THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS Series

IN DARKNESS DWELL

By Lady Grey

Jack awoke slowly, with something tickling his chin. There was a strange warmth that nudged his sleepy mind into realizing he wasn’t alone in bed, and then he remembered. He smiled, using his body to tell him what position his lover was in, since he couldn’t look down to see. Daniel’s head was right under his chin, cheek resting against Jack’s throat, Daniel’s long hair clinging to Jack’s beard stubble and making his face itch.

Daniel was lying on his side, hands drawn up under his chin; body curved in a relaxed fetal position, with one of his legs between Jack’s, the other pressed up against his thigh. The older man had his upper arm around Daniel’s back, the lower lying on the bed in the tiny space between their bodies. Jack smiled wider, thinking this was Heaven. He’d gone through the quantum mirror after the Daniel in his universe died, seeking… just this. This was a second chance, a beginning for both of them.

God had smiled on them.

He started to say another prayer of thanks but the alarm on the nightstand went off. Daniel’s head came up fast and banged into Jack’s chin. Seeing stars and rolling onto his back, Jack clutched his face, waiting for the pain to ease while Daniel scrambled to his knees and blurted a stream of apologies.

“I’m okay,” Jack assured him, pushing Daniel’s fluttering hands away and tapping the snooze button to shut off the jangling noise of the alarm. “Jeez, just try to remember you’re not alone anymore, okay, Danny?”

“Jack, I’m so…“

“Shut!” O’Neill demanded, frowning. Those worried blue eyes softened his momentary grouchiness and Jack smiled. “C’mere, you.” He wiggled fingers at his lover, reaching out with open arms. Daniel came eagerly into them and Jack just held him, luxuriating in the feel of Daniel’s body plastered against his, arms entwined around his back. They were sticky and sweaty and smelled of stale sex, and Jack thought it was wonderful. “I haven’t told you how much I love you today. That’s how we need to start our days from now on, Daniel.”

“I keep wondering when I’m going to wake up and find out this was all just a dream,” Daniel whispered against his neck. “I hope I never do.”

“Yeah. Me, too. Love you, Danny.” Jack’s chin was still smarting, but numbed by the joy making his whole body tingle. He felt another tingle and looked down as his lover took notice, too. Daniel started to slide downward and Jack was about to let him when he remembered where that part of his anatomy had been the previous night. He caught at Daniel’s shoulder. “Hey, wait. I should wash first.”

Daniel turned, his eyes heavy lidded with desire. “I don’t mind,” he said softly, then blushed and dropped his gaze to Jack’s chest. “I love you, Jack. All of you, without reservation.”

“Let’s go shower together,” Jack suggested happily. After a long, slow, sweet kiss they untangled from each other and rose to start their day. When they were clean and satisfied inside and out, Daniel started to work on his hair while Jack headed into the kitchen to make coffee.

Only there was no coffeemaker. He’d forgotten that the Daniel in this universe didn’t drink the stuff though Jack was determined to get him to learn to like it. There was just something innately wrong with a completely decaffeinated Daniel Jackson. He searched through the cabinets till he found a well-hidden, dusty jar of instant coffee and decided that would have to do. He started the water boiling in a pan, put out a cup and spooned some of the instant into it.

By the time the hair dryer shut off Jack had finished his first cup and had just made a second. He strolled into the bathroom, studying the younger man as he brushed his long chestnut mane, still naked as a babe. Daniel put his back to his lover, self-conscious and Jack’s eyes swept over the other scars, the ones he hadn’t seen last night before they made love for the first time.

He’d have to go slowly, work up to the conversation about how and when Daniel got all those scars. Some of them were in places and patterned in such a way that Jack remembered them, duty scars from missions they’d been on together. Except that this Daniel had been with the other Jack then. That Jack probably hadn’t ever seen any of those old scars. Probably wouldn’t have cared to ask about them if he had.

They meant something to this Jack O’Neill. He wanted someone to pay. He turned away and hunted for the blue jumpsuit he’d discarded the previous night. Getting dressed took seconds and he returned to the bathroom to borrow Daniel’s brush to tame his hair, still slightly damp and sticking up all over his head. “Hammond’s coming to size me up today and I gotta look good,” he observed to his lover with a smile and a wink. “Think we’ll have time to stop off at Supply and get me some fatigues?”

“I’ll hurry,” Daniel returned with a smile. In short order he was dressed and brushing his teeth, bending over the sink to spit.

O’Neill eyed that ass, completely covered in fresh khakis. Inspiration struck. Totally, irresistible, impish inspiration. Jack grabbed that beautiful butt with both hands, leaving huge wet handprints on the cloth. Daniel squealed, spit toothpaste all over the mirror, the sink, the counter and his taupe shirt.

“Dammit, Jack!” he bubbled, reaching for a towel. He wiped his face and glared. “Now I have to change clothes. You’re making me late. I hate being late.”

“Oh, so you’re punctual as well as caffeine-free?” Jack teased. “Gee, I don’t know if I can get used to a Daniel that pure. Good thing you’re not a virgin, too. That would just be way too much to deal with.” He swung in for a quick peck on the freshly wiped lips and swerved away, neatly avoiding the cuff Daniel aimed at him.

“Brat,” the archaeologist growled.

“Sexy,” Jack shot back. “You know, I came here with pretty much Air Force issue everything.” He watched the younger man return to the closet. “I gotta get some clothes and stuff since I’m gonna be living in this universe. Can I borrow some money till I start getting paychecks? That is, if you have any. I know in my universe, Dr. Jackson got paid a helluva lot more than me, which was okay because he deserved it. I’m just not sure about, well, a lot of things in this universe.”

“Sure. We’ll go shopping tonight,” Daniel agreed, returning to his closet to find fresh clothes, “but I leave on a diplomatic mission tomorrow. I should be gone about three days or so.”

Jack stopped fidgeting and looked up, suddenly worried. “Can I come, too?”

“You don’t go off-world until the new administration approves it,” Daniel reminded him. “They’re still not sure what to make of you returning from the dead, as it were, or this alternate universe stuff. Though I must say, Sam’s positively quivering with anticipation. She spent all of yesterday while you were being interrogated, looking at that mirror thing but couldn’t make it work.”

Jack examined his fingernails, slightly embarrassed. “Uh, yeah, well, see, there’s a controller. I have it. Or rather, it’s in my quarters on the base, unless they’ve searched it by now.”

Daniel turned to look at him, suddenly very still, a blue-and-white-checkered shirt in his hands. “You had it with you? Why?”

Guilt tugged a little at Jack’s heart. He crossed the room and put his hands on Daniel’s bare shoulders. “I had to make sure this was where I needed to be. If it wasn’t, I was heading back to the mirror.” He brushed Daniel’s long hair out of his eyes. “I told you last night this wasn’t the first universe I visited, looking for you. I was prepared to keep looking.” He smiled. “Now I don’t have to look any more. Carter can have the controller and I’ll even show her how to work it, but I’m not goin’ through the mirror again. I found what I needed right here.”

He leaned down and kissed Daniel, brushing his lips lightly against those sweet, sexy ones. His hands moved up into that long mane and he cradled Daniel’s face, pulling him closer, kissing deeper. When he drew away, Daniel’s eyes were sparkling with unbridled joy. Jack felt it all the way to his toes and sighed.

Daniel laughed softly against his face, a mint-scented breeze. “I could get addicted to this, you know.” He licked his lips and glanced at the bedside clock. “Come on. Maybe we can still make it to Supply before I have to check in.”

“Yahsureyoubetcha, snookums.”

“That is so Minnesota,” the younger man chuckled, “and you are so damn cute!” He traced one finger gently over the slight dimple in O’Neill’s chin.

Jack chuckled. “I’m ignoring that and returning the conversation to necessary threads. I’ll need uniforms and dress blues, eventually, if they take me back. It’s going to be expensive, but I promise to pay you back. In installments, according to whatever pittance I might earn here. Just wish I could be wearin’ the Class A’s when I present myself to General Hammond.” He frowned, looking down at himself in the borrowed jumpsuit.

Daniel smiled broadly up at him. “New wardrobe, a couple thousand bucks. Hockey season passes, a couple hundred. Love of a lifetime… priceless.” He kissed Jack lightly on the lips. “I think I can manage.”

“You doin’ all right with your finances? Not that I’m a gold digger, or anything, just curious. Don’t wanna break your bank account, you know.” He stepped away from Daniel and glanced down at his feet, obviously embarrassed to have to ask for money.

“I’ve got about a half million by now, I think,” Daniel told him casually as he slipped into the shirt. “My fiction novels were far more successful than my academic works. I haven’t had time to work on any new ones since Abydos. More important stuff to do, you know.”

Jack’s head came up. His mouth hung open in the air. Not only could he not speak, he couldn’t form a coherent thought.

“Some of it was my parents’ estate,” Daniel explained as he buttoned up his shirt. “The rest I earned during my less than illustrious career, which sounds a lot like your Daniel’s was, and from my salary here and the novels. I don’t generally spend much of it, except for my apartment and books. I’m rarely on Earth long enough for anything resembling a social life.” He reached for a pair of gray pants from the closet and suddenly found his mouth against Jack’s again.  “What was that for? Not that I’m complaining.”

“Hockey season passes. For two,” Jack shot back. “And I’m buying a leather jacket.”

Daniel’s eyes glinted. His smile broadened. “Will you wear it to bed?”

Jack groaned and turned away. “Keep talkin’ like that and we’ll never get to work. I find the hotness that is Daniel very distracting.” Jack headed for the bathroom. “Be right out. And I’m using your toothbrush. You may not mind kissing me first thing after a good night’s sleep, but nobody smells my morning breath. We’ll buy two new ones tonight.”

Daniel chuckled and continued getting dressed while Jack hurried to prepare himself for the new regime.

The archaeologist thought his colonel looked every inch the military man, even in the jumpsuit. Jack was fidgeting, obviously self-conscious. Vanity was a feature the original O’Neill in Daniel’s universe was missing, and Jackson found it rather charming in his lover. Jack was also much more romantic than Daniel expected, and the memories of their budding relationship warmed him as they drove to the base.

After signing in, he escorted Jack directly to the supply station where he could order proper clothes for base attire. They waited until a set of blue fatigues were located in the right size and then went to the locker room so Jack could change. With a sigh of relief, he checked the mirror and finger-combed his hair back into place. Daniel offered his comb, and Jack smiled.

“Thanks,” he said with genuine warmth, putting every silver hair in place. “Will I knock Hammond’s socks off?”

“Not unless he’s gay,” Daniel teased.

Jack frowned back at that. “Watch it, Jackson,” he warned, his voice low. “Never on the base.” He handed the comb back and straightened his jacket. “Off we go, then.”

They headed to the briefing room, but Generals West and Hammond were in a private conference with SFs on duty at each stairwell to ensure they remained undisturbed. There were orders waiting, however, and Jack was escorted to an office where he could review abbreviated mission reports and MALP transmissions under the supervision of Major Kawalski. With a little wave and a promise to meet him for lunch, Daniel left the two men alone and headed for his office to get started on his own work.

He couldn’t have been happier. Fortune, it seemed, had smiled on him at last. He was no longer alone. He was loved. As long as this incredible dream lasted, Daniel would enjoy it. He wanted to get to know this Jack, to discover all the things about him that made him who he was, his history and hidden talents, his likes and dislikes.

As Daniel settled behind his desk, he couldn’t concentrate on work, his mind returning to the mission where this new O’Neill appeared out of the darkness on an alien world to save SG-1. Daniel tried to pinpoint the differences in the original Jack and this one, but the only thing he could say was significantly different between the two men was that this one was willing to lay aside his heterosexual background in order to become involved with Daniel.

That love came with a price, however, and Daniel wasn’t sure he could pay it. Jack had already seen the scars. Daniel noted the look in his eyes, the hatred gleaming there, and understood what knowledge of Daniel’s background would mean to the man. Jack would want revenge. If he went after it, he’d get in trouble, probably landing in jail. Daniel couldn’t allow that.

Besides, it was ancient history as far as Daniel was concerned. He learned long ago to forget what he couldn’t forgive, just not think about the tragedy his life became immediately after his parents’ deaths. As he sat at his desk, pencil tapping against his fingers, Daniel glanced down at his body. It was covered by familiar clothes, but he was aware of every hidden scar and the memories they evoked.

Jeff Eiger, his first foster father, had taught him many things. Young Daniel Jackson learned to be strong. He learned to tolerate pain without breaking. He learned to hate. When rescue had come in the form of a broken nose that the Eigers couldn’t hide from a visiting social worker, Daniel had been moved to a new foster family and charges were filed against the man who tortured him for four years. Due to Daniel’s testimony and the scars and fresh wounds he bore, Eiger had gone to prison.

That had been satisfactory, after a fashion. It was enough for a twelve-year-old boy. He sealed that part of his past away in his heart and mind and never looked back at it.

The next foster family had attempted to draw him in, but he sat down with Mrs. Brown early on and had a talk with her. He promised to be a very good boy, to obey all the rules, to do his chores and his schoolwork without complaint, if they would simply leave him alone. When he finished whatever was required of him, he retreated to his room, and to books. They respected each other’s space, and at the age of 16 Daniel graduated high school and received a full merit scholarship to a prestigious university. It didn’t take much to have himself declared a legal adult at that point, and he thanked the Browns for their community service and said goodbye.

They were there, after all, working for the state to protect a child until he was old enough to care for himself. They had done their job, and he respected them for that. They were friendly enough but Daniel never accepted the gifts they had given him, never responded to their gestures or words of affection because he couldn’t. He knew where he had been going, and that was away. He didn’t want to be attached to them, because he would only lose them eventually. He had lost everyone he loved, because that was what the universe had in store for him. His destiny had been about other things, important things. He had wanted to finish the work his parents started, to break new ground and discover something truly original… and he had done that.

Distance and superficial relationships had been Daniel’s self-protection mechanism for so many years, keeping others at arm’s length, never letting them touch him, either in body or soul.

Then Jack O’Neill had come into his life; a man of steel and fire whose walls had been higher and thicker than Daniel’s own. Fate had thrown them together in a desert on a distant world and when they returned home, they had become different men. Both vulnerable to each other.

Ra and death and fear had done that to them, pushed them together until all they had were each other, struggling against impossible odds. They had clung tightly, needed each other… and gotten under each other’s skins. Jack had hugged him, patted him affectionately, shook his hand. He had been a tactile man who hadn’t noticed his archaeologist didn’t like to be touched, or else he had ignored that idiosyncrasy and done it anyway, because it had been something O’Neill enjoyed.

Daniel had discovered admiration. His tolerance of Jack’s need for contact had crossed all of Daniel’s borders. Then he fell in love, and Jack had died. Even now Daniel was still grieving, a part of his soul still torn by the loss. He hadn’t seen Jack’s body because it couldn’t be retrieved from the cave-in that killed him on Revanna, but Sam and Teal’c had been witness to his death. That had been enough. Daniel still saw Jack dying in their eyes in unguarded moments, and even with this new Jack in his arms, the shadow of the other man was still there, growing fainter, but ever-present.

Daniel’s walls had come up again when O’Neill died. Daniel was safe and protected behind them. Sam and Teal’c were the closest thing he had to family, but even they couldn’t touch him, couldn’t wound him as deeply as Jack. Kawalski was okay; they worked well as professionals and did their jobs. They knew they could count on each other, but there was no affection there as for his other teammates. After seven years of constant companionship, the captain and the Jaffa had found their own little niches inside Daniel’s soul. He loved them like the sister and brother he never had.

Yet on that dark of night in a moment of need, Fate threw open the door and gave Daniel a second chance. He’d been clumsy about showing his uncertain feelings to the stranger who wasn’t entirely a stranger. He saw the longing in O’Neill’s eyes and tried his best to ignore it. When he invited Jack to stay the night at his apartment, it had been a gesture of friendship, a memoriam of sorts to the man Daniel had lost. Only he hadn’t been able to hide his feelings, not with that face looking back at him, and in a moment of passion Daniel had kissed the man.

Jack kissed him back and things escalated after that. They were together now, spiritually welded, one flesh. Daniel stared down at his body, remembering the ugliness that lay beneath his clothes. Jack would want to know that history. He would want to open the old wounds and go hunting, and Daniel was going to have to protect Jack from himself.

He’d done it before, and he could do it again. Daniel was all about control, about being unbreakable. He would just have to make his lover see that the past was best left buried, and to concentrate on their future. Daniel bent his head to the books on his desk, opened them to the proper pages for reference, and began to study the photograph of the artifact another team had brought him for translation.

“My brain hurts,” grumbled Jack, holding his head in both hands as he and Daniel motored away from the base. “I haven’t done so much thinking in… forever.”

“How many of the MALP transmissions did you get through?” Daniel changed lanes smoothly, despite the ancient car’s groan and shudder.

“All of ‘em. That’s why my brain hurts.”

“Jack, there must’ve been a hundred video scans to look through!”

“Not good with names or those alphanumeric designations,” Jack admitted. “But I remember faces and places I’ve been. You have to remember where you’ve been if you’re gonna find the way home; even though most of the shots were just trees, lots and lots of trees. Trees all over the freakin’ universe.”

“That’s what I mean. How can you look at one group of trees and recognize them as different from any other group?”

“How can you look at a set of hieroglyphs and tell what century they were painted?” Jack cocked a knowing eyebrow at him.

“Oh.” Daniel glanced at him, and then turned his eyes back to the road. “Any place in particular you want to go shopping?”

“Yeah. You want me to drive? I know the way.” Jack patted the armrest of the old car and wished for his truck. Then again, what was sitting beside him behind the wheel was much more necessary. He gave directions and took his chauffer to all his favorite thread shops and he even talked Daniel into a few new items for himself.

Jack was particularly fond of the black leather pants that fitted Daniel like a second skin and the blue silk shirt that made his eyes turn electric blue. He accompanied Daniel into the fitting room stall just to make sure they fit the way he wanted, and made Daniel swear he’d never wear them anywhere but at home. Then they went out to dinner and headed home… to Daniel’s home, where Jack had just taken up official residence.

Being from an alternate universe had its advantages, so no one at the base would give Jack moving in with Daniel a second thought. They’d still have to watch themselves in public but for now, all angles were covered. Except for Daniel’s personal angles, but that was about to be addressed.

Daniel set his keys on the shelf just inside the door and Jack shot all the bolts. They carried their haul into the bedroom and neatly put everything away, silence a pleasant cushion filling the space between them. When they were done, they looked at each other.

“Put the pants on, Daniel,” Jack ordered huskily. “And the new shirt, too.” He left the bedroom and went to the balcony to wait for his lover to change.

“Is this what you wanted to see, Jack?” Daniel asked from beside the piano.

Jack turned around and stared, his eyes roving hungrily over that beefy body, so well delineated by the tight clothing. He could see the outline of Daniel’s dick easily, tucked up against his right leg, swelling as he watched. Daniel’s hands went to his zipper and he peeled it down slowly.

Jack came closer, his gaze sweeping up and down the other man with delicious anticipation. “God, Danny. You look so hot. Turn around, slowly. Walk to the bedroom so I can watch your ass move in those leather pants.” His mouth was watering like a starving man’s sitting down to a banquet.

Daniel’s smile was blinding. “You like how I look in these? I feel kinda silly, actually. And a little uncomfortable. They’re getting tight.”

“It’s that damned hard-on,” said Jack with mock frustration. “We’ll just have to do something about that.” His eyes followed Daniel across the apartment and into the bedroom. The room still smelled of sex and something uncomfortably hard in the pocket of his new tan khaki pants made Jack remember the tube of lubrication they’d bought for tonight. It was his turn and he was more than ready.

Daniel looked down and started to slowly unbutton his shirt, flicking each button free with a little flourish. He started swaying his hips, doing a shy striptease.

Jack thought it was delightful, but he was impatient to be touching the body beneath those clothes. “You’re gonna be too late if you don’t hurry,” Jack prompted, whipping off his Polo shirt and dropping it on the floor.

“I thought you’d enjoy a show,” Daniel returned, scrambling now to get his clothes off.

“I got my show while we were at dinner. You shoulda seen people lookin’ at you, women and men. Damn, you’re fine, Daniel Jackson.” He saw that the man was about to argue and held up a hand. “Shush! Just accept that I think that and go on from there. You want me to like the way your ass moves when you walk.”

“Naked is better, though, right?” Daniel was all but sprinting across the room.

Jack dodged and let him vault onto the bed. Those hands were all over him, that mouth on his neck, kissing and nipping as if Daniel was starving. He caught some of Jack’s pubic hairs in the zipper in his haste to undo it, which sent Jack yelping and batting his lover’s hands away. In seconds he divested himself of his clothing and pounced on Daniel, still kneeling on the bed.

“Ooof!” Daniel cried, landing flat on his back with Jack on top of him. “Eager, there, much?”

“You’re stunning when you smile,” Jack growled and then attacked Daniel’s mouth, wiping the grin right off with his lips.

They weren’t as gentle with each other this time. Passion was given free rein, scorching them both as they tasted each other, touched everywhere, clung and rubbed and sucked until they lay panting and vibrating with need. Jack fished the lube out of the nightstand and handed it to Daniel. “Do it,” he demanded. “Right now.”

“No,” Daniel shot back breathlessly. “I don’t know what I’m doing and I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I want it that way,” Jack ground out. He was ready to explode, and needed… something. “Hell, I have no idea what it’s gonna feel like. I just want you to fuck me before I come apart at the seams.”

“Okay, let’s slow down a little,” Daniel panted, heavy eyebrows scrunching upward in confusion.

Jack could see the terror in his eyes, and it moved him. “Okay. Okay, Danny. We’ll take our time. I just…” He glanced down at himself, so stiff he was about to pop. His glance drew Daniel’s gaze there, and both men smiled.

“How about if I take a little of the pressure off first?” Daniel suggested gently, smiling.

“If you insist,” Jack shot back playfully.

Daniel came down on his mouth with a slow, sweet kiss that Jack felt all the way to his toes. That talented mouth nibbled across his chin, suckled lightly down his throat to his collarbones. With his tongue, Daniel laved those hard little ridges, lapping up the sweat that pooled in the hollow between them.

“God, Daniel,” Jack breathed, his hands running all over Daniel’s back and threading through his hair. “What you do to me. I love you. Love you so much.”

“Mmmmm,” Daniel agreed, moving lower, nuzzling his way through Jack’s chest hair until he could reach a nipple.

Jack started to relax, the warmth of Daniel’s body seeping into him, Daniel’s hands stroking, squeezing, exploring him. The sensations left him delirious. He moaned and writhed as his lover worked his way downward, taking his time, gentling Jack’s need. When he could manage, Jack opened his eyes and watched, as Daniel loved him, that gorgeous hair falling in a shining curtain around his face. Jack loved looking at it, running his fingers through it, combing it back so he could see that beautiful face in motion.

Daniel’s eyes were closed as he took Jack’s cock in his mouth. The expression on his face spoke of reverence and incredible pleasure, and it made Jack’s heart twist up inside him.

For me, he reminded himself. All that is just for me.

Daniel looked up at him then, as if he’d heard. He smiled around his mouthful and broke the suction, breathing a soft little laugh around Jack’s shaft.

“I love you,” Jack breathed, reaching out to touch that lovely chestnut hair.

“Mm-hmm,” Daniel returned.

The vibration from that verbalization sent a little jolt through Jack. He grinned as an idea came to mind. “Daniel, do you like to hum?”

“Hmmm?” the younger man asked, not breaking contact.

“Hum something. Just keep doing what you’re doing and hum.”

Those brown brows scrunched together for a second. Then they shot up Daniel’s forehead in surprise as the idea jelled. His eyes took on a mischievous gleam, and he began to hum.

Jack tried to identify the tune, but the vibrations and that glorious wet heat were so distracting that coherent thought became impossible. He could do nothing but close his eyes and recline against the pillow, completely owned by the man sucking so happily on his dick. He was close, gathering himself to come, when suddenly everything stopped and Daniel lifted his head.

“Don’t stop now!” Jack begged, looking down at his lover. Then he saw that Daniel had the lube and was squeezing a little of it into his palm. A second later, his mouth was back where it belonged and Daniel’s fingers were probing Jack’s ass. “Oh, Jeez.” Jack did his best to relax, but that finger twirling gently against his sphincter felt huge and foreign and scary.

Climax suddenly wasn’t so close after all. Jack concentrated on the feel of that wonderful mouth on him, loving him, adoring him, and slowly his fear began to recede. Daniel’s finger slipped in, slick and hard and huge. With great care, Daniel thrust into him, sliding in deeply, easing out, exploring. The burning sensation from that first penetration faded and in its wake was heat of a different kind. Another finger breached him and Jack clutched at the sheets, writhing against the bed, against those fingers and thrusting into that mouth.

“God, Daniel,” moaned Jack. “Yes. Good. So fucking good.”

Daniel plunged deeper, smoothing across something that sent lightning bolts through Jack’s brain. He cried out and his lover froze, afraid he’d caused pain. He waited.

“Good,” Jack panted. “Don’t stop. Gonna come—“

As if reading his mind, Daniel moved his fingers again, striking that same spot as he sucked hard on Jack’s dick. With a scream of ragged ecstasy, Jack shot his load into Daniel’s mouth, body bucking and thrusting wildly, completely out of control. He lay gasping for breath, those fingers still working that incredible magic while Daniel sucked him dry.

“Oh, Jack,” he whispered when the last spasm had passed. “You are so beautiful.”

“I am so wiped,” Jack corrected with a broad grin. “You do it for me, Danny. You do it gooooood.”

“There’s more,” Daniel promised, slipping another finger inside. “Open up for me, Jack. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Jack glanced down at his lover, lying half on his side between Jack’s outstretched legs. “Mighty impressive weapon you got there, big guy.” Daniel blushed and smiled and Jack desperately wanted to kiss him just then, but he couldn’t reach those lips yet.

“Do you like this?” asked Daniel uncertainly.

The sensation of stretching was still a little uncomfortable, but it wasn’t unpleasant. Once Jack got used to the size, it was good. He wanted Daniel, wanted him inside his body, as he had penetrated Daniel the previous night. Jack could see that Daniel’s cock was quite a bit bigger than his fingers and that scared him a little, but he knew those tissues would stretch. He was ready, in his mind if not in his body.

“Love me, Daniel. I don’t want to wait.” Slowly, he rolled over onto his belly, stuffing a pillow beneath his hips. Daniel’s fingers never lost their place or rhythm as he moved into position, a perfectly coordinated slow-motion ballet. Jack felt Daniel kissing his buttocks, his free hand roving all over his skin. Jack felt radiant with love. This was a wonderful gift he was giving Daniel, and whether he enjoyed it or not, he wanted to do this at least once.

Turning just with his shoulders, he watched Daniel coat his hard-on with the slick gel. The younger man’s hands were shaking. He squeezed out nearly half the tube onto himself, wanting to make sure there would be plenty of lubrication. Jack watched as Daniel moved with the grace of a big cat, kneeling behind him, between his legs. Jack propped himself up on his elbows. He was anxious but his heart was so full he didn’t care if it hurt.

Jack felt Daniel spread his cheeks and tried to relax. The only thing he’d ever had up there was a doctor’s latex coated finger checking for hernias, but this sensation was nothing like that. “Easy, Danny,” Jack crooned to his lover. “It’ll be all right.”

“O-okay, Jack,” stammered Daniel uncertainly.

The blunt tip of his cock pressed against Jack’s anus and Daniel thrust hesitantly in. Jack froze, his body clenching at the sheer size of the invading tool. “Whoa, wait! Not so fast,” Jack cried out.

“S-sorry,” Daniel whimpered, pulling out immediately.

Jack turned a little more so he could see Daniel’s face, flushed red with embarrassment and tears in his eyes. “Don’t stop, Danny,” Jack reassured him. “Just go slower. It’s okay. I want you. I love you and I want you to show me how much you love me. Okay?”

Daniel’s mouth was quivering as if he was about to cry. He nodded and moved back into place, pressing in just a little, waiting and listening.

Jack forced himself to relax, to let Daniel in and took a little more of him. Slowly, gently, Daniel pushed his way inside until Jack had taken all of him. Daniel stretched out on top of his lover, holding his body up on his hands, arms locked out to bear his weight.

“Is that okay?” the younger man whispered hesitantly. “Do you like it?”

“I think I might,” Jack confessed, his voice trembling. Daniel’s confidence was fragile, and Jack had to make sure he thought before he spoke. It felt foreign, totally alien, to be penetrated like that, but having Daniel behind him, his warm body lying against Jack’s, felt amazingly right.

Daniel was starting to move now, slow, patient thrusts, sinking himself fully into Jack’s ass. He was making noises, trembling and soft, that told Jack just how much he loved what he was doing. Jack relaxed against the pillow, enjoying Daniel’s kisses against his shoulders and neck. Jack turned his head so Daniel could reach his face, murmuring lovely-sounding things in his ear in foreign languages.

It was beautiful. Jack had never felt so loved in his life. This… this was all about Daniel, quivering on top of him, holding and kissing him, putting his love into words and actions that left no doubt what was in his heart.

“I love you, Daniel,” Jack whispered against the pillow.

“My life, my soul, my all. I will love you forever, Jack. My Jack. Mine.”

“Always,” Jack assured him.

Jack felt hot tears hit his cheek and slide downward. Daniel’s fingers were quick to wipe them up and Jack wished they had tried it face to face, though he knew this was better on his back. He couldn’t touch Daniel with his hands, couldn’t reassure him with a look or touch like this. He ached to do that, felt the passion rising inside him, passion for his lover. With a shock he realized he was hard again, his balls straining toward imminent release.

Daniel changed his rhythm, angling forward slightly. Something else was happening now, something that made Jack turn his head from the pillow to suck in a breath and let out a startled gasp of pleasure. The strokes were a deep, powerful glide that massaged Jack’s prostate, sending fingers of bliss through him like a charge of electricity. In and out, every thrust caressed him there, melting his bones and dissolving his resistance. He needed more, wanted more, ached for it.

“Fuck!” he shouted. “Oh, God, it’s so good, yes, Daniel, more…harder, faster…fuck me…fuckmebabyohDannyyessssss!”

He heard howling and realized it was himself. He was coming, his cock throbbing into the pillow while Daniel slammed into his ass. He couldn’t move, just a jellied pile of O’Neill glowing with ecstasy while his lover continued to plow him from behind. An instant later, just when he thought his wits were starting to work again, he felt Daniel climax and smiled at the deep-throated grunts, so unlike the loud cries he’d gotten out of the man the previous night.

Daniel collapsed onto Jack’s back, panting and quivering.

The weight felt good. Jack’s ass was still throbbing with pleasure. He didn’t think he’d be able to sit down for a couple of days but it would be worth the discomfiture. Daniel slid off him, landing in a heap on his back beside Jack, his face the picture of delirious joy.

“Not a virgin of any kind anymore, Daniel,” Jack murmured to him. “You are totally fucked now.”

“I love you, Jack.”

O’Neill leaned over and tasted those smiling lips for a long time. As he kissed Daniel, he moved over him, slipping his arms beneath the man and holding him close. Daniel needed a lot of holding, he knew. Especially this Daniel. He needed all the kindness and support his friends could give him but he needed more from Jack. Dr. Jackson was confident enough in his professional space – even a touch arrogant at times -- but when it came to the real Daniel, the man underneath the job, Jack wasn’t sure this Daniel knew how to navigate that landscape. He would need someone who could help him map that alien world, and that was just where Jack wanted to live.

“I love you, Daniel.” He felt the younger man slipping away into dreams and jiggled him awake. “C’mon. We should get under the covers if you’re gonna fall asleep on me.”

“Did you want to talk?” the sleepy, sated man asked.

“No. I want blankets. And cuddling. Now move.” They wrestled around on the bed as they turned it down and slipped under the covers. Jack noticed that Daniel got up to put on sweats and a T-shirt before padding back to the bed. Jack promptly took them back off him. “If you’re sleepin’ with me, you’re sleepin’ naked. I wanna feel skin right now and I don’t mind getting the wet spot. We can change the linens in the morning.”

Daniel smiled shyly up at him from his pillow, his hair thoroughly tousled from Jack’s manhandling of him. “Yeah? Cuddling, huh? Who’d have thought the big, mean, hard-as-nails colonel was such a teddy bear underneath?”

“Nobody. And let’s keep it that way, shall we?” The colonel wrapped his arms around his lover and held him close. Then he let his eyes drift closed; sliding off into dreams of wild and tender sex with the man he loved more than life.

“No kiss goodbye?” Jack teased quietly, standing at the foot of the ramp.

Daniel frowned up at him. “You’re supposed to be cranky, remember? How can I walk away from you when you’re smiling at me like that? Especially after the way you made love to me this morning. I can hardly walk.”

Jack just grinned, remembering. “Ready?” He raised his voice so they could be heard. “Don’t wander off anywhere, Daniel. Don’t touch anything and don’t get killed.”

“This is a routine diplomatic mission,” Daniel shot back, instantly irritated. “We’ve had established relations with the Messenetians for months now, which is why I’m going in a suit instead of BDUs and not carrying any weapons. They’re allies, for cryin’ out loud.”

Jack popped him lightly on the shoulder. “Hey, quit stealin’ my lines!”

Daniel sighed and turned away, briefcase in hand. “I’ll be back in three days,” he groused.

“I’ll have dinner ready but I’m not sharin’ the beer.”

“I don’t like beer, Jack.”

“Give my love to the Missionaries.”

“Messenetians!”

Daniel disappeared through the event horizon and Jack strutted away, pleased with his performance. He glanced up into the control booth and saw Hammond’s impatient frown. Didn’t take the general long to get to know him. Jack returned to his barracks room for the controller, slipped it into the pocket of his jumpsuit and headed to the briefing room. The general was tapping his pencil on his notepad, a sure sign of impatience. “What kept you?” he asked sharply.

Jack noticed the man didn’t use his military title. That probably meant he was going to be kept on as a civilian advisor, strictly for what he knew. He wasn’t getting a team assignment or his rank back. But he had a plan for that contingency, too.

“I had to go get something, sir,” O’Neill admitted. The general gestured him toward a chair but Jack was afraid he’d wince if he sat down, so he remained standing. He eyed the faces around the table, one by one. “Thank you all for coming. I hope what I have to say will be taken seriously.”

The grin sliding across Carter’s face spoke volumes. Their Jack had been the same kind of wise-ass and one never knew when to take him seriously unless he was giving an order and had his ‘colonel’ face on. The grin disappeared as she remembered this wasn’t her colonel and she made eye contact again.

“Time for some honesty, folks,” Jack began, “and the real reason why I came through the looking glass to offer my services to your universe.”

Hammond cocked an eyebrow and shot a glance at Major Kawalski.

“I’m here for Daniel.”

Expressions of shocked surprise hit Carter and Kawalski at the same instant. Teal’c nodded in approval. Hammond simply waited. On his second full day of command of this alternate reality SGC, he didn’t know this group well enough to make judgments. Not yet.

“See, in my universe, Dr. Daniel Jackson is dead,” Jack told them. “Had been for a while. That’s when I started to notice some things. Numbers started adding up. I got a cosmic wake-up call. A clear view of the Big Picture.”

“You wanna be a little less existential, here, O’Neill?” asked Hammond with a trace of impatience in his voice.

Again, without the rank, Jack noticed. He could deal with that. “I’m getting to that, sir.” He took a deep breath. “See, we all thought, once Daniel figured out how to work that machine down there that anything we found would have a military objective attached to it. For the most part, that’s what it looked like… on the surface.”

He strolled toward the windows looking down on the Stargate, remembering Daniel’s nervous lecture in that same room as he revealed his discovery of the star addresses back at the beginning of things.

“But after Daniel died, I started seeing just how hard a time everyone was having without him. His guidance. His compassion. His big honkin’ brain.” He turned around to face Carter. “I watched things start to slowly fall apart; nothing tangible, really, just little things. Like movements on a chess board, where it becomes crystal clear that you’re sadly outmatched and no matter what move you make, you’re always gonna lose.”

Carter swallowed hard. She was getting it all ready. That was good.

Jack turned his frank, penetrating gaze to Hammond. “Ever tried to play chess without your queen, general?”

“It makes for a difficult game but it can still be won.”

“What if your opponent has six or seven queens and you have none?”

A small, quick grin slid across Hammond’s face and was gone. “Aside from the fact that would be illegal as hell, you couldn’t win with so many powerful pieces on the other side.”

“Exactly,” Jack agreed, raising one finger in the air. Then he slipped that hand into his pocket. “We lost our most powerful piece and the Goa’uld had all the queens. We were going to lose.”

“You’re saying Daniel’s the key?” Carter asked.

Jack eyed her. “That’s because he is. He has been from the beginning and it took losing him to get a look at the endgame.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Kawalski carped. “Daniel? He can barely find his ass with both hands. How can he be…?“

Jack’s head snapped up and he shot a warning glance at the major. ”He’s not a soldier, Charlie. Never will be. But that’s not what we need for this…” He waved his hand around, glancing at the windows and the SGC logo on the back wall. “This ‘greatest endeavor of humanity,’ as Dr. Jackson once put it.” He leveled a proud gaze at Sam and offered a little smile. “See, the people in charge of this command have always thought it was about finding cool space guns to blow the Goa’uld out of the sky, including me. Carter would probably know one if she saw it off-world but the rest of us would walk right by it, thinking it’s some kind of alien hood ornament.”

Kawalski grinned and shook his head.

“Carter’s good at that. She’s brought back some interesting stuff.” He got a return on the smile and nodded acceptance. He was a man she could respect and that was good. That she knew the respect was mutual was even better. “Thing is, General Hammond, I don’t believe our salvation’s going to come from stumbling across a weapon on some dead world. That’s because, if the weapon’s working, there’s probably people still there using it to protect themselves.”

Hammond looked thoughtful now.

That was also good.

“Daniel’s good with people,” Jack went on. “He wins friends and influences people. And that, sir, is where our salvation lies. Somewhere out there, we’re going to come into contact with some folks who like us enough to want to save our sorry asses from the Goa’uld and the people who will make that connection for us are the ones we give the least credit: the gee-- academics who speak a bazillion languages, who’ve always got a hand out asking if they can help. Not if someone else will help us but if we can help them. That’s Daniel’s way and it’s the right way. If we pull the thorn out of the right lion’s paw, we’ll be able to defeat the Goa’uld. But we’ll never be able to do it alone, no matter what interesting technology we bring home.”

He almost sat down but his behind reminded him that a chair wasn’t a good place to be at the moment. He stood back up again and fished in his pocket, sliding the mirror controller across the table to Sam. “This thing will make the quantum mirror work,” he added. “I kept it till I was sure this was where I was supposed to be.”

Her eyes lit up as she examined the device. “Will you show me how it works?”

Jack smiled at her. “Anything you want, captain. I belong to the SGC now, heart and soul.” He looked at the general, using Daniel’s stock question. “How may I help you, sir?”

Hammond smiled. He shook his head and dropped his pencil without writing down a word. “Nicely done, colonel.”

“So, you’ll keep me, then?”

“I’ll have to do a little tap dancing to get you back pay but I think we can at least let you pick up where our O’Neill left off. Welcome home, son.” He rose and extended his hand for a firm shake. “That makes you one of the higher ranking officers in this organization. You also have the most experience; according to the resume you gave me, so I’ll be looking for a team assignment for you. Meanwhile…“

“Sir, if you don’t mind,” Jack cut in gently, “I’d like to be on SG-1. I’ll be subordinate in the field to Major Kawalski, if necessary. I’ll even forego my rank completely but I have to go with Daniel, as a bodyguard, if nothing else.”

Eyes widened all around the table at the suggestion.

“What is it with you and Daniel, Jack?” Kawalski spluttered. “Are you hot for him or somethin’?”

Jack reacted, body stiffening, eyes shooting a dangerous glare at the man. “I told you, Charlie. Daniel is our most valuable player. We can’t afford to lose him. I intend to make sure of that.”

“And you don’t trust him to be safe under my command?” Kawalski’s dark eyes were challenging him, angry. He obviously didn’t want to give up what he felt was his team now.

“Daniel wanders off. He gets into trouble. He’s a freakin’ magnet for it. You know that, Kawalski. I didn’t trust him under my command either because he doesn’t follow orders. He needs a keeper, for cryin’ out loud, not a new C.O.”

“We’ll work this out, gentlemen,” Hammond said coolly. “In the end, the decision will be mine, so I suggest you all get your arguments together, give them to me separately and let me be the general here. Dismissed.”

Jack nodded. Kawalski sulked. Teal’c cocked an eyebrow and Carter grinned.

Everybody started to push back their chairs but Jack held up a finger and lifted his eyebrows as he spoke. “Oh, one more thing, kids…”

All eyes turned to him.

“Don’t tell the… uh… academics they’re our MVPs. Some of them are insufferably arrogant as it is but it would just put way too much pressure on Daniel.” Jack glanced at the table for a moment. “He seems to be quite a bit more… damaged… than the one I knew. He’ll take careful handling.”

Carter stared up at him. “You’re a very different Colonel O’Neill than the one we had. You seem to have sharper observational skills.”

“And a great deal more compassion,” offered the Jaffa. “This bodes well for your return to our ranks. Welcome, Other O’Neill.”

“Just O’Neill, T. I’m not Other anymore. I’m yours.” He smiled at the Jaffa and extended his hand.

Teal’c came around the table and took it, then gave him a firm embrace. “It is good to have you fighting alongside us again, O’Neill. You were greatly missed.”

“Thanks, buddy.”

Carter gave him a bright smile and a snappy salute. “Welcome back, colonel.”

Hammond had already headed for his office. The others left the room, with just Kawalski still at the table. The major’s brown eyes rolled up angrily to meet Jack’s.

“I’m not givin’ up my team,” he said gruffly.

“I’m not askin’ you to,” Jack assured him quietly. “I’d be thrilled if Hammond put me back with SG-1 but I don’t want to take what you’ve earned here. You, me, Ferretti and Daniel are the only ones left from the first mission and I meant what I said. I’d be subordinate to your command, acting only as Daniel’s bodyguard, if that’s how Hammond wants to play it.”

“I know you, Jack,” Kawalski rasped. “In the heat of battle, you’d be calling the shots and the others would obey you without a second thought. They wouldn’t even hear me.”

That admission made a point Jack had been trying to avoid putting out in the open. He said nothing. It wasn’t necessary. Kawalski got it all by himself.

He sighed and nodded. “That’s it, isn’t it? They’ll always be your team. I was just a visiting coach.”

“You’re a good man, Charlie,” Jack assured him. “I’m sure you’ve been an excellent commander. You were always nicer than me. People like you better.”

“I don’t think Daniel ever really forgave me for knockin’ him on his ass on Abydos.”

“Sure, he did. Daniel forgives everybody who hurts him,” Jack smiled. “And that’s one of the things that’s gonna save our asses in the end. Wait and see.”

Kawalski smiled and shook his head. “Yeah, I’ll be watchin’. But I guess I’d better go tell Hammond I’m up for reassignment.” He shook Jack’s hand. “No hard feelings buddy.” He bumped chests and gave Jack a light slap on the back.

“Thanks, Charlie. Maybe we can get together and play some street hockey soon. I’ve missed that.”

“What, am I dead where you come from?” Kawalski asked with a grin.

The memory crashing through Jack’s brain must have showed on his face.

Kawalski sobered. “I am, huh? How?”

“A snake got you, second trip through the gate. We couldn’t get it out of you.”

The major rubbed at the back of his neck, fear glinting in his eyes. “I’ve been lucky, then.”

“Be thankful for that. In other universes, things are different.”

Head down, Kawalski ambled toward the general’s office. “Daniel makes that much of a difference, Jack? You’re sure?”

“He’s the key. Always has been. I just couldn’t see that till he was gone.”

Without looking back, Kawalski knocked on the door and Jack headed for the stairs to go bother Carter and Teal’c for a while and share his news. He felt great, even with a sore ass, especially because he had a sore ass and Daniel was going to be thrilled that he had a new C.O.

However, Jack was going to have to make sure he didn’t show any kind of favoritism in the field or in the presence of other base personnel. He had to spend time with this Carter and Teal’c and renew old acquaintances, discover differences and show them that he cared about them as much as he had his own teammates.

He felt bad about leaving the others behind but Teal’c understood. Hell, he approved what Jack had done and the colonel felt sure Carter would, too. They were both strong, capable people and they’d land on their feet. He also felt certain that his prediction was correct and that the universe in which his friends fought on was doomed to defeat at the hands of the Goa’uld. He’d seen the shift in attention from exploration to the technology quest and every alien race who had what they wanted saw the Tau’ri as little kids with water guns wanting to play with the real thing.

And  always… always… it had been Daniel who paved the way and made the amiable connection with those advanced races.

One day, someone out there was going to either trust the Tau’ri not to shoot themselves in the foot, or come to their aid and help fight the Goa’uld because they saw something in humanity worth saving.

Daniel was the best example of that. He had loads of virtues. Intelligence, curiosity and compassion all rolled up in a lovely, self-effacing package. Aliens loved Daniel. His own people rarely gave him the time of day.

There had to be something terribly wrong with that picture and Jack O’Neill intended to make people start looking at his beloved geek, to really see what a priceless treasure they had in their midst, before it was too late.

“That went well,” sighed Daniel as he stepped out of the freshening stall, the Messenetian version of a waterless shower. This alien technology would take a little getting used to but he wouldn’t be there very long, after all. His first day had been a great success and their recently unearthed temple of the Greek goddess Artemis made a fascinating addition to the puzzle that the Goa’uld left behind them.

The archaeologist dressed for bed and sat down with his laptop, typing in notes on the day’s events. Hours passed without his notice but eventually weariness settled over him and he knew he should get some rest. The Messenetians were gearing up for some worldwide celebration, the Day of Absolution, they called it, and Daniel wanted to see it before he left. Tomorrow would be a reasonably busy day, though he’d have a little free time around mid-day to wander and see the sights and he wanted to make sure he didn’t waste it on needing a nap.

Lying in the bed in the moonlight, he found it difficult to fall asleep. Memories of Jack made him smile and he hugged the extra pillow, pretending it was his lover. Daniel felt like the luckiest man in the universe to have a man like Jack O’Neill in love with him.

Those thoughts energized him and he decided to go down to the library in the guest quarters assigned to him. The building had once been part of a palace, now divided up into various government offices, including the wing they had turned into residences for visiting dignitaries. Each wing had its own library and Daniel’s was stocked with books on the history and archaeology of the Messenetian people.

He was curious about this Absolution ceremony, wanting to get an idea of what it signified and how it had come about, so he went downstairs to research it.

He found a small boy sitting on the library floor, all alone, a big book with pictures of ancient buildings open in his lap. The child looked up guiltily and got to his feet, tucking the book under his arm. He edged nervously toward the shelf and tried to put it back. Not quite managing that task, it fell to the floor as he stepped away.

“Please don’t tell anyone I was here,” the child asked breathlessly in his native tongue. “I’m not supposed to be in the building.”

“In bed, should you not be?” Daniel asked gently in Messenetian, moving into the room and fastening his robe with the sash that was dangling at his sides. He’d picked up their language quite well but still had a little trouble with the grammar. It made him sound like Yoda. “Very late it is, you know.” He squatted down beside the child. “Daniel is my name. What is yours?”

“Tinyar,” the boy replied, his green eyes as big as saucers. “You won’t tell on me?”

“Nothing will I say,” he promised with a smile. “Books on history, you like?” He picked up the fallen volume and opened it. “Like them, too, I do.”

Tinyar grinned. “You talk funny.”

“Learning your language, I am,” Daniel explained with a shy smile. “Soon will I learn it better. Teach me, can you?”

Tinyar’s small, fair head bobbed enthusiastically. “Sure. I’ll help you.”

“Tomorrow, then,” Daniel suggested. “Mid-day will I find you and talk we will. Where shall I meet you?”

The boy took his hand and led him to the window. He pointed to a small out-building that must have once been servant’s quarters to the palace. “I live there. In the orphanage.”

Daniel’s heart sank. “Your parents,” he said softly, looking up into Tinyar’s face. The child couldn’t have been more than ten or twelve years old. “What happened to them?”

Grief drew those fine blond brows together. Tinyar’s distress was obvious. “They died in an accident. Two years ago.”

Taking the boy’s trembling hands, Daniel gave them a squeeze. “My parents I lost in an accident, too. When a boy I was, younger than you. How this feels, I know.” He let go of one hand and placed his palm against his chest. He gave the boy a sad smile. “Get better, it will, Tinyar. I promise.”

Tears gathered in the boy’s eyes and he shook his head. “Not for me, Daniel.”

“Not long will I be here,” confessed Daniel, saddened by the child’s grief. “Be with me while I am, you would like?” He shook his head. “Sounds so clumsy it does from me. Better should I be with this.”

“I can understand you,” Tinyar assured him, wiping a tear from his face. “And yes, I would like to see what you do. You’re not from our world, are you?”

Daniel shook his head and wiped another tear from the boy’s cheek with his thumb. “No. From Earth, I am. Come through the Stargate, I have. The Door to Heaven, as Messenetians say.”

Tinyar sniffed back his tears and sighed. Then he smiled bravely. “I would love to show you my world, Daniel, but I don’t want to get in the way.”

Memories of childhood came streaming back to Daniel, how painful it had been to try to adjust to life without his parents. How his grandfather had rejected him and how that had made him feel; unwanted, unloved, unimportant. He wanted to make sure that same sort of thing hadn’t happened to Tinyar.

“Wish you with me, I do,” Daniel promised. “But for now, sleep must you have. Take you home, I shall.” He turned toward the door with Tinyar in tow.

“They don’t mind if I go out alone,” the boy promised. “It’s all right for me to go wherever I want.”

Daniel had seen enough of the alien news broadcasts to know that Messenetian society, just like that of any culture, had its good and bad elements, and just like Earth, there were those who preyed upon the unsuspecting and the unprepared. “Safe it is not,” Daniel cautioned the boy. “Out after dark, you should not be.”

Tinyar shrugged. “No one will hurt me,” he argued nonchalantly. “Everyone knows my face.”

“A celebrity, you are?”

The boy hung his head. “Not exactly.”

“Still, in bed you should be. A big day we will have tomorrow.” He smiled down at the boy and led the way out of the wing toward the orphanage next door.

It took a few minutes to rouse one of the staff. The woman looked very surprised and a little flustered to see him, obviously recognizing him from the news broadcasts. She hardly gave the boy a glance.

“Was he troubling you, Dr. Jackson?” she asked breathlessly.

“Oh, no. Tomorrow… Forgive please speech errors of mine… Tinyar will come with me, yes? He may do this?”

The woman glanced down at the boy, standing off to one side in the doorway. She looked back at the alien scientist, shock obvious in her expression. “You want him to visit with you?”

Daniel smiled and nodded. “Yes. Much like me, he is. An orphan was I, also, as a boy.”

For a moment the woman considered. “I will ask the headmistress,” she promised. “But Tinyar is allowed to go where he pleases. No one may forbid him.”

That didn’t sound like very good childcare, in Daniel’s opinion. He’d have to check into their state welfare system. “Not a school day, tomorrow is?” Daniel shook his head, frowning as he tried to get a grip on their syntax. “Tomorrow is not a school day for Tinyar? Did I say that right this time?”

Tinyar grinned. “Yes! You said it right, Daniel.”

Daniel smiled back at him. He stooped and put the boy’s hand in the air, then slapped his palm to the boy’s. “We call that a high five, Tinyar. It is for celebrations, for doing something right.”

The boy looked at his hand and then wiggled his fingers. “High five. I like high fives.”

Looking back at the caretaker, Daniel waited for an answer.

“No, he doesn’t have to go to school if he doesn’t want to.”

Daniel stood up slowly, certain his displeasure showed on his face. He spoke slowly; working to make his thoughts clear in this difficult language. “How do you expect Tinyar to grow up to be a good man if he has no education?”

“We don’t,” the woman said simply. She turned to the boy and nodded toward the interior of the building. Tinyar dashed inside without a word. “You must understand, Dr. Jackson, Tinyar has no future. He has no time.”

“Understand do I not,” Daniel shot back. “Explain.”

The woman looked distinctly uncomfortable. “Perhaps you should discuss this with the high council. It’s not my place to tell you…” She started to turn away.

Daniel caught her arm, ever so gently. “Show me to his rooms. Please.”

The woman nodded, tightened her robe about her and led the way inside. It was beautifully decorated with large murals in bright colors; just the sort of thing children would love. There were playrooms to the front of the building, a library filled with children’s books and a cafeteria that was equally as well designed as every other room Daniel saw as they passed. Up the stairs they went, past large dormitories with small cots where children of all ages lay sleeping in gaily adorned rooms. Stuffed toys were plentiful and each child had his or her own private space, complete with desk and small book case.

It didn’t look so bad, Daniel thought. It was far better than the juvenile facility where he’d been placed until that first foster home was located. That thought made his shoulders come up around his ears and he shut it out, concentrating on Tinyar and the boy’s situation. Ascending several more flights of stairs, they came to an attic room off by itself.

The woman opened the door and for a moment, Daniel was stunned. It was lavish, beautiful and filled with books and toys. Obviously, there was some sort of celebrity status attached to the boy, if the stack of letters on the desk were any indication. Tinyar was hurrying into a nightshirt behind a dressing screen and when he finished he came out and stood beside the bed, looking up at his visitors.

“Dr. Jackson wanted to see your room,” the worker explained.

“You are okay?” Daniel asked uncertainly.

“I’m fine,” Tinyar answered without thinking. “Would you like to tell me a bedtime story?”

Daniel couldn’t help grinning. “Mangle it, I would, Tinyar.”

The boy pulled a small book from the case beside his bed. “Read to me, then?”

“That I can do,” Daniel assured him. “To bed with you.” He moved into the room and sat at the foot of the bed. Glancing back at the woman in the doorway, he told her, “Speak with your headmistress tomorrow, I will. Thank you for your help, Miss…?”

“Cinda,” the woman said. She looked concerned as her eyes flicked between man and boy and saying nothing more, closed the door after her.

Daniel thought it strange that these people would trust someone they didn’t know with one of their children. Then again, he was a high profile visitor and would be easy to locate even off their planet, but there were other things about Tinyar’s situation that bothered him, things he wanted addressed before he went home.

He glanced at the boy now snuggled under the covers and smiled, opened the storybook and began to read.

Jack stood in the doorway of Carter’s lab, watching her angle toward some little thing on the workbench with a pair of long tweezers. He grinned. “Carter!” he barked and got the expected reaction.

She dropped the tweezers when she jerked, caught and juggled them for a moment before finally losing them to the floor. Exasperated, she shot an impatient glance at him. “Sir!” She bent to pick them up, removed her face shield and stepped away from the bench with an exasperated sigh. “What can I do for you, colonel?”

He stepped in and shut the door, stuffing his hands into his pockets and flapping them back and forth to fan out the BDU pants playfully. “Oh, nothin’. Just came to renew old acquaintances.” He stuck his right hand out toward her. “Howdy. I’m Jack O’Neill. That’s colonel to you.”

Sam couldn’t help grinning and shook his hand. “Captain Samantha Carter. It’s good to have you back, sir. What would you like to know?”

“Well, I expect I’ll be reading a lot of mission reports while Daniel’s away, making notes on where things were different in my universe. Sort of a reference guide, I guess. The big thing is that I need to get to know my people all over again. I’m sure there are a lot of similarities between you and my Carter, which will make things easier but there will be differences too, and I need to know about those.”

“Like?”

“Are you married or otherwise involved? How’s your father and is he a Tok’ra? Did you get Jolinar or not? Lots of things. The Sixteen Magazine version of Captain Dr. Samantha Carter, if you please. Oh, and mine was a major, but hopefully we’ll address your rank and potential for promotion soon.” 

She looked a little startled but grasped the concept right away. “Okay, I’m not sure exactly what to tell you but here goes… Life history in brief.” She stepped away, head down and started to pace the lab. “My mom died when I was a teenager…“

“Check,” Jack noted aloud.

Sam glanced up at him and nodded. “I have one brother, Mark, who has two kids and lives in San Diego.”

“Check.”

Her face grew somber and she started pacing again. “My father passed away two years ago, so no, he’s not a Tok’ra.” She stopped walking and met his steady gaze. Her voice changed. “But I am, Colonel O’Neill. I have chosen to work with the Tau’ri, rather than my own people. I see great promise in your race.” She smiled. “And I agreed with your speech in the briefing room. I believe you are correct in your theory.”

Jack felt himself step backward at the sound of that voice coming out of her mouth. “Hellooo, Jolinar. I didn’t expect this. How’d you manage stayin’ alive? And getting out of lockup and back into rotation?”

“Teal’c sensed the presence of the Ashrak sent to kill me and stopped him,” Jolinar told him. “I spent several mon