"Go high, kid! Go high!"
Aaron James threw the basketball overhand, then winced as it narrowly missed Sam's face. "Sorry!"
"Don't apologize to her! She's on the other team!" roared Jack, dribbling wildly across the floor with Daniel in close pursuit.
"Yes, sir!" Aaron tried to block Sam, only to yelp and catch the ball as it came back her way. Then she yelped again and overbalanced as a hand scooped the ball away from her. She caught a confused glimpse of the side of Daniel's white T-shirt, then the floor hit her in the back of the head and she saw stars.
"Time out!" yelled Jack.
"Aaron?" Sam knelt next to her, looking down at the teen with concerned blue eyes.
"I'm okay," she said in a small voice, feeling slightly bewildered. "I'm okay. Did I trip?"
"No, a big bully knocked you down." Jack shot Daniel one of his supremely irritated looks.
"No." Aaron let the archeologist give her a hand up to a sitting position. "Dr. Jackson never touched me. Really, it's not his fault." Then she stiffened and slewed around to stare at the door with wide eyes.
"Woah!" Sam caught her hand as she lifted it. "That's not a goa'uld."
Aaron frowned at the grey-haired man standing next to the door. "But, I can feel it."
"Not a goa'uld?" Jack followed her gaze and rose from his hunkering position. "Jacob, you got the note?"
The old man nodded, his face lighting in a kindly smile. "Is this the girl?"
"Yeah." Jack turned to look at Aaron as Sam pulled her to her feet. "That's her. But we should probably go to the briefing room before we say anything else."
"Major Carter, I can feel it!" whispered Aaron urgently as the hair on her arms prickled.
Sam shook her head slightly, that sternness coming into her smile as she led the girl toward the two men.
"Hey, kid." Jack put a hand on Aaron's shoulder. "I want you to meet General Jacob Carter, Major Carter's dad."
The fourteen year old shrank away, her bright blue eyes dark with distrust and confusion under her unruly black hair.
Jacob's smile became gentle as he spoke softly to the frightened girl. "Hello, Aaron. My friend Selmak is very interested in your research."
Aaron frowned at him and pressed her hands together, gritting her teeth at the tingle in them.
"Hey, I told you there were good snakes, remember?" Jack frowned down at her with exasperation. "Selmak's one of 'em. You don't need to be afraid of her unless you're in the passenger seat when she and Jacob get into a sports car."
Jacob gave him an easygoing look of amused warning, then turned and hugged Sam as she wrapped her arms around him with a murmur of 'dad'.
Aaron's eyes widened as she unconsciously pressed against Jack's side. "But how do I tell the difference? They feel the same."
"Briefing room." Jack gave her a quick one-armed hug, then shoved her gently toward the door. "Bet you still don't remember the way."
She gave him a quizzical look, aware of his teasing but not understanding it, then turned and trotted out of the gym.
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"She's frightened," said Selmak softly.
"Well, sheesh, I wonder why," said Jack under his breath sarcastically. "She's only got a gene that half the idiots on Earth want to kill her for, that's manifested in a way..." he lifted his voice, "...that would make the entire goa'uld race want to atomize her. Can't think why she'd be scared."
"You're fond of her." Jacob smiled.
"What? Me? Fond of a kid?" Jack grimaced at the thought.
"Total suck," murmured Daniel gleefully from behind them.
"Hey, Danny, if I want your opinion..." Jack turned and pointed a finger at the archeologist, who looked at him blankly.
"You want my opinion on something, Jack? I'm sorry, I wasn't really listening to the conversation."
Jack shook his head and resumed walking forward before he wiped out any innocent bystanders, then quirked a slight grin at the snicker from behind him. Yuck it up, Dannyboy. I know where you get your coffee.
They rode down in the elevator without speaking, Jack looking at the remnant of his team and hoping that Teal'c was feeling better. He missed the big lug, and only the thought that the Jaffa was convalescing under the loving care of Ishta made his absence from the SGC infirmary bearable. Can't drag a man away from his wife, especially when they're just newlyweds.
"How is Teal'c?" asked Jacob, as though reading his thoughts.
"Awake," said Jack. "Crabby."
"Janet thinks that he should be strong enough to get out of bed in a month or two," offered Sam as the elevator stopped and they started down the hall.
Jacob nodded, looking glad.
Aaron looked up sharply as they came into the briefing room, her face lighting with relief.
"It's good to see you, Jacob, Selmak." General Hammond rose from the chair next to the girl and came forward to meet his friend and the Tok'ra.
Jack didn't pause to listen to the conversation, instead he went and flopped into the chair that Hammond had vacated.
"He's just trying to be friendly," he said softly, brown eyes intent as he leaned forward.
Aaron nodded, then glanced over her shoulder and relaxed a little more as Daniel took the chair on her other side. "I know, Sir. It's just...well..." She shrugged and rubbed her left palm with her fingers.
"I know." Jack rolled his eyes, then turned and gave Sam his 'oh joy, the briefing room' look, smirking as she gave him her wide eyed 'be good!' one in return.
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Aaron was half asleep by the time the adults stopped arguing about the Human/Tok'ra treaty and turned to other matters, the only thing keeping her from attaining the other half being Jack's soft snoring from where he leaned against his fist next to her and Sam's ill-aimed attempts to wake him up by kicking him in the shin.
"Now then, O'Neill." General Hammond's voice rose, causing both the Colonel and Aaron to start guiltily.
"Yes?" said Jack smoothly as Daniel reached forward and squeezed Aaron's shoulder comfortingly.
The General gave him a look that let Aaron know that the older man was unfooled by his act, then folded his hands on the table and steepled his thumbs together. "What can your team tell us about the goa'uld detector?"
Jack turned in his chair to look at Aaron, his eyes dark with compassion as she gulped nervously and clenched her fists.
"It...it's me," she said softly, her eyes wide and staring with fright. "I can...I can sense them."
"Deep breaths," murmured Daniel, his hand still a comforting presence on her shoulder. "Take deep breaths."
"What do you mean?" Jacob leaned forward, a quizzical expression on his face.
"It...it's a tingle...in my mind. Like some...something's pushing at my brain." She balled her fists, digging her nails into her palms to try and still the tingling there. "And then...then I...can...can make them come out." She hugged herself and screwed her face up, unaware of the faint whimper that escaped her.
"Is my presence causing you discomfort?" asked Selmak suddenly, her voice full of compassion.
"Yes...yes, sir." Aaron finally managed the deep breath and squared her jaw. "But I can take it, sir."
"Good girl!" murmured Jack proudly, causing her shoulders to go back.
The Tok'ra nodded, then Jacob spoke. "Is this the result of Nirrti's experimentation?"
"No, sir," said Aaron softly. "I...I'm a mutant."
"I beg your pardon?" Jacob looked from her to Jack.
"Haven't you heard any of the furor over the X gene?" asked Daniel.
Jacob shook his head. "I'm afraid I'm a little behind on Earth news. What is the X gene?"
"It's a newly discovered gene that causes various unusual conditions in those who carry it," said the archeologist.
"What sort of conditions?" asked Jacob. "Other than being able to detect and extract goa'uld."
"Variations on telepathy seem to be the most common," said Sam. "But even in the short time since it's been known to the public there've been too many variations to accurately catalogue."
"It sounds like something from the comic books I read as a boy." Jacob's face creased in wonder.
"Except the guys in the comic books didn't get beat to death by raving mobs," growled Jack.
Jacob's mouth fell open, then his eyes flicked to Aaron with a look of deep compassion. "But why?"
"Because Senator Kinsey says that they're alien spawn planted in unwilling human hosts." Daniel's voice told plainly what he thought of that.
"Idiot!" growled Jacob. "Can't he see how these people could benefit society?"
"Hey, this is Kinsey we're talking about," said Jack flippantly.
"You have a point." Jacob sighed and rested his forehead on his hand for a moment, then looked up again. "Who knows about..."
"Aaron," said Daniel softly.
"Who knows about Aaron?" Jacob looked around at the assembled team.
"The people in this room," said General Hammond sternly. "Not even her parents know. They believe her to be here for a special training program."
"I see." The old man looked grave. "I think that's best. If news got out..."
"I'd be dead pretty quick." Aaron fought off the urge to pull her feet up onto her chair and curl into a ball at the thought. She heard Jacob suck in his breath and looked up to see him giving her a look that she didn't understand.
Then he shook his head. "How strong is this gift, Aaron? If you were faced with more than one goa'uld, would you be able to handle them?"
She went wide-eyed. "I can only focus on one at a time, and I have to fight with them before they come out. But..." She saw Jack glance at her. "Maybe."
Jacob nodded with a frown, then pushed his chair back. "I should get back to the base camp, there was another fight brewing when I left."
Jack groaned and hid his face in his hands.
"This one was between two different factions of Jaffa," said Selmak wryly.
Jack shook his head and refused to come out.
"Dismissed," said General Hammond dryly. "O'Neill, I'll speak with you later."
"You will?" Jack peered at him between his fingers, then blinked. "Oh, right. You will."
Jacob shook his head, then turned back to Aaron. "I can tell you how to tell the difference between goa'uld and Tok'ra while you're on Earth."
Everyone looked at him with sudden interest.
He smiled, a hint of mischief showing in his eyes. "I'm the only Tok'ra here."
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"Alright, that's enough." Jack moved the arm he was leaning against and turned off the treadmill, then replaced his fist against his cheek.
Aaron ducked her head and struggled to catch her breath, feeling too embarrassed to look at him.
"Hey, at least you didn't fall off this time," he quipped, then clapped his hands and headed for the mats. "Okay, now for a little self defense."
Aaron cringed and hugged herself, but followed obediently and took up the starting position that he'd taught her. They went through the warm up without comment, and she felt herself gradually relaxing into the flow of the moves as they picked up slightly.
"Okay, now. This is Akido, it's for little people to keep big people from beating them up," said Jack, sounding bored. "Now I'm going to attack, and you throw me, just like I showed you..."
"Let's try that again," he said a few minutes later as he got to his feet and stood Aaron up. "I'm going to attack, and you throw me."
"Third time's the donut."
"Kid, deer in the headlights isn't an Akido move. Now are you going to try or do I have to find something else to do instead of turning in that report?"
Aaron nodded and clenched her fists, then squealed and kicked him in the shin as he suddenly rushed her.
"Ouch! #$+&!" Jack gripped his injured leg and nodded slowly. "Good start. Now try the throw this time."
She tried, she really did, but they still ended up on the floor with Jack giving her a bearhug and a disgruntled look.
"Okay, go hit the shower." He climbed to his feet and turned toward where General Hammond had been watching the last few minutes of their workout.
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"How's she doing?" asked Hammond as he watched the door close behind the girl.
"Well, considering she's not the brightest light on the Christmas tree, and a worse nerd than Daniel was when he first came otherwise. Just peachy," said Jack with crushing sarcasm that failed to cover his concern.
"Do you think we should send her home?"
"No, no. She'll probably shape up...eventually."
Hammond looked at the leader of his premiere team, unfooled by the man's casual attitude. "You think she's safer here."
"I just don't want some crazy knocking off a perfectly good snake detector."
Hammond smiled knowingly. "I'll forward her application to the Academy.
"You do that." Jack nodded and shifted his weight, wincing slightly, then turned and headed for the door. "But if you'll excuse me, sir, I have a report to do."
"O'Neill."
"Yes, sir?"
"No horse latin this time."
Jack smirked. "Yes, sir!"