Thank you for all the reviews! I'm over a 100 now which amazes me :). This is a happier chapter, I promise.
Same Old Shoes
(#14 in Shoelaces LD universe)
by Jennamajig
SUMMARY: Daniel and Jack try to deal with Daniel being little Daniel. Inspired by the DJsSG-1Lverse yahoo list.
SEASON/SPOILERS: None.
DISCLAIMER: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.
"I want to go offworld."
The request was simple and he said as such. As if it was the most normal thing in the world to say. Which, of course, until about eight and a half months ago it was.
So simple, so easy. Every six weeks, sometimes even sooner if the world needed saving or some other SG team needed his archaeological expertise. Sure, now SG teams still needed his expert opinion, but he and his expert opinion stayed on earth and seemed awkward and tense.
So he thought his request wasn't crazy. Not in the least.
"No."
Okay, maybe a little crazy as far as Jack was concerned.
"But Jaaaackk."
"You know, Daniel, the whining doesn't exactly make you seem any older." The man spun his office chair around to face him. "Now the puppy dog eye look, that's the ticket, you know. Of course, too bad it doesn't work on me."
"I want to go."
"No. Like most of the rides at Disney World, the Stargate has a height requirement."
Daniel shot Jack a glare for that comment. "I'll put lifts in my shoes, then."
Jack shifted the paperwork on his desk. "No."
Daniel slumped back in his chair, arms folded, ready to sulk. Jack eyed him.
"Oh, no you don't. I know a Daniel tantrum routine when I see it and it's not getting you anywhere except maybe to your room when we get home."
Daniel glared again. "I'm not throwing a tantrum."
"Sulking is prep for a tantrum."
"I'm not sulking."
"Uh huh. And I have two perfectly fine knees." Jack picked up a pen and started signing the bottom of a stack of forms.
He refused to uncross his arms. Jack was right, but that didn't mean he needed to acknowledge that fact nor did he have to give up on his mission. "I want to go."
Jack sighed. "I know you do. But you can't. And you and I both know why you can't, so it's no use beating a dead horse. Because nothing, and I repeat, nothing's going to change."
Nothing was changing. That was the problem. He'd been needed before. Actually, Dr. Daniel Jackson had been a hot commodity at the SGC. Now he was simply here. A genius kid who could teach SGC teams new languages and translate lines of ancient and alien text but couldn't step through a wormhole to make contact with the civilization responsible for said text.
Was he still making a difference, then? Hell, they'd survived for a year without him.
And just why did that stupid planet allow him to keep every thought he'd ever committed to memory if he wasn't permitted to put said memories use?
It was frustrating. Endlessly frustrating. But that wasn't anything new, so he wasn't sure why he was harping on it.
Probably because it hurt. A lot.
He was too smart to attend a conventional school and it would be a disaster waiting to happen if he tried. Both he and Jack were well aware of this fact. But Daniel was of school age now and therefore Jack was, at least on paper, "home-schooling" him. Eventually he would need documentation of some type of graduation in case Daniel ever wanted to pursue another Ph.D. Daniel had snuffed at that, ready to take the GED test, just so he could get his hands on something that proved to others he simply wasn't just another six-year-old. But Jack reminded him it didn't work that way for a child and he needed to "complete" the paperwork for each grade via home school. Daniel figured he could still do that in less than two years if he wanted.
Of course, that was providing they hadn't found a way to reverse this whole situation and he got to use his current diplomas again. And so he waited. But the gate to the planet still wouldn't engage, Janet was long out of ideas, alien help had nothing, and each day passed, whispering to Daniel to move on.
But, like he told Jack on his birthday moving on was not easy. Right now he wasn't fine.
Right now, he simply wanted to feel needed.
Oh, Jack needed him. He needed Jack. But that was on an entirely different level. He needed intellectual need. His intellect had always defined who he was. He wanted his role at SGC to be important, like he felt it had been before. Sam was the great physicist mind; he'd thought perhaps he was the diplomatic. General Hammond used to send him on diplomatic missions because he said Daniel was the best the SGC had.
Now Russia would laugh at him because he'd need a booster seat to reach the tabletop.
He wasn't asking for a lot. Not really at all. But it was still impossible. And Jack was right; it wouldn't be changing anytime soon.
So he sulked. Here in Jack's office he kept his arms folded until his six-year-mind wandered and he found himself rolling his favorite Matchbox car across the carpet. On the desk above him, he heard Jack shuffle more paperwork.
The issue had been dropped for the moment, but it was never really going to leave his mind, he knew. It didn't leave his mind when he dropped by Ben Roberts' office an hour later after Jack finished his paperwork. Roberts' new office was his old one. When he realized this situation wasn't short-term, he'd given his title over to the up and coming archaeologist whose brilliant diplomatic mind could handle the politics of the SGC. Even recommended his placement on SG-1. But Roberts' office had had no space and Daniel's new duties didn't need much, so it made sense. But it didn't make it easy. Daniel sighed as he looked longingly at the department head paperwork on the desk. Fondly, Daniel remembered receiving and hating that paperwork.
Roberts wasn't there. He was offworld, consulting with SG-11 who needed an expert on their latest mission. Something about an Ancient outpost. He sighed and dropped his latest translation on the top of the pile. It wasn't nearly as important.
He wasn't nearly as important.
Later he stood on his tiptoes and looked out into the Gateroom as General Hammond held a briefing with the three other members of SG-1. Daniel listened half-heartedly, choosing just to gaze out the window. He didn't even realize when the briefing ended and Sam and Teal'c left.
"I'm sorry, son."
The words startled him and he looked up, surprised to see Hammond standing by his side. He glanced back to see Jack a few feet behind, gathering up the paper remains of the meeting.
"Thank you," Daniel told him and pressed a little hand to the glass. Suddenly the gate activated and Hammond headed downstairs.
Probably SG-11, Daniel thought, staring at the circle of blue. He felt Jack's hand pat his head. Sure enough, SG-11 paraded through a moment later, Ben Roberts' was trailing behind, a notebook in one hand.
Daniel stroked the glass. "Can we go home?" he asked quietly. He couldn't be here anymore. At home he could pretend things were different and stick his toes in the sandbox and dig and dig and think of other things and eat coffee ice cream and cuddle with Jack on the couch while they watched the Discovery Channel.
"Sure, kiddo. I just gotta sit in on SG-11's debriefing for a few minutes and then we'll head out." He patted Daniel's head again. "We'll get takeout. From that Thai place you like."
Daniel nodded and let Jack lead him from the briefing room. He settled himself in Jack's office, rolling his car once again across the bumpy carpet and tried to think of other things while he waited for Jack to return.
A few minutes passed and he though he might just make it through another day at the SGC, when Jack returned much too early for the debriefing to be finished.
The footsteps paused at the doorway and Daniel looked up at Jack. He was smiling.
"It's your lucky day, kiddo."
--
It was his lucky day, indeed. Lucky day plus a million. SG-11 had found an Ancient site. It was amazing and filled with so much text Roberts couldn't even begin to transcribe it.
He couldn't even translate it, in fact. It was coded, he'd discovered and his knowledge of the language only went so far.
"We need the best to do it," Roberts said. "The best is Dr. Jackson."
They couldn't bring it all through the gate and this could a major breakthrough.
"What about hostiles?" Jack immediately asked.
"Area's in the clear. We scouted for miles. There's nothing," SG-11's colonel assured the anxious faces around the table.
"I'm still not sure if this is such a good idea," Jack mused out loud.
"No, it's a great idea!" Daniel was unable to stifle his excitement. "It's an absolutely wonderful idea! I've got to see that text, Jack. We're talking about the Ancients, here. This could be what we're looking for."
General Hammond nodded. "I agree. But we can't take any changes. Since this is a unique situation, I'm sending you back out with Dr. Jackson and SG-1. You leave at 0800 tomorrow."
Daniel couldn't stop bouncing. Hammond was letting him offworld and referred to him as "Dr. Jackson," something that hadn't happened in what felt like forever, especially after his name was legally changed to O'Neill. But Dr. Daniel Jackson still existed, inside of him, and he was going to prove it. To himself, to Jack, to the universe.
So translating text wasn't glamorous. But it was something he did. Very well. The best, in fact.
They needed him.
It felt good.
It still felt good two days later, when they returned. It didn't matter that he'd gotten a little lost among the ruins. It didn't matter that for a slight second he found himself thinking about how cool it would be to send his Matchbox car down the steepest pair of rocks. It didn't matter that SG-11 watched his every move and babied him to the point he thought he'd suffocate. Or that Jack wrapped him so tight in his sleeping bag there was no way he could escape or that Teal'c was his permanent bodyguard. It didn't matter that he'd twisted his ankle and Jack carried him back through the gate.
He went offworld.
The Ancient ruins were full of some great things. Not as much as they hoped for, but again it didn't really matter.
He went offworld.
He did what he was good at.
So he led the briefing sitting on a phone book, struggled with the keyboard as he wrote his report, and went out for ice cream with SG-1 and SG-11, where he got more ice-cream on his shirt then in his mouth.
So things were different.
He was different.
But every once in a while it was nice to see that some things he could still do just the same.
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