Liz paced Daniel's living room. She was inconsolable. Every once in a while she looked at Jack with venomous ire and she wouldn't even look at Daniel.
"Liz, how did it happen?" Daniel asked.
"We were walking to the car at the market and a dark van pulled up beside us. Two men jumped out. One grabbed Chase – " Her voice cracked. "I tried to fight them…"
Daniel touched her arm to offer some comfort, but she pulled away, glaring in Jack's direction. "How do they know to call you here?" she asked. "How did they call your office? NORAD has public listings now?"
He shook his head. "I don't know."
Liz stopped pacing. "Call that police negotiator back in here. I want them involved," she said, not for the first time.
"The caller said that we will not 'want' to involve the police, Liz," Daniel started. "Which means that – "
"That whatever they're after is of a classified nature," she snapped. "Well, Daniel, right now the US Government and its classification structure can kiss my ass! This person has my son and I don't care who knows about what little secrets you and Jack are hiding in that mountain. I want my boy back!" Her voice was gaining the higher pitch of near-hysterics.
Teal'C stepped forward toward Liz. "ElizabethMcReynolds," he said. This was the first time he'd spoken to her directly, choosing instead his usual strong, silent-type role. "Please calm yourself. Find comfort in the knowledge that we will bring your son back to you safely."
She looked up at him, frowning. Tears sprang to her eyes suddenly and she swiped them away. "I'm going to hold you to that, Murray," her tone was much calmer but her voice was still shaking.
Teal'C bowed his head and turned to face Daniel as the phone rang.
"Oh, God," she murmured as Jack picked up headphones and Daniel looked to Sam, who nodded. "We're all set." Daniel hit the speaker button on the second ring.
"Hello?"
"Dr. Jackson."
"Yes. Who is this?"
"Listen closely. You will deliver one pound of weapons grade naquada to a designated site at 0200 hours. This should not be a problem, since it is safe to assume Colonel O'Neill is with you,"
"What? What are you talking about? Where would I get this 'naquada' you mentioned? I'm an archaeologist!"
"Don't play dumb, Dr. Jackson! We will kill the boy if you do not comply."
"NO!" Liz shouted. "Please--!" Teal'C held her back.
Daniel looked at Jack, who nodded. Then Jack looked at Sam, who shook her head, still looking at the computer screen that the tracing machine was hooked up to.
He sighed. "All right. But I need to know the boy is okay. Let me talk to him."
"That is not part of the deal, Dr. Jackson."
"How do I know, then, that he's not already dead? How do I know that I'm not giving you something for nothing?"
There was a long pause and the room was silent, except for Liz whispering "Please!"
"Daniel?" The voice was that of a small boy.
"Chase!" Liz cried.
"Yes, Chase. It's me. Are you okay?"
"Um, yep. The man bought me ice cream. Did you know he likes chocolate? His van smells funny, tho—" The line went silent.
"Chase!" Daniel called out.
"I will call again at 0100 with directions to the drop." Then the line went dead.
Daniel looked over to Sam. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Daniel." She sighed. "The signal was bounced all over the world a couple of times over."
Jack frowned. "We're going to have to wait for the next call and make the drop."
"I'm going with you."
Every member of SG-1 looked at Liz, who was looking at Jack with her jaw set.
Jack shook his head. "Look, Liz, I know what you're feeling, but you can't –"
"Don't you ever tell me what I can and can not do, Jack. You don't get to do that. What if it were your son? You wouldn't sit and wait if someone had Charlie."
A pained expression came across Jack O'Neill's face. "No, but Sara would," he said, softly.
"Well," she smiled, humorlessly. "I'm not Sara. There is no way in hell I'm going to put my son's life in your hands and sit here waiting. I'm going with you and I don't care what you have to say or what secrets you need to guard. I want my son back and I'm going to make sure you get him for me."
Daniel's head was spinning as Liz walked out of his apartment and slammed the door to her own. "Jack, you want to tell me what is going on?"
Jack sighed. "Not really." He turned to Sam. "Can we get the naquada?"
"Sir, we can't give them weapons grade naquada!" Sam protested. "Especially not so much. Do you remember when we first met Cassandra? The demonstration of 1 microscopic particle of naquada mixed with 1 microscopic particle of potassium?"
Jack nodded. "What do we have that can look like naquada? Do we have something that will look close enough to it that they will have to test it to find out that it's not the real thing?"
Sam thought for a minute. "I might be able to come up with something, sir, but I need to go back to my lab."
Jack nodded. "Go. I'll call you when we get the word of the where and when of the drop, then you can meet us on the way. We know they want it at 0200, that gives you…6 hours."
"I'm on it." She stood, grabbed her jacket and rushed out the door.
"Jack?" Daniel inquired. His eyes were narrowed.
"Go see how she is, Daniel," Jack said, turning his back to his friend and looking out the window. "She shouldn't be alone."
"Jack," Daniel's voice was on edge. "Where do you know her from?"
Jack was silent for a while. Daniel walked behind him.
"Why is she so angry with you, Jack?"
Teal'C stood straight and announced. "I will see to ElizabethMcReynolds." He, then, walked out of Daniel's apartment.
"Jack?"
"Oh, Daniel, just drop it," Jack said, irritably.
Daniel's eyebrows rose. "No, Jack. I don't think I will."
Jack sighed. "You're a pain in the ass, you know?"
Daniel pursed his lips and ducked his head, looking at him through the tops of his glasses, eyebrows raised. "Jack."
"I knew her in '90." his friend murmured. He cleared his throat. "She married someone under my command. Then Iraq happened."
Daniel frowned. He knew that Jack had been a POW in Iraq, and had been treated brutally, but nothing more. "She told me that her husband left her before Chase was born."
Jack shook his head. "I didn't know she was pregnant at the time."
"But Chase is only four years old. If she'd been pregnant in '90…"
"If Chase is four, then Mike couldn't be the father," Jack shook his head. "We were both captured in Iraq."
Daniel waited for a moment. "Go on." He prodded, gently. "Why is she so angry at you?"
"I came home. Her husband didn't." Jack snapped. "She blamed me, as she should have. I was his CO. They'd been married less than two years. She refused to let me in the house after the funeral." He ran his hands through his hair. "Last I heard she'd resigned her commission. I thought that she moved back to the Midwest, where her family was from. I guess she never forgave me."
Daniel silently studied the nearby table.
Jack frowned. "We're going to get her son back, Daniel." His eyes were black as night. "I can't make up for Mike, but I can do that, at least."
Daniel nodded. "I love the kid, Jack." he ground out. "Like he's my own."
Jack saw the pain in Daniel's eyes and set his jaw with a nod. "We'll get him back."
Teal'C was looking at a picture of Chase, while Liz laced up her boots. "It is easy to see why someone would think your son was DanielJackson's."
She looked up at him and frowned. "Why do you say that?"
"He does not have your red hair. His hair is more close to the color of DanielJackson's. With the blue eyes, one could easily make the mistake."
She stood and took the picture from Teal'C. "His hair is the color mine was when I was his age…" She touched the picture softly. "I can see it, though, now that you mention it."
She put the picture back and turned to Teal'C with her arms crossed. "If Daniel works with Jack O'Neill, why did they think to come after Daniel? If Jack is Daniel's CO, why not go for the big kahuna?"
Teal'C frowned. "Big kahuna?"
She nodded. "Why not going after the boss' son? Wouldn't that be more effective?"
Teal'C straightened, understanding her words. "ColonelO'Neill's son has been dead for many years now."
Liz paled. "What?"
"His son was killed in an accident involving ColonelO'Neill's own weapon."
Liz put her hand to her throat, some of the wind taken from her sails. "Oh, god." She raked her hands through her hair. She moved away and picked up a band to tie it back. She rubbed her face and sighed.
There was a soft knock on the door. Teal'C moved to answer it after a wordless nod from Liz. Daniel stood there.
"Can I come in?"
Liz took a deep breath. "Yes."
After Daniel walked in, Teal'C stepped out and pulled the door closed.
She looked past Daniel to the closed door. "He seems like a good guy."
"He is," Daniel nodded. "So is Jack."
Liz took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen. Daniel followed her.
"Liz?"
"I know, Daniel," she sighed. She poured herself a glass of water and took a deep drink. "I know he is. It's just that here I am, my world has been stolen from me and I look over and there's Jack O'Neill – again."
"He told me about…before."
She put the glass in the sink and stared at it. "Yeah, well. I was completely irrational. I know that. There were many times I thought about him and Sara and felt awful about the way I treated him." She sniffed. "I wasn't prepared. I'm not…"
She looked at Daniel with her eyes moist. "They were MIA for months and people told me to expect the worst, but I'm an optimist – or at least I was then," she smiled, with no humor. "So when Jack returned and Mike didn't, I wasn't prepared. I blamed Jack. I know Jack would have done everything in his power to bring Mike back, but I blamed him. I blamed him and the Air Force."
She rubbed her face. "Obviously, I got past it. I work for the Air Force again and I got over being angry at Jack a long time ago. I don't know why I reacted that way…" Then tears sprang to her eyes. "Oh, Daniel, if anything happens to Chase, I – "
Daniel took the two steps it took to close the space between them and pulled her to his chest. "We're not going to let anything happen to him, Liz. We're going to get him back." He pressed his lips against the top of her head. "I promise."
She pulled back, her eyes snapped and her face was set in determination. "I'm still going with you."
Daniel nodded. "I guess I can't stop you, but you'll have to accept that Jack's in charge. He's our best bet, Liz."
She nodded. "I can do that, I think."
Liz walked back into Daniel's condo looking like a member of the SGC. Jack shook his head when he saw her in black cargo pants, a black t-shirt and combat boots. She tilted her head at his look and gave a half-hearted smile. "What?"
"I would have thought you'd have gotten rid of that stuff," Jack commented.
Liz raised an eyebrow at him and shrugged. "They're good for camping."
Jack nodded and turned back to the sliding glass door.
Liz walked up to him, opened the door and walked out. "We need to talk," she said.
Jack looked back at Daniel, who nodded. Then he walked out to the balcony and slid the door shut.
"I'm sorry about Charlie," she said, without preamble.
Jack looked at her, then inside at the two men he worked with.
"Murray told me," she said. "I'm sorry. I would have never made that crack if I had known."
"I'm sorry about Mike."
Liz closed her eyes. "Mike was a full-grown man, doing what he loved. It's not your fault that it got him killed. I forgave him a long time ago." She looked out into the night. After a long moment of silence, she looked at him. "I hope you can forgive me for blaming you."
Jack studied her. He looked out into the night. "You reacted. Completely understandable. I was his CO."
She looked up at him. "And I should have accepted that you would have brought him home if you could have – because you were his CO. I'm sorry."
They fell silent and Jack studied the cars below.
Jack frowned. "We're going to get your son back."
She nodded. "We have to. I can't lose him."
He looked at her. "I don't want you to go."
She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him. "'The female of the species is more deadly than the male', Jack, don't you know that? Try to stop me."
Jack studied her face and saw resolve that a Goa'uld mother ship couldn't weaken, then shrugged. "Okay, but I gotta tell you. Right now, you're the only one who looks like a commando here."
Liz smiled. "Well, then, I can do the commando work."
He looked back down to the street. "You're going to have to trust me, you know."
Her smile faded. "I do, Jack. Really."
Jack was frowning and staring at something. "Do any of your neighbors drive a van? Does that one look familiar?"
She looked down. "Well, we're quite a ways up and it's dark…why?"
Below them, across the street from the front entrance, a dark van was parked. A figure carrying something that looked like a thin, square box climbed into the back.
Liz looked at him. "What is that? Jack?"
"I wonder if…they're staking out the building to see if we leave," Jack said.
"What makes you think that's them?"
Jack frowned. "Pizza. I may be wrong, but ---" He moved back into the apartment. "Teal'C," he called. "I think I have a plan."
