A/N: Sorry, sorry, sorry!

There is no excuse for how long it's taken me to update. If anyone is still interested in reading this, thank you, and please accept my apologies. All I can say in my defense is that, in addition to being abnormally busy lately, I am having some trouble deciding which direction to take this story. I have three different potential versions mapped out, and I like them all!

I will try to do better.

Ch 16

Daniel and Sam had successfully eluded capture for an hour and a half. Something that Hammond was definitely going to have to bring up with his security teams as soon as possible, because really, that was just unacceptable to him. But in the meantime, he was standing behind his desk, arms crossed, and his firmest "Upset General" scowl on as he looked down at the two little soldiers in front of him. The slightly grimy children, "uniforms" more than a bit wrinkled, were looking down at their feet, mumbling apologies.

"We just went to explore for a minute," Sam tried to explain.

"Uncle Teal'c was helping the man who was sleeping," Daniel said.

"You mean knocked out," Sam corrected.

"He briefly lost consciousness due to his own folly," Teal'c contributed from the doorway, where he and O'Neill were standing, each with their arms crossed firmly over their chests.

"Yeah, that," Daniel said, nodding.

"Anyway," Sam continued. "We just wanted to check out the base a tiny bit and we were going to come right back…"

"Only we got lost," Daniel said.

"… And we heard voices coming fast while we were lost."

"… So we hid in a bathroom to get out of their way."

"… then we decided to play hide and seek."

"… so we would be found, and wouldn't be lost anymore."

"… and we heard everyone on the walkie talkies looking so we thought they were playing."

"… so we hid some more."

"… and kept hiding."

"… Till Uncle Teal'c and Colonel O'Neill founded us."

"… and we're sorry we got everyone in trouble."

"…specially ourselves," they concluded ruefully, together.

"Well," Hammond said, trying hard not to smile during their explanation. "You two better just count yourselves lucky that there weren't any base emergencies while I had half my personnel sticking their heads in ventilation shafts and cabinets looking for you two."

"Yes, sir," Sam said, and Daniel quickly echoed.

"Now, I want you two to take Teal'c and Colonel O'Neill home and you make sure they both keep their eyes on you ALL evening, to make sure nobody gets up to any more mischief."

"Yes, sir!"

The kids brightened considerably at the thought that Teal'c would be coming home with them. Teal'c and Jack exchanged slight looks and groaned, knowing that this was their own special brand of punishment from Hammond. Telling the kids to make sure they were stuck to the two men like glue all night was probably going to be all sorts of fun.

"Let's go," Jack called to the kids.

They hurried over to him and were about to leave when Sam suddenly scampered back over to Hammond. "Do you want to come with us too, Uncle George?" she offered with a hopeful smile. "I can show you how I can ride my bike without training wheels now! Colonel O'Neill taught me. Daniel too, but I learnt it first. And…"

"I'm sorry, Sammy, but I still have work to do here. Tell you what, next time you two are here on the base, you come up and see me for a while, okay? Maybe I can show your friends here that it is possible to keep you two out of trouble."

"Yes, sir," Sam said happily, hugging him sweetly before running back over to join everyone waiting for her in the doorway.

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In the truck on the way home, Teal'c reached over and switched the radio so that the sound was only coming out of the back speakers, turned it up a little, and said quietly to O'Neill, "How are the children gaining access to other floors of the SGC, O'Neill?"

He shrugged. "They get help with the elevator. Maybe they found the emergency exit shafts too, who knows."

"Those doors are too heavy for such small children to open."

"Hmm… you're right. But… come on, are you suggesting they're hotwiring the elevator? Carter's four, T. even she couldn't…" he trailed off, wondering. There was no way. Was there?

He thought about it until they got home. As soon as they were inside, he marched them over to the couch and set them down side by side. He sat down on the edge of the coffee table in front of them so he could see their faces closely. "Okay, you two. Were you using the elevators today? And getting through doors?"

"Yes, sir," they admitted.

"How?"

They looked at each other automatically.

"Don't look at each other, look at me," Jack said quickly. "How did you do that?"

"We had help," Sam said quickly.

"From?"

"A man and a lady," Daniel said.

"You said that last time," Jack shook his head. "And I know it's not true this time because the whole base was alerted. If you'd been seen by someone they'd have called Hammond, not helped you. Now, if you tell me the truth right now I promise not to punish you."

Both kids solemnly reached into the pockets of their cargo pants and pulled out the IDs they had found, handing them to him wordlessly. He took the familiar items in surprise. "How did you get these?"

"We finded them in the locker room when you were getting dressed."

"They have our names on them!" Sam defended immediately. "We thought they were for us!"

"Well, why didn't you ask me?"

"We just wanted to have them a little bit first," Daniel tried to explain.

Jack sighed. Truthfully, he couldn't blame the children. The badges had their names written right on them, plain as day. He wondered why they didn't question the pictures of adults on them, but was kind of afraid to bring it up.

"Now that we showed them to you are we gonna get our pictures on them?" Sam asked hopefully.

"Ah, no," Jack said, pocketing the IDs. The kids looked disappointed. Hammond's last words still ringing in his ears, Jack smiled and said, "BUT I might be persuaded to give them back to you when you go play with dear Uncle George. IF you don't show them to him."

They grinned happily. Teal'c, who had been watching the interrogation with his arms crossed, raised an eyebrow at O'Neill's final decision, but said nothing.

"Can we get up now?" Sam asked.

Jack nodded.

"Yaaaaaaay, come on Uncle Teal'c, the Jeep is recharged and I wanna show it to you!"

"I wanna show you my bike!" Daniel yelled at the same time as the kids both scrambled for the sliding glass door that led out back.

"You're up, Uncle Teal'c," Jack said, clapping his friend's shoulder. "I'm gonna go start dinner. Try not to lose the kids in the back yard."

Scowling at that, Teal'c hurried after the children nonetheless, determined not to let them out of his sight this time.

Teal'c stepped out onto the patio and it was only his Jaffa training that saved him from being mowed down by Sam as she zoomed by in her little Jeep. "Whoops!" she called apologetically, clambering the thing loudly down the stairs so hard her teeth rattled. Okay, maybe it wasn't meant to be as off-road as a full-sized Jeep… but luckily it didn't turn over. She zipped off into the yard, plowing through Daniel's "excavation site" obliviously as she went on her merry way.

Daniel was riding his bike somewhat clumsily up to Teal'c, but grinning proudly from ear to ear. "See, Uncle Teal'c? I tried and tried and tried and now I can do it without training wheels."

"Indeed, you have accomplished a remarkable feat," Teal'c praised. "You should be very proud of yourself, Daniel Jackson. You possess a skill that I do not."

Daniel braked in front of him and set his feet down. "You don't know how to ride a bike?"

"I do not," Teal'c confirmed. "On Ch… where I am from, we do not have bicycles."

"Wow," Daniel said. He looked down at his own bike and said, "I'm sorry, Uncle Teal'c. I wish I could share my bike with you but I don't think it's big enough for you."

"That is quite all right, Daniel Jackson. You enjoy your bicycle, and I will enjoy watching you ride it."

"Okay," Daniel agreed, relieved. He started to pedal off, then stopped. "Hey, maybe we can get Colonel Jack to teach you to ride too, if we get a big enough bike!"

Teal'c tilted his head and smiled. "Perhaps," he agreed, not wanting to argue with the boy over the usefulness of learning such a skill.

The kids were happy on their vehicles for a while, but soon agreed they'd better spend their time with Teal'c actually playing with him. They abandoned their toys and ran over to him eagerly. "Will you play with us?"

"I will play anything except hide and seek," Teal'c responded. They grinned and each one grabbed a hand.

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Jack stuck his head out the back door to make sure everyone was doing okay in the middle of his dinner preparations. He chuckled as he saw his three teammates playing leapfrog. Or attempting to, at any rate. Teal'c could easily leap over both children at once (probably even if they weren't crouched down like frogs), but the kids could only make it over each other. When they tried to leap over Teal'c, it was a scrambling, flailing whirl of little arms and legs, until Teal'c sort of shifted to help dump them over his shoulders, grabbing them as they fell face first over him in time to stop them from face-planting in the grass.

"I almost made it over you that time!" Sam declared after one such attempt.

"Watch me, I'll do it this time for sure!" Daniel insisted, crouching down low, ready to spring.

Jack felt a twinge in his knee that reminded him to take his pills and was infinitely glad they hadn't thought of leapfrog with him as he went back inside to finish dinner.

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"What now?" Daniel asked breathlessly when the leap frog game lost its excitement.

"Umm… monkey in the middle!" Sam declared.

"Yeah!"

They turned to Teal'c, who merely said, "I know what a monkey is, but where are we going to procure one and how do we get it to remain in the middle?"

The kids giggled incessantly at this, and Sam explained the game while Daniel went to fetch a ball.

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