V

Lucy, I'm home, Jack thought awkwardly when the event horizon released him and his boots hit the metal ramp. His eyes swiped the familiar room, the bullet proof window to the control room. Walter and Siler were there, behind the glass, saluting.

They trudged down and there was good ole Doc Fraiser who had probably been on stand-by since the X-302 had left Earth orbit. All the SF stood down and at attention, staring at SG-1 with barely concealed amazement or wonder. Those guys were trained too well to show it too openly or start whispering, but there were raised eyebrows and signs of disbelief when Doctor Daniel Jackson came into view beside Jack, carrying a small version of himself.

SG-1 had the tendency to bounce back and get out of pretty tight spots alive, but seven months of being MIA was a long time even for the SGC's premier team.

Danny looked around the gate room with saucer-eyes. His thumb found his mouth and he ducked his head at the sight of all those SF with their guns.

Jack reached for him, but Danny shook his head and tightened his hold on Daniel's shoulder. He hadn't said a word to Jack since he had returned from Ba'th Town. Had gone completely silent and just clung to Daniel.

Jack knew he had fallen into disgrace the moment he had taken Mania away from Danny. He hadn't been able to 'fix this' the way the star child had envisioned it. Common sense told Jack he had done the right thing. Mania didn't belong here, she belonged with her family. But right now the feeling of having let down both children out-weighted common sense and rationality.

Hammond and Fraiser had a short talk and moments later SG-1 was on their way to the infirmary. Every single person they passed in the hallways turned around to stare at them.

Jack glanced sideways at Danny. "Welcome home, kiddo."

Danny quickly turned his head and buried his face against Daniel's neck, and Daniel gave Jack a helpless shrug as they walked on.

We'll sort it out, Jack thought. Later, when this physical is out of the way. When we get some alone time. I'll talk to him, he'll understand.

They all went through the usual procedures of being prodded and poked. Only due to their long absence and those 'implants' in their heads the prodding and poking took a heck of a lot longer and there were X-rays and MRI involved and more blood and urine tests than Jack cared for.

By the time Fraiser and her staff of nurses were done peering into every orifice – twice at least – and had drained him of most of his blood, Jack had a headache, a growling stomach and the strong longing to go straight back to Ba'th.

He had gotten glimpses of the doc dealing with Danny in between, had listened to her praise of how brave and what a sweetheart he was. Danny had shared with her that he was going to live with Daniel and that he remembered her, but not really very well.

Now, as Jack was standing by the bed next to the Daniels' – with only the drawn curtains between him and them – putting his BDU shirt back on, he heard Fraiser asking Danny about Ba'th.

"What was it like there?"

"It was bright. And sunny. There were beaches and ruins and the ocean," Danny said.

"That sounds absolutely wonderful. Honey, I need to take some of your blood. Do you remember how that works?"

"Uhhhh... Does it hurt? It does, right? It's with the needles..."

"I won't lie to you, Danny, it might sting a little. But it'll be over so fast, you will hardly feel it."

There was a long pause and then Daniel asked, "Do you want me to get Jack?"

A very selfish part of Jack waited for Danny to say 'yes, I want Jack'. All kids were afraid of needles and syringes... and when Danny got scared and teary, Jack would be there for him to hold him and help him through it. And all their troubles would be forgotten in the light of...

"Noo-oo, I don't need Jack," Danny mumbled. "I'm not a baby."

Jack waited with halted breath... and waited...

"There, see? That's it. I got all the blood I need from you now. My, you're really brave, Danny," Janet said.

"It almost only hurt a little bit," Danny pointed out.

"You did great," Daniel said.

"I'm a geek, not a wimp," Danny said briskly. "Being a geek is cool, right?"

Jack heard the smacking of hands as they high-fived each other and Daniel agreed. "Being a geek is the coolest thing ever. Geeks rule."

That's my boy, Jack thought with pride and just a slight sting of rejection.

He quickly closed the buttons of his shirt and left the infirmary.

He made his way to the briefing room where they were scheduled to meet in ten minutes. Just when he had entered the elevator, someone came running down the corridor.

"Colonel, wait up!"

Jack considered just letting the door slide shut. He wasn't in the mood for small talk and Jonas always wanted to chat and most of the time he was annoyingly upbeat.

Jonas had a small pile of books pressed to his chest with both hands. Him barreling down the corridor with those books in his arms and a pen stuck behind his ear had such a striking resemblance to Daniel... Jack almost grinned and pressed the 'hold' button.

Quinn zipped into the car, huffing out a, "Thanks!"

"Where's the fire?"

"Oh... just need to get these books back into my... Daniel's... "

"Hey, I know they stuck you in there and Daniel was gone. No one expected him to come back like," Jack snapped his fingers, "this. I'm sure they'll find you... or Daniel... a new office," They were never going to be best buddies, but Jonas had earned his place on SG-1 and Daniel was back. It was easy to give him some slack.

Jonas smiled. "Yeah. Daniel is pretty good about me using his stuff and hogging his office. But I guess coming back from the death puts things into a different perspective. Oh, and I will move out of your place as soon as I know where to go."

Jack felt his left eyebrow climb upwards. "What?"

Jonas shuffled his books into a different order. "I don't know how long it's gonna take them to clear you and all that, but I'll probably haul my stuff back to base. I left everything as it was. Well, I got a new microwave because yours was kind of... old. And there's a new TV, but I'll take that with me. You can keep the microwave, though. It wasn't very expensive. I planted some fuchsias and some mulberry bushes."

Jack felt the need to repeat himself more forcefully. "What?!"

"I think you should paint your garage. I wanted to do it, but didn't get around to that. Oh, and there's a new lawn mower because yours gave up on me this spring. The Air Force wouldn't pay for a new one so you kind owe me, but..."

"Jonas... hold it... right... there!"

Jonas snapped his mouth shut.

"Did you just say... and let's rewind to that... you will move out of MY place...?"

"Oh god. They haven't told you." Quinn blanched, then blushed within seconds. "I thought... never mind. I'm sorry. General Hammond thought it was the best way to keep it for you. I, uh, kept your truck, too."

"YOU are driving MY truck."

"Well, theoretically speaking it's my.." He winced. "Yes. I'm driving your truck. But you'll get it back of course."

"YOU planted mulberry in MY backyard?"

"Yes. I can... remove them?"

"Don't you know that mulberry multiplies like crazy? They'll take over MY backyard? Just like you've taken over MY house?"

"Um, no, but the berries are really good."

"Are you sleeping in MY bed?" Jack asked, narrowing his eyes another fraction.

"Err, no, I'm… in the guest room."

Jack continued to stare him down. "What was wrong with my TV?"

"Nothing, it was just... old. The new one gets more stations and has better reception. No more snow during hockey games," Jonas said, brightening.

The elevator doors opened and Quinn made a hasty retreat. "I need to take these to my... the... office. I'll see you at the briefing, sir."

"We are SO going to talk," Jack growled after him.

"Yes. Sure. Later." Quinn quickly vanished around a corner.

Jack watched the doors close and let out a huff of annoyance.

Yep, going straight back to Ba'th seemed like a very good idea right now.

ooo

Sam entered her lab and stopped short as soon as she stepped through the doorway.

My lab, she thought.

But was it really still her lab?

She had avoided coming here the last two days. After their arrival she had spent a long time in the infirmary, then in an even longer briefing. They had eaten, rested for a couple of hours and tried to wrap their heads around the fact that time had not stood still at the mountain or in Colorado Springs. Yesterday they had been ordered back to the infirmary for more tests and then they had been interrogated – even though that particular word never crossed anyone's lips - by the NID.

Sam had been given a whole catalog of questions to answer, regarding their memory loss, their original mission, the technical details of the stamping mechanism and she had to sign a statement, declaring that she had not given away classified information or knowledge to any of Ba'th's citizens. She hadn't even considered to explain what she had shared with Jadah. She had just crossed her fingers and signed it.

This morning she'd been in more meetings, talking to yet another tape recorder and Simmons. She had gotten a to-do list about everything that had been taken care of and anything she still had to do or sign. Call her bank to get a new account, have her picture taken for a new ID and driver license. All her USAF IDs and clearances needed to be resurrected as well, but the Air Force would take care of that.

Oh, and she had to find a new house.

But now she was in her lab. Her to-go place. Her office, her 'sandbox' as the colonel once called it.

She recognized all her equipment. Sure, others had worked in here while she'd been gone, but basically it was still her lab, right? Should be. Her computers, her work counter, her instruments...

The changes were very subtle.

The coffee mug on the counter, with 'I don't do Mondays' printed on its front, wasn't hers and someone had put a sad-looking plant in a corner, under an infrared lamp to keep it alive. Sam's heart ached for the poor creature. It needed sunlight and rain and good soil.

Had it always been this dark down here? Had the air always been this stale?

It's not stale, you're just imagining that. The air circulation and conditioning down here is perfectly balanced. You just have to get used to it again, she thought.

"Major Carter," a voice from behind her startled her and she quickly turned to face a woman in a lab coat. "I was told you are back." The scientist came forward, holding out her hand and Sam took it. "I'm Doctor Peters."

"Hi." Sam plastered a smile on her face. "I was just..."

"That's okay. This has been your office, your lab. I'm going to clear it if you want it back," Peters said, returning Sam's forced smile with one of her own. Only hers seemed genuine. "I'm new. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I'm working here now. Wow. I mean... this is the real deal." Peter's eyes sparkled with open amazement.

"I know what you mean. When I got assigned to the SGC I pinched myself for a week," Sam replied on auto pilot, making small talk.

"Yeah. I'm coming from Area 51, which is cool because we get a lot of the stuff you find to analyze. But working here is like being in the front row, getting my hands on new technologies before anyone else." Peters moved to a shelf with the espresso machine.

Not my coffee maker, Sam thought.

"Coffee?"

"Ah, no, thanks. I was just..." Sam wasn't sure what exactly she'd been doing. Wandering around? Trying to settle back in? She didn't even know where to start. She didn't even have a lab anymore. "I have a lot of catching up to do. I missed seven months of... everything."

Peters nodded, her short straight ponytail bouncing with the movement. "I get that. Let me know if you need me to move out or if they are going to give you a new lab."

"Right. I'll..." She retreated back into the corridor. "Nice to meet you, Doctor Peters."

"Lyn," the other woman called after her as Sam fled down the hallway.

Her feet carried her to the infirmary where she wanted to check on Teal'c.

She ran into Janet who was just exiting her office. The SGC's CMO greeted Sam with a warm smile and a quick hug. She felt better immediately.

"I was going to grab some coffee. Want to join me? Teal'c has just gone through a row of tests. He needs rest," Janet said, already pulling Sam with her.

Before they left she called out for Doctor Brightman in the other room to check on Teal'c's vitals in half an hour.

"How is he?" Sam asked.

"Not happy." Janet rolled her eyes. "But his condition is still stable. And he agreed to stay in the infirmary for additional testing with the drug. We are giving him antibiotics and additional vitamin supplements. It's a shot in the dark, though. His body won't develop an immune system on its own. Doctor Brightman and I are going to work on modifying a new medication that was supposed to be for HIV patients, but never made it onto the market because it's too aggressive. We might be able to combine it with your drug. But it's all very hypothetical at the moment. If Teal'c's vitals go downhill he'll need a new symbiote."

"Hammond told us that Bra'tac offered to find a one, but Teal'c refused."

"He said he will never carry a symbiote again as long as there is any chance of making this drug work. We'll see. As for good news – Sina and Dolmakor are very optimistic regarding the drug."

Sina and Dolmakor were two Tok'ra scientists who had agreed to work on the symbiote replacement drug with them. They had arrived yesterday while Sam had been stuck in the non-interrogations.

"Your drug has a lot of potential, Sam. If the Tok'ra can help, this could be the ultimate breakthrough for the Jaffa to gain freedom from their dependency on symbiotes. We need a team out there collecting more soil and plant samples from the area where you created the drug. Your notes about the ingredients and how to put it together were extremely helpful."

"Some of those plants you'll find on Earth, but not all of them," Sam said. "The black roots of the fern, for example. And the silver sage I used is different from ours. And their soil has this high concentration of naquadah. If Ba'th authorities let us set up a plantation..."

"That would be perfect," Janet said. "In the meantime we'll experiment further on what we have."

"I'd love to help work on this."

"By all means, you're on board! I was going to ask you for help anyway. But you just got back and you need to settle in and get through a lot of red tape."

They stopped at the elevator and Sam watched Janet slide her card through the access panel by the door. She only had a guest card at the moment. They all had. SG-1's ID codes were still pending.

"The Air Force does a lot of the red tape untangling for us. We can't do anything but wait until they have put us back into the system. We're all still MIA, officially," Sam said as they stepped into the car a moment later.

Janet pushed the buttons for the right level. "They better hurry. You've been back for three days now."

"Yeah. The NID has issues because the memory stamps can't be removed," Sam said.

Janet blew out an annoyed breath. "They can't be removed because the risk of causing actual brain damage is too high. What they put into your brains resembles small nanites which are protected by minuscule force fields." Of course they had already gone through all this in the latest briefing. Janet sighed. "It's a bit similar to what Nirti put into Cassie's head. These things have rooted themselves so deeply into your brains that I wouldn't even know how to remove them. I don't even know what they do or if they are even doing anything now. They don't interfere with any brain functions and whatever caused the memory override is apparently gone. All the scans turned out negative, there is nothing wrong with you guys."

"But we do have something alien in our brains that makes the suits nervous," Sam bottom lined it.

"Maybe it'll go away on its own. I'll just have to keep monitoring it."

The commissary was almost empty when they arrived there. Once they had their coffee they settled at a table in the back of the room. Janet put cream and sugar into her coffee while Sam sipped hers black. Grimacing she reached for the cream and poured some in. She had mourned the lack of coffee on Ba'th, but now she wished she'd chosen tea instead.

Janet gave her an intent look. "Sam? Are you okay?"

She took another sip of her coffee and put it back down. "Yeah. It's just... There's someone else working in my lab," she blurted out and immediately bit her lip.

"I know. But they'll sort it out."

"No, it's okay. I know the SOP for this. We were gone seven months and there was no way of knowing if we were still alive. I don't have a house anymore either. They paid the landlord and he re-rented it. All my stuff is in storage." Sam let out a bitter snort. "It's so sad, really."

"Honey, it's not sad. It's wonderful to have you back. All of you. The SGC wasn't the same without you guys," Janet said firmly. "You have no idea how much you were missed."

Sam shook her head. "No, you don't understand. I meant... how can it be that I'm so shocked about the fact that someone else is in my lab while I don't even care about not having a house anymore? What does that say about my life here? About my priorities?" Suddenly angry she ground out,"The colonel was right when he said I have no life."

"The SGC has always been your home away from home. And you've spent a lot of time over at my place on the weekends to be with Cass. There's nothing bad or wasted about that. Cass missed you terribly, Sam." Janet reached across the table and took her hand in both of hers. "We missed you, hon. The chessboard is still as you left it the last time you were with us. We still have blue jell-o in our fridge and no one touched the hot chocolate capsules for the coffee maker you like so much."

Sam closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying the warmth of the touch and the truth of the words. She covered Janet's hands with her other one. "Thank you. I missed Cass, too. And you."

She hadn't even realized how much she'd missed Janet. And Cassandra – once her memories had come back. Not until now. It was funny how things sometimes worked. She could measure how much she needed them in her life by the way her anxiety level suddenly dropped.

"It'll take some time to settle in again. As soon as they cleared you as being officially back, I want you to come and stay with us. Until you have a new place."

"Janet, I can't..."

"Please. We've been friends for a very long time. And if you want to, you're welcome to feel at home at my place just like Daniel used to be at home at the colonel's." Janet winked and Sam swallowed a sudden lump in her throat.

"I would like that, yes," she whispered, feeling less out of place. A little less lost.

"I have the weekend off. We can have a pajama party, eat popcorn and watch movies."

"Have wine," Sam said. She remembered lots of evenings spent like that now.

"And something with bacon for breakfast," Janet added.

"Oh, yeah."

"And then I'd love to hear all about that planet you were stuck on for so long."

After a moment Sam regretfully pulled her hands out of Janet's and picked up her coffee. It didn't actually taste that bad. "There are worse places to be stuck," she said thoughtfully. "I wish I could have taken pictures. Maybe I can snap some when I go back to meet with the authorities. Though that'll be in Madinah and not the place where I lived."

She wondered how Jadah was. She wished she'd been able to see her again before they left. To make sure her old mentor was really all right. She had to find a way to visit her once she returned. And Björk. She wanted to see him again, too.

Sam and Janet were drawn out of their companionable silence when the doors opened and Daniel entered, holding mini-him by the hand. They looked around, spotted them and Daniel nudged Danny in their direction.

"Look who's here. Sam and Doc Janet. Do you want to say hi?"

Danny nodded, let go of Daniel's hand and trotted over. "Hi Sam, hi Janet." He climbed the chair Janet pulled out for him and sat there, swinging his legs.

Daniel went to the counter to get dinner.

"Hi, Danny. Are you hungry?" Janet asked.

"Noooo," Danny drawled.

"Awww, come on. They have mac and cheese. And broccoli casserole," Sam coaxed and had to laugh at the doubtful look on Danny's face. "Okay, maybe broccoli isn't exactly yummy."

"I don't like what they have here," Danny said, sounding more sad than whiny. "It all tastes the same."

Sam exchanged a worried look with Janet. She knew the kid wasn't eating and he wasn't sleeping well either. This morning Daniel had told them Danny had tossed and turned all night and woken up several times.

He probably missed his little friend, Mania. And, like all of them, the colonel had been in meetings and hearings most of the time since they'd been back.

"It's just for a couple of days, Danny. You won't be stuck in here forever," Janet said cheerfully. "But you have to eat, sweetie."

Danny nodded and stared at the table top.

"I'm sure the colonel is already working on getting you out of here and home," Sam added, then winced. The colonel didn't have a house anymore either. Well, he had, but it was occupied. Poor Jonas was never going to hear the end of that.

But when it came down to it Jonas had taken care of the property, watered the plants, mowed the lawn, kept everything going. So theoretically the colonel should probably thank him. Ouch.

"I'm not going with Jack," Danny said quietly. "I'm staying with Daniel."

"You... will?" This was the first time she heard this. She had had no doubt that the little boy was going to live with the colonel once everything was sorted. It had never occurred to her that Danny would choose differently. She had wondered, briefly, how the colonel was going to balance being a dad and leading SG-1. But it had seemed a done deal that Danny was going to stay with Colonel O'Neill.

"Ah, actually, that decision hasn't been made yet." Daniel placed a tray on the table. On it was a small plate of mac and cheese and another one with some green glob. Probably the broccoli casserole.

"I decided," Danny said, now clearly on the defiant side. He crossed his arms over his chest and stuck out his bottom lip.

Daniel put the mac and cheese in front of him. "Okay. Why don't you have some dinner. This is great. It's macaroni and cheese and you can have ketchup with it if you want."

Danny eyed the food and shook his head. "No, thank you."

Daniel pierced some of it on a fork and blew over it, then held it out to Danny. "Just one bite? For me?"

"It tastes awful," Danny said gloomily.

Sam felt sorry for Daniel. She knew he had tried getting some food into the boy for the last three days. She had tried, too. The kid would eat a bite here and there, but only reluctantly. At least he liked the orange juice and milk they kept offering him so he wasn't in immediate danger of becoming dehydrated.

"It's not awful, it's really good." Daniel shoved the fork into his own mouth and rolled his eyes. "Mmmmh, great. You should really try it." He chewed, swallowed and pulled a face. "Okay. This IS awful."

Janet snorted. "You're not helpful, Daniel."

"Neither is trying to poison little kids," Daniel muttered. He eyeballed the green glob. "What about the broccoli, Danny? Want to try that?"

Danny shook his head. "Noooo."

Janet snapped her fingers. "I have an idea. Why don't you tell me what you WANT to eat, Danny? And I promise to get it for you on my way to work tomorrow? But you have to promise me to eat it."

Daniel frowned. "Is spoiling him helpful?"

Janet gave him the patented Doctor-knows-best glare. "If he doesn't start eating properly soon, he'll end up on an IV. Do you want that?"

"Um, no, of course not."

"And you said it yourself, this is awful. If you don't want to eat it, why should he want to eat it?" Addressing Danny again, Janet asked, "So, what do you want, honey?"

Danny flirted one shoulder. "I'm just never hungry anymore."

"Not at all? What if you could choose from any food you like?" Sam asked.

"I dunno," he whispered, ducking his head.

Daniel put the fork down and got up. "That's it. I'll get Jack."

"He's in a hearing," Sam cautioned.

Simmons had showed up at the SGC again today and announced there would be another hearing to determine whether or not SG-1 was still compromised by the memory stamps or not. Hammond had objected, but the NID had gotten clearance from the president to proceed.

"Great. He's been unavailable all day. This is an emergency. Janet? Can you call him out of a hearing for this?" Daniel asked, half in jest. He looked desperate.

She gave him a wide grin. "You bet I can."

Sam and Daniel watched as she got up and hurried to the wall phone. She called Walter, telling him Colonel O'Neill was needed at the commissary ASAP.

"He'll be here in a moment," Janet said satisfied when she returned to their table. Then she stopped short. "Where's Danny?"

Sam and Daniel turned to stare at the empty chair where Danny had been seated just a moment ago.

Daniel buried his head in his hands and groaned. "Great. Now I lost him."

VI

Teal'c removed the thermometer from his mouth and read the numbers. His fever had not dropped. But it had also not gotten worse. They had taken his temperature with an ear thermometer already. He was not sure what difference there was in measuring his body temperature orally. He knew, however, that he would refuse to have his temperature taken rectally.

Doctor Brightman stopped reading the monitor data by his bed and took the thermometer from him. "Still a fever," she confirmed what he already knew. "But it's not climbing."

"My body temperature has not changed dramatically over the last three days," Teal'c said. "There is no need to confine me to this bed. I was not bed bound on the planet. My condition has not changed."

"You agreed to work with us on this, Teal'c."

"I did agree to the tests. Not to be confined to the infirmary," he corrected her statement.

"You need to rest. You have been through a lot. Your body needs recharging in a different way than it was used to." She was not backing down, but after a moment of tense silence she said, "Give it another day or two, Teal'c, please. It's easier to monitor your vitals from here. If there is no change for the better over the next two days, we can at least rule out the use of antibiotics as an addition to the drug. And hopefully the Tok'ra will have come up with something by then."

He laid back on his pillow. "Very well. Two days."

Once Brightman had left, Teal'c eyed the untouched cups of blue jell-o on his nightstand – a get-well-gift from O'Neill – and the empty cookie bag – a get-well-gift from MajorCarter. He was not hungry now. And he had no interest in watching any of the movies on the small player O'Neill had provided him with.

He was tired of all the cables and the IV line he was hooked to, tired of lying around doing nothing. They kept reading his monitors and drawing blood. He had never been subjected to such a long stay in the infirmary. It was annoying. He would gladly endure the pain and dizziness that came with not carrying a symbiote for as long as it took to test the drug and change it until it worked properly. But he would surely lose his mind if he was supposed to stay in bed for a long period of time.

The door to his room opened slowly, but he could not see anyone entering.

He watched as the door was closed as quietly as it had been opened.

Teal'c raised his head to change his angle of view and smiled at his visitor. "DannyJackson."

"Are you napping?"

"I am not."

"Good. Daniel says not to come in when you're napping." Danny had reached the bed now and looked up at Teal'c with solemn eyes.

"I am always pleased to see you, young Danny."

Danny bit his bottom lip and leaned forward, placing his hands on the bed sheet. "Can I stay with you for a while, Teal'c?"

"Did you bring a game?" Yesterday they had played memory.

"Uh, no." Danny had not seemed too interested in the memory, but it had passed the time and Teal'c would have liked to try another game. But the little boy said. "I don't feel like playing." He patted the bed sheets. "Maybe I'm sick. Like you."

"Do you not feel well?"

Danny shrugged. "I dunno."

Teal'c reached for him and helped him climb the bed. Immediately the little boy slipped under the blanket and snuggled against him, careful not to tangle himself in the EKG cables.

Teal'c placed a hand on Danny's brow. It did not feel warm. "Are you in any pain?"

"No." After a pause he said, "Doc Janet said I'm very healthy. She checked all my insides out. Daniel said I was brave. Even when she stuck the needle in my arm. I didn't cry."

"You are very brave. I am sure O'Neill thinks so, too." There was no reply. Teal'c rubbed a tense shoulder. "Do you still not speak to O'Neill?"

Danny burrowed deeper into the nest of blanket until only a tuft of soft blond hair peeked out.

"He had no choice, DannyJackson." Teal'c was saddened by the little one's pain, but he was not sure how to comfort the boy. He could not give him what he wanted and he could not find O'Neill guilty for his actions.

"He promised," Danny whispered. "No one gets left behind. Not ever."

"She was not left behind. Ba'th is her home," Teal'c said gently.

"But she was my bestest friend and she wanted to come."

"Her mother would have been very sad. And her brothers. This is not her world, DannyJackson. She would have become homesick. You would not want to be taken away from O'Neill by force, would you?"

"You had to leave your family and you founded a new one. With us," the boy pointed out.

"That is true. But a part of me will always mourn the fact that I could not see my son grow up and be a big part of his life."

DannyJackson did not answer and Teal'c stroked his hand up and down the small back.

The door to his room opened again and O'Neill entered, carrying a chocolate muffin on a plate. "Hey, T. Any chance of Danny being here?" He spotted the lump under the blanket and was about to speak again, but Teal'c put a finger to his lips and said, "I have not seen DannyJackson."

O'Neill raised his left eyebrow, but decided to play along. "I got him this..." He held up the plate with the chocolate muffin. "The doc is worried because he's not eating. Daniel tried, Carter tried... they wanted me to give it a go. I told them it's a bad idea. And I was right. He took off from the commissary and left all his yummy vegetables behind as soon as he knew I was on my way."

Ignoring O'Neill's troubles for the moment, Teal'c addressed more pressing matters, "Why do you bring me all this wobble jelly if the commissary is serving chocolate cake?"

O'Neill eyed the blue jell-o cups. "I thought you like that stuff."

"It is MajorCarter who prefers jell-o over real food."

"Right. You want this? Since the kid isn't here and probably wouldn't eat it anyway because it's coming from me..." O'Neill placed the plate next to the jell-o and dropped in the visitor chair by the bed.

He looked tired and just as sad as the child.

"I screwed up, T." O'Neill said, his eyes fixated on the outlines of Danny's curled back.

"You had no choice. Mania had to return to her family."

"I didn't give them a chance to say good-bye. I just took her and left. I guess that's why he's so mad. I thought it would be easier that way."

"It would not have been easier the other way."

"I should have taken him with me when I took her home."

"Perhaps. But I still believe it would not have made saying good-bye less painful."

O'Neill continued quietly. "And ever since we got back I have hardly seen him. Had no chance to really talk to him. Nothing I can do about that, but I miss my little guy. And he won't even allow me to tuck him in at night."

"He will forgive you, O'Neill."

"He wants to move in with Daniel once they let us out of here," O'Neill said. His eyes never left the spot where Danny had burrowed under the blankets. "That really stings."

Teal'c knew the hurt in his friend's voice was no ploy to guilt-trip the child into leaving his cover, but he hoped that Danny would have a change of heart. For his own sake as much as for the colonel's.

Perhaps...

"I am under the impression you and DanielJackson are going to spend a lot of your time together."

"That's gonna be tough. We can probably only see each other when Danny is napping," O'Neill said, rolling his eyes.

"Perhaps DannyJackson should consider entirely different living arrangements for himself if he is not ready to forgive you yet. If your betrayal of his trust runs this deep."

"Yeah, well, I bet there isn't a single person on this base who's met him that wouldn't want to keep him. He's just that kind of kid you want to take home and spoil a little. He'd have them all eating out of his hands."

"It should not be someone close to you," Teal'c advised. "Seeing you might upset him too much." Underneath the blankets the little one curled into himself even more and Teal'c felt the tremors of silent sobs under the palm of his hand resting on DannyJackson's back.

O'Neill shook his head. "It's his choice of course. If he hates me this much I can't force him to change his mind. But I told him I won't ever leave him and that's a promise I intend to keep one way or another. Daniel is as far away from me as I'll let him go without a fight. Who knows, someday he might find it in him to forgive me." He stood and stretched his back. "I'm off to find Jonas. I haven't needled him about living at MY house for almost..." He peered at his watch, "...two hours."

DannyJackson needed exactly as much time to make up his mind as it took O'Neill to reach the door and put his hand on the handle.

"Jack! Jack, wait!" In his haste to untangle himself from his cocoon of blankets he almost fell out of bed. Teal'c caught him in time and lowered him gently to the ground.

O'Neill spun around and threw his hands into the air as if a weapon was aimed at him. "Whoa! Danny-boy! Did you just beam in here?"

"Noooo, I was hiding under the blankets," DannyJackson said, sniffling a little. "I heard you and Teal'c talk 'bout me." He did not run to hug the colonel's legs like Teal'c had seen him do so often when they'd been on the planet. Instead Danny remained close to the bed, one hand curled around a corner of Teal'c's blanket.

"All of it?" O'Neill looked shocked and embarrassed. "Even the part where I said I'd give you my yo-yo if you'd just stop being mad at me?"

"You didn't say that," the child replied, puzzled.

O'Neill winced. "Okay, no, I didn't. But I would. If it helps."

"I don't want your yo-yo, Jack," DannyJackson said and began to cry. Teal'c suspected those tears had been suppressed for a while now and needed to be shed.

O'Neill opened his arms and as if he had just been waiting for that, Danny let go of the blanket and ran. He leaped and threw himself at his surrogate father who caught him and held onto him as if his life depended on it.

And maybe it did.

Teal'c had rarely ever met two people who were more deeply connected than O'Neill and DanielJackson. He had seen that complicated friendship grow into even more complicated love over the years. He had always hoped both men would some day see beyond their differences and find what was so obviously there.

What had happened on the planet where they smoked those hallucinogenic drugs had probably been too much too soon. But he had never doubted that it would have happened either way at some point. Yet, it had driven them further apart instead of bringing them closer together. But apparently it had not changed the way they felt for each other.

Ever since DanielJackson had ascended O'Neill walked through a valley of darkness. He had functioned well as a soldier and marched on relentlessly in his fight against the Goa'uld. But the man Teal'c knew as his friend had been frozen inside to the point where nothing or no one had been able to reach him.

No one but this child who was actually a part of DanielJackson.

Teal'c had not been there when Danny had fallen from the sky. But he had immediately seen the change in O'Neill once he had joined them. And while Teal'c knew that O'Neill had only fully healed after Daniel's descension, he was convinced that it had been Danny who had broken the shell around O'Neill's heart and thawed the ice, not the memory stamp or the removal from his home world.

Teal'c did not know for sure because Jack O'Neill was a very private man, but having this boy in his life now had probably closed a much older but equally deep wound. No one probably ever fully recovered from the loss of a beloved child, but maybe O'Neill had come as close as one could possibly get.