Part VIII

Home Stretch

They were entwined, spirals of vibrating energy. Two life forces flowing back together to become one

I

Jack had always loved watching the sun come up over the ocean. It rose from the waves like a blossoming flower, stretching its orange and red petals across the water and into the air, mingling with the clouds, playing with the last frazzles of darkness. Slowly it would rise higher and higher until the beach and the town were bathed in its light. From the highest point of Ba'th Town, the theater, Jack had often enjoyed nature's play with colors as it welcomed a new day.

On this particular morning he watched with very mixed feelings as he was on his way into town. He was grateful he had gotten to see this one more time before they went home. But it also reminded him of what he was about to leave behind. It hadn't been a prosperous life. He hadn't accomplished much around here, but he'd been free.

You're taking Daniel home, he thought and immediately felt better. Even if they had to start from scratch because Daniel thought he was a stranger. Jack was determined not to let that stop him. Not again. Never again.

He slipped through the open gate to Hadis' backyard and passed the vegetable patch on his way to the small shed. The door was ajar and when he entered, a familiar gray head with long loping ears turned towards him. Thor took one look at Jack and went back to his breakfast of hay and those little green apples he liked so much.

"I'm happy to see you, too," Jack said with a grin.

"What the hell are you doing back here?"

Jack spun around to where Hadis was standing in the shadows, leaning on a pitchfork. "And you. How's the wife and kids?"

Hadis snorted and leaned the pitchfork against the wall of Thor's box. He stepped forward and they shook hands, then clasped shoulders. "You shouldn't be here."

"I know. There's been some..."

"Bump in the road?"

"You could say that, yeah. I need Thor."

"Jack..."

"Just to haul some food up to the ruins and other stuff. I brought back a couple of friends and we..."

"You brought your friends here? The other stamped people?" Hadis quickly stepped past Jack and closed the door. "Armed Forces have come to me asking for you. I told them I turned you over to your Mentor and the two of you have left Ba'th Town and gone back to Madinah City. To start a life together. After all Björk was supposed to hook up with you so that seemed a valid reason for you to leave town."

Crap. "When? Are they still here?"

"Two days ago. I have not seen them since so they probably left. That they came to my house to approach me about this is very unusual. Normally if authorities want your service they send some underling to escort you to Madinah. There's no official warrant for you, but you have to be very careful around town in case they left someone here looking for you." He twirled his mustache and, after a moment of thought, added, "Actually, they made it sound kind of urgent. And they seemed... nervous."

Jack wondered who had ratted them out to the authorities and couldn't make sense of it. Surely Jadah hadn't had a change of heart. And the monks? The old guy had no interest in supporting his government any longer. That left the two stamped monks. If they had gotten away to warn authorities about Teal'c's escape... if they had done that, everyone would be looking for Teal'c. And they wouldn't assume Jack in Ba'th Town. They would search the area around the monastery and the villages closest to it.

It made no sense.

"Why did you return? When Björk told me you remembered and were going to find your friends, I always assumed you would try to escape through the portal."

Jack rubbed Thor's nose when the mule decided to greet him after all. "Believe it or not, we found out the shortest way to the portal is through a transportation device here in Ba'th. We just have to find it."

"What do you need?" Hadis asked after a pause "You said food. What else?"

"Kerosine. A couple of lamps. Maybe ropes. Couple of pickaxes."

"You want to go down into the catacombs. To find this transportation device?"

"Yeah. Can you send Mikele up there? I think he knows that place a lot better than he lets on."

A frown creased Hadis' forehead. "Can you promise me not to put my apprentice into danger?"

Jack smirked. "I knew you were going to like that kid."

Hadis waved it off. "He works well enough. Look, I'll get everything for you and then send him up there with Thor. You should stay by the ruins and hide."

"I'll keep my head down," Jack agreed. He needed SG-1 to take watch and... "I need another favor. Can I have your rifle?"

His friend didn't look happy. "I need it for hunting."

Jack pulled the money pouch from his pocket."I'll pay for it. And everything else you're getting for me."

Hadis took the pouch and weighed it in his hand. "You are a richer man than you let on." He opened it and peered inside. "This will do."

He retreated into the back of the shed and returned with his rifle and a small box of ammo. Handing both over to Jack he said, "Go. I don't want Masala to know you're here. She has just started seeing a young man. A fine young man."

Jack stuffed the ammo into his pants and shouldered the rifle. "Good for her. Never got what she saw in me anyway."

Hadis smiled knowingly. "She is my eldest daughter, Jack. I taught her all about the Shadows and Mentors when you arrived. She knows what you are because she was supposed to take over this duty from me at some point. I guess she has fallen in love with the fact that you are different. That you are shrouded in secrets and come from another world."

"Ahhh, ye-ah." Jack clasped Thor's neck. "I better head back then. Thanks for... you know..."

"Don't let any harm come to my apprentice," Hadis growled. "He's too smart for his own good and his little siblings are always underfoot, but he works for two and never complains. He's also very good with the clay."

"Told ya so. I won't let him get into any trouble, don't worry." Jack saluted sloppily and stole away, hopefully unseen.

He made his way back to the ruins, keeping an eye out for anyone who might be tailing him, but the road was deserted. The orange sun rays had just reached the foothills and the clay pit and started fading to normal daylight when he arrived at the ruins and saw Carter running towards him.

"Sir, Danny is missing!"

And he hadn't even have his coffee yet. "Define; missing."

"Well, he was with Teal'c when you left. They were going to exercise, but then Daniel joined them and Danny said he needed to go... and he's gone. Daniel and Teal'c are searching the theater and I went down that boulevard, but there's no sign of him."

"He's a small child, he can cram himself into really small spaces," Jack said, remembering how he had crawled into the kiln.

"Do you want me to try the boulevard again, sir?"

Jack was about to tell her he'd join her but, following a hunch, shook his head instead. "I have a pretty good idea where he might be. Are Teal'c and Daniel checking the catacombs?"

He had assumed Danny had gone there once before and had been wrong. But this time he figured the kid was trying to hide on purpose. And it dawned on him from what Danny was hiding. Or rather from whom.

"I'm sure they are." She kicked a stone out of the way. "Damn, I wish we had radios."

"Yeah, me too."

"I searched the bath houses and the other small buildings, too. He's not there."

They jogged across the grassy knoll over to the theater and when they entered the arena Daniel was just appearing in the entrance to the catacombs, carrying a candle. "We need better light in there!" he called down to them.

"DannyJackson is not up here," Teal'c's dark voice boomed from the highest tier.

Jack quickly took the stone steps, Carter on his heels, and joined Daniel by the entrance. "Give me the candle. I'll see if I can lure him out."

"There are steps going up and down and one section of the tunnel is caved-in. You won't see much when you get in deeper. I hope he didn't go underground." Daniel handed the pillar candle over.

"Yeah, I know, I've been down there before. I organized lamps and tools for our little excursion later, but I hope we'll find him before that," Jack said.

"How do you know he's in there? He might just be running around playing somewhere. This is a huge complex," Carter asked.

"He's probably scared," Daniel replied quietly. "You and Teal'c told me how I... died... and ascended. You've given me a run-down of what happened here, on Ba'th, and who the kid is. How he is connected to me. Danny knows all this, too."

Carter's eyes widened. "He's hiding from you? But... why?"

"Because," Daniel verbalized what Jack was thinking, "he might be the one who can give me back my memories."

"He's a part of you," Jack said flatly.

"And he has everything in his mind. Everything that makes me... me."

They locked eyes and Jack bit his lip. "You need him..."

"...back. Yeah."

It made horrible sense.

Carter shook her head. "Okay, hold on a minute here... are you saying Danny can give you back your memories by... what? Giving his mind to you? Melding back into you? He's a human being, flesh and blood. How..." She trailed off, looking back and forth between them. "Oh my god. I mean, I know we talked about this, Colonel, but..." She turned to stare at Daniel. "You really think Oma will literally merge the two of you back together? I don't even know how that's possible..."

"Carter, you saw Daniel falling from the sky. You saw him materializing out of thin air. The same happened with the kid. And they are..." Jack threw up his hands. "It doesn't matter how that's possible. It happened. I'm sure it's not magic, but it's beyond even your comprehension so don't even try," he snapped, irritated, because all she cared about was trying to analyze the physical process to make it fit in her scientific mind.

While he felt the impact of it coming down on him like a ton of bricks.

He cupped the flame of the candle with one hand to shield it, turned around and entered the cool darkness of the tunnel. He'd been in here countless times during the summer, with tourists following him down the stairs to the two main chambers where - according to the legends - sinners had waited for their trials or to join the games. But he had never taken any tourists into the small underground alleys and rooms. He hoped Danny hadn't retreated into that labyrinth.

The light from the entrance didn't reach very far and soon Jack was in the dark, surrounded by the smell of old, dusty quarries. The flame of his candle flickered over limestone walls. Large niches to the left stayed in the shadows. During the summer he used oil lamps, but he'd run out of kerosine towards the end of the season and never restocked.

"Danny?" he called out softly. "C'mon, kiddo, it's me."

He strained his ears and heard the tiniest of sounds. Shuffling of feet? A rat?

"Mikele is coming up here soon with breakfast. And he'll bring Thor." There was some scrabbling to his left,

"Danny?" Jack turned slowly, holding the candle out in front of him. The light caught a movement. He took a couple of steps in that direction. "You can't stay in here forever, you know? It's bad for the tan and your only company will be rats."

"There are no rats here," a tiny voice came from within the depth of the niche.

"Okay, spiders then. Besides, what would you eat?" Jack stopped where he was, waiting.

"I wasn't gonna stay here forever," Danny replied with a sigh.

"Well, that's a relief. It's not very cozy."

"I didn't go downstairs to explore. I just didn't want to be with Daniel. And I needed to think real hard."

"It's okay. C'mere." Jack held out his free hand and, after a moment, Danny's fingers closed around his as he stepped into the flickering circle of light. They walked back the corridor to the exit. When the tunnel walls slowly took shape and color again, brown squared stones, particles of dust dancing in the gently dipping sunlight, Danny pulled at his hand and they stopped.

"Jack?"

"Danny?"

"I kinda lied to you. About what Oma said to me."

"I kinda knew that." Jack tugged the boy to his side and they sat down on the hard ground, with their backs against the cool stones. "Why don't you tell me now?"

"I have to go back to be with him. So he'll remember who he is."

Jack stared at the bowed head beside him. He tried to find words of comfort, but his throat was dry and tight. Finally, when he was sure his voice would carry nothing but confidence, he said, "Maybe he'll remember on his own, some day."

"Oma says I'm not really a me-me. I'm just a little part of him."

"Oh, you're a real you-you, believe me. And if Oma thinks otherwise she has to get past me first."

Jack hadn't planned on having another kid after Charlie. Except for that one time on Edora – where he had thought he'd be stranded for life and the concept of building something new, another family, had been a way for him to heal and accept his fate. But it had been out of his head as soon as he'd been home again and it turned out that Laira hadn't been pregnant. He'd been relieved back then. Being back on SG-1 and going through the gate just didn't leave any room for a family. He had lived the life of a soldier who'd been away from home far too often when Charlie was little. There was no way he'd do that again.

But Danny had fallen from the sky, right into Jack's lap. He had laughed and chattered and snuggled his way into Jack's heart from day one. Where I go, you go. That's what he had promised his star child. He would have made it work somehow. Retire if he had to. Even when Daniel had kind of hinted at the possibility of descending, Jack had expected to take Danny home with him.

Had hoped he would take him home. He hadn't really planned beyond actually getting home. But it had been in the back of his mind. He hadn't been all too eager to go back to his old life anyway.

And now... Daniel was back and...

"You have to promise me not to hurt him again," Danny's voice pulled him out of his stupor. "I don't mean arguing. We do that all the time. But you always have to make up." The kid was looking at him expectantly now.

He tenderly stroked the soft, blond hair. "Always." He cleared his throat. "Hey, I'm good at making up."

"No, you're not."

Jack snorted. "Okay, so, maybe, no, I'm not. But we always... almost always...made up before, right? Sort of."

"Remember weed-planet?"

"Ye-ah..." Jack wasn't sure how he felt about Danny remembering THAT, but the boy's next words quickly made it clear he wasn't talking about the sex.

"You had a joining. You promised each other you would never break that bond. You have to make up and not hurt anymore, please?" Danny reached up and placed his palm on Jack's heart...

With this I'll be yours, our souls will be bonded forever and our hearts will be one. The light in Daniel's eyes, the pureness of his feelings for Jack, the blue paint and the flowers. And Jack's willingness to follow Daniel anywhere, anytime, to be there for him and with him, always...

...He covered Danny's hand with his own. "We'll make it work whether he has his memories or not. You don't have to do this, kiddo."

"But he's not whole without me. Oma says he's not s'pposed to be without me forever. I have to go back."

"Danny..."

"I didn't want to. Oma says it won't hurt, but I didn't want to stop being me. Teal'c would say I'm a hassac." He hung his head again and tried to pull his hand away, but Jack held on to it.

"Danny Jackson, you're not a hassac. You're the bravest little guy I've met." He reached down with his other hand and gently tapped Danny's chin. When their eyes met, Jack nodded. "That's better. Now, to quote a good friend of mine; there has to be another way."

Danny shook his head.

A shadow darkened the sunlight falling through the exit. "They told me this Oma character is an entity of great power. I guess she has to be if she's able to give people new bodies and 'split' them."

"Yeah, but she's very picky about when and how to use those cool powers," Jack muttered.

Daniel crouched in front of them and Jack felt the small part of Doctor Jackson freeze beside him, then relax again.

"What exactly did Oma say, Danny?" the grown-up version asked kindly.

Jack, still holding the boy's hand, gave it an encouraging squeeze.

"She said I have to re-join you 'cause you need what's in my mind. She said to give you back what's yours and not to be afraid." Danny squirmed and sniffed. "I asked her if I couldn't just show you like I showed it all to Jack, but she said that's not good enough."

"Why not?"

The star child shrugged one shoulder. "'cause."

Daniel nodded. "I see. Not much to work with here, huh? What's going to happen if we won't do this? Did she say?"

"You'll grow all sad and sadder and then you'll just fade." Suddenly the star child let out a small chuckle. "She said something funny, too."

"What's that?" Daniel asked.

"She said you're like Tin Man. I didn't know she read the Wizard of Oz. Isn't that funny?"

"Who's...Tin Man?" Daniel asked, confused, and Jack felt a sharp sting of realization that this man who looked like Daniel and talked like Daniel didn't have any memories of actually being Daniel. Or of all those years they'd spent together chasing the bad guys and sharing Oz references.

"He's from a story Jack loves. Tin Man wanted to go to the great wizard of Oz 'cause he had no heart and he wanted one so badly so he could feel and stuff," Danny explained.

ooo

Daniel blinked. "That's..."

The man they called Jack gave him a long look and asked in a very soft voice. "That's how you feel right now?"

"I..." How could he put in words how he felt? How could this guy, this stranger, even begin to understand how Daniel felt? He didn't even understand it himself. Yet... "Yeah. A little like that."

As if there was nothing of significance, nothing to hold on to; simply because Daniel didn't remember anything that could possibly be important to him. There was nothing but a bleak void. No familiarity, no structures.

Jack nodded. "Nothing of what T and Carter told you make any sense?"

Daniel shrugged helplessly. "This whole ascending to a higher plane of existence thing... and coming back from it. It should probably freak me out, but it doesn't. It feels... real. But all the terms, names and places they have given me..." Daniel shook his head and held out his hands, palms up. "I'm like an empty vessel."

"Like Tin Man," Jack concluded and Daniel could see something in the older man's brown eyes. Sadness? Worry?

"You know... not so long ago none of us knew who we really were. We all lost our memories, too. But someone gave us new ones instead. Filled that empty space up with pretty pictures and stuff we thought we'd done or seen, place we've been. None of that ever really happened," Jack continued.

"Yes. Teal'c and Sam told me."

"Look, I don't know how Oma managed to make two of you or how you got her to do it. But I'm sure of one thing; this was your choice. You wanted to help us. To get us back together and trigger our memories. You came down from the stars in this reincarnation," Jack gave the small boy beside him a gentle squeeze, "to be with us and to see us through it. And whatever happens, we're right here with you. Even if it means nothing to you, you have to believe that."

Last night, Teal'c had talked about hope and strength and assured him he was among friends. Family. Daniel had felt the sincerity and the truth of that, but he hadn't been able to grasp the essence of it.

Now, as his eyes locked with Jack O'Neill's, he could actually sense a shared bond of something strong and powerful, something that belonged only to them... It was damaged, but not broken... And there was a world of pain in the colonel's gaze, paired with barely concealed desperation, but also a flicker of hopefulness.

...Why don't you stick around for a while? Christmas? Groundhog day?...

Daniel grasped for those words surfacing from a deep, empty well that was his memories, and tried to get a hold of them, put a picture with them. Jack's voice.

"You..." He licked his lips. "You asked me to come back once before."

"I did."

"I almost..." A sharp jolt surged through his head. Daniel's hands jerked upwards and pressed against his temples. He sank to his knees, trying to keep in a whimper as his head seemed to swell and explode. The world slowed down and was bathed in a haze of red, hot pain as he toppled forward...

"Daniel!" He was grabbed by his shoulders and held upright. "Daniel, talk to me! What's wrong?!"

"He has to stop!" Danny yelled. "He has to stop fighting it! They don't want him to 'member anything! He has to stop trying!"

Their voices were far away and distorted, barely reaching him through the fire spreading all over his brain, consuming him. He was going to die, he was going to melt like that witch in the story...the story...the story he couldn't remember. The fire flared up even higher, he could feel the heat and the destruction in every nerve of his body. Still he tried to hold on to that one single fragment of memory, not willing to let it go...

..."Why don't you stick around for a while?"

"I can't, really."

"You just did."

"Special occasion."

"Christmas?"

"No."

"Groundhog Day?"...

...There was a deeper meaning to those words. They were like a code for... for...

"Daniel!"

"Jack, do something! Make him stop thinking!"

"How!"

"I dunno! Smack him! Tickle him!"

He was pulled forward. Hands on his face, covering his own against his skull. A touch against his lips, barely noticeable at first, but growing more firm, asking permission to enter. When Daniel gave in to it, when he let it happen, all thinking stopped. The memory slipped away, but the fire retreated as well, pulled back like water on a tide, replaced by a sensation that drowned out everything else.

As they parted, Jack moved their hands away from Daniel's head, to his lap, but didn't let go. Their foreheads touched and Daniel could hear their joined breathing and feel his heart racing in his chest.

"Don't do that again," Jack rasped out.

"They put a lock on it," Daniel ground out. "When I am getting too close to..."

"Shhh. Don't." A kiss was pressed to his brow and he felt Jack's lips moving against his skin. "No more hard thinking."

"How do I stop thinking? How do I stop trying to remember?" Daniel murmured.

"I'll just keep kissing you every time you start."

"All the time? Even in front of General Hammond?" Danny piped up curiously, causing them to straighten up quickly.

Jack cleared his throat. "Well, maybe not... in front of the general."

An awkward silence followed as they sat on the hard ground, staring at one another, still holding hands. Daniel could feel the warmth of the sunlight caressing his back while his face was in the cool shadows of the tunnel they were in.

He took a deep breath. "So, what now?"

"Oma said the Others don't know about me, She said I can slip past the barrier they set up and give it all back to you and they won't know." Danny reluctantly left his safe spot by Jack's side and came to stand to Daniel's left. "I will help you."

"No. I won't let you do this," Daniel said firmly. "I can make new memories." He laced his fingers with Jack's, feeling the connection, the belonging. "We can make new ones. I won't be sad and I won't fade."

"But you have to remember. You have to go back to being on SG-1. Jack, tell him. Tell him you need him to be on the team," Danny blurted out.

Jack opened his mouth, then closed it.

"I'll re-learn anything I need to know," Daniel said.

"And every time you get close to remembering something you'll start seizing and scaring the crap out of me. What if that happens in the field or what if I can't pull you out of it the next time?" Jack asked quietly. "How many of these... attacks can you take?"

"I don't know. But..."

"He's right, Daniel. We need you. I need you. On the team, in my life. Everywhere."

"Even if it means losing Danny?"

Jack's throat was working hard and his eyes darkened as he seemed to age within seconds under the weight of a decision Daniel knew was nearly impossible to make. "I..."

"I get to decide. Not Jack. Or you," Danny said sharply. He bit his bottom lip and a frown crinkled his brow. "I'm not scared anymore." He looked at Jack. "You're not losing me. I'm just inside him, that's all."

Jack didn't reply, he merely nodded and let go of Daniel's hands.

Daniel watched them hug hard. Finally Jack kissed the top of Danny's head and released him. "What now?"

"You don*t have to stay, Jack," Danny said, his voice gentle and tender, as if he was the parent trying to reassure his child.

"I know," Jack replied lightly and rose to his feet. But instead of leaving he just crossed his arms and leaned back against the tunnel wall again.

Danny turned to Daniel and held out his arms. "Hug me."

Realizing he didn't have a say in this, Daniel embraced the child; a warm solid body, a fast beating heart. A life he was about to end to become whole again.

No, he thought, I can't. But just as he started pushing Danny away, he was literally knocked out of his own body along with the kid. Sucked through his own skull – or so it felt – and suddenly they were hovering in mid-air and Daniel could see their bodies lying on the ground and Jack kneeling between them, but staring at the ceiling wide eyed.

'Don't let go of me,' Danny said in Daniel's head. They were entwined, spirals of vibrating energy. Two life forces flowing back together to become one. 'It's starting now.'

'I'm sorry,' Daniel replied sadly.

'I had a lot of fun.'

Everything came flowing back to him - to where it belonged - like a gentle wave, without overpowering him. Daniel expected the firewall to flare up again, but that never happened. His empty well was filled with everything that was Daniel Jackson, with everything he'd ever felt and thought and done. The good, the bad, the sad and the angry times. The heartaches, the victories, the losses, the gains. Light and shadow.

He and Danny moved in a circle like a slow-motion spinning top, merging back together... And with the return of the knowledge about being ascended he began to look for a loophole, a way to fix this, something...

'You'll get my own memories, too.' Danny's mental voice was fainter now, but excited and cheerful. 'From when we were sep'rated. We can keep them and write them in our journal!'

'Do you trust me, Danny?'

There was bubbling laughter, carefree and wonderful. 'That's a stupid question. Do you trust yourself?'

Daniel summoned his own ancient powers one last time; his will, his strength and the faith in his knowledge that he was doing the right thing. After all, Tin Man already had had a heart when they reached Oz. He just hadn't known. But Daniel knew he had a heart, and he knew whom it belonged to. He'd gotten back everything he needed now.

Hail, Dorothy!

With a blast of his own energy he pushed as hard as he could.

II

Daniel came around with a choking breath and a cough. His eyes snapped open, huge and bulging. For a second Jack thought they were going to pop out just like that. Then the moment was over and Daniel gazed at him, his pupils dilated as if he was drugged.

"Jack!"

"Hey, there." Jack gripped a shoulder to steady his friend when he sat up abruptly.

"Oh. God." Daniel buried his head in his hands.

"Headache?"

"No, just... dizzy. I'm fine." He took a deep breath and slowly raised his head again. "Danny?"

Jack had already moved to the small still form, automatically feeling for a pulse. "Shouldn't his body just... disappear? Yours did when you left." His fingertips kept searching, pressing into the soft skin at the kid's neck. Daniel took one of Danny's hands and felt his wrist. Their eyes met and he shook his head.

Jack cupped the boy's face. It was still warm. He pulled up one eyelid, but there was no reaction, no narrowing of the pupil. Maybe it was just too dark in here... but Jack knew better. He gathered the star child into his arms and stood.

"Jack."

"Just... give me a moment." He walked away and stepped out into the light of day. When his eyes had adjusted to the brightness he took the steps to the highest tier and walked the rotunda until he reached a spot where he had a view over the town and the ocean.

There he sat down, cradling the boy to his chest, and allowed himself to grieve.

He hadn't given himself that moment after Charlie died because he had believed he didn't have the right to mourn openly for his son. Didn't have the right to let even part of his agony out. He had bottled it up, nurtured it with his self loathing and guilt. He had believed he deserved to suffer, to never forgive himself. Maybe deep down he still believed that even though the edges around Charlie's death had softened a bit and he had let go of some of the pain.

Jack rocked the star child gently, wishing it was night. There should be stars all over the sky so that he could imagine Danny was one of them. He fingered the soft strands of blond hair at Danny's temple, brushed his hand over the round head. The old lullaby popped into his mind and he wondered if Danny would have liked being sung to.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are...

It wouldn't have been pretty. Jack didn't have a particularly dulcet singing voice. But maybe it would have made Danny laugh. He had loved to laugh so much.

Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky...

Jack felt the tears at the back of his throat, but they didn't fall. Crying had never come easily to him, something else that had been drummed into him from an early age. Boys didn't cry. Men sucked it up and moved on. He had never passed on those 'pearls of wisdom' to his own kid, but he couldn't change how he'd been brought up and how it affected him.

It was easier to be angry at Oma for making him bury another child. The least she could have done was to make the body go.

A shadow fell over Danny's face and he didn't have to look up to know who settled down beside him.

"I'm sorry," Daniel offered softly.

"He loved life," Jack said. "Everything about it. He was just busting with it."

"I know. I can feel that. It's... in me now."

Jack looked at Daniel and recognized the difference. He couldn't pinpoint it, but it was there. Maybe it was the smile. It couldn't conceal the sadness in his eyes, but it was a typical Daniel-smile. A little hesitant, a bit shy. The aura of being totally lost that had surrounded him before was gone.

"It worked. You... you're you again."

The smile died. "Yes. Jack, listen, this is my fault and I'm..."

"It's not your fault. It was his choice and he was right."

"No, you don't understand. I... I interrupted the process. If I hadn't, maybe his body would be gone, too."

"What are you saying?"

"I... I tried to save him. I think I made it much worse instead. Especially for you." Daniel blinked against the sunlight as he stared across the valley and the ocean.

Jack gazed down at the boy. His boy. Danny's eyes were closed and he appeared to be sleeping, snuggled against Jack's chest. Peaceful. "Maybe," he said after a moment. "But this body was part of him, too. Maybe he'd like it to stay here."

"Yeah." Then, out of the blue, Daniel said, "He loved you so much, Jack. I think you should know that." After another heartbeat, he added, very quietly, "And so do I."

Even in his state of anguish those words reached him and he finally wanted to say them back. He had kept them inside for so long, had fought them for so long. But before he could open his mouth, he felt a tingling sensation all over his body, like goosebumps. As if grains of sand rippled through him. There was a stirring in his arms and...

"Jack? I saw an angel," Danny said, sleepily knuckling his eyes.

Jack was too stunned to say or do anything but hold onto the kid. It was Daniel who recovered first. He bent over Danny and asked, "Did the angel talk to you?"

"She said to tell you something." Danny frowned hard as he tried to remember. "She said what you did was kinda naughty, but she'll forgive you 'cause you meant well. You're not s'pposed to make new candles when you dunno how to mold the wax, but she fixed it."

Daniel shook his head. "I had to try."

"What... what exactly did you do?" Jack asked.

"I thought if I sent Danny's spirit back into his body just before he gave me his 'own' memories, the ones he made on Ba'th, the ones that aren't connected to me... I thought it would save him." A grin blossomed on his face, this time reaching his eyes, too. "I guess I was a bit off the scale, but she..."

"Fixed it," Jack finished for him. He felt pleasantly light-headed all of a sudden. Thank you, Oma, he thought. Maybe she wasn't such a bitch after all. Or maybe fixing Danny just fit in her agenda somehow. Maybe she had nothing better to do. Whatever...

"Is the angel gone now?" Daniel asked.

Danny nodded. "She was very pretty and shiny. She said her name's Oma and you're friends. She wishes you well on your journey. I don't know what that means, but it sounds nice."

"Yeah, it sure does."

Jack helped Danny to sit on his knee. "What do you remember? From before you saw the angel?"

He tilted his head and gave it some thought. "I was ex-er-ci-sing with Teal'c so he can get better, 'cause he's sick from something. Then I went into the tunnel to explore." He bit his lip and worried his thumb with his forefinger. "I'm not supposed to go in the tunnel. Am I in trouble?"

Jack waggled his eyebrows and Daniel bit back a smile. "I'll let it go this time. What happened in the tunnel? Do you know?"

"I met the angel there. I know I fell from the sky and I've been with you for a while. I thought I had to go back to the stars, but the angel said I have my own journey, now. Though she wouldn't tell where I'm going."

"You're with me," Jack said.

"With us," Daniel corrected.

"Yeah. With us. Wherever we go, you go. What do you think?"

Danny nodded enthusiastically and held up his hand. Jack high-fived him, then Daniel did.

Now that the deal was sealed, Jack grabbed the star child around the middle as he surged to his feet. He swung him up into the air and started spinning them both around until Danny's laughter was heard far and wide across the ruins.

As they left the theater, swinging a still giggling Danny back and forth between them, Jack asked Daniel, "So you remember everything now? No blank spaces?"

"Actually, now that you ask... I don't remember much from my time with Oma." He frowned, then sighed. "I guess she made sure I won't try making new candles and screwing up again."

Jack grinned. "It's probably for your own good."

"Ye-ah."

They found Carter and Teal'c by the shelter. Teal'c was just starting a fire and Carter was helping a very familiar red-headed boy unloading Thor.

"Mikele!" Danny squealed and took off with lightning speed to greet his friend and almost toppled them both over as he clung to the older boy. "Did you bring Mania and Ranja?"

"No, but they will come later. Jorge will come too and Paolo and some of the other kids," Mikele laughed, hugging the kid back.

"Can we play ball?" Danny tugged at Mikele's arm.

"Not now. I have work to do. Maybe when the others are here, okay?"

Jack took pity on Mikele and plucked Danny off him. "Why don't you help Carter with the food, buddy?"

"Ohhh, food! Does that mean we can have breakfast soon? I'm staving!" The little whirlwind was off without a backward glance.

"Breakfast is just the thing," Jack decided. "Coffee. You brought coffee, right?"

Mikele grinned at him and nodded. "A whole bag. Water and a pot, too."

"Good man. We need lots of coffee. See my friend here? That's Daniel – and he doesn't even acknowledge a new day has dawned until he's had his first coffee."

Mikele gave Daniel a curious look. "Your friends are very nice people, Jack. Though the one who looks like a sinner is a bit scary."

"He's not a sinner," Daniel assured the boy. "You don't have to be afraid."

"I'm not. Friends of Jack's are my friends," Mikele said smartly, then grinned. "I better go and help with the picks and the lamps. I brought shovels, too. Thor was not happy about the load he had to carry."

"Wait." Jack put a hand on his shoulder. "You said the other kids will stop by later. Didn't Hadis tell you not to let anyone know we're back?"

The freckled preteen shrugged. "Yeah. But I figured, with all the stuff he made me get for you, that you're looking for something down in the catacombs. I thought you could use help from anyone who can be trusted so I told them to come."

Jack raised his left eyebrow. "Oh? Assumptions?"

"Am I right or what?" Mikele gave him a cheeky grin.

Jack nodded reluctantly. "And since when do you trust Jorge?"

"You trust him. And," Mikele blushed, "I've spent a lot of time working with him. He's still a mule's ass, but he's not so bad, really." He brightened suddenly and added, "We have so much clay, Jack, we can make a huge stock over winter. And Hadis is taking a lot of it for his shop next season."

Jack watched him go and couldn't help feeling a little smug. He loved it when a plan worked out.

ooo

After a breakfast that was more than opulent for someone who had spent the last two weeks living on berries, meat and herbal tea, they sat around the fire and sipped strong black coffee. Daniel savored his like he hadn't had any coffee in...

Wait, he hadn't had any coffee in a very long time. Jack glanced at his archeologist. It was amazing and a bit scary how fast they had all gotten used to Daniel sitting here with them. It seemed so natural. Normal. Perfectly right. Even though he hadn't been around for months.

We just got him back last night, Jack thought in wonder. And that wasn't true, either. They really only got him back just two hours or so ago. It was mind boggling. But SG-1 had learned to take mind boggling as it came and deal with it.

So while Carter and Teal'c didn't exactly know what had happened in that tunnel and how Danny could still be with them while Daniel had gotten his life back, they didn't ask much. They knew they were going to hear the whole story eventually. In the meantime they had their small, quiet 'welcome home, Daniel' celebration with a picnic and coffee.

It was nice having this get-together. It was like having a team night.

More and more of the local kids had showed up by now. Danny and the twins were playing catch. Mikele, Paolo and some of the other game-kids kicked the ball around. Jorge's group had gathered around Carter and Teal'c. From what Jack could tell they were discussing the layout of the catacombs.

Everyone took from the food until it was gone and that was okay because Jack knew they'd have to travel light. No unnecessary luggage. They'd make it through on the other side or they wouldn't. If they got caught and arrested they'd probably end up back here without a clue and a new set of memories in their heads.

A couple of weeks ago he wouldn't have minded forgetting again. But things had changed and he wasn't going to give up his identity, his life, without a fight. Wouldn't allow them to make him forget Daniel or his team again. He wouldn't let them take the kid from him either. These were the people he called his family. Not just his unit, his comrades in the field. Not just some team he was leading. He hadn't known what to go back to besides being a soldier and saving the world. A world that hadn't meant anything to him while he still felt that Ba'th was more a home to him than Earth.

Now...

"A coffee for your thoughts," Daniel teased, re-filling Jack's almost empty mug.

"Just thinking."

"That's unusual."

Jack smirked. "It happens sometimes. I guess it'd be less painful if I had a brain, eh?"

"Poor Scarecrow. All that stuffing in your head," Daniel teased. Yep, he was back all right.

"I would not be just a nothin', my head all full of stuffin', my heart all full of pain," Jack recited, then went on, "Perhaps I'd deserve you, and be even worthy of you, if I only had a brain."

Daniel put his coffee mug down and stared at him. "Wow. That's... deep."

"When Cromwell left me in Iraq and they locked me away for four months, the one thing that kept me alive was my family waiting for me at home. My kid, my wife... they got me through. Of course I'm too stubborn to die anyway, but... you get my gist." Jack sipped his coffee, his gaze focused on the smoldering fire.

Beside him Daniel said nothing, but Jack knew his friend was waiting patiently, his whole attention tuned on him. He'd never been known for spouting words of big feelings or wisdom, but every once in a while things had to be said. And he'd been putting this off far too long.

"When Ba'al stuck me in that sarcophagus over and over again... I've never been so close to breaking before. You were gone. I didn't have that special someone waiting at home for me. The one making it worthwhile to hang in there no matter what. And then, when you showed up in that cell and it was really you... not a delusion..."

"You fought me. You always do. I wanted to take you with me, but you refused," Daniel said quietly.

"I'm not made for being glowy, you know that."

There was a long pause, then Daniel sighed. "Yes, I know that. You're standing in your own way too often. But, apparently, it didn't work out for me either."

"You came back for us. Again. They think that's a bad thing? That's their loss."

"Thank you, but that's exactly why I'm not meant to be glowy. I can't let go of my ties, my humanity. They are looking for human potential, for pureness. But they won't allow anyone to use that potential. They are right because they refuse to play gods. But I'd rather be down here doing whatever I can with limitations, then be up there not doing anything at all." He ducked his head and gazed into his coffee mug. "But that's not the point here. Or what this is about right now."

Jack was tempted to play the dumb act to stall, but decided against it. "I knew I wouldn't make it in the glowy club. Hell, if you aren't good enough, then who is? Besides, I screwed up everything between us. I didn't trust myself not to screw up eternity with you, too. Thought you'd be better off without me."

"You really believe that, do you? That you're not good enough for me?" Daniel's voice was a mix of surprise and mild irritation.

"I didn't think I could be what you wanted me to be. That I could... give that much. Me trying and failing didn't seem worth fucking up the team in the process." He winced at his own words, at how pathetic they sounded. But he pushed through relentlessly. "I never thought I could love a guy. Sex, yeah. But not all the touchy feely, emotional stuff. Not with a guy. It was freaking me out. And you were so damn sure about all this."

"The only thing I was sure of were my feelings for you. Even though you tried to go out of your way to be a jerk so you could stay in your closet. Even though you're a cynical SOB who hides the fact that he's got a pretty big heart so well that he sometimes forgets it himself."

"Yeah, see? What would you want with someone like that?" Jack asked as he poured the remainder of his coffee into the fire and placed the mug on the ground.

Daniel threw up his hands. "I have no idea. Maybe I have a soft spot for irritating, pretending-to-be-straight military men."

"I'm done pretending," Jack said.

"You're full of surprises today." There was still irritation, but also a touch of genuine admiration as far as Jack could read Daniel's voice.

"I'm done fighting you, too." He finally faced the man who, when it came down to it, had been Jack's significant other for years even before weed-planet actually happened. Daniel returned his gaze calmly, openly. Curious. "When you busted me out of Ba'al's little fortress, when I asked you to stay and you didn't," Jack said, each word laced with the anguished memories, "I realized how much you being with me in that cell mattered. And what having to let you go again was doing to me. Not right away, but every day a little bit more."

Daniel's eyes softened as he leaned into Jack, whispering, "Thank you. I guess I needed you to tell me. Just once."

"I'm not done," Jack murmured as he slid his palm around Daniel's neck to keep him right there, close enough. Their lips met and Daniel pulled back just a fraction, a question in his eyes.

Here? Are you sure?

Jack nodded lightly and captured his mouth once again, more fiercely. Daniel melted into the kiss and for that moment in time the outside world was gone, forgotten. They were in their very own micro cosmos where it was only them. And that feeling of belonging.

With this I'll be yours, our souls will be bonded forever and our hearts will be one.

Just that.

Clapping, cheering and the occasional whistle from their audience pulled them back into awareness, but they parted slowly, holding each other's gaze. Daniel smiled, his whole face alight with it. "So, you decided that if you have to come out, you'll do it all the way and with a bang?"

"I figured I better get this right from the start," Jack grinned – and stole another kiss