the same face with the same stricken look that pleaded with her. Sam, who was sitting next to Daniel, took the mimic device from Janet’s hand and put it back on Daniel’s chest. Clothes and glasses immediately reappeared and he relaxed.

Now she gave them the reaction they’d been hoping for, and more. Tears came to her eyes as she continued to stare at him, frozen. Daniel stood up to give her a hug but didn’t make it before Janet launched herself at him. With her tiny frame, she was able to wrap her legs around him as she clung to his neck whispering, “Oh my god! Daniel!” He held on to her, tears in his eyes. The intensity of Janet’s reaction shocked Sam, as she suspected it did the others, because none of them had expected it to be so demonstrative.

The rest of them looked away, uncomfortable now with watching their usually unflappable Doctor Fraiser in such an unguarded moment.

After she finished a rather cursory and distracted exam of SG-1, Janet shooed Sam and the others out so she could check over Daniel. None of them had wanted to take their eyes off him so they milled around in the corridor just outside the infirmary waiting for her to release him. Finally, the door opened and Daniel emerged looking both surprised and pleased to see his former teammates still hanging around waiting for him.

Colonel O’Neill poked his head into the infirmary, “So, Doc, Daniel cleared to go out?”

“Not yet, Colonel. I’m confining him to base for three days just to make sure everything’s okay. After all, we’ve never experienced a descended being before.”

“I have, Janet. It didn’t seem to cause any problems for Orlin,” Sam said.

Janet looked at Sam for a moment, opening her mouth but not saying anything. When she finally spoke, it was to say, “Sorry, guys, Daniel has to stay. I know how much you want to spend time with him and you can, as long as you do it on base. He can stay in the VIP room. It’s bigger so you can spend as much time with him there as you like.”

-----

Daniel tried to keep the smile off his face as the four members of SG-1 accompanied him to the VIP quarters. He was surprised to see Teal’c walking so closely beside him that he was all but touching Daniel. Sam went one step further. Daniel was still furtively watching Teal’c next to him when he felt a hand grasp his. He looked to his right and there was Sam holding his hand. Daniel gave Sam’s hand a little squeeze as he smiled at her. She flushed a little but didn’t let go.

They reached the room. Jack opened the door to let them all in. Daniel sat on the bed, watching everyone standing there looking back at him. No one said anything. The silence grew uncomfortable.

“Okay…yep, it’s the moments like this that I descended for,” he said.

“Yeah, well….hmmm,” Jack said, looking anywhere but at Daniel.

Teal’c said nothing.

“So, I’m back…”

“Yep, you’re back… Nice—to have you back, by the way.”

“Thanks, Jack.”

“Guys, this is ridiculous,” Sam said blushing.

“So Jonas,” Daniel said.

Jonas looked at him with a startled expression.

“Oooh, deer in the headlights,” Daniel said under his breath with a twinkle in his eye.

Teal’c said nothing but raised an eyebrow.

Daniel was becoming ill-at-ease with everyone else’s obvious discomfort. He tried to lighten the mood.

“So…Did you miss me?”

Wrong question , he thought as he saw tears well up in Sam’s eyes. Teal’c remained silent but Daniel noticed his jaw muscles working. Jonas’s only reaction was to watch the reactions of the others. Jack was the one whose reaction surprised Daniel. He was suddenly neutral and guarded. As if shutters had closed over the windows to his soul. Boy, it didn’t take him long to stifle his joy at my return, Daniel thought.

Jack’s reply was light and sarcastic. “Of course we missed you, Daniel. I’ve had to be nice to Jonas for months now. It’ll be so good to get back to normal.”

“Does that mean you’re not going to be nice to me anymore?” Jonas asked.

“No, it means I’m not going to be nice to Daniel.”

“Gee thanks, Jack.”

“Wow, it’s late,” Sam said, looking at her watch. “We should get out of here and let Daniel get some sleep.”

“Yeah, I’m a little tired. I’m not too used to having a body again yet. The energy is different, you know?” He said cocking his head. “No, I guess you wouldn’t…Never mind.”

Daniel’s four friends filed out to get some sleep themselves, all planning to spend as much time with him as possible the next day.

^ ^ ^

Unfortunately, they were only able to spend time together during the morning debriefing, which was quite lengthy thanks to the unusual events of the previous day. Jack spent the rest of his day writing the report of the mission, Jonas started processing all the information they’d gleaned about the building and its people occasionally calling on Daniel for help. Sam worked on her research project concerning wormhole theory and time travel, while Teal’c worked out in the gym and meditated.

Daniel’s day, when not being interrupted by Jonas, was spent largely in the infirmary for more checkups and filling out reams of paperwork. The downside of descending back to a life in the United States was bureaucratic red tape, none of which was geared for people who were previously ascended.

The only good news Daniel received that day was to find out that his furniture and most of his personal effects were in storage. The plan had been to sell them off but because the US Government was in charge, no one had gotten around to it yet, much to Daniel’s surprised pleasure. He’d have to look for a new place to live as soon as he was out of quarantine.

Early in the afternoon, Daniel was casually resting on one of the beds dressed in white scrubs when Sam showed up.

“Oh, here you are, Daniel.” She said smiling. I came up a couple times earlier but you were busy.”

“Yep, I’ve spent the whole day getting poked and prodded. Don’t know what the Doc’s looking for. I wish they’d let me just get back to more important things, you know? What are you up to?”

“Not much. It’s been hard to concentrate knowing you’re around.”

“Sorry.”

“No, don’t be. I’m so glad is all. It’s hard to let you be out of sight. I keep wanting to come find you. Touch you, to tell if you’re real.”

Daniel gave her a warm smile, feeling happy that she had so genuinely missed him. He had missed her too, in the many moments his thoughts had turned to the SGC. What he really had missed, though, was physical contact. He left the bed to hug Sam. She held him for a long time. He kissed the top of her head as she stood there, both of them reveling in the sensation—Daniel because he could actually touch someone and Sam because it was Daniel.

She touched him frequently as she plied him with questions. He did his best to answer her as he asked questions of his own. Finally, Sam took her leave of Daniel after telling him that she still had a lot to do on her research. Since they were going to be home for a few days, she wanted to make some progress.

Before Daniel was out of the infirmary, Teal’c found him.

“Daniel Jackson.”

“Hey, Teal’c, how are you?”

“I am well. I came to inquire the same of you.”

“I’m great, actually. Hoping I can get back into the swing of things around here soon.”

“I am certain General Hammond wishes for that as well.”

Teal’c stood there silent, but Daniel thought he could still read Teal’c pretty well.

“Teal’c? Was there something else?”

Teal’c looked uncertain, almost timid, something Daniel hadn’t seen in him before. Rather than say anything, Daniel merely looked at him puzzled.

“I…wish to inquire…” Teal’c said, “If perhaps you would be willing to watch a Tau’ri movie with me. I have long wanted to see the one about the archaeologist. I thought perhaps you might enjoy such a film.”

Daniel smiled warmly. “I’m sure I would Teal’c. I don’t recall any movies about archaeologists though.”

“It is a favorite of O’Neill’s called Raiders of the Lost Ark. I have not seen it, but O’Neill says that I will enjoy it as much as Star Wars, although I am not certain of this.”

“He’s right Teal’c. You’ll love it, and I’d love to watch it with you,” Daniel said amused and pleased.

Teal’c smiled one of his Teal’c smiles and bowed a farewell to Daniel. “Then I will anticipate it with great enthusiasm as well, Daniel Jackson.”

Daniel was beginning to think Janet didn’t want him out of her sight by the time she finally dismissed him late in the afternoon. He was relieved. He hadn’t told anyone how being alone in the infirmary recalled the suffering and pain he’d had to deal with from the radiation poisoning. These past few days spent with his friends had brought back sad, painful memories of what he’d seen them go through in watching him die by degrees. The longer he remained in the infirmary, the worse he felt. Now he needed to get his mind off the painful past before he succumbed to it.

He went down to General Hammond’s office and knocked on the door.

“Come.”

Daniel entered to see Hammond almost jump up from his seat, grinning at him in true pleasure. Daniel’s sadness from his time in the infirmary vanished in his surprise at seeing the General so enthusiastic over his unexpected arrival in his office.

“Doctor Jackson! Come in and have a seat.”

“Thanks, General.”

“Are you getting settled all right?”

“Oh yeah. I could do with a little less time in the infirmary, but you know Doctor Fraiser. Can’t leave any stone unturned.” He laughed as he realized the expression applied to himself more literally. The comment wasn’t lost on Hammond who joined him in chuckling.

“Everyone treating you okay?”

“Sure, no problem. In fact, I stopped by to see if it would be all right if Jonas Quinn and I shared my old office, which I’ve heard is now his. Apparently, all my stuff is still there so I’d like access to it.”

“Have you talked to Jonas about it?”

“Not in so many words, but he offered it to me back on 449. I think I could live with both of us using it and I know he’s used to being there now, so….”

“I don’t have a problem with that. Why don’t you discuss it with him and if you can come to an agreement, you have my blessing.”

“Thanks, General.”

“By the way, how has Colonel O’Neill been treating you since you’ve been back?”

The question startled Daniel. It had never occurred to him that Jack wouldn’t be anything but happy with his return. Despite the difficulties they’d had in their relationship over the years, he was certain of Jack’s deep caring for him. Although there was that moment when he closed himself off…

“Fine, no problem—why? Is there something going on I need to know about?”

“No, not really…Forget I asked about him. I’m sure everything’s fine,” General Hammond said, dismissing Daniel as the phone rang.

Daniel absently watched the General answer the phone, curious as well as puzzled by this last exchange. While he’d been ascended and lurking around the SGC, had something gone on with Jack he hadn’t been aware of? He’d have to pay more attention to see if he could figure it out.

“And Doctor Jackson?” General Hammond said, putting his hand over the phone’s mouthpiece.

Daniel had turned to leave but now he looked back.

“It really is good to have you back. It truly hasn’t been the same without you.”

Daniel felt as warmed by the General’s comments as he had when Sam held his hand. He walked down the hall whistling. He felt high. To have a body again! To be able to interact with anyone anytime. To be able to feel and touch and get out of breath. To be able to meddle. He savored it all.

He decided to go pay a Jack visit, but as he turned a corner, he literally ran right into him. He cringed, expecting Jack to growl at this but was surprised to see the succession of expressions Jack briefly revealed before he could make his face neutral. Jack’s initial startled look gave way to a crinkle-eyed grin, quickly followed by warm affection, which morphed into uncertainty, annoyance, more uncertainty and then neutrality. Daniel was amazed that anyone could flit through so many emotions so quickly. He chose not to acknowledge any of them. He was just relieved Jack hadn’t growled after all.

“Hi, Jack. I was just coming to see you.”

“What about?”

“Oh, nothing, just visiting. I thought it would be nice to spend some time with you without having to watch you suffer.” Oh great one, Daniel, open mouth and insert foot, he thought as he saw Jack’s neutral expression close down to become guarded.

“Yeah, we’ll have to get together real soon,” Jack said flatly, continuing on his way.

“Jack!” Daniel called.

Jack stopped and looked back at him. “I’m in a hurry, Daniel.”

Daniel started to apologize for his stupid comment but the words wouldn’t come. Instead, he said, “Teal’c wants to watch Raiders with me. Can we come over and watch it at your house?”

“Sure, Daniel, no problem…any time,” Jack said, with a dismissive wave.

“Okay,” he said then under his breath added, “Bye Jack. Sorry about my stupid comment.”

As he changed direction to go to his own office instead of Jack’s, Daniel sighed and reflected on General Hammond’s question concerning Jack in light of how Jack had just reacted to him. Daniel was unsettled and felt a little less on top of the world now.

It was still late afternoon and although Daniel wasn’t bored yet, he knew that if he couldn’t start using his computer and his office soon, he’d get there very quickly. Tonight, though, he was looking forward to some solitude in the VIP quarters. He’d been alone so often while ascended, he’d gotten used to it and now, with all these people around, he found he missed the peace and quiet. He felt a little guilty about it, since he had missed everyone more than he’d realized but right now, he only wanted them in small doses. He also needed some time to get used to being among the living, being in the SGC and with his friends on a daily basis again. And to acclimate to having a body with all the good and bad things that entailed.

He didn’t get his wish that evening though. One by one, all the members of SG-1 showed up in his VIP quarters, including Jack. He didn’t say anything about the intrusion because he knew they’d never understand. He also knew it would hurt their feelings, which was the last thing he wanted.

“You know, we could watch the movie Teal’c wants to see…” Daniel suggested, trying to avoid an uncomfortable moment like the night before.

“I think we should all go out,” Sam countered.

“I’m not allowed out yet,” Daniel said.

“We’d have a lot more fun going out. Come on,” Sam persisted.

“You know, it wouldn’t be hard to sneak Daniel out of here…” They all looked at Jack in surprise because usually it took a bigger issue than this for Jack to be willing to flout the rules. Daniel’s surprise was more that Jack wanted to join in the fun. He hadn’t seemed too enthusiastic to spend time with Daniel when he had run into him earlier.

Debate followed over the pro’s and con’s, but in the end, despite the danger of disobeying doctor’s orders, they thought time spent enjoying Daniel was worth it. In fact, they wished they could ask Doctor Fraiser and General Hammond to join them.

Getting Daniel off the base was ridiculously easy. Word traveled fast around places like the SGC but the rumor mill announcing his return would need another day to travel to the folks manning the entrance to the base. SG-1 just put Daniel in their midst and talked animatedly to distract anyone who saw them from paying too much attention to a fifth member of the team.

They decided to go to O’Malley’s since they had such fond memories of the time they’d been there with their performance-enhancing armbands. They only hoped the staff there wouldn’t remember them.

They were in luck. The waitress who handed them menus and took their drink orders was new. When she brought the drinks, Daniel was the one who made the first toast. They were also fortunate to be there after the dinner rush. There was hardly a customer in the place. Not too likely for them to get into trouble with anyone tonight.

“Um…I want to let you all know that despite the vastness of the universe being at my disposal, the SGC is the place I missed and, uh, you are the people I wanted to share my life with every day…” Daniel trailed off when his voice cracked.

Sam took over, “I know I speak for all of us when I tell you how great it is to have you back, Daniel. It wasn’t the same without you and now it feels like we are whole again.”

Jonas smiled but it wavered uncertainly.

Jack raised his glass, “Hear, hear! Or, as we say in Minnesota, Skoal!” and with that he drank a large draught of his beer. When he put his glass down, he said, “It’s great to have you back, Daniel. I guess life went on, but it wasn’t the same…”

-----

Teal’c remained silent, watching them all, but mostly keeping his eyes on Daniel.

Sometime during dinner the conversation turned to missions and reminiscing about their adventures. When telling Daniel about the missions he’d missed, they were surprised at how much he already knew. It gave credence to his sentiments about missing the SGC to find that he’d kept himself in the loop.

Eventually, as the beer went down, the tales grew bigger, although they were still careful to make sure there was a lull in the conversation whenever the waitress came around so she couldn’t overhear anything of a sensitive nature. Major Carter and Daniel Jackson were telling Jonas Quinn about some of Daniel’s close calls, making them a lot funnier than the events had been in real life. Teal’c sat in silence listening to the embellishments of these Tau’ri, thinking how Jaffa warriors did much the same thing when recounting battle stories. O’Neill had joined in with enthusiasm at the beginning, but as the stories became more numerous, only Teal’c noticed when he dropped out of the conversation, growing silent.

It was only during a lull in the conversation late into the evening that Teal’c noticed Major Carter’s growing awareness that the Colonel had been silent for some time. O’Neill was staring at his beer, rolling the nearly empty glass in his hands as Major Carter gazed at him.

“Sir?”

“Huh?” he looked up absently.

“You okay?”

“Sure. Why?”

“I don’t know. You’ve gotten awfully quiet. Something on your mind?”

“No.”

Teal’c noticed Major Carter’s puzzled face when she turned to look at him. Teal’c returned the look with a subtle concerned tilt of his head with a raised eyebrow. O’Neill’s mood in the past twenty-four hours had fluctuated hot and cold and Teal’c had seen him go from one extreme to the other during dinner. He could tell that Major Carter and Daniel Jackson had seen it as well. Teal’c knew she would understand the unspoken message he was sending her and, indeed, her face changed as she comprehended the meaning behind his expression. Teal’c was aware that Daniel Jackson had caught the exchange and understood it as well.

O’Neill was once again staring at his now empty glass and had not looked up during this nonverbal conversation. Teal’c didn’t know what had triggered the change in O’Neill. He didn’t think the others knew either.

They left shortly after that and had no trouble successfully getting Daniel back to his quarters. After infiltrating Goa’uld mother ships, sneaking around a military base was nothing.

Chapter Three

It was an odd thing, Jonas Quinn thought. He was still using Daniel Jackson’s office as his own, as he had been since joining SG-1, but he felt ill at ease in it now with Doctor Jackson back. Jonas was feeling a little put out, a man without a home, even though Doctor Jackson had agreed to share the space. They were in this office now attempting to reorganize the office’s contents so that both would feel comfortable sharing the space together. Daniel was doing his best to make Jonas try to relax.

Jonas also felt uncomfortable being with Doctor Jackson after having read his journals to get up to speed on SG-1’s missions and discoveries. Unintentionally, he had become fascinated reading all the doctor’s musings about his teammates. Now Jonas felt embarrassed about how much he knew about Doctor Jackson’s opinions of his colleagues. Upon spending some time with the man himself, he felt like a voyeur but simultaneously was in awe of the workings of the man’s mind after he’d also read his detailed notes and research.

“So do you think the SGC will give me my own computer?” Jonas asked as he handed some files to the archaeologist. He had told Doctor Jackson to change the password so he could have sole proprietorship of his accessory brain. One’s computer could be such a personal thing on this world, Jonas had learned, and scientists especially coveted and protected their machines.

“I’m sure they will, but sometimes the wheels of bureaucracy work slowly, so let’s pick out a mutual password we can both use and we can share my computer for now.”

“Thanks, Doctor Jackson, I really appreciate it. I hope you won’t have to do this for very long. I know it must be hard on you.” Jonas appreciated the magnanimous offer, but knew it came at a price for Doctor Jackson. It must be hard for him to try to plug back in to the familiar circuitry of the SGC after everyone had moved on without him, so that it might not be so familiar after all. Jonas was grateful he was the new guy and didn’t have any comparisons to make about the SGC.

Jonas’s difficulty was feeling haunted by the recent memory of what had happened on Kelowna. He thought he’d dealt with it but Doctor Jackson’s presence brought back Jonas’s guilt over the whole event in full force.

Daniel broke into Jonas’s musing. “It’s the least I could do for all the help you’ve tried to give SG-1 in my absence,” he said looking at Jonas. Jonas could see by a wistful look in his eyes that Doctor Jackson yearned for his old life back the way it was. As if he’d never left.

“I’m so sorry,” Jonas blurted as a reply.

“For what?” Daniel cocked his head looking puzzled.

“For what I didn’t do on Kelowna. SG-1 wouldn’t have needed my help if I’d—”

“Jonas, it’s done. You can’t turn back time—at least not until we get a handle on time travel. And I have a second chance at life, so it wasn’t such a dire event as far as I’m concerned.”

“Still, after everything you went through, and all of the grief people around here went through…”

“Would it help if I said I forgive you? I do, you know. No hard feelings, Jonas, okay? It’ll be hard to get any work done around here if you’re constantly groveling, although I wouldn’t mind having my own personal sycophant…” Daniel smiled at Jonas to put him at ease. Jonas had been ready to agree to be his servant before he realized it was a joke. He flushed in embarrassment.

He wanted to become friends with this man who had saved Kelowna. Doctor Jackson had been willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice for a people he barely knew. Had acted instinctively, displaying incredible bravery, while Jonas had stood rooted to the spot. Everything that he had seen, read and studied showed that Daniel Jackson was a person whom Jonas should respect and learn from. He desired this friendship as much as he had desired acceptance from Colonel O’Neill. And he’d recently received that, so maybe this could happen too.

Jonas tried to get his mind off his remorse. “So, how does it feel to be back?”

Doctor Jackson smiled as he momentarily stopped putting his books on a shelf. “Most of the base personnel have been really welcoming.” Doctor Jackson went back to putting his books on the newly dusted shelves, arranging them first by category then alphabetically by author.

Jonas was collating files by planet, date and sometimes by topic as they talked.

“Was it hard for you, at first?” Doctor Jackson asked Jonas.

“You mean when I got to Earth, or being part of SG-1?”

“I was kind of thinking in regard to Jack. I’m sure he wasn’t too thrilled to have you around.”

Jonas shrugged. “I guess you know Colonel O’Neill pretty well, huh? He wasn’t too friendly at first but he’s treated me all right.” Then Jonas smiled. “Lately he’s been surprising me with some of the things he’s said to me. Last time I was in the infirmary he told me to get well soon because I was needed.”

“Well, that’s great. He can be kinda—” Doctor Jackson broke off as the subject of their conversation came wheeling through the open door.

“Hidey-ho, Neighborinos! If it isn’t Rod and Todd in the flesh!” Colonel O’Neill exclaimed cryptically.

Jonas looked stricken and noticed Doctor Jackson looked merely puzzled.

The Colonel’s eyes moved from Jonas to Daniel and back. “What? Were you talking about me or something? You look like my ears should be burning…”

“We weren’t saying anything bad…” Jonas was saying when Doctor Jackson spoke over his words to ask, “So who are Rod and Todd?” cocking his head as he did so.

“Ned Flanders’ sons…” Colonel O’Neill said sarcastically, which Jonas didn’t understand.

“Who?” Daniel asked somewhat absently.

“Homer’s neighbor?” O’Neill said this even more pointedly.

“Oh.”

Colonel O’Neill had been looking a little embarrassed after Jonas had admitted that they had been talking about him but now he looked over at Doctor Jackson and scowled. “That show has been on for fourteen years!  Over a third of your life and you still don’t know what I’m talking about! Sheesh, Daniel, I am so disappointed in your lack of interest in contemporary Tau’ri culture.” The Colonel was energetic in his good-natured diatribe.

“What is he talking about?” Jonas asked looking at Doctor Jackson.

“It’s a cartoon show on TV.”

“A cartoon show? It’s the only show on TV worth watching! Just because it happens to be animated—you insult me!” the Colonel said with a thrust of his head.

Jonas looked at Doctor Jackson as the doctor shrugged, both of them sharing expressions of mutual enjoyment at the Colonel’s mock irritation. Then Jonas said to Colonel O’Neill, “Maybe you’ll let me watch it with you sometime so I can make up my own mind?”

“That would be fine. In fact, why don’t you both come over and watch. Sometime soon. It’s a date,” Colonel O’Neill said bouncing on his toes. Jonas had never seen him quite so light-hearted. So this is what he must have been like before Doctor Jackson left, he thought. Jonas looked over at Doctor Jackson to see his reaction to Colonel O’Neill’s lightheartedness. He didn’t know what he thought he’d see but certainly hadn’t expected bewilderment to show on the archaeologist’s face.

The Colonel gave them a little self-satisfied smile, grabbed the frame of the doorway and swung around it to leave. Then he popped his head back in to say, “By the way, I forgot to tell you, we’re going on a little mission tomorrow. Jonas, I’d like you on the team. The Doc and the General haven’t totally cleared Danny yet for missions so he gets to stay home.” Then he turned to Daniel, “We have to go back to the planet we found you on, Daniel. You think you could fill Jonas in on the rudiments of the language so we can make nice with the natives?”

“You found people there?” Doctor Jackson said brightening.

“Yeah, the UAV went a little further afield and we came across a village. But don’t get too excited. It’s just routine. We won’t even be gone overnight. Just going on a meet-and-greet.”

“Jack, are you sure I can’t go?”

“Next time Daniel.”

Doctor Jackson sighed. Then as the Colonel was leaving again, Daniel added, “And Jack? Instead of saying ‘hi’, try ‘aloha’. Hawaiian is in the same language family as that planet’s.”

Colonel O’Neill gave him a hint of a smile, tapped the doorframe as he pulled back and left.

^ ^ ^

The next morning, the four SG-1 members going off world met in the Gate Room. General Hammond was there to bid them adieu as usual. Doctor Jackson was absent.

“I want you back here no later than eight hours from now. We’ll open the Gate then, if we haven’t heard from you, and try to contact you via the MALP.”

“Yes, Sir,” Jack said. They were all outfitted as usual with their P-90’s, zats strapped to their legs and Teal’c with his staff weapon. Doctor Jackson had told them that the style and art of the building they’d been in most resembled the ancient Maori of New Zealand, the most warlike of all the Polynesian groups.

Doctor Jackson had given Jonas two small paperback books, one on the Hawaiian language and one on the Maori language that he’d picked up in New Zealand. He had told Jonas that he hoped they would be useful. Jonas had taken them gratefully, feeling a little unworthy.

Once through the Gate, Jonas breathed in deeply. The air was so fresh with the green jungle fragrance of the plants. He was excited to be back and was anticipating meeting the people.

The UAV had found the village about a half hour’s walk further from the building they’d been lost in when they’d met Doctor Jackson, but it was in a slightly different direction. This was unfortunate because they couldn’t use the path they’d already hacked through the jungle. It was odd that there was no path to the village from the Stargate. Jonas wondered if they ever used their Gate. They must know about it, after all it wasn’t that far away.

They hadn’t gone far when Jonas suddenly saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Teal’c had seen it, too, but before he could raise his staff weapon, a small human projectile shot out from the nearby foliage and collided with him. It was a round-faced chunky child, who was about the height of Teal’c’s midsection, right about at the level of where his prim’ta had been. The child looked up at Teal’c, startled at the collision, then his eyes changed to panicked fear as he saw the formidable dark giant towering above him. The child whirled around with a terrified gasp and launched himself away from Teal’c blindly, almost immediately colliding with Colonel O’Neill. The child grabbed him around the waist and held on for dear life.

The Colonel put his arms protectively around the child as Jonas heard more commotion from the bushes. This time it was louder and composed of a collection of voices. A group of children of varying sizes stumbled out in front of SG-1. When the youths saw adults protecting what appeared to be their prey, they turned tail and ran.

The little child clung to the Colonel as if he were the child’s father. Colonel O’Neill looked as stunned as Jonas felt. Then Jonas watched astonished as the Colonel knelt to the level of the little child and held him close, stroking his hair and soothing him with quiet murmurings. Jonas didn’t know Colonel O’Neill was capable of such behavior and it amazed him.

When the Colonel started to stand, the little child wrapped his legs and arms around him and wouldn’t let go, so he resorted to picking up the stocky child, shrugging at the others as they watched, the youngster clinging to his neck, legs wrapped securely around the Colonel’s waist.

Jonas stole a look at Major Carter to see how she was taking all this in. He was again surprised to see her smiling. She didn’t look at all surprised.

The little child was relaxing now, his breathing slowing from a panicked pant to merely an occasional sigh. Colonel O’Neill relaxed his grip and when the child relaxed too, he put him down and knelt in front of him so he could look him in the eye.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

The child looked at him, puzzled, but no longer afraid.

“Aloha?” Colonel O’Neill tried.

The child smiled and spoke. “Koe aroha ahau?”

Jonas was watching this when it suddenly dawned on him that he had the two books Daniel had given him. He didn’t pay attention to which book he was looking at but quickly flipped to the index to look up the words the child had just spoken.

“Jonas?” Colonel O’Neill asked, looking at him quizzically.

“I don’t know, Colonel. I can’t find anything that really fits. Nearest I can make out the words mean ‘remain love’. I can’t figure out the last word.”

“Maybe you want to try the other book?”

“Oh, of course. Just a minute.”

As Jonas frantically tried to look up the words in the other book, hoping he hadn’t forgotten what the words were, Colonel O’Neill asked the child another question. “What’s your name?” Jonas looked up curiously, as the Colonel pointed at himself and said, “Jack.”

The child looked puzzled, trying to say the strange word. “Taka. Haka? Heke?”

“Jack,” he said again. Then, when there was no further response, he pointed back to the child and gave a questioning look.

“Oni.”

Colonel O’Neill positively lit up as he pointed to himself and responded, “O’Neill! See, our names are almost alike!”

The little child smiled back and said, “Onira!” then pointed back to himself and said “Oni,” pointed to Colonel O’Neill and said “Onira. Oni-Onira.”

Jonas smiled at the tender scene then had a pang as he realized he’d forgotten about the translation. He couldn’t remember what the words had been now, supplanted by “Oni-Onira”, so he gave up. Colonel O’Neill also seemed to have forgotten with this breakthrough so Jonas closed the book.

Colonel O’Neill pointed to Jonas and said his name.

“Hona,” came out of the child’s mouth. Not too bad, Jonas thought.

“Teal’c.”

“Tiaki.” Also, not too bad, but as he said it, he looked away from Teal’c and stood a little closer to the Colonel for protection. Jonas didn’t blame him. Teal’c looked scary in the best of circumstances.

Teal’c saw this and relaxed his posture, lowering his staff weapon. He tried his best to smile at him.

“Carter,” O’Neill continued, pointing to the Major and not noticing Teal’c’s actions.

Easy. “Kata.”

“So, are you a girl or a boy?” Colonel O’Neill asked.

“I think she’s a girl,” Major Carter answered.

“How do you know, Major?” Jonas asked.

“I don’t know…I can just tell. Maybe it’s because I was one once.”

Jonas felt his face blush when he realized he’d been thinking the child had been a boy. It was so hard to tell. The child had black hair cut to neck length. She had dark brown eyes and with the round face, and somewhat strong features; she didn’t look particularly feminine. She was wearing no top and a short skirt, but that didn’t mean anything because they hadn’t met anyone else other than the children chasing her and he didn’t remember what they were wearing.

“Oni? Can you take us to your village? To your leader?” Colonel O’Neill asked.

“‘Take us to your leader?’ Colonel, please!” Major Carter said rolling her eyes. Jonas didn’t understand why she’d made that comment.

Colonel O’Neill reddened, looking chagrined.

“What?” Jonas asked finally, his curiosity getting the better of him.

“Colonel ‘You-know-how-I-hate-clichés’ just used about the biggest one in the book when it comes to first contact with alien races!” Major Carter said, looking like she didn’t know if she wanted to laugh or kick him.

“And just which book would you be referring to, Major? The one on cliché’s or the one on first contact with alien races?” Colonel O’Neill asked. Jonas was getting to know him well enough that he could tell this was said to try to cover his embarrassment over being caught in the cliché.

Jonas smiled as he came to the Colonel’s rescue. He opened the Maori book and looked up the words for village and leader. “Colonel, the word for village is ‘pa’ and the word for chief is ‘rangatira’.

Colonel O’Neill looked at Oni and repeated the two words. Her face brightened. So this language, if it wasn’t exactly Maori, was close enough that she’d understood.

Colonel O’Neill pointed in a couple different directions and looked puzzled, then repeated the two words. She understood and pointed in the direction of the village. He took her hand then and indicated for her to lead them.

They didn’t get very far when a party of five adults came to meet them, led by the oldest of the children who had been chasing her.

 “Tenei ratou!” he said, pointing at SG-1.

“Aloha!” Jack said casually waving “hi” with a folksy smile.

“Aroha? Ko wai ratou?” one of the adults asked.

Oni pointed to each in turn and said, “Tiaki, Hona, Kata.” Then, still holding the Colonel’s hand she smiled up at him and then back at the villagers and said, “Tenei taku hoa, Onira.”

“Ko tehea tumuaki?”

“Onira.”

The adult who hadn’t been talking looked directly at Jack and said, “Hoariri ranei hoa?”

Jack looked at him blankly.

Jonas was frantically flipping through the Maori book.

One of the other adults stepped up to the Colonel and asked, “Mohio koe?”

Jonas couldn’t keep up with all the questions they were asking. He didn’t know which were more important to answer. He looked at the villagers and shrugged, holding his book open to show them he was trying.

When the Colonel gave no response, the villager went to Jonas and asked the same question. He must have seen Jonas flipping through the book and guessed what he was trying to do. Speaking again, slowly and clearly, the villager repeated, “Mo-hi-o ko-e?” Then he waited while Jonas looked up the words. Understand you? he finally deciphered.

“Oh!” he exclaimed. “He just asked me if I understand him.”

“Well, do you?” asked the Colonel pointedly.

“No…”

“Then tell him.”

Jonas looked through the book for the word no. “Kahore,” he said shaking his head.

They looked at him puzzled. He thought he’d said it correctly, but he repeated it anyway, “Kahore.”

The man talking to him nodded. “Kahore,” he repeated.

“Jonas Quinn.”

Jonas looked at Teal’c.

“You are confusing these people. Like on many worlds, nonverbal gestures are not universal. In this culture, it appears that shaking your head means ‘yes’ and nodding means ‘no’. Thus you have confused them by your words not being consistent with your actions,” Teal’c explained.

“Oh. Sorry. Kahore,” he repeated once again, this time nodding.

The same man then said something that sounded like a completely different language, “Parles vu Fransa?”

Jonas had studied Goa’uld, Abydonian, Egyptian, and was learning Teal’c’s native language, but this one was another strange one, unrelated to any of the others. He wished with all his heart that Daniel Jackson were here in his place.

“Oh my God,” Major Carter broke in, “I think that’s similar to French!”

“Je parle Français,” she told him.

“C’es bonn, Madam Kata!” said the man.

Even though the dialects were from different planets, Major Carter and Tipu, as they found out his name was, could understand each other fairly well.

The rest of the mission went uneventfully once the language barrier was broken. They were welcomed into the village and spent an afternoon learning as much as they could before they had to return to the Stargate at the appointed time.

As he stepped through the Stargate, the first person Jonas saw waiting for them was Doctor Jackson with a grin on his face. Jonas watched as each member of SG-1 greeted him as if they’d been gone for a month. Major Carter warmly hugged him and didn’t take her eyes off him as the others took their turns. Teal’c bowed his head and said “Tek’ma’tek, Daniel Jackson,” as he gripped his arm as a fellow warrior well-met. And Colonel O’Neill…Jonas had never seen such a big warm smile on his face as he patted his friend’s cheek then gripped the back of his neck, giving it a warm squeeze as he exclaimed, “Air monkey!”

^ ^ ^

At the debriefing the next morning, Jonas was given the honor of explaining what they’d learned, even though Major Carter had done all the communicating.

“This group of people was indeed once warlike, much as their kin, the Maori, but they have matured sociologically over the past few generations to make treaties with their former enemies. Now they work together for the mutual advancement of their race in hopes of catching up with some of the more advanced cultures on their planet.

“The technology in the building we were in was given to them by the Gaullans, the most advanced of the planet’s civilizations. They did it as a gesture of good-will because they would like to use this side of the planet for pleasure and recreation due to its tropical climate.”

Jonas was speaking faster, getting excited about telling them all he’d learned, when Doctor Jackson interrupted him.

“So why do they have the Stargate and not one of the more advanced cultures?”

“I don’t specifically know, except to tell you that this is another planet, like Earth, which has two Gates. And, the most important facet of this planet for us is that they have technology to be able to travel between them. In fact, these people don’t use their Gate for off-world travel. They just use it on rare occasions to go back and forth to the Gaullans who have the other Stargate. I don’t know if they only use it that way as well. We didn’t have time to travel there and ask.”

“Haven’t they ever tried to dial any other addresses?” Doctor Jackson asked.

“Actually, they have, but since they didn’t know their own address, whoever traveled out, couldn’t get back.”

“Don’t they have to dial their address to come back from the other Gate?” General Hammond asked.

“Of course not,” Doctor Jackson chimed in, “You’d get a busy signal, remember? So their way to dial the other Gate must not involve the DHD.”

“Right, it’s some other control device the Gaullans invented. Not unlike Major Carter helping devise our computer dialer. They have one other use for the Gate, though,” Jonas continued. “They have a couple addresses they’ve discovered over the years by dialing the Gate at random. When their people die, they send their dead bodies through as part of their funeral service. Saves on burials and cremations. Pretty pragmatic actually.”

Major Carter said, “They must not die very often because their Gate and the path to it were all overgrown. They must use it very rarely.”

“I can see it now, dead bodies shooting out of some poor planet’s Stargate. Those litterers!” said Colonel O’Neill, and then added, “We should give them our address. Bodies hit the iris—well, the old bugs-on-a-windshield metaphor comes to mind, but don’t tell them that. And it’s good for the environment, at least for all those worlds they’re currently polluting with their dead.”

Jonas could see General Hammond trying to stifle a smile as he dismissed them from the debriefing. Jonas was gathering up his material when he noticed Doctor Jackson approach General Hammond.

”General,” Doctor Jackson said earnestly, “I could have gone on this mission! There was nothing to it. And it would have saved Jonas a lot of grief since I knew the rudiments of their language. And French, my God! I’ve been fluent in French since I was a kid. It was one of the first languages I learned.”

Jonas stopped what he was doing to stand there and listen.

“Doctor Jackson, in hindsight I agree with you, but at the time we just didn’t know what we were going to be up against. Colonel O’Neill thought we should err on the side of keeping you home this time since it’s been a while since you’ve been on a mission—”

“Wait a minute! You think I would get rusty because I’ve been gone a few months?”

“It’s been closer to a year, Doctor Jackson.”

“That’s beside the point. What do you think I was doing while I was ascended, twiddling my thumbs? I was here, keeping up with what was going on and exploring the universe…and I’ve learned so much. So much more than I knew before. I would have been more help than hindrance, I assure you!”

“I know, Doctor, but Colonel O’Neill convinced me it was important to keep you here. He didn’t want to take any chances over your safety when we got you back so recently. I must confess to selfishly wanting you to be here myself, where I knew you were safe. I apologize for my error in judgment. I’ll see to it that the restriction is lifted immediately.”

“ Thank you.” And with that, Doctor Jackson left.

Jonas finished gathering up his presenting material and was about to leave when he overheard Colonel O’Neill and Major Carter, who had yet to leave their seats, talking over at the far end of the conference table. He pretended to have something to do so he could listen.

“So,” Colonel O’Neill said, “When we first met the villagers, why did they look at me so weird when I said ‘aloha’?”

Carter smiled. “Tipu told me when you first said it they were confused because in their language it means ‘love’. I think it means ‘love’ in Hawaiian too, if I remember right, but apparently, while the Hawaiians use it as a general hello-type greeting, these folks don’t, so you confused them.”

“So I was basically telling them I loved them?”

“Apparently.”

“Hmmm…I guess I can see where that would come across as a little weird. Especially while carrying our weapons. I guess that explains why Oni likes me.”

“Oni likes you because you are the Child Whisperer.”

“What?”

“Let’s just say you have a way with kids that borders on the mystical, Sir.”

Colonel O’Neill cocked his head for a moment then gave her a self-satisfied little smirk.

Jonas picked up his material and walked out wondering if he would ever get to know these people as well as they knew each other.

Chapter Four

Jack made his way back to his office, warmed by what Carter had said about being a Child Whisperer. He wished he had that kind of mystical magnetism with Daniel. He wanted to draw Daniel to him so he could keep him safe like he had with Oni. And like he hadn’t with Charlie.

Ahh…Charlie…

He worried about whether the same old Daniel had returned; the one who wandered off and touched things he shouldn’t. After seeing Daniel touching the painted columns in the building on P4-whatever, he rather thought so.

Ahh…Daniel…

Jack opened the door to his office to be greeted by Daniel himself sitting in Jack’s desk chair. So, are you going to show up every time I’m thinking about you? Jack wondered. His eyebrows raised at Daniel when he realized, Actually, that could come in handy—I’d always be able to find you…

“What?” Daniel inquired.

“Nothing.”

“You were giving me a look.”

“No I wasn’t.”

“Yes, you were.”

“No, I wasn’t.”

“Were.”

“Wasn’t.”

“Jaaack…”

“Daniel…”

By now, they were both grinning like fools.

“Space Monkey.”

“Flyboy.”

“Get outta my chair.”

“I was here first.”

“Whiner.”

“Pedant.”

“What?”

“Never mind.”

“Yep, these are the Daniel Jackson moments I missed the most.”

“Me too, Jack,” only when Daniel said it he didn’t look like he was joking anymore. Jack didn’t let on that he hadn’t been joking when he’d said it either.

Jack sat on the edge of his desk facing Daniel. “So what brings you here, Space Monkey, or should I call you ‘Oh Airless One’?”

“Better not, Jack, because that just begs for me to call you ‘Oh Air-headed One’.”

Jack tried to scowl but he was having too much fun. Instead, he felt himself smiling as he asked, “So, what are you doing here anyway?”

“Umm…actually…uh…I was talking with General Hammond after the debriefing and he told me you had told him you didn’t want me going off world yet.”

“Yeaahh…”

“Why?”

Jack didn’t really know why he hadn’t wanted Daniel to go. It had seemed safe enough. “I wasn’t sure you were ready to go off world yet. I wanted to make sure you’d had enough time to get acclimated to being back first.” It was as good an answer as any, Jack thought. And probably true, too. Maybe. He shrugged.

“Consider me acclimated.”

“Okay.”

“General Hammond took off any restrictions on me so I can go off world any time.”

“He did?” Jack felt uneasy, but didn’t know why Hammond’s decision didn’t sit well with him. Maybe it went back to the conversation at O’Malley’s where Jack had been as carefree as the others, until the reminiscing started turning toward Daniel’s close calls and near-deaths. With their beer-soaked brains, everyone thought the embellished tales were hilarious but Jack had started remembering the agony of repeatedly losing Daniel. Jack shut down on them then and Carter had noticed. He didn’t want to spoil their fun so he hadn’t said anything, not that he was likely to anyway...

Now he wondered if those painful memories had something to do with his reticence to have Daniel start going on missions again. Not that he’d do anything about it. If Hammond had cleared him, then he’d be going.

Jack sighed.

“So, is that going to be a problem for you, Jack?”

“No, it’s fine. Just promise me you won’t get yourself killed—again. Okay, Danny?”

Daniel smiled. “Don’t worry, Jack.”

Chapter Five

Major Samantha Carter was in her office concentrating so hard on what she was doing she didn’t hear the knock on the door. On