DISCLAIMER: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-1, the goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of the people who made them up. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.
Through The Gate Backwards
Part two
'Hey that's mine!' Daniel tried to snatch the plate of chocolate cake away from Sam, Sam grabbed the plate and started shovelling the cake into her mouth as fast as she could.
'It's chocolate,' Sam mumbled through a full mouth, spraying crumbs everywhere, as though that was sufficient explanation.
'But that was the last piece,' Daniel wailed, his eyes filling with tears.
Sam grinned at him unrepentantly until she had finished swallowing the cake. 'Tell you what,' Sam compromised, 'How about if I let you kiss me to make up for it?'
Daniel blushed a bright red as he shuffled his chair closer to Sam's, closed his eyes and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Sam laughed at his shyness and grabbed the back of his head, pulling him closer for a longer, deeper kiss which lasted for several minutes. At last she let Daniel go and he scooted back into his chair, his face flushing a deeper red as he heard catcalls from a group of marines sitting on the other side of the mess hall.
Sam stood up and glared at them before stalking towards the counter, grabbed a tray full of different coloured jello and returned to the table.
'Here,' Sam said as she placed green jello in front of Daniel. 'The next best thing to chocolate cake.'
There was no more talking for a few minutes while the large pile of jello rapidly disappeared. When it was all gone, Sam and Daniel belched rather loudly at the same time, grinning at each other as they did so.
'So - what do we do now?' Daniel asked. 'I'm bored.'
'Dunno,' Sam thought for a minute. 'Let's go and explore, see if there's anything interesting to do in this dumb place.'
They pushed back their chairs and headed for the door, only to be pulled up short by the arrival of Jack, Teal'c and Janet, who, after not finding them in either of their labs, guessed that the mess hall was the most likely place for them to be, thankful that they had guessed right and didn't have to send out search parties for them.
Sam, who had been holding Daniel's hand, pulled away from him and immediately linked her arm through Jack's, snuggling up as close to him as she could, looking at him with an inane grin on her face, a look which made Jack shudder at the emptiness in a face which was normally so full of intelligence.
'What have you been up to?' Janet asked suspiciously.
'Sammie ate my chocolate cake, and it was the last piece,' Daniel reported, his voice verging on a whine.
'Yeah, but then I let you kiss me and brought you lots of jello, cry baby,' Sam retorted, poking her tongue out at him.
'Oh yeah,' Daniel calmed down. 'Can we do something now, we're bored,' Daniel changed tack.
'Well, Dr Fraiser still needs to check you out,' Jack told them, looking into two disappointed faces as he did so. 'After that, I'll see about finding you both something to do. Ok?'
Sam and Daniel considered this for a moment, nodding agreement at last and walking with their escort back to the infirmary.
XOXOXOX
'So, what exactly are we dealing with here?' General Hammond asked. Jack, Teal'c and Dr Fraiser had joined him in the briefing room following the completion of numerous tests on Sam and Daniel who were now in a secure room near the infirmary level with some hastily gathered forms of entertainment which would hopefully keep the two of them occupied, at least for the time being.
'Well, apart from a slightly altered blood chemistry, I've not been able to identify what is going on,' Dr Fraiser replied. 'Their brain patterns are also subtly altered, there's a lot more activity than normal in the hypothalamus region of their brains, but I'm guessing that's more likely because of what's happening to them rather than the cause of it.'
'Teal'c, what else can you tell us about this?' Hammond turned to the only other person who may have any answers.
'There is little I can add,' Teal'c informed the others regretfully. 'I have never seen the effects of this reversed, although in rare cases a few of those affected stopped at a young age and remained that way for the rest of their lives.'
'How long does all this de-aging normally take?' Jack asked.
'Seven days, ten at the most,' Teal'c replied.
'What about the Tok'ra sir?' Dr Fraiser suggested reluctantly, smiling sympathetically at Jack's snort of disgust.
'I guess we should at least let Jacob know what's happened to his daughter,' Jack grudgingly conceded. 'In the meantime, I guess we better do what we can to keep the kids amused.'
'Very well,' Hammond agreed. 'Colonel, make the necessary arrangements in full consultation with Dr Fraiser.'
XOXOXOX
Jack and Teal'c stood outside an ominously quiet room. There were no guards outside the door and Jack hoped for their sakes that they were inside the room for some reason. Opening the door cautiously, Jack saw the guards were indeed in the room, sitting on the floor back to back, their arms tied together, their ankles tied up and strips of tape covering their mouths. There was no sign of Daniel or Sam.
'What the hell happened here?' Jack spat out angrily as, with Teal'c's assistance, he set about freeing the two captives.
'Major Carter asked for my help as the Playstation wasn't working properly, I went in to see if I could sort it, the next thing I knew I was flat on my face with my arms being tied behind my back, Dr Jackson was doing the same with Collins,' the guard advised Jack sheepishly.
'For crying out loud - twice in one day?' Jack rolled his eyes. 'What do they teach you these days? Ok, on your feet and help us look for them. I don't suppose you have any idea where they went?'
'No sir,' Collins replied. 'Major Carter said something about being bored, but I have no idea where they went.'
The mess hall was completely deserted, as was Sam's lab. Jack's next port of call was Daniel's office and here they got lucky. Sitting in the middle of the floor with piles of books around them creating some kind of den, the missing members of SG1 were building towers using some of the many artefacts lying around.
'What on earth do you two think you are doing?' Jack asked, using his outraged father's tone of voice, eliciting sheepish looks from Sam and Daniel. Sam's face soon changed to a look of mulish stubbornness.
'It was boring in that other room,' Sam told him sullenly. 'This is much more fun isn't it Danny?' When Daniel didn't respond, Sam nudged him sharply and he nodded in agreement, although somewhat reluctantly. Jack watched them for a few moments, figuring out that Sam was probably the ringleader in all of this, as despite first appearances, Daniel was taking great care to ensure none of the rocks they were playing with would come to any harm. Jack recalled that Daniel had grown up around archaeological digs and even from a very young age he had a pretty good idea how to treat ancient objects.
'Don't you know it's rude to ignore someone when they're talking to you?' Jack told them reprovingly.
'You weren't saying anything,' Sam replied cheekily.
'Well now I am. I want you both to come out of there so I can talk to you.' Jack held his breath, wondering if his order would be obeyed, but slowly and reluctantly the two of them stood in front of him, Daniel's eyes were focussed on his feet while Sam stared defiantly into Jack's face. Jack felt a little overwhelmed at being challenged in this way by his second in command, then told himself that he was dealing with a teenager, not the adult Major Carter.
'Why did you tie up those two guards?'
'They wouldn't let us leave and we were bored,' Sam rolled her eyes as though she couldn't believe why he'd even needed to ask the question.
'What do you think will happen now that we can no longer trust you?' Jack asked, his own eyes holding Sam's gaze. After a few moments she flushed and looked away, unable to stand the gentle, questioning look she saw.
'I dunno.' Sam shuffled her feet awkwardly, not knowing what to say.
'You're gonna lock us up in prison.' Daniel's voice wavered as he replied, his chin trembling at the thought of being locked up with nothing to do. 'Please don't lock us up. We'll be good. Promise.' Daniel looked pleadingly into Jack's face and Jack could feel his resolve beginning to waver at the onslaught of puppy dog eyes begging for mercy. Before he could respond, however, Teal'c intervened, not so easily swayed by these tactics.
'Daniel Jackson, Major Carter and yourself have proven yourself to be unworthy of our trust, why should we believe that you will remain where we put you?'
'Major Carter?' Daniel giggled as he looked at Sam. 'He called you Major Carter.' Sam glared at him as he collapsed into helpless laughter.
'Stop being so silly, you're just a stupid silly kid,' Sam hissed at him, then when Daniel's giggles still persisted, she nudged him. Daniel nudged her back and before either Jack or Teal'c could react, fists were flying as the pair of them went for each other. Fortunately, before too much damage could be done, Jack and Teal'c were able to wrestle them apart and they stood looking slightly shamefaced at this childish display of temper.
'Daniel Jackson, you are to apologise to Samantha Carter,' Teal'c ordered, realising that referring to Sam as Major Carter was obviously an unwise course of action in their present situation.
'Sorry,' Daniel mumbled.
'Samantha Carter, now you must apologise to Daniel Jackson.'
'I'm not gonna.' Sam replied sullenly, staring sulkily at Teal'c, quickly changing her mind when she saw the unwavering glare directed at her. 'Sorry,' Sam threw at Daniel.
'Very well.' Teal'c accepted these less than enthusiastic apologies and ushered the pair of them out of the room to return them to their own temporary quarters.