Chapter One

It's a Start

John was sitting in his parent's living room, but not on the couch; he'd brought a chair from the dining room and set it in front of the big bay windows that looked out to the pool. In his hands he held a letter, the envelope, post marked from three years before lay discarded at his feet.

To Mister and Missus Jack Crichton,

It is my unhappy duty to inform of the death of your nephew, Doctor Daniel Jackson. Though not a member of the US Air Force or any other branch of the United States military, he never the less served his country with a selflessness and courage that is unparalleled in the officers and enlisted men of today's armed forces. Daniel Jackson did not just give his life to this project, he offered his mind, and kept the men and women of this base honest. In the years that I have known him he has become a dear friend and will be sorely missed.

I would like to extend my deepest regrets to you and your family. I know that he held you close to his heart in everything he did, and I feel it is my duty to inform you that Doctor Jackson did not die in vain. His sacrifice saved the lives of thousands of men, women and children, and though I cannot expound upon the details of his death, I can tell you that he died a hero.

Sincerely,

Major General George Hammond

"John?" His mother had snuck up behind when he'd been reading. "John, honey, are you alright?"

"You didn't tell he was dead." He didn't mean to sound angry, after all this letter would mean his mother would have lost her only connection to her dead brother.

"Where did you get that, John?" She sounded stern, as she took in the envelope and letter clutched in her son's hands.

"I've been angry with him for four years, Mom, and you didn't tell me he was dead." He exclaimed. "I thought he… why didn't you tell me?" He stood up to look her in the eye; he truly wanted and answer.

"Because Dan's coming to dinner tonight, John, he came back two years ago and told us all he could." She paused and took his hand in hers "He's not dead, John, he can tell you himself when you pick him up at the airport." And then she wasn't in the living

room anymore.

" Airport?" John stared at the now crumpled letter in his hands.

"Baggage claim, 3:45; and don't be late, John." His mother's voice drifted from the kitchen. John suddenly had the feeling he'd been duped.

The door slid open with great force. John spun around to see Chiana in her new pink bakini hands braced against the doorframe she'd just accosted.

"Crichton! Come swimming with us. Or sun bathing, or something. You look tragic sitting on that chair." She grabbed his arm and tried to drag him, fully clothed to the poolside.

John braced his free hand on the doorframe and took a quick glance at the clock over the mantle. 2:40; if he left now he'd make it to the airport just in time. Chiana had turned around, and was giving him a slightly comical impatient glare. "I can't, Pip. I gotta go so I can pick up my dead cousin at the airport." He paused briefly. "He's coming over for dinner tonight."

John pulled up to the curb outside of baggage claim twenty minutes later then he had intended. He didn't remember traffic ever being that bad. He figured Daniel would have been waiting for him on the curb by now. Testily, he put the car in neutral and rolled down the passenger window looking for the longhaired, skinny academic. Turned out he was looking for the wrong guy. John was so intent on finding the other man he completely missed his arrival.

John eyed the tall muscular man wearily. He was wearing a worn leather jacket and a pair fitted blue jeans, heavy duty hiking boots covered his feet. He was tall, probably as tall as Daniel, but bigger—way bigger. He was chatting on an expensive cell phone and watching him curiously. John couldn't shake the feeling that he knew the guy from somewhere. As soon as that thought popped into his mind he dismissed it. It was probably just nut job who thought he'd been abducted by aliens and had been fallowing Crichton and his friends around since they arrived on earth. On second thought, this could end up being uncomfortable. As John watched, the man closed his phone and made his way over to the parked car.

"Frelling—" John cursed as the man shouldered his bag and leaned down toward the open window.

"John?" The man asked as he squinted behind his wire framed glasses.

"Can I help you with something, or do you usually try to make conversation with complete strangers in busy transportation centers?" John really wished the guy would get his hand off the door handle. He didn't want to hurt the guy after all.

"Only if that stranger happens to be a blood relative who's supposed to pick up for dinner with my aunt's family." The man bit out with a sickly sweet smile plastered across his well-tanned face. "Can I get in the car now? People are starting to stare."

"Dan?" John wasn't quite sure what to think. "You look… different."

"Well, thank you… I think." Daniel opened the door and tossed his bag in the back seat, sliding into passenger seat at the same time. Both men sat in silence for a while as the drove out of the airport complex. John was trying to figure out when his quiet cousin had turned into a body builder who wore leather.

He shot another look quick glance at the man in the passenger seat, before turning back to the road with a little smirk. Daniel's face was all scrunched up, and to John he looked vaguely constipated. At least Daniel was off balance as well.

"So…" John jumped at Daniel's unexpected exclamation. "How was space?"

John gave the other man another quick look before answering. "Frelling awesome."

"Frelling?"

Daniel sounded like he knew what it meant but John answered anyway. "It's like fucking, only different."

"Literally?" Daniel sounded amused and John bet his cousin had set that whole thing up.

"Bastard." John sniped back.

"Now that's just mean." Again, John had the feeling he'd had a lot of theses kinds of conversations since he'd last seen him.

The fell into silence again for a long about twenty minutes. John watched the road while Daniel looked out his window.

"I did come, you know." He finally said, very quietly. "I didn't forget, I came."

"I didn't see you there." John sounded harsher then he'd wanted to. It had been four years, he'd seen things no one else could even dream of, and yet he was bitter because this man he hardly even knew hadn't made it the launch. He hardly even thought of the launch anymore. But now that Daniel was here John was right back to being angry with him. He hadn't seen the man in over nine years and here he was, mad as he had been when his cousin had left. "You broke mom's heart, Dan."

"I know, John." Daniel whispered as they pulled into the driveway. "But so did you."

I apologize for the long, long time between updates, and the fact that the story is no longer going the direction it was before. But I realized halfway through writing the sixth chapter that I didn't have a plot. So I went back to my original idea, hopefully this will have a little more substance.