A/N: As you can tell, it's definitely starting to wind down. I can't believe I passed 1,000 reviews. Thank you all so much. There are still a few chapters left, but I'll go ahead and tell you all that your wonderful responses and investment with this story have convinced me to do a new little epilogue for it as well.

Ch 45

Sam quickly had the conversion done. "There. It's done. Now we just have to find…" Ignoring the other five people in the room asking each other questions about what exactly she was doing, Sam quickly scanned the trunk again in the area she knew to look until she had found all the proper symbols.

With the General's permission, and everyone watching hopefully, Sam showed Jack which symbols to touch yet again. He entered his birthday first, followed by today's date. One side of the trunk opened quickly, and this time the glowing from within was yellow light rather than white. "I guess that's a good sign," Sam muttered under her breath.

Since she was still extremely close to him as she showed him which microscopic symbols to touch, he was the only one who heard. "You guess?" he asked apprehensively.

"I mean… it must be. Since it's the reversal and all."

"Right. So I just crawl in there and come out all old and grey."

"Hopefully," she grinned, patting him on the shoulder optimistically as she got to her feet. "Look, nobody would blame you if you want to take a little more time and let us explain and study the device more." She offered him a hand up, which he considered for a moment before shaking his head.

He waved it away and glanced around the room at everyone. Janet, the doctor, still looked nervous about all of this. The rest just looked concerned in a more professional way. As he studied the three bald men quickly, he cleared his throat and motioned for Sam to come closer again.

She leaned back down, bracing her hands on her knees, and he asked quietly, "I'm not bald too, am I?"

She rolled her eyes and laughed quietly. "No, sir. You still have all your hair, it's just a different color."

"All right then," he said cheerfully, ignoring the 'we are not amused, buddy' looks from the two bald Air Force Officers. Teal'c didn't seem to have taken it personally, but Jack was guessing he was the only one of the three who was bald voluntarily. "See you folks in ten years!" He slid into the trunk rather unceremoniously, feet first. It slid closed almost immediately, just as the top of his head cleared the entrance.

Teal'c pulled Sam to her feet by one elbow, standing behind her without touching her. She appreciated the silent support, as she always did. She knew that despite what Jack and everyone else had or would say, she would hold herself solely responsible if something else went wrong with the trunk.

The trunk opened again, by his feet. Janet was about to ask Teal'c to get him out of there, but it proved unnecessary, as the large man had already grabbed hold of each of the Colonel's ankles and dragged him out easily. He was unconscious again. Janet examined him quickly, pronounced everything to be 'normal under the circumstances,' and had Teal'c get him back on the gurney so she could hook him back up to the monitors and do some more tests.

"He appears back to normal, at least," Hammond said, studying the familiar face and form of his 2IC.

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed.

"Let me know when he wakes up, Doctor," Hammond said, nodding to Dr. Fraiser. "Now, if you'll excuse me, my lunch was interrupted. Jacob, care to join me in the commissary?"

"Sure." As he passed her on his way to the door, Jacob squeezed his daughter's shoulder. "Good work Sam."

"Thanks, Dad." She smiled until they left, then glanced back at Jack, still worried something might not be right. "I think," she added.

Janet was about to suggest that Sam go join the two Generals in the commissary when her phone rang. She picked it up, spoke quietly for a few minutes, and hung up, turning to Sam. "You need to get down to the VIP suite. Apparently Danny woke up a little while ago, and he's too much for SG-3."

"I will remain with O'Neill until he awakens," Teal'c said firmly.

"Thanks, Teal'c," Sam called as she hurried off towards the elevator.

As she stepped off the elevator on the VIP suite level, she could hear Danny crying all the way down the long corridor. Hurrying down the hall, she let herself into the room, which was full of Marines all trying to get one crying toddler to stop. Normally, Sam might have been amused at the sight of the Marines - who had a notorious rivalry with O'Neill and the rest of SG-1 by extension - reduced to something closely resembling a nervous wreck, by a two-and-a-half year-old Daniel Jackson. Today was not that day.

She sympathized easily with Danny's frustrated crying and pushed past the three Marines trying to make some sort of dancing stuffed-animal show and took the crying boy from Major Reynolds, who was rocking and bouncing around on his feet, trying to calm Danny down.

"Major Carter, thank God!" Reynolds said gratefully, handing Danny off to her as fast as he could. Danny managed her name in between all the sobbing he was doing as his arms went round her neck and he hid his face in her shirt.

She rubbed his back and kissed his head, talking quietly to him. "It's okay, I know how you feel. We've all had a very stressful day, haven't we?" She smiled at the Marines, who all looked shocked that Danny had stopped screaming instantly. He was still crying and upset, but no longer trying to be as loud as he possibly could. "Thanks, guys. Sorry you had such a rough shift."

"It's okay, it was Alan's fault," Reynolds said, nodding at the unfortunate Captain who was to blame.

Sam looked at him for an explanation. "He was sleeping when Teal'c left him with us but I ah… was examining…"

"Playing," Reynolds corrected.

"Yes sir, playing with that dinosaur robot thing over there and I didn't realize it made noise…"

"Once he woke up and realized you guys were gone and unavailable he was not happy," Reynolds finished.

"So he hasn't had much of a nap."

"Thanks," Sam said. "I think he'll be okay now."

"Good. Is Colonel O'Neill…" Reynolds started to ask.

"He's back to normal, we think, but he's still unconscious. Teal'c is with him. If he wakes up and he's fine… we'll all be our old selves again soon," Sam said, nodding towards Danny.

"That's good news," Reynolds said. "I'll never complain about one of his briefings again, no matter how boring they are, as long as he's not throwing a fit." The rest of his team seconded that and they all hurried towards the door.

Once they were alone, Sam took Danny over to the sink and got him all cleaned up. He was still clingy and sniffly, and looked exhausted. As she wiped up his face gently, she couldn't help it. She started crying too. "Sam?" he asked, looking scared.

She wiped her eyes quickly and said, "I'm okay, Danny, I'm just tired."

"I tired too."

"Yeah. Let's see if we can get you back to sleep, huh? Your nap had a very rude interruption." He was so tired from so much crying that he didn't even object as she got him all tucked in under his dinosaur blanket, on top of the made bed. He hugged Toppy and turned on his side, but he was still recovering from his fit and didn't go right to sleep.

She stretched out next to him and watched his eyelids start to close slowly. When he was too busy falling asleep to notice, she started crying again, and this time didn't bother to stop. Danny would be gone soon. And she knew that it was, on some level, silly to get so upset about it. He would just go back to being the Daniel they'd always known, it wasn't like he was dying or anything.

She also knew though, that when it came time to change him back, she wasn't going to be able to say goodbye to Danny. Not really. She would have to pretend like nothing was happening, or the little boy would pick up on how unhappy and scared she was and stay with her rather than crawl inside the trunk. So she was glad for a few moments alone to commit as much about him as she could to memory, and start saying a quiet, internal goodbye.

"Sam?" Danny asked around his thumb.

"Yeah?"

"Where Dack?"

"He's still in the infirmary sleeping."

"He is hurted?"

"No, sweetie, he's just sleeping. His hair's back to normal now."

"I want to see."

"When you both wake up, you can go see him."

"Noooo, now. I take my nap wiff him. Pease?" Knowing that Danny had been worried about Jack, she figured it would be good for him to see that he was okay, and looked completely as Danny had been used to again.

"Okay. Come on." She scooped him up, blanket, Toppy, and all, hoping to keep him as sleepy as possible, and made her way carefully back to the infirmary. Teal'c raised an eyebrow when they entered but didn't speak. He vacated the chair near O'Neill's bed for them.

Sam gave him a grateful smile and sat down. Danny turned in her lap, trying to lean over and look at Jack. "See? He's as good as new, he's just tired like you."

"Okay," Danny said. "But he not getting Toppy dis time."

Sam smiled as she remembered Danny being very upset to wake up from his nap to find Jack asleep with Toppy. "No, he doesn't need Toppy, you hang onto him." Danny nodded and, satisfied now that he'd seen Jack was okay, snuggled into her lap more comfortably and fell asleep quickly. Sam and Teal'c sat in companionable silence, waiting for their teammates to wake up.

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Sam sat up straighter as her CO started to show signs of waking, but with Danny zonked out in her arms she couldn't exactly get up. "Teal'c…" she started.

"I will get Dr. Fraiser," Teal'c said at the same time, already out of his seat and almost to the door.

Jack groaned and tried to swallow, making a face like he was in pain before opening his eyes with obvious effort. He turned his head slightly and quickly settled on her. "Are you okay?" she asked hopefully.

He looked at her carefully for several moments before asking, "Where… where am I?"

She inhaled sharply - she'd done something wrong, she knew it. Now he had no idea who any of them were… he was smiling and his eyes were twinkling. "Gotcha."

"You bastard!" She tried to sound as mad as she felt at the moment, but had a feeling the relief had trumped the anger, even in the swear. She'd get him for that later. "That was not funny," she said firmly, wishing she had something handy to throw at him.

Someone cleared their throat in the doorway and Sam turned to see that Teal'c had found everyone, not just Janet.

"Insulting a superior officer, sir, get her," Jack said, waving a tired arm in Sam's general direction.

Hammond chuckled and said, "I didn't hear a thing, Jack, I have no idea what you're talking about. Anybody else?"

"I didn't hear anything," Jacob said quickly.

"Nor did I," Teal'c said.

"Nothing I didn't agree with," Janet added.

Jack tried to glare at them all but he was just too tired and his head hurt way too much. "What the hell is going on anyway? The trunk thing worked, right?"

"It appears to have worked perfectly," Janet said as she leaned over and shined a penlight in his eyes.

He tried to dodge her but she grabbed his chin to keep his head firmly in place. "Doc! My eyes are fine, get away from me!"

"Sounds like him," Janet and General Hammond both commented together.

"Do you remember using the trunk at all, Jack?" Jacob asked.

"It's fuzzy… sort of like a dream, but yeah," he said.

"Good work, Carter."

"Thank you, sir."

"So, looks like Danny boy is up next," Jack said, nodding at the sleeping little boy. "When he wakes up of course."

"Well, now that we know the trunk works, I should be getting back to the Tok'ra. They've been waiting on some intel for a few days now, I should get it to them," Jacob announced. "I'm glad you're okay, Jack."

In light of the recent truce that seemed to exist between all of them, Jack merely smiled and refrained from making a sarcastic comment. "Thanks, Jake. Don't be a stranger."

Everyone else left so that Sam could say goodbye to her dad in relative privacy, although one stern look from Dr. Fraiser had prevented Jack from trying to get out of bed.

"Thanks for helping us, Dad," Sam said, speaking quietly so Danny wouldn't wake.

"Anytime. You did a good job, kid. Figuring out the trunk and taking care of that little guy."

Sam glanced down at Danny and smiled. "Thanks, Dad. I'll be sure to tell him how much you helped when he's big again." He hugged her shoulders carefully since she couldn't get up. She hugged him back with the one arm she could get free. "I love you"

"I love you too, Sam." He kissed her forehead and said firmly, "And I am very proud of you. I know your mom would be too." Making sure his last statement wouldn't be overheard, he added, "I do want you to be happy, Sam. Whatever that means."

She tried not to look as surprised as she was by that last statement. Sure, after she'd yelled at him for almost ten minutes straight, they'd come to an understanding. But it had been based on the fact that she'd basically told him that there was absolutely zero chance of anything happening between herself and her CO.

It hadn't been a lie - she had never said she wouldn't have liked the opportunity, just denied that it existed or was ever likely to. Now, it sounded like he was actually saying he'd be okay with… pretty much everything he'd been freaking out about for most of his trip. Realizing that he was now shaking Jack's hand and about to leave, she shook herself out of her frozen surprise enough to say, "Bye, Dad."

Jack gave her a few minutes to herself after her dad left, then asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah."

"Sure?"

She nodded. Janet and Teal'c returned, Teal'c bearing a tray from the commissary. "Excellent," Jack said upon seeing the tray. "Please, tell me that's for me."

"Indeed," Teal'c said. "Provided Dr. Fraiser gives her permission."

"What do you say, doc?" Jack asked.

"That depends. No nausea with your headache?"

"Nope. And I'm starving, that's a good sign, right?"

"All right, but don't overdo it, sir. Half of that's for Sam."

"I'm okay," Sam said quickly.

"He's zonked, Sam," Janet said after a glance at Danny's face. "You can move him easily, and you missed lunch."

"I'll eat later," she promised.

"Sam…" Janet started.

"Doc," Jack interrupted, shaking his head.

Janet frowned for a moment, then realized Sam wasn't even listening to them anymore anyway, her attention back on Danny. She nodded reluctantly and left SG-1 alone. Teal'c set the tray on Jack's lap after he raised the bed up to a sitting position. "Is there anything else that you require, O'Neill?"

"Nope. Grab a seat, big guy."

"I am afraid I cannot. I have other matters to which I must attend. Please inform me before you convert Daniel Jackson back to his mature body."

"Will do," Jack promised as he picked up his fork.

Teal'c left, leaving Jack to wonder absently what was so important for Teal'c to go do all of a sudden. He shrugged and dug into his lunch eagerly. He made his way halfway through his tray, glancing at Sam every once in a while to make sure she was okay. He knew he'd miss Danny too, and was even sort of thankful for the dull throbbing headache the trunk had left him with - it was an easy distraction from his own feelings.

Finally, not knowing how much longer they'd be left alone, he spoke quietly. "Sam?"

She looked up at him, waiting for him to continue. "I was thinking about how we're going to… do this. I know it's going to be hard but I think we have to try to act as casual as possible when he's interacting with the trunk or he won't go in it."

"I know," she agreed quietly. "It… it doesn't hurt or anything, does it?"

"No," Jack promised. "I mean, my head kind of hurts now, but I'm pretty sure I was unconscious from the second it shut."

"Good." He raised both eyebrows. "I mean, not that you were knocked out… or that your head hurts…"

"Uh-huh. Nice cover there, Major." He swung his legs over the side of his bed and got up to get rid of his tray and test his legs. He really felt fine now, apart from the headache.

He took the tray over to the counter where Janet kept the fun stuff like cotton balls and those really long Q-tips and set it aside, picking up his spoon and attempting to get a look at himself in the upside-down, distorted reflection. His back was to Sam, so he couldn't tell that she was watching him, clearly amused. Finally, she called, "Should we leave you two alone or something?"

"I'm just making sure everything's back to… normal," he said defensively, setting the spoon down.

"If everything looks normal to you in a spoon…" she started.

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled. He set the spoon down, but she noticed him glancing in the mirror over the sink on his way back to the bed.

"Don't worry, Colonel, we're all happy to have you back to you old self again," she said, unable to resist putting a little bit of emphasis on 'old.'

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