Part 4
"So what's the last thing you remember?" Carter asks. We're back in the infirmary because Fraiser wants to be extra careful after our last experience with a clone, not to mention what almost happened with Cassie. In between being poked and prodded, he answers questions. He seems okay with the testing provided that Daniel stays close by and explains everything that's happening.
Danny wrinkles his nose. "Remember? What do you mean?"
"Before you were here, where were you? And do you remember how you got here?"
The boy looks up at Daniel uncertainly, twisting his body so he can their eyes can meet despite his perch in Daniel's lap. He seems to gravitate there every chance he gets. "Was I... gone?" he asks.
Daniel shakes his head quickly. "Not like that. But there might be some odd gaps in your memory."
Not like that? Like what?
"I was at the Hanson Home," Danny says. "I was there, and then I was here. I don't remember how. I thought maybe I... went away a little bit."
Carter's eyebrows try for whole new altitudes. "Went away?"
The boy shrinks against Daniel's chest and narrows his eyes at her. "Do they know?"
"No," Daniel replies. "Not about that. But it wasn't that. Some... people took you."
"Oh." Danny seems to ponder that for a long moment. "Bad people?"
Teal'c looms a little when he hears that. Daniel gives us a quick, placating look and then turns his attention back to the kid.
"Not bad people," he says. "Just some people who liked you, and they wanted to talk with you. Maybe they looked a little funny—like they wore costumes, or makeup. Do you remember anything like that?"
Danny shakes his head. "No, only the Hanson Home. I was there, I remember it was lights out time and I was writing and I wanted to write some more, but they turned the lights out and Mister Joe came and told me I wasn't supposed to have books in the sleeping ward. It was my journal, but he thought it was a library book and I was writing in it, and he yelled and took it away and then he said I couldn't have pens anymore. Then he left and it was dark and the other kids laughed 'cause Mister Joe yelled at me, and I got under the covers and tried to go to sleep, and then I was here. That's all I remember."
Daniel has a strange, set look on his face, and his arms have gone very tight around the boy, who doesn't seem to mind having his ribs compressed. "I remember that," he says softly. "I hadn't thought about it for years, but I actually remember it. I wanted to tell him that it was a journal, but I couldn't. I wasn't talking then."
"You remember? But... but... it was me." The kid frowns up at him, his eyes worried. "Kayel? Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Daniel shakes himself a little and takes a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, did I squeeze you too hard?"
Danny grins widely and shakes his head. "Nope," he says. "It's good."
"Okay," Daniel murmurs. "Okay, that's good."
"Daniel?"
He gives me a quick, tight smile. "It's okay, Jack. And he just pinpointed the timeline for me. That happened after I'd been in that place for about eight months. Once they took the pens away and I didn't have writing *or* talking... things got a little rough for a while."
"Who is this Mister Joe?" Teal'c asks ominously.
Daniel flaps a hand at him. "Nobody. One of the... I don't know exactly what his job was, actually. Just one of the people in charge."
The kid has been listening intently to this whole exchange, his brows beetled together and a little frown of concentration on his face. "Wait," he says, lifting a hand and tapping his fingers to his chin. "Wait, wait... he called you Daniel. He called you that before, and he just said it again. Your name is Daniel, too?"
"Yes." Daniel has a rueful smile, like he knows where this is going.
"And you remember stuff that happened to me? You remember it like it happened to you... and you speak the language, and you know about Doctor Herbig and Mister Joe and the... the cameras... and you said *you* weren't talking then and *you* were in that place and you know about Kayel," the kid says. He's ticking the points off on his fingertips like I've seen Daniel do a million times. "Kayel isn't real. It was something I made up to make me feel better and it's not real and I know that but you are real." He gives Daniel a piercing look. "Who are you? Really?"
"You've already figured it out, haven't you?"
Danny nods, his chin lifted, the quintessential kid showing off. "I think so. I think you're me, except grown up. I think... did you come back and get me? Come back in time? Because I saw the phone that Sam has, it's so little and the screen has colors and pictures like a TV and I've never seen that before, and the machines in this hospital are much better than the machines at the other hospital especially that one that Doctor Janet used to take pictures inside my head. Is this the future?"
Damn. Smart kid.
The rest of us gawp at him, but Daniel chuckles a little and nods. "I kind of thought you'd figure it out once you had some time to put the clues together. You always did love reading Jules Verne and H.G. Wells."
"So it's true?" Danny starts to actually bounce with excitement, his eyes going even wider than before. "You're really me when I'm grown up, and this is really in the future?" He quiets for a moment and then his voice drops to a whisper. "Is it way, way in the future? You're awfully old."
Carter muffles a laugh in her hand, and behind her, Fraiser gets very red in the face. Daniel opens his mouth and then shuts it again, blinking several times, and then a slow smile spreads across his face. "Uh... I guess, to you, I probably am. It's 2003 and I'm thirty-seven. So I've got thirty years on you."
Danny blinks. "Wow. That's even older than Dad was."
"Yeah." Daniel's smile melts away, his eyes dimming.
"Does this mean you know what's going to happen to me next? You know where I'm going to live and what I'm going to do when I grow up?"
"Not exactly," Daniel says. "See, when I was your age, I never got taken away by people and sent here. I stayed at the Hanson House until... until things changed and then I was in foster care. You're doing things different now, so I can't tell you what's going to happen."
"How did things change?" the boy asks.
Daniel shrugs and avoids our eyes. "Long story. Never mind about that now."
"Did I get big?" Danny guesses. "Is that what happened? You're really big and if I was big like that then bad people wouldn't bother me."
"Something like that," Daniel says vaguely.
"Okay." Danny seems content to leave it at that, settling back again in Daniel's lap and sighing happily.
"What did you mean before, when you talked about going away?" Fraiser asks. She's nearly done testing the kid, but she's got that considering, suspicious look in her eyes that always makes me want to back away.
Danny frowns at her and tilts his head to one side. "She's not a head doctor, right?" he whispers to Daniel.
"No, not a head doctor."
"Will she give me dizzy pills?"
Daniel hesitates. "No..."
Fraiser raises an eyebrow. "Dizzy pills? Head doctor?"
"He's talking about a psychiatrist," Daniel explains. "Because of the whole not talking thing, and because I saw what happened in the museum, they had me in therapy. They medicated me for a while—I called them dizzy pills. That's about all they did for me, make me dizzy and tired a lot."
"Uh-huh." Fraiser purses her lips and exchanges a look with Carter. "And how is that related to this 'going away' thing?"
"I do that sometimes," Danny says, already a born student, eager to give the right answers. "If something bad happens then I go away and I don't remember for a while, and then when I start remembering I'm somewhere else."
"Uh, Danny..." Daniel shakes his head, wincing slightly.
"What? Was I not supposed to tell?" Danny asks anxiously. "Is it a secret?"
"Not... exactly..."
"I'm sorry," he says rapidly. "Sorry. You should tell people if things are secret cause how else am I supposed to know? It's not fair if you don't tell me—"
"Hey," Daniel interrupts. "It's not really a secret, it's just... complicated. But you didn't do anything wrong, so don't worry."
I'm sitting beside him on the bed and I shift a little closer, letting our shoulders brush. Daniel gives me a distracted, grateful look. He's starting to get starey-eyed and tense, and I know that withdrawing and avoiding questions comes next.
"That sounds like fugues," Fraiser says worriedly. "The mind dealing with stress by simply shutting down, blocking out unpleasantness."
Danny stiffens. "You said she wasn't a head doctor."
"She isn't," Daniel assures him. "Don't worry. She's a good, real doctor, and she's only trying to make sure you're healthy. She won't do anything bad."
Fraiser tries to help by smiling at the boy, but he watches her silently, his back pressed into Daniel's chest. They're both starting to give off that 'leave me alone' vibe, their shoulders hunched and their arms crossed.
"Considering what you've told us... and what you haven't told us," Fraiser says pointedly, "it might be best if Danny did have a psychiatric evaluation."
"No," Daniel replies instantly. "Not an option."
"I realize that it didn't work well in your case, but—"
"I'm sorry, was I not clear enough?" Daniel inquires icily. "No. As in, no. You're making a distinction where there is none. His case *is* my case. Therapy did nothing for me and it will do nothing for him."
Fraiser narrows her eyes. "Therapy with a different doctor, one who has the time and resources to give Danny the attention he needs, is not the same as therapy with an overworked state employee who uses medication as a replacement for real psychiatric skills."
Daniel sits straighter, using his height advantage to stare at the doc levelly, even though she is still standing. "There is a lot you don't know about the situation. I'm telling you, *any* psychiatrist will cause more problems than he resolves."
"Why?"
"Never mind why. Just trust me."
Fraiser sighs and raps her pen against the edge of her clipboard a few times. "I want to trust you, Daniel, but the truth is, you're far too close to the problem. You're taking this very personally and you have no objectivity. What you want to do is not necessarily what is best for the boy."
Daniel bristles and I clear my throat, catching his eye. "Daniel," I say quietly. "Think for a minute before you say anything else."
He glares but stays quiet, scowling at the floor. The boy looks at him nervously and Daniel tries to smile, but it falls flat. "All right," he finally mutters. "I'm willing to consider the possibility of therapy."
"Kayel?" the kid asks worriedly. "What?"
"But not right away," Daniel says. "Let him settle in first, get his bearings. Believe me when I say that a psychiatrist is not what he needs right now. Maybe later, it could help, but right now is too soon."
"Too soon after what?" Fraiser asks, her voice softer now that Daniel has acquiesced.
Daniel shrugs. "That's hard to explain. Just too soon."
"How long until it's not too soon anymore?"
"Maybe that's enough questions for now," I suggest, sliding a hand over Daniel's back.
"But, sir—"
"Doc."
She blinks at my tone and then looks at Daniel and the kid, really looks. "Ah," she says. "You may be right, Colonel."
"It was bound to happen someday," I drawl, but I keep a steady eye on Daniel. The kid is obviously upset by everything we've talked about, but adult Daniel is good at hiding this kind of thing. He isn't huddled in someone's lap, but I can see the little lines around his eyes, the straight, taut set of his shoulders. They've both had enough.
The doc has a good eye for her patients, and she gets the message loud and clear. "Why don't you two go for a walk? Maybe go play basketball or something at the gym? I'm sure some exercise would help you both work out a little tension."
Daniel rolls his eyes slightly, well aware of what we're trying to do, but he goes along amiably enough. "All right," he says, sliding off the bed. Danny slides with him and stands close to his side, one hand still fisted in Daniel's shirt. "But how about we go topside instead? Some air would be nice."
Fraiser hesitates. "Um... I'm not sure Danny is cleared for that yet."
"And why not?"
Oh, that's not good. Daniel is enunciating his words very clearly, in that crisp, sharp voice.
"Well... he's—"
"A perfectly healthy, normal human child. You said so yourself."
"Daniel," Fraiser warns. "You know there's more to it than that. We've had bad experiences with new arrivals here before. Particularly young, new arrivals."
"You checked him out thoroughly. No naquada bomb, no hidden poison capsules in his teeth, nothing." Daniel isn't budging on this one, but very few people butt heads with Fraiser in her own infirmary and end up winning.
Suddenly Danny pipes up, speaking a stream of that other language, high and anxious. I can't tell what he's saying, but even the fact that he's lapsed back into Daniel-speak has to be a bad sign.
The stubborn determination is immediately wiped off Daniel's face, and he drops into a crouch, one hand stroking Danny's long hair. "No, no," he says. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that stuff. There's no bomb, no poison. You're fine. Janet is only being careful." Then he shoots the doc an apologetic look.
"It probably would be safe," she concedes. "As long as you stay within the vicinity of the mountain."
"Of course," Daniel says quickly, standing up again. "I... look, Janet, I'm sorry. I know you're only trying to do what's best for him."
She smiles and waves it off. "Not a problem. I would feel better if you took someone up there with you, though."
"I will accompany you, Daniel Jackson."
"I'll go, Daniel," Carter says at the same time.
I wave a hand and nod, adding, "Ditto."
Daniel laughs. "See that?" he murmurs to Danny. "Didn't I tell you?"
Danny grins up at him and nods, obviously more comfortable as the tension level in the room goes down.
"Hey," I say. "Tell him what?"
"I believe he told the child that his friends were extremely protective of him," Teal'c intones. "Particularly you, O'Neill."
"Well." At least he didn't use the term 'mother hen.' "He needs a lot of looking after, that's all. He's the team trouble-magnet."
Daniel raises an eyebrow and fixes me with a look that says I might want to get used to sleeping on the couch for a while.
"I meant that in a good way," I say hastily.
"A good way? As in, I'm a constant pain in the ass and you're always having to get me out of trouble, but in a good way?"
"Um... yeah."
Danny laughs softly, muffling the sound behind his hand, and I want to pull his arm back so we can hear him clearly. Kids shouldn't have to hide their laughter. I remember how Charlie would just throw his head back and let go, such a pure sound. Clean and simple and real.
"Jack?"
"Huh?"
"You coming?"
I suddenly realize that they're over by the door, Carter and Teal'c already heading down the hall. Daniel watches me with those eyes of his, the ones that always seem to see right through me, and I find it necessary to fix the buttons on my shirt right at that moment.
"Sure," I mumble. "Right behind you."
We walk down the hall, Danny between us, and I rest my hand on his head for a moment. He lets me do it, smiling shyly up at me with Daniel's familiar, hopeful, 'let's be friends' look. I smile back, but then I have to look away.
It's good that we're going topside. I could use some air myself.
~~~
"So what's the last thing you remember?" Carter asks. We're back in the infirmary because Fraiser wants to be extra careful after our last experience with a clone, not to mention what almost happened with Cassie. In between being poked and prodded, he answers questions. He seems okay with the testing provided that Daniel stays close by and explains everything that's happening.
Danny wrinkles his nose. "Remember? What do you mean?"
"Before you were here, where were you? And do you remember how you got here?"
The boy looks up at Daniel uncertainly, twisting his body so he can their eyes can meet despite his perch in Daniel's lap. He seems to gravitate there every chance he gets. "Was I... gone?" he asks.
Daniel shakes his head quickly. "Not like that. But there might be some odd gaps in your memory."
Not like that? Like what?
"I was at the Hanson Home," Danny says. "I was there, and then I was here. I don't remember how. I thought maybe I... went away a little bit."
Carter's eyebrows try for whole new altitudes. "Went away?"
The boy shrinks against Daniel's chest and narrows his eyes at her. "Do they know?"
"No," Daniel replies. "Not about that. But it wasn't that. Some... people took you."
"Oh." Danny seems to ponder that for a long moment. "Bad people?"
Teal'c looms a little when he hears that. Daniel gives us a quick, placating look and then turns his attention back to the kid.
"Not bad people," he says. "Just some people who liked you, and they wanted to talk with you. Maybe they looked a little funny—like they wore costumes, or makeup. Do you remember anything like that?"
Danny shakes his head. "No, only the Hanson Home. I was there, I remember it was lights out time and I was writing and I wanted to write some more, but they turned the lights out and Mister Joe came and told me I wasn't supposed to have books in the sleeping ward. It was my journal, but he thought it was a library book and I was writing in it, and he yelled and took it away and then he said I couldn't have pens anymore. Then he left and it was dark and the other kids laughed 'cause Mister Joe yelled at me, and I got under the covers and tried to go to sleep, and then I was here. That's all I remember."
Daniel has a strange, set look on his face, and his arms have gone very tight around the boy, who doesn't seem to mind having his ribs compressed. "I remember that," he says softly. "I hadn't thought about it for years, but I actually remember it. I wanted to tell him that it was a journal, but I couldn't. I wasn't talking then."
"You remember? But... but... it was me." The kid frowns up at him, his eyes worried. "Kayel? Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Daniel shakes himself a little and takes a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, did I squeeze you too hard?"
Danny grins widely and shakes his head. "Nope," he says. "It's good."
"Okay," Daniel murmurs. "Okay, that's good."
"Daniel?"
He gives me a quick, tight smile. "It's okay, Jack. And he just pinpointed the timeline for me. That happened after I'd been in that place for about eight months. Once they took the pens away and I didn't have writing *or* talking... things got a little rough for a while."
"Who is this Mister Joe?" Teal'c asks ominously.
Daniel flaps a hand at him. "Nobody. One of the... I don't know exactly what his job was, actually. Just one of the people in charge."
The kid has been listening intently to this whole exchange, his brows beetled together and a little frown of concentration on his face. "Wait," he says, lifting a hand and tapping his fingers to his chin. "Wait, wait... he called you Daniel. He called you that before, and he just said it again. Your name is Daniel, too?"
"Yes." Daniel has a rueful smile, like he knows where this is going.
"And you remember stuff that happened to me? You remember it like it happened to you... and you speak the language, and you know about Doctor Herbig and Mister Joe and the... the cameras... and you said *you* weren't talking then and *you* were in that place and you know about Kayel," the kid says. He's ticking the points off on his fingertips like I've seen Daniel do a million times. "Kayel isn't real. It was something I made up to make me feel better and it's not real and I know that but you are real." He gives Daniel a piercing look. "Who are you? Really?"
"You've already figured it out, haven't you?"
Danny nods, his chin lifted, the quintessential kid showing off. "I think so. I think you're me, except grown up. I think... did you come back and get me? Come back in time? Because I saw the phone that Sam has, it's so little and the screen has colors and pictures like a TV and I've never seen that before, and the machines in this hospital are much better than the machines at the other hospital especially that one that Doctor Janet used to take pictures inside my head. Is this the future?"
Damn. Smart kid.
The rest of us gawp at him, but Daniel chuckles a little and nods. "I kind of thought you'd figure it out once you had some time to put the clues together. You always did love reading Jules Verne and H.G. Wells."
"So it's true?" Danny starts to actually bounce with excitement, his eyes going even wider than before. "You're really me when I'm grown up, and this is really in the future?" He quiets for a moment and then his voice drops to a whisper. "Is it way, way in the future? You're awfully old."
Carter muffles a laugh in her hand, and behind her, Fraiser gets very red in the face. Daniel opens his mouth and then shuts it again, blinking several times, and then a slow smile spreads across his face. "Uh... I guess, to you, I probably am. It's 2003 and I'm thirty-seven. So I've got thirty years on you."
Danny blinks. "Wow. That's even older than Dad was."
"Yeah." Daniel's smile melts away, his eyes dimming.
"Does this mean you know what's going to happen to me next? You know where I'm going to live and what I'm going to do when I grow up?"
"Not exactly," Daniel says. "See, when I was your age, I never got taken away by people and sent here. I stayed at the Hanson House until... until things changed and then I was in foster care. You're doing things different now, so I can't tell you what's going to happen."
"How did things change?" the boy asks.
Daniel shrugs and avoids our eyes. "Long story. Never mind about that now."
"Did I get big?" Danny guesses. "Is that what happened? You're really big and if I was big like that then bad people wouldn't bother me."
"Something like that," Daniel says vaguely.
"Okay." Danny seems content to leave it at that, settling back again in Daniel's lap and sighing happily.
"What did you mean before, when you talked about going away?" Fraiser asks. She's nearly done testing the kid, but she's got that considering, suspicious look in her eyes that always makes me want to back away.
Danny frowns at her and tilts his head to one side. "She's not a head doctor, right?" he whispers to Daniel.
"No, not a head doctor."
"Will she give me dizzy pills?"
Daniel hesitates. "No..."
Fraiser raises an eyebrow. "Dizzy pills? Head doctor?"
"He's talking about a psychiatrist," Daniel explains. "Because of the whole not talking thing, and because I saw what happened in the museum, they had me in therapy. They medicated me for a while—I called them dizzy pills. That's about all they did for me, make me dizzy and tired a lot."
"Uh-huh." Fraiser purses her lips and exchanges a look with Carter. "And how is that related to this 'going away' thing?"
"I do that sometimes," Danny says, already a born student, eager to give the right answers. "If something bad happens then I go away and I don't remember for a while, and then when I start remembering I'm somewhere else."
"Uh, Danny..." Daniel shakes his head, wincing slightly.
"What? Was I not supposed to tell?" Danny asks anxiously. "Is it a secret?"
"Not... exactly..."
"I'm sorry," he says rapidly. "Sorry. You should tell people if things are secret cause how else am I supposed to know? It's not fair if you don't tell me—"
"Hey," Daniel interrupts. "It's not really a secret, it's just... complicated. But you didn't do anything wrong, so don't worry."
I'm sitting beside him on the bed and I shift a little closer, letting our shoulders brush. Daniel gives me a distracted, grateful look. He's starting to get starey-eyed and tense, and I know that withdrawing and avoiding questions comes next.
"That sounds like fugues," Fraiser says worriedly. "The mind dealing with stress by simply shutting down, blocking out unpleasantness."
Danny stiffens. "You said she wasn't a head doctor."
"She isn't," Daniel assures him. "Don't worry. She's a good, real doctor, and she's only trying to make sure you're healthy. She won't do anything bad."
Fraiser tries to help by smiling at the boy, but he watches her silently, his back pressed into Daniel's chest. They're both starting to give off that 'leave me alone' vibe, their shoulders hunched and their arms crossed.
"Considering what you've told us... and what you haven't told us," Fraiser says pointedly, "it might be best if Danny did have a psychiatric evaluation."
"No," Daniel replies instantly. "Not an option."
"I realize that it didn't work well in your case, but—"
"I'm sorry, was I not clear enough?" Daniel inquires icily. "No. As in, no. You're making a distinction where there is none. His case *is* my case. Therapy did nothing for me and it will do nothing for him."
Fraiser narrows her eyes. "Therapy with a different doctor, one who has the time and resources to give Danny the attention he needs, is not the same as therapy with an overworked state employee who uses medication as a replacement for real psychiatric skills."
Daniel sits straighter, using his height advantage to stare at the doc levelly, even though she is still standing. "There is a lot you don't know about the situation. I'm telling you, *any* psychiatrist will cause more problems than he resolves."
"Why?"
"Never mind why. Just trust me."
Fraiser sighs and raps her pen against the edge of her clipboard a few times. "I want to trust you, Daniel, but the truth is, you're far too close to the problem. You're taking this very personally and you have no objectivity. What you want to do is not necessarily what is best for the boy."
Daniel bristles and I clear my throat, catching his eye. "Daniel," I say quietly. "Think for a minute before you say anything else."
He glares but stays quiet, scowling at the floor. The boy looks at him nervously and Daniel tries to smile, but it falls flat. "All right," he finally mutters. "I'm willing to consider the possibility of therapy."
"Kayel?" the kid asks worriedly. "What?"
"But not right away," Daniel says. "Let him settle in first, get his bearings. Believe me when I say that a psychiatrist is not what he needs right now. Maybe later, it could help, but right now is too soon."
"Too soon after what?" Fraiser asks, her voice softer now that Daniel has acquiesced.
Daniel shrugs. "That's hard to explain. Just too soon."
"How long until it's not too soon anymore?"
"Maybe that's enough questions for now," I suggest, sliding a hand over Daniel's back.
"But, sir—"
"Doc."
She blinks at my tone and then looks at Daniel and the kid, really looks. "Ah," she says. "You may be right, Colonel."
"It was bound to happen someday," I drawl, but I keep a steady eye on Daniel. The kid is obviously upset by everything we've talked about, but adult Daniel is good at hiding this kind of thing. He isn't huddled in someone's lap, but I can see the little lines around his eyes, the straight, taut set of his shoulders. They've both had enough.
The doc has a good eye for her patients, and she gets the message loud and clear. "Why don't you two go for a walk? Maybe go play basketball or something at the gym? I'm sure some exercise would help you both work out a little tension."
Daniel rolls his eyes slightly, well aware of what we're trying to do, but he goes along amiably enough. "All right," he says, sliding off the bed. Danny slides with him and stands close to his side, one hand still fisted in Daniel's shirt. "But how about we go topside instead? Some air would be nice."
Fraiser hesitates. "Um... I'm not sure Danny is cleared for that yet."
"And why not?"
Oh, that's not good. Daniel is enunciating his words very clearly, in that crisp, sharp voice.
"Well... he's—"
"A perfectly healthy, normal human child. You said so yourself."
"Daniel," Fraiser warns. "You know there's more to it than that. We've had bad experiences with new arrivals here before. Particularly young, new arrivals."
"You checked him out thoroughly. No naquada bomb, no hidden poison capsules in his teeth, nothing." Daniel isn't budging on this one, but very few people butt heads with Fraiser in her own infirmary and end up winning.
Suddenly Danny pipes up, speaking a stream of that other language, high and anxious. I can't tell what he's saying, but even the fact that he's lapsed back into Daniel-speak has to be a bad sign.
The stubborn determination is immediately wiped off Daniel's face, and he drops into a crouch, one hand stroking Danny's long hair. "No, no," he says. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that stuff. There's no bomb, no poison. You're fine. Janet is only being careful." Then he shoots the doc an apologetic look.
"It probably would be safe," she concedes. "As long as you stay within the vicinity of the mountain."
"Of course," Daniel says quickly, standing up again. "I... look, Janet, I'm sorry. I know you're only trying to do what's best for him."
She smiles and waves it off. "Not a problem. I would feel better if you took someone up there with you, though."
"I will accompany you, Daniel Jackson."
"I'll go, Daniel," Carter says at the same time.
I wave a hand and nod, adding, "Ditto."
Daniel laughs. "See that?" he murmurs to Danny. "Didn't I tell you?"
Danny grins up at him and nods, obviously more comfortable as the tension level in the room goes down.
"Hey," I say. "Tell him what?"
"I believe he told the child that his friends were extremely protective of him," Teal'c intones. "Particularly you, O'Neill."
"Well." At least he didn't use the term 'mother hen.' "He needs a lot of looking after, that's all. He's the team trouble-magnet."
Daniel raises an eyebrow and fixes me with a look that says I might want to get used to sleeping on the couch for a while.
"I meant that in a good way," I say hastily.
"A good way? As in, I'm a constant pain in the ass and you're always having to get me out of trouble, but in a good way?"
"Um... yeah."
Danny laughs softly, muffling the sound behind his hand, and I want to pull his arm back so we can hear him clearly. Kids shouldn't have to hide their laughter. I remember how Charlie would just throw his head back and let go, such a pure sound. Clean and simple and real.
"Jack?"
"Huh?"
"You coming?"
I suddenly realize that they're over by the door, Carter and Teal'c already heading down the hall. Daniel watches me with those eyes of his, the ones that always seem to see right through me, and I find it necessary to fix the buttons on my shirt right at that moment.
"Sure," I mumble. "Right behind you."
We walk down the hall, Danny between us, and I rest my hand on his head for a moment. He lets me do it, smiling shyly up at me with Daniel's familiar, hopeful, 'let's be friends' look. I smile back, but then I have to look away.
It's good that we're going topside. I could use some air myself.
~~~