Chapter Four

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. "We're leaving." I nudged Daniel with my boot until he sat up, rubbing the back of his head.

He looked up at me and his eyes fell on Carter. "Oh. She's still here."

She giggled and waved at him. "Daniel!"

"Yeah, that's me." He got to his feet slowly and stumbled slightly. I could tell he had a concussion, but it was the least of my problems at the moment. He kept his eyes on Carter like he didn't quite trust her. "What if they shrink the rest of us too?"

I didn't want to confess my folly with the forbidden fruit. "They won't. They were obsessed with Carter, remember?"

Teal'c interrupted us, doing something so out of character that I didn't know how to respond. He smiled and reached out to pat Carter's head. "Young Major Carter is quite adorable."

Daniel smiled. "Well, so is grown up Major Carter."

I couldn't help it - it just came out before I could stop it. "She's really not so much cute as she is hot."

Daniel looked appalled. "She's a kid, Jack!"

"Weren't we just talking about grown up Carter?"

Daniel shook his head and then winced, his head moving to the probably sizable lump he couldn't see.

Carter tugged on my collar. "My name is Carter."

I smiled stupidly at her. Teal'c was absolutely right. She was adorable. "Yes, I know."

"Are we going to see my Daddy?"

"Eventually. Unless I can get out of it."

"And mommy too?"

I turned my head, looking to Daniel for an idea of what to say. I wasn't about to tell her that her mommy was dead. Daniel looked away. Some help he was.

Luckily Teal'c saved the day. "Samantha Carter, you must be quiet. We must concentrate on escaping now."

Carter stared at Teal'c for a long moment and I could tell she was trying to decide if there would be any benefit in crying. Apparently she decided against it, leaning her head on my shoulder and sticking her thumb in her mouth.

Daniel smiled stupidly too. "She's so cute, Jack."

"Too damn cute, if you ask me."

Carter's head popped up. "You said a bad word!"

Daniel laughed. "I guess you're going to have to watch your language."

I sighed. I was a military man. The only reason I watched my language was to see just how colorful it could get. "Yeah, so, we were working on getting out of here."

"O'Neill, the doors are barricaded, are they not?"

"We're not waiting for sunrise. They'll be back for her before then."

Daniel continued to stare at Carter with a grin. "Do we know they're coming back for her?"

"They didn't do this for us, Daniel."

"True." He pondered the idea for a moment. "But didn't they just want to make her happy?" As if on cue, Carter giggled at something no one else noticed, let alone found amusing. "She seems happy to me."

I frowned at Daniel. "I'm so not happy, Daniel."

"So how are we going to get out again?"

"Let me think." I thought about it for a while. I didn't come up with anything. "Teal'c?"

"Perhaps we should try the door again."

I nodded. "Good idea. Teal'c, you take point. Daniel, you take the rear. And I'll take Carter, here." I jostled her jokingly and she rewarded me with a happy squeal. By the time we made it down the stairs, she was begging to play airplane. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to play and Carter was getting way too loud. "Ok, Sam, let's play a game."

She bounced in my arms with the force of her nod. "Yay!"

"We're going to play the quiet game. We're going to see who can be the most quiet for the longest time."

Carter slapped both hands over her mouth and nodded emphatically.

I grinned as I nodded at Teal'c. He carefully led the way through the halls back to the front door. He repeated my earlier attempt to get out and got much the same result. We moved on to the other two hallways, looking for an alternate route. We didn't find one. Fifteen minutes later, we were back at the base of the stairs. Amazingly, Carter hadn't uttered a peep. Her head was resting on my shoulder and her eyes were closed.

Daniel tried to peek over at her. "Is she asleep?"

I figured she was, but the moment he broke the silence, Carter's head shot up and she pointed at him.

Daniel grinned, totally sucked in by little Carter's charm. "I guess I lost the game, huh?"

She nodded and then put her head back against my shoulder. In that moment, I realized something that absolutely shocked me. I wanted to be a father again. After Charlie died, I never imagined that I would ever want to have such a weakness ever again. But I did. I wanted to be somebody's daddy. I wanted to have someone pad into my room in the middle of the night because she was afraid of the dark. I wanted to have a beautiful little girl curled up in my arms. And perhaps even more shocking, I realized I desperately wanted that little girl to bear a striking resemblance to Carter. I nearly dropped her out of my arms.

Teal'c perfect eyesight allowed him to pick out how pale I was even in the dim light. "O'Neill, are you ill? You do not look well."

"No, I'm fine."

Carter's head snapped back up and she started to giggle again. "I win!"

I clapped my hand over her mouth, but it was too late to stop her excited squeal. "Back upstairs!" We booked it back to our rooms, hoping we'd be long gone by the time anyone investigated the sound. We congregated in my room with Teal'c guarding the door.

"So what now, Jack?"

I set Carter down and plopped down on the bed. "I'm leery of using C-4."

Daniel looked shocked. "Did I hear that right? Why?"

I nodded at Carter who'd snuggled up against my side. "It'll scare her."

"You're going soft." Daniel sat down on the other side of her, but Carter didn't move away from me. I laughed to myself thinking that little Carter liked me to protect her too.

"Besides, we don't know how thick that concrete is. We could just wind up making them mad and still not be able to get out."

I watched as Carter slid onto the floor and began playing with the leg pockets on my pants. She found my yo-yo and thrust it in my face. "Play, please."

So cute. I smiled as I took it from her and put it back in my pocket. "Not right now, Sam."

She stomped her foot and scowled. "Play!"

"No."

"Play now!"

Sensing a temper tantrum, I stood up and ignored her. "What are the odds we missed a bright red exit sign somewhere?"

Daniel joined me in front of Teal'c. "I think we're officially stuck, Jack."

"If we are not in immediate danger, perhaps waiting for sunrise would be a good idea as Loh'ran suggested."

I nodded at Carter who'd wrapped herself around my knee in her best Smokey the Bear imitation. "One of us may be in immediate danger, Teal'c. We don't know what they did to her. There could be side effects."

Daniel pushed up his glasses. "A worse side effect than effectively stopping S-A-M from doing her job for the next thirty years? I'd say they got us pretty good."

"I can spell. You're talking about me."

The three of us looked down at the girl with the devilish glint in her eyes. She was too smart already. I looked at my teammates. "We're in trouble."

Carter tugged on my pant leg. "We're not escaping?"

I shook my head. "There's no way out. We'll have to wait until morning."

She shook her head and pointed behind me. "Why don't we go that way?"

I spun around and faced the window I hadn't paid any attention to. We were on the second floor, but it was looking like our best option. I smiled as I peered out it, looking for a possible escape route.

Daniel snickered at me, picking Sam up into his arms as I worked on the window. "Guess Loh'ran was right about kids and their brilliant ideas."

"No way. Carter always has the ideas. This is just a coincidence." There was no chance I was going to give any credit whatsoever to Loh'ran and his friends. Not after they reduced Carter to a giggling, squealing, snuggly kid. Don't get me wrong, I liked Carter as a kid, but if I had my choice, I'd rather have the adult Carter in my arms.