At the familiar voice, JJ turned from Sam to look across the table. A wide grin split his cubby little face and he bounced in her arms as he gurgled out an unmistakable, "Dada!"
Chapter 3 - Explanations
"You were saying Jack?" Daniel teased. It was rare that Jack was on the receiving end of being totally flustered and Daniel couldn't resist baiting him just a little.
"I swear I don't know anything about this, General. Carter, please help me out here!" he pleaded, his eyes never leaving the baby's face. There was definitely something familiar about the child.
Sam took pity on him and turned to the General. "Maybe we should all sit down and I'll explain this from the beginning Sir." Once they were seated, Sam began: "As I was saying before, I was walking down the corridor of Level 12 when I saw a light come from under a storage room door. I went in and found the Quantum mirror in the back of the room, obscured by boxes and shelving."
"Hold on a minute," Daniel interrupted. "I thought the Quantum mirror was destroyed 4 years ago after we went back to help the alternate reality Dr. Carter and Kowalski?"
"It was supposed to be, yes. But I was overruled by the Joint Chiefs," admitted General Hammond. "They felt that it might come in handy someday. After being studied at Area 51 for a year, it was moved from place to place before finally being relocated here. No one was supposed to know that it had been returned here, and it wasn't supposed to be accessible to anyone," he assured them.
"With all due respect, Sir, it wasn't very well hidden. Anyone could have and probably has seen it," Sam replied.
"Rest assured, Major, this matter will be looked into. Please continue," the General stated.
"Yes, Sir. I went into the storage room to find that the Quantum mirror had been activated. A cloaked figure came through the mirror. It turned out to be me, well, an alternate reality version of me. Anubis is currently leading an attack on the SGC in their reality. He is looking for something that he feels he needs to destroy. Samantha asked me to keep it safe." At their blank looks, she looked down at the child in her arms. "JJ," she said quietly.
Jack spoke up, relieved to have the attention off of himself, yet still extremely baffled. "What does Anubis want with a baby? And please don't tell me that I'm dead in that reality as well!"
Sam smiled slightly at him. "No sir, you're very much alive. In fact, you are off trying to contact the Asgard for their assistance. Samantha was eager to get back and see if you were successful, er, if he was successful."
"And was I, I mean he, in cahoots with this plans of yours? I mean hers?" Geez, he was getting confused already!
"Very much so, Sir. JJ is the object of the attack. They believe that Anubis may have sent an Asrak in to find the baby. They're doing everything they possibly can to ascertain if there is an Asrak on Earth. There were signs of a skirmish on base, but Samantha assured me that, as of an hour ago, the base was secure. They are both desperate to keep their son safe." Sam and Jack locked eyes before each turned their focus back on JJ, who was desperately trying to grab the pen on the desk in front of him.
Sam reached out and calmly put it out of his reach, upon which he stuck out his lower lip and began to whimper. She reached into the bag at her feet and pulled out a pacifier, which she popped into his mouth. The whimpering stopped and he continued to look around the table for another object to reach for. JJ spied Daniel's coffee cup to his left. His eyes brightened as he reached out chubby hands toward it. Daniel was quicker and slid it to his other side. "He's an O'Neill all right! Can't keep his hands off of things!" Daniel quipped.
Jack's expression was unreadable: somewhere between exasperation and a proud smile.
"You still haven't told us why Anubis is after this baby, Major," General Hammond tried to redirect the conversation.
"Yes sir. Well, it seems that Anubis has information that indicates that JJ here is a key to unearthing many Ancient secrets." She rubbed her hand lightly across the downy head in front of her. "JJ will be able to access memories of both the Tok'ra and the Ancients when he gets older. Samantha thinks this will enable him to eventually help defeat the Gou'ald. If Anubis can get a hold of him, he could keep him until he is old enough to tell him what he knows about the Ancients and the Tok'ra, and use that against Earth and the Tok'ra. Then I suppose he would kill JJ." Her voice had gotten quiet at the end as she thought of the possibility of this innocent child being used in such an awful manner. Even though she had only been caring for the baby very briefly, she already felt very protective of him.
"And JJ has this information because he is the child of you and Jack," Daniel stated. "Jack passed on the knowledge of the Ancients and you passed on the knowledge of the Tok'ra."
"Yes, however unwillingly," Sam conceded.
"So how does the other Carter know all this?" Jack asked. He was just as disturbed by the thought of this child being taken by Anubis, but was trying to remain impassive. It was difficult when the little guy across the table kept looking at him and giving him a big grin around the pacifier in his mouth.
"Thor informed her and Jack that their child would most likely be born with this knowledge. He promised to help protect JJ from Anubis whenever he could. That's why her Jack went to search for the Asgard," Sam explained.
Jack's brows rose at the phrase "her Jack" but he refrained from commenting. Still, it warmed his heart just a bit to think that Sam might think of him as her Jack. "So Thor is what, JJ's fairy God-alien or something?"
Sam smiled, "Something like that."
"So where does that leave us right now Major Carter?" General Hammond inquired.
Teal'c spoke up before Sam could. "The child must be protected at all costs General Hammond. If he got into the hands of Anubis, it would be the eventual end of their world and that of the Jaffa."
"I promised Samantha I would take care of JJ for one week. After that time, she will attempt to come back through the mirror or send a message to let me know what is happening," Sam added. "I'm sorry I didn't come to you right away General, but Samantha was desperate to return and I felt I had to make a decision right away."
"I understand Major. We will all do our best to protect JJ and keep him safe while he is in our presence. In the meantime, that storage room is to have a 24 hour guard posted outside. No one but SG-1 goes into that room without direct orders. I'd also like you to take JJ to the infirmary Major Carter. He should be checked over by Doctor Frasier."
"She should do a DNA test too, don't you think?" Jack asked. He wanted to make sure that the baby was indeed who this other Carter said he was. After all, their experience with unauthorized children in the SGC was not very stellar. JJ chose that moment to spit his pacifier out and yell a lusty "DaDa!" as he banged his hands on the table. The pacifier shot across the table and came to rest in front of Jack, who stopped it by making his hands into an impromptu goal.
"A DNA test would be wise O'Neill; however, one can easily see that he is the genetic offspring of yourself and Major Carter. He has Major Carter's eyes and your apparent penchant for the game of hockey."
"Along with a good sense of timing," Daniel added with a grin.
General Hammond, despite the strange occurrences of the last 15 minutes and the added headache that was sure to follow, smiled. He rose to his feet, causing the others to follow suit. "I think it would also be wise to keep JJ in the mountain for the time being. I expect all of SG-1 to help care for this child. Consequently, your mission to P6X-995 will be put on hold for the time being. We'll reschedule when this situation has been resolved." He came over to Sam and chucked the baby under the chin. "You're going to be a little dickens if you're anything like your daddy, son. Hopefully you take after your mother." Jack frowned good naturedly at the comment. General Hammond looked at Sam. "Let me know if you need anything Major."
"Thank you sir," Sam added gratefully. She had been extremely anxious about this discussion, but was relieved that things had gone so much better than she had expected.
Jack came around the table and stopped in front of Sam. JJ held his arms out to Jack, a big grin on his face. Jack looked to Sam, his eyebrows raised. She smiled at him and handed the baby over to him. JJ proceeded to happily pat Jack's cheeks as if in greeting and babbled away in an incoherent fashion. "Come on little man. Time for you to meet your nasty Aunt Janet. I'll try and keep the really big needles away from you."
Sam and Daniel chuckled as they followed him out of the room, Sam clutching the bag in her hand. Teal'c followed a few steps behind, thoughtfully regarding the small child who looked over Jack's shoulder at him. He gave a small smile when JJ grinned and squealed "EEE!" at him. Teal'c thought it sounded remarkably like the baby was saying "T"!
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A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews for the first two chapters. I was worried that it wouldn't be well-received! I have no idea how long this story will be, but plan to have lots of humor, touching moments, some ass-kicking (of course there will be bad guys!) and a little S/J for you S/J lovers out there (of which I am one!) Stay tuned for Chapter 4 - a visit to Aunt Janet!
