Thanks to all who reviewed this so far – Miran Anders; StargaateFan; Stargate-Rocks; and Ilovesg1

I hope you like this chapter too, but be warned it isn't a happy fic.

And YES! It is an AU fic!

SACRIFICES

by LetitiaRichards

Previously:

The name that Jack and Sam had chosen for their younger son had stunned him into wondering if he had been right all those years ago to shun them. The boy was born when he was still missing, after their failed rescue attempt. Maybe it was time to make amends after all.

Chapter 3

2023

Daniel picked up the phone book and searched the pages for Jack's phone number. It didn't take long to find it, there weren't that many O'Neills in Colorado Springs. With trembling fingers he picked up the phone and punched in the string of numbers, waiting for it to ring.

After several rings, the answer phone kicked in...

Jack's soft voice floated over the airwaves to reach his ears...

"Hi, this is the O'Neill madhouse. We're not here right now, so if ya wanna leave your name and number, I'll get back to ya a.s.a.p..." Beep.

Daniel flicked his phone off. He wouldn't leave his name or number; couldn't. What he had to say would have to be said directly to Jack or Sam, not in a message left on the damn machine.

He tried several more times, each without any success. In the end he gave up and threw the phone down onto the coffee table and went to make himself a drink.

Over the next few days, he tried to contact Jack and Sam again, but each time he met with the same message, until one day it had changed.

This time it was Sam's voice that floated to his ears. She sounded tired and worn and he wondered why.

In the end, tired of getting nowhere, he grabbed his jacket and hurried out of the house, jumped in his car and drove the few miles south to the city he had once called home.

OoOoOoOoO

The house looked more or less the same. There was a big extension to the side which they'd obviously built some time ago with the expansion of the family. He knew Jack and Sam had loved this old place, but he didn't expect them to still be there after all this time. He was surprised to read the same address in the phone book, but now he could see why.

It had lost the pristine bachelor appearance as Sam had turned it into a home fit for a family over the passing years. There was a beat up old truck on the driveway and Daniel knew for a certainty that it wouldn't belong to Jack. It must be one of the boy's pride and joy. Jack would be bound to have a sparkling new toy somewhere around, though he couldn't see one anywhere just now. In fact the old blue Ford was all he could see.

He plucked up his courage and climbed from his humble saloon and after walking stiffly up the pathway, he rang the doorbell.

From somewhere inside, a dog barked and he couldn't hold back a grin. Jack always did like dogs, and he vaguely wondered what type it was. Pedigree or mongrel, Jack would love it either way.

He heard footsteps approach and suddenly the door opened and he was confronted by a gangly youth of about 17. His blonde hair long and straggly. He was tall, taller than Daniel and probably taller than even Jack was. He wore ragged jeans and a grey T-shirt that barely reached his waist and his feet were bare. Daniel blinked, trying to associate this young man with the friends he remembered.

"Yeah?" the young man drawled, seeing a stranger on the stoop.

"Ah...is Jack home?"

The youngster sucked in a breath and gave him a look that stirred a memory of his former friend. This boy was so like Jack it was uncanny. For a brief moment he could see Jon, the young clone that had arrived at the SGC one day saying he was Jack O'Neill. Whatever happened to him anyway? Daniel pondered momentarily.

"You need to see Mom, but she's not here right now."

"When will she be back?" Daniel asked, feeling at a loss, and not hearing the answers he was needing.

The boy shrugged.

"Dunno! Sometime soon I guess."

"May I come in and wait?"

"Who is it Danny?" came the soft female voice as a teenaged girl appeared behind him.

"Hey! I know you!" she gasped in recognition. "You're that Daniel Jackson guy, right?" she accused. "I've seen your pictures in Dad's photo album."

Daniel felt a little satisfaction that she had actually known who he was, though her tone of voice was intimidating, accusing even.

"Ah, yeah. That would be me. You must be Daniel and...you're...?"

"Janet," she answered confidently.

He felt a frisson of hurt run through him. Hearing the name of the petite former CMO of the base during his brief career there, had brought all sorts of memories up from the depths of his mind. Janet. He'd read that she'd died of wounds one day, and knew exactly what the reports weren't saying. He'd been there. He'd lived the life at the SGC, and he knew it couldn't have been pretty. Rousing from his thoughts, he looked up into their eyes and for a brief moment he could see his friends staring back at him. Janet had blue eyes like her mother, while Daniel had the dark shadowed eyes of his father.

"Em...I came to see your Mom and Dad," he said slowly, as if having second thoughts.

The two youngsters looked at each other, but Daniel couldn't understand what the silent message was that had passed between them.

"They're not here. Can you come back later?" she asked.

"Ah, sure. Look, here's my phone number. Get your Mom or Dad to give me a ring. I'll go find a local coffee shop while I wait." Daniel turned and hobbled down the walkway to his car, while they stayed at the door watching him. He felt self-conscious at their stares, as he always did when he felt eyes watching his slow halting movements.

Putting the car into drive, he escaped as quick as he could, hoping that when he came back, they wouldn't be around. He hated being stared at; he hated people's pitying looks; he didn't need it, nor welcomed it.

OoOoOoOoO

Daniel sat with his nose in the paper, his third cup of coffee held to his lips as he sipped the hot liquid nectar. He savoured the taste as he browsed the pages of the local rag, waiting for that call; if it ever came.

As his eyes scanned the smaller columns, he caught sight of an article that had him choking on his drink. The cup was hastily placed back onto the table while he coughed to clear his throat, all the time his eyes reading the text that had captured his attention.

"Are you okay sir?" a waitress in a skimpy chequered skirt and white shirt asked.

Daniel dropped the paper and looked up into her face and blushed.

"Oh. Ah. Yeah. It...em...just went down the wrong way. I'm fine thanks."

The waitress blinked and forcefully pulled her eyes away from the scared face at the same moment Daniel felt her pity and looked down quickly.

He buried his head in the newspaper again and finished reading the article.

Gulping down the last of his, by now cold, coffee, he was about to leave the café, having given up on the call, when a shadow passed over him and he realised that someone was stood at his elbow. He looked up to see who else had come to stare at him, but instead he leapt to his feet in surprise.

"Sam!" he cried, pleased and yet shocked to see her there. "I...I didn't expect to see you here. I was gonna drop by. I just read..." he waved a hand at the crumpled paper and didn't know what to say now that she was there. "I'm sorry."

Sam's ice blue eyes stared at him for long moments before she slid into the bench seat opposite him and ordered a coffee for herself.

Daniel hesitated, not knowing what to say to her; he felt unprepared to face her now and he could see underneath that cool, calm exterior was someone who was holding onto her emotions with a tight rein.

"Why Daniel?" she said at last. "Why the hell now?"

TBC