Daniel was completely asleep by now, looking small and vulnerable. Jack smiled at the small form stretched out on the cheap nylon bedspread. He knew by the warm prickly feeling in his eyes that he was close to tears. Why did Daniel have to look so much like Charlie? Was it the dark blond hair, the fair skin or the little round cherub face? The only real difference was that his Charlie had the brown O'Neill eyes, while this kid's peepers were the true blue of Jackson blood. They were the same eyes that Nick Ballard had, the same eyes that had looked back at him from the picture of Claire Jackson in Daniel's office, and now the same eyes that belonged to his best friend, Daniel. Those eyes were now closed in sleep that Daniel had somehow managed to stave off for almost two days.

Jack shook his head at his meanderings and went into the bathroom to relieve himself. After he finished he checked the closet, but other than clothes hangers, there was nothing there. He began to shed his uniform and hang up his service dress. Slipping the coat and tie off began immediately to relax him, but when he pulled the starched shirt off he sighed. He should have remembered to have his suitcase brought in from his rental car, but he could hang out in the white tee shirt and blue pants for a while yet. He wasn't leaving Daniel alone here, even though the room should be quite familiar to the man, if not the boy.

Checking his watch, Jack decided to lay down himself. Jet lag was beginning to catch up to him. He'd been awoken early that morning by Lam's call. She'd been unable to explain the details of Daniel's plight to him over his unsecured phone, so he'd assumed the worst. Visions of his best friend lying in the ICU dying of radiation poisoning had haunted his every move while he made arrangements for his trip and called off his various appointments. The hurried trip to the airport and then the long flight to Colorado had been stuff of his worst nightmares. Everything had gone wrong, from the tickets putting him next to a Canadian business man that had been stopped and checked at every connection, to the sucky little rental car he'd been given at the Colorado Springs airport. And now, now that he'd seen that Daniel was in truth not dying, nor in any danger of doing so for quite awhile, his adrenalin rush had collapsed and he was just about to. All he needed was a dinner of high carbohydrate comfort food, a hot shower, and a change of clothing and he'd be right there next to 'his' kid.

There was a tap on the door to the room and it opened to reveal one SF with a serving cart with their dinner on it and a second airman carrying his suitcase from his vehicle. Jack met them both with a smile of gratitude. "Thanks guys. I really appreciate it." He took the bag from the one. "How did you get it out of the car? It was locked."

The man shrugged his shoulders as he handed the bag over to the General. "Siler," was his only reply.

The two men left him alone with Daniel. Jack crossed over to the bed and grasped the little bare foot. "Daniel, dinner's here. Wakey wakey."

The boy opened his eyes and looked up at him in confusion. "Jack?"

"Yeah."

The frown lines appeared in their proper place between Daniel's eyes as the boy stared at him in disbelief. "Jack…what are you doing here? Why aren't you in Washington DC?"

O'Neill looked at him in amazement, and then he realized what happened. "Daniel," he said slowly. "I came because Doctor Lam called and said you were…that you have a problem."

The blue eyes widened. "'I' have a problem?"

"Yeah," Jack nodded.

"I…my voice? What happened to my voice?"

"Daniel, I don't quite know how to tell you this, but…your voice matches the rest of you."

Suspicion crossed the child's features. "What do you mean?"

Jack sat down on the bed and looked at his best friend. "Daniel, I 'm not sure what happened, but you do have a problem. It seems you were off world with SG1 and you, well, you touched something or said something while you were investigating a temple." Jack put his hand on Daniel's tummy. "Daniel, you've apparently finally found the fountain of youth…and it had an unexpected effect on you."

"What do you mean; it had an effect on me?" Daniel pushed his hand aside and sat up. His face went white and Jack grabbed him by the shoulders. The boy looked up into his friend's worried countenance. "What kind of affect?"

After he was sure that Daniel had recovered his equilibrium, Jack let go of the small frame. "Well, you're a bit shorter than I remember you."

"Shorter?" Daniel looked down for the first time. He brought his hand up to his face, staring at it. "Jack?"

"I'm here Danny, you're safe." Jack said in a low voice. "What do you remember?"

"A dream, it was a dream?" He looked over at his friend's concerned face, then down at his body. "Jack…it was a dream, wasn't it?"

Jack sighed and shook his head. "I'm afraid not, Danny. It wasn't a dream. It's true." Jack reached over and took Daniel's small hand in his large one. "Daniel, you look about six years old."

"Jack!" Daniel said in a small low voice. "Jack, what the hell's happened to me?"

"As far as we can figure, when you were alone in the temple something happened. Either an alien device or virus or whatever affected you. You're now thirty four years younger and three feet shorter. Luckily, you've retained your memories and your brains are intact." Jack tried to speak calmly to the stunned little boy. "Now, you have to remember what you did in the temple so Carter, Lee and the other geeks can figure out how to get you back to normal."

Daniel scrunched up his face in concentration. "It must have been something in the back room…"

"Well, that's where they found your clothes so that's where the deed was done," he agreed. "But do you recall what you were doing at the time?"

The small boy shook his head. "No, I'd run out of tape so I was doing a rubbing of some of the script on the wall. It said something about regaining lost time and reliving old experiences…but nothing about a transformation." He closed his eyes and tried to stifle a yawn. "I can't think straight anymore…I'm sorry."

"No problem," Jack said agreeably. He got up and went to the serving cart, pushing it over to the side of the bed. "Look, we've got some of the world famous SGC meatloaf, creamed style corn and rice." He sat down next to his friend. "And look, Walter sent up some pie too."

Daniel looked up at him. "Gee, that's a surprise. Must be some important General around or something."

"Must be," Jack nodded. "Wonder who it is?"

The two of them sat on the side of the bed and started to work on their dinners. Daniel only ate half his adult size portion and finally flopped back on the double mattress. He lay there staring at the ceiling while Jack continued to eat.

When they'd both finished, O'Neill pushed the cart back from the bed and lay back next to Daniel. "Whatcha thinking?'

"Can't," came the sleepy reply. "Too tired." The boy rolled over on his side and gazed at him contentedly. "I can't believe you came."

"You came for me." Jack reached over and stroked the soft hair. "When Ba'al had me."

"Different," the soft voice drawled in exhaustion.

"Not." Jack smiled as the boy drifted off into sleep.

Jack got up and scooched his friend up to the proper position, took off the socks and a pair of children's shorts someone had given Daniel to wear. Then, pulling the covers up over the boy, he went to take a shower.

When he emerged from the bathroom dressed in sweatpants and tee shirt the boy had rolled into the center of the mattress. "Some things never change," O'Neill sighed. He turned off the overhead light, went to the side of the bed closest to the door, folded the covers back and slid in as carefully as he could. The double bed was big enough for both of them but he knew that Daniel would gravitate towards him in the night. Even the adult Daniel had done that when they shared a tent off world. It was just a 'Daniel' thing, probably stemming from his abandonment issues from his childhood. Plumping his pillow, Jack reached over and turned the bed lamp off.

Sure enough, the next morning when a knock on the door woke Jack, he had a small boyish limpet attached to his ribs. Gently disengaging himself from the child's grip he rolled out of the bed and shuffled over to the door.

When he opened it, he found Chief Harriman standing there behind another food service cart. "Walter," Jack said sleepily in a soft voice to avoid waking the child, "what time is it?"

"It's 0700 hrs, sir. General Landry would like to see you at your convenience."

"Yeah, I just bet he would." Jack rubbed his hand over his face, stifling a yawn. He lifted the lid from one of the covered dishes. "Hum, pancakes."

"I took the liberty of ordering for you, sir." Walter released the cart to Jack. "I hope its okay."

"Its fine, Walter, just fine, thanks. And tell Siler I appreciate him getting my bag for me." At the NCO's nod, he grinned at him. "Looks like I'll be staying a few days until we get this sorted out."

"Yes, sir." Walter looked at him expectantly. "And General Landry?"

"Tell him I'll be there shortly." He glanced back at the bed with its small lump in the middle of the blankets. "Well, as shortly as possible."

Walter smiled briefly. "We're glad you could come, sir, for Doctor Jackson." Then he turned and left at Jack's nod.

O'Neill watched as the NCO disappeared into the hustle and bustle of the morning crowd, and then pushed the cart into the room. He went back over to the side of the bed and gently shook his sleeping friend. "Daniel. C'mon buddy; it's time to get up."

The blue eyes opened and blinked at him. "Jack?" Then Daniel looked down at his hands. "Damn, it wasn't a dream."

Jack looked down at him sadly. "Nope, not a dream."

Daniel sat up and looked around the room then more closely at his friend. "I can't believe this is happening to me." He shook his head. "I really don't think I deserve this."

O'Neill had to chuckle at the disgusted expression on the cherubic face. "I gotta say Daniel, this time I agree with you."

As Jack set the breakfast up for them, Daniel crawled out of the bed and headed off to the bathroom. After a few minutes, Daniel called back out to the room. "Jack, can you come here a moment?"

"Sure," he crossed over to the small lavatory. "What's up?"

His friend was standing naked in the shower stall looking frustrated. "Can you please turn on the water? I can't reach the faucet."

"Sure, ki…Danny. Why don't you step out so that I can get the temperature right?"

Flushing a shade of dark pink from his forehead to his toes, the small boy did so. "This is so embarrassing."

Jack had tactically turned his back as he adjusted the knobs for water pressure and temperature. "Why? I've seen you naked before."

"Yeah," the pensive answer came. "But you've never seen me THIS naked."

He turned around and looked at Daniel's small, totally hairless body. "Well," he commented gently. "I've never seen you at six either."

Big blue eyes looked up at him. "But, I'm uh, six all over." He waved as small hand down towards his undeveloped groin area.

"Well, of course you are." He had an urge to ruffle the blond head of hair. "You'd be kind of…unbalanced…if you weren't."

Daniel scowled. "I guess you're right. I'm lucky I can reach the toilet."

"Well, after your shower and our breakfast, I have to go see Hank. I'm thinking you should probably go back to your office and try to figure out what you did on the planet to cause this."

"Yes, hopefully I'll be able to operate my lab equipment." The boy grouched. "I'll have to draft someone to help me reach my research books on Meso-American studies."

"Oh, I'm sure Teal'c would be happy to lend a hand and about four feet of height to you today." Jack grinned at him. "He's gotten a good night's sleep and I know he won't let anything or anyone happen to you." Jack sat the furnished bottle of shampoo and bar of soap down on the floor of the shower stall. "I've noticed he's gotten a little protective of you since I've been gone."

"Yes," Daniel tilted his head, "I wonder where he gets that from?"

"Hum, yeah, I wonder where. Not from me certainly." Jack stepped back to let him get into the shower stall. "Is the water too hot? I can turn it down if it is."

"No, Jack. Thanks, its fine." Daniel pulled the shower curtain shut. "Yes, Jack. I wonder."

Jack left Daniel under the watchful eye of Teal'c. The big guy was happy to ba…archaeologist sit for him while he went to visit Hank Landry.

Daniel was hurriedly flipping through some ancient looking journals that he'd identified as belonging to Nick Ballard and already muttering about Bimini, Ponce Deleon and long lost fountains.

As O'Neill walked down the hallways, he was surprised at the number of new faces that nodded formally to him. They had all been assigned after his tenure as the commander of the SGC. He'd only been gone a year, but it seemed forever to him, just like a dream of sorts. If he ever did try to write his memoirs of his years here no one would ever believe him. They'd be relegated to the shelves of science fiction and high fantasy right next to Burroughs, Heinlein, and Tolkein.

Siler hurried past him, nodding affably and carrying his wrench. He saw Walter scurrying across his path as he approached an intersecting hallway. Jack also saw a few ghosts still in residence. A small female in a white coat striding purposefully down the thoroughfare turned into Janet for a blink of an eye before he realized that she was just an un-named med-tech. And he swore he glimpsed Rothman in the form of a civilian scientist hurrying past him. He closed his eyes and shook his head as he entered the command center.

Landry was waiting for him with a pot of hot coffee, a plate of donuts, and a sheaf of paperwork. "Jack!" Hank stood up when he entered the room. "How's Daniel this morning?"

O'Neill grimaced and headed for the food. "He's still short, if that's what you mean," he groused into his cup. "I left him with Teal'c, hip deep in books and old papers. He thinks that there might be something in Nick's journals that could help since the old fogy studied these people for seventy years."

"Nick?" Hank sat back down at his desk and looked at him curiously. "Who's Nick?"

Jack looked at him in surprise. "Nicholas Ballard, great archaeologist not so great grandfather to Daniel. When his daughter and son-in-law died in 1973 he abandoned his only living relative to the New York Social System."

Hank choked on his own hot coffee. "What?"

"You heard me." Jack shoved a donut in his mouth to keep his mouth shut and any opinions he had of the man to himself.

"What a bastard!"

Jack nodded, "Yeah, evidently raising an 8 year old boy was too much of an imposition on the old fart."

"So where is he now?"

"Giant aliens got him, on P7X-377," he replied grimly. "And they can keep the old coot."

Landry shook his head. "No wonder you're listed as his next of kin."

Jack looked at him steadily. "I am his next of kin."

Landry looked at him steadily. "Yes, yes, I suppose you are. And George is next in line?"

"Yep."

Hank shuffled his pile of papers. "Well, so what's Daniel's plan?"

"Beats me," O'Neill replied. "Like I said, Daniel thinks that Nick might have something in his notes on the fountain of youth. Evidently it was here on Earth at one time. Native Americans told the Spaniards about it in Bimini…"

"I thought it was in Florida?"

Jack shrugged. "Daniel says Bimini, and he's always right about these things. Evidently, old Ponce was lost. But anyway, for a while we thought it was in Honduras and sent Daniel and Lee after it, but all we got was some bruised archaeologists and another Goa'uld device, sort of an I-pod version of a sarcophagus. Evidently what Daniel found on this planet is the real deal." Jack smiled gently thinking of his friend. "Hence the shortness."

The other general nodded at the black phone on his desk. "Well, I have to tell you as my boss, I'm beginning to feel a little heat from certain quarters."

"Heat?"

"Well, it seems that word has gotten out about Doctor Jackson's transformation." Hank looked at him seriously. "It seems inquiring minds want to know how, when, and why."

"Yeah, there are at least seven of them here, including Carolyn I assume." Jack nodded understanding the subtext of what Hank was not saying.

"Well, yes, but the others are demanding their time with him also. The NID is still alive and kicking Jack, but it's the legal arm at Area 51. They want to study the effects that Doctor Jackson underwent. They want to…"

"No! Damn it, just no! That man has been studied and interviewed and fluoroscoped until he's glowed...again." Jack growled. "Can't they just get used to the idea that Daniel Jackson is different? He's been sarcaphagused, irradiated, and reborn. What's one more miracle, for crying out loud? Tell them to put on their big girl panties and deal with it!"

Landry looked taken aback at his outburst. "Don't you think…?"

"NO! NO, I don't think. If your daughter, Carter, Teal'c and Daniel can't figure it out, it won't get figured." Jack slumped into the chair facing Landry's desk. "We need to protect him."

"No one would hurt Doctor Jackson."

"Not here, but there are others who would…take advantage," Jack said slowly. He indicated the red phone. "Can I use your phone?"

Hank nodded. Jack reached over and punched in seven digits from memory. He waited a minute and then spoke into the receiver.

"Hi, President Hayes? Yes sir, O'Neill here. Had your breakfast yet? Good. Doctor Jackson is, well, he's alive and has all his marbles. Hum, yes sir, that's what I'm calling about." He looked at Landry. "Well, the problem is his brain is forty, but right now he looks like a six year old. No, he's fine, just a lot shorter. He's working on it…with Carter. Yep. Cool. Okay, I'll keep you informed. So, if you can keep them out of the SGC and off his back … Gottcha. Yes, sir. I'll let him know. Thanks sir, and say hi your wife for me." Jack hung up the phone. "That should give us another day at least."

"You just called the President's private number?" Landry was obviously impressed.

"Yeah, he likes to fly fish. I keep telling him to use spinning tackle." Jack shrugged. "Hey, he's a nice guy. He served in Nam with George…and he did get rid of Kinsey for us." He smiled at Hank. "So, how's the budget going for next year?"