Thanks to everyone out there for reading this, especially those of you who send in reviews. Thank you so much. I'm 'gob-smacked' at the response this is getting. Hugs!

As I said, I make NO apology for the torture to come so be prepared for more later.

Junior

By Lingren.

Previously:

After a moment the small device jerked Jack back in time to his son. The image of a small boy, arms wide welcoming him home after months away was distorted by the shockingly loud sound of a single bullet, and Jack screamed in an agonised response.

"Charlie!"

Chapter 27

"Charlie!" Jack gasped again as a strangled sob choked him.

Ba'al's eyebrows shot upwards on hearing the name. He believed the boy's name was Jon or Junior or something but not Charlie. He was curious, wanting to hear more of this Charlie. It was obviously something exceedingly traumatic for O'Neill to be this distraught. Perhaps he could use it to his advantage.

"Tell me of Charlie, O'Neill. What happened to your son?"

The memory recall flickered and Jack's thoughts were highlighted on the screen for all to see.

He was running up to Sara. He scooped her into his arms and held her as they kissed. He looked down at the photograph she held in her hands and he was smiling. A single loud gunshot rang out, and Jack leapt to his feet screaming in denial. 'Nooooo!'

The next minute Jack was kneeling on the floor, the limp body of his dying son in his arms. Blood covered his chest and Jack's hands as he tried to stem the tide but it was a lost cause.

The scene shifted to the hospital and the inert form lying so still on the gurney. Too late. It was too late and Jack couldn't drag his eyes off the white sheet that draped the small body, save for Charlie's blood spattered ashen face. Sara sobbed next to him, utterly bereft, but he was unable to comfort her.

The images blinked out as shock set in once more and Jack fell quiet. Ba'al smiled cruelly. He had what he wanted. O'Neill would break at last. He turned the device off and pulled it from Jack's temple with a sharp tug.

Jack reeled from the powerful emotions running through him. The whole thing felt so real. He was actually there once more as if it was happening all over again. He wanted nothing better than to crawl into a corner and bury his head, knowing that Ba'al now had a powerful weapon to use against him.

He was released from the table and made to stand, then marched back to his cell on shaky legs. His whole body trembled at the thought of what Ba'al might do with that information. He'd tried hard to stop the images from forming, but the memories of that day were just too deep-rooted in his consciousness to be able to stop them. It bothered him that when Ba'al had asked him about his son, his mind had automatically recalled Charlie, and not Jon. Then with a sudden clarity he knew what that snake had planned for him and he didn't think it would be possible for him to survive the fallout. Ba'al had him, and he knew it.

OoOoOoOoO

"Dad!"

Jacob Carter smiled as he strode confidently down the metal grating to embrace his daughter. He had come straight away after receiving the urgent message that his help was needed.

"What's going on Sam? Where is everyone? What's happened?"

"One question at a time Dad, please. I'll explain it to you when we reach the briefing room. General Landry, Cameron, Daniel and Teal'c are in there talking to Thor."

"Thor? Sam..." Jacob reached out and snagged his daughter's arm. "...is there something wrong with Jack?" She looked haggard, as if she hadn't slept for days. At his demand, she dropped her head and tried to hide the tears but Jacob knew her too well. "Tell me what happened!" he demanded gently.

"Ba'al has him; and Jon Junior!"

"What? How?" Jacob gasped in shock.

"We can't talk here Dad, please."

He nodded and followed her up the metal steps to join the others.

"General Carter!" Landry greeted him. "I'm glad you could make it."

Jacob shook Landry's hand and nodded to Thor who was looking up at him, his large black eyes blinking in curiosity.

"Thor," Jacob acknowledged him.

"Greetings General Carter," Thor replied in response.

Jacob sat down next to Sam, and kept hold of her hand, offering her some support.

"So, what's going on? Sam tells me Ba'al has gotten hold of Jack and the kid?"

Landry took his place at the table again with a sigh.

"Yeah. Jack took the boy back to Edora beca..."

"He what?" Jacob interrupted, more than astonished, and he looked round at Sam who was trying to hold herself together, but she nodded in agreement. "Holy Hannah!" he exclaimed. "He shouldn't have gone."

"Yeah, well, we know that now, but at the time we thought it was safe to do so. And it would have been if it wasn't for the kid," Landry stated with annoyance, though who he should be more annoyed at he wasn't quite sure.

"What do you mean...? 'If it hadn't been for the kid!' What's he got to do with this?" Jacob was wondering if he'd taken a wrong turn through the wormhole or something because he seemed to be missing some vital information here.

"It appears that General O'Neill's son was responsible for his earlier predicament. Both the Ashrak and Ba'al knew exactly where to find him. It has come to light that the child's toy held a Goa'uld location device," Thor explained. "We are attempting to locate General O'Neill's whereabouts using our long range scanners."

"A homing device? How the hell did that get in the kid's toy?" Jacob was amazed; stunned wasn't the word for it.

"We don't know yet Dad, but Junior knew it was there. We can only assume that Ba'al had forced him into keeping it by him whenever he and Jack were together."

Jacob blew out a protracted breath and leaned back in the chair, rubbing his hand over his bald head.

"So what do you want me to do?" he asked. With Thor searching for his bio scans there wasn't a lot the Tok'ra could offer in the way of searching.

"We need to know if you have heard where Ba'al is hiding now. It will cut out a lot of unnecessary searching of planets, Dad."

"Well, the last I heard, he was setting up a base on Hantara, but that was reported to have been abandoned a while back," Jacob sighed. "I haven't heard of anything else lately, only that he was out to recruit new Jaffa because more and more of his men are deserting. Thanks to Teal'c and Master Bra'tac's efforts in setting up a free Jaffa colony."

"I will arrange for the search to include Hantara, General Landry," Thor stated seconds before he disappeared in a bright light.

Jacob blinked in surprise at the suddenness of Thor's departure, but everyone seemed to be used to this, except for Mitchell and Landry who looked just as surprised as he guessed he did.

"So, what happens now?" Jacob asked, unsure as to what their plans were.

"We wait," Sam sighed unhappily.

Jacob understood her frustration, knowing the waiting around was killing her.

Daniel got up and walked over to the coffee pot and helped himself, turning to offer the others a cup. Jacob nodded. He certainly needed some. He missed his coffee. The Tok'ra didn't have anything like it in their customary 'cuisine'. Selmak didn't much like the bitter taste, but knew Jacob craved it when he came to Earth.

The conversation was stilted. The room quiet. The atmosphere one of impatience. Landry had retreated to his office to try and concentrate of other aspects of his work, leaving those in the briefing room more freedom to voice their thoughts.

"What happens if Thor can't 'beam' them out of there?" Jacob asked after Sam explained what Thor was planning on doing.

"Then Teal'c will contact Master Bra'tac and put plan B into operation," she replied morosely. She wasn't very happy with the proposed plan as it meant she couldn't go with them, and she desperately wanted to be there when they rescued Jack and Jon.

"Plan B?"

Sam smiled a little sadly. Jack always had a plan B up his sleeve, for when the original ideas went south.

"Sam?"

"Huh? Oh! Sorry," she grimaced, knowing she'd been miles away for a minute there. She couldn't help wondering what was happening to Jack and Jon Junior.

"Plan B?" Jacob reiterated.

"Master Bra'tac and I will lead the free Jaffa into Ba'al's citadel and 'encourage' the Jaffa there to join with us. Then we will locate O'Neill and Jonathon Junior," Teal'c stated, as if it was going to be that easy.

Jacob knew better of course, so did the others, but it was their only choice in reaching Jack and Jon.

TBC