All right, another chapter for your enjoyment. Yes, don't worry, I'm still planning on a happy ending. :) Just trust me. So please review so I can keep writing fast and you can find out how this does end happily! Thanks:)

Chapter 15

"Mom, look at me!"

Vala looked up at the sound of her daughter's voice to see Janet skipping into the 'gate room in front of Cassandra, dressed in mini green BDUs. For perhaps the first time in weeks she grinned widely. The sight was, in fact, funny, and the girl's enthusiasm was contagious.

"Don't you look cute!" she smiled.

Janet stopped in front of her and crossed her arms, shaking her head and sighing. "I'm not supposed to look cute, mom; they're BDUs."

Vala crossed her arms in return. "If you say so--but I still think you're cute."

The girl rolled her eyes "Mooom," she drew out, once again demonstrating her ability to sound just like her father. Her mother, however, just reached out and mussed her hair.

"Don't roll your eyes and 'moom' me, young lady," she scolded lightly.

Janet ducked and escaped to go over to the rest of the gathered team.

"Ready to go?" Cameron asked.

"I am. When can we go?" the girl asked excitedly.

"Calm yourself, Janet," Teal'c smiled down at her. "It will not be long."

Sam smiled brightly as well. "Walter just started dialing. "It'll only be another minute or so."

All were as cheerful as they could possibly on purpose. It was times like these that Jack and Daniel's absences were felt the most, and all wanted to keep the others in high spirits. After all, this was supposed to be a fun trip, taken for the purpose of cheering up Janet, who for all practical purposes had lost her father.

True to Sam's word, a minute or so later the stargate opened, and its color was reflected in Janet's blue eyes as the child stared at the display in wonder.

"Wow! That's the ka-woosh you told me about, right, Aunt Sam?" she asked eagerly.

Sam nodded. "That's right. Or that's what we call it sometimes anyway.

"No, that's what you call it sometimes," Mitchell teased. Sam only rolled her eyes.

"Coming?" Vala asked, holding out a hand to her daughter. Janet started to take it, but then stopped and looked around.

"Wait. Where's Uncle Hank? He said he'd be here to see us off."

Sam blinked. "The General?"

"I'm right here," Landry's voice as he stepped into the 'gate room. "Sorry; I got held up in the control room."

"That's okay!" Janet smiled, running to him and giving him a hug which the elder man returned.

"Have fun," he smiled at her.

"Thanks! I will," she assured him, and then hurried back to the other group and took her mother's hand.

Sam took the girl's other hand, and then she, Janet, and Vala started up the ramp first, with Cameron and Teal'c trailing behind them.

Vala felt Janet's hand squeeze her a bit tighter as they neared the event horizon, and looked down at her.

"Are you scared?" she asked gently.

The girl looked unsure for a moment. "I don't know…It doesn't hurt does it?"

"Well, you might get a little dizzy, but no--it doesn't hurt. It's actually kind of fun," Vala assured her. That seemed to help.

"On three?" Sam asked.

Janet nodded. "Okay."

Cameron smiled from behind them as he and Teal'c took up positions on either side of the three females, and SG-1 counted down together, trying not to remember that they'd all been together the last time they had counted down for something with this little girl that they all loved so much.

"One…two…three!"

Then SG-1, minus one but plus his daughter, stepped through the stargate at once. None of them, of course, saw the two ascended beings that had been there all along and slipped through the blue puddle after them.

Daniel smiled to himself when he saw what planet had been chosen to bring Janet to--P4X-895, or more affectionately known as The Pink Planet by those from earth that had been there. The grass was just as green as it was on any other planet SG-1 had ever been to, but most of the other foliage was pink; it was the perfect place to bring a young girl.

At the moment, said young girl was shaking herself from the dizzying effects of 'gate travel. Once she had righted herself her eyes widened and she stared in wonder at the world around her.

"Yow! Okay, that was…different," Jack complained from beside him.

Daniel shrugged. "Yeah, it does feel a bit strange going through the 'gate in this form, verses being human, but you get used to it."

"I sure hope so," O'Neill muttered, and then gravitated immediately toward his wife. "So…is this what you did the first time? Did you just spend your time following us around that whole year you were gone."

"Sometimes, I guess, but in general…no," Jackson answered.

"Oh yeah? Then what did you do?"

"I did other things, Jack. Really, do you have to know everything?"

O'Neill shrugged indifferently and returned his focus to Sam, who along with Vala was leading Janet off of the stone platform the 'gate stood on, down its steps and onto the grass. The girl hadn't even mustered a 'wow' yet.

After another minute or so of looking around, open-mouthed, she could speak again. "Sweet!" she exclaimed happily.

Jack whirled in her direction. "Sweet," he nodded in agreement with her vocabulary. Then he grinned to himself, proud that his favorite phrase had rubbed off on his best friend's daughter. Daniel saw this, and his eyes rolled.

Sam, however, had heard Janet's reaction and smiled weakly, bittersweet memories suddenly swirling in her mind's eye. Next Jack noticed Sam, and his joyful expression faded to a sorrowful countenance.

"Sam, I'm okay…" he sighed. He tried to reach out to her, but of course his hand went right through, and she didn't even see him. Sam and the rest of SG-1 had started to walk away, and she was out of reach for him to try again.

Jack spun back to Daniel, blinking back tears. "Daniel, please tell me this gets easier," he gulped hoarsely.

"I wish I could, Jack," Daniel sighed heavily. He would have said something further, but then something else came to his attention, something that nipped at the back of his mind, told him something was wrong. He whirled to face SG-1 again, who were further away now.

It didn't take long for Jackson to realize what had raised the hackles of his heightened senses. This planet had always been deemed safe, with no hostiles, unfriendly native life or contagions…but no children from earth had ever visited this planet.

In a flash Daniel saw Janet, happily following his friends across the grass, and he also saw the microscopic particles that floated lazily from the pink hued foliage toward her. To any normal human adult they were harmless, and that was why they had never been noticed before, but to a human child, not yet fully grown, he suddenly knew they were dangerous, and that no one would realize it until it was too late…

"Daniel…?" O'Neill asked in concern, not understanding what was happening. But before he could question further, his younger friend had launched himself toward his daughter and her oblivious companions.

"Janet!" Daniel shouted, even though she couldn't hear him. Automatically he threw out an invisible, protective net of energy to cover, to keep her from breathing them in or touching them.

It never reached her. A wave of déjà vu that Daniel had hoped he would never sense dropped over him as something abruptly took hold of him and yanked him back. He knew what it was. It was the others, and he fought them.

"No!" he yelled in defiance. "Let me help her!"

"Daniel!" Jack cried in alarm, seeing the form of his friend swept back and somehow understanding what was happening. He was being stopped. "Leave him alone!" she shouted at no-one in particular. But he was ignored, and before his eyes Daniel was pulled away. "Daniel! O'Neill called again. There was no answer. "Crap!" he muttered, and then disappeared himself to look for his friend.

When Daniel's world stopped spinning he found himself back in the ascended realm, its undefined mists swirling in his sights and several angry-looking other ascended being surrounding him. Among him was the one he disliked the most. But he had other things to worry about now besides them. He had to get back to where he had been, had to protect Janet. He tried to leave again but found he couldn't. The other were using their powers to anchor him where he was, effectively trapping him.

"Let me go!" he begged desperately. "My daughter-!"

"Is none of your concern anymore, Jackson," came the annoying, cold voice. "You know you can't interfere in mortal affairs like that."

"But I can't just let-"

"I don't care!" he interrupted sharply. "You'd better just be glad we pulled you out before the rest of the others noticed what you were trying to do. They would have kicked you out for sure. But I'm going to go back on my promise for you just this one, Jackson. We're going to punish you ourselves, and we won't tell the others a thing. Got that?"

So finally this one had an excuse to do something Daniel. Even the ascended realm had it bullies. Jackson gulped, still struggling as hard as he could. But eight or ten to one were not even odds. "You don't understand. If I don't do something-" But he was cut off once again by a vicious blow.

Daniel cried out, the ascended plane equivalent of physical pain ricocheting through his being.

"Shut up, Jackson," the one in charge hissed sharply.

And then those around him were pushing in closer, and more blows came, faster. To human eyes it would have appeared like an angry mob torturing one helpless individual, and for all intents and purposes it was, but to one ascended it was different…and much worse.

To Daniel it felt as if several others at once were reaching into his very being, trying to rip things apart, injure him, and beat him down in more ways than one. Agonized screamed tore through the space around them in all directions, but there was no one near to hear them.

Within minutes Daniel was too weak to cry out anymore. Eventually the pain became too much, and he slipped silently into a darkness even deeper than human unconsciousness.

Janet sneezed yet again, followed by a small cough, and Vala looked up in alarm.

"Janet, are you all right?" she asked in concern. The girl turned to her from where she was pulling her coat on in the entryway of her house and gathering her things as the readied to leave. Vala would take her to school and then go on to work at the SGC as usual. It had been a little over a week since the trip through the 'gate, and Janet had been in a much better mood ever sense. However, she had been sneezing for two days.

Janet yawned. "I'm okay, mom. It's just a cold or something."

"Are you sure?" Vala questioned again, swinging her purse onto her should and grabbing her keys--or rather, Daniel's keys that she had to use now--from the small table by the door.

"Yes, ma'am, I'm sure," the girl sighed, opening the front door to a blast of cold air. "Can we go please? I don't want to be late for school."

"Yes, we can go now," Vala relented. "But if you're not any better by tomorrow I'm taking you to see Aunt Carolyn."

"Daniel? Daniel, come on; wake up!" an urgent voice called.

Daniel moaned. He could hear someone calling him, prodding him to return to consciousness, but he still hurt. He didn't want to wake up.

"Daniel!" the voice insisted again. It went on that way for several minutes until Jackson finally swam to the surface.

"Wh…what…?" he mumbled weakly, as Jack's image took shape in front of him. "What happened?"

"Don't ask me. I've been looking for you forever. What did happen?" O'Neill questioned worriedly. Then, to what would have seemed to any mortal like helping Daniel to his feet, Jack let some of his own energy seep into his friend, effectively reviving him.

Daniel sighed and didn't respond for a moment, assessing the damage done and trying to remember what had taken place before he'd blacked out.

"For cryin' out loud, Daniel, you've been missing for what…about a week in real time? What happened to you. You look horrible. Are you okay?"

And suddenly the painful memory of what was going on before flooded back, and Jackson gasped as something tightened inside of him.

"No, I'm not okay," he gulped. He didn't even try to explain what had happened to him; he went straight into the problem. "Jack, Janet's in trouble…"

"What do you mean she's in trouble?" O'Neill asked in confusion. She seemed fine to me last time I think. The kid's got a cold at the moment, but it happens. She'll be fine."

Daniel groaned. "No, Jack, you don't get it. She caught something from the plant life on that planet. We never noticed it; it doesn't affect human adults, but it's dangerous to Janet. That must be how it starts. We have to do something-"

"Daniel, you know just as well as I do that we can't. Now just how dangerous are we talking about? It can't be all that bad. You're acting like it's the end of the world…"

Daniel shook his head, tears stinging his eyes. "It is, Jack! If we don't do anything she'll die!"