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Warnings: Language.

Chapter 3: Dee World, She's-ah round!

Jack drove him back to his place to get 'suitable' change of clothing. Daniel had no idea where they were going to get a life, but it seemed to require his trainers and work out clothes. He ran up to his apartment to change while Jack waited in his truck and five minutes later, he was back and they were driving away to their destination.

They ended up at a leisure centre near the downtown area and Jack motioned for him to follow into the building. Daniel looked around the bland concrete walls, notice boards, trophy cases and wide double doors that seem to be the choice of decor for public centers.

He quickly walked after Jack who was opening one of the double doors that lead to a brightly lit gymnasium.

"O'Neill! We started to think you weren't gonna show!" Daniel heard the familiar voice shout out.

Jack dropped his small gym bag on a bench and walked sedately over to Dave Dixon who was casually dribbling a basketball. Dixon glanced at Daniel briefly, clearly a bit surprise to see him there, but didn't comment.

He remained near the benches so he didn't hear Jack's reply and looked at the other guys in the court. He recognized all of them as SGC personnel, and he had to confess, most of them he'd never seen outside of base and uniform. They all nodded at him. Siler, Simmons, Reynolds, Griff, and of course Lou Ferretti.

"Last person we expected Jack to bring," Ferretti told Daniel as he passed the second basketball to Simmons who caught it with ease. The Major jogged over to Daniel and gripped his arm in greeting.

Lou Ferretti had been on that first Abydos mission and he'd been a complete asshole to Daniel. Almost a decade of knowing each other had changed the military man's opinion of Daniel. They now had respect that was forged from shared battles and lost comrades. Ferretti no longer saw the archaeologist as a bumbling geeky scientist; Daniel had proven everyone that he was a good soldier.

"Ferretti." Daniel smiled back at the smaller man. He looked back at the other guys back in the court now doing lay ups. "So... You guys meet up a lot outside the base?"

"What? These guys-" Ferretti indicated behind him with his thumb. "we meet up every month or so when Dave's wife lets him out. We call it the 'Flat Earth Society'. At first it was just a bunch of us going to the bar having drinks and stuff. Dave twisted his ankle a couple of times and his wife banned him from going, so we decided less on the alcohol and more on the 'stuff'."

Daniel saw Simmons bag a three pointer. "Hey, Graham's pretty good. He never struck me as the athletic type."

Ferretti looked fondly at the young man. "He's a great kid. He'll never be combat material, but he's really good in the court."

"Hey!" Dave yelled at the two of them. "You ladies gonna play or what?"

"I'll show you who's the pussy around here, Dixon!" Ferretti yelled back. He slapped Daniel on the back. "I hope you're good, Jackson. I wanna be able to back that up!"

The 'FES' guys were pretty evenly matched and Jack's team only won by several points. He, Jack, Ferretti and Griff were on the same team. Dixon, Reynolds, Siler and Simmons on the other. As Lou had said, Simmons was a good player, much better than Daniel and if it weren't for Jack and Ferretti's skills in the court, it would've been a massacre on their side.

Daniel noted that Jack's new body was a definite advantage. He was fitter and faster than any of the guys. His economy of movement serving him well; not that he needed it. Jack had always been a bundle of energy, but this younger version seemed even more so. Whilst the rest of the guys looked about ready to collapse after the game, Jack was doing layups, his muscled body gleaming with sweat.

"Hey, O'Neill! Quit showing off to the ladies. Just show'em your star. That'll get them!" Major Griff laughed at his own joke, the other guys joining in.

Daniel glanced at the bleachers, and indeed there were a few ladies eyeing Jack's little performance, or most likely, his attributes. A couple of teenage girls, not much older than Cassie, were giggling and staring at the man that was old enough to be their grandfather, even if he didn't look it.

Jack made a face and jogged towards them. "Assholes," The general muttered at Griff. This only set off the guys again, Dave Dixon slapping Jack in the back hard enough to hurt.

O'Neill pulled off his sleeveless shirt and used it to wipe up his face. "So, where we going for some chow?"

"Nice Italian place, General. Cannelloni just like my mother used to make," Ferretti replied.

Jack nodded. "Sounds good."

They hit the showers before heading over to the restaurant. It was an upscale place and Jack was pretty sure they wouldn't feed a bunch of sweaty ballers. Ferretti gave them directions to the restaurant and the eight men descended on the unsuspecting eatery.

Sam Carter shifted uncomfortably in her chair trying to keep the smile firmly on her face.

Why the hell did I agree to wear this stupid dress? She thought to herself.

"Because Pete bought it thinking you would look gorgeous in it, not at all caring that it revealed too much thighs when you're sitting down," was the snarky reply from her internal monologue. She felt like the whole restaurant was staring at her legs thinking she was some... well it didn't bear thinking.

Her fiancé was retelling an incident that had happened to him at work last week that involved a dog, a clown and a monkey and for the life of her she couldn't figure out why he thought it was so funny. But like the dutiful fiancé, she had to be supportive and keep smiling at Pete's increasingly annoying sense of humor. She'd found it adorable and quirky at the beginning, but it had rapidly become childish and did she mention really, really annoying?

She missed acerbic, sarcastic and dry humor.

"So, what'd you do at work today?" Pete asked her, finally finished with his story.

Well, lets see... I adjusted the power distribution of our naquadah reactor. I prepped my kit for tomorrow's mission to PX1 313, making sure we had the tech specs for a ZPM just in case we do find an Ancient outpost and hopefully find Jonas safe and sound...

Sam smiled, flashing Pete her dimples. That usually dissuaded another argument about her job. "You know I can't discuss-"

"I get it, I get it!" Pete preempted "It's classified." He sighed in resignation. This was an old issue with them. "It just makes it difficult to make conversation, you know?"

A little voice inside Sam's head muttered that she never had to make conversation with Jack, er, General O'Neill.

"I know and I'm sorry," she apologized for what felt like the umpteenth time. She really didn't want to get into this again, not tonight.

"Colonel Carter. Fancy seeing you here!"

She looked up thankfully at the man who'd approached their table, giving her a slight reprieve. "Ferretti!"

He smiled widely at Sam and then glanced at Pete deciding to introduce himself. "Colonel Lou Ferretti. I work with the Lt. Colonel in Cheyenne Mountain."

Pete shook the proffered hand, his previously darkening mood gone. He was now grinning. "Detective Pete Shannahan, Sam's fiancé."

Ferretti raised his eyebrows. "You don't say. Hey, I bet the guys would love to meet the lucky son of a gun who caught the Colonel here," He said winking at Sam.

Sam frowned, her mouth parting slightly in confusion, and turned to look at the entrance near the bar. Oh God. What was he doing here?!

Ferretti motioned to where Sam was looking. "General O'Neill's trying to get us a table. The place is booked up, but if anyone can charm the birds from the trees, it's Jack."

Pete scoffed in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me, right? That lady's cold. Several guys from my precinct have tried to get her number. They were all shot down."

"Well I guess you've never seen the General in a dog fight. He's never gone down."

The three of them watched the General smile at the lady in question, gesticulating briefly before shoving his hands in his pocket. The Maitre D laughed at something he said and started flipping through her reservation book. O'Neill said something again, and the woman flicked her hair back.

Ferretti grinned widely. "Houston, we've got lift off!"

Sam saw her fiancé shrug. "Maybe she found a cancellation or something."

"She's writing something..." Ferretti told them.

They watched as the Maitre D scrawled something on a piece of paper then handed it to O'Neill. The General glanced at it smiling back at the woman and quickly pocketed the folded paper.

"He got us both a table and her number. Sweet!" Ferretti crowed.

Sam and Pete both gapped at what just happened. Pete because Jack O'Neill had just accomplished what half the guys from his precinct couldn't do and Sam because she couldn't believe that Jack had actually flirted with that woman. She was half his age, for god sake! What was he thinking even looking at her?

Then it hit her. In the eyes of that woman, Jack wasn't twice her age; and if Sam were being honest with herself, if Jack had flirted with the woman before he was cloned, it would be the same outcome. General O'Neill would have her number and the woman wouldn't care about his age because any woman would be lucky to have him.

Sam had never seen the General in action before and she suspected that was because Jack thought himself too old for that sort of thing. Aside from his off color remarks in Hak'tyl and the lingering looks at Ishta's warriors, General O'Neill was never the type to use his charms in order to get his way. In fact, charming wasn't the word most of the aliens they'd encountered would use to describe her erstwhile Colonel.

She saw that Jack had seen them and was it her imagination or did he look suddenly uncomfortable? He walked over to their table and smiled tightly at Sam and acknowledged Pete.

He turned to Ferretti. "You owe me, Louis. That young lady's going to be very, very unhappy if I don't call her." He reached into his pocket. "Give this to Graham and tell him to take her somewhere nice."

"She's hot, Jack," Ferretti muttered under his breath.

"She's just a kid," O'Neill replied. He met her gaze and they lingered. Everything seemed to fade away and it was just the two of them in a perfect moment. Somewhere in the back of her mind she heard Ferretti say something.

"The rest of the guys are here, Jack."

O'Neill turned away and the moment was broken. "Good to see you again, Shanahan. Carter, I'll see you tomorrow morning bright eyed and bushy tailed!"

With that, he pulled Ferretti away to join the rest of the gang.

"Funny seeing Sam and Pete here."

"Funny."

"They celebrating the engagement?"

"No idea, Daniel. Wasn't going to ask." He took a swig of his beer bottle not really in the mood to discuss this particular topic with Daniel. He gave the younger man a warning glare telling him silently that he wasn't going to talk about this now.

Daniel being Daniel, just ignored the look his friend was sending him and continued on. "Maybe we should invite them to join us... Get to know Pete better."

"Daniel. I swear to God..." Jack was about ready to take his bottle and hit Daniel over the head with it. Get to know Pete better?! Fucking hell, he didn't even want to know the man existed much less get all friendly with him! He may have told Carter that she deserved to have a life and be happy, but there was no way he was gonna stick around and watch it happen. He'd learned to accept that she was no longer his - was never his - and that soon enough she'd be married to someone else, having children with someone else, and he'd spend the rest of his life loving her still. It was a morose thought and he'd promised himself that he'd find a way to move on and maybe, just maybe, someone out there would be merciful and he'd stop being in love with Carter.

"Relax, Jack. I was just kidding."

Jack glared at him.

Daniel slumped back in his chair. "I know. I'm was being an ass. Sorry."

They sat there silently at their table watching the FES guys play darts at the bar while they waited for their food. Jack decided to give Daniel a break and forgive him for his baiting. He knew that Daniel was only trying to get a reaction out of him. His friend didn't understand why Jack wasn't doing anything to stop Carter from making a mistake and just ask Carter to wait for him.

What Daniel didn't get was that Carter was entitled to have happiness in her life. She wanted a normal life and a family. Hell, he wanted those things too with her! But he knew he couldn't give her those things. Not soon enough for her liking.

"Easy on the beer, Spacemonkey. You've got a mission tomorrow."

Daniel grinned at his conciliatory tone. "It's too bad you can't come with. We might need your 'unique' abilities on this one. You think we'll find Jonas?"

Jack shrugged. "We'll get a better idea once we send a MALP through. It could be as simple as a broken DHD."

Daniel had to laugh at that. When did it happen? When did a broken DHD no longer spell 'disaster'?

The next morning, SG-1 gated over to the address that Daniel had found from the images of the ruins on P3X-666. As per standard operating procedure, a MALP was sent ahead of the team and initial re-con revealed no signs of a DHD which might have explained why Jonas Quinn was not able to contact Earth or the Alpha site.

Daniel suggested sending a UAV to check out the surroundings, hoping that Jonas - if he was indeed on the planet- would recognize the plane and realize that the SGC had found him. O'Neill okayed the plan and Sgt. Siler made the necessary preparations.

SG-1 followed a few minutes after the UAV and stepped out into another hot and sandy planet with not much to recommend it except for the vast ruins that spread below the gate, and that really only appealed to Daniel.

The gate was mounted on huge slabs of coppery stone overlooking an ancient city. It was hard to believe that life ever existed there, let alone a civilization. Crumbling, sand covered, stone steps led them down inside the ruined the city. Daniel was gawking, almost jumping with excitement at the treasure trove before him.

"Here," he told Teal'c, not even glancing at the big man, handing him his video camera. "Hold this and don't stop recording. This-this is... Wow. Amazing!"

He didn't see Sam smirk behind him.

"Perhaps we should focus on finding JonasQuinn," Teal'c suggested.

Daniel finally pulled away from his exploration and looked back at his team. "Sorry. Of course. Where do we start?"

"You two look for Jonas," Sam replied. "I'm gonna set up the generator. We might have to gate out of here fast."

He and Teal'c nodded and started down the path to the city. They would need to get a move on before darkness set in and make a search far more difficult.

Daniel wondered silently in what condition they would find Jonas. He didn't see any sources of water or food anywhere. Just crumbled buildings and desert. It was hard to think positively when the sun was beating mercilessly down on them and he was constantly reaching for his canteen to stave off heat exhaustion.

They had a good view of the Stargate even after half an hour of walking further into the city, and he could just make out Sam's form and the MALP. She would have radioed in already if the UAV had found anything. It was more likely, if Jonas was around, that he would be hiding out in one of the more intact buildings to avoid the heat.

"Jonas!"

"DanielJackson?"

"We're getting no where here, Teal'c. If Jonas is here, he'll be hiding from this heat."

Teal'c inclined his head in understanding. They both started yelling out Jonas' name, marching further into the city.

"Dr. Jackson? Teal'c?" Both Daniel and Teal'c turned towards a mostly buried building that might have been a temple once and saw a frail looking Jonas Quinn standing by a huge pillar.

The two of them ran quickly to their missing comrade, Jonas meeting them halfway.

"I thought I was imagining things," Jonas told them grinning ear to ear. "I thought maybe the heat had finally gotten to me and I'm starting to hear things! How did you find me?

Daniel laughed in relief. It seems nothing could dampen the younger man's enthusiasm. "The print outs from P3X-666. When you didn't get back to me, I started to worry and contacted Langara."

"Yes! I knew you would find the gate address and it was only a matter of time."

"Are you fairing alright, JonasQuinn?" Teal'c asked, clearly concerned.

"Oh, I'm more than fine, Teal'c. Just wait until you see what I've found!"

Oooh, the gang is back together! Hehe. Who else loves Jonas? I love bringing him back in all my stories. Pete though... Gagh!