PART EIGHT

Lucy had spent the last 5 minutes poking at the unidentifiable substance that sat on her plate. As far as she was concerned, it bore absolutely no resemblance to any pie that she'd ever eaten.

'You should really try to eat something.' Daniel told her. ' It really doesn't taste as bad as it looks.'

Lucy gave him a look of total disbelief. 'Yeah right!'

'What on earth is Ryan up to?' Jack asked suddenly.

Lucy looked up to where her brother stood. He was at the front of a very long queue of airforce personnel who were waiting to get something to eat.

'Probably trying to find something edible to eat.' Lucy shrugged and started poking at her pie once more.

Daniel groaned.
'Lucy, stop that!'

She ignored him.

Daniel got up and walked out of the room, leaving the others to stare after him.

He came back several minutes later with a plastic bag. 'Here.' He tipped the contents out on to the table.

Lucy's eyes lit up as she took in the pile of chocolate bars and packets of crisps. 'Ryan, food!' She yelled making Daniel wince.

Ryan came over quickly, much to the relief of the waiting airforce personnel, and together they devoured the treats that Daniel had given them.

'Thanks Daniel!' Lucy told him swallowing the last mouthful.

After finishing in the mess hall, they'd gone up to the surface. Jack was now glad that the General had relented, as he watched Lucy playing around with her brother and the rest of his team.

The young tomboy had dragged them all into a game of hockey. Luckily for Jack, Lucy had been on his team along with Sam.

Watching from his place in goal, he couldn't help but be glad that he wasn't in Teal'c's position. Teal'c tensed, ready to block Lucy's shot. The puck seemed to blur as it raced towards him. His Jaffa enhanced senses allowed him to knock it safely away, but its new path now took it towards Daniel.

Luckily Ryan had been paying attention and knocked the archaeologist out of harms way. Jack released the breath he'd been holding as his friend got up and dusted himself off.

'Are you ok Daniel?' Sam asked him.

Daniel nodded absently.
'I'm fine, just a bit bruised.'

Their game carried on for a while longer before they finally stopped.

Daniel dropped exhaustedly onto the ground next to the others.

'We'd better be going back soon.' Sam reminded them looking at her watch.

Jack checked his and nodded.
'Come on kids, let's go.'

Daniel groaned, 'Ja-ck.' He whined.

Jack grabbed him and hauled him up.
'Come on Danny-boy, time to see our new friends off.'

Daniel sighed allowing himself to be led back into the mountain.

'We'll arrange for you all to visit.' Ryan told them as they waited for the Stargate to engage.

'Yeah, we'd like that.' Sam told him, smiling.

Jack exchanged a look with Lucy before the young girl flung herself into his arms, almost knocking him flat. 'I'll miss you!' she mumbled, her head buried in his flak jacket.

'Me too!' he whispered, trying to ignore the lump in his throat. He was NOT going too lose control in front of the whole base watching. ' See you soon, kiddo.'

Pulling away she turned to Daniel and gave him a fierce hug too. 'See you soon, Daniel.' She told him aloud, at the same time sending him a telepathic message. Look after Jack for me, he's still having problems recovering from the link and they'll get worse for a while once I'm gone. Though he probably won't admit it he'll need your company.

'I will.' He promised her quietly, already making plans for spending the night at Jacks house.

After saying goodbye to the rest of the team she entered the wormhole with her brother.

As soon as the gate shut down, Jack turned and rapidly walked out of the gateroom, leaving them others to stare after him in confusion.

'Don't worry, I'll make sure he's ok.' Daniel reassured them as he followed. It took him a while to find his friend, but he eventually found him in his office.

Jack moved some of his books to make himself a place on the couch that Daniel had acquired at Jacks insistence after he'd fallen asleep at his desk once too often.

'You ok?' asked Daniel.
He sat across from Jack at his desk.

'I think so.'

'Maybe we could get some pizza and beer.' Daniel suggest, 'We could even watch some hockey.'

Jack smiled, knowing exactly what his friend was trying to do but he was glad because he really hadn't wanted to spend the night alone. 'You want to stay over?'

'Sure.'

'Ok, beer and pizza it is!'

Jack waited in his car whilst Daniel went into the store to get the pizza and beer. He couldn't seem to get Lucy out of his head. Ever since she'd gone it had felt like there was a part of him missing but he couldn't quite figure out what it was.

Daniel climbed into the car, startling him from his thoughts. 'You ok?' he asked, noticing the strange look on Jacks face.

Jack nodded and started the car. Reaching his house, Jack let them in and collected some glasses and plates so that they could eat.

He was surprised to find that Daniel had switched the TV onto the sports channel. Dividing up the food, Jack absently noted that the Chicago Blackhawks were playing Colorado Avalanche, a match Jack would usually be very interested in, but that night he couldn't seem to concentrate on it. He felt too drained and empty. He didn't even notice the concerned glances that Daniel kept giving him as the evening progressed.

Worried about his friend's abnormal silence, Daniel decided to try the direct approach. 'Jack?'

No answer.

'Jack?' this time Daniel placed a gentle hand on his arm.

'Huh, what?'

'Are you alright?' Daniel already knew what his answer would be but he wanted to give Jack the chance to talk if he wanted to.

'Fine.'

Daniel tried a different approach.
'What are you thinking about?'

'Nothing.' Jack stood up and took their empty plates into the kitchen, effectively stopping Daniel's questioning. At least for the time being. Daniel sighed and followed to help his friend.

'I'm going to bed.' Jack announced as they finished. He left the room before Daniel could reply.

Daniel opened his eyes and sat up. Looking at his watch he noted it was about 2am.

Allowing his eyes to roam the room, he wondered what had woken him up. It wasn't long before he found out. He easily recognised the sounds coming from Jacks room .it wasn't like he'd not had them before. He got up and made his way quietly towards his friend's room.

Pushing the door open he slipped in and waited a few moments before making his way to his friend's side. Jack tossed and turned restlessly and Daniel could make out a few mumbled words indicating that the dream involved Charlie. It wasn't a good sign.

Daniel reached out a hand to shake him awake but then thought better of it. Jack could be unpredictable when surprised as his black ops training took over.

'Jack!' Daniel called loudly, 'Jack, wake up!'

Jack sat up suddenly, startled from his nightmare. He let out a groan before burying his face in his hands, breathing heavily.

'Jack?'
Daniel reached out a tentative hand and placed it on Jacks shoulder, fully expecting it to be shrugged off. He was a little surprised and unnerved when it wasn't.

Jack slowly dropped his hands as his breathing slowed; though it still wasn't quite normal yet. He drew his knees up and rested his arms on them, before finally looking at Daniel. 'Guess I woke you up, huh?'

'Um...yeah.' Daniel took his hand away.

'Sorry.'

Daniel shrugged. 'Do you want to tell me what that was all about?'

Jack looked away.

Daniel had almost decided that Jack didn't want to talk, when he began to speak.

'Charlie.' He spoke softly, so that Daniel almost didn't catch it.

'Huh?'

'My dream. It was about Charlie.' Jack explained raising his voice slightly, though Daniel still had to strain to hear what he said. 'But Lucy was in it too.'

'Oh.' Daniel didn't know how to reply to that, so he waited for Jack to continue.

'They're very alike you know. Not only in their looks but also in their personalities and interests.' Jack finally told his friend. 'Lucy told me that she likes baseball, they even support the same team.' Jack finally turned to look at Daniel.

The young man was surprised to see the tears glistening in his friend's eyes. Jack attempted a watery smile.

'I think Lucy's telepathic link messed with my head a bit.' He admitted quietly. 'It feels like I'm missing something important, like a piece of my soul got ripped out.' Jacks voice broke on the last word and refused to meet Daniel's eyes. 'Not quite what you expect to hear from a hard-assed Colonel, is it?' he joked trying to keep his composure.

Daniel watched his friend in dismay. He'd known Jack would be affected, Lucy had warned him, but he'd never expected to hear his friend admit it so openly. Impulsively Daniel sat on the bed beside Jack and put an arm around his shoulders.

The compassionate act almost cost Jack the little control he still had over his emotions. 'It's ok Jack. Let it go.'

Daniel knew how difficult it was for his friend to not have any control over his emotions, but he also knew that in the long run it would be better if Jack didn't try to fight it alone.

Seeing Jacks tears finally spill over, Daniel pulled his friend in closer. Jack lay his head on Daniel's shoulder as he finally stopped struggling to hide the tears.

Daniel just held him, rubbing his back and offering support until the sobs eased.

Finally Jack pulled away, wiping his face with the back of his hand. 'Do you think you can get back to sleep?'

Jack shook his head, studiously avoiding his friend's eyes.

'How about I make us some coffee? We could watch some TV?' Daniel offered seeing his friends embarrassment at the emotional outburst, his second in as many days.

'Sure, You can chose which channel if you like.'

Daniel nodded, reading the hidden gratitude the offer contained as Jacks eyes met his.

EPILOGUE

The next day SG1 found themselves back in the gateroom, ready to embark on their next mission. 'SG1, you have a go.'

Jack and Daniel exchanged a look before entering the wormhole. The look told him that Jack would be ok. Hopefully they'd meet their new friends again one day.

'So when are we going back to visit?' Lucy asked her brother.

Ryan shook his head in exasperation.
'Lucy, we only just got back!'

'Yeah, but I miss them already.'
Lucy turned to the third person in the room they had in the base of the resistance's HQ. 'You want to meet them, don't you Vicky?'

If anything, the young woman who'd sat on the bed whilst Lucy had recounted their adventure on the other side of the Stargate, looked even younger than her twin did.

It wasn't hard to see that they were related because the twins, even though they were of different gender and had spent most of their lives apart, looked almost identical. The only real difference was their eye colour. Vicky's blue eyes were a contrast to Ryan's brown ones. Vicky grinned at her sister.

'You bet. I can finally go through the Stargate with you, instead of waiting for the two of you to come back!'

'Not to mention, we did offer to bring them back some technology.' Added Lucy.

'I know. I know!' Ryan told them, ' but your both just gonna have to wait.'

'But we will go back?' Lucy insisted.

'Yes, Lucy. We will go back one day.' Ryan reassured her.

'Yes!' Lucy couldn't stop herself from grinning.

The end

Author's note: I may possibly do a sequel, but it won't be any time soon, if at all. Sorry to take so long to finish posting the last few chapters.