Epilogue: Training Wheels

Outside on a warm sunny day nearly a month after three aliens had been defeated by four miniaturized teammates, Teal'c stared skeptically at the contrivance before him. It simply seemed too fragile to hold his weight without crumpling, although O'Neill assured him that the thin frame was durable and Major Carter had tried to explain that the triangle was the strongest geometric form. Teal'c had only frowned, raising one eyebrow to regard the object that his teammates were so enthusiastic about.

Nearby, Daniel Jackson was seated on a similar vehicle, leaning over it and watching as O'Neill tried to give instructions on the operation of the device with ill concealed amusement. Even Major Carter ducked her head, sunlight glinting on her golden hair, unsuccessfully trying to hide a smile as she used several tools to make adjustments to the object in question to customize it to his measurements. Still, as much as Teal'c trusted these three Tauri with more than his life, he was still hesitant to take their words that such a frail appearing vessel would be able to do what they claimed it could do, not to mention that the thing simply seemed too narrow to even hold itself up, let alone stay upright with the former first prime of Apophis astride it.

Forcing himself to drag his attention away from the questionable conveyance, Teal'c tried to pay close mind to the instructions O'Neill was giving him. "Now Teal'c," O'Neill was saying, "It's all about balance, and how you hold yourself. You'll want to get up a good speed, build a little momentum, and get used to how it feels to balance before you make any turns. But don't worry it's easy. Show him Daniel."

Daniel sent a reassuring grin over to Teal'c, before standing up and pushing off. Watching the other man's smooth movements, Teal'c thought it did indeed look simple, but he knew that looks could be deceptive, just like the mark on his forehead that marked him as a servant to a false god. A dead false god.

"There, you see?" spoke O'Neill, interrupting his thoughts. "Easy. Now its your turn." O'Neill motioned to where Major Carter had finished her modifications and put her tools away. Reluctantly, Teal'c approached the thing while Daniel Jackson continued to move around them in large lazy circles on the wide paved area. Following O'Neill's instructions, Teal'c mounted the metal frame, surprised when it held the weight he gingerly placed on it's seemingly too small seat.

Only slightly more confident that it didn't immediately collapse under his bulk, Teal'c placed a foot on one of the two footholds as O'Neill had instructed, and pushed off despite his inner voice screaming warnings of what might come from this foolhardy venture. Somehow, he got his other foot onto the second foothold and found that his body was instinctively moving to maintain his balance.

A voice crowed triumphantly behind him, "I knew it! I knew you could ride a bike Teal'c! Keep it up!" Instinctively, Teal'c had turned to look back at his companions, and the move quickly proved most unwise. Suddenly, his tenuous balance was lost and Teal'c found it impossible to control the bicycle, tumbling off the side of the path and into a patch of shrubbery. Spitting out leaves, Teal'c now knew the wisdom in the head covering that O'Neill had insisted he wear, chasing away his reluctance to use it by informing him it was the law while they were on base. Daniel Jackson was also wearing one, although his was red while the one O'Neill had purchased for Teal'c was black.

Quick to extract himself from the foliage, Teal'c found his friends all looking at him in concern. "You okay buddy?" O'Neill asked, righting Teal'c's bicycle for him and removing a branch from the front wheel.

"I am well O'Neill."

Teal'c found it difficult to hide his consternation at O'Neill's next words. "Good. That was a good first try. Now get back on it, if you fall of the horse you have to get back on it."

"But we are not riding equines O'Neill" Teal'c tried to stall the inevitable; he was seriously rethinking the decision to join his friends in their outdoor activity. O'Neill replied by pushing the bike towards him, and Teal'c reluctantly mounted again.

Learning quickly from his mistake, Teal'c was careful not to move suddenly again. Over the next half hour, he was able to pick up speed and make turns on the wide flat area O'Neill had started him on, working up to tighter turns, faster speeds, and inclines. By the time O'Neill pronounced him ready to ride with the group, Teal'c was feeling slightly exhilarated, and more than ready to test his new-found prowess on the wide paved trail that wound lazily down the side of the mountain. Daniel Jackson seemed eager to go as well.

"Okay you two, Carter and I will meet you at the bottom of the trail, near the picnic tables." O'Neill followed Major Carter towards the small copse of trees where earlier he'd vaguely indicated that he'd left his bike with Carter's when Teal'c had inquired why they hadn't been on one like Daniel Jackson.

Daniel frowned after O'Neill, blinking in confusion. "Uh, Jack, I thought you were going to be riding with us?"

Jack wheeled his bike out and Sam did the same as Jack waved a hand in dismissal before the two of them strapped on gloves and helmets. Teal'c noted that their vehicles seemed far superior to his and Daniel Jackson's, as both looked sturdier, and unlike the smooth narrow tires on his and Jackson's bikes, O'Neill and Major Carter's bikes had wide tires with heavy treads. He also noted that the helmets the other two were securing were different as well. Instead of the vented vaguely egg shaped ones he and Daniel Jackson wore, the ones O'Neill and Major Carter were wearing covered their full heads, and had a guard to cover their lower faces as well. In fact, the helmet that Major Carter was wearing looked vaguely familiar, Teal'c recognized it as the one that had been sitting on the table by her bedside when SG-1 had gone to take the Major home on her release from the infirmary the month previous. He'd been curious about it's presence, but the Colonel had bustled them all out of there so fast he'd not been able to voice his question.

"Oh, we're going biking Daniel, just not on the same trail as you two." At that statement, Jack waved vaguely off to a gap in the trees, to what appeared to be little more than a glorified game trail.

Daniel's brow furrowed as he looked at the two of them in disbelief. "You're gonna ride down that trail?"

Jack shrugged, as if it made perfect sense. "It's a shortcut." Flashing a quick grin, Jack mounted his bike. Sam was already on hers and smiled too, her eyes sparkling with excitement. The bruises from several weeks ago had already faded, and she showed no signs of her previous injuries. Before Daniel or Teal'c could collect their thoughts or offer protest, the other two had pushed off into the opening, disappearing out of sight almost immediately. Still somewhat surprised, Daniel moved to the space they'd entered and peered down the trail. Two figures were moving rapidly down the steep side of the mountain, despite the twisting nature of the dirt trail and the presence of a multitude of trees, rocks, logs, and other obstacles.

"Uh, maybe we should start down and make sure they get there without breaking their necks along the way." Daniel adjusted his helmet a bit, heading his bike in the right direction for the paved pathway down the mountain. There was no way Teal'c or Daniel's bikes would make it on the rough trail that Sam and Jack had taken.

Teal'c brought his bicycle alongside Daniel Jackson's, inclining his head towards the other man. "Indeed. However, I believe I will make it to the rendezvous point before you." With that, Teal'c pushed off, pulling away from the startled archeologist with surprising speed.

Daniel blinked several times, before muttering under his breath, "Oh yeah, we'll see about that!" The challenge accepted, Daniel took off after Teal'c, not the least bit concerned about the other man's lead. Daniel grinned, and the majesty of the Colorado Rockies soon surrounded them both, and the tall pines dwarfed the four tiny racing figures on bikes. But for the members of the team called SG-1, the world didn't seem quite that big as long as they had each other.

The End

A/N: And I hope you enjoyed it! It was a lot of fun, although it sure did take a long time, didn't it? I did take a bit of creative reign with the size of SG-1 and the Hummer though, they are about 1-2 inches or thereabouts for the purpose of this fic. The Hummer was maybe a 1:12 or 1:18 scale model, but I based it on a 2 foot detailed 1:6 scale model I found (opening doors, lights, sounds etc, very cool) since the smaller ones lacked the details I needed. (SMRP for the big Hummer is around $99) I figured Jack had found a high-end toy somewhere lol.

This last chapter begged to be written from Teal'c's POV (sorry for those hoping for some S/J, they'll be some in the next fic, promise, not to mention Jack gets nekkid heh heh nuff said), and I almost published the chapter as a stand alone one shot piece, until I thought of the bit about Jack getting Carter a helmet, since I kept whumping on her so much. (I did say I was gonna whack her on the head as much as I could just so Jack would have to look in her eyes each time didn't I? Heh.) So I thought the helmet bit would tie in the chapter if Jack would actually go as far to get her one, and than invite her on a little adventure after witnessing the speed demon Carter emerge. I never did get the chance to write in Carter and Jack getting remote control vehicles, guess we'll just have to save that for another fic hmm? Well, anyway, thank you all for bearing with me on my "big" adventure lol. And thanks for all the reviews! Again, I hope you enjoyed the story!