Jonas hadn't thought much when told what a buggy was. Daniel had told him it was a contraption made for moving around babies and small children. He also said that there was no way anyone on earth would get him to ride in one. If Daniel thought so poorly of them, then it made sense that they were not something he wanted to use himself.
Teal'c seemed to be having fun teaching the recruits hand on hand combat. Jonas remembered when Teal'c had taught him that. It had been fun, really challenging, and there was little he liked better than a good challenge. The recruits didn't look like they were having as much fun as he had. They formed a line around the mat, noticeably shuffling with nerves when it was coming up to their go.
Jack sat on a bench nearby, occasionally shouting out some advice for whoever Teal'c was facing next. Then he would cringe whenever they invariably were knocked off their feet.
Jonas swung his legs from the bench next to him, watching as Daniel walked around the gym. Eventually curiosity got the better of him, and he pushed himself to the floor, walking toward the taller boy.
"Jonas", O'Neill's voice made him turn around nervously, wondering if he should have asked permission before moving.
"Stay in the gym. OK?" It was odd how concerned O'Neill seemed to have become of them. Intellectually Jonas knew why, they were more fragile in these forms, but given how cold the Colonel had started out toward him it had surprised him.
"Yes Sir", he said nodding, before moving to catch up with the boy who had started another circuit of the large gym.
Walking was easier than it had been, in that every second step didn't send him to the floor. Daniel had been right when he had said that practice helped. Perhaps that was what he was doing now, practicing moving around in his strange form.
"Doctor Jackson", he said, finally as his shorter legs had difficulty in catching up with the other boy's pace.
The five year old turned, the archaeologist's bored expression copied perfectly onto his childlike features. Jonas couldn't get over how similar and yet how different he looked from his adult form. His hair was a few shades lighter and a little longer than it had been, his blue eyes looked lighter too and bigger on his face. Young children often had decreased melanin which was why more babies were born with blue eyes than the number that grew up to have blue eyes.
Yet, even in his smaller body, the man's features reminded him of what they would be grown up. His mannerisms were the most unaffected, looking strangely alien on such a young child. Jonas wondered whether he looking younger looked even more out of place.
"Jonas. I told you, call me Daniel", the five year old smiled, the action genuine but slightly too closed off for someone who looked so young.
"Daniel", Jonas said, trying to sound apologetic. "I was just wondering what you were doing?"
Daniel screwed up his brow, a questioning expression that looked off place on his childlike features.
"I mean you were pacing around", Jonas explained. "I was wondering why."
"Oh", Daniel scuffed his shoe against the floor. "I just seem to have more energy than I'm used to. Sitting still doesn't seem like an appealing option right now."
He resumed his circuit around the gym, but slower this time. Jonas found that he was able to keep roughly in pace with him this time with only a little difficulty.
"Do you think its a symptom?" Jonas said, fiddling with his dungarees. "Because of what happened to us?"
"Human children do seem to have more short bursts of energy than adults", Daniel nodded looking thoughtful. "But Janet will know more about that than me. I do remember I was quite an active child at this age, slightly hyperactive to be honest. Some schools I passed through suggested I should be put on drugs to help my concentration. My mother refused, she homeschooled me instead. She said I had no problems focusing as long as it was on something interesting."
"What is homeschooling?" Jonas asked puzzled.
"It's where someone, usually parents teach the child at home instead of sending them to school. Is that not an option on your planet?" Daniel looked down at him, his expression patient.
"On Langara the children are sent to a centre to be taught. Like your schools. I've never heard of anyone being permitted to keep their children with them during the day longer than it takes them to be moved to solid foods." The idea was confusing. How would the adults contribute to society if they had their children with them?
A spark of curiosity had lit up in Daniel's eyes. "So at your age now, you would have been in school?"
"Yes", Jonas said. "As soon as an infant is big enough to be disruptive in the woman's workplace they are sent to a centre during work hours. The sooner, the better. It is never seen as too early to teach an infant ways they can contribute to society."
"That happens here sometimes when both parents have to work", Daniel said. "But the infants are only maintained. The view among most is that a child is not ready to learn educational concepts like math, reading and science until they are older."
Jonas frowned, only further confused. "But children are learning all the time just by being alive. Is information about the world they live in withheld for long?"
"In america, compulsory schooling usually starts at six. In england it starts younger, about four I think."
Jonas almost stumbled. "You mean there are five year olds that have not been taught to read or count?" The idea was staggering. Some of the fiction books in the library had mentioned schooling starting late, but he had supposed it was an idea confined to fiction or a time long ago.
"Its not uncommon", Daniel nodded. "Why? When is the average time for someone on Langara to start learning to read?"
"If only the centres are used, then they are shown words as soon as they arrive. It is uncommon for parents not to make some effort to teach their children before that. My mother used to show me words and read to me during her breaks", Jonas smiled at the memory. He could barely remember the times before the centre, but what he did remember was happy feelings of being safe and warm and having so much fun.
"What age did you learn to read?" Daniel asked, looking openly curious.
"By the time I entered the centre I could read. My mother did a good job", Jonas openly smiled. "I was more sickly than my twin brother though, so he was sent at twelve months. She kept me at work until fourteen months which was unusually late but she had a manual job, and I was a quiet baby so it was easier than if she had an office job where coworkers might complain. Usually infants are sent earlier, about eight or nine months, but my mother was one of those that believed parents were better at educating than centres. She would have liked your idea of homeschooling."
"You could read when you were fourteen months?" Daniel's eyes were wide, making him wonder whether he had said something wrong.
"Yes", Jonas frowned. "Is that so unusual?"
"I've heard of it happening", Daniel admitted. "But in our culture its considered very unusual."
"On Langara, most parents try to read to their children from birth", Jonas said. "Most children in that situation show some signs of reading by twelve months. There tends to be a time while children learn to speak where its difficult to tell how much they are reading. Most centres keep the early years low pressure, focusing on input rather than output. Eighteen months is the usual time for children to show that they can read. Its unusual for a child not to show that they can read by two. I was an early speaker which was how they knew I could read at fourteen months."
"Most people in america would see that as too much pressure", Daniel said. "There's an assumption in our society that forcing that kind of learning on children that age robs them of their childhood."
Jonas shook his head, grinning. It was amazing how their two societies could be so similar and yet so very different. "Those were the best years of my life. It wasn't the best centre, but pre independent age centres have a high staff to student ratio. There were no tests. They just exposed us to so much information and anytime there was something we wanted to look into further they helped us. We had access to knowledge about everything known to Langara, it was brilliant, I never had a chance to get bored in the precentre. There were books, but a lot of it was hands on too. I think I would have gone crazy if I didn't have access to all that stimulation."
"I don't know that much about Langaran educational systems", Daniel said, looking interested. "There are pre independent age centres. That implies that there are independent age centres too?"
"Yeah", Jonas said. "Those aren't as nice. Precentres are made to encourage curiosity and to teach basic skills like how to study topics more independently. When we want to know something, we are encouraged to try and teach ourselves before asking for help. Then at five we move to independent age centres. Those are much bigger. Students range from in age from five to twelve. We aren't sorted by age level so much as ability in areas. As we get older and better we are encouraged to specialise and work more and more independently. My centre wasn't very good. It was much more crowded than recommendations, with less staff. The tests were my least favourite part."
"How about after that?" Daniel had stopped walking now to listen. He was clearly in his element drinking up facts about a society different from his.
"By the time a person is twelve they are joined with a mentor or industry suited to them. Sometimes they join earlier if they show early talent in that area. They join as a trainee, but gain full status as soon as they prove themselves. Doctor Kieran was my mentor."
"What about higher levels of education?" Daniel was rapt with attention. It was a little overwhelming to have that much intensity focused on him. "On earth we have universities where we can go after formal schooling."
"It's a bit different on Langara", Jonas said. He had heard of these universities. It facinated him that they kept the more strict structure of a classroom he had heard of going into adulthood. "At the centres there are no limits to the level of education we can reach. We are encoraged to contact mentors in fields we are interested in for guidance if we need more than the staff can offer. Some even work with mentors very early if they have an aptitude for an area. After the centre we can gain similar things to your qualifications through titles like doctor if the work we produce is of enough merit."
"So its a society where the worth of a person is based on their contribution to society?" Daniel said, his words a little faster than usual, something Jonas had noticed happened when he got excited. "So instead of your qualification showing your knowledge, qualifications are only awarded when that knowledge has been applied into some kind of contribution. It's an interesting way of doing it. Some professors I know would prefer a system like that. It's a common complaint in our society that people tend to learn things to pass tests rather than apply that knowledge."
Daniel was still 'geeking out' as Colonel O'Neill would describe it when Jonas's ears pricked, turning he caught a glimpse of the stick flying their way.
"Look out", Jonas warned, already throwing his weight against Daniel to push him out of the way. Unfortunately his small size against the larger boy didn't make much of an impact. Though the stick hit him harder, sending him skidding along the ground, from the cry of pain he knew Daniel had been hit too.
He blinked for a moment at the silence that followed, before he started to lever himself upright. His body was sore, and his knee let out a sharp pain when he moved it, but it still bent so it couldn't be that bad. He was worried about Daniel though. They were fragile in these bodies, so he could have fared worse.
"Geeze kid", a man leaned over him, one of Teal'c's recruits from the padding around his head. "I'm really really sorry. Are you OK? Don't cry please."
Jonas stared up at the flustered man in confusion. Why would he cry? He had just done something to his knee, it didn't hurt that badly.
"Damn it!" Both child and adult flinched at the angry sound and the quick footsteps than accompanied it.
"You!" Colonel O'Neill stopped by his side, staring at the recruit with a kind of anger Jonas had seen from him only rarely. "What the hell was that!"
"I'm sorry", the man stammered. "I fell and it just slipped."
"It is I who is at fault O'Neill", Teal'c's voice boomed from the mat. "I should have paid closer attention to their location."
O'Neill's voice hadn't lowered in volume. "Just get him out of my face Teal'c before I do something I might regret."
"Training will recommence in an hour", Teal'c said stiffly to the recruits, who eventually filed out, muttering and looking back at them.
"It was an accident Jack", Daniel sounded a little winded but otherwise alright. Sitting up, Jonas looked him over but could find no obvious injury.
The colonel seemed to have a similar worry, placing his hands on Daniel's shoulders and looking him over. The almost desperate way his hands gripped the boy's t-shirt was more like that of a parent recovering a lost child than a co worker. Jonas suddenly felt he was looking at something O'Neill might not want him to notice. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine Jack", Daniel's voice was that of an adult attempting to calm a frightened child. He placed his small hands over the colonel's own. "Really. I wasn't even knocked over."
Then the colonel's attention switched to him, and Jonas felt nervous under that intense gaze. "Kid. You hurt?"
He started to shake his head, but hesitated when the colonel's hand cupped the back of his neck lifting him into more of a upright sitting position. His leg shifted on the ground and he suddenly winced.
O'Neill's eyes were suddenly sharp, seeming to stare right into his mind. "Where are you injured?"
"My knee", the words slipped out under his former commanding officer's intense glare. "I think its just a scratch", he hastened to tell him as the man shuffled up the dungarees.
There was blood, but he had been right, it was just a nasty scrape and what looked like would become a colorful bruise. At seeing it, the man's jaw tensed, and without warning he was scooped up. This wasn't like before, when O'Neill had kept physical contact to a minimum. The man's arms were wrapped around him tight as if he might escape.
He was set down on a counter, the ceramic cool beneath him. O'Neill's movements were quick and jagged as he stepped away, grabbing a first aid kit from a high shelf. The man's skin was flushed, and his muscles tense like he badly wanted to hit something.
Jonas stayed still, frozen in place as O'Neill briskly cleaned the wound.
"Do you realise how dangerous that was?" The man's tone was practically seething, and he had not directed that much anger toward him in a look since shortly after Daniel had died.
"I-" Jonas didn't know what to say, whether he was supposed to say anything.
"You could have been really hurt!" The words were directed fully at him now, the man's fingers tight as they gripped his leg. "You should have known it was too dangerous. They are grown men and you are a little kid."
"O'Neill", Teal'c sounded alarmed. "All is well. It is a small wound."
"That's not the point Teal'c!" O'Neill was almost yelling now. It was terrifying. Then those angry eyes zeroed in on his again. "Seriously. How could you be that stupid? You could have been killed. This isn't some place for you to play. You're too little to be near dangerous things like that. This is a military base, not a playground! Why don't you have more sense!"
Jonas didn't realise that he was shaking, until O'Neill stopped his speech with a yelp, looking down.
"You're being an asshole Jack!" Daniel spat up at him.
O'Neill rubbed his shin, looking at the five year old like he had forgotten he was there. Little by little the anger seemed to fade from his expression.
When he turned back to Jonas his expression was more sad than angry. He dressed the wound, silently sticking the large plaster in place, before moving his dungarees back into place. "Didn't mean to yell Jonas. I just don't like you getting hurt."
It was as close to an apology as Jonas as ever heard him give. "That's alright Sir. I should have stayed more alert."
O'Neill settled his hands on the toddler's shoulders like he had done to Daniel. It felt odd. The colonel had never been one for touching him before this.
"I just need you guys to try and be more careful, OK?" O'Neill looked between them, sounding exhausted.
Jonas was quick to nod, not sure from this vantage point whether Daniel was doing the same.
O'Neill picked him up, placing his body against his chest, so that his chin was forced to rest on the man's shoulder. It was almost like they were close, like father and son rather than two adults who had never managed to get over the rocky events that had happened when they met.
Jonas didn't quite know what to do with his arms in this new position, so he let them hang by his sides. He watched over the man's shoulder as they made their way out of the gym, Daniel close to his side and Teal'c trailing behind.
Not such a happy chapter. I'll try and add more fluff in the next one. In case anyone gets the wrong idea I have nothing against the type of upbringing that leads to kids reading before two, I plan to raise my future kids that way. I also have nothing against people who think its better to wait to teach. It's not my way but different strokes, different folks.