My Brother's Keeper – Part 1
By Gemsong
Colonel Jack O'Neill woke up in a cold sweat, his heart pounding as terror gripped his throat in a vise. He forced himself to breath deeply, unclenching his hands. His fingernails had left crescent shaped indentations in his palms. The nightmare that woke him wasn't his own. The fear didn't belong to him.
He swung his long legs off the bed and rested his elbows on his knees. There was only one place that could come from. Mel. His half brother. Melbourne Jackson was in New York with his wife and son. Jack forced himself into calm and closed his eyes. The mental link had always been strong between them. Part of the legacy of a mother who would never speak of her past.
He reached for that place he could always find his brother. Distance never mattered. Even when he was on another world, he could still reach his brother to keep up to date or trade jokes and insults. But this time, for the first time in his life, there was nothing. There was only silence and darkness where his brother should be.
The fear he felt now was his own. Jack snatched the phone from the bedside table and dialed the hotel number where he knew his brother was staying. The phone rang endlessly, with no answer. A call to the hotel itself gave him only that the Jacksons had left for the museum early that morning. Jack glanced at the clock. It was 6:00 am his time, which would make it 8:00 am in New York. His next call was to the museum. The harried receptionist couldn't or wouldn't answer his questions, saying only that there had been an accident at the museum.
Jack hung up the phone and covered his eyes. He already knew what had happened. The empty place in his mind that once held his brother told him that. Melbourne was dead. His brilliant adventurous brother was dead. The only thing that could silence the link between them. But what about Claire and Mel's son Daniel?
Two days later, Jack's plane touched down at LaGuardia Airport. He was still feeling a little numb, forcing him to function and focus on the practical. He had already made the plan reservations when the call came to give him the news he already knew. Melbourne and Claire were dead. Killed by the cover stone they were setting up for an exhibit. Jack tried not to think about it. He locked up his emotion behind the wall very few could get past.
He checked into the hotel where his brother and sister in law had been staying before heading to the museum. He stood there with the police officer that had escorted him. Yellow tape cordoned off the area. The cover stone broken on the floor. The smears of blood where the bodies had been. In that moment he knew. He had no proof, no evidence, but he knew. It wasn't an accident.
Jack closed his eyes for a long moment. "What happened?" he asked.
"The cables holding the slab while they were trying to maneuver it into position," the officer said.
Jack looked at him. He was fairly young to be a detective. "All of them?" he asked.
The officer nodded. "At the same time," he said. "It killed them instantly." He paused a moment. "I'm sorry for your loss."
Jack looked back at the scene of devastation. "Doesn't that strike you as odd?" he asked. "For all the cables to break at once?"
The officer frowned slightly. "The crime scene investigators ruled it as an accident," he said.
Jack turned toward him, his brown eyes hard. "Tell them to check again," he said. He would do what it took to get any clue he could find. The officer's mouth tightened in irritation but Jack knew he would do what was asked. A colonel in the United States Air Force could make a stink if things weren't done to his satisfaction.
Jack turned to walk out, followed by the officer. "Where is my nephew?" he asked.
"He's currently with child services," the officer said. "I can arrange to have him brought to the station so you can pick him up."
Jack nodded as he opened the door to his rental car. But before he could get in, the officer spoke again. "Colonel O'Neill… you should know that the boy witnessed the accident. He's been in something of a state of shock as a result."
"Of course he would," Jack snapped his face pale. "What did you expect? I'll be there in an hour to get him. Make sure they have him ready to go."
Jack was a good as his word. He arrived at the police station precisely an hour later. As he made his way into the building he ignored the butterflies in his stomach. He actually hadn't seen his brother in a number of years. The last time he saw Daniel, he had been little more than a toddler. The mental communications between the brothers had been constant. It had become stronger when Jack accidentally downloaded the contents of the library of the Ancients into his mind.
That incident had strengthened the bond between the brothers. The Asgard were able to suppress it until his mind was strong enough to handle it. The only ones who now knew he could access were his commanding officer and the chief medical officer. And of course Mel. Mel had gone through much of it with him, anchoring him to his humanity. And in that knowledge a long standing question had been answered.
Aderia O'Neill ne Jackson had once been an Ancient. She had chosen to descend among the people of earth, living a simple life others of her kind could not understand. She had produced two sons by different fathers. Each with the potential to have the abilities the Ancients had wielded prior to their ascension.
Jack wondered how much of that had been passed down to Daniel. If he had felt Mel's death as Jack had along with witnessing it, the trauma would be deep in the mind of a young child. Jack could only hope that he would be enough. Mel had been there for him when his own son had died. He would be here for his brother's child. Not that he was even sure he knew the first thing about dealing with a traumatized child.
Jack was sitting in the waiting room when the woman from social services brought the child into the room. The little boy was pulled into the room by the hand. He was silent and pale as he came in.
"Here he is, Daniel," the woman said with forced cheerfulness. "You're Uncle Jack is here to take care of you."
Daniel didn't look up, staring at the floor as he remained silent.
"Don't you want to say hello?" the woman said pushing Daniel forward with a hand on his back.
Jack was amazed. He looked like Mel did at that age, but he had Claire's hair and eyes. A gesture silenced the woman. Jack slowly rose to his feet then scrunched down to where he was eye level with Daniel. His knees protested the action, but he ignored the ache. It was unlikely Daniel even remembered him. But Jack had watched him grow up through his brother's eyes.
He did the only thing he could think of to get to the silent child. Moving slowly he touched his fingers to Daniel's forehead. He didn't say a word, but his mind reached out, touching like he used to do with his brother. Daniel had retreated deep to escape the pain and Jack had to push a little to find him.
Suddenly Daniel's head snapped up, his blue eyes wide with shock. He knew that touch. Like his father, but not. Something he sometimes felt from a distance. His eyes locked on Jack for a long moment. Then the tears that had been locked away spilled over and Jack found his arms filled with a sobbing bundle of small child.
The social services woman was shocked. "That's the first time he's cried since it happened," she said. From what she gleaned, Melbourne and his brother had seen very little of each other. Now this child was clinging as if someone had thrown him a life preserver.
"He needed his family," was all that Jack said. His life was going to change dramatically.
TBC