Disclaimer: I don't own 'Stargate: SG-1' or any of the related characters; you should know the drill by now. Also, thanks are due to MaureenT, whose exceptional 'Stargate' fanfics are what first got me interested in the Sam/Daniel pairing originally, to say nothing of the invaluable information and suggestions she has provided for the upcoming chapters

Feedback: I'd appreciate it, believe me

Child of the Ancients

The next day, with Sam having left the SGC to talk with Mrs Miller regarding her formula- one advantage of being officially connected to the Air Force; given the importance of the formula to Atlantis's long-term power requirements, she'd been granted access to a private plane to get there as quickly as possible-, Teal'c having gone to Dakara to discuss the Jaffa Nation's now-improving relationship with the Tau'ri, and Mitchell and Vala having agreed to take Liam out for a meal to celebrate his victory over Adria due to his parents being currently occupied- Daniel felt that the time wasn't quite right for Jack to actually meet Liam until he'd had more time to process the young boy's existence-, Daniel found himself sitting in his office studying the tablet for further clues before he heard a knock at his door.

"Yes?" he asked, looking up from the tablet in the direction of the door.

When Major General Jack O'Neill entered the room in response to his query, however, Daniel almost wished that he hadn't answered; somehow, now that he was actually in this position, it was far more uncomfortable than he could have imagined it being earlier.

"Oh… Jack," he said simply, standing up and pushing the tablet off to one side. "Uh… hi?"

"Hi," Jack replied simply, his arms folded and a worryingly neutral expression on his face as he looked at his old friend. "So, I heard about the newly-arrived genetically-accelerated bundle of joy; should congratulations be in order, or is it a bit late for that given that you've already had some time to get used to having him around?"

For a moment Daniel just sat in silence as he looked at his old friend, trying to determine what Jack actually felt about this latest turn of events, before finally just deciding to speak at the lack of response.

"Yeah, it's… well, it was quite a surprise," he said as he stood up, looking slightly awkwardly at his old friend.

"Surprise? Try the metaphorical equivalent of a gatebuster going off in my face," Jack replied, a slightly insincere smirk crossing his face before he reassumed his more neutral expression. "You know, when I first heard the news, I just couldn't believe it. I mean, you and Carter have a four-year-old kid you've both forgotten about?"

"Technically, Liam's older than that- he's biologically almost ten and the Ancient knowledge he has access to doesn't exactly make him younger-, and we didn't forget him; Oma erased our memories of his conception," Daniel pointed out, trying to remain calm and stick to the facts. He acknowledged that the last comment was probably only intended as Jack's usual attempt at humour, but he wasn't entirely certain about it; it could have just been Jack's attempt to cope with the news that the woman he loved was now involved with his best friend.

"Eh, you know me and science-type stuff; so long as I get the essential basics explained to me nice and clearly, I'm prepared to overlook the fine details," Jack said nonchalantly, before he turned to look directly at his old teammate. "So… you and Carter, huh?"

"Yes," Daniel replied simply; until he had a better idea of how Jack himself felt about this latest change in their relationship, his best bet right now would be to simply remain calm and stick to the essentials when replying.

"And this started while you were Ascended?" Jack said, his tone still refusing to give away anything helpful regarding how he felt about the situation.

"Liam was conceived while I was Ascended; I'm pretty certain that it had actually started… well, some while before that," Daniel replied; as much as he might want to avoid hurting Jack, he wasn't going to conceal the truth from him, even if he could at least soften the blow by omission (He'd known how he felt about Sam before he'd Ascended, but hardly wanted to admit that part of the reason he'd accepted Ascension was to try and escape the pain of supposedly unrequited love; it seemed so… pathetic when he said it out loud).

"Ah," Jack said simply, continuing not to give away anything- Jack had become far too good at that whole 'emotional repression' thing since he'd been transferred to Washington; Daniel used to be able to read him much better than this- as he continued to look at the archaeologist. "Any idea how long you've felt… that way… about her?"

For a moment silence dominated the office, Jack looking at Daniel as Daniel tried to look everywhere but at Jack without making it obvious, before he finally spoke.

"I think…" he began, swallowing slightly as he looked up at his old friend, "I think it really began when we went to the Land of Light and you hit me for being concerned about Sam."

Jack blinked.

"Excuse me?" he said, looking in confusion at his friend. "How the hell could that get you to start thinking about her?"

"Well, the fact that you- on some level, anyway- actually seemed to consider me any kind of 'threat' to you being with Sam just… well, it started me wondering if there ever could be anything there," Daniel explained, feeling extremely embarrassed as he said this but feeling as though he had to try and explain the situation from his point of view regardless. "It wasn't much at first- maybe just briefly finding myself thinking about what it would be like to… y'know, go on a date with her, something like that-, but there were just all these moments when I felt more concern about her than I would have if someone else was in that position… when I thought she was going to die when Cassie first came to Earth, her… her 'moments' with Narim and Martouf… how I felt when Jolinar took control of her and we thought she'd become just another Goa'uld host…"

Shaking his head at the memories of his feelings back then, Daniel sighed slightly as he looked back at Jack. "I never actually registered why I felt the way I felt about those situations at the time, but when I looked back on them after you found me on Vis Uban, before my memories of the… well, the fine details from that time… came back to me… it was really almost obvious to me that I felt more for her than just friendship."

"But… but you were married!" Jack all but yelled at him, staring incredulously at his friend. "I mean, you and Sha're… seriously, in three years, I didn't think you even knew other women were alive when you were thinking clearly!"

"That was part of the reason I tried to deny it at first," Daniel admitted, looking down to try and conceal the shame he felt as he reflected back on that part of his life. "Every time I found myself enjoying spending time with Sam, whether it was on a project or during our leisure time, I couldn't help but think that I was, on some level, cheating on Sha're, but at the same time I just… I couldn't help it. I always told myself that things would be different when Sha're came back, but…"

He sighed again, almost looking like he was about to cry for a moment at the memories of those conflicted three years he'd spent looking for the woman who had been his wife before he continued. "Anyway, it didn't matter then; even when Sha're was gone for good, there was still… well…"

"Me, huh?" Jack said, his tone still refusing to give Daniel any extra information even as they moved on to the central reason for this meeting. "Yeah, I kinda figured that was gonna come up…"

After a moment's awkward silence between the two men, Jack finally spoke. "So, what was it that stopped you; pity for the guy who lost his son or loyalty to your buddy?"

"Uh… a bit of both, really," Daniel admitted, trying to avoid looking Jack in the eye as he spoke. "I mean, I wanted you to be happy as a friend, of course, but… well, I knew what it was like to feel like you'd lost your… your family… and, well…"

He didn't continue the sentence, of course, but Jack understood what he meant; after losing so many people at such a young age himself, Daniel knew better than most what Jack must have gone through when he'd lost Charlie, and at least a part of him had felt like he didn't have the right to stop Jack from finding whatever happiness he could find with Sam.

Jack wasn't sure whether he should feel touched at Daniel's efforts or frustrated at his selflessness; just for once, couldn't the guy think of what he wanted, rather than other people?

"So… you knew about… that… all the time?" he said at last, looking awkwardly at his friend; there really was no good way to talk about how Daniel had felt at seeing the woman he loved showing interest in his friend.

"You weren't exactly being secret about it to those of us who knew you," Daniel replied, an almost unreadable expression on his face as he looked back at Jack. "I just never said anything because I knew that neither of you would do anything so long as the regulations remained an issue, and I didn't want to make anything worse or more awkward by bringing it up."

"Probably a good call," Jack replied, nodding in agreement before a thought occurred to him. "Hold on a minute… did this… well, y'know…?"

"Have anything to do with my choice to Ascend?" Daniel finished, sighing slightly as he sat down while looking at Jack, the expression on Jack's face all he needed to confirm that his guess had been correct. "Well… it wasn't the only reason, but it did contribute a bit; ever since Sha're's death- although it was really when I thought that she was dead after that entity hijacked her body and sent her into the SGC mainframe- I'd started to… well, I'd started to allow myself to acknowledge that I was thinking ofSam a bit more in… well, in that sense, rather than just thinking of her as a… a sister or something like that… then I had before, and… well…"

"You noticed that she was more… looking my way at the time, huh?" Jack said, for once not taking the opportunity to make a joke at the idea of Daniel Jackson being lost for words; the two men were making a conscious effort to look anywhere but at each other as the conversation became even more awkward.

"Yeah…" Daniel replied, nodding back at his friend. "When the chance came to Ascend, I thought that… if I couldn't ever seem to get what I wanted in life- a family, the woman I loved-, maybe… maybe Ascension would help me find some way past it and allow me to start again…"

After a moment's silence after that comment, Daniel uncomfortable at having confessed something so personal and Jack uncertain how to respond, Jack chose to break the silence.

"Didn't work out that way, huh?" the head of Homeworld Security asked, the slight smile on his face belying the sorrow he felt at the thought of how low Daniel must have felt at that point in his life.

"No," Daniel replied after a moment's pause, evidently uncertain if Jack had even wanted a reply to that last statement. "Even when I was Ascended, I couldn't stop wishing that Sam was there with me, that she was able to share what I was witnessing and learning with my new abilities, that I could show her what I could discover and accomplish like this…"

He sighed. "It's why I… I came back when we conceived Liam, really; I think that, when I… shared myself with her- like Orlin and Chaya shared themselves with Sam and Colonel Sheppard, you know-, I was so… so eager to share all of that with her that I actually gave her more of me than I was planning…"

"And bingo; there's a half-Ascended bun in Sam's oven until Oma has to take him away for his own protection, eh?" Jack said, the slight smile once again making a poor job of concealing his emotions on the topic. "God… that must have sucked."

"Why do you think I never went back to see Sam after Liam's conception?" Daniel said, looking back at Jack with a saddened expression; even if he couldn't remember his reasons at the time, he knew enough about himself to know why he hadn't gone back to see Sam after that. "It… it would have been too hard to see her and know she didn't remember what we had shared… what we had created…"

Jack could only nod at that; he couldn't even begin to imagine how it must have felt for Daniel to be in that kind of position. Having to give up his child was bad enough; seeing the mother of that child and knowing that she didn't even remember that the kid in question had been conceived in the first place…

To say that the situation there would have monumentally sucked was a serious understatement.

After the two men had stood in silence for a few moments, once again lacking any clear idea of what they could say from this point on, Jack spoke again.

"Daniel…" he began, looking at his friend with a renewed sense of determination, "as far as my feelings on this whole thing go…"

He took a deep breath, making sure he had clearly thought out what he was about to say, before he nodded reassuringly at his old friend. "I… well, I put all that aside a long time ago, really; the feelings were there, don't get me wrong, but I just…"

He sighed, an almost embarrassed expression on his face as he spoke, before he continued. "I kind of realised that, even if the regulations weren't in the way, it wouldn't have worked out; if nothing else, we didn't really have anything to talk about outside the Air Force and the program. Then I got promoted to base commander, and… well, after I got bumped all the way up to head of Homeworld Security, it just reached a point where continuing to try for anything more serious- even if I'd still been interested in trying something- would have probably resulted in me being accused of abusing my position, to say nothing of what the rumours might have done to Carter's promotion prospects."

After staring slightly wistfully at nothing in particular for a moment, Jack smiled and shrugged in a nonchalant manner. "It was all probably for the best anyway; one of the main reasons I got over it all was, if we'd ever actually tried anything more than the staring-with-occasional-flirting thing, we'd have probably ended up killing each other before six months were up. You two, on the other hand…"

Jack smiled slightly as he looked at his old friend, who was now looking almost embarrassed at the now-teasing expression on the general's face. "Hell, I think it's safe to say that you're not just spending time together lately because of the Liam thing, huh?"

"No… it's not," Daniel replied, a slight smile on his face as he recalled the few free moments he'd managed to spend with Sam since Liam had come into their lives, grateful that Jack was past his old feelings for Sam; at least he knew things weren't going to be too uncomfortable between them. "It's not been easy finding time, of course, but…"

He shrugged slightly, for the first time in his life lost for words regarding how he felt about his current situation. "Well, we've tried to have some time alone together to talk about things like where we want this to go, and we've… we're exploring things while we can. We don't want to rush into anything too fast- it's been four years since Liam's conception and things have changed since then, to say nothing of there now being Liam to consider- but it's…"

"Going well, huh?" Jack replied, giving his old friend a quick smile and thumbs-up. "Good on you, Danny-boy; about time you got something going right for you on that front."

Glancing around himself briefly, Jack then leaned closer to the archaeologist with a slight smile. "Particularly after all the rumours I've been hearing lately about you and a certain ex-space-thief; didn't buy them myself- she never really struck me as being quite your 'type'-, but I was really worried you'd do something crazy there."

"Uh… right," Daniel said, nodding slightly uncertainly at Jack at that last comment. "Well… thanks."

"Don't worry about it," Jack said, waving a hand reassuringly before he assumed a more serious expression. "Just one simple question that the IOA insisted I ask you; can you continue to operate on a team with Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter without allowing your personal feelings for her to affect your judgement at a crucial moment while on a mission through the Stargate?"

"Yes," Daniel replied promptly. "We've been… well, we've always been close even before this happened, and it never affected our judgement back then; I think I can safely say that things won't change just because we're closer now than we were."

"Good enough for me; pretty much how I felt about it all anyway," Jack replied, stepping back with a smile on his face as he nodded briefly at the archaeologist. "So long as you're serious about giving this thing a shot, and you're sure it won't have an impact on missions… well, after you've been on a bit of a probationary period to determine if this is going to affect your performance in the long run, I'm prepared to take everything else as it comes, to tell ya the truth."

Daniel blinked.

"That's it?" he said, looking at Jack in surprise.

"Well, I already had a bit of a talk with the president about this whole thing; he said that he'd pretty much accept my final judgement on the situation, so long as I could get confirmation from the horse's mouth that this wouldn't be a problem," Jack replied, smiling reassuringly at his friend.

"On that topic," Daniel put in, looking pointedly at Jack as he stood up, "not that I'm saying we'll do it all the time, but, if a mission comes up where access to Liam's Ascended-related knowledge and power would be useful…"

"Could you take him through the 'gate?" Jack finished, smiling once again at his old friend. "Hey; so long as you give a good reason why he's needed, I see no reason why anyone can object to allowing an offworld citizen who's relocated to Earth regular access to the Stargate; the fact that he's your kid doesn't change the fact that he was raised on another planet, and nobody's ever objected to allowing Teal'c, Nyan, Jonas and Vala through the 'gate even if they didn't have any official qualifications or anything like that."

"And… the fact that Liam's a child?" Daniel pointed out, looking uncertainly at his friend; a part of him almost couldn't believe that it was going to be this easy to give Liam permission to go through the Stargate.

"As you've pointed out more than once in your reports, he's a kid with access to Ancient knowledge; gives him a bit of an edge, you have to admit," Jack pointed out, his smile becoming slightly broader as they moved further away from the more complicated (And the more personal, of course) issue of Daniel's relationship with Sam. "Look, just don't worry about it, will you? I've already recommended to the IOA that you two should stay on the team, Liam's pretty much got official status as an offworld citizen when it comes to Stargate-related matters, and I've got the same team who prepared my clone's history covering the necessary paperwork to explain Liam's existence; I'll expect you and Carter to let me know what kinda personal history you want regarding how he was conceived, given the age thing."

With that said, Jack shrugged and indicated the door. "Anyway, I'd best be off; with this out of the way, I think Landry wants to hear my final decision on the team front in person before I have to head back to Washington."

"Keeping you busy up there, huh?" Daniel asked, smiling slightly at his old friend.

"Oh, you have no idea how busy," Jack replied, sighing dejectedly at the thought of the paperwork that still sat on his desk- no matter how far he rose up the ranks, he would never get used to the paperwork he had to do these days- before he shrugged. "Well, duty calls; see you when I see you."

A few hours later, his work completed and the day ended, Daniel sat on his couch, reading a book as he waited for Sam to get back from her trip to Vancouver; he'd received a call from Landry an hour or so ago that she was on her way back from meeting with Mrs Miller and would visit Daniel's house to let him know how it had gone. Once again, Liam was spending the night in Daniel's spare room in the absence of any ideas for a more permanent living arrangement, but he'd already been sent to bed upon arrival as part of his punishment; the two of them had eaten dinner together, of course, but after that Daniel had sent Liam to his room and made sure that his light was out before coming back downstairs. A part of him felt a bit foolish making sue Liam went to bed early- his son had access to the knowledge of the Ancients and here he was grounding him?- but at the same time he knew that he wanted Liam to have the normal life that Adria had never even had the chance to have; if that meant punishing him when he made a mistake, than he'd just have to get used to it.

Of course, that didn't mean he couldn't be proud of Liam's accomplishments; his earlier action while he was out with Mitchell and Vala had given him another reason to be proud of his son's abilities. As it turned out, the meal hadn't gone quite as they'd expected; at one point when Vala had gone to the bathroom, a member of the Trust had attempted to abduct her for reasons that they still hadn't managed to learn from him. If it hadn't been for the man's attempts to abduct Liam as well- evidently news about the SGC's new arrival had travelled fast and inspired some interest among the remaining Goa'uld-, the abduction might have succeeded.

As it was, of course, as soon as the man had started trying to prompt Liam to leave his seat- the man had evidently assumed that Liam was little more than a normal child with a few extras, as well as being unconcerned about Mitchell's presence-, Liam had known that something was wrong, subsequently using his powers to make the man choke for a few moments until he and Mitchell could get him to the gents'.

Now out of public view, they had swiftly questioned him about his presence- Liam once again using a slight 'nudge' of his powers to make sure the man was telling the truth; Daniel didn't like his son having to resort to such methods, but acknowledged that, when dealing with the Trust, every possible measure had to be taken- and learned about his final goal in capturing Vala. Apparently the Goa'uld he was employed by- Athena- had been an old 'ally' of Qetesh's back when Vala had been her host, and had wanted to interrogate Vala about the location of an Ancient treasure that Qetesh had apparently discovered and kept from Athena before she was taken out of Vala. Whether the treasure actually existed or Qetesh had been lying, nobody was certain, but what was certain was that nobody was going to allow Athena the chance to 'question' Vala about it. For the moment, all that could be done was to put Vala and Liam under closer security observation to make sure that no Trust agents tried to abduct them again, although Landry assured Daniel that all efforts were being made to find Athena's current location before she could accomplish her goal.

"Hello?" a voice said from the door, breaking into Daniel's train of thought and stand up, a smile crossing his face as he stood up and walked into the hallway to greet Sam, who was already shrugging off her coat and hanging it on a nearby hook.

"Hey," he said, smiling at her as he leaned forwards to kiss her lightly on the lips. "Good to have you back."

"Good to be back," Sam replied, a similar smile on her face as she looked back at Daniel. "Liam's in bed?"

"Made sure of it myself," Daniel confirmed with a brief nod.

"Glad to hear it," Sam replied, a slightly teasing smile on her face as she looked at him. "I have to admit, I was a bit worried that you wouldn't be able to go through with it…"

"Excuse me; are you implying that I'm a poor authority figure?" Daniel countered, the equally teasing grin on his face taking any potential sting out of his words.

"No; just that you might have difficulty saying 'no' to our son when he tries to get out of something," Sam replied, raising a critical eyebrow. "Or am I the only one who remembers who was the one to get Cassie the trip to Disneyland after she saw an advert for it?"

"As I recall, you helped cover the tickets for that just as much as I did," Daniel retorted, his smile growing broader as the two of them recalled Cassie's enthusiastic recollection of that particular holiday- the first one she and Janet had ever taken as a family-, before the two of them briefly fell silent, memories of their long-lost friend driving cheerier thoughts away for the moment.

"Anyway," Sam said, shaking her head slightly to bring the two of them back to the present, "how's it been here?"

"Oh, fairly quiet," Daniel replied, a slight smile on his face at the memories of the last day's activities. "Jack's assured me that he's fine with… us… and he's also assured me that we're allowed to both remain on SG-1 so long as we can guarantee that we'll keep our personal feelings separate from our missions. Oh, and Liam and Vala were nearly abducted by an agent of the Trust before Cam and Liam realised he wasn't everything he seemed-"

"Hold on; a Trust agent?" Sam repeated, looking in momentary shock at Daniel.

"Don't worry; thanks to Cam and Liam he was stopped before he could get away with either of them," Daniel reassured her, placing a reassuring hand on Sam's shoulder as he indicated his couch.

"Actually," he continued, as the two of them sat down, "neither of them seemed to mind that much about the 'interruption'; Liam described the experience as 'cool', and Vala even told me that she actually rather enjoyed her 'date' with Cam, even if they did have a 'sixth wheel' for the whole meal-"

"Back up a minute there; Vala called her dinner with Cam a date?" Sam repeated, looking at Daniel with an amused smile. "How did he react to that?"

"About what you'd expect, really; embarrassed, but I got the impression he actually rather liked it," Daniel replied, allowing himself a slight chuckle of his own as he recalled Mitchell's expression after Vala had told him they'd need to arrange another time to finish their 'date' properly before he turned back to Sam. "So, how did things go with Mrs Miller?"

With that question, the smile faded from Sam's face as she reflected on that meeting.

"Not too well, unfortunately," she said, shaking her head as she looked over at Daniel. "She refuses to sign away her rights to her discovery on the grounds that it'll just result in all subsequent patents to the idea belonging to the US military and thus be unable to be used by anyone in the general population, and we can't tell her that it's already inspired an idea until she signs the confidentiality papers…"

"A real Catch Twenty-Two situation, huh?" Daniel said, sighing sympathetically as he reached over to rub a comforting hand along Sam's arm. "So much for using her work as a reason to go to Atlantis…"

"Actually, it turns out that we have an unexpected bonus that might help us win her over," Sam said, smiling slightly as she looked at Daniel. "It turns out that her brother is a member of the Atlantis expedition; if we can get him to explain the situation to her, we might have a chance to get her help in getting the formula working."

"Really?" Daniel said, looking at her with a smile; even if their fields of expertise were drastically different, he always loved seeing Sam enthusiastic about a project. "Who is it?"

"Unfortunately, that's the part that makes this slightly difficult," Sam said, the smile on her face fading slightly. "You see… her brother's Rodney McKay."

Daniel blinked.

"Wait a minute; McKay has a sister?" he said, staring at Sam in surprise.

"Apparently," Sam replied, nodding at her old teammate. "I saw him in a picture with Mrs Miller from their college days; I asked her about it and she said they'd had a falling out some years back over her chosen career path. From what Mrs Miller said, their relationship doesn't sound like it's particularly close these days, of course, but it still seems like the personal connection's our best chance at getting her to help."

"I see," Daniel replied, nodding in understanding. "So, now we just need to send a message to Atlantis and wait for McKay to come to us?"

"That and hope he'll actually come in the first place; as I said, according to Mrs Miller their relationship's apparently been a bit strained ever since college, but it still seems like bringing in McKay to talk to her instead is our best chance to get her to help us," Sam replied, shaking her head slightly as she reflected on the results of her latest trip.

Sometimes, it seemed like every solution she discovered to a problem always had its own pitfalls to go with it; just once, she'd like to encounter a situation where the first solution suggested was both simple to employ and the only one they had to use.

The reflection only lasted for a few moments, however; after a while, Sam found herself simply taking advantage of the first real moment of silence she'd had the chance to experience in a while to simply enjoy the presence of the father of her child as she rested her head against Daniel, the two of them staring silently at the screen before them as they enjoyed the presence of the other. No words were exchanged, but they both knew that no words were needed; right now all that they wanted was a chance to be with the other, rather than anything else.

With the unknown results of their attempts to contact McKay the next day waiting for them in the future, and after the chaos and tension of the last few days on the Odyssey and around Dakara, both of them right now needed nothing more than a chance to be with the person they'd only recently confessed their feelings for.

Somehow, they both knew that this night was merely going to be the calm before the storm…

AN: Well, next chapter features the appearance of our first Atlantis character- unfortunately, it's Doctor Rodney McKay, but you can't have everything- and the beginning of my rewrite of "McKay and Mrs Miller"; trust me, you are going to love this one…