Ooh! This is gonna be a fun little piece!!! But I might not get chapters out very fast, sorry, but now... on to the story!

No Coffee, but Apple Juice?

"Oh Jack!"

Grunt.

"You're never gonna believe what I found!!" the close voice tantalized. Jack moaned in protest. He'd been on first watch that night and had gotten no sleep whatsoever.

"Daniel! It's…" he looked at his watch and groaned loudly, "4 IN THE MORNING!" Jack vocalized his protest. Daniel was jumping up and down.

"Come on Jack, it's the coolest thing!!" Jack put his head back down on the makeshift pillow.

"Daniel, I can't believe you got me up at this ungodly hour to show me some rock you found in the woods. Not only that, but I haven't had a cup of decent coffee in days!"

Daniel beamed. "Jack, it's only 4 back home, its 8 here."

The colonel growled. "At least let me have coffee before you take me on your next world wind adventure." O'Neill got up from bed and looked around at the pleasant planet. The fields were green as were the forests, the sand was yellow, that ocean was blue, and Daniel was olive… now, where were his other little olive spots? "Danny? Where's Teal'c and Carter?"

Daniel waved vaguely in the direction he'd come from. "Back at the ruins."

"The Rocks, Daniel, they're at the Rocks," Jack mumbled as he blew on his coffee. It was just enough to get Daniel going.

"They're ruins Jack, not rocks."

"Oh yeah? What's the difference? I mean the ruins are made of rock aren't they?"

Daniel sighed. "Fine. Ruins are rocks placed in a formation made by man… or whatever else… making them significant."

"Whatever."

Jack smiled into his coffee as his very annoyed archeologist muttered to himself. Unknown to most, Jack was fond of his pest, even though he was a scientist, but Daniel was sooo easy sometimes! The colonel couldn't help it when Daniel let him through an opening. He took advantage of the situation… being as that was natural to Jack…

Jack finished his MRE and coffee at a semi-leisurely pace, which served to make Daniel more impatient and more child-like. He whined.

"Ja-ack!"

"Coming Daniel…" With that, Jack grabbed his sidearm and P-90 and the two headed off to the Rocks.

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"Morning Carter, Teal'c."

"Hey! Good morning sir, glad to see you're up."

"Yeah, no thanks to that one." Jack pointed conspicuously at Daniel.

"Hey!"

"Good morning O'Neill," Teal'c greeted conversationally.

"Hey T." Jack settled and turned to Daniel. "Now, what was it that I needed to see so urgently?"

"Over here Jack." Daniel ran off into a little cave like thing. Jack reluctantly followed.

"Oh Daniel??" The two stopped on their walk. Daniel turned. "Can we see it now too?" Sam asked patiently. Teal'c and Carter had been forbidden to see the object until they were all there, probably so he didn't have to explain whatever it was twice. Being a scientist, Sam was naturally curious to what this machine was and to why Daniel would be so interested in it.

"Yeah sure, come on," he answered distractedly.

"Let's go campers to follow Daniel off into the Cave of Doom."

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"Ta da!"

"Daniel, it's dark in here."

"Hold on sir." Light flooded across Jack's face and Jack knew where that light was coming from.

"Carter! Gun. Down."

"Sorry sir." Daniel grabbed a torch and lit it with his lighter. Now the team could see oil puddles in bowls scattered across the room. Daniel lit them carefully, set the torch in a cradle on the wall, and ran back to the team.

"Daniel! I didn't know you smoked!" Jack said in mock disbelief. Daniel didn't pick up on the sarcasm for a split second then got it – the lighter.

"Ha ha. Do you want to see thing or not?" he asked impatiently.

Jack extended his hand. "Lead the way." In a little room in the cave was an altar. On top of it was a blue square, it seemed to be phosphorescent because of the almost imperceptible glow.

"Whoa."

"Yeah."

"What is this object DanielJackson?"

"Put your hand on it."

"Uh, Daniel, that might not be such a good idea until I check out the equipment," Sam advised.

"By all means." She pulled out her recorder and went up close to it.

"Nothing harmful, just light as far as-" Sam tripped and put her hand on the device for balance. She froze.

"Carter? Carter?!" Sam snapped out of it as her CO called her name.

"Whoa. I'm here sir." She turned to Daniel. "What the hell was that?" The team gave her an odd look. "That was… was incredible, amazing, scary almost." Jack gave her the skeptic eye and went to touch it himself.

He was absorbed into it without any regard to the people around him. He felt like he was flying through a Stargate… of his life. Images flashed past him until it settled on one. A happy moment in his childhood and he was playing the part all over again. It had been his tenth birthday, his dad was back from the military for the week, and mom was there right beside him as he blew out the 10 candles. All his friends were there, very good best friends, not to mention his birthday had also become a mini family reunion. Many of his relatives had been there to give him lots of presents (something every 10 year old cares about), love, and cake (Jack's favorite). That was also the birthday that he got his first dog. It was a golden retriever named Major O'Neill, after his dad's rank at the time. He laughed, with puppy in arms, as his parents tickled him to death, the puppy licked him to death, and friends and family swarmed over him. It was a loving, happy moment, one of the few in the life of Jack O'Neill. He was pulled away from the moment and returned to SG-1.

In the cube, he'd been feeling the feelings of his ten year old self, so he was exuberant when he returned. But soon after departing the cube's depths, the adult O'Neill took over and he was immediately sad at the loss of those happy days.

SG-1 looked on in wonder as Jack retreated from the cube. One second he was happier than a little kid, the next, instantly sad, but it didn't reach his eyes. So the crew knew that whatever he had seen must have been happy and in the past. So because it was in the past he was sad at the memory of good times. Teal'c was intrigued by the actions of his teammates and moved to the blue cube and laid his hand upon it. He too was in the grips of the past.

"Jack? You okay?"

"Fine," he said dejectedly. The moment had been happy and he felt like he was going to tear up.

"What did you see sir?"

"It was my tenth birthday party. One of the happiest times of my life. My dad was back from the field for the whole week, all my friends were there, and most of my family was too. I was lavished in presents and cake…" Jack sighed at the name and the onlookers smiled. "I also got my first dog that day, Major O'Neill, after my dad's rank." He broke out of his reverie. "Of course, the next day he was promoted to colonel, but I couldn't change the dog's name… sheesh, it figures." Jack smiled in remembrance. "Enough about me, so what about you two?"

"Huh, mine is a strange one for most people, but it was significant for me." Daniel laughed softly. "I must have been ten or so… it was my second foster home, real nice people by the way. New school, newish people – loving, but new, and one friend. I was a definite geek back then-" Jack chortled and Daniel gave him a condescending look like 'very funny.' "I made my first real friend, I mean I had friends before, or more like friendlies that I hung out with, sat with, played with, occasionally talked on the phone with, but no, he was a true friend. He understood me and even if he didn't he didn't shun me, but actually wanted to learn from it. The day I saw in that thing was the day he asked me if I wanted to be his best friend. I couldn't believe he was asking me, so at first I gaped like a fish and then bubbled up a 'sure!'"

Daniel stopped, remembering his best friend and he smiled. "What was his name Daniel?" Sam prompted softly.

"Chris, Chris Parson, damn… I miss that kid."

Then and there, Jack committed himself to finding Daniel's first real friend, getting the two back together, and then personally giving Chris his thanks on befriending the wayward archeologist.

"So Carter, what about you?"

"The day I knew for sure I wanted to get into the space program at NASA. I had it all planned out, go to the Academy at 17 or 18, whenever my dad would let me, then ask to be stationed at NASA. Only problem was that I had to wait seven or eight more years until I was old enough to go. Then I got into science and astrophysics, then waited a couple more years, then got hooked up on the Stargate program, not that I'm not happy here or anything. But that day was special, I told my dad and he told mom, and we all had this big group hug together, my brother too." Sam's eyes softened at the mention of her parents and brother. She stared off into space and sighed.

"Those were the-" A loud, booming laugh interrupted Daniel's speech. The humans looked at each other oddly. They were all thinking the same thing. Teal'c? They spun to see him 'returning' from the cube. Teal'c's memory had been much longer than the rest of the team.

"Uh, T?" They all saw his face in a true smile, not one of his half-grins. They were amazed to say the least. "What exactly did you see?" Jack asked slowly.

hehe, how'd you like that??