Chapter Nine: Too Tired for This

Sorry about all the quick uploading of chapters, just trying to get caught up.

Daniel did not want to get out of his bed, there was no desire whatsoever to be a part of the living after not once or twice but three times, Jack woke him the night before to have another session of lovemaking, some quick and hard while others were slow and leisurely. It was all worth it at the time but when he woke to the screaming at dawn he groaned as he sat up in bed. "What the hell?" he groaned wishing this wasn't the night someone was having a nightmare.

"Johnny," Jack groaned in return moving slowly from his supine position.

Daniel shook off the tiredness, rushing to rise and grabbed a robe and put it on and belted it as he walked out of the bedroom and towards the stairs just as the little boy came hurtling down the stairs with a very groggy Greer running out of Zale's room upstairs. Daniel took a moment to thank some higher power that the magical prince was following the rules and giving their son the space he so desperately needed and also to hate whomever decided to put the master bedroom downstairs when his little boy was scared upstairs alone.

Daniel leaned down just enough to catch the running boy and gripped him tight to his chest and cuddled him while shushing him gently. "I know baby, I know. I'm right here."

"Need Papa too."

Daniel nodded and called out anxiously, "Jack, hurry." This was weird, usually Daniel was enough to calm him and Daniel rarely heard Johnny use his telepathy in the midst of one of his attacks. He must be desperate to use it now.

Jack stumbled out, pulling a t-shirt on over his head thankfully he'd already put his sleeping pants back on and moved over to Daniel and Johnny quickly. He didn't even try to figure out the best way to hold Johnny since the little boy's legs and arms were wrapped around Daniel and didn't seem to be planning on letting go anytime soon. Jack just wrapped his arms around Daniel and Johnny and started rubbing the little boy's back and intermittently massaging the little boy's neck.

His silent and horrible sobs quieted after minutes and Greer finally slumped to sit on the top step. Daniel didn't even try to send the other boy back to bed, it would be a useless endeavor and honestly, the other children might wake but they did not run to Johnny every time this happened anymore, it just made the youngest Jackson-O'Neill more anxious to have other people see him like this. Daniel didn't try to ask his son for any information, he just kept holding on while pressing tired kisses on the boy's dirty blonde mop of hair. After so many years, Daniel could usually stand still or rock Johnny for hours during these fits but it seemed the lack of sleep was stealing away his endurance and nodded towards the couch and Jack nodded. They moved together, fumbling but not letting go of Johnny for a second while they settled on the comfy seat and Daniel adjusted Johnny to sit on his lap and moved both his legs over Jack's lap where the worried Papa was sitting curled around Daniel's shoulder and Johnny's body. Jack took one of Johnny's feet and began messaging his arch, which seemed to facilitate the calming he needed to talk to them about whatever he saw.

That was the trouble with having a prophetic son, all his dreams and nightmares terrified him because he knew so many of them came true. Daniel and Jack had learned to deal in his younger years but now with the help of their son's telepathy and Zale's easy communication with his brother, they'd been able to do more to soothe Johnny's concerns.

"Can you tell us what you saw?" Daniel asked in a soothing tone, he made no demands with Johnny about this—ever. It was too important that the little boy could trust them not to push. Daniel smiled proudly when Johnny reached out and touched his fingertips to Daniel's cheek and the other hand moved to cup Jack's jaw and they sucked in a deep breath in unison as Johnny's fear washed over them.

No, that wasn't the right word for the sensation of being bowled over in the terror. Daniel was sure there was something that could and would kill them all; it was the only way to explain the fear and sense of doom and hopelessness in their son. Daniel coughed, trying not to cry but it was a useless endeavor.

Then the pictures started, he saw all the children standing in front of Daniel and Jack, as if they were meeting someone for the first time or getting ready to take a picture then each of the children were ripped from them. Daniel felt the separation deep in his soul and he did cry then. He reached out blindly and Jack took his hand and together they held onto Johnny as each of the children screamed and shouted that they wouldn't leave, they would rather die then leave Jack and Daniel but nothing stopped the horror show before Daniel's vision. Then everything went dark and he couldn't open his eyes for another moment. He just breathed and cried and tightened his other arm around Johnny and sucked in a few desperate breaths.

It was Jack who got control of himself first, "Jonathan Hammond Jackson-O'Neill, you listen to me this instant." That was an order but it was said with such love and tenderness that no one flinched. Daniel opened his eyes to watch his son look at his Papa and they both waited. "No one is ever going to take you away from your Daddy and I, we love you and we would fight heaven and hell to keep you. Do you hear me?"

Johnny nodded slightly.

"Do you believe me?"

Daniel did, but then he'd known when Jack uses that particular tone of voice there was nothing that was going to stop him from doing what he promised. Johnny nodded resolutely, and then curled closer into Daniel's arms.

"Do you wanna come sleep in with us?" Jack asked, reading Daniel's mind. After seeing what they saw, he wanted to make all the kids come to their bed, even Greer. Johnny nodded and they stood awkwardly from the couch and Daniel headed to the bedroom with Johnny in his arms and noticed when Jack didn't come in behind him. Daniel frowned but settled Johnny in the bed and laid down next to him just as the door slid back open and Jack was holding a groggy Claire with Janet leaning heavily against Jack's leg. Zale, Zada and Greer were all wandering in behind him and Daniel smiled as he held out his arms and invited their children into the bed. It was getting harder to fit everyone in the bed now that the Z-Twins were ten and tall for their age but luckily it still worked out and Daniel sniffed at the loving gesture of his partner, wondering if Jack just needed them as badly as Daniel do or if he was just that intuitive.

Daniel found himself on the outside and Jack on the other far side with all the children shoved in between. Greer was curled up at the base of the bed, looking up at Johnny with a content but cautious expression. Johnny was in the center with Zada and Zale surrounding him and Janet and Claire close to Jack and Daniel. Both fathers had their hands on the children and soon they were finding a little comfort in each other's presence and the quiet. They were just going to have a late morning today and everyone was just going to have to deal with it.