I know it took a while for this chapter. I am sorry. I tried to make it a little longer to make-up for the wait. Hope you enjoy.
'Jack?' by Teri
Chapter 13: Who are you Really?
Jack began to walk up the platform when Daniel called to him.
"Forgetting something?" Daniel asked.
Jack turned and asked, "What?"
Daniel reached into his bag and pulled out something. He held it in front of him and said "This!" then tossed it to Jack as he grinned like the cat that ate the canary.
Jack grinned, "Duct Tape? I knew you were smart, but now I know you are a genius!"
Daniel grinned back, "Well from what I can gather it takes one to know one."
"Danny, what made you think of Duct Tape? You have never brought any before? Jack asked curiously.
"Hey, neither have you." Daniel pointed out.
"Searched my pack, have you? If you had I think you would have found a roll." Jack informed him. "I am not letting you out of answering my question either."
Daniel rolled his eyes. "Fine Jack, during my break I spent some time researching MacGyver. You know I couldn't even find out what your first name is this week"
"No?" Jack said trying to look innocent, but losing the battle. "Imagine that, well if you can't find a simple thing like a first name . . ." He let the sentence drop off and no one doubted that he was refusing to tell his first name.
"Anyway," Daniel continued. "If you weren't going to tell me about him or uh. . . you. I was going to find out about you-him myself. You know this is getting confusing." The last part was more mumbled to himself.
"So, Daniel what did you find?" Sam said joining the conversation.
"Not much, except that it seems like Mr. MacGyver . . ."
"Hey, that is Dr. MacGyver to you." Jack said with a grin.
"Fine," Daniel continued. "Dr. MacGyver is just as classified as Col. O'Neill." He concluded having emphasized both titles, Doctor and Colonel.
"You are kidding, right?" Sam asked.
"Afraid not. Granted I didn't have a lot of time. . . " Daniel tried to explain. "In fact, the only record I found of him outside of general tax and property records as well as employment records at the Phoenix Foundation was . . ."
"Sorry to interrupt, but those should have a given name on them." Sam informed Daniel.
Daniel smirked. "You would think so wouldn't you?" He said as he fixed his gaze at Jack who looked pleased with himself. "As I was saying the only record was in the internal files of the SGC." Daniel's voice trailed off.
The members of the group looked surprised.
"SG-1. I said you have a Go." Came the voice of General Hammond over the loud speaker as the wormhole finally engaged.
"Okay kiddies, I think we need to finish this conversation later. Let's head 'em up and move 'em out." Jack said as he moved up and entered the gate horizon.
"Well, yihaa! What's with the cowboy references. I thought he preferred Wizard of Oz references?" Daniel asked as he moved to follow Jack through the gate.
"Maybe Colonel O'Neill prefers the Wizard of Oz, but MacGyver likes cowboys." Sam mused to herself.
Teal'c raised an eyebrow and Daniel turned to stare at her trying not to laugh.
Sam turned red. "I didn't mean it that way. Guys! I meant he likes cowboy movies" Sam said as she hurried through the gate.
"Of course." Daniel laughed.
"I knew what she meant." Teal'c stated as he entered the gate horizon.
'Feel like things are finally back to normal. It is good to have him back. I hope he is here to stay.' Daniel thought to himself as he followed Teal'c through the gate.
* * * * *
'I have got to figure out what to do about our two civilians. Also, I have to work on convincing the Colonel to stay with this command. If he does, where can I put Lt. Alexander. He has more than proved himself during his time with SG-1.' The General was debating with himself when he heard a knock at his door. "Enter," he called.
"General," Dr. Fraiser greeted as she entered the office. She handed him a file and continued. "First, Colonel Makepeace's injuries are healing well. I will be releasing him from the infirmary in the morning. I want him on restricted duty for 10 days, then I will re-evaluate, but I have no doubt that he will be ready for full duty."
The General nodded. He knew there was no way this Colonel would remain off active duty any longer than he had too.
"Lt. Alexander is a little more difficult." She began as she sat down. "His lacerations are healing well. I don't foresee any permanent problems from his punctured lung. All other injuries are healing nicely. He passed his initial evaluation with the Psychiatrist."
"Doctor, forgive me for being blunt, but if all of that is true what is the problem?" The General asked.
"Do you remember you asked if there was any medical reason why it seemed Neferteri was interested in Lt. Alexander over the rest of the team?" The General nodded. "Well, I have run virtually every test I have on him and although I don't know if this explains it or not. He seems to have a unique energy reading. It is not strong but I believe it is something a Goa'uld maybe able to sense considering their receptability to electrical fields." Janet reported.
"Does this energy have any effect on the Lt.?" The General asked.
"Not that I can tell, sir, but I want to run more tests." Janet answered.
"Very well. Is Lt. Alexander aware of the field?" The General asked again.
"No, not that I am aware of, but I did want your permission to discuss it with him." Janet responded.
"Granted, Doctor. Take a look at his history to see if you can reach an explanation. He is a fine airman and I would like to keep him in the SGC, but I will remove him if this is a threat." The General continued. "Doctor, you have spent time with both Drs. Foster and Pierson. What do you think of them?"
"Well, General I believe both men are highly educated and proficient in their fields as far as I have witnessed. I was surprised to see how well both handled themselves in combat situations. Medically, both are physically fit."
The General raised his hand to stop her from continuing. "Doctor, what is your personal impression of them?"
"Dr. Pierson seems very sarcastic and closed off, but he has a dry, wicked sense of humor. Dr. Foster is open and kind. He seems like a good man. Interestingly, despite being complete opposites they are very close friends and I think both will be able to be trusted to keep what they have learned classified."
"Thank you for your opinion Doctor. Please keep me apprised of Lt. Alexander's condition." The General stated. Janet nodded, rose, and left.
The General closed the file Janet had given him. He moved to open another file on his desk labeled Nicolas B. Foster, Ph.D. There was another file under it labeled Adam Pierson, Ph.D. He has some reading to do.
Janet decided that she would stop by the guest quarters to check on Nick . . . oh, and Adam too of course.
* * * * *
Once on the other side of the gate the team would have to walk to the Tok'ra meeting place where they would be able to use the rings. The walk would take a little better than an hour. They had originally grumbled about the distance, but Jacob had explained that it was situated so far from the gate to protect the base's location.
As the wormhole disengaged, Jack looked around as he lifted his sunglasses. "Trees, it's always trees. Okay, we need to make time. Let's go."
Sam smiled to herself. 'He never changes.' She nearly laughed at herself for that thought, after all her perception of him had changed a lot in the last few days. Was he still the same man she meet when she first arrived at Cheyenne Mountain? She allowed herself to remember.
She was explaining why the gate has the freeze effect for travelers. "That's a result of the compression your molecules undergo during the millisecond required for reconstitution."
Colonel O'Neill rolled his eyes and looked askant to the general. "Oh, here we go, another scientist. General... please."
"Theoretical astrophysicist." She interjected.
"Which means...?" O'Neill asked in his 'I really could care less, but tell me anyway' tone.
General Hammond answered him. "It means she is smarter than you are, Colonel. Especially in matters related to the Stargate."
Am I really smarter than he is? I am not so sure anymore. Does it matter? It matters because he lied to me. If he hadn't of lied. . . Of course, I should have realized he was smarter than he let on. He always pretended not to understand, but he did.
She remembered when they were dealing with the red sky incident. She has been trying to explain her idea to the General and the Colonel.
"It's your call, General. I only understand about 1% of what she says half the time anyway." Colonel O'Neill stated and she smiled.
"Run it by me again." The General ordered.
"We send the MacClarean through the wormhole to Catel." Sam began to explain as she drew a picture of a wormhole. "Now, based on the distance from Earth, and the rate of travel, I tried to calculate the exact time we shut down the gate so that the MacClarean stops short of reaching the planet , and actually ends up in their sun."
"I thought when something was in a wormhole, it existed only as energy. That you needed another Stargate to turn it back into solid matter." Jack interrupted with his question.
"Actually, you absolutely correct, Sir." She was surprised that he knew that. She didn't think he ever paid attention to any of the technical aspects of the gate program.
"I Am?!" Jack smiled.
"Yes! You see? It's the Stargate on the other side that actually reintegrates the matter into it's reorganized form." She continued to explain, but she noticed Jack was still smiling. He looked proud of himself. "Without it the energy in the wormhole would not rematerialize in it's base form. Now, in the case of a person, that would be very bad, but in the case of an element, it shouldn't be a problem."
"I was right!" Jack said softly.
'Of course, he should have known that, he has a Ph.D. in astrophysics I think.' Sam thought to herself as she finished the memory. 'Of course, what is it he had told me once? "Nothing worse than an Astrophysicist stupefied by the obvious!" The big fraud.'
No one seems that surprised by the revelation that he is much smarter than he let on. Was I the only one who didn't know he was hiding something? I suppose I was. Even Cassie knew. When she was in the infirmary with the telekinesis, she said, "He always pretends he's not as smart as he really is." She sure was right.
Of course, that was another time he showed how smart he was. Doubt he even realized it, he was so worried about Cass. She was moving all of those chess pieces with her mind and no one could figure it out until Jack started rambling on about magnets and Electro-magnetic fields.
"Every one of those pieces have little tiny magnets at the bottom to ... hold it on the board like when you're driving so they don't rattle off ... anyway ... every one of those magnets has a little electrical field around it. That's how she was able to manipulate it. Magnets."
Of course he had been right. There were other things of course. How his brain had handled the Ancient's download. Janet has commented that only someone with extraordinary intelligence wouldn't have been killed by it, of course Jack surprised her and survived it. Teal'c had confided to her that Jack already had a working knowledge of Latin before the time loop incident. Plus, she never understood why the Asgard were so taken with him. She has always found it odd that Jack had gone off with Daniel at Heliopolis instead of staying with her while she was trying to fix the gate. Now of course she knew he probably wanted to see 'the greatest archeological find of the millennium' for himself.
She was broken out of her thoughts when she heard, "Earth to Major. Anyone home?" It was the Colonel.
"Sorry, sir my mind was . . . " she paused to look at him, "re-evaluating something."
"Uh huh" He looked at her skeptically. "I think we need to concentrate on what we are heading into. I need your help here Major. Pay attention."
He needs my help? I wonder when we get back if he could help me? I have been working on the schematics of a new naquada generator. Maybe he would have a few ideas? Who would have ever guessed he was a scientist.
That thought brought another memory flooding back into her mind. She had just told him off, accusing him of being bias against women.
He had responded to her by saying, "Oh, this has nothing to do with you being a woman. I like women. I've just got a little problem with scientists."
If he has problems with scientists, he must hate to look in the mirror. She laughed to herself. She stopped when she noticed the Colonel watching her with an odd expression on his face.
To Sam's relief Daniel began to speak breaking the groups silence. "Hey Jack?"
"Yeah?" The answer came distractedly as he was still concentrating on the Major's expression.
"I knew you said you would explain later about how come you're . . . well, smarter than we thought." Daniel asked.
Daniel couldn't hold it in any longer. As they had been walking, like Sam he had been re-evaluating his friend. He had always known that there was more to Jack than met the eye, after all a man who knew nothing about science wouldn't have such an elaborate home observatory as Jack did. He usually attributed the lack of candor to his covert-ops past. Of course, he may have watched too many 'Get Smart,' 'I Spy,' 'I Led Three Lives,' 'Avengers,' and 'Hogan's Heroes' reruns to have a good understanding of what that truly meant. He grinned at that thought. He had really liked that kind of show.
He also assumed some of the reason Jack didn't feel comfortable, keeping part of himself back was that he was still trying to get over Charlie. He knew the pain he had seen Jack deal with regarding Charlie was real. There was no doubt in his mind that Jack or Mac or whoever had had a son Charlie. He had originally thought that everything about Jack must be false when he learned his friend's 'secret identity'. He chuckled to himself at his use of the phrase 'secret identity' in real life. Wasn't that phrase reserved for Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Nightwing, and the like? But it was true, the phrase was a perfect description. He assumed that Jack was just as fictional as playboy Bruce Wayne. Obviously, the 'Jack the dumbest yet most deadly Colonel in the Air Force' image wasn't real, but he had quickly come to the conclusion that the 'Brainy, Pacifist, Tinkerer, MacGyver' wasn't all there was either. When he remembered Charlie, he realized that Jack wasn't a lie, but he couldn't help wondering what about his friend was real.
So Daniel broke the silence. He couldn't stand not knowing any longer. "I knew you said you would explain later about how come you're . . . well, smarter than we thought."
"Yeah." Jack responded hesitantly as if worried where this line of thinking was going.
"I wanted to know how much of what you have told us about yourself is true." Daniel asked.
"Did you say that your past was classified as a easy excuse?" Sam joined in.
"I remember that." Daniel started. Then trying to sound like Jack, he continued, "'I could tell you that, but then I'd have to shoot you.'"
Sam grinned broadly at the very accurate impersonation Daniel had just rendered.
"Hey! I don't sound like that!" Jack protested.
"Daniel Jackson did a very good imitation of you O'Neill." Teal'c added.
"Hey again! This is not pick on your local Colonel day!" Jack huffed. "It was last month, I checked my calendar."
"Nice try Jack. Deflecting the issue often works, but not this time." Daniel added kind of patronizing. "Now, answer the question!"
"And what if I answer the question, I'll get a Scooby snack?" He retorted.
"If that's what it takes, Mister." Sam laughed.
"You really think this is the right time or place?" Jack asked seriously.
"You really think you will find the right time?" Daniel returned.
"No, I suppose not." Jack said quietly. His voice took on the tones of resignation and he asked, "fine, what is it you want to know?"
Daniel glanced at Sam who answered. "Everything."
"Okay." He paused for a moment as if gathering his thoughts, then his eyes began to shine mischievously. "In the beginning God made light, then he created the dark . . ."
"Jack!" Daniel said warningly.
"Not the everything you wanted?" He asked innocently. "OK, how about this . . . there was a mommy and a daddy and they loved each other very much, so much so that they made a baby and poof I was born . . ."
"Jack!" Daniel exclaimed exasperated.
"Everything about you, sir." Sam told him.
"Oh, well Major you need to be more specific." Jack told her. Sam just looked at him like she wanted to Zat him more than anything on earth.
"About me? Well, my hobbies are fishing and hockey, but you knew that. My favorite movies are 'Charade' and 'True Lies'. The last book I read was 'The Count of Monte Cristo,' classic comics version of course," Jack paused to think a moment. "Or was it 'The Curse of Capistrano'? I just love those secret identity tales."
Daniel laughed to himself about that. Wasn't that just how he had been thinking of Jack. His 'secret identity'?
This time it was Teal'c who interjected. "O'Neill I do not believe you are answering the question in the requisite manner."
"No, actually the last book was 'The Theoretical Existence of Wormholes and their Potential for Space Exploration' by Major Samantha Carter, Ph.D., USAF." He finished with a smirk on his face as if he had never been interrupted. "My ideal vacation would be a trip to my cabin in Michigan with a certain blonde who always turns down my invitations."
"Enough with the playboy bunny style summaries Jack!" Daniel said feeling he would never get Jack to open-up.
"Playboy Danny?" He said with a smirk. "Why you little rascal you must be growing up." Jack added proudly.
"Jack, deflection still not working here." Daniel told him.
"Fine, what specifically are you looking for Danny?" He finally asked sounding a bit resigned to his fate.
Daniel asked. "Who are you really?"
"Sure you wouldn't like to ask something easier like 'what is the nature of good and evil'?" Jack asked sarcastically.
"I'm sure." Daniel said looking over the top of his glasses at him for a moment.
"I guess the truth is neither, both" Jack said with a deep breath.
"Jack, will you please stop stalling?" Daniel asked.
"Not stalling this time. If you had asked me that question 20 years ago, hell 10 years ago, I would know the answer. I was MacGyver - Mac. Now I don't know." Jack sighed and ran his hand through his hair. It didn't escape his friends' notice that that was a gesture Jack did not use, but they had seen MacGyver use it. "Even six months ago that would have been my answer, but I would have been wrong. When I went back to the foundation, I didn't really feel like MacGyver anymore. At least not entirely."
"So originally, you were MacGyver? I thought perhaps he was an undercover persona you used, not really a real person." Sam asked.
Jack grinned. "Actually that's how Jack O'Neill started.
His three-team mates looked at him confused. He began to respond, but they came under fire. They would have to worry about Jack vs. Mac later.
* * * * *
The General walked to the guest quarters having read the information collected about Drs. Foster and Pierson, he had some questions. He also realized they knew far more about his project than he was comfortable with and he had to do something about it.
He walked into the room to find Dr. Fraiser and Dr. Foster speaking softly. His first thought was that it looked like a rather intimate conversation, like there was something between them. He would need to decide if that was good or bad. He looked around and saw Dr. Pierson sprawled over the sofa reading one of Dr. Jackson's books.
He made himself known and then addressed Dr. Fraiser. "I need to speak to these gentleman."
"Yes sir, I'll be in the infirmary speaking with Lt. Alexander." The Doctor replied. She squeezed Nick's hand, stood, and left.
The General motioned to the table and all three sat down. "I'll get straight to the point. What you have learned here cannot be spread to the outside world."
"I'd say that was a given, General," Adam interjected.
Nick continued for Adam, "You have our word General that we will not reveal your secret."
"Our word." Adam echoed
"Thank you Gentleman. I believe you. I am not sure why though, now I have a few questions" The General sighed and put their files on the table. "As you can imagine, I felt the need to investigate you gentleman under the circumstances."
Both men nodded understanding that they would do the same thing in the General's place. Adam however was confident that he had crafted his identity well and thought it was unlikely, however not impossible, that the General had found anything he shouldn't. Nick on the other hand was not as sure. He wasn't as adept as Methos in creating new identities and had not gotten help from Aristotle this time. Largely because for once in 800 years he hadn't really wanted to move on.
The General watched the various emotions flicker across their faces. Most would never have noticed a change in either of them, but the General wasn't most people. He withdrew some papers and pushed them in front of the two men.
Nick looked down and saw the top of his paper said "Personnel Department - City of Toronto," below it was his name "Detective Nicholas B. Knight". He sighed. So the General had found him out. He looked up at the General. "How?"
"Fingerprints, Detective. Fingerprints." The General stated.
Nick began to chuckle. "All of those years as a detective and I never thought to remove my prints from the Personnel files." He chuckle for another moment before bringing himself back to business. He didn't believe the General knew he was a vam...er former vampire. "Well, General how do you plan to use this information?"
"I'll answer that in a moment, Dr. Foster" The General answered then turned his attention to Methos. "Dr. Pierson?"
Methos had been silent during this exchange. He couldn't believe what he saw in front of him. It was an internal file from the watchers, explaining his dismissal because he was an immortal. Luckily it had the version that he was a new immortal and had has his first death right after meeting Duncan MacLeod. He thought it was lucky until he turned the page. The next was a note that stated that it was now believed that he was older than originally thought and that his real name was Benjamin Adams, a medical doctor, and he had been a contemporary of Lord Byron. He hadn't found anything in the file that suggested a link to Methos. The only silver-lining in this mess.
"Dr. Pierson?" The General asked again.
"General." Methos looked up at him not betraying the panic he truly felt. He looked entirely calm, cool, and collected.
"What do you have to say about that." The General asked pointing to his file.
Methos thought for a moment. What could he say obviously the General had good connections. Wouldn't do him much good to deny it. "What can I say General? I am surprised you have found this information, but I won't deny it." Methos focused his eyes on the General. "What do you intend to do?"
"Dr. Pierson, I am sorry would you prefer Dr. Adams?" The General queried looking at Methos.
"Pierson." Methos stated.
The General then looked at Nick as if to ask the same question.
"I've always been more comfortable with Knight." Nick said still amazed to even be having this conversation.
"Dr. Pierson, Det. Knight, I didn't get to this position by being oblivious to things that go on around me. It is why I was assigned to this project. Even with what I have found, it is clear to me there is more to you both than meets the eyes. Yet, I trust you." The General began. He looked up and saw that Nick and Adam seemed confused by that.
"You don't understand how I could trust you and yet know you are keeping secrets. Right?" The General chuckled. "Understandable. I may not understand everything, but I do know someone who knew you Detective Knight, someone you saved."
Nick looked at the General and asked, "Who?"
"Do you remember a young girl named Lilly Toffler?" The General asked him, wondering if he would.
Panic flooded through Nick. Lilly had known him when he went by the name Nick Thomas and was involved in archeology for the purpose of finding the Abarat, a book said to have a cure for all things including vampirism. In 1966, he had heard that the book was in a library in East Berlin. He ended up losing the book, but had helped Lilly and her family escape to the West and the General made the connect. Now he knew the General had to know there was more to his story than changing his name. At this point, he didn't feel he should lie to the General. He seemed to know to many things.
"Yes, I remember her. In fact, I still have a picture of her and her brother and father. She was about 20 at the time." Nick told him.
The General smiled. "Yes, I know the picture. It also has a picture of you in it. Looking just like you do now and was taken in 1966." Nick nodded and the General continued. "You were going by Nick Thomas at the time."
"General how do you know this?" Nick asked very curious as to how the General would know about the picture. He had only been Nick Thomas for a short time.
"Did you know that in some older families give their children first names of family importance and reserve the middle name to be their more personal name. The name they are actually called?" The General asked.
Both men nodded, not understanding where the General was going.
"Lilly is a nickname for Elizabeth. Your Lilly Tofflier's proper name was Margaret Elizabeth." The General explained. "Did you ever find out what happened to her after you lead her to West Germany?"
"I had heard that she. . ." Nick started then it was clear he finally understood where this was going, "met an American stationed there. She married him and moved to the States. Is Lilly your wife?"
"Yes, she is. So you see I owe you a debt of gratitude for saving my wife." The General offered his hand to Nick who accepted it. "That is a hard thing to overlook, not to mention your record as a police Detective"
Nick looked at him with surprised delight. "How is she?"
The General gave him a sad smile and told Nick that his wife had passed away several years ago from Cancer.
Nick expressed his sympathies on her passing.
"As for you Dr. Pierson, your association with Mr. Thomas, er Det. Knight, tells me a bit. Your watcher file also shows you are not a hunter." The General told him. The truth of course was that he didn't get to be a Major General without learning to be a decent judge of character and to trust his instincts. Right now he felt that he could trust both of these men. He hoped he was right.
"Of course, it doesn't hurt that Dr. Fraiser, Colonel Makepeace, Colonel O'Neill, and the others all reported what a tremendous help you both were." The General added.
"General, just who is Colonel O'Neill?" Nick asked.
The General looked surprised at the question, before realizing that they wouldn't have meet him. At least as far as they knew. It wasn't his secret to tell, so he answered. "I'm not at liberty to discuss that with you at the moment."
Nick didn't seem to like that answer and he looked to Methos
Methos on the other hand just put the final piece in his puzzle and realized who Colonel O'Neill must be and simply muttered "MacGyver."
Nick heard him, but didn't understand. Instead, it caused him to ask, "General, I haven't seen Mac, er. Dr. MacGyver since we arrived. Is he in any trouble?"
"No, he is fine and I am sure he will be able to join you shortly." The general told him adding silently, "I hope."
"Now, that being said, I don't believe I know everything yet and mysteries endanger this command." The General continued. "So Detective my wife told me a vampire saved her. She never told anyone else that. Are you really a vampire or are you an immortal, or what? Dr. Pierson, is there anything else I should know?"
* * * * *
Sam Malloy arrived in Colorado. He quickly found his way to the perimeter of the Cheyenne Mountain complex, but the big question was how to get in? He was worried. He had checked in with Jennifer and their was still no word from his Dad. He NEEDED to find a way in.
"What would his Dad do? Use his brain, but how?" He pace a bit. "Not thinking of anything. Well in the comics Lois Lane always made it seem that with press credentials and a little bravado, you can get in anywhere. Looks like it is time to prove it."
Using skills he learned from his dad, he managed to get past the first perimeter. Unfortunately, Cheyenne mountain is a unique base with unparalleled security and he was quickly arrested. He quickly realized that though he was arrested he was being taken off the base not into the complex' brig.
"I have a first amendment right to be here. I am a member of the press. " Sam shouted.
"Save it buddy" One of the guards told him.
Sam thought to himself . "Now what. I guess I will try something from left field. Everyone at the dig site seem impressed when I claimed to be the son of one of the soldiers."
"Wait, I want to see my Dad. Colonel Jack O'Neill" He shouted.
That caught their attention, but he wasn't sure if it was in a good way.
"Oh boy!"
* * * * *
Dr. Fraiser walked into the infirmary. She moved over to where Lt. Alexander was sitting up in bed reading a Spiderman comic book.
"Lt. I need to have a talk with you." She said softly.
"Sure Doc." He said as he closed the comic.
"We ran a lot of tests on you and besides your injuries we found something unusual." Janet was trying hard not to scare him.
It seems she needn't have worried. He looked her calmly and said, "Unusual, how?"
Surprised by how calm he was she continued. "You have a slightly ungula energy reading. I am at a lost to explain it. Theoretically, it would explain why Neferteri seemed to be more interested in you over the rest of the team. I believe a Goa'uld could sense it."
"So I really am a demon magnet." He muttered.
Janet gave him an odd look.
"Would it explain why I have to get new watch batteries every couple of weeks?" He asked her.
He was still calm. She couldn't explain it. "Yes, I believe it would."
"Is it harming me?" He asked.
"No, I don't believe so." Janet replied and he looked up at her with relief.
"Lt., you are being very calm about this do you know what might be causing it?" Janet noticed a look of realization cross his face before it was quickly replaced by a look of slight confusion.
"No idea." He told her.
"Why don't I believe you? Look Lieutenant...Alex, this could be very important if the Goa'uld can sense it. Please, if you know anything." Janet encouraged him.
"Well, when you put it that way." He grumbled. "I don't really know, but I can guess. I grew-up in a place called Sunnydale in California and it is on a Hellmouth. A Hellmouth is . . "
"I know what a Hellmouth is. Well, it means you are a stronger person than you let on to have grown up there and survived. So, you think this field is what? Hellmouth energy?" She asked.
He shrugged. "I don't know, but it would explain a lot."
"Alex, your file says you were raised in Monterey." She asked curiously.
"Well, sometimes it is not easy to escape the Hellmouth. I needed a fresh start." He told her.
She looked at him again, this time more assessingly. "Your name isn't really H. G. Alexander, is it?
Alex chuckled. "Well, yes it is my name, now, but not originally."
"And just what does H. G. stand for anyway? I know some of the nurses have a bet going to what the real answer is." Janet questioned, not telling him the most of her staff had bet it was handsome and gorgeous. She had waged $5 and had gone with a more mundane Henry.
"You are kidding? Please tell me you are kidding?" He laughed.
"Nope, sorry." She smirked.
"Well, H.G. stands for Harris Giles." He explained. "Harris was my original last name and Giles is the man I wish was my father. Before you ask, my name use to be Alexander LaVelle Harris."
"Giles? And you were raised on a Hellmouth? That wouldn't be Rupert Giles, would it?" She asked him curiously.
"Yeah, how do you know him?" Alex asked.
"We dated for a while, I studied one year at Oxford as an exchange student and he was already a student there. It has been years since I have seen him." She explained. "Do you think he could help us figure out what is going on with you?"
"I don't know." He answered then looked at her. "Doc, you won't report me will you?"
"I don't see where I have a choice, but I doubt it will make a difference unless you are in some sort of legal trouble." She told him.
He grinned, "Nothing like that, like I said I just wanted a fresh start."
"Then you will be fine." She said softly in a motherly tone. "Now let see if we can figure any of this out."
"Thanks Doc." He smiled at her. "Looks like the Hellmouth strikes again. Why can't it leave me alone?" He groaned and put his head back on the pillow.
Colonel Makepeace walked back into the infirmary. He had come back to check on Lt. Alexander. He looked over as Alex groaned and put his head back. Worriedly, he asked, "Doc, Is he okay? He looks like Hell!"
Alex and Janet just looked at each other and started laughing.
"What did I say?"
* * * * *
Sorry for making you wait so long for this chapter. It just wasn't coming the way I thought it should.
I have had some advice from a friend who read this chapter that I am getting to far away from MacGyver/Stargate. Do you think he is right? I'll make people disappear if that is what people want. So, please let me know. Who should stay and who should go?
I have fun adding in other crossovers and I love it when people write and tell me that they figured it out. One reviewer Maggie caught so many of them, I was thrilled. Although, no one has said anything about Jennifer in Chapter 12. Did anyone recognize her?
Thank you so much for reading. I hope you all liked it. Please let me know what you think.
Thanks, Teri (Garnet_TM@yahoo.com) 11/11/02
PS I have an update list for anyone who is interested (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TeriFiction/join)