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Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
"Daniel, you promised!" She reminded him, waving her new cell phone at the gaping archeologist who had accidently stumbled in on her phone conversation with her boyfriend.
"He... he said..."
"I love you... yes Daniel, he said that."
'"You're 16!"
"So?"
"I love you?"
"We're kids Daniel... we'll probably break up in a year, we'll be broken hearted then move on... such is life," Dori said gaily.
Daniel gave her a sharp glance. "This isn't something to be take light-"
"Daniel," She warned. "I think I'm going to find Sam."
She moved away. "Daniel," She said pausing in the doorway. "I wasn't serious... honest."
And she darted away.
Å
Jack crept around the wagon like carrier. The Stargate and the DHD were loaded (carefully) onto the wagon and protected by three guards. Slipping past them had been easy- they had been praying. To his delight, the cover stone laid next to the gate… not on top of it. He looked uneasily at the guards but their eyes were still closed.
He felt around in his pocket for GDO. Once he was sure it was there, he began dialing the gate.
Å
"Sam? Can we?"
The Colonel looked up from the report she was reading. "Um, I guess…just give me a minute to finish this-"
"UNSCHEDULED OFF WORLD ACTIVATION!"
Dropping the report, the two fled to the control room.
Å
The sounds of the gate engaging made the guards look up. They were charging at him when the event horizon shot out. They stepped back, suddenly afraid.
He fumbled for the transmitter and slowly began entering his code.
1-7-9-3-5-6
He cursed as he realized he had entered the wrong number and erased it.
1-7-9-3-5
Suddenly, a flash of blue light covered him and he fell to the ground unconscious, Aaron lowering a zatnikitel.
"Get the cover stone on it… NOW!"
Å
"Receiving IDC code!"
Sam stared. "That's General O'Neill's code!" She said as the numbers flashed across the screen.
Walter shook his head. "SG-4's code ma'am… General O'Neill's doesn't have an even number in his.
"They're not even off-world!"
The code was erased and it began again. 1-7-9-3-5…
The gate deactivated.
Sam looked as white as a ghost. "Dial 92R-763 NOW!"
Walter nodded and hit a few keys. "Chevron one encoded!"
Å
"Get it on!" Aaron ordered. "They are trying to come back!"
Aaron's guard joined in the lifting of the stone. It was up…
Å
"Chevron five encoded!"
It had never seemed so agonizingly slow…
"Chevron six encoded!"
The whole room waited anxiously, all praying fervently as the gate began spinning for the seventh one…
Å
"Commander!"
The event horizon shot out for the second time.
Å
"Seven chevron… locked?"
"YES!" Dori screamed. "We did it Sam!"
Carter turned to look at her. "YES! Send a team through… NOW!"
Å
"The cover stone!" Aaron ordered. "One, two, three!"
The stone dropped onto the Stargate…
Å
Walter closed his eyes and everyone turned to face the Stargate as it shut down.
"Redial!"
Walter already had the first chevron encoded. Chevron two… Chevron three… Chevron four… Chevron five…. Chevron six….
"Chevron seven… will not lock."
Carter stared. "What?"
Dori burst into tears.
Å
Jack groaned and opened his eyes. Daniel would have gone crazy over all the artifacts and tapestries hanging all over the room.
"O'Neill."
Jack looked over, automatically answering: "Teal'c?"
Aaron was sitting there, looking grave. "No."
"My plan busted, huh?" He sat up slowly and groaned. "Did you have to zat me? Talk about a nail in the head…"
Aaron was quiet for a moment. "I too was once taken from 'home'. I was nearly twenty years of age. I was taken to this world and sold as a slave. Now, I am Commander of the Darien's… these are my people… I am happy."
"Well, do me a favor…. Don't expect me to rejoice."
"Alastor gave you your device back," The Commander said quietly. "Why? He is loyal to me… why would he help you leave when he knows what would happen?"
Jack saw it was useless to deny anything. "Saved his kid… plus, he's not screwed in the head- he believes me when I say no harm would come to your people."
Aaron was quiet again. "I once let a prisoner go back to his world… his name was Apophis. He returned with ships and warriors… we lost tens of thousands of people… men, women, children… females were used as harem slaves, the men sent to mines and the children…" He closed his eyes then whispered, "The strongest of the children were taken away. The weaker ones were killed… including my daughter."
"What was her name?" Jack asked.
"Anya."
"I have a daughter… her name is Dori."
"Dori… tis a strange name for a child."
"It's actually Dorothy… we call her Dori for short."
Aaron nodded. "I am sorry O'Neill… truly." He stood up.
"Aaron," Jack began. "Do me a favor?"
"What is it O'Neill?"
"Let me send a message through the 'gate… before it buried."
"I can not. You know this."
"Worth a try."
The Commander nodded and left the room quietly.
Å
After the Stargate's mysterious shutdown, Carter dialed the Tok'ra and asked her father about any available ships.
Jacob was not encouraging. His report said since the planet was on the very edge of the solar system, a journey there would take a nearly year… or more.
General Landry refused to send any of his officers off on a mission that could quite possibly be their last without them knowing whether he was still alive or not. SG-1, he realized, would probably disobey orders but they had their own dilemmas.
Sam couldn't go as she had Dori, Teal'c had to help lead the rebel Jaffa, and Daniel was to leave on the Atlantis expedition the next month (something he was deciding he might forfeit to stay home with Dori.)
The Tok'ra promised as soon as 'Tok'ra'ly' possible that they would send a ship with one of their operatives, (operatives would 'steer' the ship to an inhabitable planet, dial base and send another Tok'ra to fly to the next planet) but Jacob warned them that it would be a few months before it could happen.
"All we can do is wait," Daniel muttered.
"I hate waiting!" Dori said, unable to restrain herself. "He's alive! I know he is!"
"It is unlikely… the race of people that prevented his escape most likely killed him to prevent his escape again." Teal'c said in a low tone to no one in particular. Sam heard it and winced.
Dori stared at the Stargate. "Come home Jack… come home." She whispered.
Å
"Dori?"
The teen looked up. "Yeah?"
Summer had come… two months had past since that fateful day at the SGC. Dori had been quiet after her first emotional outburst. She rarely came to the SGC anymore, preferring to stay 'home'.
Her adoption was moving through quickly. Sam's lawyer told her it should only be a few more months before 'Dori Morgan' became 'Dori Carter'.
"Sam? What was it?"
Carter dropped her things on the table. "Nothing… you were just… staring."
"Waiting for Rick to call," She explained. "What's up with you?"
The Colonel handed her an envelope. "Daniel and I got tickets to that water park place… we'd thought you could invite a couple of your friends and we could all go."
Dori nodded and set the envelope next to her. "Are you and Daniel dating?"
"What?"
The teenager looked searchingly at her guardian's face. "I said... are you and Daniel dating?"
"What on Earth gave you that idea?" She demanded.
"Just answer the question Sam." The Colonel's eyes were being to narrow so she added: "Please?"
Carter sighed. "Nothing is going on between Daniel and I. We're friends... like we always have been."
"Promise?"
She held up her hand. "Scouts honor."
Dori nodded, satisfied. "Want to watch MacGyver? I made brownies..."
"Sure."
She smiled and hurried out of the room, Carter looking after her perplexed.
She wasn't sure whom or what had given the idea to the young teen that there was anything going on between her and the archeologist.
Granted, he was around a lot... but so was Teal'c.
Ever since her CO's disappearance, the two men had tried to fill the role of 'father' to her. Daniel took her driving, helped her with her history homework and talked to her about boys. Teal'c had done the same.
Dorothy reappeared with the plate of brownies. "There."
"Not bad for a kid," She teased after her first bite.
"I'm almost 16 and a half!"
"HA!"
She ignored Sam and inserted a disc into the DVD player. "Ready?"
Carter slipped her arm around her daughter. "Play it."
Å
During the two months that had elapsed, Jack had not been idle. He had found out through various sources (mainly the children) the new location of the Stargate- a heavily guarded base about seven miles away.
Hoping if it appeared that he was finally resigned to living here, security would be less heavy, he began helping the townsmen regularly with their work- much to the children's displeasure. He even accepted the seat on the Council of the Darien's, much to the Commander's pleasure.
Every night as he laid on his bed, he looked at the picture of his two 'women' and smiled.
"I'm coming home campers… I'm coming home."
Å
"This is distinctly unfair!"
Carter checked her watch. "Your curfew was 11:00… it's 7 past 12!"
"So?"
She looked Dori in the eye. "So… you didn't call to tell me you might run a little late and was that okay? Or Daniel…. Or Teal'c. For all we knew, you could've been in an accident."
"Chill Sam!" Dorothy protested. "I'm almost seventeen… for cryin' out loud!"
"I don't care Dori… you are grounded until next Friday and to make sure that you don't go anyone… you will report to the SGC every afternoon after school."
"I don't want to go there Sam," She said instantly. "I hate that place."
Carter sighed. "Are you giving up your lok'nel? Teal'c said its been over a month since your last lesson."
Dori bit her lip. She missed lok'nel… it had been something that had helped her through her father's death. "I don't want to go up there Sam." She repeated.
"Kiddo, you have no choice. Last time I grounded you and let you stay here, you held a four hour conversation with Rick."
"How did you-?"
"Phone records."
"I promise I won't cal-"
"No, Dorothy. You will report to my lab by 3:30… or I will take every single available SG team and we will find you."
Dori grimaced, imagining the look on her friend's faces when dozens of men burst into their house. "Okay, okay."
Carter watched as the teen stalked away then slammed the door. "Oy."
Å
"She's testing you Sam… seeing how strong you really are."
Sam sighed and closed her laptop. "Daniel, I don't know what to do! A month ago, she was pleasant, quiet, well-behaved- occasionally a little snippy or sarcastic but now… she has a bad attitude, she won't listen, she breaks her curfew-"
"What's bothering her?" Daniel asked.
She stared at him. "What?"
"Something's bothering her…" He trailed off. "Why don't you send her over to my lab Monday?"
The Colonel closed her eyes. "That… would be great."
"Where is she now?"
"Janet's office… watching Janet draw blood."
"Yippee."
Å
The weekend dragged by for both Dori and Carter. The teen had never been so relieved to start school again.
Å
"Reporting as ordered, ma'am."
Carter didn't even look at the teen. "Go report to Daniel's lab."
Dori stood there for a moment, defiance written on her face. After several minutes of being ignored, she spun around and marched towards the archeologist's office.
Å
Knock-Knock
Daniel looked up to see Dorothy in the doorway, a scowl on her face.
"Hey!" He called cheerily. "Coffee?"
A begrudging smile flew across her face. "Yeah, cool."
He poured her a cup, added some creamer and handed her several sugar packets.
"Sam tells me you've been a grouch recently."
Dori's head shot up. "I-"
"Hey, before you argue, just listen… okay?"
She slowly nodded.
"Okay. Now, the only thing I can think of is that you either want attention… or something is rubbing you the wrong way. Is it school?"
She shrugged. "I like school well enough."
Daniel sat next to her. "She also told me several months ago that you thought that there was something between us… is that true?"
Dori looked down. "She's trying to replace Jack," She whispered. "And Lieutenant Farris said he saw you two hugging and kissing."
"Kissing?"
She nodded. Daniel sighed and said quietly. "Dori, look at me."
She tilted her head. "What?"
"There is nothing going on between Sam and I. We're friends. You and Sam suffered a terrible loss- as did I and Teal'c and many other people on this base. Sam has loved Jack for years… and let's say, just for the sake of arguing, that there was something between us…. Doesn't she deserve to be happy?"
Two tears trickled down her cheeks.
"Doesn't she?"
The teen barely nodded.
Daniel looked at her for a moment then placed an arm around her. "I know you miss Jack… and that you think I'm trying to replace him. But I'm not… really. Just… let me be your friend."
Dori leaned against him. "I miss him Daniel."
"So do I Dorothy… so do I."
She sniffed. "I've been pretty bitchy to Sam, haven't I?"
Daniel felt too relieved to scold her on her language. "Yeah, yeah you have."
She gave him a small nod. "I have lok'nel with Teal'c," She began edging out of the room. "Thank you Daniel."
He nodded. "Bye Dori… have fun."
Å
Things improved between Carter and Dori. The teenager continued to occasionally miss curfew, but her attitude improved…
Which was a start.
Thanksgiving past. They spent the day at Daniel's apartment, along with Janet and Cassie. Christmas drew near and this one promised to be a lot happier then the previous one.
December 10th.
"Is this Samantha Carter?"
Carter adjusted the phone. "Yes, this is she."
"I just wanted to let you know... the adoption came through."
"What?"
"You just need to come down here and sign some papers... Dorothy Morgan is no longer."
"When can I come?"
"Now?"
"I'm on my way."
Å
Jack wiped at the moisture on his forehead. He hadn't felt this hot since he was trapped in hell.
"Are you alright O'Neill?"
His legs shook. "Uh… maybe you should-"
And he fell to the ground, unconscious.
Well, what do you think?
I hope you people aren't getting tired of this story... I promise Jack will come home sometime but it would have been so cliche if he had escaped his first try.
PLEASE review!
