A Rare Gift
By Mickey

Status: Completed 10/27/2009

Season: 7

Spoilers: Fallen

Categories: AU, Drama, Friendship, Kidfic, Missing Scene

Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't sue.

Word Count: 1,073

Author's Notes: Picks up right as Jack and the team meet Shamda and goes AU from there. Written as a birthday present for Cheryl. Happy Birthday!

Jack looked up to see Khordib approaching with an old man.

"No one can be a friend if you know not whether to trust them."

Jack held up a finger, "Don't judge a book by its cover."

The old man stopped, hands behind his back, and replied, "Enemies' promises were made to be broke."

"And yet honesty is the best policy," Jack remarked as he smiled. He was pretty sure he was going to like the old guy.

The old man returned the smile, "He that has too many friends has none."

"Ah, but, birds of a feather. . . ." Jack let the sentence trail off as he gave a slight bob of his head.

"I am unfamiliar with that story." As he approached Jack, the old man asked, "What lesson does it teach?"

Unsure how to respond, Jack did what he always did, he winged it. "It has to do with flocking and togetherness. And . . . to be honest, I'm not too familiar with the particulars myself." Quickly changing the subject before the stranger could ask any more questions, he added, "The point is, we are not your enemy. Give us a chance to prove it."

Nodding, seemingly in approval -of what, Jack had no idea- the old man said, "I am Shamda" Turning to Khordib, he motioned the young man forward and said, "Bring him."

A moment later, Khordib returned holding a small child. He smiled sadly at the baby as he handed him over to Shamda.

Accepting the baby with the same sad look, Shamda said, "We call him Arrom, meaning 'naked one', as he was unclothed when he was brought to us."

Jack smirked at the reference. Poor kid, having to grow up with a name like that. Besides, babies were born naked, so the name seemed . . . ill-fitting. Glancing back, he noticed that Sam and Jonas were trying hard not to laugh. Even Teal'c seemed to smirk.

Shamda's next remark stunned them all into straight-faced silence.

"I believe, you know him as Daniel Jackson."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"The kid's adorable, really," Jack began, and he really was very cute, "but there is no way in hell that baby is Daniel Jackson. Our Daniel Jackson." Refusing to accept the baby from Shamda, Jack looked at him, but refused to look into the boy's bright blue eyes. It just couldn't be. How could it? Nope. No way. This baby wasn't the rock-loving, trouble magnet, wise-ass Daniel he missed so badly.

They were trying to pawn him off on SG-1. Someone dumped the poor kid with these people, and he wouldn't be surprised if it really had been Oma, and laid a load of crap on them, and now they were trying to fool SG-1 into believing this baby was Daniel. Jack was buying it. Sure, the baby was adorable and had blue eyes, unlike any of this planet's other inhabitants -which, in Jack's book, ruled out the possibility this was a native child that the locals didn't want for one reason or another- but that didn't prove anything. Besides, Daniel's hair was a medium brown. The baby's hair was more of a light brown, almost blond color.

Then again, Charlie had been born with platinum blond hair. By the time he was three, it was the same dark brown it had been when he'd . . . died. So, Jack reasoned, a kid's hair could change color as they got older, but that still proved nothing. He was left with far to many questions with no answers and a crowd of people starting at him expectantly, including the other members of his team.

And the baby. Jack realized that, other than to blink, the baby had not taken his eye's off of him yet. Which was kinda freaky.

Shamda was the first to break the silence. "You see your friend here before you. Why do you not take him?"

Jack pointed at the baby as he met Shamda's questioning gaze, "I see a baby. You've neither said nor shown me anything to convince me that that kid is Daniel." Holding up a finger to stall the question he knew he could see coming, "I don't think there is anything you can say that will convince me."

Shamda nodded but didn't move. After a moment, he asked, "Why do you have such trouble accepting the truth when it is told to you?"

Jack gave a chocked laugh and wondered if the old man had any idea what a loaded question that was! "You're kidding, right?" He quickly waived and added, "Don't answer that. Look, I'm not sure how much contact you folks have had with the "Ancients", but in our experience, they haven't been the most forthcoming people."

Carter took that moment to step forward and speak. "Sir," she whispered so only Jack could hear, and just barely at that, "what if he really is Daniel? Maybe we should take him back to the base. Janet could run some genetic tests on him and either confirm it, or rule out the possibility. If the baby turns out to not be Daniel, we could always bring him back here, or even find a good family to take him in back on Earth."

Jack held up a "just a sec" finger to Shamda and turned his attention to Carter. Motioning her to follow, he stepped a few feet away and whispered, "Are you nuts!" That baby is a month old, maybe two. Do you really believe there's a snowball's chance in hell that kid is Daniel? Seriously!"

Carter merely shrugged and replied, "Stranger things have happened, sir."

Doing a wonderful express of a fish on land, Jack opened his mouth, shut it, opened it again then clamped it shut. After a moment, he relented a little, "Okay, some pretty strange things have happened to us these past six years or so, not sure anything could be stranger than having someone claim that your adult friend has been turned into a baby though. Do you?"

"This certainly takes the prize, sir, but with all the extraordinary things we've seen and experienced these past several years, can really completely rule out the possibility without at least giving it consideration and checking it out. It is possible. What if he really is Daniel, and we pass up what could be our only chance at getting him back?" Without waiting for a reply, Carter barreled on, "Even if he isn't the way we remember him, what if he really is Daniel? Then he is still our friend, and I think it's better to have him back as a child then not to have him at all."

Apparently deciding to put in his two cents, Teal'c spoke. "Major Carter has made some good points, O'Neill. That, at least, you must concede. We should at least return to the SGC with the boy and allow Doctor Fraiser to run her tests. This way, we will know for sure whether the child is or is not Daniel Jackson."

Jonas, for his part remained quiet, but Jack noticed him nod in agreement when Carter mentioned bringing the boy back to Earth to be tested.

Tempted as he was to remind them both that he didn't have to concede anything, Jack refrained and simply shrugged. Noncommittally, he replied, "I suppose. Certainly couldn't hurt."

Surprising them all, including himself, Jack turned to Jonas and asked, "What do you think?"

After a minute of stunned silence, Jonas replied, "It's not my place to say. While I like to think of Daniel as a friend, and believe we could have become good friends had the circumstances been different, I really didn't know him very well."

Ever the wiseass, Jack said, "I didn't ask you if you thought it was your place or not, I asked for your opinion. This is a rare thing here, Jonas, don't miss it."

Carter suppressed a giggle -which Jack chose to overlook, Teal'c raised an eyebrow in amusement, and Jonas stared in shock. Not passing up the opportunity, he recovered quickly. "I agree with the major, Colonel. We lose nothing by taking the child back with us. If he truly is Daniel Jackson, then bringing him back means we regain a friend, even if he will never be the same as before."

With nothing more to be added, Jack turned his attention back to the natives.

For a moment, Shamda seemed ready to push the issue then reconsidered and gave a small nod. "Will you hold the child while we discuss this issue in private?" Once again, he held the baby out to Jack. The child's eyes were closed now, and he looked about ready to let out one hell of a wail.

*No way!* Jack's mind screamed. *It's a ploy to get you to fall for the kid.*

Relenting, Jack agreed and reached out to take the still boy, who had started to fuss, into his arms.

*Sucker!* his traitorous mind hollered. He ignored the little voice as he gently rocked the tot. "Shhhh," Jack whispered, "none of that now. There's no reason to cry, little guy."

As Jack whispered and rocked the baby, he quieted down and opened his eyes again. For the first time, Jack looked into the boy's eyes. In that instant, he knew neither Oma nor these people were trying to pull anything. The baby boy he held in his arms truly was his friend, Doctor Daniel Jackson.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jack smiled at the cooing baby, rocking him gently in his arms as the team made their way back to the Stargate. He was still in shock. How could this be possible? How could this adorable, cherub-faced little boy be his best friend? Daniel Jackson was a grown man! He was a nearly thirty-eight year old adult. This child, whom he guessed was about three or four months old, just couldn't be the man he'd known.

It was almost a certainty that some people would assume that he was doing this for the wrong reason, that he was using his friend to replace his lost son. They were wrong.

This baby wasn't his Daniel. He wasn't his Charlie either.

But, maybe it didn't really matter.

Daniel had been given a second chance at life. "A rare gift indeed", as Teal'c had put it.

Where Daniel Jackson's early childhood after his parents' death, had been filled with mostly grief and disappointment, loneliness, uncertainty and fear, Daniel Jackson O'Neill would know only happiness, love and excitement.

He and Sara would raise Daniel as their own child. They would shower him with love, praise, encouragement and attention. He would never know the pain of rejection and loneliness such as he had in the foster care system. He would also have two big sisters who would dote on their baby brother.

Jack knew he would, of course, have to discuss it with Sara before anything was set in stone, but she loved Daniel -as well as Sam and Teal'c- as much as he did. They were part of the family. They had wanted one more child, but after the difficult birth of his twin girls two years ago, he'd almost lost all three of them. The doctor had recommended that they not attempt to have another child on their own. Disappointed as they had been -both had really wanted to try for at least one more- they had realized how blessed they'd been to have two healthy, if very tiny, precious little girls and were thrilled to raise them. This was their chance to have a little boy. As much as he adored his two little princesses, holding baby Daniel made Jack realize just how much he missed having a son.

Still, it was difficult to look at the swaddled baby in his arms and know it was Daniel. It was hard to reconcile the fact that the Daniel he knew, his somewhat nave, compassionate, rock loving friend was never coming back. As he looked into those alert, bright blue eyes, though, he somehow knew that his friend wasn't truly gone. The kind, deeply curious soul that had driven Daniel as an adult was still there. Just how much of what drove the adult Daniel -and just how much of that was 'nature vs. nurture'- was still there, remained to be seen.

Daniel's memories where all gone, but Shamda had said he may still have a sense of familiarity towards people and things he'd known. At least, that's what Oma had told him when she'd presented Daniel to him. Whether or not he retained his love for archaeology, languages, and all things longs since dead and gone, no one knew. Why Oma decided to not only wipe away Daniel's memories, but to also turn him into an infant, would remain a mystery. As would her reasoning for bringing Daniel here instead of returning him to Earth. Apparently, she'd simply appeared one day a couple weeks ago, handed the baby to Shamda, said "his name is Daniel Jackson, his friends will come for him", and had given a vague description of Jack, Carter and Teal'c.

Just getting custody and being able to adopt Daniel would be a huge challenge. Jack was certain Hammond and the President would go along with it, but there was still a lot to work out. They'd have to come up with a plausible story about the "death" of Daniel Jackson, and why his body couldn't be brought back home. There would have to be a memorial of some kind to avoid any possible suspicions. Then there would need to be birth certificates faked and a background story created for his birth.

With all the uncertainties that lay ahead, there was one thing Jack knew for sure, he'd been given that rare gift of a second chance as well, and this time he wasn't going to blow it.

THE END