Thursday afternoon, nearly a week later, Jack stood on his front porch, grinning as he watched all three kids zooming up and down the street, laughing and giggling on their bikes. Even Teal'c, who to the casual observer, looked just as skilled as the other two, as if he'd been riding bikes for years, when in fact it had been just days ago he'd learned to ride.
Across the street elderly Mrs. Greene waved to him, and Jack waved back. He frowned, remembering their conversation earlier in the day. The kids had taken to the older woman like bees did to honey, falling all over themselves to do little tasks for her like walk her little dog, or tend her garden, carry in her groceries. She'd been instantly taken in by their charm. Naturally however, she'd started to wonder why they weren't in school like other children. Jack had given the cover story of the kids being in foster care and explaining that they'd needed time to adjust to their new home and his guardianship. She'd nodded knowingly, taking in the fading bruises on Teal'c and Sam's faces, making tsk tsk noises, and Jack had let her make her own conclusions. However, that morning, the elderly widow had commented that the children seemed to be well adjusted, and inquired if they would be going back to school on Monday. Jack had made a noncommittal comment and had made excuses that he had to leave, citing a nonexistent appointment.
Now he contemplated the problem. If Mrs. Greene was curious about the appearance of three children at his house and their continued presence during the daytime when other children should be in school, the other neighbors were surely just as curious. If they didn't hear anything from their allies soon, or from the scientific team working on the solution soon, he'd have to address the issue of enrolling the kids in school. He was saved from his thoughts by the ringing of his cell phone.
Flipping the phone open, he saw it was the base. "O'Neill," he answered briskly.
"Colonel, this is General Hammond. We've just received word that our friends, one of whom is father to your youngest fosterling, will be arriving here early tomorrow morning at 0730 hours. I'd like to see you before they arrive if at all possible. Think you can be here?"
Jack's heart quickened. It could only be the Tok'ra. "Wouldn't miss it. I'll bring the kids, see you tomorrow sir."
Putting his phone away, he decided that the problem of school could wait a little bit longer.
The next morning arrived way too early, compounded by the fact that their dear neighbor had rediscovered the art of baking after years of doing it very little and made a very large batch of home made chocolate chip cookies. Of which, the kids had polished off an entire plate full all by themselves late in the afternoon while visiting. She'd thoughtfully sent them home with a second heaping plate, and not realizing how many they'd already eaten, he let them have a few more. As soon as they started bouncing off the walls though, he hid them inside the microwave. The damage was done however, and the kids were up well into the night, full of boundless energy. Until they became cranky, irritable, and started picking fights for no reason. And yet they were still too jittery for at least an hour to fall asleep. It was nearly 1 am before he got them all into bed, literally falling into them in fact, to be woken up a mere four hours later.
Getting to the base early had unfortunately meant getting up at least 5 am. He showered in a record five minutes, and made the quick and easy muffin mix from the little boxes he'd bought at the grocery store. Then he proceeded to get the kids up. Teal'c and Daniel as usual were relatively easy. While grumpy from lack of sleep, they got up with prompting, brushed their teeth, got dressed and went downstairs to eat. Sam was another story and he eventually gave up on her after several long minutes when even tickling didn't work, dressed her himself in her rip off SGC uniform and left her lying in bed fully clothed. The world would have to deal with a Sam Carter bed head today and that was that. It was a good thing he'd bought them hats.
He went downstairs to put Sam's breakfast in a bag to take to work and discovered both boys with their heads down on the table, half eaten muffins in front of them. With a sigh, Jack filled another bag with Mrs. Greene's Famous Hyperactive Cookies, and added them to the pile to take the base. On an impulse, he grabbed a knapsack, and raided the pantry, grabbing a few of the packaged snacks he'd bought for the kids, tossed the muffins and cookies in, then ran upstairs into their rooms, grabbing a few toys, books, and games for each, putting together an impromptu survival pack for the day. He also grabbed a change of clothes for each child and large t-shirts for sleeping, in case they ended up spending the night.
Ready to go, he slung the sack over his shoulder and ducked back into Sam's room, lifting the sleeping girl up easily. She shifted and nestled into his embrace with a sigh. He carried her downstairs and roused Teal'c and Daniel, herding them out to the SUV, which was now on an extended lease to him. Making sure all the kids were belted in, he headed to the base, arriving there not long after 6:30am, which gave them plenty of time to get through all of the security checkpoints. He woke Teal'c and Daniel up again, grabbed the bag, and lifted Sam out, making his way down to the infirmary.
He found Dr. Fraiser in her office, much to his relief. She looked up surprised to see him toting the three sleepy children, and stood immediately, coming to place a hand on Sam's forehead. She watched in concern as Danny and Teal'c sacked out on the nearest bed together. "Colonel, is everything alright? She doesn't seem to have a fever."
"They're fine Doc. Just need you to keep an eye on these two for a little while if you don't mind. Hammond called yesterday, sounds like we heard from the Tok'ra. I was going to take Sam here up to see the General, in case it is Jacob coming through the gate in the next half hour or so." Janet nodded and Jack set Sam down partially on a raised table ledge so he could free an arm to root through the knapsack. "Here's a few things to keep them busy, and a few snacks. The cookies are for you and Cassie. I wouldn't give them anymore of them if I were you; it was the reason they were up until 1 am last night. They are really good though, neighbor made them. Don't know how many she fed them though." Janet cringed at his words looking at the sleeping figures on the bed, and the one in his arms and exchanged a sympathetic look.
"No problem we'll be fine down here, sounds like they'll probably be asleep for a few hours at least. Let me know if you need anything more." Janet retreated into her office, leaving the door open so she could keep an eye on the two sleeping boys, and Jack left carrying Sam.
Once outside the General's office, Jack freed an arm to knock on the door. "Come in," called the voice on the inside.
Jack pushed the door open and smiled at the grin that spread on the General's face as he saw what Jack was carrying. "Somehow sir, I think that smile is more for Sam."
"She is a lot cuter than you," Hammond replied with a wink.
Sam chose that moment to wake up. "Hi," she murmured sleepily.
"She would decide to wake up when we get to where we're going after I've been carrying her all over the place," Jack complained, rolling his eyes.
Hammond laughed, and Sam's attention was brought to the man. She brightened. "Hi Uncle George." She lifted her arms in his direction, and General Hammond rose from his desk with a chuckle, coming around the desk to take the little girl from Jack.
"Well hello Sammy, and how are you doing sleepyhead?" The General pressed his forehead against hers, and Sam giggled in reply.
"I'm fine. I had cookies. They were yummy. Colonel Jack said we couldn't have anymore because we were already bouncing off the walls enough already. He's funny." Sam squirmed, clearly wanting down. Hammond set her down and she walked over, tugging on Jack's sleeve. "Colonel Jack, I'm hungry. Where're Danny and Teal'c?"
Jack shrugged helplessly to the General's inquiring eyebrow, and dug into the knapsack for the other bag of muffins and handed them to her. "Danny and Teal'c are in the infirmary keeping Doctor Janet company. You can go down there later, but for now I thought we'd visit Uncle George. Right now, you can eat your breakfast and then I brought some of your coloring books for you to work on, because Uncle George and I have to talk about some things. Do you think you could wait in here and be really good and really quiet for a little while we talk just outside?"
Sam just nodded, plopping into one of the chairs, digging into the muffins, and Jack left the knapsack in the other chair. He and Hammond left the office, closing the door all the way but for a crack so they could hear in case she called out. Then they sat down at the briefing room table.
"So, General, is it the Tok'ra?" Jack started off.
Hammond nodded. "Yes, in fact they told us they were sending Jacob and Anise."
Jack scowled, not all that pleased to hear the second name. "Well at least her father is coming," was all he would say.
Unfortunately the General shared the same opinion, he just chose not to be as vocal. "Now, Jack, we need to discuss how much you've told the children."
Jack sighed. "Not much. Teal'c knows the most. He knows he used to be an adult, and he's seen pictures. He seems to understand and has accepted it. Sam and Danny don't know anything, and they don't seem to suspect anything yet. Thing is General, it was very easy to convince Teal'c of who he used to be, and all of them are very trusting of me and of each other. They work with each other like a team, and it has me and Dr. Fraiser believing that the memories are still there, just blocked."
"So perhaps the Tok'ra may be able to help after all." The General looked thoughtful. The Tok'ra had access to memory technology that the people of earth didn't, although thinking about some of that technology, he was reluctant to use it on children. Of course, if you looked at it another way, these really weren't children, but it was a callous way of looking at it if you asked him. They certainly looked and acted like children to him. "Ok, so we need to warn Jacob that his daughter doesn't remember that he has a Tok'ra symbiote inside him, so she can't see Selmak speaking. And we'll have to prepare him for what to expect as well." Hammond wasn't looking forward to this encounter.
Jack nodded in agreement. He wasn't looking forward to the encounter either. At least the bruises on Sam's face were barely noticeable, so that was one less thing they'd have to explain.
They were interrupted by the Gate activation alarms. Hammond checked his watch. 0730. Right on time. "Shall we go meet our guests?"
Jack ducked his head into the office to check on Sam, finding her engrossed in her coloring books, and followed. All too soon, two figures emerged from the open wormhole.
Hammond stepped forward. "Welcome to Earth Jacob/Selmak, Freya/Anise. As always, it's a pleasure."
"Greetings General Hammond," rang the dual tones of a symbiote speaking in Jacob's voice. "It is always a pleasure to travel to the world of the Tauri."
Jacob's head bowed. "George. Jack. Where's Sam? I thought she'd be here. Is everything ok?"
Anise spoke up, as usual, her symbiote speaking. "Your message spoke of a scientific problem, is Major Carter not your leading scientist?"
"Please, let me try to explain. Jacob, it's complicated, and a very long story. Let me start by saying your daughter is healthy, but for reasons we need to explain to you first, we can't let you see her, until you know what's going on. Please, let's go upstairs, and I'll try and see if we can make this long story as short as possible." Hammond stood back, and held his hand towards the stairway. Jacob stood on the end of the ramp for a long moment staring, as if contemplating taking roots until he heard what he wanted to hear, but finally he nodded, and headed towards the briefing room, Anise following. Jack and Hammond took up the rear positions.
Once they were settled around the table, Jack started to fiddle with his pen while Hammond started up the narrative, sure that somehow someone would blame him. Not that he didn't already blame himself. He listened with half an ear as Hammond detailed the events two weeks previous, paying attention when Jacob sat up and all but bellowed, "She's WHAT?"
"Jacob, calm down. Trust me, we're as upset as you are, and a team of scientists has been working nonstop on the problem since they came back from the planet. But this goes way beyond our ken." Hammond tried to calm the man, but his words only seemed to further agitate him.
"How old?" Jacob demanded.
Jack answered. "Seven. As far as we can tell, she's physically and mentally seven years old. Daniel is nine and Teal'c is eleven."
"What do you wish from us?" Anise asked.
"We're hoping that perhaps your technology may have better luck in accessing their memories, or discovering a way to reverse the transformation," said the General.
"We'd need to meet the children, and see what we're dealing with before we make any promises." Jacob's voice was cautious.
"Jacob, Sam doesn't know anything about her adult self yet, and neither do Danny or Teal'c. So you'll have to keep the Tok'ra voice thing on the down low if you know what I mean," Jack warned
Jacob smiled. "I got it. What about the naquadah though? Are we just going to hope she doesn't notice what it is?"
Jack shrugged. "You got me. Carter never could really explain what that felt like. Hopefully without the memory of what it is, she won't react to the feeling."
Jacob nodded, and his head bowed, symbolizing control going to Selmak. "I would like to see the children now. We'd also like to see any headway you've made in studying the problem."
It was right about that moment that all hell broke loose.
A/N: Well, nothing much of any interest to tell you about. Helped dad install a few of my new kitchen cabinets. Then I got a little bored last night, and the cats were a little listless, and I discovered a large unopened package of catnip. Hmmm I thought. So we had an interesting night reinvigorating and hiding all their cat toys all over their house (though they caught on quickly that I was rolling and dusting their toys in a fresh supply of kitty ecstasy and started following me around) Now, perhaps with their recent psychotic episodes, getting the boys intoxicated was a bad idea, but it was fun wandering the house and finding drunk/high/stupid cats all over the place. (Yes, I even gave my mother's elderly cat a catnip laced cat toy, she just gets all stupid with them rather than energized, but later she moved to the catnip dusted scratchpad and passed out on it. Cats.) If you've never been exposed to a cat on catnip, I wrote about the experience in chapter 24 of Nine Lives, at least a taste of it.
Anyway, as I said, not much exciting. But I am having maple and brown sugar oatmeal for breakfast and fruit juice, since more than one person actually wanted to know what I was having. What are you having? I'd rather have what the kids are having, but I hate cooking. Jack's a great dad.
Speaking of the story… as you can see, everyone's favorite character is here! I've had more than one person ask (several more persistently than others!) if I'd be including our beloved Tok'ra. And of course, isn't it just like me to go and leave the chapter right there… Have I mentioned the action was picking up slightly in the next few chapters? As far as action in this story goes :)