“Leave me alone!  I hate you!  I hate all of you!  Just leave me alone!”  Daniel jerked away from Jack, kicking savagely as he dropped on his ass and fell back against Brightman.  “Leave me alone!”

“You’re bleeding.” Dr. Brightman ignored the kicking, flaying limbs and grabbed his chin.  “Stop, Daniel, let me look at your forehead.”

“Don’t touch me,” the child shrieked, smacking his head on the bed frame again as he wrenched away from Brightman.  “Leave me alone, just leave me alone.” 

Daniel dragged his knees up to his chest and wrapped both arms around them, burying his face.

“I believe I’ve accomplished what I came for, General.  I’ll be on my way now.”

Daniel rebounded to his feet as Kinsey reached the just opening door.   “Don’t leave me.  I don’t care if you lied.  Don’t leave me here!”  He threw himself at the Senator, who again put out a hand to ward him off. 

A hand Kinsey pulled back covered with blood.  “My business here is done,” he said calmly, drawing a handkerchief from his pocket.  He serenely wiped his hand clean, smiled at a disbelieving Daniel, deposited the now bloody rag on top of the portable EKG and closed the door behind himself.

“Jack!” Daniel howled, body slamming the door.  “Don’t leave me here!  Please!”  He grabbed the handle with both small hands, yanking desperately. 

Panicked, he glanced over his shoulder, and the real Jack got a glimpse of bone white features garishly painted with blood red streaks before Daniel turned back, plastering himself to the door, slamming his fists repeatedly against the steel surface. 

Brightman started toward him only to be stopped by a curt, “No,” from her superior officer. 

“Sir,” she whispered plaintively.  “I - ”

“No,” Jack said again, clenching his jaw as he crossed his own arms over his chest to keep from reaching out to his small friend. 

His knuckles were white by the time Daniel slid down the door into a boneless heap fifteen minutes later. 

“No,” he snapped, when Brightman again started forward. 

He did not dare look up, knowing if Carter had not followed Teal’c and was watching this, she’d likely zat him herself the moment he stepped out of this room. 

It was another tense fifteen minutes before Daniel finally stirred.  He said nothing, only shoved himself up on hands and knees, swayed slightly, then pushed up until he was kneeling, keeping himself upright with a hand on the door. 

Jack watched his gaze sweep the room until he caught sight of his shirt on the bed. 

Rather than getting up. though, Daniel dropped back down on his hands and knees and crawled across the room, dragging himself up by the bed frame long enough to grab his shirt before sinking back down on the floor.  Instead of putting it on, he used it to wipe the blood out of his eyes. 

“What do you want with me?” he ground out, dabbing at a split lip as well.

“Nothing.”

When Jack said nothing more, the small face lifted to glare at him.  “Yeah right.  I’ve been around enough to know everybody has an agenda.” 

“Will you let Doctor Brightman clean you up and see if you need stitches?”

“No.”

“Okay.  Doc, I’m sure you’re got better things to do than hang around here waiting for the half-pint to make up his mind what he’s going to do.” 

Jack ambled over and sat down on the bed, pulling a knee up and clasping his hands around it as he leaned back against the concrete wall. 

“Go on, Doc.  Carter, find Teal’c and tell him he has to zat that piece a shit at least three times so we don’t have to worry about the body.  But not until he’s beat the crap out of the sonuvabitch.”

“Sir . . .” the intercom squawked.

“Stand down, Colonel,” Jack said mildly, turning his head to stare fiercely at his 2IC.  “Oh, and before you let him go, tell him his ass is grass if he ever steps foot inside the Mountain again.  All bets are off.” 

No way was Kinsey ever getting his hands on Daniel again; not if Jack had to take the kid and move off-world.  There were any number of places they could find sanctuary, though the galaxy was no longer the vast, unexplored, uncharted territory it had been five years ago when Daniel had disappeared. 

He looked back at the boy, sitting cross-legged on the floor with his head in his hands, then back up at Carter, who had pressed her hand flat to the window, her gaze focused on the bent blond head.

 “Now, Carter.”

He saw her mouth the words ‘yes, sir,’ before turning on her heel and stomping down the stairs.  It was only his imagination that had the angry, booted footsteps stopping briefly outside the door, then purposefully moving on again.  He imagined she’d stopped and spread her hand on the door, too, channeling all the love and affection she could possibly divert to Daniel through that imprint on the door. 

Jack closed his eyes.  He was determined to wait out the miniature archeologist if took until he retired again. 

The entire staff of the Mountain had paraded through the observation room before the stubborn little shit gave in. 

“I have to go to the bathroom.”

“Okay, I’ll show you where it is.”  Jack got to his feet, knees loudly protesting their long disuse.

“What’s that?”  Daniel clambered to his feet as well, fisting a hand in the blanket as he swayed again.

“Just my knees.  You okay?”

“I’m fine.”  Though the answer came through gritted teeth.

Jack said nothing more, merely led the way to the door, rapped his knuckles and pulled the door open when it clicked.  “Left,” he said, and pointed down the hall. “You’ll recognize the universal sign I’m sure.” 

Daniel was back well within the five minute time frame Jack had allotted when he’d let him go alone. 

He’d washed the blood from his face and had a wet paper towel pressed to his split lip.   He’d also put on his gory, blood encrusted shirt.  But the gash above his right eye had closed over and looked more like a welting bruise than a cut. 

Jack inspected it as Daniel passed him and decided against pressing the issue.  It didn’t look like it needed stitches. 

“Hungry?”  Jack inquired, letting go of the door as Daniel scuttled past him, rather like a crab trying to avoid capture.

“No.”

“Tired?”

Daniel shot a look of loathing over his shoulder as he climbed up on the bed.  “No.  Why don’t you go do something important?”

“I am doing something important.”

“What?  Trying to wear me down?”

“Is it working?”

“I’m not telling you anything.”

“I don’t need you to tell me anything anymore.  I’ve got most of the story; there are only one or two details missing and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to fill them in.”

“Then what are you doing here still?”

“Just keeping you company.”

“I don’t need company.”

“You never did need company, but occasionally you let me keep you company anyway.”

“I don’t want company either.”

“Well, now, see, that’s gonna be a problem, ‘cause I can pretty much guarantee you’re gonna have a shadow, waking or sleeping, for the foreseeable future.”

“I want to go home.”

“This is your home, Daniel.”

“I don’t remember this place at all,” he said, irrefutably.

“Yeah, I got that message loud and clear.  That’s one of the fuzzy details; how the hell did Kinsey manage to brainwash you so completely.”

“He didn’t,” Daniel replied mutinously.

In response, Jack raised an eyebrow.  “Feel like taking a walk?”

“No.”

“Gonna’ spend the rest of your life here in this ISO room?”

“Maybe.  You left me alone in here before.  What’s the big deal now?”

“That was before I realized Kinsey had a hand in this,” Jack made a concerted effort not to snarl.

“Why . . .” Daniel trailed off.  Picking up the pillow, he hugged it to his impossibly small chest.

Jack closed his eyes briefly; the pillow was practically bigger than Daniel.  “Why what?”

“Why would he lie to me like that?  I don’t . . . understand.”  Daniel put his head down on the pillow, sighing wearily.  “Who are the Toll-ans?”

Jack rapped his knuckles on the door again.  “Bring down one of the chairs from the observation deck, please.”  He waited at the door as the SF went to collect a chair.  “Thanks.”  He rolled it into the room and sat down back to front, crossing his arms over the back.  “We accidentally ran across the Tollans when we gated to a planet in the middle of a volcanic event.  We found them half-buried in ash around the Gate and hauled them back here, only to discover, much like you, they were very ungrateful to be rescued.”

“I didn’t need rescuing.”

“Yes, well, Omoc didn’t seem to think the Tollans needed rescuing either.  Carter says Narim believed differently, but that’s neither here nor there.  The Tollans were one of the more advanced races we’ve encountered, despite the fact they’ve since gotten themselves wiped off the face of the galaxy.”

“Why would he want . . .” Daniel slid further down on the bed so he was lying down, curled around the pillow, his back to Jack.  “Why would he want me to think . . . he was you?”

“That’s complicated, Daniel.”

“I’m not stupid,” the kid snapped. 

“No, no one could ever accuse you of being stupid.”

“I’ve already worked out that I did something he didn’t like . . . before . . .” the shoulder flirted again.  “Before this happened to me.”

“You remember before?”

“No.”

Jack put his chin down on his arms.  “If you’re so smart, why haven’t you figured out I’m not the bad guy here?”

“You’re sadly mistaken if you think you’re the good guy.”  The childish voice was a distinct contrast to the scathing tone and adult words.  “You may think you rescued me,” Daniel rolled over, abandoning the pillow, “from my perspective you just ripped me from the only home and people I’ve ever known.  And then acted like I was the one on trial.”

“Uhm,” Jack grunted.  “Looks bad from that perspective.”

“Ya think?”

“Oh for cryin’ out loud, he even taught you my idioms?”

“Go away.  I just want to be left alone.”

Jack sighed.  “Then we just have to dance this dance tomorrow.  Why not get it over with today?”

“Because I won’t be here tomorrow and I’m not telling you anything.”

“Planning on leaving us in the middle of the night?”

“If I’m lucky it won’t even take that long.”  Daniel flipped back over, curling around the pillow again.

Something odd in the tone of voice set off Jack’s internal alarms.  “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked sharply.

“Nothing,” Daniel mumbled.

Threats had never worked with Daniel, they’d only made him dig his heels in deeper, a trait that had obviously regressed right along with his stature. 

O’Neill sighed again.  “What would it take for you to believe we are who we say we are and you are who we say you are?”

“You’re missing the point,” Daniel replied lethargically.  “I don’t care.”

“Okay, what’s it gonna take to make you care?”

“Not in your power,” Daniel said cryptically.

Jack ground his teeth.  The adrenalin in his system was dissipating rapidly, leaving behind the usual vague headache and sluggish processing time.  How the heck had he ever gotten around the adult archeologist?

If Kinsey and Maybourne both had been in on the project, then there had to be more documentation.  Maybe something in the reams and reams of paper they’d brought back?  Jack scooted his chair over to the phone on the far wall. 

“Walter.  Unless Carter is still working over Kinsey, I need her back down here ASAP.”

*** Part VI

Good morning, Senator Kinsey.  You are looking at picture of SG-1, the premiere team of an organization based out of CheyenneMountain, under NORAD, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  This team travels regularly to other planets and has met some of the fiercest enemies Earth will ever know.  The man second from the left is a civilian scientist, Doctor DanielJackson.  Your mission, Senator, should you decide to accept it, is to acquire and hide this man for the next five years, erasing all traces of his existence from the face of the Earth.  Further, in agreeing to under take this mission, you will develop a method withwhich to brainwash this brilliant scientist and substitute his memories of the people in his life with impersonations.  Having accomplished this mission, you will then seek opportunities to reveal this information not only to the principal party involved, but to his former colleagues as well.  As always, should you or any of your NID forces be caught or killed, we will disavow all knowledge of these proceedings.  This tape will self-destruct in five seconds.  Good luck, Senator.

Jack caught himself staring blankly at the concrete wall.  He’d lost his place.  He shook his head, cutting off the remnants of the Mission Impossible theme still repeating over and over in his mind, and moved his gaze back up to the top block on the left hand side of the room.  One, two, three . . .

How had Kinsey managed to coerce an entire team of people into participating in his diabolical scheme?  Too many of the employee’s at Area 51 knew Daniel, or at least knew of him.  It just didn’t add up. 

Dammit; he’d lost track again.    

What was it Kinsey had said – he hadn’t done it purposely, merely been in the right place at the right time; maybe even saved Daniel’s life; that NID had been the perpetrator?

Okay.  So if you’re going to lie, mix in just enough truth to make it sound credible.  So then the NID probably had been involved – at Kinsey’s instigation.  And the NID had had access to Asgard beaming technology. 

Yeah, the Asgard kept pretty close track of their technology – still, it had come to the SGC’s attention that even the Asgard had rogue independents traveling the galaxy without the knowledge of their leaders. 

It was a possibility, but that still didn’t speak to the downsizing of Daniel Jackson. 

A poorly backwards engineered beam?  A purposely re-engineered beam?  But why make him smaller?  Why not just kidnap Daniel, alter his memories and . . . because a thirty-five-year-old Daniel Jackson would never have been compliant.  A child, on the other hand, was a much more malleable tool; easier to manipulate, less difficult to control.  Especially over the life of a plan that took five years to come to fruition.

Surely they hadn’t developed this technology just to use on Daniel.  What other applications could it be it used for?

Jack shook his head again; this was so not his territory.  He needed Carter.  Abandoning his count of the blocks in the concrete wall, he scooted over to the phone just as a tap on the door alerted them both.

Daniel curled tighter around the pillow.

Jack turned expectantly toward the door.

“Sir?”  Instead of Carter, Paul Davis stood on the threshold.  “I’ve found something you’re going to want to look at.  Do you want to step out in the hall?”

“We’re not withholding information from Daniel, Major.  What have you found?”

“Just this, sir.”  Davis handed over several sheets of paper covered on both sides with what appeared to be equations, except the equations were alphabetical rather than numeric.

“Do you really expect me to know what I’m looking at?”  Jack barely lifted his head, though his eyes sought the Major’s skeptically.

“Sir, I think this may have something to do with how they downsized Daniel and perhaps - how they’re keeping him small.”

”You’re joking.” Jack snatched back the papers he’d almost handed over.  “DNA strands,” he remarked, turning the paper sideways, reframing the puzzle.

“Yes, sir.  And some of them are a perfect match to Daniel’s.   I think it may be some kind of genetic code.  It’s just a hunch, General.  Dr. Brightman or Colonel Carter should be able to confirm this, but if it’s what I think it is and we can figure out the patterns, we may be able to reverse whatever it is they’ve done to him.  It might just be a matter of breaking the code, sir.”

“Do you imagine they haven’t been trying to figure this out for the last five years?”  Daniel’s light, high voice was muffled, though the scorn came through loud and clear.

Jack closed his eyes momentarily.  “For five years . . .” he began, then paused, looking helplessly at Davis. 

“I know, sir,” the man mouthed silently.  “He’s not making this any easier is he?”

Jack snorted.  “You got that right, Major.”  On a sigh, he added, “For five years, Daniel, someone manipulated your mind to the point that you believed Robert Kinsey was Jack O’Neill.  I get that something’s still wrong.  But if you won’t tell us what it is, how can we possibly help you?”

Daniel flung himself over, eyes brimming, anger simmering behind the tears.  “I don’t want to live.  Are you really that stupid or are you just trying to play with my mind, too?”

Jack spread his hands, palms out.  “What have we done to make you think we’re messing with your mind?  And why wouldn’t you want to live?”

For several long seconds Daniel just stared at him.  A single tear escaped, tricking down his nose; he wiped it away with the back of his hand.  “That blonde lady – earlier – she said her name was Sam.”

“Yeah?” Jack prompted.  “Samantha Carter.  What about her?”  Surely nothing Carter had said or done could be misconstrued as messing with his mind.

“I know her.”

Rocky ground here.  “Okay.  You certainly used to know her.  Do you mean you remember her?”

“I do.  I remember her because she smelled . . .”

“Probably like dirty gym socks after the day we’ve had,” Jack inserted when it appeared Daniel was stalled again.

“Familiar,” the kid decided after another moment.  “She smelled familiar.”

Scent, Jack was well aware, could be a powerful memory enhancer.  He’d experienced his own potent scent deja vu the moment he’d picked Daniel up in that lab; the smell of child pheromones had awakened a layer of memories deeply buried in his psyche.  The warm, fresh smell of just bathed child as he bent to kiss his own son goodnight a thousand years ago; the mingled smell of sweat and baby shampoo as he pulled Charlie into his arms after an hour of pitching and hitting in the big, sunny backyard of the home he’d shared with Sara and their son. 

“Okay,” Jack repeated, “so how was that messing with your mind?”

“She left me on that planet.  She and that big black man that was in here with her.  I don’t remember his name, but they left me behind on that planet and no one is supposed to get left behind.  Yet she’s in here trying to be all cuddly with me and make me think she’s missed me.”

Jack turned and handed the sheaf of papers back over to Davis.  “See if Dr. Lee is in the Mountain.  If he’s not, have Walter get him back in here immediately.  Get Brightman and I’ll send Carter as soon as I’ve spoken to her.  Once you’ve handed that off, as long as the Pentagon hasn’t recalled you, have Walter pull together a team to help you go through all that shit we hauled back here.”

“Yes, sir. And, I’m here for the duration, sir.”

“Good.  Dismissed, Major.”  Without waiting for a response, the General turned back to his half-pint archeologist.  “I’m sorry, Daniel, there is no way to be kind about this.  What you remember and what actually happened are obviously two very different things.”

“I remember that clearly,” Daniel shot back hotly.

“And you clearly remember that Robert Kinsey is Jack O’Neill,” Jack stated flatly.

Daniel pushed himself into a sitting position, leaning back on his hands.  “There are some things I remember that aren’t lies.”

“What?”

Taken back, he hesitated, then said softly.  “I remember that I’m a lot older than five.”

Both Jack’s eyebrows rose.  “Is that one of the things Kinsey told you not to tell anyone?”

“What if it is?”

“Why didn’t he want you to tell?”

“Because it was a secret,” Daniel snapped.

“Why was it a secret?  You worked at a top secret facility; anybody you worked with would have had the security clearance to have access to that information.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I’m very familiar with the work that goes on at Area 51.  Most of the things we’ve collected on our missions go to Area 51.”

“Like what?”

“Doohickey’s and thingamabobs,” Jack replied promptly.

Daniel rolled his eyes and slumped back against the pillow.  “How’d you ever get to be a general.”

“Accident of birth?” O’Neill suggested wryly.  “We’ve kind of gotten off topic here.  Let’s get back to Carter.  You said you remembered her.  What do you remember?”

Daniel draped his bandaged arm over his eyes.  “I remember that she left me behind on P3X 781.”

“What else?”

“Why?”

”That’s an old trick, Daniel.”

“What do you mean?”  Daniel moved his arm just enough to peer at the General.

“You always used to ask me why when you didn’t have an answer.”

“I did?”  He rolled over, away from O’Neill.  “No, I didn’t.”

“Did too.”

“Did not.”

“Did too.  You used to do this to me all the time, too.  What else do you remember about Carter?”

Daniel turned back over.  Shoving his hands under his cheek, he eyed Jack for several long moments.  “I would like some time to . . . process this . . . turn of events,” he said slowly, sounding very much like his grown-up self.

O’Neill tilted his head thoughtfully.  “Okay, that’s a reasonable request.  How long do you think you’re gonna need?”

Daniel shrugged almost imperceptibly.  “Maybe . . . ‘til morning?”

“Hmmm,” Jack gave it due consideration.  “Now see, if I didn’t think you were still holding back something vital, I’d probably agree to that.  But bearing in mind the hints you’ve been dropping, I’m thinking that wouldn’t be a very wise decision on my part.  On the other hand,” he continued, holding up a finger when Daniel would have interrupted, “if you’d like to tell me what it is you’re holding back, I’ll consider it.” 

“You just told me nothing I remember is true, so if I was holding something back, it obviously can’t be important.”

Trumped, Jack thought, shaking his head mentally.  Externally all he did was prop his chin in his hand.  “Well, if that’s the way you want to play it - okay.”

“Why do you even care?” Daniel sighed impatiently.

“Umm, think we’ve been over this ground before, but maybe a five-year-old doesn’t remember as well as a forty-year-old.  You’re my best friend, Daniel; you don’t just jump ship on your best friend because he doesn’t remember you.” 

Jack leaned forward and unable to stop himself, reached out to brush the matted, blood soaked hair from Daniel’s forehead. 

“We were on a recon mission on P3X 781, poking around in some old ruins when one minute you were standing beside me and the next you weren’t.  There was a whine, a flash of light, and a hail of arrows, and you weren’t there anymore.”

An initial abortive move to rid himself of Jack’s hand failed and Daniel stilled, eyes widening as the hand slid down to curve around the back of his neck. 

“I don’t want you to touch me,” he whispered, frowning, though instinctively he turned his head to rub his cheek against the fingers.  “I don’t remember arrows, but I remember the rest.”

Very gently, and without asking permission, Jack slid an arm under the jean-clad knees, scooped the kid off the bed onto his lap and cradled Daniel against his chest. 

“What do you remember?”

“I don’t want this,” Daniel repeated, small hands fisting in Jack’s tee-shirt. 

Jack loosed his hold enough Daniel could easily slide out of his arms and began to rock; again - very gently. 

“Tell me what you remember,” he said quietly.

“I . . .” The fingers clenched spasmodically, digging into tender flesh beneath the shirt. 

Jack didn’t even flinch.

“I . . . remember the light,” Daniel said guardedly, “and the sound.  I remember someone screaming – we have to go, we have to go.  I think it was that blonde lady.  My head hurt . . . a lot.  I think maybe . . . maybe I lost consciousness then.”

“What else?” Jack asked quietly.

“ Jack . . . at least that man who said he was . . . Jack . . . was there when I woke up.”

“Where?  On P3X-781?”

“I don’t know.  My head still hurt . . . real bad.”

“Did you go through the Stargate again?”

“I don’t think so.  But maybe I was too sick to know.  Maybe we did.  When I woke up again . . . it was like this.”

“You mean the first time you woke up, you were still an adult?”

“I don’t know; I don’t know.  I think so, but maybe not.”

“Shhhhh,” Jack soothed, running a hand up and down the fragile spine.  “It’s okay, buddy.” 

“I don’t understand . . .” Daniel sighed, burrowing like a little mole into the safety of Jack’s arms.  “Why would he . . . why would he do this to me?  He had medicine; he said if I didn’t take it every day I would die.  He left without giving it to me.  Does he . . . hate me . . . that much?”

How could this child comprehend hate like that when their adult Daniel would have had a hard time grasping the full extent of Kinsey’s treachery?  All the dark places in Daniel’s soul were of another’s making; evil might touch him, but it could not taint him.   Which was not to say he didn’t understand it; it just never stopped him.  Not even the death of his wife at the hands of the man who had chosen her to be a host had slowed their quixotic teammate for long.

Jack tightened his hold, resting his cheek against the grimy hair.  “I don’t know what to tell you about that, Daniel.  The truth is yes, he does hate us that much.  We thwarted his grand scheme and because you were the only civilian of the bunch of us, you couldn’t be court-martialed.  You helped the Tollans contact the Nox.  You were the one who faced down the guns and refused to move when Maybourne ordered the Marines to open fire.  You just stood and looked at him when he threatened to have you removed from the Stargate program.  You made Maybourne look like the ass he is – which in turn made Kinsey look like an ass, which was probably the most grievous of your crimes as far as he’s concerned.  But more than that, the man is a petty, small-minded bureaucrat with just enough power to make him a menace.  Obviously we all under-estimated him.  And you’ve just paid for our stupidity with five years of your life.”

“Do you think he was lying?” 

‘Probably not,’ Jack thought angrily, but kept his face bland.  “It very well could be, but even if it is true, we’ll figure something out.  We’re not going to let you die tonight, or tomorrow night, or the night after, or the night after, or the night after, or . . .”

Daniel giggled so softly Jack felt rather than heard it.  “Jaaaaack.”
 
Moving one hand to tickle lightly, Jack added, “After that we’ll have to see, it depends on how good you are.”

“Jaaaackkk!”  Daniel squirmed against the tickling fingers, desperately trying to repress the giggles frothing inside him.

“Oh, yeah, you’re definitely our Daniel,” Jack pronounced, “I could always get you to confess your latest machinations just by tickling you.”

“That’s not true.”

“How do you know?”  Jack stopped tickling and cuddled the small body close again. 

“I don’t remember you ever tickling me.”  Daniel snuggled down as well, sighing once more, but this time it was with a touch of satisfaction.

“That’s the other Jack you’re thinking of.  I used to tickle you all the time.”

“Uhn uh.”

“Uh huh.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Carter, too, and Teal’c.”

“Now I know you’re lying.”

“Yeah?  Isn’t that interesting . . . you’ve retained the ability to figure out when you’re being lied to, even after five years of being forced to live a lie.”

That bought a moment of full, complete silence; then the small head tilted up.  “You don’t think it was my fault this happened to me?”

“No,” Jack stated emphatically, “I do not think what happened to you was your fault.  Why would you think that?”

Instead of answering, Daniel responded with a question of his own.  “Did you used to yell at me a lot for touching things I shouldn’t?”

“Uhm . . . would you believe me if I said no?  If I said I never, ever yelled at you?” 

“No.”

“Smart kid.  Want to go for three out of three?”

“I told you some things I remember aren’t a lie.”  There was more than a touch of satisfaction in the voice this time, though it was tempered with a nestling shift of weight as Daniel made himself more comfortable.

“Yes, you did,” Jack admitted.  “Now, about that memory of Carter . . .”

“Even though I was thinking bad things about her while she was holding me, I didn’t mind that she was holding me.  Maybe,” the small busy fingers were twisting a button on Jack’s jacket now, as the obviously thirty-nine-year-old brain worked at the contradiction.  “Maybe some part of me knew that memory wasn’t right?”  Daniel looked up again, hope now spelled out clearly on the elfin features.

“Probably,” Jack affirmed without any difficulty.  “I’m guessing that all your real memories are still in there somewhere.”

“Really?”  Daniel sat up eagerly.  “All of them?”

“If they are, we have access to a memory device that can help you get them back, if you want.”

“Then can you make me big again, too?”

“That might be a little more of a challenge.  But we’re already working on it.  The Tok’ra already have memory recall devices – but I have to warn you, it hurts a little to begin with.”

“I don’t care if it hurts a lot.  When can we do it?  I want to remember everything; all of it.  And maybe if I remember everything, there will be something to help make me big again, right?” Daniel bounced excitedly.  “Do you think that’s possible . . . Jack?”  Though his name came out tentatively, there was nothing tentative about the arms that clasped tightly around his neck, nor the urgency of the small body pressed snugly to his chest.  “Can we do it right now, please?”

“We’ll try to do it tonight, that’s all I can promise.  We have to contact the Tok’ra and see if Jacob is available.  Plus there are some other things we need to do before I’ll even think about letting them attach one of those things to your head; starting with having Dr. Brightman make sure there’s nothing else wrong with you.  Okay?”

“I don’t like her.  Where’s that other lady?  The short one with pretty eyes?”  Daniel looked up speculatively.  “She had eyes like yours.  Were you related to her?”

It was so out of the blue, Jack felt like he’d been sucker punched.  “No,” he replied, softening the curt answer with a quick squeeze.  “And she’s not here anymore.  Do you remember Dr. Warner?”

Daniel shook his head.  “I don’t think so.”

“Well, Dr. Brightman’s here and we can get this over and done with quickly.  So let’s call Dr. Brightman right now.”

“I don’t want to.”

Jack, in the act of reaching for the phone, lowered his arm.  “Okay,” he agreed, keeping his tone carefully neutral as he snugged both arms back around the child.   “We can put this off as long as you want, but I can’t contact the Tok’ra until Dr. Brightman or Dr. Warner has checked you out.”

“Can’t - or won’t?”

“Ahhh,” Jack tched, “you got me.  I won’t.  Because I won’t let them subject you to any more alien technology until I’m sure you’re physically able to handle it. I’ve been looking for you for five years, Daniel.  I’m not going to let anything happen to you now that I can prevent.  I know you don’t like the exams; none of us do, but it’s a small price to pay for security and peace of mind.  So I can live with you being mad at me for making you do this, what I can’t live with is letting something happen to you because we didn’t take any precautions.”

“Okay,” the voice was small again, muffled because Daniel had his nose pressed into Jack’s tee-shirt.  “I never liked how that man smelled; I guess it must have been because he didn’t smell like you.  How come I didn’t know that was wrong?”

Jack restrained a sigh.  “First of all, in a situation like you experienced, instinct will always tell you to do whatever is necessary to survive.  You remember what instinct is?”

“A pre-programmed pattern of behavior; something that happens almost automatically.”

“Excellent, Dr. Jackson.  You know, I suspect if you’d be willing to give it a few days, those memories will come back on their own.”

Daniel frowned.  “I don’t want to wait.”

“Okay.”

“You said first of all . . . is there a second of all?”

Jack chuckled.  “Oh, yeah, you’re our Daniel for sure.  Okay, Sport, second of all, while your brain processes everything that goes on around you, it will also protect you from yourself if it thinks it’s necessary.  It will give you the ability to sublimate things you can’t do anything about.”

“Oh.  You mean, since I couldn’t do anything about it, my brain didn’t let me recognize ‘til just now that man didn’t smell right?”

“Exactly.”

“Will you stay here . . . with me . . . Jack?”

“Undomesticated equines couldn’t drag me away.  When we’re done here, you want to come with me to see a man about a window?  Oh, and we might have to deal with an irate Russian.  If we’re lucky he’ll have gone home before we get back downstairs.”

“Okay.  Can I take a shower?”  Daniel gingerly outlined the goose egg on his forehead with his fingertips. 

“Since Dr. Brightman’s likely to put greasy, grimy gopher guts on you to do an EKG and stuff, why don’t you wait until she’s done.  In the meantime, how ‘bout I send Carter and Teal’c to get you some clean clothes?  You okay with that plan?”

“When are you going to call the Tok-Ra?”

“As soon as you let me call, Dr. Brightman.” Jack smiled at the slight mispronunciation.  “Less cheerleading on the end; just Tok’ra.”

“Oh; Tok’ra,” Daniel repeated.  “Do we have call Dr. Brightman right away?”

“Umm, nope.”

“Do you have to go see the Russian and the man about a window ASAP?”

“Nope.”  Jack grinned at the small joke.  How many times had Daniel heard that now?  He kissed the top of the bright blond head and leaned back, feeling Daniel relax against him as they both settled more comfortably.  “Nowhere else I have to be ASAP.”

THE END

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