Chapter 2 - In the Nursery

Jon Coventry clung to the protesting four-year-old, his mind whirling as fast as the preschoolers who still dashed around him, Lou Ferretti's words echoing in his head.

Custody battle? His girlfriend wouldn't even admit to being his girlfriend and he was in a custody battle with a planet full of psycho-

A little sandaled foot connecting with his shin brought his attention back to the boy he was attempting to help. "Ow! Damn it!" Jon shouted. Of course the little snot would manage to find the same spot Cassie'd been pounding on all morning. Not that he hadn't deserved every kick, but still. "Hey, come on, big guy," he coaxed. "Tryin' to help here."

"I don't want your help, snakehead!" Jack shouted.

"That what you think I am?"

Jack glared suspiciously as Ferretti passed a wet cloth along to Jon, but at least the boy stopped struggling. Jon wiped the mess off Jack's face, but when he got to the boy's fat lip, blood still seeping, Jack winced, outrage resurfacing.

"Daniel hit me!"

"And this surprises you…why?"

There was a pause, then a wet sniffle. "He hit me."

"Hey, buddy, you know better than me that Daniel can only be pushed so far before he fights back. And when Daniel fights, he fights dirty."

"Well, he shouldn't fight dirty."

"Um, let's think back on who taught him to fight."

"Oh, he always fought dirty," Jack stated emphatically.

Jon chuckled, dabbing as gently as he knew how at Jack's lip. Jack continued to watch him with narrowed eyes, then suddenly they widened with comprehension.

"Mini-me! You're Mini-me!"

"Thinkin' I graduated to Maxi-me at this point."

A few feet over, Cassie turned the still sputtering Daniel around to face her, kneeling down and trying to get him to focus on something besides his litany of denial.

"I keep telling 'em, but they won't believe me!"

She cupped the boy's cheek, soft and plump with baby fat, and ducked to get her face in his field of vision. "Daniel! Hey! Do you recognize me?"

Blond brows lowered in an adorable version of the adult man's familiar frown. "…Cassie?"

She grinned as he became aware of Sam and Vala, who still pranced around her, shouting her name in piercing tones. "Yes, I think it's unanimous. I'm Cassie, all right."

The frown transformed into instant delight and Cassie was treated to a full-body hug. "Cassie! You're here! Good, you can tell them I didn't do it. They'll believe you. Tell Jack."

"Um…"

"Jack's mean and stupid and he won't listen to me."

"Daniel," she said, voice full of reproach. "Come on. You and Jack are best friends."

With the lightening-fast mood changes of the four-year-old he appeared to be, Daniel's happiness at seeing Cassie evaporated into a foul-tempered pout. "No, we're not! I hate him! He's mean and stupid. Just like Mitchell and Teal'c and-and Sam and Vala. I hate them all!"

"Aw, sweetheart, but why?"

The pout dissolved into tears as Daniel wailed, "'Cause-'cause they hate me!" The boy buried his face in Cassie's shoulder.

She looked over to Jon who returned her overwhelmed look as he helped Jack blow his nose.

Hearing Daniel's sobs, Jack pushed Jon away and shouted, "Crybaby!"

Daniel spun around in Cassie's arms and his childishly high-pitched cry of "Screw you, Jack!" echoed disturbingly off the glass wall.

Putting thumb and forefinger to her lips, Cassie let loose a piercing whistle and the kids all stopped in their tracks. The shirt-waving Cameron ended his circling run; the stool-hopping Teal'c halted his latest leap one tottering moment before it began; the prancing Sam and Vala froze in mid-cavort; Jack retrieved his stuck-out tongue with an audible slurp; and Daniel looked up at his formerly-younger friend in awe.

"Cool, Cassie," Daniel said. "I didn't know you could do that."

"Well, I can. Now I want everyone to just-"

"Cassie's here too?" Jack bounded over.

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Duh, Jack. Didn't you hear what Sam and Vala were yelling about?" He peered around Jack to Jon and, as if they met each other like this everyday, said offhandedly, "Oh, hi, Jon."

"Who knows what girls yell about?" Jack said with a dismissive shrug.

Sam stepped up to her former CO, arms akimbo. "Oh, yeah? Well-well-wouldn't you like to know what we yell about?"

Vala gave her fellow girl a doubtful glance, but nevertheless joined her defensive stance and loyally seconded, "Yeah!"

"Huh?" Jack backed up a step from the girls' united front, blinking in confusion.

Cameron, struggling to put his tunic back on, said, "Sam, that doesn't even make any sense."

"Oh, he knows what I mean."

"I do?"

Cassie waved a hand to attract their attention. "Hey, getting off track here."

Jon joined her. "Yeah. We'll solve the old 'who's got more cooties, girls or boys?' question another time."

As the preschoolers snickered, Cassie firmed her hand on Daniel's shoulder. "Now, what's going on between Jack and Daniel?"

Jack's gaze dropped, but Sam piped up. "Oh, it's Daniel's fault we've little and Jack wants him to apologize."

Daniel bristled like a terrier. "Was not my fault!"

Sounding like everyone's least favorite prissy schoolteacher, Sam pursed her lips and said, "Now, Daniel, you know it is. You were the only one near it."

Once, a few years ago, when Daniel'd had too much wine, he'd confessed to Cassie that he always hated it when Sam used that 'you're my little brother, so just do what I telling you' voice on him. Of course he swore Cassie to secrecy because he'd never hurt Sam's feelings by actually telling her that.

Now, Daniel scowled at his surrogate 'big' sister and said, "You know, I've always hated it when you talk to me like that, Sam."

Ah, to be a child again, Cassie thought. As Sam mirrored her fellow scientist's scowl, Cassie cleared her throat and continued loudly, "Sooo, the High Chancellor mentioned a device that went off?"

"Yeah, when Daniel set it off," Jack muttered under his breath.

Jon held up a finger. "Aht! Facts only. Did you see him set it off?"

"That is true, O'Neill," Teal'c piped up from where he squatted on a stool. "No one saw Daniel Jackson do anything."

"Okay, but who else could it have been? He was closest."

"Jack!" Daniel shouted. "It's been twelve years and you still never listen to me!"

"Keep it calm, guys," Cassie warned. "Remember your adult ages? It's was only a couple days ago. Can you try to act as grownup as possible?"

Someone new spoke from behind them. "Finally, a voice of reason."

Cassie craned her head to see Carolyn Lam, the SGC's Chief Medical Officer. She apparently spoke of Cassie, but stood with arms crossed, glaring at High Chancellor Anise.

"Yes," Carolyn continued, still addressing Anise, "their four-year-old brains are at a very emotional and underdeveloped stage. But if we promote and encourage mature behavior, I believe they will rise to the challenge."

The High Chancellor shook her head, clearly unimpressed. "Freedom of expression is at the core of all Tau'ri childcare philosophy."

Cameron, who'd put his tunic on backwards, stamped his foot. "I'm not emotional!"

Peeking under her own tunic, Vala admitted mournfully, "But we are a little underdeveloped."

Carolyn gave an exasperated head-shake at the Chancellor and crouched down beside Cassie. "Hi, Cassandra," she said softly, patting the younger woman on the back. "Keep it up, maybe they'll listen to you."

Cassie took a deep breath, her numb mind only just now starting to understand the full ramifications of this situation. She was being asked to take charge of the people who had raised her, to bring discipline to those who were her elders up until, well, as far as she had been aware, a few minutes ago. For her own part, she was already starting to differentiate them from their older selves in her mind, but would they really listen to her? Or would they still perceive her as the one needing supervision?

"Okay," Cassie began carefully. "So maybe Daniel did something—" Five kids nodded as the sixth muttered "Didn't." "—and maybe he didn't—" Five kids scowled as the sixth gave a beaming nod. "—regardless, can anyone explain to me the atrocious behavior I witnessed in this room not five minutes ago?"

Jack had the grace to look abashed as Daniel answered promptly, "Jack wouldn't stop throwing blobbies at me."

"I only threw a couple."

"Twenty-seven, Jack. I counted."

"Geek," Jack muttered. Then louder he said grudgingly, "All right, I'm sorry. Happy?"

Daniel shrugged.

"Okay," Cassie said. "Now, Daniel, please apologize to Jack."

"What for?"

"For hitting him."

"Why? I'm not sorry. He deserved it."

"What!" Jack shouted. He looked pointedly to Jon.

"Daniel…" Jon began in a frustrated growl.

"Hush," Cassie said, throwing her boyfriend a warning look. Yes, Daniel was in the wrong, but Cassie didn't want Jon to get in the habit of always being his DNA-donor's champion. "Daniel, sweetheart," she said, the endearment just naturally rolling from her tongue, "I know you're still mad because the others think you activated the device, but this is different. Did you really mean to hit Jack so hard he bled?"

Scuffing his little sandaled feet on the soft floor, Daniel admitted, "…No."

"I know it's not fun to get bopped with 27 blobbies, but Jack said he was sorry."

The blond brows were still pulled in a stubborn frown.

"Hey, it's okay to be mad that he was mean, it's okay to be frustrated that you're being blamed for something you don't feel is your fault, but it's not okay to hit anyone, much less your best friend. Do you think you could apologize for hitting him?"

Daniel peered hesitantly at Jack, who stood trying to look casual. "…Okay. I'm sorry, Jack."

Jack shrugged. "Okay."

"No more mean blobbies, okay, guys? Fun blobbies, yes. Mean blobbies, no."

Jon beamed down at her. "Wow, your first edict as Mistress of Public Policy." He intoned in a deep voice, "'No More Mean Blobbies.'"

"Can it, Mr. English Arts Associate."

"Associate of Arts in English?" Jack asked. "Again?"

"You can it, too, squirt," Jon ground out to his mini-counterpart.

Daniel squirmed out of Cassie's grip and tentatively rejoined his team. At Cameron's direction, they spread out, gathering the grey goo from Sam's gutted blobby, and piling it into a disgustingly wiggly puddle.

Her brows set in a haughty arch, Anise announced, "Ms. Frasier and Mr. Coventry, the two of you may continue to…bond with the children. Tomorrow I will convene a conference to discuss their future and you will be sent for accordingly." She turned and swept out of the nursery, the bemused NID officer, Morrison, and his two civilians leaving with her.

"Good riddance," both Jon and Carolyn muttered simultaneously.

A twinkle in his eye, Jon turned to the doctor and said, "I don't know you, but I like you."

Carolyn returned a tentative smile. "So we haven't met? You look familiar…"

Cassie said, "Carolyn, this is Jon. He's the result of the Asgard Loki's interference a few years ago…?" For Jon's sake, Cassie tried to avoid the use of the word 'clone.'

"Ah, no wonder you look familiar. I'm pleased to meet you, Jon." The firmness of her handshake showed the medical woman had no prejudice against the idea of a clone being a person in his own right.

The three adults stood in silence a moment, watching the pint-sized SG-1 team members interact. Jack was trying to get the gelatinous goo to stack, a hopeless endeavor, and Daniel had sidled up beside him, bumping shoulders as he scooped up the little general's dripped gunk. Jack scooted over, letting Daniel work with him without comment. Then Cameron bounced with sudden excitement. "Hey, 'tend like it's C-4 and we're trying to blow up a Goa'uld temple!"

Daniel shook his head. "No, don't blow up a temple."

Rolling his eyes, Cameron amended, "Okay, a mothership, then."

"I will build a wall of stools to represent the mothership," Teal'c announced, his childlike enthusiasm belied by his formal speech.

"We need a fuse," Jack said.

"Got it." Sam held up a long, thin rope.

"Destructive little buggers, aren't they?" Jon mused quietly to his two companions.

"Where'd you get that?" Cameron asked Sam, his eyes wide.

Voice dripping with disdain, Vala said, "While you dumb boys were having a blobby fight, me and Sam were making things."

"You mean Sam made stuff while you annoyed her," Cameron claimed, placing a sequence of goop-piles at the base of the line of stools Teal'c set out.

Before Vala could respond, Sam launched into a rapid-fire speech: "I took a blobby and I had to use my teeth to work a seam loose because some people—" she cocked her head at the reflective glass wall and the Tok'ra they knew to be sitting beyond it, "wouldn't give me real tools to use and so I pulled the material apart and it's really fibrous and Vala and me twisted it into a kind of a rope and I couldn't get it as tight as I wanted to, but I guess it's good enough and I want to test it by hanging it up somewhere high and trying to climb on it and I think some people will probably let me if I tell them I'm trying to express my creativity."

"Don't count on it, little sister," Carolyn said, in the same low tone as Jon.

Cassie smiled at the bundle of energy whom she considered to be her aunt. "I think we were warned about the chattering."

"So, doc," Jon said, "Lou said you think this is permanent?"

Lou Ferretti, as well as the rest of SG-2, were currently helping Teal'c build the 'mothership,' laying higher levels of stools on Teal'c's base to form a huge pyramid.

Carolyn sighed. "Unless someone can fix the device or pull a new one out of their sleeves, SG-1 and General O'Neill are as much four-year-old children as they were the first time around. Teal'c's case is the most striking: he lost his tattoo, and his pouch is in its pre-prim'ta stage. If not for their adult memories, there wouldn't be a single thing to differentiate them from any other four-year-olds."

"It seemed like you and the Chancellor were continuing a previous argument…?" Cassie prompted.

The sigh was frustrated this time. "That…woman, and her sound-bite childrearing ideas. Yes, physically and emotionally they're preschoolers, but they have their adult memories. Civilized behavior can and should be promoted, especially considering their background and training."

Carolyn nodded significantly at the little commandos, who had laid the 'fuse' along the planted 'C-4,' shouted, "Three, two, one…" and with various explosive sounds, rushed the 'mothership' wall, bringing the soft stools bouncing down around them as they cheered in triumph.

SG-2 clapped appreciatively, but Carolyn frowned, cocking her head at the kids. "Imagine if they ever got their hands on something truly dangerous…"

Jon raised his brows. "Ouch?" he ventured.

"Yeeeah," Carolyn agreed with sarcasm worthy of her father, Hank Landry. Then she straightened up. "I have to go check in back at the 'Gate. Can you two hold down the fort here?"

At Cassie and Jon's assurance, Carolyn set off, going out a door along the back wall that they hadn't noticed before.

Then the unwelcome sound of Sam's bossy big sister voice came floating over. "Well, we could do a lot of things, Daniel," she was saying, apparently responding to something Daniel had said, "if a certain something hadn't been touched."

"Oy. Not this again," Jon muttered.

This question needed to be settled, Cassie decided. She couldn't stand to see her 'family' fighting like this, children or not. Maybe it was time to throw the ball, or blobby as the case may be, back into the Tok'ra's court. Before the red-faced Daniel could reply, Cassie rushed over to say, "Hey! So, did the Tok'ra ask you guys for advice after the device went off? After all, Sam, Daniel, you have your adult memories…"

As the two blond children traded nonplused, but thankfully not hostile, looks, Jon winked at Cassie over their heads. "Oh, but do you think adult memories are enough? We need adult behavior," he stressed deliberately.

Teal'c climbed on a stool beside him and nodded solemnly. "Ah, you employ a 'good cop-bad cop' strategy. We shall see if it is effective." He crossed his arms and looked expectantly as his fellow teammates.

With an eye-rolling worthy of a four-year-old, Jon patted the little Jaffa on the back. "Great call, T. Glad to see some things never change."

"Ooh, ooh! I wanna be a bad cop!" Vala shouted, raising her hand.

"No, dummy," Cameron said. "It's an interot—intega—intager—"

"Right," Jon said, placing his hand on the struggling Cameron's head. "It's an interrogation technique that doesn't really need to be used on you guys because you're all smart enough to watch your behavior."

This heavy-handed pronouncement was greeted with a variety of unenthusiastic frowns, and, ignoring his clone, Jack declared, "Cassie's right. Enough playing around like we really are kids. SG-1 needs to conduct its own investigation. C'mon, let's go!"

He started off for the same back door Carolyn had left by when Lou Ferretti intercepted him. "Whoa, there, buddy. You know you can't go wandering off without a Tok'ra watchdog."

"Ferretti, I'm a general. You hafta do what I tell you."

Ferretti straightened to parade attention and barked out, "Sir! It is with great regret that I must inform you that I am no longer able to obey your command, sir! On account of you are only three feet tall, sir!"

Jack glared, flipping him off. Or at least he tried to. His four-year-old fingers wouldn't cooperate.

"Sir! Have you considered the Vulcan peace sign, sir!" Ferretti continued to bark.

Starting to giggle, Jack tugged and pried at his obstinate fingers, Ferretti hunkering down to help him. When the boy's hand was in the proper Vulcan configuration, Ferretti returned the salute.

"Live long and prosper, General Jack," the colonel said with a grin.

Using his left hand to hold the middle and ring fingers of his right hand apart, Jack rushed over to Daniel. "Hey, Danny! 'Member when we came back to Abydos? 'Greetings from Planet Earth, Dr. Jackson!'"

Daniel laughed, and soon the two of them were tearing around, slipping on the grey goo, loudly proclaiming themselves to be Vulcans. They ended up at the opaque glass wall, jumping up and down and shrieking at the unseen Tok'ra in the bleachers, "Greetings from Planet Earth, Snakeheads!"

Cassie watched her two favorite uncles with a shaky sigh. Jack and Daniel's friendship was the stuff of SGC legend and she would do almost anything to see that nothing derailed it. Certainly nothing as unimportant as an inconvenient little de-aging incident…

Jon put an arm around her shoulders. "Some inappropriate behavior is less inappropriate than others, eh?"

The smile she returned must have shown more than she intended because Jon gave her cheek a brief stroke. "Hey, don't worry about them. The number of times I remember wanting to punch Daniel is probably second only to the number of times Daniel wanted to punch me. Or Jack, as the case may be."

"I'm just glad they're friends again," she said softly.

"They were always friends," he assured her. "And they will always be friends. Despite appearances." He chuckled. "And I guarantee Jack'll say something annoying before five minutes have gone by."

"Now if we can just get Sam and Daniel on the same wavelength…" Cassie looked over to where Sam talked with Cameron and Vala, probably explaining who Jon was to judge by the way she was pointing at him.

"Let me take a turn," Jon said.

When Daniel grew bored with 'snake-baiting,' Jon motioned him over, sitting down on the floor with him. "Daniel, let's see if we can talk this through a little without resorting to blobbies. Okay, we know you didn't do anything on purpose, but maybe it was just that you were closest to the doohickey."

Daniel shook his head. "The Tok'ra were around it for days."

"Uh, well, maybe it's because you have no symbiote?"

"Sam looked at it first."

"And Sam…has naquadah in her blood!" Jon voice rose as his excitement grew. "Maybe it was, like, a guarding mechanism, and it goes off if anyone without a symbiote or naquadah comes close. It protects Ba'al from human intruders, but doesn't kill them. It reduces them to children so they're harmless and available for questioning. So you set it off, because you were the first person without naquadah to approach it!"

Sam and the others had gathered around at this point, and Jon looked around, proud of his flawless reasoning.

"Huh, cool theory, Jon," Daniel said.

"Wow, maybe this science geek stuff isn't so hard after all," Jon said with a satisfied smirk.

"Yeah, it's a cool theory," Daniel continued. "It's wrong, of course, but it's a good try."

"Wrong? How do you know?"

"The energy beam thingy didn't come from the device," Daniel stated. "Duh, I was looking right at it."

As Jon frowned, insulted, Sam gave a very adult sigh. "Daniel," she said, "why can't you just admit—"

"So, let's go ask Ba'al's host," Daniel demanded, his arms wrapped defensively around himself. "He must know."

"His name's Josiah," Vala clarified. "And he's very nice."

Cassie and Jon looked at each other, brows raised. "Not a bad idea," Cassie said. "Has anyone thought of that?" she asked Lou.

Ferretti shrugged. "I don't think so, but then the High Chancellor doesn't really keep me posted."

"And I still need to look at that device," Sam said. "How else can I make us big again?"

"Okay," Jon said. "So how about we pay a visit to the host after we look at the device. Bet that's where those NID guys went anyhow."

"NID?" Jack shouted. "What're those jerk-wads doing here?"

"Jack, watch it," Daniel warned, nudging his friend's shoulder. "We have to at least act grownup or they won't let us do anything."

"Oh…right," Jack allowed grudgingly.

"Not that you ever acted grownup before, of course," Daniel amended.

Ferretti smiled down at the glaring Jack, adding, "And you have to wait for Brigara."

All the children groaned and Jack went so far as to clutch his head in his hands. "Not Nanny-zilla!" he moaned.

As if on cue a statuesque Tok'ra woman walked in. Her dress, long and flowing enough to brush along the floor behind her, was a sedate brown, her serious eyes the same shade, and while she didn't smile, she had that air of unflappable serenity that emanates from people who do dangerous things for a living, such as demolition experts or preschool teachers.

She immediately moved to greet the six children, touching each lightly on the head in turn, stating their names in a calm and deliberate voice. "Young Vala MalDoran, young Daniel Jackson, young Samantha Carter, young Cameron Mitchell…"

These four tolerated her, with Daniel and Vala actually responding, "Hello, Brigara."

Jack and Teal'c, however, stood with rigid disapproval, and Cassie and Jon had to work hard to stifle laughter at the size of the pouts produced by the conclusion of the Tok'ra's ritual: "…young Jack O'Neill, young Teal'c."

The woman then moved over to Cassie and Jon, saying, "And you must be the young Tau'ri lovers the High Chancellor brought back through the Chappa'ai."

Jon grinned happily at the description as Cassie avoided his eyes with a blush, answering, "Um, yes, I guess we must be…"

"I am Brigara, and my symbiote is Lise." After Cassie introduced herself and Jon, the woman continued, "It is my honor to have been chosen as nanny to these children." She turned to view her charges. "Aren't they lovely?" she asked, her expression of delight returned by six sullen scowls. "So uninhibited… Of course even Tau'ri adults are uninhibited by Tok'ra standards, but now… Their range of actions is truly unpredictable," she concluded with a satisfied nod.

Jack stomped up to her and announced loudly, "We wanna go see that stupid device and meet Ba'al's host."

She didn't bat an eye. "Of course. Are we ready to leave now?"

"Yes."

"Have we finished our nap-taking-time and our food-eating-time?"

Cassie wondered if she'd been reading the same childcare books Anise had.

Jack rolled his eyes and groaned. "Yeah, yeah. We rested and ate. Can we go now?"

"First your rough-play damage must be repaired, young Jack O'Neill."

Jack touched his fat lip as if just remembering it. "It's no big deal," he said.

"Do you have some ice?" Cassie asked.

Brigara stared at her, uncomprehending.

"Or…something…?" Did the Tok'ra even have refrigerators?

"I will heal the child," the nanny explained, pulling a hand device out of a fold in her voluminous gown.

There was a collective shuddering as various nasty brushes with the Goa'uld and their ribbon devices ran through everyone's mind except Cassie's. Cassie had been lucky enough to have never encountered one before and when Jack took a frightened step back from Brigara, Cassie knelt beside him, laying her hands on his shoulders.

"I've never seen one of those healing things before," Cassie said brightly. "But Sam's used one. Right, Sam?"

"Uh…" The little girl shook herself. "Yeah, of course."

"I don't need it," Jack stated.

"Wounds from rough-play are appropriate, young Jack O'Neill," Brigara said, "but healing must follow."

Daniel came up to stand beside his friend, blue eyes large with remorse. "I'm sorry, Jack," he said.

Jack straightened shoulders soft with baby fat. "It's okay, I've had worse."

Brigara slipped the assembly on her hand and knelt down in front of Jack. Placing her free hand on his upper arm to steady him, she passed the glowing jewel in the center of her palm over the boy's lower lip. In an instant the split skin had rejoined to form a barely perceptible pink line and the swelling disappeared.

The nanny returned the device to her pocket, Jack still standing unaware, eyes screwed dramatically closed against nonexistent pain.

"Uh, Jack?" Daniel said, sharing a smile with Cassie. "It's over."

"What? Oh, yeah. See, no big deal."

"Very impressive, O'Neill," Teal'c remarked with a dryness not normally associated with four year old children.

Brigara clasped her hands together. "Very well. Then after a visit is paid to the elimination room, we may take our leave."

"Ugh!" Jack stomped away growling, "Freakin' weirdo snakeheads." He shouted back at her, "It's called a 'bathroom!'"

The children trooped through a door to the right of what Cassie had privately designated as the 'back door' of the nursery. As the adults went out the back door itself, Brigara explained the layout of the 'Children's Environs' as she called it. The door led to a short, wide hallway. On the right side were three doors. The first was the 'elimination' room, which connected with the nursery on one side and the children's sleeping chamber on the other, as well as the hallway. Further down the hallway from the children's sleeping chamber were Brigara's quarters, both sleeping rooms connecting with the hallway as well as each other.

Across the hall was another door, to which the nanny gestured. "This will be your private chamber," she proclaimed, taking it as a given that they would be sleeping together.

Jon shrugged at Cassie's moue, his lips brushing her ear as he whispered, "When in Egerush, do as the Egerusians do."

Lou Ferretti joined them and started to say that he'd sent his team back to the Stargate, when SG-1 exited the bathroom with loud whoops, flicking water from their wet hands at each other, apparently having decided that simply wiping the water off was just too boring. They seemed so much like regular little children as they shrieked and giggled that Cassie was startled when Vala suddenly snapped, "Stop it, Daniel! You'll smear my lipstick!" after one especially close-quarters attack. Cassie did a double take, but couldn't tell if the girl's lips were naturally ruddy or not. Trust Vala to try to vamp it up as a preschooler.

Then the little brunette grabbed Sam and ran up to Cassie. "We're walking with Cassie!" she declared.

Jack, Teal'c and Cameron, who were near Jon, clustered closer, Jack shouting, "We're with Jon!" He looked challengingly at Daniel.

Daniel refused to be baited and merely grabbed Lou's hand, sticking his tongue out at Jack. "I got a colonel. You only got a civilian."

"Hey!" Jon protested. "Who you calling civilian, civilian?"

"Aw, c'mon, Daniel," Jack said, running back over to him. "You know I was only teasing."

"Yeah, I know."

"Time to proceed, children," Brigara called out. She stood at the other end of the hallway, ready to open the door there and immediately all the children rushed together as a group, ignoring the adults behind them and the marching order they'd just arrived at.

Ferretti grinned at the defection of Daniel, then said to Cassie and Jon, "Well, since I'm no longer a status symbol, I think I'll follow Dr. Lam's example and check in with the SGC. Should I tell the general you'll be in touch some time this evening?"

"Please," Cassie said.

As Lou exited back toward the nursery, Jon clapped his hands together. "Okay, munchkins!" he shouted. "Off to see the wizard?"

"Yeah!"

Laughing, Cassie and Jon rushed to keep up with the six dynamos charging down the hallway and through the open doorway in front of them.

tbc