Chosen
"Rise and shine, sleepy head" Jack said loudly as he shook Claire's shoulder gently. She groaned and rolled over with her back to him. Jack sighed, shaking his head.
"Come on we have to get you home, before your family completely freaks out."
"Can't have that, now can we" the teen mumbled tiredly, pushing back the covers and getting out of bed. She glared up at Jack who chuckled and she stood up staring at him suspiciously.
"What?" she said.
"Nice hair" he commented, looking at her messy hair all over the place.
"Shut up" she said crossly and she turned towards the door to leave. She looked back at Jack expectantly,
"Well, lets go" she said opening the door and motioning into the hallway.
SG1 pulled up to a brick two-story house in a middle class neighbourhood in Colorado Springs.
"This it?" Jack asked.
"Yeah" Claire said quietly, before adding, "You guys don't have to come in, you know," she said quickly, hoping that they might just leave.
"No it's alright," Jack said, wondering why she didn't want them coming in with her. "We'll just explain why you didn't come home last night and then be on our way."
"Whatever" he heard Claire mutter as she got out of the backseat of his truck that she had been in with Sam. Daniel had ridden in the front with Jack driving and Teal'c had opted to stay on base since he wouldn't able to explain his gold tattoo and as Jack had put it he looked 'down right scary'.
They followed the girl up to her house, and waited as she got her key out and opened the door. Shutting the door behind all of them Claire led them into the living room where she figured her foster parents would be. And she was right. Her foster mother wasn't there, but Claire figured she went to work or something already.
Upon seeing her, her foster father got up, fury in his eyes, and he grabbed her roughly by the arm, causing her to grunt in pain.
"Where the hell were you?" he yelled in her face. She could smell alcohol on his breath.
"I-" she began to tell him that SG1 was also there, but he swung his right hand across her face a loud slaps sounding in the silent house. He threw her to the ground and she scurried away so she was against the wall, beyond his drunken reach.
"I don't want to hear any of your lies, you little witch," he growled. At this point he noticed SG1 standing in the living room doorway, "Go to your room" he ordered stepping forward and kicking her leg.
"Hey that's enough" Jack said stepping so he was face to face with the man who was supposed to be taking care of Claire.
"Who the hell are you?" The man demanded, glaring at Sam as she helped Claire up and stood in front of the entirely embarrassed teen to protect her in case the man got violent and tried to hurt her again.
"Colonel Jack O'Neill" Jack said coldly, going into mean-colonel mode. "Now sir, we were going to just come here and explain to you why we were responsible for Claire not coming home last night, but after seeing that little display, I think we're going to take her with us again and get Children's Services on your ass, so you can never have a foster child again... that sound good to you?" Jack asked.
"You can't take her away, I'll have the cops on you so fast-" he was cut off by Jack,
"I don't think you understand, we are in the Air Force, we know the President of the United States, you will be charged with child abuse, am I making this clear enough for you?" Jack said enunciating each word slowly. Claire's foster father took a swing at Jacks head but Jack ducked and punched the man in the stomach and when his opponent tried to take him again, Jack punched him in the face sending the tipsy man to the floor unconscious.
"Are you okay?" Jack asked a visibly shaken Claire. She simply nodded.
"Is he going to be okay?" she asked motioning towards the man on the floor.
"He'll have one helluva headache when he wakes up, but that's about it" Jack shrugged, looking distastefully at the monster on the floor.
"You should get some ice on that" Daniel said pointing to the bruise forming on Claire's left cheek.
"I'm okay," she said in a small voice, looking about ready to cry.
"No you're not." jack stated, and he looked at Sam, "Carter get her some ice for her cheek, Daniel and I will make a few calls"
"Yes Sir" Sam replied dutifully, as she led Claire away to the kitchen, which was the next room.
"How could he do that to her?" Jack asked Daniel.
"Some foster parents are like that Jack. It's just easier for them to take their problems out on the child that lives with them. It's not technically their kid so it doesn't matter so much what they do to them." was the reply, which surprised Jack.
"Did your foster parents ever...." Jack let the rest of the question go unsaid, as his friend just shrugged,
"Yeah, but nothing usually more that a slap or punch here and there, it was no big deal, really" Daniel tried to comfort his friend who was now staring at him looking rather disturbed.
"Did you ever tell anyone?" Jack risked continuing on with the topic despite knowing Daniel probably didn't want to talk about it at the moment.
"No, I didn't think anyone would believe me" he responded with another shrug.
"That's probably how she feels too" jack said looking towards the kitchen where Sam was wrapping ice in a towel for Claire.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Sam asked eyeing Claire carefully as the girl held the ice to her face, while sitting on a chair at the kitchen table.
"Yes"
"Does that happen often?"
"Yes"
"What about your foster mother? Does she ever hit you?" Sam tried knowing she was treading on thin ice on the topic.
"Can we not talk about this?" Claire asked tiredly, putting the ice down on the table a running a hand through her hair.
"We can't just ignore what we saw," Sam answered, referring to herself, Daniel and Jack.
"You shouldn't have come with me, now he'll be ten times angrier than what you saw" Claire yelled, tears welling up in her eyes. "You shouldn't have come," she repeated in a whisper, her voice catching in her throat. "Now it will be worse"
Sam felt her heart wrench at the fear and sadness she saw and heard from the child in front of her.
Claire left the room and Sam followed her until she saw that the girl was going upstairs, probably to her bedroom. Jack came up beside Sam, who was staring up the stairs sadly.
"Don't worry Carter, she won't ever have to live here again, I swear," he said and Sam knew he would follow through on his promise.
Fifteen minutes later SG1 and Claire were standing in the front foyer of her house. Claire had a small duffel bag and backpack filled with anything she may need for the next few days since she was not going to be staying in that house. Jack had made a call to Hammond and asked for him to make arrangements for Claire for the time being while they found her another foster family.
Just as they were about to open the door to leave they all were surrounded by a bright flash of light and soon found themselves on board an Asgard ship.
"What the hell?" Claire said as she turned on the spot getting a good look at her surroundings. She was completely dumbfounded, and was put off by how comfortable Jack, Daniel and Sam were with their current predicament. Thor appeared before them and Claire's eyes went huge. She stared with her mouth agape at the small grey alien and sub-consciously moved behind Jack to protect herself.
"Greetings O'Neill" Thor said, and that just sent Claire over the edge.
"Hey Thor ol' buddy, um it's nice to see you and all, but why are we here… and why is she here?" Jack asked pointing over his shoulder at Claire.
"She is the reason you are here," the alien said as he began to walk from the room. SG1 and Claire followed closely as they entered another room that looked the same as the one before, except for the large TV-like screens on the wall.
"And what reason would that be?"
"Yeah, what reason would that be?" Claire spoke up from behind everybody. Thor cocked his head to the side and walked over to her. She backed up slightly to his advance, not sure if she had somehow angered him or not. He stopped before her and regarded her carefully.
"This child was once the subject of Goa'uld experiments" Thor began.
"I was a lab rat?!" Claire exclaimed disbelievingly.
"What do you mean she was a subject in experiments?" Daniel asked stepping closer to Thor.
"The Goa'uld came to her planet-"
"I'm an alien?!" Claire interrupted.
"Hey! Shhhh" Jack ordered her.
"The Goa'uld came to her planet and took a number of children for the purpose of experiment. They implanted and removed many Goa'ulds from her body and tested many mind control techniques on her as well" Thor paused for a moment,
"The Goa'uld are now in search of this child, for she is the only survivor of the experiments"
"What happened to the others?" Sam asked.
"They did not survive the torture methods tested on them, this child-"
"I have a name you know" Claire interrupted again. SG1 all turned and gave her looks telling her to be quiet. Thor too was becoming tired of Claire's interruptions.
"This child escaped into a small shuttle with the assistance of a Tok'ra operative. The shuttle crashed on Earth and since then the Goa'uld have been searching for her as she holds the information of as many as seven Scientist Goa'ulds.
Jack, Sam and Daniel all turned to face Claire, who was staring at Thor, mouth agape.
"And you don't happen to remember any of this at all?" Jack asked Claire. She just shook her head and fidgeted nervously with the bottom of her jacket. She looked so vulnerable, Sam thought, with her wide innocent eyes and large purple bruise on her cheek.
"So why are we here then?" Claire spoke up, with a slight waver in her voice.
"As previously mentioned the Goa'uld are after you, and the Asgard feel it would be a wise choice to give us all the information you can, so we can know exactly what the Goa'uld wish to have you for."
"Why do you guys need what she knows? You don't fight the Goulds." Jack asked skeptically.
"We must try and find new ways to defeat the replicators and this child may hold the key. There is no telling how much valuable information this young mind could hold" Thor stated as he reached up and touched Claires forehead and brushed away a loose strand of hair, his hand lingering at her hairline for a moment. Claire stepped from his reach.
"It's her choice" Jack pointed out.
"Yeah and I choose not to get my brain messed with by a bunch of little green… grey, men, so no" Claire added.
"The Asgard High Council has stated that by refusing the resurfacing of her memories Asgard/Earth relations will be put in jeopardy."
"What?! Over a kids memories? That's ridiculous!" Jack blew.
"I will give you time to reconsider and contact the Asgard on you final decision." Thor stated and SG1 found themselves in the SGC briefing room interrupting a conversation between Hammond and the leader of SG7.
"SG1 what are you doing here?" the general questioned, eyeing Claire curiously.
"Just got threatened sorta by the Asgard and found out why the kid has naquada in her blood" Jack sighed.
"The Asgard threatened to ditch the Earth/Asgard relations if we don't let 'em scrape the kids brain for new technologies that her previous symbiotes left behind, blah, blah, blah… you know – the usual." Jack summarized for the General as they all sat down at the briefing room table. Claire stood uncomfortably not sure what to do, until Daniel gestured toward the chair beside him for her to sit in.
"And I am assuming you don't want this Claire?" Hammond asked Claire who had been rubbing her head like she had a headache. He didn't understand what the situation was but he figured he'd find out eventually.
"What? Oh um no not really" she answered absently as she instantly screwed her eyes shut and grabbed her head. Daniel pushed away from the table and put his hand on her shoulder keeping her upright. She was obviously in pain.
"Are you alright?" Sam asked the teen as she came to her other side.
"Peachy" was the response through clenched teeth. Suddenly her hands fell from her head and Claire slumped in her seat into unconsciousness. General Hammond went to the phone and call for emergency medical assistance.
In the infirmary SG1 waited patiently for doctor Fraiser to tell them what was wrong with Claire. Sam and Daniel sat in hard plastic chairs while Teal'c and Jack stood leaning against the wall.
"So what do you think is wrong with the kid?" Jack wondered aloud. Major Carter looked at him thoughtfully for a moment and then opened her mouth to talk but shut it again, appearing not sure if she should say what she was thinking.
"Spill it Carter"
"Well sir, when Thor was standing by Claire, do you remember how he pushed some hair out of her eyes?"
"...yeah" Jack said not sure where this was going.
"Well he left his hand at her hairline for just a little too long in my opinion. Sir he could have planted some sort of memory recalling device on her and for all we know the Asgard are transmitting her memories from here to there as we speak." She finished pointing up at the roof, indicating outer space. "But this is all just speculation Sir" she added quickly so not to sound like she was accusing one of their allies of something.
"I think you're right Sam," Doctor Fraiser announced as she came up to the group, having heard all of Sam's theory.
"I found a tiny circular device just under the skin at Claires hairline. How it was put there with out her knowing I don't know but I have taken x-rays and it has long wires protruding out from it into various parts of her brain, mostly to the parts that store memory. I don't want to try to remove it until I know more about it, so for now I have sedated Claire for the pain it was causing her."
"Why would the Asgard do this, are they not allies of the Tauri?" Teal'c asked slightly confused by the actions of the powerful race.
"That's what we thought T."
TBC….
SORRY FOR THE LONG LONG LONG LONG WAIT BUT FIRST MY COMPUTER DIED AND THE NEW CHAPTER I HAD GOT ERASED, THEN THE INTERNET WOULDN'T WORK, THEN I MOVED INTO RESIDENCE AT UNIVERSITY AND COULDN'T GET THE INTERNET FOR A WHILE AND FINALLY MY COMP WOULDN'T LET ME ON THE INTERNET FOR LIKE A WEEK. SO, THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE :)