Chapter Three
Since they found nothing physically wrong with him, the next course of action was to find out the last thing Daniel remembered and what his day had entailed. Aside from the spectacular argument he had with Vala (could it be called an argument when he was the only one yelling?), there wasn't anything too special about it, but he gave them every detail they asked for, hoping he had somehow missed something. They ended up checking reports from around that time but found nothing since everything was normal and quiet around that time.
Vala recounted their day as well but it hadn't given them much insight either since it had been a lazy Saturday for them up to the point where Daniel forgot the last four years. It had just been a typical Saturday for them. Woke up at the crack of dawn by the children, breakfast, got ready for the day, and played outside before it happened…whatever 'it' was.
They then moved on to the artifacts he had been cataloging, trying to find out if a piece of technology was responsible. Since it seemed like earlier today, Daniel was able to recall in great detail which artifacts he had been working with and it enabled him to find them in his database and where they were being stored. Each one was meticulously tested for anything that could possibly explain this, but the tests all came up negative and only revealed your typical, mundane artifacts that had nothing special about them…other than their historical significance.
They were running out of ideas, if they hadn't already, and they were still no closer to finding it what did this or how to reverse it.
When no one offered up anymore ideas on what to do, Daniel sighed, dejected. "We can't just give up," he told the three women in front of him.
"Daniel, there's nothing physically or psychologically wrong with you," Sam recounted, "You didn't touch something, this isn't the result of alien technology, and we can't find anything abnormal in your day, present and past, that would've caused this. What else do you want us to try?"
Daniel sighed again, rubbing his forehead. "Where's Jack?" he asked, "He usually has some stupid idea in situations like these where it ends up being right."
"He's dealing with a crisis on Destiny," Sam answered.
Daniel frowned. "What is Destiny?" he asked again, "Is it another ship of ours? Just how many ships did we build?"
"It's where the ninth chevron goes," Vala supplied, "It leads to an Ancient ship they sent out millions of years ago."
Daniel gaped at her. "We unlocked the ninth chevron?" he asked incredulously, "And it led to a ship and we have people on it?"
Vala patted his knee. "We'll talk about that later," she assured him, "Daniel's right, we can't just give up. We need to keep thinking of possible solutions."
"Where's Cam?" Daniel asked, "He has the same talent as Jack does with random ideas. And Teal'c, where is he?"
"Cam's with the kids," Carolyn supplied and shrugged when Daniel looked at her skeptically, "Someone had to watch them while we figured this out."
"And Teal'c is on Dakara, attending to his duties as a councilman," Sam told him.
Daniel's brows rose again. "He's on the Jaffa High Council?" he asked surprised, "I thought he didn't want to get into the politics of it?"
"Bra'tac asked him to join," Vala said, "After he was voted leader of the Free Jaffa Nation, he insisted on having Teal'c on the council."
"Bra'tac is leading the Jaffa Nation now?" he asked, surprise rising once more, "How can so much happen in four years? I get married to Vala, have children, Atlantis comes to Earth, we unlock the final chevron and have at team at its location, Sam's no longer at the SGC but on some ship named the Hammond, named for General Hammon who is apparently dead, Teal'c is a councilman for the Jaffa nation while Bra'tac is their leader, and Cam and Carolyn about to become parents! How the hell could all of that happen within four years when everything before it took almost a decade?"
They all shot him a look of sympathy.
"Well, Cam and I are actually already parents," Carolyn corrected after a moment of silence.
Daniel sighed. "Right," he said wearily, "Of course you're parents; you're pregnant. I only meant for the first time."
"Still not the first time for us," Carolyn retorted.
"You guys have another kid?" he asked, bewildered.
"Two actually," Vala interjected.
"Twins," Carolyn specified, "Girls, Eleanor and Molly. Four months younger than Theon."
Daniel groaned and lowered his head into his hands. "This is too much."
"And just think, there's so much you still don't know," Sam said chipperly, channeling Jack.
Daniel lifted his head. "Okay, let's start from the beginning," he suggested, "Just tell me what happened in my life starting from my last memory and maybe that'll jump start my brain or something and I'll start remembering again."
Before any of them could start, Carolyn intervened. "I rather you didn't," she stated and earned puzzled looks from the others, "We don't know what happened and I think we should give Dr. Jackson a chance to regain his memories on his own before we start telling him all about it."
Vala looked down at her folded hands. "We shouldn't have to tell you about your own life," she mumbled, remembering her similar words earlier.
Daniel glanced at her. "Vala, I'm so sorry," he told her earnestly, knowing this was killing her. He hated making her this sad and dejected. She had set it best earlier; he wasn't her Daniel, and he didn't like that feeling.
Vala just smiled sadly at him.
"So what do we do then?" Sam asked, "Just have him go on as normal?"
"Yes," Carolyn said simply.
"But what if that doesn't work?" Sam questioned, "There's no possible way for this to have happened, so how do we know they'll even come back?"
"Or if they're even still there," Vala voiced her main fear.
Daniel looked at her sharply. "There's no evidence of that," he said.
"Well, there's no evidence of how this happened either! So it's a legitimate concern!" she snapped, "How the hell do we know if those memories are still there?"
"Can't we use the Galaran device and take a look?" Mitchell's voice asked, coming into the room.
They all turned to him.
"Cameron, where are my children?" Vala asked sternly and sat up straighter.
He waved her off. "Relax," he said, "they're spending some quality time with Grandpa Hank at your house."
Vala did relax back into her seat and glanced at Carolyn. "Is the Galaran device an option?" she asked hopefully.
Carolyn looked cynical. "I'm hesitant with so little information to go on," she said apologetically.
Vala's face fell and she slumped in her seat. "So we just wait and hope for the best?" she asked bitterly, "How the hell am I going to explain this to my children? They're three and not yet two! They're not going to understand this!"
Carolyn took in her friend's expression and sighed heavily. "Give it a week and if he doesn't remember anything significant, we can try the device," she reluctantly relented.
Seems like she had no choice but to accept the compromise and Vala nodded slowly. "What do I tell my children in the meantime?" she questioned, "How do you explain to toddlers that daddy doesn't remember them?"
None of her friends answered as they all stared at her sympathetically. Daniel just looked guilty and looked at the floor.
o0o
It had been a long day, one that was spent mostly at the SGC, and they didn't get home until late evening. Cam and Carolyn had followed them home to pick up their own children before scurrying out of there, but not before they gave Vala a hug and told her to hang in there and call them if she needed anything.
The Jackson children had been ecstatic to see their parents and bombarded them at the door. They both wanted Daniel to hold them, Isla because she was a daddy's girl, and Theon because he had picked up something was going on.
"You better, daddy?" Theon asked worriedly, tugging at him.
Daniel picked him up while Vala picked up Isla and he shot her a questioning look, wanting to follow her lead. She gave him a tight smile and jerked her head in the direction of the couch. Daniel nodded and set Theon down before taking a seat himself. Vala followed and set Isla next to her brother but she crawled over him to Daniel, giving the man no choice but to hold her.
"Theon, darling," Vala began hesitantly, "something has happened to daddy and it's making it hard for him to remember things. You can't see it but something is wrong with his brain."
Theon frowned in confusion. "Can't Auntie Caro fix it?"
Vala bit her lip and Daniel saw a shine to her eyes. He hated that he was doing this to her, intentional or not. He hated doing this to his family. He hated feeling this helpless and not knowing who the hell he became. "She's trying," Daniel interjected, "but until we can fix what's wrong with me, I'm gonna forget things, I won't remember things, and I'll need you to help remind me, okay? Can you do that?"
Theon nodded. "I help you, daddy," he stated earnestly and climbed onto his lap next to Isla.
Isla mimicked Theon and snuggled into Daniel, making his heart melt and a lump form in his throat as his son and daughter hugged him. He met Vala's sad eyes over the children's heads. "It's gonna be alright," he promised all three of them, "We're gonna figure this out."
o0o
Daniel fell in love with Theon and Isla within a day.
He spent their entire Sunday with them, getting to know them, and he couldn't help but fall in love with them. Theon was one of the sweetest little kids he'd ever met, and not only was he sweet, he was kind, sensitive, and funny but also sassy, reminding him of Vala. He was incredibly creative and was obsessed with Legos, making the most incredible creations out of them. Daniel guessed that he got that from his mother and not him.
Isla was like her mother, Vala in child form. Determined, persistent, sassy, but not to mention incredibly caring and a bit of a cuddle bug, as well as intelligent, just not intelligent enough to understand why her father didn't know a thing about her. She could be a hellion one moment, wrecking havoc, or a perfect angel, content to sit in your lap and be read to. She was like him when it came to reading; she loved books and had him read book after book throughout the day.
Vala told him this was a usual occurrence and the children always wanted him to read to them instead of her. Sunday night, she had tried to do the bedtime routine all by herself, which included story time, both kids insisted Daniel do the story.
"And what's so wrong with me doing it?" Vala asked, playfully glaring at the kids as she tucked them in.
"Daddy does the voices," Theon insisted.
"I can do voices," Vala told him.
Theon gave her a serious look. "Daddy does them better, mommy."
"Dada read!" Isla chimed in.
Vala gave them a small smile. "Well, not tonight," she said, "I'll have to do until daddy is better."
"I'll read to them," Daniel offered softly. He had been leaning on the doorframe with his arms crossed, watching the scene before him unfold.
Vala turned to him, surprised by his presence. "Are you sure?" she asked quietly, "you've been with them all day."
He pushed off of the frame and walked over to Theon's bed. "Do parents actually get a day off?" he quipped with a smile.
"They do when they develop random amnesia," she quipped back.
Daniel snorted. "Just the same, if I normally do this, I should do this; you know, keep my normal routine and all."
"Daniel…" she trailed off.
"I want to," he said earnestly, sitting next to her on the bed.
Vala stared at him for a moment before nodding. "Okay," she murmured and handed him the book she held, "Isla's choice," she gave a wry smile and gathered her daughter into her arms for story time.
Daniel took the book and shifted in Isla's direction so she could see the pictures. "'In an old house in Paris that was covered in vine, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines…'"
o0o
Author's Note: Ten points to whoever can name the book Daniel began reading WITHOUT Googling it! It was one of my favorite books as a child and still is to this day...
Any more theories about Daniel's amnesia?