Chapter 4

Purplesplashies and a Decision

The next morning came bright and early.

Jack had Menkins's hands untied so she could eat breakfast. He also had his gun next to him so she wasn't getting any ideas. They had sandwiches and the Air Force's excuse for coffee. Daniel settled for water and didn't even ask for coffee, which Jack thought was interesting. He checked his watch and figured the usual time for them to call home had been half an hour ago.

Nobody had checked in on them.

He had the sinking feeling nobody ever would.

After breakfast, Jack turned to Daniel. "What do you think about a bath in that little river over there? You look like a mole."

"'kay!" Daniel jumped up, ready to run.

Jack snatched him by the collar of his tee and pointed at the tents. "Whoa... wait a minute! Towel? Soap?"

"Oh. Yeah. Forgot." The kid traipsed over to their tent and returned a moment later, carrying a towel and a tube of multipurpose soap from his pack.

Jack tied Menkins's hand in front of her and made her accompany them. He found a spot near the shore, where she could kneel and wash her face. She struggled a little with her tied hands, but there was no way in hell Jack was going to leave her untied when he wasn't able to give her his undivided attention.

When she was done with freshening up, Jack told Daniel to stay put and wait for him. He made Menkins sit under a nearby tree and tied her ankles with another restraint he retrieved from his pants pocket.

Then he turned back to Daniel, who had – naturally - wandered off along the shore and was climbing an old tree trunk that was crossing the river. Cursing under his breath, Jack left Menkins where she was and, a moment later, snatched Daniel up by his tee and settled him on his hip.

"Jack! I saw two butterflies!" Daniel exclaimed as Jack carried him to the sandy spot at the shore. "Though I'm sure they aren't called butterflies here."

"Daniel..."

"Do you think they have another name? 'cuz we're not on Earth? They were pretty..."

Jack sat down on a flat stone with Daniel on his knees. He patted the kid's shoulder to get his attention and when Daniel looked at him, he said, "I'm sure they were very pretty, Daniel. But when I tell you to stay put, I want you to stay there and not wander off, okay?"

"I didn't wander off. I was just..."

"I told you to stay right here," Jack repeated firmly.

Daniel scrunched up his face and sniffed. "Sorry."

Sensing an imminent meltdown, Jack quickly hugged the tyke and said more gently, "I know. Let's take a look at that river, shall we? The water seems shallow enough, so you can go in on your own if you like. But you have to take your shirt off."

"'kay," Daniel said in a subdued tone as he slid down from Jack's lap and pulled the shirt over his head. He carefully tiptoed into the cool water, leaving shirt and towel next to Jack on the grass. There were stones on the bottom of the stream, but not too many, so Jack wasn't worried about Daniel hurting himself.

Daniel stood in the middle of the river and watched the water playing around his legs. "Jack! There are little fish in here!"

Fascinated by the tiny purple fish, the kid bent over to gaze into the water, butt sticking out.

O'Neill felt the hair on his neck rise. He hadn't seen any fish when he'd first checked the water. However, SG-2 had assured them there weren't any venomous animals. The wildlife was very similar to North America; nothing fancy.

Jack pulled off his boots and socks, rolled up his pant legs and stepped into the water to take a look at the fish himself. They looked like brown trout, only purple and much smaller. They didn't seem to be interested in little Daniel's toes or legs.

"Can I catch some? Do we have a bucket?" Daniel looked up with hopeful eyes.

"Um, no. I don't think we have a bucket."

"One of the containers we collect samples in, then?"

"Daniel... why don't you just wash up for now? I think the trout love to be free and swim where ever they want," Jack tried.

That made sense to any version of Daniel. "Oh. Yes, you're right. Jack? How do you know these are trout?"

Jack scratched his head. "I don't. They just look like trout. Mini-trout."

"But maybe they have their own name... Like... purplesplashies?" Daniel sat down on his bottom and yelped, then giggled, when the cold water splashed against his belly.

"Purplesplashies it is." Jack grinned.

"They have tiny blue spots," Daniel informed him as he tried to catch one with his hands.

"Oh? So maybe they're called purplebluespotsplashies?"

"Nah, that's too long," the kid decided. "And they prob'ly have a more scient... ifical name. But I like purplesplashies."

Jack watched him for a moment and tried to ignore the warm feeling inside at the sight of this youngster playing in the shallow water. Fun and cozy as it was, they had to find a way to reverse this, and soon.

Still, he was a cute kid, this Daniel.

"Hey, wash your face," Jack said as he sat on a stone that jutted out of the river. "But don't drink the water, okay?"

"I know, Jack. I can't drink it 'cause we don' know if it's clean or not," Daniel said, giving him an indignant look. He splashed water onto his face, but after he had done that twice, he suddenly stopped and bent over until his nose almost touched the water. "I can see little stones. They're pretty." He reached down with one hand, dug around in the sandy ground and scooped up a flat stone which he showed Jack. "See?"

"Very pretty," Jack confirmed.

Daniel's face and hands looked clean now, as did his legs and everything up to his belly. But his upper body had still traces of dirt.

"Why don't you lie down in the water?" Jack suggested.

Daniel immediately stretched out, now that his body had adjusted to the coolness. Jack remembered how Charlie had never been bothered with cold water as long as he was allowed to have fun in it. He had loved to swim and play in the pond at the cabin. Daniel, on the other hand, had felt cold much more easily. Must have something to do with his early childhood years in Egypt. He was a desert rat. Jack guessed the temperature on Abydos must have been just right for him.

Now, however, it didn't seem to bother him much either.

Jack called him out a moment later and started applying the blue liquid soap to the kid's body, automatically falling back into his paternal pattern as he made sure Daniel was soaped up properly. The kid wrinkled his nose at the smell of the soap. No roses. But it was better than the no-rinse stuff they had used in earlier years. This soap was neutral and could be used for dishes as well. It wasn't toxic and wouldn't leave any residue in the water.

"Okay. Go rinse," Jack instructed and watched Daniel bounce back into the river, washing the soap off his body, muttering about the "yucky stuff" under his breath.

When Daniel announced he was done, Jack checked for leftover soap. When he confirmed the kid was properly scrubbed and looked shiny as a new penny, Daniel asked if he could play in the water for a while longer and went back to looking for stones and fishies with a squeal once he got permission to do so.

Yep, he was a cute kid.

When Jack realized, a while later, that Daniel was starting to shiver a little, he called him out and dried him off. Snuggled into the towel, Daniel then sat next to Jack on the warm grass and wriggled his mini-toes. "I look funny, don't I?"

Well, you act funny, too, thought Jack, but aloud he said, "Nah. Just smaller."

"Will I grow up? I mean... all the way up again? Janet isn't here to check me out. So we don't know, right? What if I'm gonna stay like this forever." Daniel paused as if trying to remember something and then smiled again. "Oh, no. It says they were allowed to live their lives over again. That means I'll grow up, right?"

"I think so, yes," Jack answered thoughtfully, feeling a cold hand grabbing for his guts. Growing all the way up? Not if he could prevent it. There had to be something on this planet to reverse what Menkins had done to Daniel.

"Oh, good. Forgot about that." Daniel wriggled his toes again, then stretched his legs as long as he could and compared them to Jack's long legs. "You're reeeeaaaal big, Jack."

"Ya think?" He looked down at their legs. His own, long and in green BDU pants, and Daniel's, short and bare.

Jack realized he was running out of options.

He'd have to travel this planet on foot with a nutso scientist in handcuffs and a four year old kid that didn't even have proper clothing. A kid that, only yesterday, had been Daniel Jackson. A grown up guy, three PhDs and Jack's friend and ex-lover. Maybe ex-friend, too. Daniel, who now was a munchkin, scared of lightning and thunder, but still brave or insane enough to throw himself into the line of fire to help Jack capture Ma'am Frankenstein. Daniel, who knew what DNA was and how to speak twenty-something languages, but who wanted to chase little fish in a river and couldn't say archaeologist...

God, help them.

As if he had read Jack's thoughts, Daniel said suddenly, "They aren't coming to help us, are they?"

Jack put an arm around the small shoulders and hugged him to his side. "I'm afraid not. Looks like the gate is crashed." Letting out a sigh, he decided to go with the truth. There was no point in lying to Daniel, big or little. "There's something else. You remember the crystals that made the machine work?"

"Uh-huh. They were blue. Maybe if we can repair the red button, we could..."

"Daniel, I'm sorry. The crystals are burned. Without help from home, we won't be able to fix it," Jack said softly, bracing himself for tears and being strangled again by those short strong arms.

But Daniel just sat there and seemed to digest this bit of information.

Jack cleared his throat. "I thought if they'd get through to us, Carter'd be able to... you know... zap it together again without the crystals." He really had hoped for that. Carter was a miracle worker, after all.

But that had been before he realized nobody was able to contact them here.

"We shouldn't play around in the water or sit here. Maybe they came through already. And we're not there," Daniel said quietly.

Jack shook his head. "We've been there yesterday and all night. Nobody dialed in. And if they were here now, they'd call us over radio." Jack wasn't sure if the kid understood the whole tragedy of their situation.

Daniel didn't react at all. He looked down at his legs again. Jack patted the small arm. "You're right, though. We should go. Don't want to leave Menkins alone under her tree for too long."

Jack waited until Daniel had put his shirt back on. He took the towel, reached for Daniel's hand and they walked back to camp, picking up the Doctor on their way.

The little hand in his own felt nice. It was definitely something Jack could get used to again. And since he didn't have a choice at the moment, he should probably go with the flow. At least this new Daniel didn't seem to be mad at him anymore, which was an upside to the whole mess.

###

Back at camp, Menkins asked Jack for something to drink. He handed her the canteen, and she gulped down some water.

"We have to watch our stock of water treatment tablets," Jack told her as he put it away again.

She didn't reply to that. But when Jack had settled down next to Daniel by the fire, she spoke again, "You have to untie me, O'Neill, I need to..."

He looked at Daniel, who was flipping through the pages of his journal, gnawing on a pen. Last time Menkins had to follow her call of nature, Daniel had still been asleep. "Hey, Danny. The Doc and I have to go for a minute. Can you stay here and wait till we're back?"

"Where you goin'?" Daniel watched Menkins warily.

"Just taking a leak. We'll be right back," Jack told him.

"Ewww. Women can't pee while standing."

"Um, no, apparently not. So you stay here and don't move. If you need anything, you wait till we're back. I can see you from over there, and I want you to stay right here," Jack said as he helped the doctor roughly to her feet.

"'kay," Daniel said and went back to reading in his journal.

Jack grabbed his zat and pointed it at Menkins. If he had to shoot her, the zat would be the least nasty choice. One-handed, he took off the restraints around her ankles and with a last look at Daniel, told her to move.

They didn't walk far. Behind a few bushes near the river, Jack waved the zat at her to take care of business. He managed to keep an eye on Daniel from here and make sure Menkins couldn't pull stunts. She was struggling a bit since her hands were still tied in front of her, but O'Neill was sure she'd cope, so he just ignored her.

When she was done, he immediately led her back.

Daniel looked up from his book as they returned. Jack told Menkins to walk around for a few minutes. "Where I can see you," he added. He'd like to keep her tied up all the time, but knew that, if she was restrained for another day and night it would be bad for her blood circulations and she wouldn't be fit to walk when they were going to leave tomorrow.

Daniel tugged at Jack's arm when he sat down next to the kid. "I didn't move from this spot," he exclaimed, pride in his voice.

"You did good, Daniel." Jack smiled, ruffling his hair. After a moment of thought, he asked, "What do you remember about this planet? From the things Carter told us before we got here?"

To his surprise, Daniel patted his journal and said, "I'm just reading the notes I took. 'Cuz I know we're going to look for the second gate now, right? Sam said it's like Earth, sorta. The weather's good 'cept if it's not... um..." Daniel flipped through the pages and read, "In the summers the temps can reach up to 100 degrees. Now it's spring, so it won't be more than 90. It's mostly sunny. Thunderstorms come not too often... " He looked up and grimaced. "I don' like those," then continued. "There are lots more thunderstorms in the second half of summer. Mostly woods and mountains, lotsa water like big lakes, rivers and springs. There are no venomous animals as far as SG-2 observed. But bear-like creatures and wolf-like animals, too. Birds, small wildcats. Mammals mostly..."

"You wrote all that down?"

"Sure I did. I often do. Knowing the envirment..."

"Environment," Jack corrected automatically.

"'s what I said. Knowing that helps me understand cultures better an' get used to their way of living. I do lots of research for every planet we visit," Daniel told him solemnly.

Of course, Jack knew that. And he'd always kept track of the planet information, too, if for different reasons than Daniel. Knowing their surroundings meant being prepared for potential dangers. He just filtered out the information he needed from the whole flood of Carter and Daniel's "travel guide to other planets" and left the rest to his very capable teammates. He relied on them to answer his questions at once if he needed fast intel.

"It's like doing puzzles," Daniel told him. "You put it together piece by piece. Tell me where you live an' I tell you who you are."

He really sounded so much like himself that Jack had to smile. He needed to figure out how this new Daniel's mind worked, though. How did he switch from Daniel Jackson to Daniel the kid? Or maybe he didn't switch between the two of them. Maybe the shrink machine had created a complete new personality? One that contained Daniel's knowledge, but took away his adult persona. So he was what... a child genius?

He was able to read, apparently. And access adult Daniel's knowledge.

Menkins's voice brought Jack out of his musings. "What are you going to do now, Colonel? Carry us both over to the other gate?"

"Shut up, Menkins."

Daniel watched them with wide eyes and moved closer to Jack, whispering, "Do we have to carry her, Jack?"

"No. She can walk by herself," Jack assured him. He'd have to free her feet and hands for the journey, at least while they were walking. He couldn't afford for her to fall and injure herself because her hands were tied. And he needed her to carry some of the gear.

"When are we going to search for the other gate?" Daniel asked.

"We'll break camp tomorrow morning. Remember the map we found?"

Daniel nodded. "The palace is south across these woods and over the mountains."

"Yep. First we have to find the next village, get some decent clothes for you."

"We sure could use GPS," Daniel said, scrunching his face up in worry.

"Well, we have a general direction. It's not much, but it'll have to do for now."

Menkins didn't look happy. "How long do you think we'll need to find that gate?"

Jack poured himself another cup of coffee and handed Daniel a power bar, which he unwrapped and munched right away. "Could take a couple of weeks. Depends on how fast we make it through these woods. If we find a path or road, our chances are much better."

"What about him? He'll slow us down."

"I'll take care of Daniel."

He had to admit Menkins had a point. The boy was going to slow them down. Even more so because he didn't have shoes or clothing that fit. Not to mention that a four or five year old couldn't walk for hours anyway. So Jack didn't kid himself about the fact that he would carry the munchkin a lot. Being slowed down wasn't their biggest problem right now, though.

A child, even with the memories of Doctor Daniel Jackson, needed regular meals and a safe place to sleep. What if he got sick? What if there were some nasty after-effects of the shrink device?

Well, first of all, Daniel needed shoes and clothes. It was very warm, but there might be thorn bushes or poison ivy in those woods, which required some protection.

Shortly after Jack had put the restraints back on Menkins, Daniel seemed to become sleepy again. Jack took him into the tent where he'd be out of the midday sun for a while. It was too warm to let Daniel crawl in the bag, so Jack made him lay on top of it.

"You comfy, kid?" he asked as he knelt and patted Daniel's face.

"Yes, I'm good," Daniel said, subdued.

Jack was starting to worry about Daniel's fatigue. He tried to remember how much sleep Charlie had needed when he was four, but couldn't come up with the answer. Jack had been away from home a lot during the first few years of Charlie's life. He had been able to stay with his family for longer periods of time when his boy had been older.

And then time had played against them.

Not liking where this train of thought was leading him, Jack focused on the present situation. He hoped it was due to the whole transforming process that Daniel was sleepy so often. And that the effect would wear off soon. He looked healthy. Not skinny and not pale. Just right. Jack placed a hand on Daniel's forehead. Didn't feel hot either. He mentally reviewed the contents of their first aid kit. With normal infections like the flu or fever, they could deal. Jack knew how to handle those things from when Charlie had been sick.

O'Neill wiped a hand over the back of his neck. Thinking of Charlie was so not good. Daniel didn't look like Charlie. Charlie's hair had been darker and he had the brown O'Neill eyes while Daniel was fair haired and blue eyed.

"Sleep tight, Danny," Jack whispered.

Daniel smiled and closed his eyes. O'Neill waited until the kid was in slumberland before he left the tent.

Menkins was lying on her side, back towards the tents. Maybe she was asleep, too, maybe not. Jack checked her restraints and then carried all their backpacks out and emptied them on the ground. He lined everything up and made a mental list of what they had and what they needed. They'd have to leave one backpack behind since Daniel wasn't able to carry it anymore.

Jack looked over at the FRED, briefly considering to take it with them. They could transport all the food rations, tools and tents on it. But he dismissed the thought. He probably had to leave it behind at some point if the landscape became too rough. It was better to just take what they could carry in their packs right away and leave the large equipment behind.

He rationed their food and medical supplies. He couldn't take all the food pouches with them, so he had to select what was most needed. He managed to get a rather large stack of MRE into Menkins's backpack. Water treatment tablets had high priority. Same with the med kits.

He wanted to take both tents and all three sleeping bags. Menkins would have to carry two sleeping bags because Jack would be carrying Daniel, along with his own bag, pack and tent. After more consideration, Jack also decided to take some of the cooking supplies with them. Along with two folding cups and cooking mugs he packed flatware and two plates. Jack also took a couple of chemical ration heaters just in case they couldn't find firewood up in the mountains.

He put Daniel's journals into his pack along with the pens. Jack had to leave his own two paper bags behind and the crosswords he always took on longer missions. He was about to put aside Daniel's bag of coffee, the small coffee filter and filter paper. According to Doctor Jackson it was impossible to live on the instant coffee the military provided for any length of time, so he always took his own stash whenever they were off world for more than a day. Jack paused in what he was doing and, after a moment of thought, squeezed coffee and filter stuff into his own pack. Maybe they could trade that for something, who knew?

He also took their toothbrushes and other toiletries, minus Daniel's razor and the extra pair of glasses. They didn't fit anymore anyway.

Jack found a bag with crumbled chocolate walnut cookies in Daniel's pack, which he put away for him. Sam must have given them to him. She was always doing little things like that for Daniel, like a big sister.

Once Jack was done with packing, he reached for the set of extra clothes he had found in Daniel's pack. Fortunately this wasn't an emergency mission, and therefore they had their full equipment with them and not just the essential stuff.

When Daniel appeared in the opening of the tent, hair sticking out in all directions and his face still sleepy, Jack greeted him with a smile. Daniel crawled out and sat down next to him. He watched for a moment, a frown on his face, before he asked, "Are those my things?"

"Yep. Get up so I can measure your legs." When Daniel complied, Jack held the BDU pants up to the boy's body and nodded. He had cut them off at the knees. "That should work."

He hemmed the cut-off edges generously with black thread to make sure they wouldn't fray out.

"Are they for me? I didn't know you could sew, Jack. Do you think they'll fit? But they'll fall down. They're too big," Daniel wondered.

"We'll take care of that."

"Where'd you learn to sew, Jack?"

"Long time ago. You learn things like that in the military. Pull the tee off so I can see if the pants fit."

"Oooh," Daniel drawled from somewhere inside the t-shirt as he pulled it over his head. "Yes. I forgot. I never had to use the sewing kit we have in our packs." He let the t-shirt drop to the ground, picked up the small waterproof bag and peered inside. It contained scissors, thread, thimble and even buttons and snaps.

Jack looked at his handiwork and decided it would do. He grabbed the BDU nylon belt. "Okay, put them on," he instructed.

Daniel stuck his short legs into the cut-offs and hitched them up, pulling at the waistband.

"I have to eat a whole lot to fit in these," he said, amazed.

"Oh, yeah," Jack chuckled as he wriggled the belt through the loops while Daniel tried to crane his neck far enough to follow the belt with his eyes. Since he couldn't bring his head around 180, he started to turn and twist his whole upper body.

Amused at the antics of his little buddy, Jack grinned. "Hey, hold still. You got ants in your pants?"

He had to hold Daniel in place with one hand and accidentally let go of the pants. They immediately slid down over Daniel's butt and landed in a heap on the ground. "Okay, step out. I'll check for the ants," Jack said dryly.

Daniel giggled, stepped out of them and watched as Jack slid the belt into the loops and told him to try them again. This time Jack held on to the waistband as he buckled the belt and pulled it tight enough so the pants didn't hitch anymore. Jack wound the loose end of the belt around Daniel's waist and stuck it into one of the belt loops. The waistband of the BDU's almost reached the little boy's chest while the belt was sitting on his belly. He looked like a dwarf in too-big clothes.

Jack sighed.

Daniel looked down at himself and sighed too, the giggling gone. He sadly fiddled with his pants. "They still feel so big."

"I know, Daniel. But right now it's all I can do."

"I can just stay nekkid." The kid shrugged. "It's warm."

Obviously being naked in front of Menkins wasn't an issue anymore for some reason. Jack wondered if the clothes were really that uncomfortable or if Daniel had forgotten to be embarrassed about running around in his birthday suit.

"I know it is. But we'll have to wander through the forest, and you know it's better to wear clothes. There might be thorns and insects. And we don't want your little butt getting sunburned, eh?" Jack told him.

Daniel blushed and giggled. "Jaaaack!" The he sobered and sighed. "Guess I haveta wear this stuff then, huh?"

"That's right, bud. But maybe we'll find a village where we can get clothes that fit better. Give me your tee so I can fix that too."

O'Neill quickly took the shirt and hemmed it shorter. Daniel put it on again and spun around so Jack could examine him. He shook his head at the little figure in the baggy clothes, but said, "You look great, Danny."

"Liar," Daniel said dryly. Then he spotted Jack's canteen and picked it up. It was almost empty. "Jack, do you want me to fill this up again for you? I can do that. I'll just go over to the little river and fill it. I'll be careful that no fish get into it."

O'Neill looked over at the spring and decided he'd be able to see the tyke from here. He nodded. "Sure. Go ahead, but come right back afterward, okay?"

"'kay, Jack." Daniel happily grabbed the canteen and scampered off. Jack watched him as he stood in the water and dipped the canteen in. Of course his pants' legs got wet in the process, but Jack decided it was warm and they'd dry quickly enough.

A moment later Daniel returned and handed the filled canteen over with a shy smile. "Is it full enough? There are no fish in it. I looked."

"Sweet. Thanks." Jack put a water treatment tablet in it.

"I can do that all the time. I can help collecting firewood. And rolling out sleeping bags. I'm little now, but I can take care of myself. I learned how to do that. I can fire a zat and read every writing you need me to," the kid told Jack, drawing circles in the dirt with his bare toes.

O'Neill felt his throat going tight and had to clear it before he replied, "Sure you can. You're still you, right?"

"Yes. I'm still me."

"Just shorter."

"A little."

"Doesn't show much."

That made Daniel giggle for a bit before they fell silent again. Jack knew it wasn't true. It already showed that Daniel wasn't the same. He seemed to know everything he'd known before, but he definitely had four year old antics and seemed surprisingly less freaked about his downsizing than he should be. Aside from the crying when Jack had first found him, he was unnaturally calm. Sad at times. A little shy. But calm.

Maybe the other shoe would drop, maybe not.

Jack thought the Daniel he knew would never just sit here and accept what had happened to him. Not so quickly. Daniel Jackson would try to make the impossible possible and turn every stone, read every line on the walls, dug in every hole to find the answer on how to reverse this.

Maybe Daniel had really accepted the machine didn't work anymore. Still, he wasn't even interested in going back to the ruins and looking at the thing to make sure he hadn't missed anything. Not that there was anything to miss.

The doohickey was dead, kaput, broken, done with.

This reminded Jack of the map. He knew Daniel had videotaped it, but they needed it on paper, too, in case the batteries of the cam was going to give up on them. Daniel scribbled everything down in his journal, so there might be a drawing already.

Jack absently pulled out Daniel's journal from his pack.

"Why do you have my journal?" the little boy wanted to know, a pout on his face. "It's mine. I don't want you to read it."

Jack handed it over to him, cringing. "You're right. I'm sorry."

Daniel, cradling the black journal to his chest, asked. "What did you want to know?"

"Did you make a drawing of the map we saw? The one that showed where the gate is?"

Daniel stared at him for a moment, then blinked. He opened his journal and started to skim through the pages. "I would, wouldn' I?"

"Yeah, I guess." Jack watched him search for it, the frown deepening as each page was turned. "Look towards the end," he suggested. "Must be one of your last entries."

"Oh! Yes, that's smart." Daniel flipped through the pages faster and finally, triumphantly held it up to Jack. "Got it! See? I knew I copied it."

But he hadn't known.

Jack felt cold in the warm sun. Daniel hadn't remembered right away if he had drawn a copy of the map.

Not letting his concern show, Jack said, "Nice. Can I have the page, Daniel? I can put it into my vest. That way I'll have it at hand and we won't get lost."

Daniel hugged his journal to his chest again for a moment, but then nodded slowly and handed it back to Jack, who carefully took the page out. Then he got an idea. "Hey, Daniel, could you do me a favor? Could you draw it into your journal again? Just in case I'll lose the page?"

"Sure."

Jack handed back the journal, the map he'd torn out, and a pen. Eagerly Daniel flipped his journal open. Without any hesitation, he started to scribble away, tongue sticking out and his face wrinkled in concentration.

Jack watched, wondering if the kid could still do this. The drawing didn't look nearly as accurate as the one Daniel had done before the incident, but Jack figured it had to do with motor skill problems rather than an inability to copy it.

But it was, nevertheless, the map with all the X's and the mountains.

"Great job," Jack praised Daniel, rubbing the nape of his small neck.

"Really? Doesn't it look clumsy?" Doubtful, Daniel compared the two pictures.

"Your hands are much smaller than they used to be. You did good."

The bright smile that appeared on Daniel's face warmed and hurt Jack all the same. He squeezed Daniel's neck once more before he put the journal in his pack and pocketed the map in his vest.