MAGIC

The rain had come out of nowhere. One hour ago it had been a glorious October afternoon. Suddenly the heavens had unleashed an unexpected torrential downpour.

In the midst of the localized cloudburst stood two shivering figures clinging to each other and sheltering two small children with their bodies. They shivered more from the realization of the tragedy that had almost happened than from the cold. In a matter of seconds, a larger figure approached the couple and ushered them into the relative warmth of a newly arrived SUV. As they entered the vehicle they could hear the sirens of the approaching fire engines.

OoOoOo

Twenty-four hours earlier ….

"How hard can it be to have a birthday party for a couple of one-year-olds?" Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill petulantly asked his wife as she finished cajoling him to come home early and help with preparations for the twins' party.

Sam simply rolled her eyes indulgently, before she replied in good humor. "Jack you are a great father, the best, but sometimes you just don't have a clue! Our friends are here from the Springs, we're planning a get together for all of us and it's the twins' first birthday. I want it to be special."

"And perfect?" He teased. Jack had never imagined Sam getting sentimental about things like birthday parties, but in a way he was glad. It was an important occasion and she was right, he needed to be a part of the preparations. "Okay, okay, I'll get out early. I'll tell the President we'll have to postpone our meeting until Monday morning. Will that help?"

"You can do that?"

Coming up behind her and planting a kiss on her cheek, he said, "Yep, this afternoon's meeting was to plan next week's golf game. I think it can wait. Not everything in my office involves the fate of the world, you know."

Just as Sam turned to give him a well deserved glare, they were summoned by babbling from the nursery, telling them the twins were ready to begin their day. As they went to greet Grace and Jacob, they found the two standing up in their cribs, babbling at each other as they had started to do whenever their parents were slow to show up. Today, Sam nearly fainted when she saw their newest accomplishment, one that was nowhere on the developmental charts.

"Jack, what are they doing?"

"Looks like they're playing catch." Jack said matter-of-factly, wincing just a bit at the implication.

As two bewildered parents watched, the twins were indeed playing 'catch'. A large, soft beach ball they often rolled back and forth with their parents was being gently lobbed between the two cribs. In itself that wasn't so extraordinary. But in this case, neither child was physically touching the ball.

Grace giggled as she sent the ball back to her brother and waited for it to return. To her obvious disappointment, her father stepped between the two children and caught their favorite toy, essentially putting a stop to the new game.

"Whoa, you two, this is different…How about we distract you guys for a bit?"

The O'Neills had known for some time that both twins had inherited a portion of Sam's telekinetic abilities. Their first signal was over six months ago when they'd come into the nursery wondering why Jacob was so quiet and apparently content by himself. They'd found him flat on his back, a big smile on his face. The brightly colored mobile hanging over his crib was turning slowly, all on its own. It wasn't long before they'd discovered Grace was equally adept at entertaining herself. At that point, they'd decided to keep their discovery to themselves. They didn't want the twins to be subjects of experimentation or curiosity. In any case, moving a baby mobile with your mind wasn't really a big deal, right?

Sam had had a brief conversation with Oma around that time, updating her on the twins. She'd been assured that these powers, if they were to develop, would develop very gradually. There was no guarantee that the abilities would survive infancy or that they would progress. Sam was fascinated scientifically with what had happened but frightened out of her mind for the children.

There'd been no new manifestation of the telekinesis since that time, until today. Sam had to admit she was a little spooked. Jack stood in the room with his trademark grin, like he was proud of the newest O'Neill accomplishment.

"Hey, neat trick, huh?"

"Do you think we need to tell somebody about this, someone besides Oma?" Sam asked a little nervously. "Maybe Luke? He is their doctor after all. Maybe he needs to run some tests to be sure they're all right."

"Sam, we know what's happening. There's nothing medical science is going to be able to tell us we don't already know." Jack answered, doing his best to sound sure of himself.

The rest of the day had gone on as planned. Sam had taken time from work to host their friends and get the house ready, while Jack had left for the Pentagon right after breakfast.

True to his word, he'd come home by 1700 hours, in time to join Sam for dinner. He'd been pleasantly surprised to find Janet and Teal'c there as well. They'd arrived in town early and come to visit. Sam of course had insisted they stay for dinner.

Jack was thrilled to see them. Daniel would be arriving early the next morning and coming to stay with them at the house. It had been a long time since the old team had been together. Sure Jack and Sam had visited the mountain from time to time and spent time with one or another of them, but having everyone together was very different.

Once the twins had been put to sleep for the night, the four sat up reviewing recent happenings with the Ori and the progress of negotiations they knew were underway between the Ori and the Ancients. Jack couldn't help but think it was a shame that when these two advanced civilizations had a good old fashioned civil war, they had to pull the rest of the galaxy in with them. Teal'c, in his usual straight to the point fashion, had commented on the similarity between the challenges presented by the Ori and those presented, not so long ago, by his long time nemesis, the Goa'uld.

OoOoOo

The twins' birthday dawned a beautiful Saturday morning. It was early October and Washington had been enjoying a delightful week of summer-like temperatures. Sam had chosen to set up the party, luncheon and of course cake, on the screened in porch, hoping to enjoy the sunshine and warm weather without the bother of the inevitable ants, mosquitoes and yellow jackets.

The O'Neills had added on the porch shortly after buying their Alexandria home. They'd seen the investment as a way to extend the summer season and enjoy the beauty of a gorgeously landscaped yard. The spacious room had been furnished with graceful wicker furniture and the ceiling to floor 'windows' framed with delicate, billowing tulle curtains that often caught the gentle breezes wafting in from the yard. Just walking into the bright, cheerful room, surrounded as it was by the fragrance of the garden was a delight many a day.

Daniel had arrived shortly after sun-up. Hoping to ease his early morning arrival, he'd brought donuts, lots of Jack's favorite varieties. Though awoken far too early for his liking by his favorite archeologist's early arrival, Jack was his usual gracious self.

"If it isn't Space Monkey! You're a sight for sore eyes, Daniel! Come on in before you wake Sam. And let me at those donuts. Between the sugar and the coffee, I'm sure I can stay awake as you tell me about your latest rock collection."

"Glad to see you too, Jack." Daniel quipped, pulling his half awake friend into a macho embrace. "It's been too long. You can have all the donuts you want and I won't even tell Sam. I've got to warn you though. Teal'c is just behind me. No donut is safe once he gets here."

Shortly after noon, Luke arrived, with General Hammond and Janet close behind. After a lovely lunch, Reuben sandwiches for the adults and macaroni and cheese for the twins (their favorite), it was time for cake. Jack had ordered two cakes, one for each twin, decorated with their names and their favorite cartoon characters. Truth be told, he'd readied the camera to take pictures of the kids blowing out their candles (one for each), but to his dismay hadn't been able to teach either one of them to blow out on cue. So he'd decided on the next best thing. He'd blow them out.

So it was that after a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday, the candles on the two small cakes were lit and each of the friends delivered good wishes for the smallest O'Neills. Jack then proceeded to blow out the candles. To his surprise, almost immediately, both candles relit.

"Okay, that's odd."

"Not so odd, Jack. Haven't you heard of re-lighting candles? Just a little trick, actually. Of course they didn't have them when you were a kid." Daniel quipped.

"Very funny, Danny boy," Jack returned, blowing the candles out once more and turning to Sam. "Good one, Sam. Want to make me feel older that I am, huh."

Before Sam could deny any such trickery the candles had relit once again to the delighted giggles of the guests of honor. The flames appeared brighter and slightly larger than before. Jake began to clap his hands.

"Alright, Sam. A little help would be good. Once again the candles were blown out, only to relight, seconds later as both twins clapped their hands and giggled.

"You don't think?"

"I know I bought ordinary 'first birthday candles'."

Before they could say anything else the flames from each candle flared and shot upward. In shock, the startled adults watched as one of the curtains, blown by an errant breeze, ignited in the flame, causing a nearly instant conflagration of the remaining curtains. Jumping into action, the O'Neills and their friends moved as one to contain the situation. As Daniel ran for the fire extinquisher he'd seen in the kitchen, the others leapt from their seats, their first thoughts for the safety of the babies. Luke, sitting closest to Grace, quickly pulled her out of harms way, but not before she'd sustained a small burn on her forearm.

In her mind, Sam reflexively called out to Elizabeth, just as Jack ran to her, placing Jake in her arms for safe keeping. Stridently, in his strongest command voice, he ordered "Get everyone out of here, now!"

As everyone else evacuated, Jack and Teal'c proceeded to tear down and try to smoother what was left of the flaming curtains, but by then furniture had also caught fire. As Daniel arrived on scene with the extinguisher, the situation was nearly out of control.

Recognizing the futility of the situation, Jack and Teal'c prepared to abandon their efforts, ready to flee the house after the others. Just then, the sky darkened instantaneously and sheets of water blew almost horizontally through the porch screening. In seconds, the flames were extinguished, leaving scorched, steaming wood and heavy smoke. A relieved, but mystified Air Force General, pulled his friend's arm to lead him from the porch, closed the door to hopefully contain some of the smoke and left the house to join his family and friends outside.

Strange story, I know, but I wanted to get around to introducing the twins' 'special abilities'. This part of the story will be directly continued with reactions from family and friends, including Luke, in the next chapter.

Please just hit the little button to review. I love feedback. Thanks.