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

As Doctor Elizabeth Weir walked out of her office and down towards the central platform of the gateroom after receiving the communication from the Daedalus, she couldn't help but smile slightly at the thought of the visitors they'd soon be receiving. Not only would it be a relief to have the head of her science department back- McKay could be annoying at times, but he did have a habit of growing on you-, but with the addition of Doctor Jackson and Colonel Carter, she had a feeling that Atlantis was going to be a very interesting place to be over the next few days.

Admittedly, the fact that they were apparently bringing along a fifth guest who General Landry had declined to identify- on the grounds that they 'wouldn't believe it until they've met him'- was a bit frustrating, but Elizabeth was prepared to wait until they arrived before she started asking further questions.

Plus, the fact that whoever it was had apparently convinced even McKay to keep silent about their identities in his communications with Atlantis while instructing Zelenka and the rest of the science department on how to reconfigure Atlantis's energy containment chamber for the experiment said a great deal about his potential importance; somebody who could make McKay stay quiet was clearly not somebody to be underestimated.

"So," she asked, turning to look curiously at her military commander as he started to walk alongside her, having been waiting in the control room for news ever since his team's strength had been reduced by one man, "has he ever talked about his sister with you?"

"Oh, once or twice in passing," Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard replied casually as the two of them left the control room. "Usually like, "Come on, even my sister can do it!""- here he waved his hand slightly to further emphasise his point. "You know, that type of thing."

Elizabeth chuckled slightly at that comment- John could do a surprisingly convincing impression of McKay's attitude, despite his own being so drastically different-, but assumed a more serious expression as she saw Radek, still dressed in the containment suit that had practically become his uniform since McKay started to send transmissions to them from the Daedalus, come hurrying up the stairs from one of the side corridors.

"How's it coming, Radek?" she asked, turning her attention back to the Czech scientist as she pushed John's smile out of her mind; she had the more immediate matter of Atlantis potentially receiving a significant increase in its available power supply to attend to.

"The simulations are all in the green," Zelenka replied, his tone rapid as he spoke to her. "We're ready to try power-up."

"Just in time," Elizabeth said with a smile; she may have become used to Rodney McKay's attitude over the years, but that didn't mean she didn't welcome any opportunity not to deal with it that came up.

"That's actually what I just said," Zelenka replied, laughing in a slightly nervous manner before the three of them stopped in the middle of the gateroom, turning to face the middle of the room just as the distinctive sound of an Asgard transporter being used reached their ears. For a moment the brilliant glow of a transporter 'beam' filled Elizabeth's vision, quickly fading to reveal Doctor Rodney McKay, a blonde-haired woman dressed in civilian clothing who could only be Jeanie Miller- Elizabeth quickly noted that she seemed to be slightly tensed up; evidently she still wasn't entirely used to the transporters-, and the familiar forms of Doctor Daniel Jackson and Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter, each one dressed in the same black BDUs that they had worn during their previous visit to Atlantis.

It was the fifth figure, however- the figure that she could only assume was the mysterious 'guest' that Landry had mentioned to her earlier-, that was the greatest surprise for Elizabeth; whoever she'd been expecting, it hadn't been a young boy who looked like he could only be ten years old at most. Unlike the two SG-1 members, he was dressed in casual clothing, simply wearing a black jacket over a grey T-shirt and dark blue jeans, with light brown hair and blue eyes that reminded her uncannily of Doctor Jackson's, looking around at his surroundings with a wide-eyed grin. A quick glance to her right was all she needed to confirm that John hadn't been expecting the fifth visitor to be a child either, but that still left her with the immediate mystery of what a ten-year-old boy was doing in Atlantis.

"Holy cow…" Jeanie said, looking up at the ceiling as though looking at the path she'd just travelled along in order to reach her destination. For a moment she looked like she was about to say something else, but then her eyes fell on the boy and she seemed to relax, evidently concluding that she wasn't going to panic if someone that young was going to be calm about the whole process.

"Yeah, it's always a wild ride, isn't it?" John said, smiling slightly at her- Elizabeth squashed the momentary spike of jealousy before it could even get started; it was beyond ridiculous to feel jealous of her military commander simply being polite to a visitor, particularly when the visitor was married- before he turned to look curiously at the young boy standing between Doctor Jackson and Colonel Carter. "Uh… sorry for being rude, but who's the kid?"

"Oh, right," the boy in question said, smiling apologetically back at John as he held out a hand. "Liam Carter Jackson; nice to meet you."

Elizabeth blinked.

She had long trained herself to expect anything in the Pegasus Galaxy- after meeting her own alternate future self during their first year in the city, it was hard not to acknowledge that there were going to be some surprises in life- but what she'd just heard definitely ranked in at least the top five surprises she'd had since arriving in Atlantis.

"Carter Jackson?" she repeated, looking in surprise at her two visitors. "As in…"

"Yeah, Liam's our son; we'll fill you in on the full details as soon as possible," Colonel Carter said, nodding briefly at Elizabeth in apology before she turned back to the other woman. "Anyway, Mrs Miller, allow me to introduce Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard, head of Atlantis's military divison, Doctor Elizabeth Weir, overall leader of Atlantis, and Doctor Radek Zelenka, the second-in-command of the city's science division."

"Uh… pleasure to meet you," Jeanie said, nodding at them all with a slight smile. "I've heard all about you from Mer and the Jacksons."

"All good, I…" John began, before his voice trailed off as he looked at Jeanie in confusion, raising a finger to indicate McKay. "Did you just call him 'Mer'?"

"It's a… pet name," McKay cut in, clearly unwilling to discuss that topic any further- Elizabeth made a mental note to ask Doctor Jackson and Colonel Carter what they knew about that topic when she had the opportunity to do so; she had a feeling that the answer would really be rather amusing- before he turned to Zelenka. "Where are we?"

"Simulations are all in the green," Zelenka replied as he began to walk towards the corridor that led to the containment room, McKay and Jeanie close behind him. "We're ready to try power-up."

"Really?" Jeanie said, looking at the Czech scientist in surprise. "So soon? That's amazing. Excellent work, Radek."

"Thank you!" Radek replied, looking back at Jeanie with a broad smile at her praise.

"Yes, we try not to encourage him…" McKay began, his voice trailing off as he, Zelenka and Jeanie walked through a door and out of audible range on their way to the lab. Elizabeth had been planning on going with Jeanie in order to make sure that the other woman settled in well enough, but with this latest unexpected turn of events she had a feeling that it would be best to get answers to the questions that the rest of the expedition would be asking as soon as possible.

"So…" she began, looking uncertainly at Doctor Jackson and Colonel Carter, "is there any chance you could explain why you brought a ten-year-old son that I've never heard about all the way to another galaxy?"

"Gotta admit, I'd appreciate knowing the answer to that myself," John admitted, looking back down at Liam as he spoke. "Not that there's a problem with having kids here, but…"

"It seems like a bit of a strange thing to do, correct?" Doctor Jackson concluded, smiling in understanding at John. "Don't worry; we'll be perfectly happy to explain what Liam's doing here, but I think I'd prefer to fill in some of the others as well."

"Gotcha," John said, nodding briefly at Doctor Jackson before he turned to look at Elizabeth. "I'll just go and get Teyla and Ronon, shall I?"

"You do that; I'll let Carson know about our new arrivals myself," Elizabeth replied, as she turned back to look at Doctor Jackson and Colonel Carter. "Will that be acceptable for you two?"

"That'll be fine, thanks," Colonel Carter replied with a brief nod.

As Sam sat alongside Daniel and Doctor Weir at the conference table in Atlantis, she wished that she felt more comfortable in front of SG-1's Pegasus Galaxy counterparts than she did.

She knew that it was only natural she'd feel somewhat anxious when confronting them- after all, she was entrusting the truth about her son to a group of people she'd never even really met; her previous contact with Doctor Weir during her brief time as head of the SGC and McKay had changed so much since she'd first met him that he was practically a different person, and she'd spent little to no time with Colonel Sheppard, Doctor Beckett, Teyla Emmaggen or Ronon Dex-, but it was more than that.

In many ways, she felt like Mitchell must have felt when he'd originally managed to officially recreate SG-1; After all, Colonel Sheppard, Teyla and Ronon were members of SG-1's Pegasus Galaxy counterpart, each of them fighting for this galaxy much like SG-1 had fought for their galaxy back on Earth; the sheer scale of their accomplishments wasn't exactly something that could be easily ignored, particularly after their recent confrontation with Pegasus's answer to the Replicators…

She shook thoughts of the aforementioned machines out of her mind; right now she had more immediate matters to worry about than the potential threat posed by the Asurans, no matter how dangerous they might be.

"Well," she said at last, as she looked around at the group of people before her, going over what she was about to say one last time to make sure, "I suppose you're all wondering why Daniel and I brought our son along here?"

"The thought did occur to me," Colonel Sheppard replied, as he looked over at Liam. "I mean, no offence, kid, but just because your parents are the big heroes back home doesn't mean you can get them to take you al the way over here when you want to have a holiday…"

"What can I say?" Liam replied, shrugging at John with a casual smile on his face, showing no sign of offence at the man's question. "I had a good reason for wanting to come here."

"And I can assure, it's not just because he wanted to see Atlantis," Daniel added, looking around the table as he took up the explanation. "Liam is… well, he's part-Ascended."

The silence that settled over the table at that statement was almost deafening as the Atlantis expedition's leaders stared incredulously at the archaeologist.

"Hold on; he's part-Ascended?" Doctor Beckett repeated, looking incredulously at the young boy in question. "But…"

"I'm simply a kid physically, Doctor Beckett; I just have some… extras," Liam said; clearly he'd guessed, like his parents had, that the immediate question anyone might have on learning about his heritage here was whether or not he was actually solid. "Y'know, I can generate energy bursts, move things with my mind, things like that…"

"How… how is this possible?" Teyla whispered, looking between Liam and his father in a mix of awe and confusion. "Unless one of you…"

"It's really a long story," Sam said, looking reassuringly over at the Athosian before she turned to face Daniel. "Daniel?"

"Around six years ago, we encountered a woman called Oma Desala, who we later learned was an Ascended Ancient herself," Daniel explained, continuing the story as he looked around the table at the small group gathered around him. "At the time, I learned some details about ascension from one of her students, but I only really learned the necessary basics at that point. A couple of years later, she helped me when I was fatally injured after exposure to radiation by helping me ascend-"

"You ascended?" Ronon said, looking in surprise at the archaeologist. "No offence, but you look pretty human to me; I thought ascension was a one-way thing …"

"Normally, yes, but I broke the Ancients' rules of non-intervention and attempted to help my friends when one of our enemies sought a long-lost superweapon," Daniel explained, looking over at the Satedean before he turned back to address the room as a whole. "As a result, I was returned to human form by the other Ascended as punishment for attempting to interfere, but I was eventually discovered by the SGC and returned home."

"And this ties into Liam… how?" Colonel Sheppard asked, waving his hand promptingly as he looked at Daniel. "Don't get me wrong, it's interesting listening, but still…"

"Well, the exact details are still a bit hazy- I lost my memory after I returned to human form and I still haven't managed to remember everything about the year I spent as one of the Ascended-, but I remember the crucial points well enough," Daniel continued. "The point of this is that, while I was ascended, I came to visit Sam when the team was temporarily off-duty while our commander was recovering from an alien virus, and we ended up talking to each other, but… well, one thing led to another, and we…"

He trailed off, looking slightly embarrassed as he glanced over at Sam and Liam, but the glances that were briefly exchanged between Doctor Weir and Colonel Sheppard made it clear that they had understood what Daniel had said.

"Hold on; you're saying that… Liam was conceived while you were Ascended?" Doctor Beckett asked, looking in surprise at the archaeologist. "But… well, I don't mean any offence, but he seems to be at least six years too old to have been conceived around that time…"

"His aging was accelerated by Oma Desala after he was born," Sam explained, taking up the story after exchanging a brief glance with Daniel before she turned back to address the Atlantis members. "Daniel came back to me a couple of weeks after the conception- he'd been away for a short time to help General O'Neill when he was captured by one of our enemies-, but shortly after I'd told him about the pregnancy, Oma Desala came to us and told us that the Ancients wouldn't accept the existence of our child, and she had to take the child away for its own safety from the other Ascended. After assuring us that we would eventually get our child back when the time was right, she erased my memory and… well, as far as we can determine, she subsequently took the child up to the higher planes of existence where the Ascended exist until he was ready to be born, at which point she left him with a race of people who had salvaged some abandoned Ancient technology, simultaneously accelerating his aging to a point where he would be mature enough to cope with his 'destiny' when the time came."

"His… destiny?" Teyla repeated, looking at the child in question with renewed curiosity, even as her evident uncertainty made it clear that she was still uncertain how to feel about what she had just heard.

"Well, we think that part of Liam's role is connected to the reason we came here," Daniel explained, as he reached into a bag and pulled out the tablet that he'd received from Danaar. "When we discovered the planet where Liam had been raised, the people who'd trained him in the use of some of his Ancient powers left us with this tablet, which reveals that Merlin left potentially vital information to help us defeat the Ori in Atlantis's databanks, protecting them so that they would only be accessible by specific people; as far as we can tell, Liam and I are the only two people who might be able to access that information, so we came here to see what we can do about finding it."

"Ah," Doctor Beckett said, nodding thoughtfully as he looked at the archaeologist. "This would be because you were Ascended yourself once, correct?"

"Precisely," Daniel confirmed. "From what we can tell, Merlin devised a security program to prevent the information he stored here from being accessed by anyone who hadn't previously been one of the Ascended, while still possessing the necessary spiritual qualities to Ascend again; in other words, theoretically I should be able to access the information once we find it, but Anubis wouldn't have been able to do anything with it even if he'd come here because he wasn't spiritually worthy of Ascension."

"And the reason you didn't find out about this when you came here last time is because…?" John asked, looking curiously at the archaeologist.

"From what we can tell, you require a specific password to access the information in question; I couldn't have found it the last time I was here because I didn't even know what I was looking for, never mind lacking the password," Daniel replied. "I'm hoping that, now that I know what I'm looking for and how to access it, I'll have better luck using the holographic interface this time around."

"The one that was hi-jacked by an Ancient last time you were here?" John asked, looking at Daniel with a slightly uncertain expression. "You sure that'll work?"

"Given that I have a more precisely defined search pattern to work with than what I was using last time I was here, I think it's possible," Daniel replied, before he turned to look at Doctor Weir. "With that in mind, I think I should probably start in the holographic interface room; it seems like the most likely place for Merlin to leave the information."

Doctor Weir sighed.

"Unfortunately, I can't do that right now," she said, looking regretfully at the archaeologist. "While I was contacting Carson, Teyla and Ronon, Doctor McKay called me and requested that all non-essential systems be shut down while he and Mrs Miller attempt to activate the matter bridge; given the potential risks in this kind of experiment, they both agree that it would be best to divert all available power from the ZPM to maintaining the bridge until they're certain that it's going to work."

"Oh," Sam said simply, looking apologetically over at Daniel. "Sorry, I should have mentioned that earlier; McKay did say that might happen, but I wasn't sure how much power would actually be needed…"

"That's… that's OK, Sam," Daniel said, nodding in understanding even as a slightly wistful expression crossed his face, before he glanced over at Doctor Weir again. "Well, as long as I'm going to have to wait, is there anything we can do here?"

AN: OK, any suggestions for what Sam, Daniel and Liam could do in their spare time next chapter would be appreciated; I'm thinking Daniel studies the Ancient database to find another means of accessing the information- as well as some independent research-, Sam gets some stick-fighting lessons from Teyla and Liam gets a quick flight in a puddle jumper with John, but if anyone has anything else they'd like to see I welcome suggestions.