Chapter 2

Jack led his team to speak to Lucy as she gathered the bag of food for herself. He gently approached. "I see you got a good selection of veggies there, kid." He made small talk.

She instantly like Jack. He reminded her of her deceased father. She looked up at him and nodded enthused. "I got lots of veggies."

"You live with your aunt or an uncle?" he wondered. "Someone who cooks all those veggies?"

She shook her head. "I live with Goose."

"The dog?" he pointed.

"Yes." she nodded.

"Who cooks your meals?" Sam asked concerned.

She replied. "I do."

Sam asked. "Just where do you live, Lucy?"

She told her. "On my island."

She gasped. "By yourself!"

"With Goose." she insisted. Even for her swiss cheese mind, the adults seemed rather daft to her.

Daniel asked. "Can you show us where you live, Lucy?"

She shook her head. "I just met you. You are strangers. Stranger danger." she rebutted wondering what was wrong with these strange adults.

Jack cocked an eyebrow for the term "stranger danger" was used in schools to teach kids to stay away from people they did not know. He offered. "How about we get to be friends. Do you have any friends, Lucy?"

"Goose is my friend." she motioned towards the dog.

"Other than Goose?" Jack asked.

"Bra'tac." she replied after a little thought. "He's very nice to me."

Jack enticed her. "Where I come from we have this thing called ice cream. Would like to try some ice cream?"

She recalled ice cream from before the boating accident. "You have ice cream?" she grinned.

"We sure do." Jack assured. "Vanilla…" he noticed her face sour. "Chocolate." he added. He noted that her face lit up. "Even ice cream with bubble gum in it."

She soured again. "That sounds gross." she told him.

Daniel opened his pocket and retrieved a candy bar. He held it out for her. "How about a Clark bar?"

She blinked for it didn't look like a Clark bar to her. Clark bars came in red packages. Not silver. She shook her head for it was the wrong color package.

Jack teased. "Who wants a candy bar, Daniel when you can have ice cream?" He drew his attention to Lucy. "Right Lucy. We want ice cream!" He tried to get her to become eager to go with them for ice cream.

"Why not just throw in cake with it, Jack?" Daniel miffed after the candy bar failed.

"Cake!" she grew excited. She recalled cake and ice cream at her birthday party.

Jack encouraged. "That's right. We got cake and ice cream."

She became wary as it sounded too good to be true.

Sam dropped to her knees to look Lucy in the eye. She pleaded. "You are a young girl who is all alone. You should not be going from planet to planet by yourself. Does anyone live on that island with you other than Goose?"

She admitted "I live alone."

"No one else is with you?" Sam clarified.

"No one." she confirmed.

She asked. "Will you show us this island?"

She shook her head. "No! I can't."

"Why not?" Sam pressed.

"Goose may not like you being there. It's his home too." she stated.

"Goose is a dog." Sam reminded her.

"He more than a dog." she defended.

Jack suggested. "How about you and Goose come back to base with us. Have some cake and ice cream and then if Goose likes us, you can take us to the island. How does that sound?"

She paused and looked at Goose. The dog barked once. She received the message in her mind. "He says it's okay to go to your base but not to our island." She then asked. "Do you have a cold box to store my veggies in?"

"A cooler?" Jack wondered.

"Cooler." she nodded as she could not recall the name for a refrigerator.

"Sure." he agreed.

SGC

General Hammond looked upon his flagship team as they walked down the ramp with a ten year old child and a large German Sheppard. He had no idea what happened off world and demanded answers. He soon walked down the stairs and the marched across the Gate Room floor and up to Jack. "What's the meaning of this, Colonel?" he demanded to know.

"This is Lucy and Goose." Jack stated. "We found them on Chulak trading coconuts for food."

Lucy looked up at Hammond. She spied the white shirt and blue slacks. She asked. "Are you in the Navy?"

He looked down at the child. "I'm in the Air Force." he told her. He bent down on one knee to be at eyelevel. Being a grandfather he knew how to speak to kids. He gave a soft smile. "My name is General Hammond. Where are you from Lucy?"

The girl didn't remember where she was from. She did recall stories of the navy from her father and a photo of his wearing a white suit. She gave a soft smile. "I live on my island with Goose." she motioned towards her very special dog.

He softly smiled. "I see. Goose is your dog."

She nodded. "He's special."

"How is he special?" Hammond asked.

She declared. "He watches out for me."

"I see." he gave a nod and then rose to his feet. He looked to Jack. "Colonel."

"She's not Jaffa." he stated. "She says she lives alone with the dog. We thought we should make sure she's okay."

Lucy spoke. "You said I could have cake and ice cream."

"And she could get some cake and ice cream." Jack added.

Sam spoke. "Sir, she doesn't act like most humans off world either. She seems to have some knowledge of Earth."

Daniel added. "And occasionally she will speak a word or two in Ancient."

"We need to study her." Sam insisted.

Hammond looked down at the child and the dog before him.

Lucy asked. "Study me?"

Sam assured. "Just to make sure you are okay. There is a doctor here named Janet. She good with kids. You will like her."

She made a face. "Am I going to have to get shots?"

Surprised by the question General Hammond asked her. "Shots?"

"I don't like them." she told him. "They hurt." As she recalled getting a vaccine prior to sailing she soured. Goose picked up on the negative emotions. The dog growled in warning to not harm Lucy.

Jack noticed. "First time Goose has growled at anyone."

Sam added. "Sir, I think Lucy may actually be from Earth and somehow got off world. I don't know how but she knows what cake and ice cream is, what vaccines are, that we have a navy and what veggies are. She says her parents are gone and she lives all by herself with the dog."

"Off world?" Lucy asked wondering what Sam meant by the term.

"That what we call it when we got through the Gate to other worlds." she explained.

"Oh." she understood. She then mentioned. "Mine is smaller."

Sam wondered. "What is smaller?"

"My Star Gate." she told her.

She pressed. "Where is your Star Gate, Lucy?"

"On my island." she replied as a matter of fact.

"Where is your island?" she pressed again.

She drew a blank. "I don't know."

Daniel wondered. "How did you get on your island, Lucy?"

She recalled. "A storm brought me there."

He wondered. "Were you on a boat or a ship?"

"Daddy had a sailboat." she recalled the Loose Goose.

"What happened to the sailboat?" He asked her.

She wasn't sure for she was young so much younger. She told him. "The waves swallowed it with daddy."

He coaxed. "Do you know how long ago was that?"

"Five years ago." she stated.

"Have you been alone ever since?" Daniel asked surprised.

"No!" she shook her head. "I've been with Goose."

The adults all traded glances.

Hammond stated. "Major Carter. Escort Lucy to the infirmary and have Dr. Frasier give her a physical."

Lucy asked. "Is Dr. Frasier nice?"

Sam assured. "Janet is a very nice doctor."

"Okay then." she agreed.

Jack asked. "What about Goose?"

Hammond stated. "I think you can handle the dog, Colonel."

Lucy asked. "Can Goose come with me?"

"Not to the infirmary." Sam soothed. "Colonel O'Neill is great with dogs. He loves pets."

Jack assured. "I will take good care of Goose. I promise."

"Well." she debated. She concluded that Goose would have to go with Jack for a while. "Goose! Go with Jack until I get back."

Goose gave a simple bark in response to the command. He the looked up to Jack for instructions.

Jack wondered. "Is there any dog food on base?"

Sam shook her head. "Ask the canine units up top." She held out her hand. "Come on, Lucy. I'll walk you down to meet my friend, Janet."

Lucy took Sam's hand and then gave more order to Goose. "Do what Jack says."

Goose gave another bark confirming the order.

Sam then led Lucy away by the hand as Goose stayed by Jack. The Colonel looked down at the dog. "You know any tricks?" he asked off hand.

Goose barked and then went rough a serious of standard dog tricks. He sat down, rolled over, stood up and held out a paw to shake hands.

Jack shook the pay impressed. "Wow." He looked at Teal'c who stood with a cocked eye. "Is this the coolest dog or what, T?"

The Jaffa wasn't sure for Goose seemed too well trained.

Daniel stated. "That is one well trained dog. I wonder how she managed to train him like that?"

Jack shrugged. "Don't know. Come on, Goose. Let's go find you some kibble."