Rating: K plus
Characters: Jack O'Neill, Daniel Jackson as primaries
Genre: Friendship
Author's Note: This was so much fun to write. It was inspired by a picture a friend drew of Daniel chained up...this was not what she was expecting as a story to go with it/grin/ Anyways...I hope that people enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed jotting it down...
"Next time I have one of those mad ideas that is bound to get us captured, remind me to keep my mouth shut."
O'Neill was stuck. His hands were tied at the wrists and secured above his head. Across from him, his wrists secured within metal rings and the wire strung through a ring in the wall above him, Daniel was rubbing his face against his arm.
"Jack…you always have mad ideas." His voice was tired. "The trouble is…usually, we all have a mad idea."
"No, the trouble is that we have the mad ideas and then we actually do them." Jack was shaking his head. "One of these days, we will listen to our own sense."
"We have sense?"
The two men looked at each other, blinking. The day had started so well. They had left the SGC, gotten to the planet, met the natives – all the usual nice little planet-type stuff they were used to. Then everything had gone to hell. Having sent Carter and Teal'c to check back in with the SGC, O'Neill and Daniel had sat down for a meal with the locals. Although unsure of the food, they had both been polite and taken some of the stew. When they had woken, they had been trussed up and there was a Jaffa standing over them, gloating. Jack had looked up at the man and opened his mouth.
"Well, this is new…oh wait…no it's not!"
In return the Jaffa had slammed the end of his staff into Jack's face before knocking Daniel two feet across the floor.
"Silence! You will be brought before your God!"
At that point everything had gone dark as a zat blast had taken both men. They had woken up in this barn, tied up and both feeling rather groggy.
"Jack?"
"Daniel."
"How did we end up here again?"
"Because I thought that we should gain more intelligence on the Goa'uld presence. Or lack of it."
"Right. And I'm at fault here because…?"
"You always make us eat the food."
"Right." Daniel sighed. "Knew something had to be my fault in there somewhere."
"There is always something you've done. I mean, how many times have we ended up getting shot at because you decided your morals were offended?"
"And how many times have we been shot at because you decided that you couldn't keep your finger off the trigger?"
They glared at each other.
"Excuse me?"
They swung their gazes to the young child that was sitting three feet from them. Large green eyes gazed back at them from a dirt smeared face, the unruly mop of dark blonde hair falling over the child's forehead. The child studied them a moment.
"Are you supposed to be here?" O'Neill was eyeing the child, clearly wondering if it was worth talking it into getting them out.
"Nope." The child rubbed it's nose – it was impossible to tell if it was boy or girl beneath the dirt and hay-strewn hair.
"Do your parents know where you are?" Daniel lowered his voice,
"Don have 'em." The child looked Daniel straight in the eye. "The big loud man took them away because they wouldn't tell him where their…"
"Their what?" Daniel tried to shift to look at the child more fully but it was difficult with his arms stretched out.
"What?" The child sniffed, scratched their head then looked at O'Neill. "Why you tied up?"
"Because the big loud man wants to keep us here."
"Oh." The child looked at both men seriously. "I don't like him."
The men looked at each other. O'Neill raised an eyebrow. Daniel sighed and gave him a look that said quite clearly, 'Why me?'
O'Neill's facial expression responded, 'Because you're the geek.'
With another sigh, Daniel turned to the child and said, "We don't like him either."
"He hurts people." Those green eyes looked into the cobalt blue of the archaeologist. "Will he hurt you?"
"Probably. He doesn't like us either."
"Oh." They watched the various expressions wash over the young face. Then the child stood up and walked over to O'Neill, producing a knife. Eyeing the blade warily, Jack leaned back.
"What you doing with that?"
In response the child cut the older man down. Rubbing his wrists, O'Neill gravely looked into the young face and said, "Thank you."
"I can't cut that." The child pointed at the wire binding Daniel. Daniel looked at Jack who looked at the ring in the wall.
"That's okay – I'll manage the rest."
"Do you need your friends?"
"What?"
"Your friends. They are here. I saw them hiding."
Daniel threw O'Neill a relieved look.
"Yes. That would be very helpful. Do you think you can lead them here?"
With a sharp nod, the child was gone. O'Neill set to work at the ring, trying to loosen it enough to pull it from the wall.
"Jack."
He kept working.
"Jack."
"What?"
"Sam and Teal'c will be here in a while – you get me out then."
"Daniel…"
"O'Neill?"
"Teal'c?" Jack spun round to see the welcome sight of the rest of his team sneaking in. "Problems?"
"None sir. SGs 3, 5 and 15 came through with us – they're guarding the Gate and clearing the way."
"Ok…let's get Daniel out and get out of here."
Producing a small explosive, Carter fastened it to the ring and wrapped O'Neill's jacket around Daniel's hands and arms. The ring and wire both snapped easily.
"Nice bracelets, Danny-boy."
Daniel just glowered at O'Neill as they grabbed their gear from the box in which it had been stored. Looking around, Daniel saw the child who had helped them, perched on the window ledge at the top of the building.
"Come with us!" He called. But the child shook its' head, waved and disappeared.
"Daniel?"
"Coming, Sam!" He pulled his zat and followed the team through the undergrowth back to the Gate. They were met by SG5's commanding officer.
"Report."
"All Jaffa defeated sir. The towns people attacked the main hall at the same time. We basically just cleaned up the mess."
"You mean, we didn't have to go in, kill everything, get gloated at by the Goa'uld, escape, fight back in again then kill his arrogant, sorry ass?"
"No sir. The people killed him for us."
"Well, that's different." O'Neill looked at his team, all of whom looked both disappointed and relieved at the same time. Then he looked around. "Say, where's the kid?"
"Didn't want to come with us." Daniel shrugged. Carter looked at them both.
"Child? What child?"
"The one who cut me loose. Said they were going to get you and lead you to the barn."
Carter looked at him like he was crazy.
"Sir, we found our own way."
"Indeed. We were able to track where you were taken from the main hall."
Daniel and Jack looked at each other.
"But, there was a child. About eight, dirty, really messed up hair…"
"Had bright green eyes." The younger man was frowning. "Are you sure you didn't see them?"
"There were no children Daniel Jackson."
O'Neill shrugged.
"Whatever. Let's go."
"Sir! Incoming!"
Everyone ducked behind cover, weapons drawn. As the leader of the two came into view, O'Neill called for the teams to stand down.
"I bring news! Wondrous news!"
"We heard. Congratulations for freeing yourselves."
"We could not had done it without you all. Thank you for giving us the strength."
"You're very welcome." Daniel was still frowning. "Do you know a small child, recently orphaned, with green eyes, and dark blonde hair?"
"I knew such a child."
"Knew?" O'Neill pounced on the past tense. "You knew a child?"
"Yes. That family was killed, in the very barn in which you were held, just two days before you arrived."
The colonel and the archaeologist fell silent. Carter finsihed up the goodbyes for them. Teal'c dialled Earth. Just as they were about to go through the Stargate, O'Neill turned to Daniel.
"That kid was real."
"I don't know."
"But, it was real, Daniel."
"Jack…after all the things we've seen…"
They looked back toward the town. There, in the middle of the path, was the small child, a man and a woman flanking it. All three smiled brightly at the two men, she with rope hanging from her wrists and he metal circles. As the two Tau'ri looked down at their hands the adults dissapated into the rising mist and the child remained. Slowly, the child waved to them and they could make out the words, "Thank you."
Then the child too was gone.
"Daniel."
"Jack."
"Was that…?"
"I have no idea."
"Let's go home."
"And never mention this to anyone?"
"Sounds like a plan to me."
"And it's not a crazy one either."
"Nope. It's actually making sense."
And they stepped through to their own world.