A/N: I'm sorry. I've tried and tried but the party segment just would NOT co-operate. I simply could not get beyond two paragraphs. So, this is what the muse handed me and insisted that THIS is what happens next. Shrug I've learned to go along with her. All arguing does is set back the time that I can post. Please remember that 'Jack' is mini-Jack the clone and O'Neill is Colonel Jack O'Neill the original.

Chapter 9

Jack sat against the headboard of his bed petting the puppy Sam had given him. The puppy was stretched out across Jack's legs, flat on his back adoring the tummy rub. Jack was waiting for Colonel O'Neill to come up to his room for a private talk before taking SG1 home.

His party had been a blast. Everyone who had survived Sunnydale, except Sam's girlfriend Aphra who had to work, had come and most had chosen to get him stuff for his rooms. He had to admit, they had been more than bare. Now he had a real desk and a much nicer chair, courtesy of Giles who had said that if he was going to be doing the work, he might as well have a nice place to do it. Joyce, bless her, had made sure that he was adequately supplied with enough bedding to last him until he retired, well make that until O'Neill retired.

His kids had gone all out and together had bought him a new Playstation, games and an entertainment center. He had the sneaking suspicion that they had built the entertainment center themselves. He didn't think that many entertainment centers would have places to store a variety of weapons. He shook his head remembering Dawn, Kit, Carlos, Faith, Wes, and the Mini's excitement when he'd opened the group present. He now had to wonder if they'd been talking to Carter, seeing as she had designed him a new game to be played on that particular game set-up.

John and Buffy had gotten him a gift certificate for the local hardware store, complete with instructions that he was to use the entire thing on getting his rooms the way he wanted them. As he had been saving up for paint to cover up the hideous purple and blood red walls, the gift had been a welcome one. Now maybe he could replace the torch brackets with real lights instead of the camp lanterns he had been using. Originally the brackets had held magical torches but the light they put out was even worse than the colors on the walls.

Willow and Tara had gotten him bookshelves. There was more than enough room in the library but they said that they knew he needed a place to put his books where no one would just go in and borrow them. Not that Jack had all that many books but the Watchers had, one and all, gotten him gift certificates for the local bookstore. Jack shook his head. He didn't know why but there was no way to deny it. He was doomed to be surrounded by geeks. He ignored the fact that he now tended to stand up in defense for geeks in general and his geeks in particular.

Dean had gotten him a television set that fit suspiciously well inside the entertainment center. Sam had given him the puppy of course, and Jack rubbed his belly once more to the puppy's evident delight. 'At least his care instructions weren't that much different from a regular dog's,' Jack thought. 'I can deal with acidic pee and watching out for flame belches if he eats spicy food.' Xander and Spike, pranksters extraordinaire, had given him a book on practical jokes and gift certificate for a slightly not normal joke shop they'd found one night. He wasn't sure he wanted to go anywhere near there without significant back up. On the other hand, he wanted to know what to be on the look out for because there was no way those two hadn't bought a lot more than just his presents.

Stabler and Benson had even stopped by, although they hadn't been able to stay for long. They had gotten him a stereo system and yet another gift certificate, this time for a music shop. They had also had holed up with Giles for about an hour. Jack wasn't sure he wanted to know what that had been about but he knew that he'd find out tomorrow. They had the look of people who were reporting news that they weren't really sure was good or bad, although they were leaning towards good. The new guys; Roxanne and Johnny Blaze and Carter Slade, had set him up with a motorcycle and Blaze had promised to teach him to ride it. A motorcycle was able to go places where a truck couldn't and that could come in handy someday. Some days he wasn't sure that he liked the fact that he was getting so used to the supernatural that talking with and getting a birthday present from two burning skeletons was all in days work.

But the best presents had come from SG1. Carter had designed a game just for him that had bad guys both demonic and alien in origin and Daniel had found him a telescope that he could set up in the rooftop gardens. At least he could set it up when the area was safe for humans. Right now they had Clem and his family clearing out all sorts of demonic stuff that Jack was afraid to ask about. O'Neill had a Loki target made for him and it was already hanging up on his wall. There was no doubt that he was going to be using it quite a bit, especially over the next few months that he had to wait until Dawn turned sixteen and he could ask her out. He wasn't stupid enough to try before then, not with her family being who and what they were. Dean in particular had already given him a lecture on what he was allowed to do with his baby sister. Teal'c had given him an exceptionally touching gift though. It was a hand written account of the oral history of the Jaffa fighting styles. Teal'c had to have written it himself as the Goa'uld forbid such things to the Jaffa. Teal'c had said that the teacher needed to learn before the students could. It was a way of showing his support to Jack's teaching the martial art to the Slayers and those who helped them.

"Pretty good haul," O'Neill said from the doorway.

"Yeah, more than I expected that's for sure." Jack said and waved the older version of him onto the foot of the bed. "I didn't forget you though." He reached down and pulled out a present from under the bed and handed it to O'Neill.

O'Neill ripped open the present like the little kid they were often accused of being. It was a starscape, one that Dawn had helped him to pick out. It showed the portion of the galaxy that SG1 had explored. Each sun was labeled with the code the SGC had designated for the planet. It had taken months to piece together between his memory and Dawn's plus checking back with Carter for details. "Sweet!" O'Neill exclaimed. It was already framed behind glass so that O'Neill could hang it up right away. Jack knew that would help as O'Neill tended to spend more time off world than on sometimes. It was also removable so that it could be updated.

"So that was Dawn," O'Neill said casually.

"You're forgetting who you're talking to," Jack pointed out. "That won't work with me and I know that you've already met her."

"Yeah but I didn't know you were interested in her," O'Neill pointed out.

"She's like me," Jack said softly. "She's one of the very few, hell probably the only one, who understands what it's like being a created person. A bunch of monks made her from blood samples from John Winchester and Buffy. She's a magical test tube kid. The monks gave her fake memories and aged her up to fourteen."

"Is that why she does the magic stuff?" O'Neill asked.

"They put a magical energy source in her to hide it. Now that the threat that made them do it is gone she's learning to use the magic because it's a part of her." Jack said matter of factly.

O'Neill considered that and then nodded. "Makes sense. Whatcha gonna name the dog? And by the way I can't believe that kid got you a Hellhound!"

"I think I'll name him Harry," Jack said petting the puppy once more. He knew that O'Neill would remember the first dog 'they'd' had as a kid. "It does make sense if you think about it. I mean really, if it is way out there in the supernatural sense, it'll come here sooner or later. And it makes more sense to have me take care of him than the kids. They don't need to be taught responsibility, everyone here is involved in saving the world on a regular basis but it'll be good for them to have a pet around. Amy the rat doesn't count."

"Why not?" O'Neill asked confused. He had seen the rat before riding on Dean's shoulder and although rats weren't his idea of an ideal pet he couldn't say that they were the worst he'd ever heard of.

"Because she used to be a person and right now she's in therapy. The doc's trying to get her to let go of the spell that she's under so that she can be human again." Jack sat back smug.

O'Neill scrunched up his face trying to get around that one. He shook his head and decided not to bother. "Danny's downstairs looking over the files your kids had waiting for him."

"I just hope we found the right name. Shit, that scene was straight out of some of my worst nightmares," Jack said with a shudder. He didn't have to say which nightmares. They shared enough of them that O'Neill knew what he was talking about. "The only thing missing was the snake and her, I'm guessing it's a her, Jaffa."

"Well, let's go see what Danny's got then," O'Neill said. He stood up and carried his present out the door with Jack right behind him. Harry was left sound asleep on Jack's bed. Jack had left the files in the library, so that was where they headed. They had the unfortunate luck to run into the Minis as they were coming in from patrol. Three hopped up teen Slayers surrounded Jack and hoisted him up on their shoulders. O'Neill and their desperately tired Watchers watched as they cheerfully carried 'the birthday boy' down to the library. Daniel looked up as the three young Slayers carried Jack in and ceremoniously sat him down in a chair before dancing their way out of the room singing something off key that O'Neill couldn't figure out. "Caffeine rush?" O'Neill asked their Watchers.

"No it is merely their usual post slaying exuberance," one Watcher said. "They will go down to the cafeteria and 'pig out' I believe is the term on ice cream before heading to bed. I for one just want a shower." The other two Watchers agreed and dragged themselves off to their rooms. As they were covered in some type of orange slime, no one tried to stop them. John and Giles would get their report in the morning.

"So Danny, whatcha got?" Jack and O'Neill asked in unison. That didn't happen as often as it had the first few days after Jack had been created, but it did still happen on occasion.

Daniel had a grim look on his face, "A problem," he said. "The kids got it right. The goddess Nit was the war goddess from the town of Sais who protected Lower Egypt. She was the goddess of soldiers and hunters. Her favored weapons were bows and arrows. She's the patroness of virginity and weaving. She was also the mother of Sobek, so we're probably dealing with a queen."

Instead of the 'Crap!' that came from O'Neill, Jack was grinning and it wasn't nicely. "Well, then she really picked the wrong town to settle in didn't she?"