Friends and Foes

By Rosenquist and Laura

See header from part 1.

Warnings: Beginning signs of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, but don't worry this is not a deathfic.

"So, have you found anything yet?"

"I'm afraid we haven't made much progress yet, Colonel. Apart from that pair of glasses you found there's no further sign of Dr. Jackson having been here. Not a trace."

"Well, he's obviously been here so you better take a closer look, Lieutenant," Jack snapped sharply.

"Yes, sir." The officer swiftly turned on his heels and resumed the search.

"Colonel O'Neill!"

"What is it, Teal'c?" Jack turned to his big Jaffa friend.

"I believe I may have some news regarding DanielJackson's disappearance." Teal'c stepped aside slightly and two young, very nervous looking teenagers came forward. "These two children say they have seen a child that matches DanielJackson's description."

Jack turned towards the two teenagers. "Okay, what can you tell us?"

The two young boys looked at each other uneasily, as if willing the other to start speaking. Finally, the older of the two sighed and said, "There was a woman with a little kid. He was about four years old."

"Blonde, long hair. Big, blue eyes. Wore glasses, a red t-shirt, and a pair of blue jeans?" Jack asked urgently.

"Yes, sir. It sounds like him alright, except he wasn't wearing glasses." The kid nodded his head eagerly.

"DanielJackson's glasses were found in the alley, maybe he had already lost them by then," Teal'c theorized.

Jack's face lit up with hope. Finally they were getting closer to finding him. "Was he alright?" he asked expectantly.

"He seemed alright, but he was crying pretty bad. She picked him up and left," the boy finished.

Jack and Teal'c looked at one another with growing anxiety. "Were you able to discern where they were headed?" Teal'c prompted.

Both young boys looked at each other questioningly.

"He means if you know where they went," Jack clarified, sharing an apologetic look with Teal'c. Both boys nodded their heads in understanding before pointing down the street. "They went that way," they said in unison.

"And the woman, do you have any idea who she was or where she lives?" Jack asked . The two teenagers just shook their heads in response. "Okay, thank you, kids." With that, Jack turned promptly on his heels and proceeded to round up his searching team.

"Well, people, it looks like we just may have a lead to where Daniel may have been, or been taken to would be more accurate." Jack finished in a low voice then turned to the two kids still standing awkwardly by his side. "Hey, kids. By any chance did you manage to get a good look at that woman?"

"If you mean if we know what she looked like then yeah, pretty much," the taller of the two confirmed.

"Great. Come with me then." Jack walked them over to one of the trucks parked at the side of the street. "Johnson, you can draw, right?"

The young lieutenant turned to him. "Well, a little, sir."

"Great, get some paper and a pencil."

"Yes, sir." Johnson hurried to comply.

Two sets of perplexed eyes turned in his direction. "You're in the army?"

Jack looked down at the kid and smiled. "Sort of. I'm a Colonel in the Air Force."

"Cool!" they both said in unison.

Right then Lieutenant Johnson came back with the drawing items. "Ready, sir."

"Okay, let's get to work."

After a while, the drawing was starting to take form.

"She had longer hair and her face was thinner." One of the boys gesticulated with his hands trying to convey what he meant.

"And bigger lips," the other boy added thoughtfully, turning to his friend for confirmation. The kids both guided the lieutenant until they had a sketch of her face.

"That's it, that's her!" they both agreed animatedly.

Jack reached over for the piece of paper and eyed the drawing closely, then turned back to the two kids. "You sure this is the woman?"

They both nodded firmly, "Yep, that's definitely her."

Jack nodded his head at them. "Thanks, kids."

"No problem, Colonel, I have a little brother, he's a pain in the butt, but still I don't want any bad things happen to him and if he should turn out missing I hope that strangers will help too. Hope you can find your kid." With that, the two boys left the truck.

"Let's take this to Carter, maybe she can track this woman down somehow."

oOo

When Daniel woke up he felt a little better, but just the thought of food made him sick. He looked around the room and was happy there wasn't any sign of the woman. He thought about ways to run away and get back to Jack.

Daniel wasn't allowed to be alone for long though as Sammy's mother came into the room.

She came across to Daniel's bedside with a glass of water and two pills in her right hand.

"It's time for your medicine, sweetie."

"No. please. They are making me sick. I think I'm allergic to whatever you were giving me."

"No, sweetie. You've got the flu not an allergic reaction. You need to take the medicine and you'll soon feel a lot better." Sammy's mother tried to put the pills in Daniel's mouth but he turned his head away from her.

"No! I don't won't any medicine and I just had the flu!"

"Samuel, not that again. Now behave and take your medicine. I'm your mother and I know best." She tried again to give him the pills but Daniel kept refusing.

"No you don't! And you're not my mother!" Daniel yelled in her face.

"Samuel!" She rebuked sharply. "Now, I don't know what's gotten into you but sick or not, I won't have you speak like that to me, young man."

Heedless of her reprimand, Daniel went on. "I'm telling you, those things are making me sick, why won't you listen to me?"

"Now, Samuel, that's enough! That's just plain nonsense, I'd never give you something that was going to make you sick." She mirrored his hard glare with a stern stare of her own, "I only want what's best for you, sweetie, and right now, that's taking this medicine." Daniel made to protest but was promptly silenced by the woman. "No, Samuel. No more stalling, I know you don't like to take medicine but if you want to get better, then you have to take it."

"For the last time, I'm not Samuel, ma'am," Daniel tried to explain with every ounce of patience he could muster, "you are mistaking me for him, ma'am. My name's Daniel, Daniel Jackson, and my mother's dead so you see, you can't be my mother cos then you'd have to be dead." He gave a little nervous laugh.

"Oh, Samuel, what nonsense." She gave a little amused laugh of her own before reaching out to gently pinch his cheek. "Of course I'm not dead, sweetheart. Wherever did you get those ideas?" She let out another little laugh. "Your mommy is right here, Sammie, and I know my son well enough to know he's right here as well." She gave his cheek one last light pinch and then tickled his belly playfully.

Daniel batted her hands away angrily. "I told you, I'm NOT Samuel!" Daniel screamed at the top of his lungs, desperate to make her understand. "You have to let me go! Jack, my da... he's my, he's taking care of me, he's my friend, and he'll be worried, please!" Daniel pleaded now, his big blue eyes wide with fear and despair.

"I don't know who this Jack is, Sammy, but if he were so worried about you, don't you think he'd be here with you?" Sammy's mother cocked her head to one side.

"He will, he's looking for me." Daniel said, in a low, controlled voice.

"No, he won't, Sammy. You're with me now," the woman said in a quiet tone that made the hairs on the back of Daniel's neck stand on end. If this woman was suffering from some sort of mental illness, as Daniel was increasingly starting to suspect, then no amount of pleading or reasoning would work with her, and he would never be able to fight his way out of here, as he'd proven earlier.

He saw no other way at the moment but to go along with her. "I'm sorry, mommy. I'll be good now." He saw her smile, a smile that although intended to be sweet, sent a chill down Daniel's spine.

When he saw him shudder, she rubbed his arm with concern. "Are you cold, sweetie?"

"No, I'm fine. Just tired." He let out a huge yawn to make his point, "I think I'm going to take a little nap, mommy."

"Okay, Sammy. But medicine first," she replied, to his dismay, and held out the pills on her open palm, obviously expecting him to comply.

Daniel silently cursed to himself, he was so hoping she would forget about the pills. Slowly and with resignation, he reached for the tiny pills and popped them into his mouth, swallowing them with a large gulp of water.

"That's my boy. Now, don't worry. You'll soon feel much better." And with that, she bent down to kiss his forehead and smooth his long bangs out of his forehead. "Now just rest, Sammy." Then she left the room.

As soon as she was gone, Daniel promptly spit both pills out of his mouth and hid them inside a nightstand drawer. Now he just needed to find a way out of here without freak mommy finding out.

oOo

Jack became more and more frustrated. He was pacing around Sam's office while waiting for news about Danny's whereabouts. Hours had gone by now since they found out that a woman had taken Daniel. Jack was afraid that the more time went by without finding Danny, the more the chances of getting him back would decrease .

It wasn't enough for Jack to pace around, he needed to have something in his hands to play with to help him ease the anxiety so he fiddled with one of Sam's tools.

"Sir, not to be out of line or anything but would you please find another place to ease your anxiety. I know you're worried about Daniel but so am I. I need some quiet with no interruptions to help find him," Sam said as she continued working at her computer trying to trace the woman that had Daniel.

"You're right, Carter. I can't help it. I need something to calm me down. Well, I should go talk to General Hammond to see if we can come up with other ideas to find that woman." With that, Jack left Carter's office.

In Hammond's office, Jack and the General discussed what other actions they could come up with for finding the woman but most of all, Daniel.

"I've contacted the police around the area and given them the description and the drawing of the woman and a photo of Daniel. I hope to hear from them soon so we can get our boy back home safe," General Hammond said.

Jack nodded. "That's good, but we need to do more. What about contacting Thor, he'd be able to trace Daniel in a split of a second while it can take days, maybe even weeks for us." Jack's expression changed to worry. "Maybe we won't even find him at all."

"We will, Colonel, and alive too. Yes, we can try contact Thor, but as you know the Asgard are very busy so don't get your hopes up too high."

"I know, but they adore Daniel, I'm sure they'll do anything to save him."

"I'm sure they would too. The problem is it can take days before we're even able to get in contact with them."

"Yes, that would be a problem, but let's hope that it won't take that long."

"Colonel, you better go get some rest in the infirmary."

"No, I can't rest, not until I get Daniel back. By the way I'm fine. I don't need to go to the infirmary."

"I didn't ask you, Colonel. Consider it an order. You still have the flu and you won't be any good for Daniel if you collapse on us."

Jack wasn't happy about the order, but he could see the General's reasoning. "Yes, sir."

Just as Jack was about to leave the General's office, Sam stormed in. "Sorry, General for barging in, but I found out who the woman is. We've got to hurry though. She's dangerous and if she can do stuff like she did to her own four-year-old son I'm afraid to imagine what she could do to Daniel," Carter said, with tears in her eyes.

Both Jack and General Hammond looked worriedly at Carter.

"What did she do to her kid? Please don't tell me she killed him?" Jack asked, while fearing her answer.

TBC