innocense is bliss

by demonspawn187

AU Can jack take care of an emotionally damaged daniel, or will he cause more damage in the process. Warning: Non Con

1. Chapter 1

Innocence IS BLISS

Part 1

"Danyael, its time to come home."

"But I'm having fun, cant I stay for a little while longer, Hassan hasn't finished his story."

" No, it is time to come home, you are worrying our father, and sister says that you forgot to bring water again." Skaara gave Daniel a firm look, the one he always gave him when he had done something that they both knew he would be getting in trouble.

"Why would he need to bring water, we are still in the village. Besides, I have plenty, as does everyone else." Hassan spoke up.

"That isn't the point, he still left without telling anyone, and we were worried. Come, Danyael." Daniel looked at his brother, and decided he didn't want to argue anymore. Getting up from where he'd been sitting he turned to Hassan. "Bye Hassan, I'll come back later."

"Very well Danyael, try to stay out of trouble. I'll finish the story during our next visit."

Daniel and Skaara left the tent and headed towards theirs. Daniel kept silent; he could tell that Skaara wasn't very happy with him.

" Is father angry with me?"

Skaara looked at his brother. Even though Daniel was older than him, he still considered him a little brother. It was hard to consider him anything else. He was too much like a child. At one point he'd been normal, but ever since he had fallen and struck his head, he'd been much more like a child, and it was easier to think of him as a little brother. Besides, he was still a virgin, he'd asked his sister, and she'd told him that Daniel had admitted that he had never been with anyone. This made it even easier to think of him as a little brother.

"Yes, he is. Anything could have happened, and you didn't even tell us where you were going. We have told you many times not to leave without saying anything"
Daniel hung his head. He didn't like it when he made his family upset, he loved them and it made him sad. " I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare anyone; I just wanted to hear the rest of Hassan's story. He was telling me about his family I didn't mean to scare anyone."

Skaara sighed and shook his head.

"I know, here, we are home, go talk to father. Go on, he's waiting." Daniel walked in and waited for his father to acknowledge him.

"Danyael, where were you?"
"I was with Hassan, he was telling-

"What have we told you about just leaving without saying anything. We don't just tell you these things because we enjoy it. We are trying to keep you safe."

"Safe from what. We know everyone in the village, and Hassan is my friend."
"Never the less, you need to remember to tell us where you are going." Kasuf looked at his adopted son, he patted him on the shoulder and held his face. He loved the man just as much as he loved his two natural children. If he hadn't been for the accident that had left him this way, he would have asked Daniel to marry his daughter. He was a noble and kind man. You couldn't ask for a better person. He still had all of the qualities that made him unique, the child-like curiosity and thirst for knowledge was still there. Just now it truly was child-like.

"But Hassan would never do anything to hurt me, and I didn't leave the village."

" I know, just try to remember to tell us where you are going, okay."
"Okay, father. Can I go back to Hassan's now?"

With an exasperated sigh Kasuf nodded his head and waved Daniel off. With a delighted smile on his face Daniel hugged his father and ran off towards the other end of the village. Not watching where he was, Daniel ran into his sister. Reaching out a hand to steady them both,

"Where are you going in such a rush, little brother?"

"Back to Hassan's, he's going to finish his story."
"Did you talk to father."
Rolling his eyes Daniel nodded his head.

"Yes, we just finished." He squirmed and tried to go around his sister.

"Did you listen to what he told you?"

"Yes. Remember to tell someone where I am going before I leave."
Smiling she sent him on his way.

"Remember to be back before supper."
"Okay."

Going into the tent that the family shared, Sha're and her sister-in-law began to get everything ready for the evening meal. Skaara and his wife had married over a month ago. They had their own home next to his father's, but they shared all of their meals, so Skaara and Asashi spent much of their day with Kasuf and Shar'e.

Asashi smiled at her sister-in-law.

"How is Daniel, I heard you talking to him."

"Same as always, sometimes it's hard to remember that he is a man and not a little boy."

"Except for his body he is a little boy. His mind is that of a child. Skaara told me what happen. Was it the fall that made his mind like that or the fever?"
" We don't know. It was probably both. At first we thought it was temporary, but after many days, we realized that it wasn't. "
"I don't understand. Many people have had fever and it has never had that effect on them."

" The healer thinks that it is because Danyael isn't from here."

"Does he know that?"
"Yes, but I do not think he understands. Besides, Skaara and I love just as much as we would love a natural brother. And our father feels just as strongly."

Asashi and Shar'e continued to talk while they prepared the evening meal. Kasuf and his father sat outside of their homes. The sun over Abdyos was setting. The sky was a brilliant shade of orange and red. Kasuf looked at the sky.

"Your brother should be on his way home."
"I know." Skaara turned to his father

"Father, can I say something?"
"You do not have to ask me, son, you are married now, and therefore you are a man. You can say what you please."

"I do not trust Hassan."

"What do you mean, do you have a reason for this?"
"No, but I have seen the way he looks at Danyael, I do not think that he should be alone with him. My brother does not notice these things."
"We have no reason to think ill of Hassan, and your brother thinks highly of him. Unless you are given a reason to think otherwise, leave it alone. Danyael is after all a man, he can take care of himself"
"I hope you are right."

Skaara and his father looked up towards the village. Daniel was coming back from the other side.

"Here is your brother, keep your thoughts to yourself. You do not want to upset him."

Daniel came running up to the family camp. The look on his face was hard to miss. He looked like he wanted to cry, but he was trying not to.

"Danyael, what's wrong little brother?"
"Nothing, I just don't feel very well right now." As he spoke, he didn't meet his brother's eyes, he just went into their tent and laid down. Skaara looked at his father.

" I wonder what's wrong with him."
"He already said that he doesn't feel well, perhaps he will in the morning."
Kasuf dismissed his son's action and went into the dwelling to wait for dinner. Skaara on the other hand thought that there was something wrong with his little brother. He had never acted this way before, and it worried him. He decided to leave it be for now and worry about it later.

The villagers gathered around the gate as the chevrons activated. They watched as the splash came and Jack O'Neill stepped through. The rest of his team followed. Captain Carter and the linguist the base had given him for this mission tumbled through the gate and landed on their asses.

"Helluva ride isn't it."
"Why are we here anyway. I mean, what good is this going to do."

"I don't know, the brass wanted us here, so we're going to look around, talk to the natives, besides, one of our people from the original mission should still be here."

"Do you mean Dr. Jackson, sir."
The resident linguist, Dr. Leeson, made himself known.

"I was under the impression that he died during the original expedition."
"Yeah, well reports aren't always accurate. Could you make with the whole first contact thing and ask the nice people if they have seen Dr. Jackson."

Stumbling over the dialect, he asked the natives if they had seen Daniel.

"Well?" Jack asked impatiently.

"They said that he's with his family in the village, as far as I can tell."
"As far as you can tell?"
"Well, it's a very obscure dialect, and I'm no expert."
"Can you get one of them to lead us to the village?"
Leeson turned to the man he'd been talking to and asked.

"He says that it isn't very far, just over the ridge."

"Thank the man and we'll be on our way."
The team headed towards the village. The sun beating down in their eyes the whole time. Jack was thankful that he remembered to wear his sunglasses.

"Look, I can see the village from here, it wasn't that far, you can see the gate from, hell I bet you can hear it."

"Well let's go see if the rest of the locals know we're here." The team walked through the village. Many of the villagers stared at them; some even came up to them.

"It looks like they still remember you, sir."
"Well let's use it to our advantage. Ask them if they've seen our guy."
Leeson stared up from the campsite he'd been giving all of his attention.

Jack rolled his eyes.

"I said to ask them where Dr. Jackson is."

"Oh, yes, of course."
Leeson turned to one of the men and asked his question.

"He says that his family lives at the other end of the village, he says they will know where he is."
"Well, lets go."

Walking through the village, the team looked at everyone going about their business.

"Why would Dr. Jackson want to stay here?"
"He was an archeologist; he was living what he studied. Why wouldn't he?"

"Well, let's see if he's changed his mind." Just as he finished his sentence Jack saw Kasuf

"Hey, I know that guy, he'll know where Daniel is. HEY!"

Kasuf turned around and saw Jack.

Coming towards them he started to talk rapidly. Jack turned to Leeson.

"Well, what is he saying?"
"Hold on a minute." Leeson listened for a minute, then turned to Jack.

"He says that he thought you might come back. Daniel is in their home. As far as I can tell, he said something about their being an accident not to be surprised."
Kasuf led them to his home. inside Daniel was still sleeping. When the light shined into the tent, Daniel stirred and woke up.

"It's just me son, I have visitors with me."

Daniel didn't even seem as if he heard his father.

"These people came through the chappa'ia. Remember when I told you that you came from a place distant from here?"
Daniel just continued to stare at the canvas

"Well, these people come from the same place. Do you understand?"
Again Daniel just stared.

"I need to talk to them, we will be in your brother's if you need me, okay?"

"Hey, where are we going?" jack asked.

Kasuf turned to the frantic colonel.

Leeson translated

"He said that we are just going to another tent so we can talk in peace"

"What did he say to him before he left out of here?"
Leeson turned to Kasuf.

'He said that he told Daniel who we were and where we were going."
"Did he say why he's all zonked out like that?"
"No sir, not yet."
Kasuf turned to the strangers spoke.

"What did he just say?"
"He wants to know if we plan on taking Daniel back with us."
"Why?"
Leeson relayed the question to Kasuf.

"He says that we might be able to take better care of him. Apparently there was an accident shortly after the first team left. Daniel fell and struck his head on a rock. There was some sort of infection or fever. As far as I can make out he was sick for a long time. When he recovered he suffered from what basically amounts to brain damage, apparently he's very child like now."

Jack looked at Kasuf

"Why does he think we can take better care of him, there's something he isn't telling us."
Leeson told Kasuf what Jack had said.

"He says there is. He says that you might want to sit down for this."

As Kasuf talked, Leeson translated

"He says that even before the accident, Daniel was a very trusting person. He says now being the way that he is makes it impossible for him to tell when people wish ill of him. He makes friends easily and one of the men, in he village, Hassan, took a liking to him."

"I'm not gong to like this am I?" Jack spoke for the first time since Kasuf had started talking.

" I don't think so. He says one-day Daniel came back from Hassan's. He says that Daniel was acting strangely. It seems that his son pointed this out, but he dismissed it. Yesterday when Daniel was late coming home his brother went looking for him. He went by Hassan's, since that was where he usually was."
Leeson paused in the middle of his narrative.

"Are you sure you want to hear the rest, colonel O'Neill?"
"I'm pretty sure I already have an idea of what happen, go on."
"Very well. When Skaara walked up to the tent he heard noises, so he went in."
Leeson took a deep breath and continued.

"Hassan and two other men besides Daniel were in there with him. They'd stripped him of his clothes and were, forcing themselves, onto him. Daniel was crying and screaming, but one of them was covering his mouth. Skaara ran into the tent and stopped them. They were executed a few hours later."
"Why were they executed, they didn't deny it" Carter asked

After asking Carter's question, Leeson gave her the answer

"No, in fact they tried to say that Daniel consented, which is the main reason they were found guilty. He's been withdrawn and distant ever since all of this happen."
"Well hell, he's in shock, I think that it's safe to say that Daniel will be coming back with us."

"I would have to agree sir, we can do more for him than they can here."
"Thank you for the obvious, Carter."

"I'll call radio for a med team."

Carter left the tent and went outside to radio base.

Jack looked at the other man. He saw the hurt look on the man's face.

Kasuf began to speak again.

"He didn't want to say this in front of Captain Carter. He blames himself for this. He says that if he'd paid attention to Daniel more, none of this would have happened."

Jack looked at the other man. He could what it was like to blame yourself for something horrible that happen to your children.

"Tell him that he couldn't of known what was happening. The only people at fault are the ones that took advantage of Daniel."
Leeson repeated what was said.

"He says thank you for your confidence, but it doesn't make him feel any less responsible. He also wants to know who will take care of Daniel."
"He'll be looked after. When he recovers, we'll make sure he has somewhere to live"
Leeson relayed the message.

Carter came in as Kasuf was talking.

"Sir, the med team is on its way, we need to get ready to leave. They're already through the gate."
Jack stood up and groaned as knees protested from misuse.

"Well, lets go get Daniel ready, if Kasuf wants to come, he can, tell him that."
Leeson turned to the older man and spoke.

"He says he's grateful for the offer, but that his place is here, but his family will see us off."
"I understand, well I'm going to go check on Carter."
Outside, Carter and the medical team were getting things situated. They had brought a stretcher through and were getting ready to go into the other tent.

"Carter, can I talk to you for a minute?"
She finished directing the med team and went to see what Jack wanted.

"Sir?"
"Listen, I just want to apologize for snapping at you. This whole situation is just fucked up beyond reason."
"Don't worry, sir, I wont hold it against you. I was briefing the med team, they're ready to go, we just need to get Daniel."

"Let's go then."
Carter nodded and signaled the med team to follow her.

The med team went into Skaara's tent to collect Daniel.

"Lets get him onto the stretcher." The two men lifted Daniel onto the stretcher and strapped him down.

Suddenly there was a high pitched, keening sound coming from Daniel.

"What's wrong with him, why is he making that sound." The two airmen carrying the stretcher stared at their patient.

"He's just scared." Carter bent over and tried to calm him down

"Daniel, honey we're not going to hurt you."
The noise became louder and louder until he was practically screaming.

"Should we sedate him?"

"Go ahead, it will probably make everything a lot easier."
The two medics set the stretcher down. One sergeant filled a syringe with a tranquilizer while the other held his arm. A few minutes after they administered the drug, Daniel was asleep.

"All right lets get him through the gate and back to base."
The caravan of people headed out of the village, two people carrying the stretcher that held Daniel. His sister and brother followed close behind, Shar'e carrying his bag of belongings. Skaara and Shar'e talked quietly to each other.

"Do you think this is a good idea? I don't think that we should let him go."
"Why? This time I agree with father. I think it would be best if we let the off worlders take care of Daniel. They know a lot more about than we do."
"But we are his family."
"Which is why we are going to do what is best for him and let him go."
"What will Danyael think? We haven't even thought what he will think of all of this."
"He doesn't know what's best for himself anymore. He hasn't for a long time. You and father keep forgetting that. Look at what happened when father tried to treat him like and adult."
Shar'e stopped arguing and walked beside her brother. They had reached the gate. The event horizon was shimmering in the high morning sun.

Jack stopped the party in front of the gate.

"Let's give them a chance to say goodbye before we leave."

Skaara and Shar'e stood next to their adopted brother. The man they had loved as a brother for over a year. Shar'e whispered in his ear and kissed his brow. Skaara did the same, then he nodded to Jack. The team walked through the gate with their newest addition.

Skaara and his sister stood there until the gate shut down. Then they walked home, and hoped they'd done the right thing.

SGC
With everyone safely through the gate it was shut down. General Hammond met them at the bottom of the ramp.

"What happen to Dr. Jackson, why the hell did you need a med team?"
"Sir, I think it would be best if we waited until the briefing, right now we need to get Daniel to the infirmary."

"Very well, briefing is in an hour. Dismissed."
"Thank you sir."

Jack and his team went to the locker room to shower, while Hammond made a stop at the infirmary.

The staff had already moved Daniel into a bed. They were busy giving him an exam and hooking him up to the necessary equipment.

"Where's Dr. Frasier?"
"Right here, General."
"How is Dr. Jackson?"
" I'll have a full medical report ready for the briefing. We're almost done here."

"Okay, I'll see you in 15 minutes Dr."
"Yes sir."

Hammond left the infirmary and went to briefing room. Jack and his team were already there.

"Dr. Frasier will be with us shortly, until then, Colonel, please starting the briefing."
"Thank you sir. When my team and I exited the gate there was a group of people standing near. I instructed Dr. Leeson to ask them where we could find Dr. Jackson. On of them told us that we could find him. He had an accident a while back and suffered from brain damage. This has nothing to do with his current state, however."
"What is his current state?"

Jack turned to his acting second in command and the captain took over.

"As far as I could tell sir, he's in shock, and from what Kasuf told us, I'm not surprised."

"What exactly did he tell you?"

Carter wondered if she had a right to tell the general what they had learned. It was something highly personal.

"Captain Carter."
"Sir, I don't know if I have a right to…"
"Captain, whatever you tell me will only help us in treating Dr. Jackson."

Dr. Frasier entered the briefing and took a seat next to the General.

"Apparently, Daniel- Dr. Jackson, was sexually assaulted by a group of men the day before we arrived, the attack left him in a state of shock. From what his father told us this has been going on for a while. The other day was probably just the situation at it's worst."

"How could this go for so long, why didn't Dr. Jackson do something?" the General asked.
" Soon after the original mission, Dr. Jackson suffered from a head that left him with, permanent damage. From what we were able to gather, the brain damage left him with the emotional and mental age of a child."
"Well, everything in my report corroborates this. There was bruising and tearing present his wrist and ankles The X-rays we took showed that he does have an old injury. I'm not surprised at this revelation."

"Thank you, Dr. Frasier. What do you suggest we do?"
"Right now, I think we should wait for him to come to, then go from there."
"Very well, dismissed."
They left the briefing room. Jack and Leeson went back to the locker to change into his civvies. Before leaving, Jack went to the infirmary to check on Daniel. He hadn't known him for very long, but the man had saved his life, in his mind that made him a friend.

Walking into the infirmary, Jack looked around but didn't see Daniel. The beds were empty. There were two other teams back from missions, fairing pretty well, all they had needed were routine exams. After looking around, he found Dr. Frasier

"Where's Daniel?"
"I put him in a private room. When he comes around it will be better for him. All of the noise and people in the infirmary will only scare him."
"Can I go sit with him?"
Frasier was about to say no, then she figured it couldn't hurt. She nodded her approval. Thanking her Jack went into the private room at the other end of the infirmary. Daniel was still unconscious from the sedative they had given him earlier. Not knowing what else to do, he took a seat next to the bed.

After over an hour one of the nurses told him that visiting hours were over. He got up to leave then looked at the man in the bed. For some reason he couldn't leave. Looking at the man lying in the man, something inside of him made him sit back down. He sat back in the world's most uncomfortable hospital chair and settled in for the night.

The next morning Jack woke with a jolt. Teal'c was standing over him.

" T, you can't do that."
"To what are you referring to, O'Neill?"

"Standing over people while they sleep, its creepy."

Teal'c raised his eyebrow in question. Teal'c had joined the team a few missions after the original expedition. He left the service of a reigning Goa'ould to join in what soon became an all out battle. With the cartouche they had brought back from the original expedition, they had the addresses of other planets. They had only visited Abdyos again on a whim, to see if they had missed anything. Teal'c was off world checking on his wife and son, or he would of gone on this mission with him.

"How long has he been unresponsive?"
"For about three days now. Doc says it might be a while before he comes out of it."
Unaware of what was going on around him Daniel continued to stare at nothing. Lost in a world inside his mind.

"He seems to be deeply troubled, what has occurred to put him in a state such as this?"

Knowing Teal'c, Jack didn't feel like it was prying to tell him what had happened.

"Someone he trusted took advantage of him."

Teal'c's expression changed to one of question.

" How was this able to happen? Surely a man with the intelligence I have heard people claim of Dr. Jackson would be able to avoid a situation such as this."

"That was probably true when we left him, but he had an accident, fell off of a horse or something, and well, he suffered some brain damage, from what I understand, he's a lot like a kid now. From what we were told Daniel thought the guy was his friend."
Teal'c's expression changed to one of anger.

"Someone who would take advantage of such a person is a most unsavory character, what became of this man?"

"He and a bunch of his friends were executed the day before our team got there. They were caught in the act of raping Daniel, which is what put him in this state."

"Then they have met an acceptable fate."
"Can't disagree with you there."

"If you require rest I will sit with Dr. Jackson until you return O'Neill. "
"Thanks Teal'c, you can't really get any sleep in these chairs. I'll see you later."
Teal'c nodded and O'Neill left for his quarters on base.

Two weeks in the infirmary and Daniel was still the same. Between paper work and the occasional mission, Jack still found the time to sit with him. By the third week he was moving, but not talking. Going into the fourth week Daniel decided to rejoin the land of the living.

Jack was sitting next to his bed reading the sports paper. Glancing up from the paper he noticed that Daniel wasn't staring off into space anymore. Jack stood up to stretch; Daniel's eyes followed him. Smiling, Jack sat back down.
"Welcome back, mind if I sit back down?"

Daniel slowly shook his head.

"That's good. Can you talk?"
"Yes." His voice came out in a raspy whisper that Jack could barely hear.

Jack pushed the red button on the bed control to summon the doctor. Daniel watched him the whole time.

"Where's my sister and brother?"
"They're still on Abdyos with your father." Jack watched Daniel's face to gauge his reaction.

Dr. Frasier came into the room. Noticing that Daniel was talking she went over to the side of his bed. She was starting to worry about him.

"Thank you for paging me colonel O'Neill. It's nice to see that you're talking, Daniel."
"I want to go home, when can I go home."
Frasier looked at Daniel as tears began to fill his eyes. Jack spoke up.

"Your father thought we would be able to take care of you."
Daniel began to cry

"I want to go home. Why can't I go home?"

Jack turned to the doctor.

"Can you give us a minute?"
"Sure, I can do my exam later."
Jack nodded and Frasier left the two men alone.

"They sent me away."
"Why do you say that?"
"Father's mad at me."
"Why would your father be mad at you, Daniel?"
"I wasn't a very good son."
"That's not true; when I talked to him he never said that. He let us take you because he thought we would take better care of you. He sent you hear because he loves you. It was a very hard decision."

"Okay."

Not wanting to intrude, Jack left Daniel to think about what he'd said.

The next day Jack came into the infirmary. Daniel was trying to get out of his bed.

"Whoa, what do you think you're doing?"
"I don't feel like laying down anymore, I want to get up now."

Jack got up to help him, then second thought the actions as he saw Daniel stiffen when he went to reach for him. Deciding that they would both be in trouble if Daniel fell, he went for his first idea.

Daniel didn't make any sounds when Jack took hold of his arm, but he didn't look like he was going to calm down anytime soon either.

Now sitting up with his legs dangling over the edge of the bed, Daniel looked around the room.

"Where are my clothes?"
"The doctor replaced them when you came here. We'll get you some new ones."
"When?"
"When you get out of the infirmary."
"When is that?"

"When the doctor says you can leave."
"Oh."
Running out of questions, Daniel just sat on the edge of the bed and swung his legs.

Jack watched him. Everything he said and did reminded him of a kid. He couldn't believe this was the same man that had opened the stargate almost 2 years ago. When he ad first met him, Jack had noticed an air of guileless innocence behind the academic exterior to the man. It had appealed to his protective side, the instincts left over from when he'd been a dad. Now he felt even more strongly, and remembering what those men had did to Daniel made him wish they were still alive. He wanted to kill them with his own hands.

Coming into the room, Frasier looked at Daniel. He was sitting up and talking. Which was a good thing, after four weeks of silence he needed to.

"Hello Daniel, I'm Dr. Frasier. I just want to give you a check up, see if you're healed, then you and the colonel can finish talking, okay?"

"Can Jack stay?"

Frasier looked at the colonel, he shrugged at the doctor.

"If that's what you want." Frasier walked to the door and closed it.

"Right now I just want to look at your wrist and ankles."
Daniel held out his hands. The doctor smiled and held them in her hands. She noticed how he flinched when she first touched him. She knew it was more of a psychological response, after what had happened, she would have been floored if he didn't react to being touched.

After going over the cursory injuries she moved on to the more personal injuries.

"Daniel. I'm gonna need you to take off your pants. I'm not going to hurt you, I just need to finish the exam, and then we'll be all done. Okay."
Daniel nodded. Daniel awkwardly got out of his hospital scrub pants.

"We'll be done in a minute. Just lay on your back. Stay calm."
"Jack!"
"Yeah, I'm right here."

"Can you hold my hand?"

"Sure." Jack took Daniel's hand in his while dr. Frasier started the exam. He squeezed jack's hand when Frasier touched him. She was glad to see that the bruising and bite marks were healing at a normal rate. Finished with that part of the exam, she put on a new set of gloves.

"We're almost done, Daniel. I just need you to turn onto your stomach, then we'll be all done."
Daniel rolled over. She gave him a pillow to lay on so the exam would be easier.

Daniel squeezed Jack's hand so hard he thought it would break.

The tears were healed; the stitches had taken care of that. All he needed now was ointment, after applying that she disposed of her gloves and patted his shoulder.

"All done?"
She smiled at the question. "Yep, all done, you can put your pants back on now."
Sitting up he pulled them on as quickly as he could. He didn't want anyone to touch him, not after having to just sit through that exam.

"The colonel and I are going to go talk for a minute, then he can come sit with you again okay?"
Daniel nodded and laid his head on his knees. The doctor and Jack left the room to go talk in her office.

Taking a seat in front of her desk, Jack waited for her to come in and sit down.

"He's seems to have taken a liking to you, Jack."
"I noticed. Is this why you wanted to talk to me?"

"Some of it. I want to keep him overnight. Make sure everything is okay, tomorrow I want to release him from the infirmary."
"If you were going to ask if I'll take him don't bother."
Frasier looked shocked. She wasn't expecting that kind of answer.

"Well, I thought that you'd…"

"I already asked Hammond, he said it was okay as long as you agreed."
"That's not all I wanted to talk to you about."
"Of course not. I wasn't expecting to get away that easily."
"You know what happened to him. And from the exam I did I can tell you, it was bad. Since he seems to trust you I was hoping you'd be able to get him to talk."
"This isn't going to be easy is it?"
"No, it isn't. Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Yeah, staying here on base isn't going to do him any good. The general offered me two weeks leave time, until we can find him a permanent family."
Janet nodded at him. She had a feeling that Jack would decide to keep Daniel. For some reason, they had this unmistakable bond, even though they barely knew each other, it was hard to miss.

"What if they can't find one in that time?"
"He can come to work with me. It's not like he wouldn't be safe here. He'll be safer than he was on Abdyos. It's a military base."
"That doesn't mean it can't happen. Kasuf made that mistake already; you owe it to him not to do that. You know as well as I do that just because this is a military base doesn't mean they're aren't people that won't take advantage of someone."

On that note, Janet ended their meeting. They left her office.

"Hey Daniel, if everything turns out good, you get to leave tomorrow."
"Does that mean I can wear clothes now. I want clothes like Jack's. Can I have clothes like Jack's?"

"I don't think that will be to hard."

"Can I have them now, I want to wear them now."
"Listen to the doctor, Danny, she said you can wear them tomorrow when you get out of here."
"Okay. Where am I going?"

"Jack said that you can stay with him for now."
Daniel gave them his biggest smile.

"But only if I say you're good to go. If everything is good, you can leave in the morning."

Nodding his head Daniel looked at Jack and smiled.

Not being able to resist, Jack smiled back.

"I have to go back to work, I'll be here to pick you up in the morning."
"Okay Jack. Bye."
Sighing, Jack left the infirmary to go shuffle through the stack of papers in his office.

Watching Jack leave, Daniel got off his bed.

"Daniel, where are you going?"

"Bathroom."
"Okay."

Janet and her nurses had removed the catheter after he woke up the other day. After spending 30 minutes telling him they weren't going to hurt him. Sighing to herself, she realized Jack was going to have his hands full.

Dressed in a blue jumpsuit and sneakers, Daniel sat waiting for Jack to come get him. Not wanting him to wander off, Janet gave him a book she'd bought for him. She was sure he was spending more time looking at the pictures than he was reading the words.

At least he's where I can see him.

She thought to herself. Nothing could happen to him if he stayed where she could keep an eye on him. Her night staff told her that he'd had a nightmare the night before. He woke up screaming and crying. They said that he didn't go back to sleep until three o'clock in the morning.

Watching him in his room looking at the book she'd brought him and making pictures, you'd never know that anything bad had just happened to him. You couldn't tell by looking at him. He was perfectly content sitting on the bed waiting for Jack to pick him up.

Jack came walking into the infirmary just then dressed in his civvies. Knocking on Janet's door, he let himself in when she didn't object.

"Is he ready to go?"
"Yeah. He's pretty excited. I don't think he wants to spend anymore time here than he has to. Sit down, I want to talk to you before you leave."
"What about?"
"Are you sure you're up to this?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"
"I just want to be sure, once you take him home, that's it. It wouldn't be fair for you to change your mind after this. It would do a lot more harm than good. If you aren't up to this, now's the time to say so."
Jack looked at Janet. He looked at her real hard.

"How bad was it?"
"He didn't go back to sleep for over an hour. The staff couldn't get near him without him bursting into tears. He fell asleep in the corner of his room."
"I wouldn't do this if I didn't know what I was getting into. He can't stay here in the infirmary forever. The only other place for him would be mental health. That isn't going to do him any good. He'll wind up screwed up for sure."
"Just making sure you weren't going to back out of this."

"You know me better than that. I wouldn't do this without knowing what I'm getting into."

"Well, he's ready to go. Just remember to bring him back day in a few days so I can do a follow up."
"No problem. See you in a few days."
Jack left Frasier's office and went to collect Daniel from his private room.

"Knock knock. Are we ready to leave yet?"
Looking up from his book, Daniel smiled at Jack.

"Hi. Look what Janet gave me. It's a book about different myths and stuff. It has a whole bunch of different stories in it."

"Sounds cool. You ready to get out of here."
"Really, I can leave?"
"That's what I said. Come on, I'm sure you're tired of looking at these walls."
Gathering up his book, Daniel followed Jack. They took the elevator and went through the on base checkpoints to leave the complex. Reaching the surface, they left the base and reached the parking lot.

Daniel asked questions the whole time. Jack gave out more than a few death glares when the guards stared at Daniel for asking somewhat obvious questions. When they reached the parking lot Jack unlocked the car and let Daniel into the truck. Getting into his side, he locked the car and started the car.

"Do want anything to eat?"
"Yeah, can we get something to eat? I'm hungry."
"Sure, we can grab something on the way back home, we can stop by the store and get a movie."
"Okay."
"What kind of food did you want?"

" I don't know. I never had to pick what to eat, father or someone else always did that before I got home."

Glancing over, jack looked at Daniel. He was staring out the window.

"You miss them a lot, don't you?"
"Yeah, I don't remember my earth family. Father, brother and sister are the only family I can remember. I don't remember a lot of things from here. But I like it anyway"
"That's good. We're here. Come on, let's go pick a movie."

They got out of the car and went into the store. Making sure he could still see Daniel, Jack went to look at what was on the wall. He picked up a couple and read the back. Thinking that one sounded good, he put the rest back. Looking up from the box he turned to see if Daniel was still there. He wasn't. Jack turned in a circle, then walked down an aisle.

"Daniel."
He called. Going down the next aisle, he didn't see him. Now he was feeling a little frantic. He walked around the nearby aisle, then decided to try the other end of the store.

"Daniel!"
Still not getting an answer, he was about ready to call the base when he spotted him

"Daniel!"

"Huh?"

Daniel was standing the middle of the aisle with another guy. The guy had his around Daniel, and it was easy to tell that he liked it a lot more than Daniel. Looking up when he heard his name, he smiled.

"Who the hell are you?"
The man holding Daniel smiled and stuck out his hand.

"Hello, you must be Jack, I was just talking to Daniel, he seemed to be lost."
"I noticed that, you didn't answer my question."

Jack smiled back. He didn't like the man. His skin crawled when he shook his hand.

"Raymond Shaw, but you can call me Ray."
"Well, Ray, can you let go of Daniel, I'm pretty sure he's not having as good a time as you are."
His smile wavering a little, he took his arm from around Daniel.

"Well, it was nice to meet you Ray. Come on Daniel, it's time to leave."
"Okay, bye Ray." Daniel said to the man.
Still smiling, the man looked at Daniel and waved to him.

"Bye Daniel." He watched them leave; wishing he'd had more time to talk to Daniel.

Better luck next time. He put the deck of trading cards they'd been looking at, and finished stocking the shelves.

Deciding he was finished with movies, and making sure Daniel was following him this time, Jack headed for the checkout counter. Throwing the movies onto the conveyor belt, he pulled out his wallet to pay for the movies.

Daniel stood off to the side, not wanting to get in Jack's way. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he waited for Jack to finish.

"Come on Daniel, let's go get in the car."
Leaving the store they both got into the car.

"You're mad at me, aren't you?"

Sighing, Jack put his head on the steering wheel.

"No, I'm not mad at you. You scared me. You can't go running off like that."
"I just wanted to look around, then I got lost. Ray said he was going to help me. He was nice."
"Daniel, not everyone's your friend, you have to be more careful."
"But he didn't do anything."
"I could see how uncomfortable you were when was holding you. Didn't you tell him?"
"No. Can we go now? I'm hungry."
"Don't try to change the subject."
Shrugging, Daniel looked out the window.

"I'm hungry."
"We're gonna finish this eventually."

Jack started the car, and they left the parking lot. He ordered dinner on his cell phone, so it would be on its way when they got back to his house.

Pulling into the driveway, he turned off the ignition and got out of the car.

"Come on, dinner will be here in a few minutes."
They got out of the car and went into the house. Looking around, Daniel stood in the front entryway.

"The living room's that way, you can go sit down."

He went into the living room and sat down on the couch. Looking around the room he saw a picture of a little boy with brown hair and blue eyes.

"Who's this?"
Coming into the room with two cups, he set one in front of Daniel and drank the other one.

"That's my son, Charlie, he died a few years ago."
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay, you were just asking. You don't have to apologize."

They sat in silence for a minute, neither one knowing what to say. There was a knock on the door.
"That's dinner. I hope you like pizza."
Going to the front door, Jack paid for the pizzas. After sitting them on the coffee table,

He went into the kitchen for plates and napkins.

"All right, I'm gonna put on a movie. Go ahead and help yourself."
Putting two slices on his plate, he watched Jack put a DVD.

"What are we watching?"
"The Mummy, I figured you'd like it."
"Cool."

With the movie on, the two sat in silence. The movie played for a while before either one talked.

"He reminds me a lot of father."
"Who?"
"That guy."
""You mean the old librarian guy?"
"Yeah. He looks like father. And he cares about that lady even though he's not her father."

"You mean like how Kasuf took care of you?"
"Yeah, I miss them?"
"Don't worry; they know how much you love them. Families are pretty good at things like that."
"I know."
"Did you have any friends on Abdyos?"
"Yeah. He used to tell stories. He told stories about his family and the village and a whole bunch of things."

"Did you have fun with him?"
"Sometimes. Sometimes he told stories or showed me how to make things."
"What about when you weren't having fun, what did you do?"

"I don't want to talk about that."

Looking at Daniel, Jack could see that he wasn't very comfortable talking about what happen. He was fidgeting in his seat and he wasn't looking at Jack anymore. Jack decided that he didn't want to push him anymore, so he turned the movie back on.

"Okay, you don't have to talk about that right now if you don't want to. Okay?"
Still looking at the floor, Daniel nodded his head.

"Come on, lets finish the movie, it was getting good."

They sat together on the couch and finished watching the movie.

After it was done, Jack saw that Daniel too tired to sit through another one.

He'd set the guest room up the day before. The bed was already made and he remembered to put towels on the dresser.

"Come on, I made the guest room up, you can sleep in there."

"I'm not sleepy. I want to watch the other movie."
Jack chuckled to himself. Stretching and yawning, Daniel looked like an overgrown kid. It really was hard to forget that he was an adult.

"Danny, you're falling asleep, the movies will be here tomorrow when you wake up."

"But I'm not ready to go to bed, Jack."
"You're yawning, come on." Grabbing his hand, Jack led Daniel into the guest bedroom. He stripped back the covers and sat Daniel on the bed.

"Here you go. I left you a pair of boxers and T-shirt for you to wear to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay. Night Jack." Daniel was lying down and sleep before Jack even left the room.