Outside the door Teal'c waited. After having been told to leave, Teal'c had known they were going to discuss him, and even though he still trusted Colonel O'Neill and had some vague and confusing feelings of familiarity with many of the people he'd met here, he still felt he needed to hear what was being said inside. And so, instead of closing the door completely, he had left it open a crack and stayed nearby.
Often the voices had been low, but Teal'c clearly heard General Hammond tell Colonel O'Neill that he did not think he and the two younger children were capable of defending themselves, and that he proposed sending them away, and possibly splitting them up. And then he heard footsteps approaching the door and had to scramble back away hastily, but the door hadn't opened. Teal'c had been thinking about moving in closer to the door again when it opened, revealing Colonel O'Neill. The Colonel gave him a measuring look that Teal'c could not read, and he couldn't help but wonder what sort of decision had been reached in the room that he'd been unable to hear.
Colonel O'Neill was not forthcoming with information however, merely suggesting they go find the two smaller children, and Teal'c had no choice but to hasten his strides to keep up with the man's longer ones. As he followed the Colonel though, Teal'c came to a decision. He would just have to prove to Colonel O'Neill that he and the other children were capable of defending themselves, even if he had to teach them himself. Because Teal'c had no desire to leave the presence of Colonel O'Neill to be placed with a person he did not know.
AsLongAsWeGotEachOther,WeCanTakeAnythingThatComesOurWayIt took them nearly an hour before they finally found Sam and Daniel, curled up asleep in an abandoned office on another level. The Airman that found them radioed their position, and Jack and Teal'c went to join the search party. They hadn't wanted to wake the children and have them run, a precaution that Jack decided was a good one taking in the two kids grimy clothes and tear streaked faces, and the way they were curled up together under the desk, as if they were hiding. Jack moved to wake the two kids, and by doing so, missed the frown that Teal'c directed at the sleeping children.
"Hey, Sam, Daniel, time to wake up," Jack said, the sound of his voice rousing Daniel, making the young boy's head pop up. Daniel's sudden movement jostled Sam, and two sets of wide blue eyes were suddenly staring at him.
"Colonel Jack!" cried two voices in unison, and Jack suddenly found his arms full of energetic little girl.
"Teal'c!" said Daniel, and Sam squirmed in his arms to look over his shoulder, letting out a gleeful shout that nearly deafened him.
"I thought the monsters got you!" she said, untangling her limbs to throw her arms around the startled older boy. Teal'c blinked a moment before returning the hug awkwardly.
"There were no monsters Samantha," he told her solemnly.
Sam looked confused as she let go of Teal'c. "There weren't?" answered Daniel for her.
Jack climbed to his feet and offered Daniel a hand up. "Nope," he told them, "Just a group of Marines carrying big packs and paint on their faces."
"They looked like monsters Colonel Jack," said Sam quietly. She'd moved to stand near him. Jack reached down to ruffle her hair.
"There's no monsters here Sam," he assured her.
"It was really dark," Daniel said.
"The power went out, but it's all fixed now. And the next time you guys are told to stay somewhere, I expect you all to stay there, am I being clear?" He looked at each of them in turn, receiving nods. "Good, let's go get you guys cleaned up, and I bet you three are probably hungry too." More nods, and he couldn't help but grin as he led them back to the room.
As the number of days the kids had been there on base grew, more donations had come in, and more trips to the BX had been necessary for clothing and things, so the kids had plenty of fresh clothing to change into after each of them took quick showers. Daniel had also been fitted for a pair of properly fitting glasses, ones that didn't fall of his face, and were the right prescription for his child's eyes. Jack had noticed the boy squinting and rubbing at his forehead the first day and had recognized the problem immediately.
He had someone bring food, deciding to let the kids settle down for the evening after all the excitement, and was about to sit down and join them when the phone rang. "O'Neill," he answered. He groaned, as the person on the other end of the line requested his immediate presence in the control room. He glanced at the kids, who were occupied with their meal.
"Look, you guys, I need to run upstairs for a few minutes. You need to stay here, if I can't come back, I'll send someone down. No wandering off, I mean it." They looked up and nodded at him silently, and Jack swore that it had better be a good reason he was being pulled away.
Teal'c watched Colonel O'Neill leave, and then turned to regard the other two, deciding to use the opportunity to start training the younger children. Samantha was young, just about the age where a young Jaffa would start to enter training to become a warrior. He would have to go lightly with her. No one would expect a child so young to be able to fight. But Daniel… Daniel should have been in training for some time now, especially as a male child. But everything he had seen of the boy indicated that he was clumsy, not very strong, and knew absolutely nothing about defending himself. In fact, he seemed to show no interest at all in doing anything to protect himself. So it was up to Teal'c to show him how important the skills of a warrior were.
Standing suddenly, Teal'c thumped both his hands flat against the table, making the dishes rattle and both the younger children jump startled, as they turned their wide eyes towards him. He laughed at their predictable reactions. "You are weak!" he told them. "No wonder Colonel O'Neill wishes to send us away, you must disgust him, cowering there like infants. A true warrior would meet me in challenge." He lifted his head.
"Wh-what do you mean?" Sam said, her chin starting to tremble.
"I have heard him speak of it myself. General Hammond agrees. He thinks we are defenseless, and do not belong here, and he plans to send us away. But I think differently. I wish to prove we are warriors, and can stand in battle. Therefore, I will show you how to be a warrior." With that, Teal'c moved to tower over Daniel, who had not moved from his seat. "Defend yourself!" he ordered, and then pushed at the boy, knocking him from his chair when Daniel continued to stare at him stupidly.
"Hey!" Daniel shouted, scrambling to his feet and backing away. Sam jumped out of her chair too, looking angry and frightened at the sudden change in Teal'c.
Teal'c just gave Daniel another push, which sent the smaller boy stumbling back a few steps. "Stop it!" Daniel yelled, and to Teal'c's frustration, didn't raise a hand to stop his advances.
"I will not! You will defend yourself. You are weak. Only a coward would not defend himself." Teal'c gave the boy another push to emphasize his point, this time, knocking the boy to the ground. They were up against the wall, and now Daniel would have nowhere else to evade him, he would be forced to defend himself.
"He said stop it!" Suddenly, another body was in front of him, giving him a shove, and he felt a sharp stinging pain in his shin, and another shove. "Leave him alone you big bully!"
"Daniel must learn to defend himself!" Teal'c protested, as he raised his arms to block a flurry of blows, furiously backpedaling to evade the small swinging arms and kicking feet.
"And I said leave him alone!" Sam yelled, landing another painful blow, and Teal'c was forced to retaliate, his anger growing. How dare this child interfere! Did she really think she could take on him?
"You do not understand!" he told her angrily, trying to grab a hold of her to subdue her with his larger bulk. "We will be sent away! Daniel must defend himself!"
"And I think you're just being a big mean bully, picking on him like that, so knock it off!" With those final words, Sam launched herself at him in a flying tackle, catching him completely unprepared and sending them both sailing backwards crashing into the table, knocking it over and sending the food on it flying. And then everything else was lost as they rolled and struggled, biting, kicking, and punching, and Teal'c realized belatedly that he had made a serious error in judgment by dismissing the fighting ability of Samantha simply because she was so young.
A/N: Line break created with lyrics from, "As Long As We Got Each Other," the theme from the mid 80's TV series, "Growing Pains." Lyrics by John Bettis, Music by Steve Dorff and the song was sung by B.J. Thomas and Jennifer Warnes.