Hi, Thanks to all of you who sent in reviews; you know how much I really appreciate them. I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter, and I hope that you will like this one too.

With special thanks to Michele - hope you feel better soon!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Past, Present & Future

By LetitiaRichards.

Previously:

"Enjoy your shower...sir!" she gloated, shutting the door behind her.

Chapter 14 – Restitution

Sam leant back against the door trembling, aghast at what she'd done. Okay, so her CO was back but that didn't excuse him from keeping his true identity from her. She felt justified in her reactions, but... that still didn't excuse her from acting like a child and exacting revenge against his audacity by turning on the cold spray and leaving him there, however amusing it was at the time.

She could hear his muffled curses on the other side of the door now as he... his four year old body, fought against the rush of icy water trying to turn the shower off. 'Oh God!' She moaned, gazing up at the ceiling to blink away the rapidly gathering moisture burning the back of her eyes. 'He's gonna kill me for sure!'

"Sam?" Daniel hurried towards her looking alarmed. "What's up? You look...?"

"God Daniel, I just tried to drown him!" she gasped. He'll have me up for a court-martial for sure!"

Daniel could see she was trying to keep her emotions in check, but what on earth was going on?

"What? Why?" Daniel queried still puzzled. "He can't do that Sam, he's just a little kid..." Daniel tried to reassure her, but Sam cut him off quickly.

"No! No he's not Daniel. That's Colonel O'Neill in there," she stated emphatically.

"What? Adult Jack?" Daniel gaped wide eyed. "So that was what all the yelling was about?"

Sam nodded and a tear broke free to roll down her cheek.

"I was..." she took a deep breath and folded her arms across her chest to stop from shaking. "...I was bathing him Daniel, and he was the Colonel the whole time but he didn't let on!"

Daniel's lips quirked with the beginnings of a grin, but Sam glared daggers at him with hurt clearly showing in her eyes, so he turned it into a shrug.

"It's not funny Daniel!" she snarled wanting to wipe that sly smile from his face. "I was just about to..." she couldn't hold back the tears any longer and batted them away angrily. "...I almost 'touched' him. I thought perhaps it might be better if you or Teal'c... you know. That's when he divulged the fact that he was back to being Colonel O'Neill."

"But that still doesn't explain all the yelling," Daniel prompted. He could just imagine Jack thinking it was highly amusing, but he could also see why Sam was so upset, given their positions within the military. Jack really shouldn't have done that to her – but still, he would have loved to have seen her face at that point in time.

"He'll report me. I just know it."

"No he won't Sam," Daniel soothed, rubbing a hand up and down her arm. "He's at fault here if anyone is to be blamed."

"No Daniel. I...I could live with that. It's what I did afterwards that's the problem."

"What?" Daniel's eyebrows shot up. "What did you do Sam?" demanded Daniel with growing concern.

"I pulled the plug and then turned on the shower, telling him to enjoy it."

"And this is bad?" He was waiting for the rest, because there had to be more to it than Sam was saying here.

"I... oh god Daniel." She shook with terror at the knowledge of what she had done sank further into her brain. "The water was cold Daniel. Icy cold."

"Ah!" Daniel grimaced with understanding. "Yeah, I can see why you're worried." He sighed.

Daniel took Sam into his arms and led her down the hallway and into the kitchen. "Grab yourself a cup of coffee and make some for Jack. I think he'll be needing something warm."

"Janet would kill me if I gave a four year old coffee Daniel!"

"You really wanna try and give him hot chocolate or milk?" he stated wryly. "I don't somehow think that will go down well, do you? Especially after his...shower."

Sam gulped, hesitating.

"Sam, Janet's a friend and, okay, she's the doctor, but what would you rather do? Upset her or face a court-martial from Jack? Not that I think he would ever dream of going that far."

"You're right. I'll put the coffee on, but I won't make it so strong."

Daniel nodded and turned to leave when Sam called out after him, stopping him in his tracks.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna go do a little damage control Sam. Don't worry. He won't be able to report you because he doesn't have a leg to stand on." He winked at her and left her to watch over the coffee pot as it heated up the dark brew.

OoOoOoOoO

Daniel pushed right into the bathroom without knocking, coming to a halt to watch Jack trying to dry himself off, and then shut the door behind him.

Jack's teeth were still chattering from the cold and when he saw Daniel he growled, looking grumpy and tried to ignore him at first, annoyed that Daniel was just standing there in silence.

"Come to gloat?" Jack snarled with a deep shiver.

The anger and frustration coming from a four year old body just sounded so wrong to Daniel's ears. He stood there with his arms folded, pondering how to approach Jack when he was in this black mood. He'd never been afraid of his friend, even standing up for those less able to do so if he thought they were right. It wouldn't be the first time and surely not the last. The best plan of attack as Jack had drilled into him was to get in the first shot; so he would.

"What on earth were you thinking Jack?" he could sound just as aggravated as Jack could.

"I told her I could wash myself, but she insisted," Jack replied defensively.

"You should have said something before it got that far!" Daniel ranted thrusting his hands in the air in frustration.

"I wasn't sure what was happening. Not at first. I thought I was in some weird and wacky dream or something."

The fight went right out of Daniel as he heard the regret in Jack's soft voice. He stepped forward to wrap a warm towel round his shivering friend's young shoulders.

"I know it must be hard for you being in the body of a small child Jack, but you gave Sam a real fright."

"Fright? Christ, Daniel, how would you feel if someone twice your size stormed towards you like she did? Talk about a woman scorned...jeez!"

"She was justifiably furious with you. What did you expect?" Daniel shot back, then calmed when Jack's shoulders slumped even further. "She also thinks you're gonna have her up for a court-martial for what she did to you."

Jack stopped drying his legs and looked up from where he was sitting on the floor in shock.

"What? I'll admit that what I did was wrong, and she had every right to be mad at me, but I would never put her on report. Never! Surely you all know me better than that?"

"Jack, we've been through a lot of strange things together as a team, but this..." he waved a hand towards Jack who was still looking up at him. "...this is so different to anything we've ever encountered before. Of course we're gonna make mistakes; of course our team interactions have had to make allowances, but you could at least trust us to try and do our best. We are trying..." Daniel could see Jack shiver again. "Look, let's get you some warm clothes and talk about this in a while. Sam's making some hot coffee and we could order a take-out."

Jack nodded mutely and finished drying off. Daniel offered him a clean towel and they made their way to the bedroom where Sam had laid out some of their recent purchases for Jack to choose his own attire. He picked up some underwear, glad to find that it was plain white and not covered in cars or such anything. He donned a pair of warm sweats and a sweatshirt, socks and sneakers and then followed Daniel down the hall to the sitting room where the others were waiting.

"O'Neill," Teal'c dipped his head in greeting and Jack merely gave a quick half smile and a nod in return, but his eyes were on Sam.

"Ah Teal'c," Daniel called. "would you help me with these books for a minute?"

Teal'c stood and bowed to his friends before he left them to talk, having been appraised by Sam while they waited for the two men to join them.

Jack was now alone with Sam and he wasn't quite sure how to apologise to her for being an ass. Being only so high was making it more difficult than it should. But then, if he was his normal size they wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place. He took a deep breath to steady himself then walked up to where Sam was sitting looking extremely nervous, unable to look him in the eye.

"Carter," he began, and then paused for a moment before continuing. "I need to apologise to you for putting you into that situation. I'm sorry."

Sam just sat there trying to control her emotions. She felt angry, hurt and betrayed, and yet looking at him standing there, for all that he looked like a small child, she couldn't help thinking he looked so small and vulnerable and...cute, and she loved him despite his disregard for her sensibilities just now.

"Crap!" he swore when he could see that she really wasn't buying it. "Carter...I...I just wasn't sure what was happening. The last thing I remembered was waking up in the infirmary and thinking the whole child thing had been a bad dream. Then next I woke up in a kiddie's car seat and was led by the hand into 'my' house. I was confused as hell!" he cried out in frustration, flapping his arms against his sides. He moved over to gaze out of the window to watch the snow falling. He just hated it when crazy things happened to his team, and considerably more so when it concerned him.

"I thought I was in one of those 'alternate' universe things. I wasn't sure about anything. I wasn't even sure if you were...you!"

This had obviously grabbed Sam's attention, because she looked stunned. She opened her mouth to say something but he waved her off, continuing his explanation.

"I wasn't sure until I saw you..." he coughed, looking decidedly embarrassed. "...you hesitated. That's when I knew for sure it was all for real. I'm sorry Carter. Really."

Sam cleared her throat and watched him turn back to the window looking quite lost and forlorn.

"I'm sorry too sir." She felt the shame of her actions more keenly now. "I thought... Well, I believed you were...toying with me."

"I was," he confessed, not turning round. He didn't want to see how much his actions had upset her. "Not like that though. I just had to know for sure."

"I'm sorry I got angry Colonel. If you'd only said that you were unsure of things then I would never have dreamed of turning the cold water on you."

He gave a snort of amusement.

"I deserved that Carter. You did nothing wrong, and I would never report you for doing something that was entirely my fault."

"Yes you did...sir! Deserve it I mean. And thank you."

He turned round quickly in time to see her cover her mouth but not before he'd seen the grin. He smiled in response.

"So, we're okay then?" he asked with a trace of doubt, his head tilted to one side.

"Yes sir. We're okay."

"Good. That's good." He rubbed his hands together in satisfaction and because they were still cold too. "So...where's my coffee?"

TBC