My Brother's Keeper: Part 14
By Gemsong

It was late at night in the infirmary. Dr. Janet Frazier was sitting in her office looking over the MRI and CAT scans she had taken of Jack and Daniel along with skull X-Rays. A knock on her door made her look up. The door opened and Sam and Adam poked their heads in.

"Don't you two ever sleep?" she asked.

"Could ask you the same," Adam said. "Come on, we bring peace offerings along with our nosiness." He held up a fresh cup of coffee.

Janet smiled. "Oh all right," she said. "This doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me anyway."

"What doesn't make sense?" Adam asked perching on the corner of her desk.

Sam took a seat in the chair across from Janet. "Let's start with this," the doctor said. She opened a folder and showed several imaged. "These are the PET scans of Daniel. Compared to such scans for a normal child you can see the higher level of activity going on in his frontal lobe. Given that he is Colonel O'Neill's nephew, this isn't surprising really."

"What can he do?" Sam asked.

Janet shook her head. "I really don't know yet," she said. "We know that he can feel Colonel O'Neill. Even enter his dreams. Beyond that only time will tell. His ability may develop over time as his father and uncle's did."

"You're right," Adam said. "Doesn't make sense but it's interesting."

"Colonel O'Neill is a different matter," Janet continued. She showed them several images. "Adam, this is you. Perfectly normal."

"Should I be relieved or insulted?" Adam quipped looking at the blues and greens and yellows.

Janet smirked at him. "I can treat your condition," she said. "This is Colonel O'Neill's MRI I did when I first learned of his abilities. The average human uses perhaps 10 to 15 of their brain capacity."

"Am I reading this right?" Sam asked seeing the higher percentage of red showing more active areas. "This shows a 20 increase over normal."

"And he tries to play the dumb soldier," Adam said.

"Not that it's ever worked," Sam said with a smile.

"This one is from when he downloaded the Ancient's repository," Janet said. Adam and Sam stared in amazement.

"This shows over 90," Sam said. Janet handed her another. "Is this after the Asgard removed the knowledge?" Janet nodded. "He dropped back down to normal."

"Normal for Jack," Adam said.

"I don't think the Asgard removed the knowledge," Janet said. "I think they suppressed it. Until he could adapt to handle it."

"You think he's starting to remember it?" Adam asked.

"It's possible," Janet replied. "This scan is the latest." She showed them the last one.

Sam studied the scan. "He's showing 30 above normal," she said. "Do you think his abilities are increasing?"

Janet nodded. "I just don't know how yet," she said.

--

The dark sedan was parked silently down the street from the house Jack O'Neill owned. The man and woman sat in the dark car, watching the house. Occasionally the woman would turn on a small flashlight.

"They've increased security around the boy," she said. "The question is why."

"Perhaps they know we're after him," the man said.

"I don't see how that's possible," she replied.

The man turned in his seat to face his companion. "What we are failing to take into account is that this Colonel O'Neill was Melbourne Jackson's brother."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, if the reports on Jackson were accurate, it might stand to reason his brother-"

"Half brother."

"Half brother may have the same ability."

The woman shook her head. "If that had been the case, it would not have been so easy to eliminate the boy's parents," she said.

"O'Neill is different," the man replied. "He has military training. And if he has some of his brother's abilities, he may not be so easy to get around."

"Perhaps... He could be useful."

"He would be dangerous and difficult to contain."

"That's the centre's problem," she said. "We only have to bring him in. What about the sweepers?"

"They're on standby," the man replied.

The woman nodded and lit another cigarette. "Then we wait for our moment."

--

It was after dinner and Jack, Daniel and Teal'c were sitting around the table in front of Jack was a pen.

"Are you planning to replicate your actions during the briefing," Teal'c asked.

"That's the idea," Jack said. "Janet said my abilities have increased."

"What all can you do?" Daniel asked.

"That's the thing," Jack said as he picked up the pen to fiddle with it. "I'm not sure about all the things I can do. But I know I have to figure it out."

"Why?"

"Someone gave me a warning about danger," Jack replied honestly. "Someone I trust."

"Who?"

"I'll tell you someday, squirt," Jack said with a smile and ruffled the blond head.

Daniel pushed his hand away. "Uncle Jaaaack..."

Jack chuckled and placed the pen back on the table. He slowly began to spin in around with his fingers.

"What are you doing?" Daniel asked watching intently.

"During a briefing, O'Neill made the pen spin by it self," Teal'c answered allowing Jack to focus. "I believe he is attempting to replicate the event."

Slowly Jack lifted hands from the pen and it continued to spin slowly on the table. Jack continued to focus on the pen, his mouth tight with concentration. Then his brow furrowed and the pen slowly lifted a few inches above the table, still spinning slowly.

Teal's moved his hand beneath the pen encountering nothing. "Well done, O'Neill," he said.

"That is cool!" Daniel said his eyes wide in astonishment. Cool was his newest word. He had learned it from a classmate.

Abruptly it dropped back to the table with a muted clatter. Jack let out a heavy sigh and wiped the sheen of perspiration from his forehead.

"Okay, that was hard," he said.

"But an admirable first attempt," Teal'c said.

"Way cool!" Daniel added.

"With continued practice I believe you will improve," Teal'c said with confidence. "In time I believe you will manipulate more than a pen."

"And a lot of headaches," Jack said pinching the bridge his nose. His head was throbbing with a low grade headache.

"Can I try?" Daniel asked.

"I do not think you are yet ready, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said.

"Why not?" Daniel frowned at Teal'c and his uncle.

"Because our powers develop over time," Jack said. "And I've had a lot of time. I never tried to do this before."

"Could Daddy do it?" Daniel asked.

Jack frowned slightly. "I don't really know," he said. "We never talked much about what we could do. We talked about everything but that. Didn't seem to be much point."

"You must be patient, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said. "Like your father and your uncle, your powers too will come in time."

"Patience sucks," Daniel said trying out another of his new phrases.

TBC