VIII

She was captured again.

There were new fences keeping her from leaving. And a stable. She was able to enter and leave the stable freely. But she could not wander into the woods as she was used to.

Yet, she didn't feel betrayed. The man changed the wet thing around her hoof and the pain was slowly going away. He brought her food and fresh water from the lake in big buckets.

The child often sat on the grass under the large oak tree that gave her shadow in the midday heat. She rather stayed outside than in the stable. Outside she could at least smell and eat the grass, see the sky and hear the birds.

The sun had set three times since the man had lured her into this place and had closed the fences. He had looked sad and told her he was sorry, but she had to stay for a while.

She had snickered and blew into his ear because she knew he liked that. It made him smile and he had rubbed her neck which was something she liked. She knew he would let her go when it was time.

He had taught her to trust again.

The young one came over now and put his arms around her, laid his little face at the side of her neck and rubbed his cheek on her fur. She nibbled his hair and nudged his shoulder tenderly. He was still quiet and different. But the smell of fear wasn't as strong anymore as it had been in the beginning.

The man still talked to him a lot. Sometimes his voice was soft and gentle and sometimes gruff and a little impatient. She had watched them as they had built the fences, the child holding the wood or giving the man tools. Later, the boy had lain' down in the grass and slept while the man sat next to him to watch over him like a good parent would.

With her kind only the mares took care of the foals. It was different. But it didn't matter. This boy needed the man more than anything else. The man needed him, too. He was sad that the foal wouldn't let him touch and hold it. But she knew the boy filled an empty place in the man's heart already.

Things would change. He would teach the young one to trust again, too.

The man came and stood at the fence, watching her and his boy standing together. Slowly he ducked under the fence and crossed the distance between them.

"Hey, beauty," Jack mumbled and held a piece of hard bread out to her. She took it as carefully as always and started munching on it.

Daniel, who had actually hugged her, looked over at him. There was a tiny smile. Not visible on his face, but twinkling in his eyes.

Jack rubbed the mare's skull with the palm of his hand. "She gets spoiled with all this attention," he mused with a grin as he listened to her crunching the bread between her teeth. He had been surprised how easily she attached to her current situation. He had expected her to be angry, trying to get out of the paddock or turning against him and attack. But she coped well, took the food, walked around a little and stood under the tree. She didn't use the shed Jack had cleaned out for her, though. It was now an open stable.

The abscess was healing. But she was still lame and he would have to change the bandage for a few more days.

For the last three days Daniel had been communicative almost the whole time. He was still jumpy and sat at the pier for long periods of time. But when Jack called out for him and wanted him to help with something, or just asked him how he was doing, he always got a nod, a blink. And Daniel actually came and did what Jack asked him to do.

This morning when Jack had come out of the bathroom, Daniel had served toast with jelly and coffee. He had placed everything on a tray and shyly gestured at Jack to carry it outside since they were eating on the porch or at the pier most of the time.

The hard assed US Air Force general had stood in the living room and blinked away tears.

Tonight they had pasta with tomato sauce. Jack cooked while Daniel was with the horse and brought her food. The water bucket was too heavy for him to carry. But the smaller bucket filled with the apples and carrots Jack had gotten from Harry's this week he could handle.

When he strode in and reached out for the plates on the counter, Jack said, "Wash your hands before dinner, Danny."

Daniel rolled his eyes, but strolled into the bathroom. As soon as he was gone, a smile appeared on O'Neill's face. Aside from tears they had... lip gnawing, thumb rubbing, grimacing, glaring, eyes rolling... pouting. Yep. Daniel had definitely pouted a few hours ago when Jack had told him he couldn't go swimming all alone until he had gained some more strength. And yep, he knew Daniel could swim, but no way was he doing it without Jack at least watching him from the pier. Not after what had happened recently.

Definitely a pout there and a frown when Jack had added that he would love to go swimming with Daniel, but not right now because they had chores to do first and that they could go after dinner.

He knew the new expressions of body language were still fragile, but it was a start.

Jack wished his kid would smile.

Or talk.

Or allow hugs.

After they had done dishes Daniel pointed out to the lake again and made a few swimming motions. Jack tried to remember where he had his trunks and finally shrugged and decided to wear his boxers just like Daniel would. So they went to the cove and into the water. It was warm from the day's heat. The evening sun sent her light across the lake and made the water lilies and the reed appear golden. Daniel lay on his back and let himself drift. His long hair surrounded his head like a blanket on the water.

Jack swam alongside him, watching the rare expression of peace on the young face. He looked almost bronze in the sunlight. Not too much was left from the pale dirty uncombed figure in the old robes. At least not on the outside. Jack could still see his ribs and knew he had to gain a lot more weight to look like a healthy eleven year old. But they were on the way.

When they reached the field of water lilies, Daniel swam around them and carefully touched one of the white blooms. Jack remembered how much Charlie had loved the lilies when they were in bloom. One day his son had gone to pick one for his mom. He had wanted to surprise her and had taken his little paddle boat early in the morning without telling anybody. The only thing that saved his little bottom from getting smacked was that he'd put on his life vest and finally realized that doing this all alone was probably a bad idea as he'd lost his paddle while trying to get into the boat from the pier. Charlie had been a bright kid and once he'd thought it through he had gotten his dad and, after a stern lecture about not going into the water on his own, they had taken the big boat. Jack had rowed them out to pick a lily for Sara. They'd put it into a bowl of water and placed it on the breakfast table.

Daniel didn't want to pick a lily. He just swam among them, reminding Jack of some fairy tale elf.

Later when they had showered, Jack sat on the porch with a beer, thinking that life was good right now, when Daniel came out and placed a book in his lap.

"You want me to read to you?" Jack asked, raising his left eyebrow. Since they had left the SGC, the books had been in Charlie's closet and Daniel had never made an attempt to get them out again. It was a childrens book about Alexander the Great, his childhood and how he grew up to be the man who had conquered so many countries. There was a large part about Alexander in Egypt, according to the table of contents.

Daniel nodded and sat down to Jack's feet, looking out at the lake. It was getting dark now and Jack had lit the oil lamp on the small table next to his chair. Mosquitoes were humming around the light.

O'Neill put his beer down and cleared his throat before he started to read. Alexander the Great was an intriguing personality and even though Jack would deny this to his last breath to his friend Daniel Jackson, he knew quite a lot about the history and myth around that man. And he enjoyed reading this book to Danny, the boy.

As he read on, he suddenly felt a weight settling against his legs and it took a lot of willpower not to stop reading and gaze down at the small back and head propped up comfortable against Jack's shins.

Five days later they removed the bandage from the mare's leg and opened the fences for her to leave. She took her time, though. And when she finally stepped out, she didn't run into the woods, but stayed behind the house, peacefully grazing on the clearing for another hour before she vanished into the forest.

When Jack saw the sad expression on Daniel's face later, he said, "She'll be back, kid. Just like you she's a free spirit. She doesn't like to be held captured." Daniel leaned his head against Jack's side and closed his eyes for a moment. Very carefully O'Neill put his arm around the small shoulders. Like this they stood and watched the sun go down on their lake.

Yep. Life was good.