"Sam, what is it?" he asked smoothing the hair away from her face.

"The baby, oh my God, Jack. Don't let me lose this baby."

14. RESISTANCE

Janet and her medical staff had a busy late afternoon and evening. In addition to the usual run of the mill infirmary visits and emergencies, she'd supervised a comprehension examination of her favorite patient, Jack O'Neill.

As if there wasn't enough to deal with, by the time they'd made it to the infirmary, even Jack was questioning whether he was himself. And Sam, she was on the verge of a miscarriage and barely warding off hysteria.

But by 2200 hours, everything seemed under control once more. Most importantly, as far as Janet was concerned, Sam was resting peacefully, mildly sedated and stable for the moment. More than that, the baby's heart beat was normal and the pains Sam had experienced earlier in the day had been quieted by medication. Be that as it may, Janet had no doubt that the exhaustion and stress of the kidnapping has contributed to the scare.

Jack's evaluation was coming to an end as well. In fact, the General/Ambassador was even now returning from his PET scan. The final piece of information from the man's exhaustive examination had shown no abnormalities. As far as medical science could determine, Jack O'Neill was Jack O'Neill. There were no signs of alien influence on any of the tests Janet Frasier Jackson had thrown at him.

"Doc, how is she?" Jack's voice boomed as he reached the doorway.

"Resting comfortably, Jack," his friend responded. "They're both out of danger for the time being."

"Thank you," he replied, having reached his wife's bedside. "What do we have to do to keep it that way?"

"Well, I'm not at the point of prescribing bed rest just yet. But she needs to slow down. None of us are as young as we used to be. The pregnancy and the stress are too much, even for Sam. I know she'll protest, but I want her to stay close to home or the base over the next few months and minimize the physical demands of her work."

"Well that's easier said than done," Jack said, stating the obvious.

"Jack?" Sam called sleepily, responding to the sound of familiar voices.

"I'm right here, honey," he said, reaching for and squeezing her hand. "Janet says you and the baby are both okay."

Jack's words were rewarded with a wan smile. Sam was fairly groggy and her words slightly slurred. "Remember what it was like to have a baby in the house?" she asked dreamily.

"Hey, it wasn't that long ago!"

"You know what I mean," she said. "The kids, they're growing up so quickly."

"They are, no doubt about it," Jack said with a half grin. "I remember when our little chatterboxes could hardly talk, let alone pronounce anything."

"I remember," Sam said on a whisper. What was it they called General Hammond?"

"I think I've forgotten that one. But I remember how glad I was they could call Teal'c, T. I was afraid what else they might have come up with," Jack said.

"Oh, and Malcolm, remember the first few times Malcolm came over?" Sam asked.

"How could I forget? His face said it all! The kids' name for him was "Bawry" if I remember correctly."

"Yeah, it was about as close as they could get. Kinda stuck too, didn't it?"

"Yes, it did. That's our kids, renaming everyone and everything. They will run the world some day, you know, Sam."

With that both their smiles faded and the distraught parents surrendered once again to the frightening reality of their situation.

Sam pleaded, "Where are they Jack? Why can't we find them?"

OoOoOo

In the director's bunker …

The twins had drifted off to sleep. They'd had a long day. They were tired and hungry. But they had a plan.

After the "bad men" had left them that afternoon, they'd entertained themselves with follow up tests of their telekinesis. Grace couldn't believe their ability had diminished to such an extent. Her young scientific mind was convinced another factor must be at play. With her encouragement, Jake had joined her in one more test. That one led to others throughout the late afternoon and evening. The children's excitement had grown as they watched the strength of their ability return incrementally throughout the evening. With their minds wandering back to their training by Oma and Beth, they created quite the show in their little cell, with the meager, purposefully soft-sided furnishings floating to and fro, sometimes randomly, sometimes with specific direction. Fortunately, the "bad men" were the only conspirators left in charge of the bunker that night and they'd failed to police the monitor. Truth be told, these two bore a strong resemblance to the hapless villains in the classic Christmas film, Home Alone.

"Remember the story Dad told us about the mission where he was captured?" Jake asked.

"Mom and Dad were always getting captured," Grace replied impatiently. "Which one?"

"The one where they found out their food had been drugged," Jake clarified. "Do you think...?"

Grace sat quietly for a moment considering the past two days. The little girl, like her brother wise beyond her years, had to admit it was a distinct possibility. What if there was a way to damp down the ability, to stop it from working? If these men knew about the ability, they certainly wouldn't want them to use it to escape. And the only way to avoid that possibility was to suppress the ability.

"No more food, and you can't drink anything, Jake," she said.

"What?" he complained, in a strident whine reminiscent of their father.

"We can't take any chances. We'll need the ability to escape…"

OoOoOo

The next morning, it was time. "Mean and meaner", as the twins had secretly dubbed "the bad men", had been instructed to prepare the twins for travel. The director was ready to move them for the next phase of his plan. His henchmen had little idea what that plan entailed and even less understanding that their employer had no intent of leaving them alive to talk about it.

Blindly following orders, content with the huge compensation promised them for their troubles, the two men approached the children's cell. It was time to remove them from confinement for transport to a second pre-arranged location where the director would meet them. Seemed like a pretty soft assignment. After all, how much resistance could two eight-year-olds offer? Sure they'd been warned about some special ability the kids had used in the past, but the big boss assured them that had been neutralized.

Without a second thought, the men walked, unarmed, into the twins' room. "Okay, time to get a move on," Mean said casually. "You've got someone waiting to meet you."

"Where are you taking us?" Jake asked

"If you must know, you're going to meet the director," Meaner supplied. "From there, it's anybody's guess and we get paid."

"We're not going anywhere till we see our parents," Grace said emphatically.

"Really?" Meaner said in his meanest tone. "We'll just have to see about that," he said, winking to his accomplice. Why do these kids insist on doing this the hard way? He thought.

Positioning themselves to corner the small children and carry them out by force, the two men made their move. Lunging at Jake and Grace from two directions, Mean and Meaner were unceremoniously knocked on their nasty little butts. They landed hard. The shock of the fall was compounded by what met their eyes once they were able to sit up. Their "helpless" captives were now encased in a shimmering circle of light extending from floor to ceiling of the small room. To make things worse, the children were grinning from ear to ear.

A/N: Promise we're getting closer to a resolution. How do you like Mean and Meaner? Have to admit, I had fun with that.

By the way, if you're interested in a little refresher on the twins' abilities, check out Saving the World .

Please push the little button and review.