Chapter 10
Another Shock
Once the show got on the road, things went quickly.
First, Jack made certain to throw the handle of Alison's diaper bag over his head, thus making sure he had it wherever he went in case of a sudden need for a diaper change; it hadn't been so long since having a one-year-old that he had forgotten the need for precipitous action that would keep the little girl (and hence himself) in comfort.
Then there were the tests - Jack noticed Merry Meyers surreptitiously watching the Infirmary proceedings as he and Alison calmly subjected themselves to several blood tests, as well as a DNA test. She hadn't had time to approach them before they left the Infirmary to undergo an ATA gene test in Daniel's lab with yet another thing known to be Ancient Technology. Jack was glad to be able to keep Dr. Meyers' connnection to this case a secret a little longer; there was no reason to bring her into this mess.
By ignoring Meyers, Jack may have assured her anonymity, but wasn't able to affect much more than that. The deal he'd made with Woolsey forced him to stand quietly by while Alison underwent test after test with different items to see if she made them all glow, or only made certain items glow, such as something of Ancient design, or if she had to simply be in the vicinity of those items in order to make them glow. It was soon apparent that Alison made everything glow simply by being around them, whether it be of Ancient design, Goa'uld architecture, good old American construction, or Tau'ri modifications on alien devices. Of course, what the glowing meant was anybody's guess.
While Jack had Walter busy finding Teal'c if he could and recalling him, he was poked and prodded along with his daughter. He didn't know about her, but after the tenth needle used to take yet one more blood test was thrust into his arm, he was ready to run screaming through the Gate.
Finally, when Jack felt like nothing but a pincushion meant for the sole purpose of the CMO's amusement, he and Alison were allowed to take a much desired seat at the table in the Briefing Room where the entire group was to discuss the test's findings. But Jack didn't listen as Woolsey prattled on, Daniel rebutted, and Suit Lady threw in the odd comment or two. He was enamored with the way that Alison kept presenting him with the most alluring images in his mind. There was the image of Carter wearing civies and standing next to Jack, all suffused with a feeling of intense contentment and well-being. There was the image of Marjorie Atterby standing surrounded by kids, presumably those in her day-care, accompanied by a feeling of familiarity. Images of Daniel were followed by feelings of pleasure. Images of Woolsey weren't so definitely happy. Carter tended to warm to a red color with Jack, Woolsey to a dark gray or black, and Daniel to a hurried light gray streaked with white. (Jack idly thought this made the archaeologist look like a zebra, but he wouldn't hear it from him.) Again and again she sent the image of her idea of family, with Jack playing center stage.
He still hadn't mentioned this communication tidbit of hers to anybody except Carter, and still wondered if this made him a traitor. Then he thought about how Alison would be hounded and tested for the rest of her life by groups similar to the IOA, just like they were tonight, and he didn't much care if he was branded a traitor for withholding this information. The only thing that mattered was Alison's future.
And as to that: he remembered the conversation he'd had with Carter while on their way back to the SGC. She had gently pointed out that he had called Alison 'my kid' at least once while speaking to Woolsey and Suit Lady at the Atterby's house. That fact went a long way in supporting the assertion that he planned to keep Alison with him forever. But that foregone conclusion opened a big can of worms that he wasn't sure he was able to deal with right now.
He'd remained thoughtfully silent after Carter had made her point, but now he silently argued with himself that he just couldn't keep Alison! What kind of life would she have if she stayed with him? Nothing resembling 'normal,' that's for sure! She would more than likely never be able to have a friend over for a visit, for instance. He would probably be constantly on-call at the SGC, even if he was home for a time, and he couldn't leave her and a friend unsupervised, at least not until she was a teenager, which was years away! If she remained with him, she would see more of nannies and baby-sitters than she would of him - what kind of life was that? And as he had no spouse to help lighten the child-rearing load, as Colonel Dixon did, she wouldn't have the familial support necessary for a normal upbringing.
But what would become of her if he didn't keep her? Was there nothing but groups like the IOA in her future?
It was hopeless no matter how he looked at it. He was just going to have to tell Carter that...
"General, do you agree?" Woolsey was asking with a slightly irritated expression on his face.
The expression gave Jack the idea that he had been asked for his agreement several times already. "I'm sorry, what did you say? I was thinking," he excused.
Daniel's brows rose as he lightly inquired, "Did it hurt?"
"Yes," Jack bit off to the archaeologist, "it did."
"Well, forgive me Jack," Daniel defensively replied, "but you aren't exactly known for deep thinking. That's more Sam's area than yours."
Jack swiveled his chair until he stared at where Carter should have been sitting, but was again ensconced with Dr. Lee in what used to be her lab. "Carter isn't here, which leaves the thinking to me."
Woolsey's patience with this tete-a-tete was limited. "As I asked before, do you agree?"
"What am I agreeing to?"
Woolsey gave an annoyed gush of air at having to repeat himself yet again. "I was saying that Alison's abilities need further testing, testing that can only happen at Area 51 - and I was asking if you'll agree to the proposal of sending her there."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Alison's mother's letter was very specific, Woolsey - she wants Alison brought up as normal as possible and to not let her become a lab rat for your personal enjoyment... er, for groups like the IOA and NID. As she's dead, that authority now falls to me, as it's obvious I'm her father since these tests you've insisted on have been proving that point to anybody who cares. As her father, no, I don't agree with sending Alison off to Area 51 for more tests, or for anything else or for her to go anywhere of the sort. You should know that there's no point in even asking such a thing." His Woolsey-glare was back in force.
Woolsey deflated. "I do know - but my conscience urged me to at least ask."
"Well, resist the urge," Jack suggested just as Alison sent him the unmistakable image of Woolsey as the monster under her bed, dressed in nothing but hair, horns, and glasses. The image made Jack bark a laugh into the quiet that had fallen over the Briefing Room. The side of his mouth curled up as he glanced at Alison - he was getting used to the mature look in her eyes, and didn't even do a double take when he saw definite amusement there.
Unfortunately, his laugh and subsequent glance didn't go unnoticed.
"What are you thinking now?" Daniel asked Jack, sounding as if he wanted his share of the joke that was clearly running through Jack's mind.
Jack was caught unaware, and jerked his head around from Alison to Daniel. "Huh?"
Daniel gave an awkward grin. "Come on - Alison must have done something cute for you to look like that - be the proud pappa and share." He turned to Suit Lady sitting next to him and absently remarked, "We should get the camera - we're missing all the action."
"I'm doing nothing," Jack quickly said, making sure to sound nonchalant, as if it didn't matter. "Neither is Alison."
The feint didn't even begin to fool Woolsey, however. He told Jack, "You get a wrinkle of skin between your eyes when you're not telling me everything. I'm seeing a large wrinkle right now."
"You must have me confused with Carter," Jack immediately answered. "She's the one who does that thing with the skin between her eyes, not me, and certainly not Alison."
But Jack couldn't help it; the feeling of sudden anger washed from him straight to Alison in spite of his efforts to squash it. She couldn't help but react.
"Hah!" yelled Woolsey, pointing. "There's definitely a wrinkle between her eyes now."
"Are you saying that now she's related to Carter, too?" Jack asked, desperate to derail this topic of conversation, and fast.
Woolsey gave him a look that said now he was being stupid. "Of course not. But this does call into question what you were doing to make her adopt such a pose."
Jack sat up. "I wasn't pinching her, if that's what you're saying!"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Woolsey responded in a tone that bordered on scathing.
Daniel quickly intervened. "Ok, I don't know about you guys, but I'm beat. Why don't we..?"
"General," Woolsey interrupted, his voice full of suspicion. "Are you hiding something from us about her abilities?"
Daniel gave a snort of incredulity before Jack could do something nuts, like start yelling. "Of course he's not, Woolsey. It's not like she can read his mind!" His tone let everybody in the room know how insane he thought that idea was.
But that idea wasn't so insane to Woolsey. "That's what you were doing earlier, wasn't it?" he accusingly asked Jack. "When you didn't know what we were talking about? It was because you and she were busy thinking at each other."
Jack squinched his eyes shut. "We were what?" He tried to sound disbelieving without being scornful. "Do you realize how dumb that sounds?"
Woolsey took on his affronted pose. "It may sound dumb, but I know what I saw. And I saw..."
"The same look I have, because... oh gosh!... she's my daughter!" Jack extolled. "Woolsey, it's late. I'm going to get Alison to bed before she..."
"Not until we get this cleared up," he insisted, obstinate.
Jack plopped tiredly back into the leather briefing chair. "Woolsey, that won't be until I admit what you want me to admit, and I'll admit that only when pigs fly... by themselves."
"General," Woolsey loudly said, purely incensed. "Once again, is she able to communicate with you, and if so, how?" When Jack remained stubbornly silent, he sighed in exhausted frustration. "We can stay here all night - this will come out eventually, anyway. It will be so much better if you just admit it right now."
"He's got a point, Jack," Daniel reluctantly said.
It was a comment that had Jack glaring at him instead of Woolsey. When he'd glared at his friend for a full minute, he swung his glare to center again on the former. "Better for who, Woolsey - you? Me? Alison? The IOA? The government as a whole?"
"You," Woolsey definitively stated. " Once again..."
The feeling of danger bombarded Jack once more, making Alison's wrinkle appear as if etched in wood.
"There!" Suit Lady said, gesturing at them. "She did it again - I saw her!"
Even Daniel had to remark," Yeah, I saw it that time, too."
"You too, Daniel?" Jack all but yelled, losing what little patience he had left. "Look you three, she's related to me, so of course she'll do what I do. You said it yourself - I wrinkle, so she wrinkles. End of story. Can we go home now?" Jack stifled a yawn that almost looked real.
"I'm not buying it," Woolsey told Jack, yanking his glasses off to give them on official looking cleaning.
Alison stared at Woolsey and Suit Lady, contentedly sucking her thumb. This time the image she sent her father was one of a hairy Woolsey trying to find something with which to clean his glasses, but kept finding only hair.
Jack turned the laugh he made into an unconvincing cough.
"Stop it!" Woolsey shoved his glasses back on his face. "We're not imbeciles!"
"Speak for yourself," Jack said under his breath.
"We know what we saw. Once again, can Alison..?"
"And what will happen to her if I say yes?" Jack loudly challenged back, his feigned tiredness disappearing with his words. "Does she then become the scrutiny of groups like the NID, those oh-so-friendly guys who once tried to carve up Teal'c to see how he ticks? Is she going to be kidnapped by another Adrian Conrad? I have a base to run, and can't keep an eye on her 24/7. Who's going to keep her safe then?" He swiftly turned his glare on the other IOA representative. "You?" He turned back to face Woolsey. "Or maybe I should depend on you instead?" Jack's ironic snort told them what he thought of that idea. "I don't think so. So why don't you take your..."
"I'll take that as a yes," Woolsey flatly noted, finishing Jack's comment. "We need to schedule some mental tests for Alison to see just how far..."
Jack jumped up, Alison still in his arms, his face inflamed. "No!" he curtly barked. "You're not playing your stupid little games with my daughter. Find some other kid to do tests on - you're done here!"
And to that demand, Woolsey only smiled a benign smile. "You wouldn't be so angry if she didn't have hidden communication skills. The fact that you are so angry tells me that she does - and that you know all about it." He smiled a smug smile, pleased. In fact, he was way more pleased than Jack had ever seen him. It was a scary sight.
Jack was a scary sight, too. Even Daniel hadn't seen Jack quite so angry, and he had seen every mood Jack could project many times by now.
Alison simply watched as Jack got right up in Woolsey's face, his body taut as a wire. "If you think I'm just going to hand her over to the likes of you, then think again! She has the right to..." All of a sudden, his voice stopped as if he had hit an invisible wall. Perhaps he had - trying to argue with Woolsey was often like reasoning with a wall... or a rock. Even threatening him had a limited effect.
The image of a hairy rock wearing glasses intruded into Jack's thoughts, forcefully reminding him just why he was standing in the middle of his Briefing Room at 2400, arguing. However, the look of determination is Woolsey's eyes told him that arguing was fruitless; reasoning - pointless; threatening - counterproductive (though satisfying). He'd seen that look before, just as Woolsey had publicly castigated General Hammond for ordering the SAR that had subsequently caused Doc Fraiser's death - as if the fact that he'd ordered the mission that led to the death of a good friend wasn't bad enough, Woolsey had done the public blame thing to a good man who'd made an unfortunate decision.
The fact that Woolsey could do that - kick a man when he was already down - gave Jack reason to think that this man would win this time, too, by personally carting Alison off to further tests at Area 51 if he had to. If that happened, Jack was sure never to see his daughter again. Whether he kept her or not was immaterial at this point; just the threat of no longer seeing her at all scared him crapless.
And he didn't want to be that scared about a child of his, not again - this felt the same way that losing Charlie all those years ago had felt. The prospect of losing Alison was suddenly just as bad as the way he'd recently lost Carter. He could easily visualize losing Alison before he could even say that he had her. And he couldn't go through that again, no matter what. So... his path was clear; he had to get her out, fast. If he wanted 'normal' for her, he didn't have a choice.
So Jack abruptly wheeled and left the room.