AN: Thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate them – especially the detail in yours, Terri – very helpful. Hopefully, you all like the next bit too. :)

Daniel certainly didn't bring any beer with him today, however. Not when he'd just been called in to John's school by a principal who was more than a little stressed.

On his arrival, Daniel was greeted by the disturbing sight of an ambulance pulling away from the school with its lights flashing. He practically ran to the principal's office and was only partly relieved to see John sitting there looking mutinous. Daniel had spent enough time with the boy to recognise the patented O'Neill "I'm this close to going whacko" glare translated across the younger features of his clone.

"What's going on?" Daniel asked the principal, Mrs Bedelmeier, quickly.

Mrs Bedelmeier fluttered up to Daniel, wringing her hands in agitation. "I'm afraid, Dr Jackson, that your… uh… your…"

She paused, searching desperately for the correct term to describe the relationship between her student and the rather attractive young archaeologist who she'd been steadily developing a rather large crush on. They weren't related and technically, Dr Jackson wasn't even listed as his guardian due to that whole strange emancipation thing.

Dr Jackson had said on their first meeting that he was a friend of Jonathan's family. Mrs Bedelmeier liked to imagine that this precluded any chance that the poor boy needing emancipation was due to abusive or neglectful parents. She felt assured that the lovely Dr Jackson would never be associated with people who could harm a child.

Her favourite imagining was that Jonathan's parents were secret agents who had been killed in the line of duty and the grateful nation had in return taken care of their only son. It made her feel all patriotic and glowy inside. Abandoning the search for the correct terminology, she began again.

"Unfortunately, Dr Jackson, I have to inform you that for some reason Jonathan has taken it upon himself to physically assault a member of my teaching staff."

"I see." Daniel replied mildly and sat down in a chair near John.

John slid Mrs Bedelmeier a gaze that would almost certainly have made even a Jaffa a tad nervous. She responded with a noise that somewhere between a nervous giggle, a cough and a choking sound.

His voice was low and as pointed as a dagger. "You know damn well the reason for it. The bastard is lucky to get off with just a broken arm and a nosebleed."

"Watch your language, Jonathan." She reprimanded without much conviction. She turned to Daniel as if to convince him of the shocking nature of this afternoon's events. "Mr Frankston is going to require surgery for his arm according to the paramedics. His nose is most likely broken and he could have a nasty concussion."

As she paced around the room frantically rattling off the reasons why this kind of thing was unacceptable, Daniel examined John's knuckles which had split probably from the impact with this Mr Frankston's face. "Are you okay?" He asked quietly.

John resisted the urge to pull his hand out of Daniel's gentle fingers. To run away from the concerned eyes. He hadn't known quite what to expect in regards to his friend's reaction to all this but it certainly hadn't been for Daniel to be only focussed on whether he was alright. John was humiliated to find his eyes welling up slightly. Damn teenage hormones heightening stupid emotions. All he could manage was to shake his head slightly.

"Is he okay!" Mrs Bedelmeier interrupted. "What about poor Mr Frankston!"

"For crying out loud, Frankston got what was coming to him!" John suddenly yelled at her. All his rage bubbled up to the surface. She sat down behind her desk as if it could protect her. "I can't believe that you're not seeing that! How can you possibly take his side after what he did!"

"Allegedly did." She mumbled warily. "Of course, we'll have to investigate the claims but until they're proven accurate then…"

"What! My word isn't good enough for you? I witnessed it first hand!" John was on his feet now. "What more proof do you need? In the time since I made that son of a bitch bleed, five more girls have come forward! Five, goddamn it!"

Mrs Bedelmeier seemed to slump slightly and closed her eyes. Head lowered, she sighed. "You're right of course, Jonathan. I must apologise. It's… it's just a lot to take in. I don't want to believe…"

"No-one wants to believe it, but it's true." John's anger reduced to a simmering again, he sat down and placed a hand briefly over hers.

"I'm afraid I'm still going to have to suspend you for the moment, Jonathan. Until this mess is sorted."

"I understand."

"I'll make sure it doesn't appear on your permanent record."

"I appreciate that."

"Would it be alright if I took John home now?" Daniel asked and Mrs Bedelmeier nodded distractedly.

As Daniel and John made their way out of her office, she sighed and reached for the phone. They heard her wearily ask the school counsellor to join her in her office.

As they walked to his car, Daniel spoke up. "You know I would have intervened on your behalf in there… but you seemed to take care of it yourself just fine."

"I know you would have, Daniel. Thanks."

Daniel placed a hand on the shorter John's shoulder as they walked and John felt his eyes water again. God, did he need a beer. He had some at home he knew and they'd be there soon.

Maybe he could see if Daniel would be willing to stop and acquire something stronger for him but he decided against it. Daniel had an annoying habit of being on Janet's wavelength and could often be relied on to give the speech about taking care of his stupid still-developing body.

Luckily, Daniel didn't begrudge him the occasional beer. Luckily for Daniel since friend or no friend, an O'Neill with no beer could get dangerous. He could end up being the one bleeding from the nose just like Frankston.

That damn bastard, Frankston. If only John had had a knife and some quality alone time with that teacher. A zat or three would have been too quick. Maybe one of those Goa'uld pain sticks that made you glow out of your eyes and mouth. Yeah. That'd be sweet.

"Are you going to tell me the full story?" Daniel interrupted John's elaborate torture fantasy, his eyes never leaving the road as he drove but John knew that his friend had been observing him carefully the whole time anyway.

"Beer first, Daniel." He replied grimly. "And lots of it."