Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday, and I wish you all, all the best for 2007.
Sorry this is later than I intended, but the holiday sort of ran away with me, and hey presto, it's now the New Year. You'll just have to bear with me for a little longer – just another couple or three chapters to go. I'll post the next one tomorrow, and try to get the rest finished a.s.a.p. now the rush is over.
Thanks for all your prayers and support during the toughest year I think I've ever had, and I wouldn't be writing still if it wasn't for your encouragement. Hugs all round with my appreciation!
Past, Present & Future
By LetitiaRichards.
Previously:
The Captain dropped his eyes from the huge alien's scrutiny and moved away towards the recently arrived detective who'd been ordered in there by several calls from worried shoppers to his unit. They spoke for several minutes before Teal'c finally relinquished his icy gaze to turn back to his friend's unconscious form.
Chapter 18 – So, This Is Christmas?
"Sam?"
Daniel sped along the corridor towards his team-mates, desperate to find out how Jack was doing. He had rushed back to the base as soon as the General had informed him of the incident, but at that point General Hammond could not pass on any clearer knowledge of his 2IC's condition.
Jack had already been taken to the infirmary where the doctor had ordered a barrage of tests, including an MRI and a CT scan, so all they could do for now was wait; something which they all hated.
"Daniel!" Sam cried, happy to see that the last member of the team had at long last arrived. She had her arms wrapped around herself and he responded to her obvious distress by pulling her into a hug.
Teal'c nodded a silent greeting and Daniel couldn't help but feel deeply concerned almost to the point of alarm by the Jaffa's silent and more than usual solemn greeting.
"What's happened? Is Jack okay?" He really needed to know. Now!
"We have yet to learn of O'Neill's condition, Daniel Jackson. Dr. Fraiser has ordered several scans and tests, each of which requires a certain amount of time to ascertain the results."
Daniel looked up at his colleague and quickly surmised that Teal'c was feeling guilty; when the opportunity came along he was going to discuss what had occurred at the mall. Then suddenly Janet appeared looking a little harried.
"Janet?" Sam and Daniel asked together, automatically releasing each other to face their petite friend.
All eyes on her, Janet sighed and stretched her back, rolling her shoulders free of kinks.
"Well, as far as I can tell, the X-rays and the scans all look clear. He's still out of it for now and I think he'll be waking up with a headache the size of the mountain, whenever that happens. He has some nasty bruises on his neck and round the top of his arm from where he was grabbed. Other than that I would say on the whole that he's been very lucky not to have anything worse than a concussion."
There were sighs of relief all round, even from General Hammond who had silently joined them as they listened to what the Doctor had to say.
"I need a full report people," he commanded, his voice sounding official even if they all knew that he was just as concerned about Jack's condition as were the few in the SGC who knew it was actually Jack O'Neill in that child's body. "Briefing room in ten minutes, and that includes you Dr. Jackson and Dr. Fraiser." With that, he turned and walked away, and only those who knew him well could see his shoulders were slumped slightly and that his spine wasn't as ramrod straight as it was normally. No medals were on offer for guessing the General was not a happy camper.
"Can we see him for a bit?" Sam asked, needing that much. If she could only see him for herself, then at least it would give her that little bit of reassurance that she needed, to know that he was going to be okay.
Janet nodded and all three friends walked in behind the medic.
Jack had been cleaned up, which had made the darkening bruises stand out even more against the paleness of his skin. There were several stitches and a purple bruise clearly visible in a small shaved area in his hair. It was an obvious confirmation of where he'd hit his head. There were also colourful finger marks on his cheeks when that brute of a Santa dug his fingers into the soft flesh around Jack's mouth, and even more vivid marks, where a hand had squeezed the delicate flesh of an upper arm, despite the thickness of clothing.
Daniel winced when he saw the bruising and knew that for a child's body to suffer that, it must have hurt like the very devil. In a way he could only be thankful that Jack was in his right mind during the attack because if it had been four year old Jack then the outcome would have been a totally different story.
As the three team-mates stood beside the bed in solemn mood, Janet was busy checking the monitor. She frowned slightly and placed her hand over Jack's forehead.
"Janet?" Sam wasn't happy seeing Janet's concern deepen.
"His temperature is slightly elevated." And they all knew what that could possibly mean; Jack's mind was changing back into that of a child again.
Their time up, they reluctantly drifted away to prepare for the debriefing.
Janet didn't want to leave him on his own, especially if he was to wake up as a child again, but then fate took a hand and Cassie stepped into the infirmary, so Janet quickly explained everything to her and left for the briefing room. Cassie was more than happy to stay with Jack, wondering if he would stay little over the Christmas holidays, now only a week away.
OoOoOoOoO
General Hammond had listened to their accounts of the events in the Mall, calling on Sam, Teal'c and Captain Mortimer too, to fill in the whole sorry story.
"Have they said anything sir?" Sam enquired after the three men who tried to abduct the Colonel.
General Hammond did not look happy at all. He'd spent a considerable amount of time on the phone to the President, and then to Colonel Simmons.
"Nothing, but then they don't have to, because I spoke with their CO earlier..."
"Simmons!" Daniel almost spat the name out. The man had been determined to get at Jack by fair means or foul.
"So it was the NID?" Sam stated rather more than asked for confirmation.
Hammond nodded his face as black as thunder at the mention of those rogues in sheep's clothing. They were all supposed to be on the same side, but sometimes it felt like they were the enemy.
"Colonel Simmons will be here to interview Colonel O'Neill tomorrow. I've spoken to the President about the abduction, and he's assured me that Colonel O'Neill will be left alone from now on, as long as he answers a few questions from the NID. I'm to keep him posted on the Colonel's progress and send him details of the interview. Which takes me to your report Doctor."
Janet opened her files and read out loud the latest report on Jack's condition.
"...It seems his temperature is elevated slightly, and going by past indications, this leads me to conclude that the Colonel's alter-ego will reappear as soon as he wakes up."
"So, although there's no real physical damage from that blow to his head, he's going to revert to a child again?" Hammond needed to be sure. He knew full well how fragile a young child's skull could be, and for all intents and purposes, Jack was in a child's body.
"There's no damage as far as I could see sir. He should be fine in time, but I'd like to keep him in the infirmary at least overnight and tomorrow if he's still out of it by the morning. However I can't guarantee that Colonel Simmons will be able to get any relevant information out of him if he reverts back to his childhood again."
Hammond nodded thoughtfully for a moment before moving on to the other problem facing the Colonel at present.
"Which brings me to you Dr. Jackson. Any progress with that translation yet?"
"Ah...no not yet General, but I am sure it won't be too long now. I've managed to figure out the actual words, now it's just a case of converting the ancient texts into something that makes sense."
"I thought you could read the Ancient's language?"
"I can, but this is slightly different to what I'm used to..."
"How different Doctor?"
"It's...well, a lot of the words are new to me and could have several meanings, so I..."
General Hammond interrupted him once again.
"But you can do the translation?"
"Ah...yes sir!"
"Good. Keep me posted people!" Hammond hurriedly dismissed them and headed back into his office to update his report to his CIC.
OoOoOoOoO
Jack sat up suddenly with a frightened squeal. His eyes wide open and darting round wildly, then his face scrunched up in pain and he curled over in on himself, tears beginning to leak from both eyes.
Cassie was there at once, sitting on the edge of the bed and bringing Jack into a comforting hug, all the while uttering soothing noises as she held him close.
"It's okay Jack. It's me Cassie. You're safe here!" she rocked slightly just as Janet did to her when she was feeling particularly unhappy or unwell.
The pain in Jack's head hurt so much and he felt sick too. He struggled away from Cassie's grip and turned away quickly, leaning over the side of the bed just in time before he threw up, covering some of the sheets and the floor with vomit. He moaned piteously as his head felt like it was going to explode.
Cassie had yelled for a nurse as soon as she realised why Jack had pushed away from her; probably because he'd turned slightly green at the time. Nurse Fornell fussed over him and gave him some medicine to help settle his tummy, and then she moved him to a clean bed while ordering a couple of nurses to clean up the mess and change the bed.
Cassie sat back on the bed and a miserable feeling Jack curled up against her.
"Where's Sam?" he asked, his voice nothing more than a whisper.
"Well, Uncle Daniel, Aunty Sam, Teal'c and Mom had to go to a meeting with General Hammond," Cassie informed him.
He didn't answer for a long time and just when she thought he'd nodded off to sleep, he put forward another question.
"Why?"
"Why? Why are you sick? Or why are they at a meeting?" Cassie puzzled.
Jack shrugged. It didn't really matter anyway, the last thing he could recall was falling asleep in Sam's lap on the floor of the men's room. He'd been really upset and Sam had hugged him making him feel better. Daniel had lied to him and the 'jolly giant' – Teal'c - had only annoyed him. So why was he here in Doctor Janet's hospital? Apart from the fact that he had been sick, and his head hurt; what was wrong?
"Did I eat something bad? Like those little fishy things that Sam said I would like?" He moved his head so that he could look up at Cassie's face.
Cassie then recalled the 'fun' he'd had over the Anchovies on his Pizza.
"No. No, it wasn't that. Mom said you'd hit your head and you have a concussion."
"Oh!" Jack wasn't sure what a concussion was, but Cassie seemed to know what she was talking about. Maybe in Doctor Janet's medical words it meant a headache? So, yes he had one of those. He didn't remember hitting his head, so he figured he must have fallen off something he shouldn't have been on in the first place. As always. He couldn't recall the number of times he'd been scolded because he'd fallen out of trees and the like and gotten several bumps and bruises for his trouble.
OoOoOoOoO
It wasn't too long before the others returned, but by then Jack had fallen asleep against Cassie. By the fact that Jack was curled up against Cassie, Janet had her theory confirmed about him reverting back to his childhood again. She carefully moved Jack away from her daughter, and laid him back against the pillows while her staff filled her in on what had happened. It had aroused her curiosity at seeing Jack in another bed from the last time she'd seen him.
"Is he okay?" Daniel asked with growing concern when he'd heard how Jack had woken like that and had been sick.
Janet tried explain that with a concussion it was more than likely to upset his tummy, being only a small child. Hoping this would confirm to the others that she was right.
Jack was slowly becoming aware of the voices and when he heard Daniel he opened his eyes and glared at the archaeologist, still feeling angry towards him; only this time he couldn't run away or lock himself in the bathroom.
"Hey!"
Jack looked round at the soft voice and saw a smile on Sam's lips. His return smile was genuine. Sam hadn't let him down. He sat up and reached out to her.
Knowing this was child Jack again, Sam didn't hesitate to gather him into her arms, rubbing his back soothingly.
After a moment when all eyes were on her and 'little' Jack, he pulled back and looked straight up into her startlingly blue eyes.
"You wouldn't upset me would you Sam?"
"Wha...what? No! No of course not, but what do you mean?" she spluttered in surprise.
Jack cast Daniel such a dark glare, it made the archaeologist feel like he was a child beater or something worse. He still couldn't figure out what he was supposed to have done.
"You lied to me!" Jack accused, as if Daniel had actually spoken, and was unaware that he had gripped Sam tighter.
"I...I did? About what Jack?" Daniel was stunned almost speechless.
Jack clung to Sam forcing her to take all of his weight that she was compelled to sit on the edge of the bed before he toppled her over.
"You said you were going to take me home, but you just keep me here and I haven't seen my mommy and daddy, and I don't like it here and I don't know where here is and I wanna go home and I hurt and I'm sick and ..." he trailed off to sniff and wipe his face with his sleeve as the tears came thick and fast; much to his shame and annoyance. He just felt so out of sorts. He'd bumped his head loads of times, but never felt this bad before, and he didn't know why he was feeling bad.
Sam pulled him onto her lap and cradled him, her eyes suspiciously moist as she held him close.
Daniel felt like he'd been kicked in the gut. How could he have done that to this child-like Jack of all people? Of course Jack would wonder where his parents were! Jack wasn't stupid. If anything he was quite intelligent, even as a four year old.
He approached the bed deep in thought, and Janet led Cassie away from the room, leaving the team together to try and explain things to Jack as best they could.
OoOoOoOoO
"So I can't ever go home?" Jack felt lost and somewhat mystified.
"I'm sorry Jack. Really I am." Daniel could feel for him. He so knew how that felt to be without a family.
"We're here for you Jack, no matter what. We'll be like your parents; until you grow up that is," Sam added hoping that it might reassure Jack that he wasn't all alone after all.
Between them, they had tried to explain that both Jack's parents were now dead and that although time had somehow been changed for him, up until Daniel and Teal'c had discovered him that day. Other than that they couldn't mention that he should, in reality, have been an adult or that he was off-world when he'd met this unfortunate fate.
But, now that they had explained as much as they could to him, Jack was at least happy to know that Daniel wasn't hiding the truth from him and that he really didn't lie as such. The down side was learning that there were some pretty nasty guys out there, called the NID, and that they wanted to take him away. They had promised him that they wouldn't let that happen and that this was the reason he was feeling sick because of a recent botched attempt.
A little while later Janet came back in and ordered everyone to leave, but Jack wanted at least one of them to stay. He felt shy about asking, because he was supposed to be a Colonel even if he didn't feel like one right now, but they didn't think any less of him for needing comfort and reassurance. They worked out a rota and took turns in sitting with him while he slept through the night.
Janet kept checking on him until the morning when she had seen him devour some oatmeal and toast. Satisfied that he was feeling much better, she discharged him from the infirmary and took herself off home for some sleep.
Daniel who had been forgiven was back in favour once more and took Jack back to his lab, which was the safer option than Sam's, where he made the boy sit in the corner with some paper and crayons while he got back to work. They would have returned to Jack's adult home, but as Simmons was expected at the SGC soon, it wasn't worth the effort.
TBC