“I’m not going to argue semantics with you, Daniel.  What you did was wrong and you know it.”

“You wouldn’t have let me go.”

“Damn straight I wouldn’t have let you go.  I had no idea what would happen to you if you went to that tree.”

He looks up, tears still streaking his face.  “You couldn’t have stopped me, no matter what you did.”

On a sigh, I drop down on my heels in front of him.  “That doesn’t make what you did right.”

“I know.”  The lip biting thing starts.  “I’m sorry.”  And there are more tears.

“A couple of weeks ago you told me you were glad when that energy bolt hit you because you thought Carter, Teal’c and I were dead.  How do you think I would have felt if something had happened to you tonight?  Not to mention Sam and Teal’c? ” 

Yes, I know I’m playing dirty, but I’m desperate.  We’re locked out of the dialing device on an island that could have thousands of trees ‘waking up’.  What if he decides he has to help every goddamn tree?

“I’m sorry,” he sobs, the arms coming up again as he scoots towards me on his ass.  “I’m sorry, Jack.  Please don’t be mad at me.”

Get a grip, O’Neill, this is not adult Daniel you’re dealing with.  Logic and reason are not going to get you anywhere; he’s seven for cryin’ out loud! 

For that matter logic and reason never got me anywhere with adult Daniel either, but adult Daniel never held out his arms to be comforted. 

Oh, he knew how to wrench my heart all right, but not like this.

On a sigh, I pick him up, push off the ground with one hand and stand with him.  His arms go immediately around my neck, though he’s careful not to choke me with his cast.  The face goes in the neck and he’s sobbing uncontrollably. 

“I didn’t mean to scare you, I didn’t.  I’m sorry,” he hiccups.  “I couldn’t stop myself.”

I swear there’s an audible click in my brain at those words. 

He’s under just as much compulsion as we are.  He may not have had any control over his actions, in which case I really am going to have to handcuff him to me for the duration of our stay . . . which, judging by the locked DHD, could be indefinite. 

And I owe him an apology.

We’re here on this island because I couldn’t resist the coercion and I’m expecting Daniel – notorious aide of the underdog, Daniel – to resist helping a thing in pain? 

Yeah, right, Jack.

I swallow hard. 

“For cryin’ out loud, kid, you’re going to be the death of me yet.” 

“No!  I promise I’ll be good.  I promise, Jack, I promise.  Don’t you leave me, too!”

“Shhhh, shhhh, shhhhh,” I soothe, rubbing his back. 

He’s wrapped around me like a clinging vine with suckers; I couldn’t pull him off if I tried. 

“Daniel, it’s just a figure of speech.  I’m not going anywhere.  I’m sorry I yelled at you, Sport.  I didn’t understand.” 

“I’m . . . sorry . . . I’m . . . sorry!” Each word is punctuated with a heaving sob.  “Please don’t leave me . . . I promise I’ll be good.” 

He’s edging toward hysteria.

And every word is like an ice pick stabbing repeatedly through my heart.

“Shhhhh,” I try massaging the back of his neck. “Shhhhhh.  It’s my fault, not yours.  Shhhhh, Daniel, don’t do this.  You’re working yourself up over nothing and you’re breaking my heart.” 

The arm with the cast slides down, probably too heavy to hold up anymore.  I tuck it between us and try Hammond’s trick, cuddling and rocking and walking, until the sobbing turns into heaving gulps for air. 

“I’m sorry,” he whimpers again, “I’m sss . . . ssorry.”

“No, this is my fault.  I never should have brought you here in the first place.” 

I palm his head, slide my fingers into his hair, and press my cheek against his again. 

“I’m sorry I yelled at you.  I’m sorry I didn’t understand you had no control over your actions.  And I’m sorry I let my being scared carry over into being mad at you.  That wasn’t fair.”

The punctuation changes to gulps and sniffs.

“I – love – you – Jack,” followed by a deep sigh, “please don’t leave me,” and several more sniffs. 

Ice pick again. 

“I love you, too, Sport.  I’m right here, feel my cheek against yours?  I’m not going anywhere, Daniel.” 

Instead of using my shirt, a habit I’ve been trying to break, he wipes his nose with the back of his arm and heaves another deep sigh before laying his head back down on my shoulder. 

“Are you still mad?” 

He’s so congested it’s difficult to breath period, much less normally.

“I shouldn’t have been mad in the first place and I’m very sorry I was.”

Several more sniffs and then, “You still love me?  Even though I didn’t obey?”

Oh. My. God. 

“Hey, sit up and look at me, okay?” 

He doesn’t want to and resists my efforts to get him to sit up. 

“Come on, just for a minute, please?” 

I unwrap his arm from around my neck and lean back. 

Like a magnet he leans. too. 

“Daniel!  Just for a minute.” 

Both shoulders come up around his ears and I have to raise his chin so he’s reluctantly looking me in the eye. 

“I love you and nothing you could do or say will ever change that.  Even when I’m mad at you, it doesn’t change the fact that I still love you.  I might not like some choices you make and I might even be angry at you again, but I will always love you, even if I’m mad.  Okay?  We square on this issue?”

He eyes me for a moment before leaning into me again.  I tuck him back under my chin as another round of tears soak into the shirt. 

“Will you still love me if I get big again?  ‘Cause I don’t want to be big if you won’t love me anymore.”

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.  I want to do both, though I do neither, only squeeze him tight again and whisper in his ear, “I love you no matter what; big or little, even in between, if we have to go through those teenage years.  I will love you for the rest of our lives.  And here’s an added bonus, Sam and Teal’c love you just as much and will continue to love you just as much if you get big again.”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive, Sport.”

On another sigh, the finger goes in his mouth. 

“I’m very tired” he sniffs.  “Is it okay if I sleep now?”

“Bet you are.” 

Who knows what that tree sucked out of him. 

“You want to lie back down?”

“No,” he says, and I wonder if there are more tears in need of shedding, given the amount of sniffling still going on.  “I want you to hold me.”

“I can do that.”  I pat his back.  “You go to sleep.  I’m going to go find Carter and Teal’c.  Daniel?”

“What?”

“Are the tears all gone?”

“Noooooo.” 

Sure enough, there are lots more. 

“I’m . . . sorry.”

“For crying?”

“Yes . . . nooooooo . . . I don’t know,” he’s sobbing uncontrollably again.  “I . . . don’t like it . . . when you’re . . . mad at me.” 

He really is exhausted; he only gets like this when he’s extremely tired.

I squeeze my eyes shut on a long sigh. 

“It’s no fun for me either.  And I have to tell you, most of the time I have no business being mad at you to begin with.  It’s usually happens when you scare the bejeezus out of me.”

“Oh,” he says, on another sniffling sigh.  “I’m sorry.  I’ll try not to do it again.”

“This would be a good thing, but don’t worry, I won’t hold you to it.”

“Jack?”

“Yes, Daniel?”

“What if other trees start waking up?”

“Maybe tomorrow the DHD will be working again and we can go home, let’s not borrow trouble tonight.”

I can always hope.

“’kay.”  He wiggles until he’s squinched down with his ear against my heart.  “Should I tell Sam and Teal’c sorry, too?” he asks sleepily, around the finger in his mouth.

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for, Daniel, and I think they both already know that.  It was just me who was too stupid to get a clue.”

“You’re not stooopid.”  He draws out the word as only he can do. 

Once or twice as an adult, he’s shared his candid opinion regarding some of my actions, when he’s been totally exasperated with me.

“Just slow.”

“Ummm,” he says on a yawn, burrowing back into my neck.  “I love you, Jack.”

“I love you, too, Sport.”

“I love you better,” he murmurs.

“Ahhhh, but I love you best.”

“No, I love you bestest . . .”

The arm around my neck relaxes, though it remains curved loosely in place.

“I think you’re right,” I whisper to my sleeping kid.  “You’ve always loved us bestest.”  I brush the hair back and kiss his hot, sweaty forehead.  “Sweet dreams, Sport.”

My 2IC and comrade-in-arms are not too far down the beach.  I find them sitting on the trunk of a palm tree grown sideways out of the sandy soil. 

“I owe both of you an apology,” I offer without preamble.  “I’m sorry I ever let us get coerced into coming here and I’m sorry I didn’t listen to either of you back there.  Is there anything we can do to get home?”

“We could try hooking up the M.A.L.P.’s power source to the Gate and dialing manually,” Carter offers, “but I don’t think there’s enough power.  I doubt it would make a difference anyway.  If the DHD is locked, the Gate’s probably locked, too.”

“Teal’c?”

“Majorcarter is correct, as usual.”  There’s a hint of censure in his voice.  “You understand, O’Neill, it is unlikely Danieljackson had any control over his actions?”

“Yeah, he did finally get through to me on that.”

‘Sir, under the circumstances . . .”

“It’s my job to assess risk and minimize the danger.  If I’d listened to him in the first place and just taken him to the damn tree, none of this would have happened.”

For a few minutes the only sounds are the swish of the surf as it froths on the sand and the sigh of the breeze in the palm fronds over our heads.

“Do you want me to try the M.A.L.P. power source, sir?” Carter ventures finally, rubbing out whatever she was drawing in the sand with her bare toe.

“No.  At this point I think we should just head back to camp.  There’s no feeling of malevolence about this.”  I sigh.  “If I had stopped to think instead of just reacting to Daniel . . .” I trail off, shaking my head.  “I don’t know what it is about a pint-sized archeologist, but it seems like I can’t keep any frame of reference anymore when it comes to him.  There’s no . . .” I trail off again, frustrated. 

I’m a United States Air Force Colonel, with decades of combat and command experience; I never make decisions based on feelings.  This is me we’re talking about, the guy who needs to ask the Wizard for a heart.  And yet, with this downsized Daniel, it seems I have no . . .

“Detachment?”  Carter supplies.

“Yeah, that would be the word.”

“To paraphrase Daniel, why should you?”

“Daniel?”

“Years ago, when we found Cassie and realized what the Goa’uld had done to her.”

Teal’c stands and gives Carter a pull up from their unconventional bench. 

“I do not believe the presence here is malevolent either; however, we would be wise to ensure Danieljackson cannot again be forced to do anything against his will.”

“I’m tempted to handcuff him to me,” I respond dryly, turning back toward camp.

“By the same token, O’Neill, we do not know if it would have harmed him had we managed to keep him from responding.  I believe our best course of action is to do as you suggested - let him be the guide.  There appears to be no injurious effect from his previous intervention.”

“Right.”

I can’t keep the sarcasm out of my voice, though I know with certainty Teal’c is correct. 

“Let’s let Daniel call the shots and see where it lands us.  Usually in trouble if memory serves me right.  And that’s not exactly what I said.”

“Is it not?”

“No, I said if I’d listened to him in the first place and taken him to the tree, none of this would have happened.”

“Never bandy words with the Colonel, Teal’c.  He’s far better with them than he lets on and he’s got a memory like a steel trap.”

“Why thank you, Carter.”

“That wasn’t necessarily a compliment, sir.”

“It wasn’t necessarily an insult either, Major.” 

“We’ll call it draw then?”

I have no comeback for that, at least none I’m going to share tonight, and Daniel’s arm tightens around my neck as I lean over to put him down on his sleeping bag. 

He wakes enough to do his clinging vine act again. 

This time I’m receptive to the message and take him to the fire with us where he gets plied with hot chocolate by Carter and a long, rambling story from Teal’c.  Daniel listens attentively for all of three minutes before drifting off again.  I tune out, too.  Surprisingly, despite the evening’s hoopla, a hard to resist tranquility is creeping over me. 

Conversation around the fire is desultory, until an hour later when Carter breaks a long silence with the observation, “You know, for just having come down from an adrenalin rush, I feel pretty good.  I’m not tired and I don’t have the usual headache that accompanies a rush like that.  Is it just me?”

“And I’m not pissed as hell that we’re locked out of the DHD.  No, Carter, I don’t think it’s just you.”

“Strangely enough,” Teal’c rumbles, “I am experiencing similar sensations to when my symbiote previously derived great pleasure from something.”

“Is that good, or bad, T?”

Across the fire, Teal’c raises the ubiquitous eyebrow. 

“It is not an unpleasant sensation, O’Neill, though it is rather disquieting to be experiencing the effect of a symbiote I no longer possess.”

None of us are anxious to go to bed, despite, or maybe because of, the near euphoric effects we’re feeling.  Carter gets up to use the facilities and comes back announcing since the moon is up and lighting the bath so beautifully, she’s going back to her interrupted  soak. 

I have no argument.  For some strange, unjustifiable reason I’m certain we’re done with the drama for tonight.  I have no idea why I’m certain, I just am.  In and of itself, the feeling is disconcerting, but I’m feeling so mellow I don’t even bother to analyze it, just go with the flow.

We bank the fire and when Carter comes back, dripping, but quietly composed and serene this time, both she and Teal’c turn in, tucking Daniel into his sleeping bag between them. 

When Carter’s alarm announces change of watch, I trade her sleeping bag for mine and settle down within touching distance of Daniel.  For awhile I lay looking up at the stars. 

We’re nine galaxies from home, yet some of the constellations look vaguely familiar. There’s one very close to the archer, Sagittarius; another that looks like Pisces, the fish, but those two don’t belong in the sky at the same time, at least not at home.  If I fill in a couple of blank spots, I can just make out Canis Major, the Great Dog. 

I fall asleep thinking of Teal’c’s dog and even dream of it.

Except it’s no dream. 

Daylight is filtering through my eyelids.  I don’t want to wake up, let alone get up.  Last night’s euphoria has dissipated; instead I’m feeling old and used up, and distinctly cranky. 

Especially when I roll over and find myself nose to snout with a huge, silver-white wolf wrapped around Daniel as if he was her pup.  The enormous head is down on its paws.  One blue eye studies me lazily, the tail thumps once, and the eye closes again. 

I’m reaching for my P-90 when Teal’c rumbles, “Do not, O’Neill.”

“Give me one good reason.”

“She is guarding Danieljackson.”

Well, that’s a good reason, but not a satisfactory one. 

“From what?” 

My fingers curl around the solid coolness of the automatic weapon.

“Mmmm, Teal’c?  I think your dog found us,” Carter says, rolling over on the other side of Daniel and reaching out a hand to pet the . . . dog? 

The tail thumps again as Carter plunges her fingers into the thick fur and rubs enthusiastically. 

“Anybody else concerned that we have a wild animal in our camp, who thinks she’s guarding our kid?  Don’t get me wrong here, but isn’t that our job? Aren’t we supposed to be guarding him against things like, oh you know, wild dogs?” 

I sit up slowly, sliding the P-90 onto my lap and get the equivalent of a doggy grin from She-Ra. 

“Carter?”

Carter’s still has her fingers in the dog’s fur. 

“I think she likes it.”

“And I think you’ll function better as my 2IC with all your fingers intact, Major.”

“The wolf has been in camp for several hours, O’Neill.”

“And you didn’t shoot it because, Teal’c?”

“She meant no harm.”

“How the hell do you know that?” 

I, on the other hand, have every intention of inflicting harm.  In one fluid motion I roll out of my sleeping bag and onto my feet.  I haven’t gotten up that easily in countless years, and just a few minutes ago I was feeling old and used up. 

This place is confusing the hell out of me.

“I believe you would call it gut instinct.”

It’s a damn good thing she picked Teal’c’s watch to wander into the camp; I’d have shot it on sight.  I look down, trying to decide whether I should wake Daniel or just let him be and the damn dog is grinning at me again.  She’s still got her head down on her paws, but if that’s not a shit-eating doggy grin, I don’t know what is. 

“Listen up, She-Ra, I’m lead dog in this camp and that’s my kid you’re curled around.  You hurt him and your hide will be so nailed to a board, drying in the sun.” 

It’s the best I can do, considering it’s a dog. 

“So why don’t you beat it while you still can?”

“I do not believe you will find it easy to be rid of her, O’Neill.  Perhaps her role is to shield Danieljackson from further harm.”

“”From us?” I inquire with my usual wit and charm, slinging the P-90 over my shoulder as I head for the eons old latrine.

“The island is waking up.”

“Are you sure, Teal’c?”  Carter says, sitting up as I do an about face.

“How do you know?”

“I have completed a circuit of this portion of the island already.  I believe several more trees have awakened.”

“Wait,” I throw up a hand.  “You didn’t bother to wake either of us?  And I repeat, how do you know?”

“The wolf does not guard just Danieljackson.  And I do not ‘know’ this to be true, O’Neill, it is merely a suspicion.”

I open my mouth to reply, find I have nothing to say, and close it abruptly. 

This is my worst nightmare come to life in vibrant, living color.  I have absolutely no control over the situation and there’s a damn wolf guarding my kid. 

Oh, yeah, worst nightmare.

Here’s hoping she’ll be better at the job than I am.
 
The wolf yawns, showing a muzzle full of pearly-white, long, sharp teeth.  There’s not a hint of aggression, but again the message is imprinted clearly on my mind.  There’s not a damn thing I can do about her, short of shooting her, and somehow I don’t think it matters I’m the Colonel in this camp - my companions would shoot me before they allowed me to shoot the dog.

Daniel’s just waking as I come back into camp after performing my morning ablutions.  Teal’c has the fire going again and is making pancakes on the grill.  Carter’s already eating.  I smell bacon and eggs, too, and coffee.  Teal’c doesn’t drink it, but when he has last watch, he never fails to have a pot on for Daniel when we get up.  Even though it’s just Carter and me now, he’s kept up the habit. 

Before Daniel opens his eyes, he calls my name. 

I snatch a cup of coffee and wind my way over to the wolf, smiling pleasantly at her as I drop to one knee beside her and my kid. 

“Morning, Sport.  Sleep well?”

“Mmmmm,” he nuzzles his face in the soft fur.  “Nice pillow.” 

Many of adult Daniel’s habits have regressed with this incarnation; this is just one of them.  Although it’s much easier to get him to sleep now, on the morning end nothing’s changed.  Getting him up is still like pulling teeth.  Up and showered and dressed takes a minimum of an hour, which is why we’ve reverted to a nighttime bath in our household.  That way it only takes half an hour to get him up and dressed in the morning, which is still ten minutes longer than it took me to roll out of bed, shower, grab a cup of coffee, and be on my way to work . . .  BD . . . Before Downsizing.

I wait, curious to see what his reaction will be when he finally wakes and realizes he’s acquired a new friend during the night.

I think we’re all a little startled, even the wolf, when he sits up abruptly, eyes wide and demands, “What happened?”

“Which time?” I inquire, sipping my very hot coffee. 

He turns his unblinking gaze on me. 

“Last night.  Is the tree . . . the tree?  I left the tree.”

The dog raises her head and nuzzles him gently so he plops back down inside the circle of her tail and snout.  Almost like a parent testing for fever, she licks his cheek.  Satisfied, the great head returns to its paws and she gives me a wink. 

“What happened to the tree?”

“You told me the tree was fine.”

“I did?  The tree’s okay?  I want to go see it.”

“Right now?  Or can it wait ‘til we’ve eaten breakfast and we can all go together?” 

I suppose I can at least try to follow his lead.

Daniel glances from my face over to Teal’c at the fire, and I think, wakes up. 

He sniffs hungrily. 

“I’m starved, let’s go after breakfast.” 

There’s not one word about the dog, though he pats her absentmindedly on the head as he rises again and steps over her tail. 

Since he fell asleep on the walk back to camp late yesterday afternoon and didn’t wake to eat, I’m not surprised he’s starved. 

As he wanders off to the facilities, the dog extends her hind legs, rising slowly as she stretches to her full length, yawns, and trots after Daniel. 

Yes, I know damn well I’m attributing human behavior to a dog, for cryin’ out loud.  But like the trees, there’s more to this dog than meets the eye.  Don’t ask - because I really don’t want to delve too deeply into how I know. 

This is so not my thing.

Teal’c hands me a plate and I take a seat next to Carter on my own personal log.  He silently hands a plate to Daniel, too, as Daniel meanders back into camp, followed by the dog.

“So. who’s your shadow?” I inquire, thinking maybe that will get some kind of reaction.

“Huh?”  He looks over at me, not quite covering a yawn.  “Oh, she says you call her She-Ra.  Why did you call her that?”  He makes a face.  “Sam, can I have hot chocolate?”

“Sure.  I brought the box.”

“Daniel?”  I inquire.  “She says?”

“Uh huh.  Can I make it myself?”

“Sure,” Carter responds, getting up to get him the box of packages of hot chocolate.  Ghirardelli, he’s just switched his snooty coffee genes for snooty hot chocolate genes. 

I suspect Carter’s trying hard not to grin at my ineffectual interrogation. 

Teal’c sets pancakes, on a plate no less, on the ground for the dog, who eats them daintily, one bite at a time, then trots back over to our bathtub for a long drink to wash everything down. 

We hear her lapping away and Daniel pipes up, “Did you know that dogs have the cleanest mouth of any living animal there is, including humans?”

“I’m still not bathing in the dog’s water bowl,” I mumble.

“They do,” Daniel asserts, shooting me a look. 

The only thing with keener hearing than a little Daniel is a bat. 

“They have bacteria in their saliva . . .”

“Daniel, we’re still eating.” 

He opens his mouth to continue his pedantic lecture and I stuff a forkful of pancakes in. 

“To be continued, after we’re done eating, please.  Dog saliva and breakfast are mutually exclusive topics.”

“Breakfast isn’t a topic, Jack.”

“You’re so right.  Tell me about the dog, Daniel.”  I’m not easily sidetracked either.  “Where’d she come from?  What’s she doing here?” 

When is she going home?  But I don’t ask that one out loud.

“She says she’ll go home when we go home.”

Let’s not even take into consideration Daniel’s answering questions I never asked because the dog told him the answer, nor the fact Carter and Teal’c are acting like Daniel translating for a dog is a normal every day occurrence – okay, maybe there is some truth to that, he can translate just about anything – but really, Dog?  Is that like . . . Budge? 

“How is the dog talking to you?”

“The same way you talk to me,” Daniel replies, looking at me as if it’s a strange question and I’ve lost my marbles for even asking it.

“We don’t . . .” I clear my throat, “talk like that, Daniel.”

“We used to, when I was big,” he says, without hesitation.

I blink at him.  “Do you remember that?”

For the first time, he looks away.  “No, not really.”  Then back.  “But sometimes you still talk to me that way; I just don’t know how to answer anymore.”

I have to clear my throat again. 

“What’s the dog’s name?”

“She said you call her She-Ra,” he repeats.  “Why do you call her that, Jack?”  He looks at the dog, now lying beside him.  “Oh, another cartoon character; like the Simpsons?”

“Uhm, not exactly.” 

For some reason, She-Ra, Princess of Power, just popped into my head when I saw the dog.  It’s a cartoon Charlie used to watch years ago, some kind of take off on Wonder Woman, I think. 

“What would the dog like us to call her?”

“She says She-Ra, Princess of Power will be fine - for now, anyway.”

I hold back a sigh, but only just barely. 

“Daniel, do you know the dog?”

“Sure.”

“Then what’s her real name?” 

“I don’t know that, Jack.  Animals never give their real name until they’re sure they can trust you.  And since she knows I tell you everything,” he says candidly, “she’s not ready to tell me, ‘cause she’s not sure she trusts you.”

Right.  I’ve been put in my place by a dog; a very large, very beautiful dog, but a dog, nonetheless.  Its grinning at me again and I could swear its rolling its eyes.

“So,” I get up to wash off my plate in the makeshift sink Teal’c’s set up, “what’s on the agenda for today?”

“After we go see the tree,” Daniel states emphatically. 

“After we go see the tree,” I agree amicably. 

I find it extraordinary that I’m taking this in stride.  Screaming trees, talking dogs, even if it is sub vocal - under any other circumstances - would have me screaming.  Either we’re on the island of the damned, or we’ve all ascended to a higher . . . plane of existence . . .

I turn around and look at the dog, who smiles at me, and wags her tail.

Damn dog.

‘Wolf’, the dog responds prissily.  In my mind the ghost of the words, ‘and don’t you forget it,’ linger long after I look away.

Damn dog.

There’s nothing this time, for which I’m grateful.

“Can I go in the water today?” Daniel wants to know.

“I don’t see why not, your cast should be totally dry by now,” Carter says, waving him over to check.  “So, after we visit the tree, do you want to go to the beach?”

“Can we, Jack?”

“This is vacation.  We can do whatever we want.”

“Yay!  Let’s go to the beach.  Did you bring your bathing suit, Sam?  Teal’c?”

“Yep,” Carter says, rinsing her own dishes in the sink.  “Here, give me your cup and plate, I don’t want you getting your cast wet again.” 

She takes Daniel’s dishes, too, washes, rinses, and sets everything to air dry. 

“Race ya to change into your bathing suit,” she offers Daniel.

“Okay!” 

Laughing, Daniel ducks inside the tent, emerging thirty seconds later in just his bathing suit.  I’m relatively certain he already had it on under his clothes. 

“You little brat,” Carter exclaims when she emerges twenty seconds later.  “How’d you manage that?  Come here and let me put some more suntan lotion on you.”

“Why?  I never washed off the stuff you put on yesterday.”

“Sorry, bud, doesn’t work that way.  Besides, yesterday you were wearing a shirt and pants.”

“Oh.  I don’t want it on my face again, it doesn’t taste good.”

“Too bad.  If you’re going in the water, it’s going on your face.  The water reflects the sun and you can get a worse burn in the water than out.  Close your eyes.”

“I don’t . . .”

“And your mouth,” Carter warns.

Daniel grunts his displeasure.  

Teal’c and I get special dispensations to change and shortly thereafter we’re off on our quest to find Daniel’s tree.  Which is much less hassle than I expect as he leads us right to it.

The dog won’t let him near it until she’s sniffed the perimeter thoroughly and watered the roots for good measure.  She goes up a notch or two in my estimation. 

Daniel inspects the tree as thoroughly as the dog inspected the perimeter, pronounces it fine, and trots off after the dog, disdaining the path and cutting through the forest to the beach.

The pile of shells he gathered yesterday, and deposited on the sand well up from the high tide line, looks like it’s been raided.  Or some of his acquisitions grew legs and dragged themselves back down to the water.  There are several zigzagging lines leading down to the water’s edge and the pile has dwindled considerably. 

He scampers along the zigzags, stopping every now and then to lean down and poke his finger between the lines. 

“Escapees!” he chortles.  “Teal’c, did you know they had animals inside?” he asks, scooping up a shell and running to the Jaffa.  “Does this one?” 

He holds up a cross between a corkscrew and a conch shell.

Teal’c has proven quite the naturalist, a talent we had no idea he possessed until he took on the job of home schooling Daniel.  He takes the shell now and examines it closely. 

“There is no longer an animal inside this shell, Danieljackson.”

“Did you know there were animals in the others?”  Daniel repeats, sticking his left index finger as far into the opening of the shell as he can. 

It’s shaped like a corkscrew shell, long and narrow, except it’s about ten times larger than the little inch long things we find on beaches at home and the outside of the shell is the swirled, glossy pink and white of the inside of a conch shell.  Beautiful, but very alien.

Instead of putting the pile in a bucket and bringing them all to Teal’c, or taking Teal’c to the pile, Daniel reverently brings them one at a time. 

Many of them Teal’c can name and they have names like cochita - no, they look nothing like our tiny coquina shells - and burmuse and zelips, and they look as strange as they sound.

Daniel’s happy hunting them no matter how strange they look or what they’re called.  But there’s only so much space in his office for more ‘stuff’ and this is the kind of thing that will have to stay on base. 

I can see we’re going to have to have a discussion before long about how much of this can go home with us.

With the dog entertaining Daniel, Carter, Teal’c, and I manage to snatch a few moments of uninterrupted time to talk about how we’re going to manage this transition.

“I’ve discussed this theoretically with Hammond and I think he’ll give you the command, Major, and let us pick SG-1’s successors.”  I look over at her. 

She’s stretched out on her stomach on a blanket, face in an elbow, slick with suntan oil, and browning up like onions in a frying pan.

Teal’c and I are sitting in the shade, on another blanket, while Daniel and She-Ra are splashing in the surf. 

There’s a lot of barking and laughing going on down there.  They’re playing with a small wooden surf board with a detachable rope handle.  Daniel sits on the board, the dog grabs the rope in her mouth and tows him at a rapid trot through the shallow water until he falls off, at which point the dog barks, jumping and splashing in the surf, Daniel cackles with glee, and they turn around and do it all over again.  They’ve been at this for over an hour now and neither of them appears to be tiring. 

I’m exhausted just watching.

“I don’t know, sir, remember we’ve been through this once already.”

“Believe me, I haven’t forgotten.  However, the circumstances are entirely different.  It’s not a sting operation, we don’t have any suspects, and we’re light years beyond where we were back then, Major.”

“What?”  Carter shoves up on her elbows, half rising.  “You suspected Colonel Makepeace?  You never told us that!”

“I didn’t?” 

“You suspected him and you let General Hammond put him in charge of SG-1 without warning us?”

I wince. 

Dammit.  How have I managed to keep my mouth shut all these years, only to blow it now? 

“Carter, it worked out fine in the end.”

“It did not work out fine, sir.  Daniel still has scars from that episode.”

“He never . . .”

“Did I ever tell you he got in Hammond’s face when the General didn’t give me the command?”

“No, but Hammond did.  I think he was bragging rather than complaining.  And Daniel never said a word to me about Makepeace.”

“I can’t believe you knew and didn’t tell us!”  She flops back down on the blanket after shooting me another nasty look.  “And of course Daniel never said anything to you, he wouldn’t, it’s not how he operates.”

“It was years ago, Carter.  We’re all a few years older and smarter.  And we’ve gotten way off the subject.”

“The subject at hand is whom do we believe General Hammond will place in charge of SG-1 if you take a desk job, O’Neill.  We have not strayed far off the topic.  Majorcarter was merely pointing out it is not, as you say, a done deal, that she will be given command of the unit.”

“I think Hammond will take my recommendations.  I know if he doesn’t there will be a very good reason for it.”

“Like there are no other women in command of SG units.”

“That’s totally unfair to Hammond and you know it.”

For a moment Carter doesn’t answer, then she sighs.  “Yes, you’re right.  He’s the most unbiased male I’ve ever worked for.  It won’t be a gender issue that keeps me from getting the command.”

“Do you want it?”

“I’m not saying I don’t, but I’m also not sure I do.  It won’t be the same . . .” she trails off, turning her head to watch Daniel and the wolf racing up and down the beach.

“Have you spoken to Danieljackson concerning this transition?”

“No, I haven’t.  I wanted to square things with you guys before we brought this up with Daniel.”

“What happens if we suddenly discover the ‘cure’ for this Fountain of Youth device.  What happens if one of these days the mystery unravels and we have the means to return Daniel to his real age?”

“You mean will we be able to reconstitute SG-1?” 

At her abject nod, I shrug. 

“It’s doubtful, if we give it up now, SG-1 will ever be the four of us again.”

“But there’ll still be an SG-1? Can’t we retire the number or something?  It doesn’t seem right, SG-1 without the four of us.”

“Perhaps we should start our own Hall of Infamy,” Teal’c suggests, a distinct twinkle in his eyes, though his expression remains neutrally impassive.

“Yeah, right.  That’s exactly what it would be, too.” 

I punch him lightly on the arm.

“I don’t like it,” Carter says flatly.  “I don’t like the idea of breaking up SG-1.  I don’t like the idea of your taking a desk job, Colonel, and I don’t like the idea of more new people on SG-1.  But I like the idea of leaving Daniel without one of us even less.”

“Any better options to throw out, Major?”

“No, and I’ve been thinking about this since the topic came up three weeks ago.”

“Yeah, me too.  I don’t know what else to do, and I can’t, in good conscience, keep going through the Gate, leaving Daniel home to wait and see if we come back.  Or expose him again to danger like we did when he got hit.”

“You are forgetting, I think, O’Neill, that Danieljackson has lived his entire life to now, exposed to one danger or another.”

“No, I’m not, Teal’c.  In fact that’s part of the motivating factor behind this decision.  If he has to do this growing up thing again, I want it to be as normal as possible this time around.  I want him to have all the advantages of growing up in the same household, with the same adults constant in his life.  If that means it’s time for me to step back and take a less active role at the SGC, I’m okay with that.  I’m not asking either of you to give up Gate travel.”

“Maybe this is something we should discuss with the General before we make any announcements to him.”

“I’m sure he would be willing to sit down with us and talk this through.”

“I’d really like to know what SG-1 would look like before we make any final decisions.”

“I’m okay with that.  T?”

“As am I.”

Carter sighs again. 

“I wish we could talk to our Daniel about this.”

Now would probably not be a good time to tell them I’ve spoken to adult Daniel since this happened.  Though I agree, it would be nice to be able to discuss this with him, too. 

Wonder if I should ask this incarnation if he can give me the other Daniel again. 

“We’re about to have company.”

“Well, we need to talk to him anyway.”

“Not right now.”

“Not right now what?”  Daniel asks, flopping down on the blanket next to Carter.  “Aren’t you hot, Sam?”

The wolf drops unceremoniously, panting, at the outer edge of our shade.

“I wasn’t until you dripped water all over me.  Now I am.  Come on, Teal’c, let’s go show Daniel how to really use that surf board.”

“I do not know how to use Danieljackson’s surfboard, Majorcarter.”

“Then you’ll be an expert at it by the end of the afternoon.  Come on!” 

Carter and Daniel are up off the blanket in a flash, running for the sheer joy of running, to the water’s edge. 

Teal’c follows at a more sedate pace and a short lesson in how to use the board in the shallow surf ensues. 

Teal’c, despite his size, has incredible body awareness, as does Carter.  She’s obviously an expert at this and can ride the board for several yards, skimming the top of the water parallel to the beach. 

It’s not long before Teal’c can as well, once he gets the hang of it. 

They’re both laughing and calling instructions to Daniel as he, with his seven-year-old clumsiness intact, tries to imitate them.

I’m not the least bit surprised to glance over at the wolf and find Oma Desala sitting cross-legged in the sand.  If I squint just right, I can still see the shimmering outlines of the wolf. 

She’s watching the trio as well, but turns back only a second or two after the prickling awareness renders her visible to me. 

I raise an eyebrow.  “What an unexpected pleasure.”

Not. 

“And before you start all the zen crap, I’m not in the mood to play games.  Why are we here?”

She looks back to Daniel and surprises me by answering directly. 

“I needed him.”

So I figure it’s okay to press my luck.  “Why?”

She looks back at me with a hint of a smile.  “Because.”

“I suppose, then, I should thank you for not just zapping him away from us,” I offer grudgingly.

She does smile now.  “Do you not understand yet, you are chosen as well?”

“Chosen?  Me?  Like Daniel?  You’re barking up the wrong tree, ma’am.”

“You.  Major Carter.  Teal’c.  You are all chosen, just as Daniel is.”

“And you’re out of your ascended mind.”

She chuckles, rearranges herself more comfortably on the sand, and looks over her shoulder again at the trio. 

“You do not understand, O’Neill.”

“Surprise, surprise.  Do I want too?” 

“Perhaps not; however, to be effective at your job, you will need to at least be aware.”

“And that job would be?”

“You are guardian to one of the most precious resources of the universe.”

“I don’t need any enlightenment on that subject.  It didn’t take downsizing him for me to get that.”

“Oh, he did this to himself,” Oma laughs - a silvery dance up and down the melodic scale.  “He would not be Daniel if he could leave the mysteries of the universe alone.” 

She looks back at me again. 

“You have not tried to contact me?”

“Maybe because I didn’t want you mixed up in this.  We lost him to you once; we’re not prepared to let him go again.”

“Are you prepared to guard him to maturity again?” she snaps.

“What do you think?” I snap back.

For a long moment she just looks at me.  “This is why you are chosen,” she says softly, “along with your companions.”

“So you’re telling me we’re not going to find a way to reverse this?”

“I have told you nothing, Colonel O’Neill.  You are making assumptions.”

“You told me you needed him here.”

“I did?” 

Oh, yeah, the picture of innocence. 

“Why?”

She sighs and surprises me again.  “There are forces here that could be powerful allies in the ongoing battle.”

“And Daniel can wake them for you.”

She inclines her head, reminding me of Teal’c.  “In a manner of speaking.”

“Do you know if he’s going to be resized to normal or not?”

“I do.” 

She’s full of surprises today.

“Well?”

“How many times must one disrobe before discovering the real self?”

“Don’t start with me.  Will Daniel be resized to normal?  Yes or no?”

She eyes me for a moment before replying, “I cannot tell you how, or when.”

I close my eyes and suck in air.

“You will need to guard him well.”

“I can live with that.”

“Will you allow him to accompany me for a short time?”

“Define short; your time or my time?”

“A distinction worthy of your linguist, Colonel,” she smiles again, ruefully.  “Mine.”

“Unlock the DHD.”

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