A/N: Nope, the story isn't dead, just a bit under the weather! There are only a couple more chapters to got until this is finished - I hope before Easter!!! For those of you who have stuck with me this far, thanks so much. Your reviews have kept me going long after the plot bunny and my muse ran away to the Bahamas together.
Daniel lay still in the bed, watching his wife breathe. Her head rested on his chest and he missed the scent of Abydos in the mass of curls. She smelled like Earth now. He grinned softly to himself as her hand slid from his abdomen to cradle the life growing in hers.
He couldn't believe that he'd awakened in their room on Abydos just the day before. Skaara had teased him over first meal about how carefully he'd been copying everything from the walls in the map room.
Daniel tried to turn over without waking Sha're, but Maggie raised her head and peered at her restless master. He slipped out of bed and pulled on the black T-shirt and blue BDU pants he'd been given. The pants felt restrictive and scratchy after a year of wearing soft, flowing robes.
George. He had to speak with him this morning. Daniel flipped open his watch and felt the time. Three am. Three hours before he guessed that the base would begin to wake up.
George was right. There'd really been no reason good enough for not letting the family know where he had been all those years. Ruby had been the closest thing he'd had to a mother after his own had died. She's always stood by him and loved him no matter what. She encouraged him to pursue his dreams and not let the "professionals" convince him that he wasn't capable just because his eyesight was poor. He should have been there for her just as she'd been for him.
He stepped into the adjoining bathroom and splashed water over his face and slicked back his hair. He really did need a hair cut. Sha're always cut it for him and she liked it long, but he hated it when it hung into his eyes, cutting down the little vision he did have.
He found his glasses on the night stand and settled them on his nose. Maggie, sensing that he intended to leave the room, brought her harness over to him and he slipped in on her.
"I need to take you outside for a few minutes, huh, girl?" he addressed the dog.
The airman who had been posted outside their door cleared his voice to let Daniel know he was there. "Can I help you locate something, Dr. Jackson?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, you can. I need to take my dog outside to relieve herself and let her run for a bit, but I can't get out of here by myself."
"No, problem, Dr. Jackson. Just follow me."
"Maggie, forward." Daniel hung onto the harness and let Maggie guide him through the maze of corridors and check points until they reached the outside of the mountain.
Daniel could feel Maggie's contained excitement at being outside again. He let the airman shepherd them over to a dirt area and he dropped the harness, Maggie's signal that she was free to find a spot to relieve herself. He listened as she gleefully cavorted in the bushes, reveling in the fresh air and freedom she had grown so accustomed to on Abydos.
Daniel gave her about fifteen minutes before he started to feel chilled. Like all deserts, Abydos could get very cold at night, but here in the Colorado mountains there was a dampness to the air that filtered through to his bones.
"Maggie, come."
Maggie responded by bounding over to Daniel and sitting at his left. He reached down and lifted the harness. "Airman, will you lead us back to the commissary please?"
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By the time Daniel and Maggie had gotten something to eat and gone back to their room, it was almost 5am. Daniel removed the dog's harness and walked back to the bed to check on Sha're. She was still sleeping, sprawled on her stomach, feet dangling over the side of the mattress.
Daniel grinned. She always hogged the blankets and took up the whole sleeping mat. It seems that sleeping on a mattress hadn't changed her habits. He leaned over her and dropped a gentle kiss on her cheek, pushing the tangle of curls aside.
He nudged her over and sank down into the welcoming warmth of the bedding. He toed off his shoes and turned toward his pregnant wife. Pregnant. Oh, god, what have I done to her? He slid over to her side and turned her so that he was spooned behind her, his nose buried in the back of her neck.
His thoughts kept his body from relaxing completely as he ran the events of yesterday over and over in his mind. He needed to swallow his pride and speak to George about being on a team that searched for Skaara. He'd promised Sha're he'd find her brother and he always kept his promises to her.
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He must have drifted off, because the next thing he was aware of was Sha're's hand slipping under his t-shirt. He grinned, pleased that she still found him desirable.
"Has pregnancy turned you into a sex-crazed woman?" he whispered into her hair as his body responded to her touch.
"I thought perhaps we could begin practicing for the little sister to the son I carry." She trailed her lips up his chest, following the path her fingers made. "If it displeases you, I will stop."
Daniel growled and flipped her onto her back, covering her with his body. Maybe he should have gotten her pregnant sooner – if this is what it did to her.
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George sank into his chair, grateful for the meager comfort it offered. He needed to speak to Daniel, both as the CO of the SGC and as a "father." He sighed and flicked a switch. "Sergeant, would you come in please?"
He'd no sooner taken his finger off the switch, than Walter knocked and entered with a stack of papers in his hand. George's eye brow raised in surprise. "How do you do that, Sergeant?"
"Do what, sir?" Walter kept his face blank, but he was laughing inside. He always knew when General Hammond would need him. It was his job, and he did it well or he wouldn't be at the SGC. Only the best of the best were here.
George cleared his throat and watched as his assistant dropped the papers into his IN box. Paperwork – the bane of every administrator's job. "Sergeant, I need you to bring Dr. Jackson here in about an hour. He should be up and moving by now." George remembered Daniel's reluctance as a teenager to poke his nose out from under the covers much before noon. Just like Rachel and Julie.
"Sir, he's waiting in the briefing room to see you."
"Show him in." That didn't leave him any time to mentally prepare, but this meeting had to be faced and now was as good a time as any.
Harriman led Daniel into the office and closed the door behind him. Although he wasn't aware of the previous relationship between the two men, he knew this was more than just business. Well, the SGC grapevine would let him know soon enough what was going on between them.
"Sit down, Dr. Jackson." George gestured to a chair on the other side of his desk.
Daniel turned his head and reached for a dark blur to his left. A chair. He sat. He cringed. George called him Doctor Jackson, rather than Daniel or son. This was bad.
"General, first let me thank you for helping my wife and me. We really appreciate it and I'll do what I can to repay you for your trouble."
The corners of the general's lips turned down. The boy never had learned how to accept help gracefully.
Daniel continued, "I'd like to ask for another favor. I think it would be a good idea to have a vet take a look at Maggie. She seems healthy, but she may have picked up some parasites or worms on Abydos. I also need some dog food for her. It's really not healthy for her to keep eating human food."
George nodded. "I should have thought of that myself. I'll make arrangements to get her to a vet today." George sucked in a deep breath. It was time to broach the subject they'd both wanted to avoid. "Anything else you or your wife need?"
"No, sir. That's it… Well, um, I think we do need to talk about Ruby." Daniel's left eye began twitching like it often did when he was nervous.
George settled back into his chair to let Daniel lead this conversation.
The younger man dropped Maggie's harness handle and wrapped his arms around himself, something George remembered that he did whenever he was distressed. Good, he should feel bad about his behavior.
"I never…I should have… Hell, George I'm sorry. There's really no good reason why I severed contact with your family. I just never really felt as though I belonged with you. I was easier for me to drop out of sight than to try and maintain a relationship. I've never been able to figure out relationships, except with Sha're, and that was an accident."
George leaned forward and rested his arms on his desk. Daniel's marriage was an accident? I'll bet that's an interesting story. I'll have to get Colonel O'Neill to tell me sometime.
"I just assumed you guys were good to me because you felt obligated, as my foster parents. It never occurred to me that Ruby could possibly look at me as family. George, I'm really, really sorry for the pain I caused her. I would never have done anything on purpose to hurt her." Daniel began to feel that he was rambling, something else he often did when he was nervous. It was time to shut up and let George say something.
George watched him silently for a few minutes, enjoying the squirming the younger man was doing. "Daniel, both Ruby and I loved you like you were our own son. You have no idea how hard it was to leave you behind each time we were transferred. Or how much joy it brought us each time we came back and you could be with us again. Rachel and Julie still think of you as a brother. In fact, they both live here in Colorado Springs, and Rachel wants you and Sha're to come over to her home for dinner as soon as you're cleared to leave the base."
Daniel stilled, then slumped in his chair. He couldn't imagine why they'd still care after so many years of his neglect. Didn't relationships take work? How could they not be angry with him, just like George?
"Daniel, let me tell you about Ruby. Just over four years ago, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent a radical mastectomy and then radiation and chemotherapy. She was constantly sick and weak from the treatments, but she never complained and kept a positive attitude. She involved herself with Rachel's two daughters as much as she could and cheered Julie on with her career."
He stopped to swallow the same lump in his throat that appeared every time he talked about Ruby's death. "Unfortunately, we found the cancer too late. It metastasized and we finally faced the fact that she wasn't going to survive."
He paused again and considered softening the truth, but decided that Daniel needed to know exactly how difficult it had been for Ruby. "That's when she began asking me to find you. She wanted to know that you were okay before she died. I tried finding you and eventually I did, but it was too late. You were one of the last people she called for before she died, Daniel. She died in sorrow, not knowing your fate."
He looked at his former foster son. A child he loved as much as he loved Rachel and Julie. Now he sat before him, a man he knew nothing about. He was pleased to see tears running down Daniel's face and dripping on his shirt. He was glad to see him in pain. He deserved to know pain after the anguish he'd caused Ruby.
The two men sat in silence for several minutes. The younger wishing he could redo his careless actions, while to older realized that he didn't feel the satisfaction he'd thought he'd feel at watching Daniel's remorse.
Ruby.
She'd be thoroughly disgusted with him right now. She would never wish pain on anyone, ever. Especially on someone she loved. And if she knew that he, her husband, was the deliberate cause of that pain… Well, she'd let him have it right, square between the eyes, with both barrels. George grinned at the thought of what she'd being saying to him right now. She was sweet and gentle, until someone hurt one of her own and then she was a mother bear; making herself appear larger and meaner than she was, while she growled and swiped at the threat.
George heaved a large sigh of regret for things unsaid between himself and Daniel.
"Daniel. Forgive me. Ruby would never have wanted me to treat you the way I have." George stood up and slowly walked around his desk to stand next to his seated son. He reached out and placed his warm hand on Daniel's tense shoulder. "Forgive me, son. I've forgiven you."
Daniel stood and turned to face the man who'd considered him a son. He briefly wondered if he could love his own child as much as George had loved him. "George…" His voice broke and he couldn't speak. He took one more step forward and reached out for the older man.
George blinked rapidly – it would never do that let anyone on base see him cry like a baby – and opened his arms, enfolding his son in a welcoming embrace.