Chapter Sixteen: Stupor
Daniel had no idea how much time passed between him waking and finding Akina there till the moment someone called and told them that there was a signal from Zale's GPS. Daniel felt his heart seize in his chest at the words that Jack passed on to him. "They got a location on Zale, hopefully the others kids too."
Daniel slid boneless against Jack's chest, who gripped Daniel with a gentle hand against his lower back. "We're getting them back?" Daniel husked.
Jack's hand gripped the back of Daniel's neck, "Yes Daniel, we are."
As Daniel and Jack were both retired from fieldwork and they were too close to handle going in, Hammond wouldn't let them be a part of the retrieval team. Akina was anxious and Jack refused to tell her the information and even if she had it, one of them would need to help her find her way. Her world didn't have things like latitude and longitude or addresses; everything in the Vannas world was built around who lives next to whom and what natural sights were around each house or building.
"I want my son returned to me so we can go home."
Daniel frowned, "You would take Greer and leave then?" he asked her quietly. Jack looked between Akina and Daniel but said nothing.
"You would ask to leave behind this world you so desperately wished to return to?" Akina countered.
"You know that is not true Akina, as soon as we decided to get married there was no true place for us here anymore. That truth was made all the more real when Zale and Zada were born and they had the magic in them."
"You would choose to return to the future with me once more?" Akina asked and she focused on Jack. Daniel respected that, Jack was the leader of their little family and though Daniel and Jack made all their decisions together, it was no secret that Jack had serious concerns about the Vannas world and not only that he would truly be choosing to leave behind his family again.
Jack shrugged, "We should focus on getting them back first."
"Don't leave without giving us time to decide please?" Daniel requested and Akina nodded then she tilted her head in that dog-like way that made Jack always chortle and say that the Vannas were like dogs, hearing things that no one else could hear. It was true but not an attractive comparison.
"The team your people sent out, I am keeping my senses open to them and they have stormed the building to find the children. They have Greer and now that his signal is not muddled by the building, I am going to him."
Then she winked out of the room, leaving Jack and Daniel alone with Lust and Desire who were sitting in the two chairs across the room. Daniel watched as they sat, looking through a couple books, at pictures and the words on the page. Daniel smiled, looking at the beautiful features of the sisters who were reflected in their daughters.
"It's been a long time since we were standing in the same room as you," Daniel said.
Lust looked up and smiled at Daniel, "It has been a long time, I am pleased we will have an opportunity to see our children even for a few moments before they are returned to their rightful parents."
"Even after all this time, you would not seek to have some part of them in your lives?" Jack asked. Daniel glanced at Jack, seeing the worried frown between his eyes and tilted his head a little in confusion. Was Jack worried that they would steal the children away?
"We would seek to return them to the world where they are safe and loved, but it would not be to steal them from you and Daniel," Desire said even though she didn't look up from the book in her hands. As if his fear is not worth her full attention, which Jack shrugged off instead of taking offense, proof enough of the stress he was under trying to get their kids back.
The phone rang again and Jack picked it up, "O'Neill here."
Daniel waited, listening to Jack's end of the conversation which was filled mostly with grunts and single word answers just as Akina popped back into the room with Greer who was struggling against her hold. Daniel ran over to the little boy and hugged him, stalling his movements. "What happened Greer? What's wrong?" he asked.
"He refused to leave the others but he is my son, I would find him out of harm's way."
"Then why is he so upset?" Daniel demanded.
"We have to go back for the others, Johnny reached out and told me the bad men are trying to take Zale and Zada while the soldiers are busy looking for the others. Johnny is going to get caught in the middle, he was with Zale and Zada!"
Daniel tried to calm the child but he refused, still fighting against Akina's hold and now his. Jack rose and looked to Desire and Lust, Daniel didn't trust the look. Just then, to make everything worse Sam and Teal'c walked into the room and demanded to know what was happening. Lust and Desire looked at each other, gave a slight nod then looked to Daniel and Jack, "We shall retrieve your children. Are you coming?" they asked in unison.
Jack looked at Daniel and they stood to join the other two women, just as Jack reached into the closet and pulled out his handgun and handed the other gun to Daniel. He quickly checked that the clip was loaded and looked down at him, wearing jeans and a t-shirt.
"We're not really dressed for this."
Jack snorted, "Daniel we don't own military garb anymore so lets just get this done quickly so no one has a chance to shoot us."
Daniel nodded, he didn't really care about the readiness they were dealing with, he wanted his kids safe again. Lust turned to Sam and Teal'c, "Are you joining us as well?" she asked.
Sam looked to Teal'c and he nodded, the former-Jaffa was in better shape then all of them. "I will."
"I will stay with Greer so you can return with Lady Zarkina, she is the strongest fighter and magical force. She's the biggest gun we got."
Akina nodded, leaning down and kissed Greer on the forehead, "I will return with your friends."
"See it done," Greer commanded making Jack chortle in response.
"He's going to be a strong ruler one day."
Akina nodded but said nothing. She reached out and touched Teal'c who left and reappeared quickly with one of Daniel's training staff, since Teal'c trained the children here at the house once or twice a week, the training weapons were easily accessible. Lust and Desire each grabbed Daniel and Jack who were holding each other's hand with the weapons in their free hand.
Then with a sudden and remembered drop in Daniel's stomach, they were in a building thick with smoky and screeching alarms. Lust and Desire led Jack and Daniel into another direction while Akina led Teal'c down another hallway. Daniel trusted that the women knew where the children were and then they came to another hallway where there were two choices and the twins stopped.
"What?" Jack demanded.
"Janet and Claire are that way," Desire pointed down one of the hallways.
"Zale, Zada and Johnny are this way," Lust pointed down the other hall.
Daniel nodded and looked to Jack, "Go with Lust, and get them back."
Jack nodded and jerked Daniel close and kissed him quickly before he moved away and followed Lust down the other hall, leaving Daniel alone with Desire. She touched his shoulder gently to bring him from his worried reverie and they started running, the ease in which Daniel held the gun shocking to him, it had been over ten years since he held a gun in a situation like this. Jack had talked Daniel into practicing at a shooting range once or twice after Henry's assault but it had been a while since he touched the gun Jack purchased for him.
Daniel couldn't tell anything about this facility, running through dark hallways that seemed to be never ending and all the same then Desire stopped and opened one of the doors easily. Daniel peered in over the woman's shoulder to see his two beautiful daughters sitting together on a cot, ears covered with their hands and tears streaking down their cheeks.
He moved quickly to them and touched each of their cheeks, "Hey babies, lets get out of here."
"Daddy, my heads all fuzzy," Janet said.
"Me too Daddy," Claire mumbled.
"I know babies, we're going to fix that," Daniel responded and lifted Claire into his arms and Janet easily reached for Desire and they stood and turned. They found several men rushing into the room when Desire placed a hand on Daniel's shoulder and teleported them easily back to the house. He looked around, finding them all in the living room so he led Desire into the den to lay Claire down in her bed while Desire placed Janet into the same bed where the girls curled up into each other. Daniel knew they would be okay together and he turned to walk back out to run into Ben who was leaving the kitchen.
"Daniel, what's going on? You were gone!"
"Pop, I can't explain right now. Janet and Claire are in their bedroom and they were drugged, will you stay with them?"
"Of course," Ben responded and hugged Daniel before he motioned Ben into the other room, Lauren following close behind but Daniel gripped her arm tightly, on the verge of hurting her.
"Let me go!" she hissed.
"Keep your hands off my daughters unless in your heart you accept them as your family. I will not have your emotions hurting them while they are muddled." Then he turned back to Ben, "Will you have Sam call Doctor Frasier, she needs to come and check them over please?"
"Yes, just go get the rest of our grandbabies back," Ben responded. Daniel released Lauren who walked into the girls' bedroom and sat down on one of the other beds, away from the girls even as Ben sat down in a chair close to them, taking the time and energy to rub his hand over their heads gently.
Desire touched Daniel's shoulder, "I feel Jack is in trouble. They need our help."
Daniel nodded and turned away from the girls, not wanting to go but they still needed to find the others as well as Sam's kids. He let Desire touch his shoulder and with another jolt, they were in a corner of a large room, thankfully being ignored through the screaming.
"Let them go!" Jack shouted and Daniel turned to find his husband with his gun in hand and pointed to several men who each held one of their children. Akina and Teal'c were nowhere to be seen and Daniel hoped it was because they were back at the house with Sam. Lust stood at Jack's back but she and her sister didn't have much in the way of offensive powers as far as Daniel knew.
The guy in the center was holding Johnny hand tight around his throat and Daniel sucked in a breath. "No, not Johnny!" he husked. "Not my baby."
He took a moment as well, seeing Zale held against another man and Zada in the arms of yet another. There didn't seem to be any extra men, just the three. He could see that the twins were heavily sedated, probably the only reason the GPS was able to pin their location as well as the fact that the men were capable of holding them down. Johnny was aware but he was slumped in the captor's arms. He couldn't really tell what was going on inside his little boy but he couldn't imagine what he must be thinking of all this.
They had spent so much of the last six years protecting Johnny from the harshness of life and though they should be letting him see the badness but he was their baby and he deserved to have a childhood and this was wrecking that innocence. Daniel pulled the gun from his waist and cocked it, surprised that the captors hadn't realized they were there and he aimed for the man holding Johnny.
He wouldn't take the head shot despite his sudden raging need to destroy the man who would dare to put his hands on Johnny. Instead he aimed downward and took the shot, bringing the captor to his knee with a shout of pain in the aftermath of the shot. Daniel didn't pause as he aimed again; not realizing the other man had raised a gun until he dropped Zada with a sickening thud to the hard ground. Three shots fired in quick succession, Daniel's hit it's mark and Zale was freed as his captor fell, holding his blown kneecap and another came from Jack's gun into the third man and Daniel felt nothing as he fell to his knees, shocked at the pain he hadn't really felt in a long time.
He dropped his gun and pressed a hand into his chest where his blood was blooming from the wound and spilling out of his body. He fell back into Desire's arms and Jack shouted his name across the room, echoing in the room was the last thing he heard before he fainted from the pain and shock.