A/N: Sorry everyone, I tried to post this last night and the site was having problems. I'll probably have the next bit up late tonight as well.

Ch 17

After snack time was over, Jack and Danny both needed changes of clothes. Since Teal'c had agreed to spend the weekend at Jack's with them, Carter offered to take him back to the base to pack his bag, and everyone split up temporarily - Danny looking exceptionally happy to say goodbye to Dr. Fraiser.

By the time Teal'c knocked on their CO's front door, Danny had been cleaned, fed, cleaned again, and put down for a nap - and Jack was feeling pretty pleased with himself for accomplishing all that without any more major drama. All by himself as well… but the satisfied smirk that was firmly in place was quickly dislodged as the knocking on his door sounded eerily loud in the quiet house.

He hurried to the door, scolding, "Shh!" as he opened it. "He's sleeping, keep it down, will ya."

"My apologies, O'Neill," Teal'c said mildly as he entered, sleepover gear in hand, followed by Sam.

The three full-sized members of SG-1 settled in for a quiet afternoon while Danny napped. Normally they were all fairly good at such a thing, but normally Carter had something to do. Now, with Danny sleeping and being kept away from the base, she was suddenly filled with a restless energy and need to do something to try to figure out the answer to their adorable little problem.

She thought about how Danny kept trying to get into his own office. Was there something in that, or did he just feel safe there, like Jack suggested? And did he really remember them, or just recognize some innate sense of security with his team, who had been more of a family than anything Daniel had ever had since he was a small child? He hadn't asked for his parents… did that mean he had memories from beyond his current age, and knew somehow that they weren't around anymore? Or was he just used to being left with other people because his parents had gone on frequent digs? She sighed - it was all just speculation. There wasn't much she could do but conjecture until Monday anyway. Even then, who knew?

Hammond had frowned at her when he ran into her outside of Teal'c's quarters. Before he could even remind her she'd been ordered off-base, she had quickly offered an apology. "I'm technically not even really here, sir, just giving Teal's a ride to the Colonel's house."

"Oh. Well, in that case, Major… wait, what?"

"Oh. Right. You didn't hear, I suppose… Danny had a terrible allergic reaction to my cat… and everything in my house that my cat has touched, which is basically everything, so… we're sort of all spending the weekend over at the Colonel's instead. Teal'c is coming too, I'm just waiting for him to pack his things."

"I see." Hammond seemed to be absorbing this new information with an inordinate amount of thought. Finally, he nodded and said, "Well… you two had better get going then. Have a good weekend, Major. see you both Monday."

Sam hadn't really thought about it at the time, but now that she recalled the brief conversation, it occurred to her that the General might not be too pleased with their altered arrangement… but surely he would have said something. Besides, with Teal'c there everything would be fine. Not that it wouldn't have been anyway, they were certainly capable of spending time alone away from the base taking care of Danny together without anything inappropriate happening, right? Speaking of which… Danny was sleeping at the moment, Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c were playing Simpsons chess in the living room… Sam glanced down the empty hallway and tiptoed quietly to the guest room.

She peeked in on Danny, who was sleeping peacefully with his triceratops. She covered him with the blanket that was tangled around his legs and looked around for the camera. Teal'c and the Colonel had been monopolizing the picture-taking, and he just looked so cute when he was sleeping… she snapped a quick picture, then remembered what she'd come into the bedroom for in the first place. She snuck her laptop out of her bag and crept out of the bedroom quietly, pulling the door shut behind herself.

She peered down the hallway towards the living room. Certain that her laptop would be confiscated if her CO found her using it, she headed for his little study instead - the room that always looked like nobody had ever been in there before. She set up her laptop and got to work.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Jack looked up from the chess board and surveyed the room, then stood up and looked through towards the kitchen. He gave Teal'c a puzzled look and asked, "Where'd Carter go?"

"Of that I am unsure, O'Neill. I believe she went to check on Daniel Jackson some time ago. Perhaps she decided to join him for a nap."

Jack let out one laugh. "Unlikely. Carter, napping without having the doc pumping her full of drugs? Although she was up all night… if she doesn't turn up by the time I put you in check mate we'll form a search party."

"That gives her plenty of time then, O'Neill, for it is I who will be putting you in check mate."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Despite Teal'c's prediction, Jack actually did win. He would have gloated, but they were still trying to be quiet for Danny's sake. He could always gloat later… when they were in front of other people. Speaking of other people… "All right, let's go find Carter."

Teal'c followed, although he was fairly certain there was no need to go searching for Major Carter simply because they hadn't seen her in about an hour. They knew she was in the house, after all, and they were often separated for longer on off-world assignments, where certainly more danger could befall her than in O'Neill's home. Still, he followed O'Neill down the hall. They peeked into the guest room and quickly saw that Danny was the only one in there.

"That's weird," Jack mumbled as they shut the door again. Jack held up his hand suddenly and heard a faint, familiar tap-tap-tap. "She didn't," he said quietly, heading for his study.

They knocked and entered at the same time, Jack frowning as he found his missing 2IC. Working. Of course. She looked so caught that he had to stifle a laugh - Daniel had had a similar look on his face after he'd smooshed ice cream on Jack's shirt earlier.

"Oh Major Carter, what are you up to over there? Because I know you're not working after General Hammond ordered you to take the weekend off with Danny…"

"Well… technically watching Danny is working, and he just ordered me away from the base, he didn't specifically say I couldn't bring home my laptop and…"

He held up his hand. "All right, I get your point. But Carter… forgive me for stating the obvious here, but you're not a linguist. And you yourself told me that trunk thing is a non-doohickey."

"I may not be a linguist, sir, but I'm fairly certain that's not a word."

"You know what I mean."

"Yes… it's true that it wasn't emitting any detectable energy or… anything, but, obviously if it can make Danny younger it is a piece of technology…"

"All right, all right, it's frustrating you, we get it, right, Teal'c?"

"Indeed. However…"

Danny interrupted, calling, "Helloooooooooo? Sam? Daaaaaack?"

Laughing, Jack said, "I guess he's awake."

"Allow me to retrieve him," Teal'c said, already on his way out of the study.

Jack looked back at his 2IC, who was already trying to look back at the computer screen discreetly. He sighed and came around to the back of her chair, leaning over to peer at the screen. "All right, what are we looking at here?"

"These are images taken from the surface of the box, remember how it had those two little lines, one at the top, one at the bottom?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure."

She glanced over her shoulder with a small smile. "Well, Daniel thought they were decorative at first, but once these images were enlarged several hundred times, we realized it's some sort of alien language. It looks sort of like the undeciphered Furling language from the heliopolis we found when we…"

"Found Naked-Ernest," Jack supplied.

"Yes, I hear that's what he goes by now," she laughed.

"So this box thing is Furling?"

"Well, that's Daniel's area, really, but I think it's a safe assumption that there are at least connections between them. Maybe it's like the differences between old, middle, and modern English… not that it really matters since nobody can translate the Furling language anyway."

"How about Dad?" Jack suggested.

"General Hammond sent a message to him and to Thor already, but I don't know. I think the Tok'ra separated from the Goa'uld much more recently than when the confederation between the four races - Nox, Furling, Ancients, and Asgard - was formed…"

"So…"

They stopped talking as Daniel ran into the room with Teal'c following at normal Teal'c speed. "Sam! You back!"

"Yeah. Did you have a good nap?"

"Yup." He hugged her legs, then Jack's. "Swing me!"

Sam raised an eyebrow and watched as Jack picked Danny up and flipped him upside down, holding onto his little waist with both hands. Danny let his arms hang towards the ground, his long hair also sticking straight down as well. He giggled and waved to Sam. "Hi Sam!"

"Hi. You're upside down, huh?"

"No, you up-si-down!"

"From his perspective, he is correct," Teal'c contributed as he snapped a picture.

"Yeah, it's all relative, right Carter?" Jack smirked.

She returned the look, then suddenly got what Jack internally referred to as her "ah-HA!" face. She got to her feet quickly, the rolling chair sliding back into the book shelf behind her. "That's it, sir! You've done it again!"

"Always glad to hear that I've done it again," he said mildly, turning Danny upright and shifting him to one arm. "And how did I do it this time?"

"It's… it's the same. Look." She sat back down and rolled back up to the laptop. Teal'c crowded behind her as well. "Look… the picture on the left is from the line of writing around the top of the box. This one on the right is from the bottom."

Teal'c stated the obvious. "They are different."

"Yeah. But look what happens when I invert the second picture." She tapped a few keys and now the two sets of writing looked remarkably similar. "They still obviously say different things, but… this could be a big breakthrough. I mean, it effectively cuts the number of characters we have to decipher in half…"

"Great," Jack said. "Call the geeks at the base and tell them."

"But…" she started impatiently.

"Carter."

"Sam," Danny supplied, leaning over to pat her shoulder.

Jack rolled his eyes.

"It's just… I mean this could be an important breakthrough, sir, I should really go work on it…"

"And what, hide under your desk if General Hammond stops by?" She darted her eyes to the side for just a second, but it was enough to make him suspicious. "Wait a second… you haven't ever really done that before, have you?"

"Well…"

"Carter!"

"What? You probably hide under your desk to avoid having to do paperwork…"

"That is not the point," Jack said. He studied her thoughtfully for a moment.

Danny was looking back and forth between them, getting tired of being held. He had just woken up from a nap, after all, and all of his energy stores were recharged. "Down!"

Jack set Danny on his feet and he promptly took off out of the room. Teal'c followed after him, so Jack turned his attention back to Sam. "All right. How about a deal. You can work from what you've got on your little computer there. After Danny goes to bed and… part of the day tomorrow. Then Monday I'll tell Hammond you need to be back on the team working on the trunk."

She started an obligatory protest but stopped. It wasn't his fault Danny was sticking to her like glue, after all… "Okay. Deal."

"Good. Come on, let's go play outside before it gets dark."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv