Taking the children back to their room, Colonel O'Neill convinced an airman into staying with Daniel and Samantha (who was made to put her ice pack back on) while he took Teal'c for a little walk. Teal'c was worried, but tried to hide it under an impartial mask.
"Relax Teal'c, we're just going for a walk, I thought we'd go outside, see the stars," the man had said. Teal'c had been confused, but followed bravely; perhaps Colonel O'Neill did not wish to mete out his punishment in front of the smaller children. Whatever his coming punishment, he would face it with honor, as a warrior should. He didn't understand why he hadn't been immediately and severely punished for his behavior earlier. He'd been angry earlier, and afraid of being sent away, and had allowed Samantha to goad him into a fight. But he now realized that it was dishonorable to fight with her, she was so much smaller than he, and he could have seriously hurt her. He had been relieved to learn she was fine, because he wasn't sure what he would have done if she hadn't been. Ahead of him, Colonel O'Neill stopped in front of the elevator and pressed the button to summon the car.
"Colonel O'Neill, I feel I must apologize again for my earlier actions, I could have seriously harmed Samantha. That was not my intention." Teal'c tried to meet the man's gaze, but found he was unable to and looked at an area on the wall nearby instead as if studying it. He was startled to feel a strong hand under his chin, forcing his eyes up.
Warm brown eyes gazed deeply into his. "I know," The Colonel said softly, his words only serving to confuse Teal'c further. The elevator pinged, and the doors slid open. "C'mon." A hand on his shoulder pressed him towards the car, giving him no choice but to go. A few minutes later they were on the surface, the air slightly chilly. Teal'c followed the Colonel as he walked down a gravel pathway that eventually led into a small clearing. Plopping down into the grass, Colonel O'Neill leaned against a boulder, patting the ground next to him in open invitation. Never taking his eyes off the man beside him, Teal'c sat down too, somewhat warily, wondering why his punishment was being delayed again. He was used to his punishments being meted out quickly, whether he felt he deserved it or not mattered little, but at least the punishment would be over. He was not sure he liked this Earth method.
For several minutes, Jack looked up at the sky, taken in by the beauty. Teal'c found his eyes drawn to the sky as well. The stars were different than what he was used to. They had told him he was no longer on his world, and he had trusted in that feeling that the man beside him was someone he knew, someone to be trusted, but somehow seeing the sky made it more real.
"They decided to let me choose how much to tell all of you, and when. And I think out of all of you, you are ready for most of it Teal'c." Teal'c tore his eyes from the sky, and turned to find Jack O'Neill studying his face.
"What do you mean? What do you have to tell me?" Realization had started to sink in that this walk was not about punishment, and that Colonel O'Neill had no intention of punishing him. On the contrary, Teal'c had a feeling he was about to learn something profound.
"I know you didn't mean to hurt Sam, because I know what kind of man you were, what kind of man will be again one day." The man snorted at the confused look Teal'c gave him, and looked up at the sky again. "Yeah, I know. Crazy huh? But true. I can show you some pictures later, if you like. But for now, just know that I know you. The four of us, me, you, Carter and Daniel are a team. We explore other worlds through the stargate. There was an accident, and the three of you got changed back into children. We're still working on a way to reverse it. But that's how I know you Teal'c, how I know you didn't mean to hurt Sam, or Danny." He turned back to Teal'c, who was staring at him in shock. "It's a lot to take in isn't it?"
Teal'c blinked. "Indeed." Jack just grinned.
"I knew you'd say that too." He stood up, and held out his hand. "C'mon."
Accepting the hand warily, Teal'c followed the Colonel back into the mountain. Colonel O'Neill led the way to his usual quarters instead of to where the children had been staying. From his nightstand, O'Neill lifted up a framed photo and handed it to the boy. "There, that's SG-1."
Teal'c stared down at the smiling faces in the photo. He picked out Colonel O'Neill right away. A large dark, serious looking man holding a staff weapon stood next to the Colonel that bore a passing resemblance to his father, but Teal'c suddenly knew without a doubt that it had to be himself stood next to O'Neill. A golden tattoo was on the large man's forehead, and his head was bald. Teal'c reflexively touched his own head; his hand lightly traveling over the unfamiliar smooth surface and the raised mark on his forehead. He wasn't sure how he knew it was himself he was looking at, but somehow he knew it, and he again felt that overwhelming feeling of trust that he'd felt when he'd first woken up confused by Daniel and Samantha, Colonel O'Neill sitting across the fire from him and watching him with concern. The changes he'd noticed only confirmed and strengthened the feelings he felt.
On the other side of O'Neill, the man's arm casually strung about her shoulder, her face laughing at some joke, was a blond woman. Her blue eyes were happy. She could have been Samantha's mother, but since they hadn't seen her anywhere, Teal'c knew this likely also meant this woman was the adult version of Samantha, further supporting O'Neill's story. The last man, his arm also around the woman's shoulders from the other side, was clearly recognizable from the glasses he wore as Daniel. Teal'c was surprised to note that the man in the picture appeared strong and muscular. Not as muscular as he himself appeared, but clearly the man took steps to be sure he could defend himself. Teal'c suddenly found himself rethinking his earlier words to the young boy, if this was the man he would one day be. Had once already been, if Colonel O'Neill was telling the truth.
Looking up, Teal'c discovered Colonel O'Neill watching him. He handed the picture back, and watched as the man reverently placed it back on the small nightstand. "Is this what we will become one day?"
The Colonel only sighed, and sat down on the bed, running a hand through his hair. "I don't know Teal'c. We were a team once, I don't know what will happen if we can't reverse the transformation. A lot of things had to happen to get us together, and frankly Teal'c, by the time you guys grow up again, I'll be too old for this sort of thing." Teal'c frowned, thinking about this new piece of information. Colonel O'Neill changed tracks. "So. Teal'c. I've heard Danny and Sam's side of the story. What about yours?"
Teal'c was silent for several moments before replying. "I overheard a conversation between you and General Hammond. You were discussing whether or not to send us away to other places because we could not defend ourselves, and I did not wish to be sent away. I attempted to show Daniel that he must learn to defend himself. I realize now I was in error, and I apologize again for my actions."
Staring in confusion, it took a minute for Jack to realize and remember what Teal'c was talking about. "Oh! Teal'c, that's not what we meant." Standing up and pacing a bit, Jack turned back to face Teal'c. "Teal'c, this is a military base. It's not a place for children, and not safe here. We could be attacked, and we can't have small children running around where they might get in the way, caught in the crossfire, or used against us. And no matter how strong you thought you were, you couldn't defend against everything. The General was talking about sending you guys off base to stay with a family, or several families if no one could take all three of you, someone with clearance, until the problem with your ages and memories can be sorted."
"And what decision was reached?" Teal'c tried to hide the nervousness in his voice, but some leaked out anyway. He had come to trust this man, whether instinctively, or something else, and he did not want to go away with someone he was unfamiliar with.
O'Neill smiled. "That I would take you guys to my place. That is, if you three agree." Jack grinned at the look on the boy's face. "What, you think I would let them split you guys up, send you to some stranger's house? No way. SG-1 was a family, and like I told Sam, a family takes care of each other. I'm counting on you Teal'c, you have to help me take care of Danny and Sam, until we can get this all sorted out, okay?"
At Teal'c's solemn nod, Jack thrust his hand out, grinning when the boy solemnly took it in the manner customary to his people, grasping Colonel O'Neill's wrist firmly. Jack reciprocated, familiar with the particular handshake. "Ok, we better get back to the others, and rescue Airman Micheals before it's too late. I think we've left the poor man alone with Danny and Sam long enough don't you think?"
A/N: Aww, thanks for all the lovely reviews on the last chapter! Now that was really nice! And remember those flowers I asked for from last chapter? I think I needed them yesterday lol. Not only was the shift particularly awful, but they'd shut the water off the night before at my parents house without warning so I'd only been able to do a sketchy sort of wash with water we'd had set aside from when they never did it the previous week when they HAD warned us it was going off, so all I wanted to do was come home and get in the shower, so imagine my surprise when it was still off when I came home twelve hours later feeling even more disgusting. Now, mind you I know I was clean, I mean I'd used soap and all… but it's not the same as a nice cleansing shower! And I wanted nothing more than a pounding hot long shower. So I ended up driving my poor exhausted self over to my torn up house that's still being remodeled where I have one working shower stall in the basement. (I literally have a shower stall and a toilet in one corner of my basement lol, no walls, no frills lol, but the plumbing is there which is more than I could say for my parents) But still, flowers would be nice lol. As I came home my parents were getting ready to come over to use the shower too. Now I just wonder what my neighbors thought of me and all the large plastic Scoop Away cat litter buckets I was filling with water from the garden hose and loading into the back of my SUV to take home to flush the toilet with rofl! If it hadn't been in the upper 90's I might have just stayed over there on the air mattress, but Air Conditioning won out over running water lol. Anyway, if you can't send flowers for all the stinky sweaty people that had no water for an entire day that were in the area (it's back on but this will be an ongoing thing as the work to replace the water pipes in the area) send reviews. Thanks again, I too enjoyed the Danny scene, and I hope you liked this Teal'c one! There's a lot to come in this story, and I do mean LOTS, for all those asking if I'll be doing this or that. Because I'll be doing all sorts of things! Stay tuned!