Thanks for all your reviews guys, I really do enjoy reading your comments. Keep 'em coming! Lots of angst still to come, but I promise you a fluffy, feel good ending when the time comes.
Junior
By Lingren
Previously:
"Yes sir." She allowed herself to be helped onto the gurney and wheeled to the infirmary for no end of tests most likely. She wasn't happy by a long shot. She just wanted to be able to go and find Jack and Jon.
Chapter 24
General Landry turned the broken metal object over and over in his hands, examining it from all angles. After a few minutes he broke the silence that had descended on those gathered in the room.
"And this was hidden in the soft toy that Jon Junior was carrying?"
"Indeed General Landry," Teal'c averred. "General O'Neill first spotted it among the soft stuffing when Jonathon Junior destroyed the toy."
Landry sucked in a huge breath and then a moment later, released it in a long explosive sigh from frustration.
"Then can we assume that's how the Ashrak found out where General O'Neill was staying?" Landry asked. It was more a request for confirmation rather than a question in itself. Things were still so new to him here at the SGC.
"It would seem most likely," Teal'c agreed, and Daniel nodded in absolute agreement too.
"And how they found them on Edora?" Landry had been told to expect the unexpected when working here at the SGC, but never in his career had be been so surprised by this turn of events. Jack was now missing and so was the boy. "So if that's the case, then what part in all of this did the boy play? I don't understand how he could so easily pull that on Jack of all people? The kid was besotted with his father, and... I just don't get it!" he argued, throwing his hands in the air in frustration at the mystery of it all.
"It would appear the boy had little choice," Teal'c stated in his usual calm manner, though it masked the deep concern he felt for his missing friend.
"Jon Junior was extremely upset over it General. He was in floods of tears over the deception," Sam informed the General when she entered the briefing room, having overheard the question without her presence being noticed.
Landry turned to look at her in surprise, and so did Daniel and the others who swivelled their seats round to face her.
"Sam!" Daniel cried, "You okay now?"
"I'm fine Daniel. Permission to take my place in this briefing General?" she asked with a salute.
"Be seated Colonel," he said, nodding to the vacant chair next to Mitchell.
Sam sat down at the table and glanced over at her two friends. Daniel and Teal'c eyed her with curiosity. She offered them a reassuring smile, then turned her attention back to the General, who was once more studying the homing device.
"I take it that Dr. Brightman has given you the all clear Colonel?" he asked when he saw he had her attention once more.
"Yes sir."
"Anything wrong that I should be made aware of?" Landry asked.
"No sir. Nothing's wrong with me that a good night's sleep won't cure. Dr. Brightman said I was just exhausted and suffering a little from the shock at the turn of events; so the effects of the zat blast lasted a little longer than usual and exacerbated that condition that's all. I'm fine now sir."
"Never the less Colonel. I'm ordering you to stand down and get some rest for the next twelve hours as soon as this briefing is over! Understood?"
Sam bit her lip in frustration. She wanted nothing else but to go out there and find Jack and his son. She needed to get them back. Without them her life wasn't worth living.
Landry could see the lines of fatigue and worry etched on her face, and he knew exactly why she was hesitating to answer him.
"Colonel?" he questioned when no answer to his command was forthcoming.
"Yes sir!" She looked down at the table, finally surrendering in defeat, knowing that she didn't need a charge of insubordination added to her record right now because he could well kick her butt off the team that goes after Ba'al. She needed to be there when they mounted a rescue mission.
"Good. Now...where were we?" Landry asked.
"Ja...em...General O'Neill was about to ask Jon Junior what was going on sir, when we were surrounded by Jaffa," Sam reminded him of her statement when she'd interrupted his chain of thought.
"Just a minute I thought you said..." Landry queried when Daniel had mentioned it earlier that Ba'al had told the boy well done. He was getting confused.
Daniel waved his hands around.
"I know, I know. It's what I don't understand either. Jon did act kinda strange for a while almost as if he knew that Ba'al would be coming for Jack. After Jack and he had finished the burial ritual, he suddenly ripped the toy apart and tried to get Jack to leave the planet, but that's when Jack spotted that...thing," he said, pointing to the locator device in the General's hands, "and then Jon upped and ran away when Jack questioned him. Jack soon caught him again of course and like Sam said, there were suddenly lots of Jaffa surrounding us, and then Ba'al ringed in."
"Colonel?" Landry nodded at her to enlighten him further.
Sam sucked in a breath and steadied her nerves. She could see it happen all again in her mind's eye.
"Yes sir. Ba'al arrived and the General ordered our surrender. He didn't want any harm to come to the boy or to us. We laid our weapons on the ground but then the First Prime grabbed Jon. The General objected of course, but was struck down. Ba'al said he was pleased with the boy but he was no longer needed. They shot him with a zat and General O'Neill was extremely upset. He dashed forward only to by struck down again. Ba'al then stuck out his hand with a ribbon device and rendered the General unconscious. That's when we were zatted. The last thing I saw before the effects of the zat took hold was Ba'al standing over the General, with Junior's unconscious body in the arms of the First Prime, just as the rings descended and took them away."
"That's all?"
"Yes sir," she confirmed. Wasn't it enough? Was there something she was missing? She couldn't think of anything else. "I don't recall anything else until Teal'c woke me up afterwards and helped me to the gate. Daniel dialled home and we all came through," Sam explained. It wasn't much to go on; they had no idea where to begin searching for the two most important men in her life.
OoOoOoOoO
Jack lay quietly for a moment, mainly to gauge how he felt. The silence was deafening in the room until he became aware of soft breathing somewhere nearby, perhaps one of his team. Opening his eyes wasn't the best thing he could have done. The brightness of the chamber sent daggers of pain right through his skull. He screwed his eyes shut again in reaction until he felt he could open then again, this time gradually acclimatising them until he could squint at his surroundings.
His head throbbed in tune with his heartbeat, though he tried sitting up anyway, but once his head was off whatever it was he was lying on, the nausea rose up and he had to swallow quickly to avoid loosing the contents of his stomach. That was the last thing he wanted to keep him company for however long he was staying wherever he was. He had no doubts about where he was, just not where he was in relation to home; he could recognise a Goa'uld cell without having to be told, and the quick glimpse of the golden décor had already informed him that he was a prisoner. He slowly recalled the confrontation with Ba'al on Edora and then with a sudden clarity he recalled Junior getting zatted.
He bolted upright in panic, needing to know what had happened to his son. Was he still alive? Where was he? Had Ba'al killed him?
He reeled from the sudden movement, his vision blurring to the very edge of darkness as it tried to claim him again. He fought it off, desperate to stay conscious. A few moments later he was able to control his body to the extent that he could now see the small unconscious form across the room from him and it sent a rush of emotions cascading through him.
He staggered to his feet and shuffled towards the boy, more concerned for his welfare than for his own throbbing head. He tentatively reached out to place shaky fingers on the pulse point in his son's neck. More worried if the boy was really hurt or worse, dying. He wouldn't put it past the Sonofabitch to leave the half dead child in the cell with him, just to remind him of his power to torment him. Who knew what lengths that bastard would go to? A huge sigh of relief escaped from his lips when he felt the steady throb and then the boy moved beneath the touch.
Jon Junior stirred and turned a pale tear-stained face towards his father. His eyes lit up, happy to see him, yet he was still feeling guilty for his part in his Daddy's capture, so Jon let loose another round of tears and shrank back from Jack in alarm. He wanted so much to fling his arms around Jack's neck, but the thought of Jack's anger for his part in his father's downfall kept his arms wound tightly round his own little body instead, and his face hidden from shame.
"Please don't hurt me Daddy!" Jon snivelled flinching away from Jack as he reached out to the child. Jack was horrified to think that his own son was actually afraid of him.
He closed his eyes briefly, dropping his outstretched hand, and breathing deeply trying to find the right words to comfort and reassure the boy. He felt everything rush through him at once. Anger and bitterness, welled up from the pit of his stomach making him want to gag. He inwardly raged at Ba'al for robbing him of the child's trust. He was disappointed; yet most of those feelings were outweighed by the love he already had for his child. He sat down on the edge of the solid slab, but far enough away so as not to distress him with his presence.
"I would never, never, ever, hurt you Junior. I may yell on occasions, I may even get mad at you, but I would 'not' hurt you. Do you understand? Never, despite the fact that you hid this from me. You're my son Jon; 'my' child and although I'm not very good with words, I do...love you...a lot!"
Junior broke into fresh sobs.
"C'mere!" Jack sighed with a gesture for the boy to move. Junior didn't need telling twice, he scrambled over to his father and flung himself into his arms.
Jack pulled his son onto his lap, enfolding him within his warm embrace and kissed the tousled head.
"I'm really sorry Daddy!" Jon hiccupped, clinging to his father. His sobs wracked his little body harder, only this time in relief when Jack hugged and rocked him gently, whispering softly the words of comfort the child needed to hear.
"It's okay Junior. It'll be okay. You'll see. I've got ya!" Jack kept up the soft mantra, reassuring his son, that he didn't hold his guilt against him; that he forgave him for the unwilling role he'd had no choice in playing. That he was just an innocent child used as a pawn in an evil game created by a sick and twisted mind.
TBC