Jack wasn't sure how long he stared down at the hands of Carter and Daniel. Eventually, his eyes roamed up first Daniel's arm, confirming that the uniform fit a lot looser, and that the man's face he was used to seeing had been replaced by a boy's face. The familiar glasses were barely hanging on, making the glass and wire frames appear abnormally large. The boy looked to be about nine or ten. His hair had a bit more blond in it, and was slightly curly, his face relaxed in sleep. Jack could see the boy's chest rose and fell easily in a steady rhythm, so turned his attention back to Carter.
Her uniform fit even looser than Daniel's. And now he was almost positive that these children were his team, they looked too much like his teammates. This little girl, who couldn't be older than seven, had Carter's soft blond hair, and he was sure if she smiled, she'd have her dimples too.
Turning his attention to the last, he saw that Teal'c hadn't been spared whatever transformation had occurred. Teal'c, however, appeared to be the oldest, perhaps about twelve, maybe younger. It was difficult to judge, because he was muscular, though still wiry, reminding him a lot of Rya'c. Thinking of Teal'c's son gave Jack an odd thought that now Teal'c appeared to be younger than his own son. That thought, of all things, finally spurred him into action. Jack moved forward, gently checking on his team, feeling pulses and checking breathing, and generally reassuring himself that they were alive, even if drastically altered in appearance.
None of them stirred at his touch, or showed any indication that they were aware he was there, even when he tried shaking them awake. Frowning in concern, Jack looked over at the device, and worried what might happen if it were to go off again. If it indeed was the cause of their current state, though Jack was fairly certain at this point that the thing had everything to do with the situation.
Making a decision, he gathered up each of his unconscious teammates and carried him or her outside, wrapping each one in emergency blankets. He was able to keep most of the adult sized uniforms on each, but there was no way to keep the boots on Carter's now much smaller feet, and he doubted the pants would stay long once she woke up and started moving around. The belt didn't do much good even on the smallest notch, but he'd worry about that later.
Jack stood studying the prone forms of his teammates for a minute, and as the shock wore off he started to wonder just how deeply this transformation had gone. It suddenly hit him that what appeared to be a seven-year-old little girl had a M16 strapped to her vest. Moving among the unconscious childlike bodies of his team, he carefully disarmed each one, setting the weapons out of reach, and removed the GDO from Sam's arm, placing it on his own arm for safekeeping until he could ascertain what their mental states were. He then carried all of the gear outside of the temple, including the camera Daniel had been recording with, which he'd found turned on and not far from the archeologist. He didn't have time though to dwell on what might have been captured on the tape, because he had more important matters to attend to.
He studied the terrain between the temple and the Stargate, and realized there was just no way he could risk it carrying his unconscious teammates. He'd have to carry them one at a time, and there was no way he was going to decide which two to leave behind, since it would be a half hour round trip with each one. And since he had not idea yet what state they would be in when they woke up, it wouldn't be safe to leave them alone. He could only hope they remembered their adult selves, but what if they acted the way they looked? It could be disastrous if they woke up here, alone, and in the wilderness. No, it looked like they would all be waiting here until all three of them woke up, or they missed their check in time at the SGC. At least there were several hours more of daylight before the sunset, but even still it was getting chilly.
Plan decided on, Jack scoured the immediate area, which was plentiful in brush for a small fire, and boiled water from the canteen. He raided the MREs for cocoa packets for when his teammates woke up, deciding that hot chocolate would be safe no matter what mental state they were in, as well as being good for a quick sugar boost. The sweetened energy bars should be okay too he decided. Preparations ready, he settled down to watch and wait.
It was nearly an hour later before Teal'c first stirred, making a small sound somewhere between a grunt and a sigh, he was sleeping one moment and sitting bolt upright the next, his eyes wide. Jack had been stirring the coals of the fire, and stopped, holding still. "Teal'c?" he said softly.
Teal'c's eyes met his across the fire, and Jack could see there was no recognition in them, but he was heartened when the boy didn't immediately bolt or make any threatening motions. "It's ok, I won't hurt you. I'm a friend." Jack kept his voice steady and calm, and remained where he was sitting, the fire between him and the young Jaffa. In a way, he was glad Teal'c had woken first, because this way there would be no distractions. He hoped he could get Teal'c trusting him before the other two woke.
"Who are you?" Teal'c watched him with narrowed eyes, and Jack could see that every muscle in the boy's young body was tense, ready to spring. Any hope Jack had held that Teal'c might remember him had been dashed as soon as he'd looked into the boy's eyes, merely confirmed as soon as the boy had spoken. Jack knew he'd have to carefully win this one's trust.
"I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill, of Earth." The boy just stared at him, and Jack, remembering the very first time they'd met, and how Daniel had drawn the symbol of Earth, used the stick he'd been poking the fire with the draw the Earth's symbol into the dirt. Teal'c stared at the symbol for a long time, before finally looking back up at Jack.
"The first world is a myth told to children. It is not real," he said.
Jack shrugged. "I feel pretty real." Just then, Daniel sighed. "If you'll excuse me." Teal'c nodded slightly, but his dark eyes never left the man as he moved the water back to the fire to warm again and made his presence known as the younger boy sat up, blinking in confusion and fear.
"Where are we?" Daniel said.
Kneeling down in front of the young boy so as to present a less imposing figure, Jack remained careful not to touch the boy so as not to startle him. "It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you Daniel. You're safe here." Daniel narrowed his eyes at him, and he could see the questions forming in the young boys mind, but before he could ask them, the smallest shape, which Jack had lain out between the two boys, started to stir.
Disoriented, the little girl started to whimper. "Mommy?" she called plaintively, and Jack winced, wondering what to do, and not wanting to lie to her. Unfortunately, in his moment of indecision, she whimpered again, tears threatening. "Where's my mommy?" she asked again, sniffling and looking frightened, and Daniel looked at him accusingly, while laying a hand on the little girl's knee.
Jack sighed, and turned his attention to the little girl. "Sam, I'm sorry, your mommy can't be here right now."
"Why not?" Of course she'd ask the one question he couldn't answer. He frowned.
"Look, Sam, we need to get home first, but I need you to try and be brave for me for a little bit, until we get home ok? Do you think you can do that?" He watched her as she tried to get her tears under control, after a little bit she nodded. He wanted nothing more than to gather he in his arms but didn't know how she'd perceive such a movement coming from a total stranger so kept his peace. Luckily, she seemed to be receptive to Daniel and was sidling closer to the boy. He noticed Teal'c was watching the two younger children, and his own interactions with them, with wary interest.
"Y-yes sir." Jack winced at hearing the very familiar form of address coming out of her very young mouth. She must have had it ingrained at a very young age.
"Look, you guys, my name is Colonel Jack O'Neill, ok? And I'm going to make sure we all get home safe." He met each of their eyes, and willed them to trust him, relieved when they nodded.
"C-colonel Jack?" piped up Sam, with a last sniffle, and Jack couldn't help but smile. With her hair rumpled, and the overlarge T-shirt and jacket sliding off her shoulder, she was adorable, and Jack bet more than one person had been taken in by those big blue eyes of hers.
"When are we going?" asked Daniel, eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"As soon as we have something to eat," Jack said evenly, dumping the instant hot chocolate packets into the pot and stirring it up. Daniel and Sam immediately recognized what the sweet drink was and cheered up at the prospect of the treat. Teal'c watched curiously as he poured the drink into four mugs, than passed around the energy bars, wondering how they'd go down.
As he'd expected, the kids all liked the hot chocolate much better than the energy bars, though they were all hungry enough to each eat at least some of the bar. Teal'c ate all of his, and Sam ate the least, making faces the entire time, and Jack decided not to push any of them. They wouldn't starve on the short trek back to the gate, and the chocolate from the drink would give them enough of an energy boost to get them there until he could find them something more palatable. He'd try the MRE packets, but he didn't think they would go down much better than the ration bars, which at least had a sweet coating.
As they ate, Jack began the tentative process of getting to know his teammates again. He found out Sam was seven, Daniel nine and Teal'c eleven. None of the children remembered how they had come to be in the temple, as far as they were concerned they had all gone to bed as usual, and woken up here. The revelation had again prompted a bit of suspicions on Teal'c's part, which in turn had nearly made Sam start to cry again, wanting her mother (apparently her father was overseas at this time in her life) and Daniel just didn't believe anything that was going on and seemed to think Jack had something to do with it. Somehow though, Jack was able to get all the kids calmed back down. For some reason, they seemed to trust him despite the fact they didn't know him, to the extent that they believed he wouldn't hurt them, and that he would lead them back to where they needed to be. They didn't know what was going on, and they didn't know him, and he could see the conflict on their faces, and yet they trusted him, so he wasn't going to argue with the results as long as it got them all back through the gate safely. They could figure the rest out later. Hopefully, along with the other more pressing problem, like how they had ended up this way.
When they had finished eating, he surveyed their clothing. Cutting up strips of blankets, he was able to stuff enough into Teal'c and Daniel's boots to make them fit well enough for the short trip. He substituted a piece of rope for Daniel's belt to make his pants a better fit, than rolled up the legs and stuffed them into the tops of the boots. Teal'c was able to wear Daniel's belt, which just barely stayed on at the smallest notch, and his pants needed the least rolling. As he'd thought, Sam's were a lost cause, although she had a kick trying on the too large boots and stomping around the small clearing until she tripped over her pants. After soothing away her tears and treating her skinned knees, he was finally able to convince her to leave the pants behind by promising her a piggyback ride.
Carrying Sam down the hillside presented a new problem though, and he worried about being able to defend the group as effectively while carrying the little girl. Even on his back, with her arms around his shoulders and her legs firmly wrapped around his waist, leaving both arms free to carry his weapon, he still didn't feel safe being the sole defender. And then he remembered Teal'c.
Teal'c looked surprised when the closed Zat came sailing towards him, but he reflexively caught it, and Jack nodded approvingly. "Know how to use one of those Teal'c?" Jack asked, one eyebrow raised, his hand still lightly on his P-90.
Teal'c looked down at the weapon in his hand, and pressed the button, arming the weapon, then nodded silently. "Good," was all Jack said, "I need for you to watch our backs," With that Jack turned back to packing up the supplies and clearing the camp. He planned to leave everything but what they must carry, intending to have a team come back to retrieve the supplies. He'd have his hands full with the kids.
Teal'c watched the older man, somewhat surprised that this stranger was giving him a weapon, treating him as an equal, and trusting him. And yet somehow, Teal'c felt himself drawn to this man, as well as these other two children, and knew that while a part of him said he should run, run far away from these people, there was another part that was saying to trust this man. He didn't understand it, but from what he could tell, he didn't really have any choice at this point, but at least now he had a weapon. And so Teal'c pocketed the weapon, and followed the man that called himself Colonel O'Neill and claimed to be from the first world. A man who appeared to be a hardened warrior, but carried the smallest child and led the younger boy from the camp they'd woken up in only a few short hours ago having no recollection of how they'd gotten there. The man showed surprising gentleness among the three children despite his hardened outward appearance, further reinforcing the vague feelings of trust.
Jack found that the climb down was a lot more of a challenge with the three children than it had been going up as four adults, especially considering he had a seven year old clinging to his back like a monkey, throwing his balance off. Teal'c and Daniel had each other to help down the hillside, forming a tentative sort of bond along the way, and they all had to trust Jack.
It took longer than the trip would have taken had they been adults, but Jack was taking it slow, he didn't want anyone to fall. Even still, they were standing in front of the gate in little over twenty minutes. "Ok, everyone stand over here behind me," he said rather needlessly, because Teal'c was already pulling Daniel over to stand behind the DHD.
"What's that?" asked Sam in his ear, because he had decided not to put her down until they were on the other side of the gate. Besides being able to keep tabs on her, it wouldn't do for her to cut her bare foot on something just because he put her down one minute too soon.
"It's like a door, to get home," Jack explained, as he started to press the glyphs, causing the Stargate to spin. "When its ready, we're gonna go through it, and its gonna be like a wild roller coaster ride." He pressed the center globe, and the Stargate sprang to life.
"Whoa! Cool!" Sam crowed, as Daniel sprang back with a yelp, one hand holding onto his glasses and the other hanging onto his pants. Teal'c had seen the Stargate in action before and didn't move, which made Daniel step back to stand beside him again.
"Ok, I want everyone to hold hands, because I don't want to lose anyone, hold on tight to me Sam," Jack ordered. He felt Sam's arms and legs tighten around him, and he quickly sent the iris code, receiving confirmation. Adjusting his sleeve back over the device, he held his hands out to Teal'c and Daniel. Daniel took his hand first. A few moments later, Teal'c took his other hand, and together, they stepped through the gate.
A/N: I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank the person or persons responsible for nominating two of my other fics, A Personal Favor for Best Humor (Original Team) and Nine Lives for Best Action/Adventure (Character Focused Sam) at the 2005 Stargate Fan Awards. There's so many great fanfics in that list, and it's really quite an honor to have not one, but two of my fics listed there. So thank you to whoever thought my fics deserved this nomination!
And I'd also like to thank everyone who has left feedback and advice so far. As always, it's greatly appreciated, and if you've been silently reading, (There's over 600 hits on the story so I know you're out there!) please know that I'd love to hear from you once and a while too!