Danil was constantly in demand by her younger siblings, answering questions or letting them show him things. The O'Neills must have more water stored up than she could imagine, given the constant use of the bathrooms by someone running water or flushing the toilet, just to flush it. They had only been there for a few hours and everyone had already had a shower or a bath. Seline had tried to act more dignified than the little ones but had taken full advantage of her turn for a bath to flush the toilet a few times and experiment with all the things one could do with the faucets. Before they left Lisseth, Daniel had shown them DVDs and pointed out all the common features of typical American life. Actually getting up close and personal with all of it was another story. Take ice. Who would have thought that something so cold would feel almost like it was burning you when you held it? Still, nothing had yet come up to the total wonderfulness of disposable diapers.
Chiona and Trina had just discovered Big Jack's media collection and had started an ancient MacGyver episode for their little brothers. The two boys were lying on their stomachs, watching enthralled along with Sara who sat in her rocking chair right behind them. The girls were having a great time sampling Chuck Berry. Jack and Daniel were in the kitchen talking intently. Their conversation was in low tones but it still added to the noise level in the room. Little Danny was getting increasingly fussy and, just as she sometimes did in the close quarters back home, she took him outside to quiet down in the dark.
She was just on the other side of cement square where the helicopter had deposited all of them a few hours earlier and a very long way from the house. The noises inside it were lost to her and Danny was asleep under the afghan she had thrown around her, clutching her long braid. The night was relatively warm and the night sounds, although unfamiliar, were comforting. She closed her eyes and reached out to Danny's father. "See your baby, my husband. I tell him about you everyday. He didn't seem to mind the cold of the Stargate and he seems interested in this new place. There is a sweet woman here, confused as the old sometimes are, and he made her smile. I've loved you since we were children and now it's been almost a year since I last saw your face, Mindo. I see you in Danny every time I look at him. I think I would go mad otherwise; I miss you so much."
Her communion with her departed husband was interrupted by an increasingly loud sound. She looked up and gasped to see a helicopter approaching rapidly. Seline reacted like a doe in the headlights and ran further into the darkness to put more distance between herself and the baby and the landing pad. This was only the second time she had seen one of these machines and the first time she had ever watched one land. It was hard to know how far away she had to be for safety. Danny woke up, startled by the noise and began to scream at the top of his lungs.
A man emerged from the helicopter which remained on the pad with its blades gradually slowing. He stood very still for awhile and Seline wondered what he waited for. She saw him square his shoulders and start slowly toward the house. The image of a warrior going cautiously into battle came to Seline's mind. He stopped and turned in her direction. Seline found it hard to believe that he had heard Danny over the slowly abating noise of the helicopter but that seemed to be the case. He circled the helicopter and began to walk toward her. He had very long blonde hair, a color not found among her people, and strands lifted and moved in the air stirred by the last few turns of the helicopter blades.
Rather than wait in the dark like frightened prey, Seline began to walk toward him. They met at the far edge of the helicopter light's reach into the night. He studied her for a moment, it seemed, and then asked without a hint of friendliness, his voice pitched to be heard over Danny's soft sobs, "You came through the gate with Daniel Jackson?"
Seline had a lifetime's training making her very wary of an encounter with a strange man in the dark. She simply gave back, "Yes," and continued to gently bounce the baby, murmuring to him, "Ssssssh, Danny, sssssh."
He cocked his head. "Danny, huh? So this is Jackson's kid?"
Still wary, and now insulted, Seline curtly responded, "No." Then the man turned so that the light was no longer at his back and she could see his face better. He had a small beard on his chin and she instantly relaxed. "Danil was my mother's husband and, so, he couldn't ever be mine." She tacked on curiously, "Would your laws allow that?"
"I'm sure," Johnny responded. He moved a little closer and captured Danny's flailing hand. The baby stopped crying, interested in this new person. "Where's his father then?"
She pointed at her forehead and then realized that he probably couldn't see the ashes nor would know their meaning. "The ashes on my forehead and those you will see on Danil mean that our spouses are dead."
"Oh," Johnny said, slightly embarrassed at having asked the question. "I'm sorry." He seemed eager to change the subject then. "I'm Johnny O'Neill."
Seline said, "Big Jack's son. I know. I'm Seline."
"Big Jack?" Johnny repeated putting the emphasis on the word big.
Seline explained, "We always referred to him that way to avoid confusion with my little brother Jak."
"Daniel married a woman with several children?" Johnny asked, sounding slightly surprised.
"Oh no. There was only me but Danil and my mother had Chiona and Trina, my half sisters, and then Jak and Tealk, my half-brothers."
Danny reached out to Johnny and Johnny looked at Seline for approval before taking him. Seline was used to the bearded men of her camp taking an active interest in the little ones since their choice of partners meant they would never have wives or children of their own. Johnny and Seline began to walk toward the house and Seline was comfortable enough with him now to ask, "I thought you had no interest in honoring your father. I am surprised to see you here."
Johnny couldn't help but laugh. She spoke perfect English but turns of phrases like this made it obvious she hadn't grown up here. "I'm here to see Daniel." He found himself supplying the rest of the explanation as well. "I want him to stay away from Jake."
They were just at the foot of the porch and she caught his arm to stop him. "We can be allies then. I'm only here because Danny has something wrong with his foot and Danil says the doctors can fix it. But as soon as that is done, we need to all go back to Lisseth. Our place is there and our people need Danil. As for Jake, he hurt Danil too many times. Danil has other sons and he doesn't need Jake nor any contact with your," she swallowed the word 'cruel', "your mother." Seline pulled the small silvery blade from the sheath at the back of her waist and held it for Johnny to see. "If any of the Tauri, family or not, hurt Danil, I'll cut their heart out." She took Danny back and went through the door, leaving Johnny, dumbfounded, to trail meekly behind her.
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Jack handed Daniel a cold bottle of beer and gave him a look that said, "We need to talk."
Jak, standing next to Jack, said, "Please tell us, Uncle Jack, about the time you saved Dei's life."
Daniel said quietly, but firmly, to the boy, "Jak, he's been telling you stories for the last hour. He needs to talk to me now. Please give us some grown up time now."
"But Dei," Jak protested.
"Now," Daniel said in a tone that brooked no further discussion. Jak walked off slowly, looking back once reproachfully, and plopped down next to his little brother who was waiting for Chiona to start something for them to watch.
"He's a class A manipulator," Daniel said, ruefully, to Jack, careful to keep his voice down so that he wouldn't be overheard. "I suppose you want an explanation as to why I brought everyone?"
"Would be nice, Daniel," Jack answered. "And it had better be good."
"You're the only Tauri I trust Jack. I thought they might decide to block me going back or to secure the Ancient site for themselves, local wishes be damned, if I wasn't there. I had to take the risk and come anyway but I didn't want to take any chance of being separated from my kids or anything happening to them because I wasn't there to watch out for them," Daniel answered, hoisting himself up to sit on the kitchen counter where he could see at least part of the adjoining room and his little boys.
Jack hopped up next to him and looked at him curiously. "'The Tauri' Daniel? Last time I looked you were an earthling."
Daniel slanted a look at Jack and rested his hand on Jack's leg. "I don't feel like one, Jack. I think in the Blue's language now. It feels really strange, not sitting on the floor and having my legs showing like this when I am at peace with someone."
Jack looked pointedly at Daniel's hand. Daniel grimaced and removed it, explaining. "I'm sorry. Conversation between friends of the same sex is like that. If I were talking to a friend and there was no contact, he would think I was mad at him."
"How about if I promise NOT to think you're mad at me ever? Back to what you said. Your legs showing? That's a bit missish, isn't it?" Jack said.
"The custom is there's a robe, a long covering, unless there are hostilities. Having your legs show means you are about to fight. It's very hostile. The kids had a really tough time with the jeans until I reassured them that everyone would not assume they were spoiling for an argument."
"Okaaay then. No Rockettes for Lisseth. I guess 18 years is a long time to spend someplace without it changing you."
"Jack, you keep saying that. You said it on the DVD. It hasn't been 18 years." Daniel starting ticking things off on his fingers. "Johnny was born in 2006 and Jake in 2007. Sam and I got divorced in early 2011. Jonas and Chiona were both born in 2012. Trina was born in 2015, Jak in 2018, Iona and I lost baby Janet in 2021, Tealk was born and Iona died in 2024, and Teal'c and Sam finally got married in 2026. Last time I looked it was 2030. 19 years on Lisseth, not 18."
"I think we could have gotten to that number without your personnel version of the begats from Genesis. So every three years, huh?" Jack observed, "Sort of like Spock only that was only every 7 years. You must have gotten pretty horny."
Daniel looked at him over the top of his glasses and said, pedantically, "That's the natural consequence of nursing a child for about 2 years. Primitive people have used that to space children since the beginning."
Jack looked very not interested even though he had brought the subject up. He pulled a pad of paper and a stub of a pencil out of his hip pocket and wrote something. He showed it to Daniel, saying, "Here's something I don't want to talk about in front of the kids."
Daniel read, "I don't think there are any bugs or remote listening that can hear us but you can't be sure. There is a major threat to Lisseth and every other low technology planet with anything of value. We'll need to discuss this as soon as we can and try to cover it as something else."
Daniel said, "Good grief Jack. I don't know the first thing about," he lowered his voice to a stage whisper, "prostate problems or their relationship to impotence."
Jack looked at Daniel with a mixture of admiration for his inventiveness and irritation at his solution. "Well I don't either. It would be a purely theoretical discussion."
Daniel chuckled, "Sure Jack. Whatever you say." The two men dropped down from their perches and went to stand in the doorway to watch the children. Daniel surprised Jack when he did start talking again. "I want to find a husband for Seline and a way for Chiona and Trina to stay here. They don't have much chance of a marriage that will make them happy on Lisseth and there's no place for an unmarried woman after a certain age. Any ideas?"
"Are you serious, Daniel? Do I look like a matchmaker to you? I don't even know how to sing a single song from 'Fiddler on the Roof.' Surely you're not thinking Seline and Johnny?"
On the heels of his words, the door opened and Seline and Johnny entered. Jack had seen hundreds of photos of Johnny but the reality standing just inside the door still had an impact like a blow to the gut. When he had last seen Johnny face to face, he had been a gawky teen in mid-adolescence. Now he was a fully grown man, with a man's muscular frame. Jack had seen that face before, in the mirror every morning as a matter of fact, and he had seen the expression too, the jaw jutted out slightly, the very slight sardonic smile. Johnny wasn't letting anyone in and he would strike first before anyone even tried.
Jack had been trained to always notice everything around him and, even though he was focused on Johnny, he took in the two little boys scrambling to their feet, Trina rising and taking Sara's hand, lest she be upset by a stranger, and Chiona going to Seline and whispering in her ear and the two young women laughing softly together.
"Well, isn't this a real Hallmark moment?" Johnny asked. There was a variety of reactions in the room but no one spoke.
Suddenly little Tealk ran over to Johnny and tugged on his shirt sleeve. In a clearly audible whisper, he said, "You gots to wait for the host to speak 'fore you say anything. It's the rule. I get in a lot of trouble for it too. "
Daniel's family all exploded with laughter. The O'Neills didn't get what was funny but Sara laughed happily along with everyone else, caught up in their amusement. Jack and Johnny wore nearly identical expressions of puzzlement, neither being aware of the cardinal rule of good manners among the Blue People or Tealk's difficulty in maintaining prolonged silence under any circumstances.
Tealk wasn't finished and signaled Johnny for his attention again. "Tell him he has many fine mounts and it might be okay."
Daniel, still smiling at his youngest, came forward and scooped Tealk up. He whispered something softly in the little boy's ear in a liquid and unfamiliar language. Tealk nodded solemnly. Daniel impulsively hugged Johnny, Tealk between them. Johnny stood like a statue, not participating at all, but then Tealk hugged Johnny's neck. Except for the color of his hair, the little boy looked exactly like a young Jake and Johnny couldn't help but pat his hand. Then they all broke apart.
Jack pushed off from the doorjamb and came part way to the group by the door. He focused on the child in Daniel's arms and asked him, "I'm afraid I don't have any mounts, Tealk. What should we do now?"
Tealk cocked his head considering and then answered, "I know. Tell him he has many fine," he hesitated and asked something in the Blue tongue.
Daniel supplied, struggling to keep a straight face, "toilets."
Tealk nodded and recapitulated in case Johnny was as dumb as most adults and hadn't gotten it yet, "Tell him he has many fine toilets."
Jack looked at Johnny and liked what he saw in the way Johnny was looking at the child. "So he likes little kids, in spite of himself. Maybe there's hope," he thought.
Johnny said, with just the barest hint of amusement underlacing his tone, "Jack, I've got to say, you've got your share of fine toilets."
Jack said, "I'd have to have a heart of stone not to be won over by a compliment like that. Thanks for your help, Tealk."
Daniel set Tealk down and he looked back up at Jack, pausing long enough to say, "You are welcome," before running to his big brother's side.
Jack said to the room at large, "This is my son, Johnny O'Neill. Why don't you each tell him who you are."
Seline said, "Danny and I already met Johnny outside" and nudged Chiona.
Chiona rolled her eyes as if to say "Oh puleeese" and said, "I'm Chiona."
"He knows I'm Tealk 'cause you just said," Tealk said patiently to his father who had once again confirmed his faith that adults were operating two stones shy of a load most of the time.
"I'm Jak."
"I'm Trina."
"You remember Sara, Johnny?" Jack said. Johnny nodded at the woman sitting in the rocking chair and looking decades older than her husband. Jack thought about how Sara had always been kind to Johnny and he had frequently repaid it with surliness. Sara didn't seem to remember any of that now but did seem to be almost her old self just for a moment.
Jak had gone to the window and turned back to Johnny to ask, "Why is your helicopter still here? Shouldn't we ask the pilot to come in the house. He must be getting bored."
Johnny made a face briefly and explained, "I just wanted to talk to Daniel for a bit and then I was going to have him take me back."
Daniel shook his head. "I don't mean to be uncooperative Johnny but I've got several children here who need to go to bed and I'm worn out myself. I'm not up to any heavy duty conversations tonight."
Sara broke in, looking distressed. "Johnny, you must stay tonight. I haven't seen you in years, have I, Jack?" she asked suddenly uncertain.
Jack reassured her. "It has been years Sara. Johnny can sleep on the couch out here or share a room with Daniel and the little boys."
Johnny threw up his hands and said, with ill grace. "I guess I don't have any choice."
Chiona came to Johnny's side and took his arm. "I'll go tell the pilot for you. Do you want him to come back at a specific time in the morning?" Johnny shook his head.
"It isn't going to be the same pilot, Chiona," Trina said condescendingly. She confided to Johnny, "She thought the pilot was really hot who brought us here. Chiona's crazy about men."
"Thank you, Trina," Chiona said sarcastically. "I'm sure Johnny completely understands. She addressed her next remark to Johnny, "Was he hot? I mean how would you rate him? Would you go after him?"
Jack could tell that Johnny was obviously completely taken aback. He was a major rock star. Girls snuck into his hotel room. The rumors in the one tabloid about his sexual orientation had probably only upped their numbers by making it more of a challenge. This girl, though, was casting him as her girl friend and he didn't know what to make of it. "I guess not," Chiona said, disappointed at the lack of a confirmation. "I'll go anyway."
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
The next day was beautiful and no one wanted to be in the house. Daniel's family made a group project of getting Sara set up on the porch in a rocking chair with an afghan tucked around her. Daniel was proud of the way they took turns sitting with her, all without any intervention on his part, while the rest of them found things to occupy themselves on the meadow and bank between the house and the water. There was great respect for the old on Lisseth and their mother had drummed it into the older four who had seen to it that Tealk never forgot it either.
There was no putting off the discussion with Johnny any longer and Daniel suggested a walk to the end of the island. "I'm listening, Johnny," he said.
Johnny scooped up some pebbles and starting pitching them in the water, one at a time, punctuating his words. "Jake is, well, easily hurt. He lets the public think what they want about him to keep his privacy, to keep from who he is and what he really cares about being out there for people to take pot shots at."
Daniel thought, "Jake may or may not be doing that but you sure as hell are."
Johnny continued, "He cares so much about everybody and he gets so invested in people, they just take advantage. If I wasn't there, they'd eat him alive." Daniel was getting increasingly unnerved by this discussion. He wondered if Jake had any life at all other than as a projection of Johnny's own problems.
Johnny threw in the last pebble and turned to face Daniel squarely. "My mother has got a bug up her butt and decided to drag the whole merry clan here today. I promised I wouldn't tell Jack but you're not Jack," he stated bluntly. "Boy are you ever not," he added as a gratuitous aside that Daniel wasn't sure was an insult or a compliment. "Please stay away from Jake. He doesn't need old wounds reopened."
Daniel returned Jake's hard look with one of his own. "I think you need to start letting Jake talk for Jake. Letting Jake decide what's good for him. Johnny, he's over 21 but he'll never really grow up if you don't back off."
Johnny snorted. "You screwed around with my mother and lost me my father. You couldn't fill his shoes and you left us to fend for ourselves. You're some sort of bogus resurrected whatever that caused Jake to spend his whole childhood being teased about being an Angel's kid but you weren't here to help him help deal with it. You should be damned glad Jake had me because he sure as hell never had you." Johnny stalked off then.
Daniel thought, bemused. "So much for trying to talk to me about Jake's problems. I'm beginning to think maybe HE is Jake's problem."
He started back toward the house himself and spotted a helicopter drawing closer from the opposite direction. Sam's whole merry clan was arriving as advertised. His steps slowed. Out of nowhere he remembered watching the removal of Darth Vader's helmet at the end of the "Revenge of the Jedi" years and years before. Some little kid on the other side of the theatre had blurted out, "This is going to be scary" and he had completely agreed. He really didn't want to see what was under the helmet but they were going to take it off anyway.
Daniel noticed with interest that as soon as the passengers were clear the helicopter took off again. It was an interesting clarification of Sam's intent.
He reached the front of the house at the same time as the new arrivals. The easy greetings happened first. Teal'c hugged Daniel, then Jack. Johnny greeted his mother and his brother. Then they all just stood. Tealk jumped down from the front porch and ran to Teal'c, stopping just shy of him. "I'm going to grow up to be like you. That's what it means when you get someone's name. Will it be hard?"
Teal'c reached down and swung the little boy up to his shoulders. "With my people, if you accept someone receiving your name, it means that you accept helping them on their journey. That makes it easier." He turned to face Sam. "Tealk, this is my wife, Samantha. Since we are married, she is part of my obligation and pleasure to help you."
The little boy leaned down and stretched out his hand to Sam. Looking at the dark haired reincarnation of her Jake, Sam melted inside and squeezed his hand. "I'm glad to meet you Tealk."
"Do you want to meet the rest of my family?" Tealk asked earnestly. Sam nodded vigorously, not trusting her voice. Seline holding Danny, Trina, Chiona, and Jak all came forward and Tealk presented each of them to Sam, introducing Jak to Teal'c as well since he had been born after Teal'c's visit to Lisseth.
Sam then turned and motioned Jonas and Jake to join them, saying, "This is your brother, Jake, and his brother, Jonas." Jonas contented himself with a warm smile and a "Glad to meet you" for each of them. Jake switched into his public appearance mode and hugged them in turn. Seline was last and she shoved him away so forcefully that he stumbled. Her sisters looked scandalized and she was visibly uncomfortable.
Daniel was irritated with himself that he had stood back for so long and not shaped events better. It was just that looking at Sam had taken his breath away. She was still beautiful and he still loved her. His grief for Iona and the freshness of his memories of her had hidden how strong his feelings still were.
"You had no way of knowing that it's against our custom for an unmarried man to have any physical contact with a marriageable woman in this situation." Daniel saw his confusion. "Seline is my step-daughter. She isn't related to you by blood."
Johnny intervened then. "Must make for a LOT of fun on Saturday night," he said nastily and gave Seline an ugly look for making problems for Jake. Daniel realized that he was remembering that Chiona had had no problems touching him and wasn't buying Daniel's story. "We should have cleared the beard confusion up before now," Daniel chided himself.
Daniel noticed that Jack had moved up to flank him, to provide support in the contest of wills with Johnny. Seline was obviously horribly embarrassed at this point and muttered something about Danny needing a diaper change. She hurried off toward the house. Daniel bit his lip and asked Trina, in the Blue's language, "She's really embarrassed. Go after her will you. Calm her down and she that she doesn't hide in the house." Trina nodded obediently and ran off to catch up to her sister as she entered the house.
Daniel refused to show that he was paying any attention to Johnny. At this point, it was a little hard to remember how much he had always cared for him. He looked warmly at Jake. "It's been too long, Jake. It's really good to see you. Can I give you a hug?"
"It's against OUR custom for absentee fathers to show up out of the blue and start hugging their abandoned offspring," Johnny said.
Support came from an unexpected quarter. "Shut up, Johnny," Jonas said. "Let him answer his own questions."
Daniel thought, "Maybe I have an ally who can work from within." He asked Jake again, "Can I give you a hug?"
Jake stayed in command of the situation by giving Daniel a hug instead of an answer. His expression afterwards showed they shouldn't read too much into it.
Chiona said to Jonas and Jake, "Come say hello to Jack's wife, Sara. She's up there on the porch all alone." She led them off and Johnny decided to follow.
The four comrades of old stood alone in the sunlight. Sam asked, in a small but determined voice, "Would local custom allow me to hug both of you?"
Jack took the lead now. "Local custom is definitely in favor of hugging good looking women" and he demonstrated by hugging her fiercely.
Daniel just knew Jack wasn't feeling anything sexual. Jack's wife was a few yards away yet he didn't betray the least sign of discomfort. Daniel, on the other hand, felt like pheromenes must be rolling off him in waves. Teal'c was his friend and he had urged Teal'c to marry Sam. He felt like complete scum that these unbidden thoughts were swamping him. He gave Sam one of those sideways hugs where your bodies don't really contact, afraid she might figure out where he was coming from otherwise.
The morning then passed away with people milling around, falling into some really awkward conversations and others that went surprisingly well under the circumstances. The verdict was still out on the reunion.
