This is the standard disclaimer. They don’t belong to me. This story is not intended to violate any copyrights held by Showtime/Viacom, MGM/USA, Double Secret Productions and Gekko Productions. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thank you to my betas Spacepixell, Loopy and Rponda, for all their hard work and efforts.

# 3 Paternal Instinct Series

By Amethyst

Part 1 of 3

There it was again, that look in Daniel’s eyes. The one that said ‘fix it, find a way to make it okay.’ Those beseeching, soulful wise eyes that said, ‘tell me it’s all right’.

It was almost like the trust Charlie had once had in me, that ‘Dad was here and would make things better’ trust.

Only this time, it wasn’t going to work.

This time the pleading eyes thing wasn’t going to wash. This time, Daniel was going to get exactly what he deserved. Starting with a taste of it right now.

"Ouch! Jack?" What the hell are you doing?

"Ouch! Ouch! Jack! OWW! " I can’t believe you just hit me.

"OWWWWWW! Stop! OWW! That hurts! Jaaa-ck." You don’t really mean that. I didn’t do anything wrong!

"It’s supposed to hurt, Daniel. That’s what makes you not do things that make me swat you. It’s a formula that’s worked for ages. In fact, I bet you could tell me exactly what age it all started in. How long has this little form of persuasion been around for, Danny?"

Daniel tactfully ignored what he considered a rhetorical question anyway and launched a full protest as another heavier swat landed on the same spot as the last two.

"Ouuuuuuch! That stings. Your gloves make it hurt more than it’s supposed to. That’s not fair!" He turned sideways away from Jack and maneuvered up the six steps to the active Gate, hands subconsciously protecting his flank as he moved.

Making it to the top of the dais, he turned to complain one last time while he was safely out of Jack’s reach. It came out sounding suspiciously like a whining pout designed to get the last word into an argument he had no hope of winning. "And besides, I didn’t do anything wrong. You’re just feeling useless because there wasn’t anything here to kill."

With that brilliantly self-destructive comment, Daniel turned to hurriedly escape into the event horizon. Or tried to. A firm jerk of his pack and Daniel stumbled back to land unceremoniously on his tender backside at Jack’s feet.

One quick glance up told Daniel he wasn’t making it through the horizon just yet, and then maybe not in one piece. So close. He thought he’d had it timed better than that. Jack wasn’t nearly as slow moving as he pretended to be sometimes. Daniel made a mental note to remember that the next time he felt like being a smartass.

He closed his eyes and berated himself for malingering so much on the trip back to the Gate. He could have been the first one through if he hadn’t been so damn intent on seeing how far he could push Jack this trip out.

Ever since Daniel had been injured and lost on the planet with the giants, O’Neill had been insufferably dictatorial in making decisions about Daniel and Daniel’s personal behavior. O’Neill had imposed a curfew on Daniel’s working hours, denying the overachiever of his usual, draining all-night work sessions. He had even gone so far as to have Daniel’s computer access on base locked out from midnight to six a.m. every evening.

Jack had been completely uncompromising in the rules he had imposed on Daniel while the young doctor was staying at his house, which was every night.

Daniel’s dislocated and mangled shoulder still ached unbearably some nights and his injured ankle was stiff. Not that he admitted to either of these ailments when asked. And he was asked on a regular basis, by both Janet and Jack. He just kept denying it.

Jack had insisted that Daniel eat regularly and sleep a lot. And the meals had to be healthy and balanced and hot and the sleep had to be pain-free and all night long-with the lights out! In the beginning there were even scheduled naps the first few weeks at home. It was all ridiculous. Even if he did feel better and he had gained a few pounds that he had needed to put back on for a while now.

To top it all off, Jack had even threatened in so many words to enforce his unreasonable rules with the use of corporal punishment if Daniel didn’t get with the program. Daniel hadn’t believed Jack would actually go through with that outrageous threat. He was sure it was all bluster and bluffing. Jack often relied on his outstanding ability to intimidate to get his own way. O’Neill rarely had to back up his promises with anything more than a heart-stopping glare.

That’s what today had been all about. Daniel was calling Jack’s bluff. Today Daniel would get his life back the way he wanted it.

Of course, his father hadn’t lived long enough for Daniel to become a teenager let alone start acting like one. Or continue acting like one, as the case may be.

No matter how much Daniel’s thoughts and instincts strayed to thinking about Jack as a substitute dad, Jack didn’t have the right to act that way. Except maybe when Daniel was hurt or upset. Or maybe when he was feeling lonely or lost or scared. Okay, so maybe every other day Jack could act like his father, but not today. Today he was taking back control of his life.

While it was fine to push, wheedle, mock and pout when Teal’c and Sam were close by to cushion Jack’s response, but when suddenly all alone, sitting on his butt in the dirt at the feet of the angry, fed up, alpha male authority figure in his life, Daniel was swiftly rethinking his little moment of rebellion.

Exasperated with Daniel’s persistent lagging behind all day, Teal’c and Carter had nearly rejoiced at the sight of the Stargate as it came into view. After making sure their petulant, young archaeologist had managed to make it securely, if rather belatedly, into O’Neill’s protective perimeter on the steps to the gate, they hurried through after activating the wormhole.

Both were happy to leave behind the impending ‘Hurricane Jack’ that was brewing bigger and stronger with each minute that Daniel aimlessly dawdled and ignored commands to pick up the pace. Hurricane Jack was about to break all over the Shores of Daniel. Teal’c had no trouble convincing Sam not to become a potential casualty of the approaching storm. Or, as Teal’c silently mused, witness to the physical damage the tempset was sure to leave behind— on someone’s behind.

Slightly startled at the force with which he hit the ground, Daniel blinked up at Jack from under thick lashes, giving him his best innocent ‘what did you do that for?’ look.

Jack took in the doe-eyed look of confusion and hurt on the surprised face staring up at him from thigh level.

There would be no mercy, no reprieve and no second thoughts. At least on Jack’s side of the decision. Daniel wasn’t going to get to vote on how he felt about it.

"Oh, I can think of something to kill right here, Daniel." Jack’s soft growl made the tinge of color in Daniel’s cheeks disappear. Hitting the release clips that held his pack on, Jack dropped it to the ground and laid his P-90 to his free side with deliberate casualness as he positioned himself on the top step beside Daniel.

Stunned, Daniel just raised his eyebrows and crinkled his nose in confused surprise. It wasn’t until Jack reached over and released the clips to his pack, too, that he suspected he should be making more of an effort to put distance between himself and Jack.

Without another word, Jack wrapped his hands into Daniel’s vest and heaved. He met no resistance and the slight body sailed into place face down across his waiting lap. One arm wrapped tightly around Daniel’s middle. Like the good fighter pilot he was, Jack didn’t hesitate to zero in on his intended target. He poured every ounce of pent up frustration and aggravation from the last 24 hours into his swing. His target started to squirm and shout within the first minute of the spanking. Jack had a lot of pent up emotions to release.

The surprise kept Daniel speechless for several moments. The realization that Jack had been serious, that Jack would follow through with more than just an intimidating glare, that Jack truly was a man of his word rocketed through Daniel with every jarring spank to his backside. As was typical for Daniel, he was learning in an unconventional manner, this time starting from his butt up to his brain.

"Ouch! Augh! Jack! Jack? JACK!"

SWAT!

"You’ve been begging for this all,"

SWAT!

"day,"

SWAT!

"long,"

SWAT! SWAT!

"little boy."

SWAT!

"While I can’t deliver,"

SWAT!

"the spanking you deserve right now,"

"I can do a little attitude adjustment,"

SWAT!

"So that no one else has to deal with it after we walk through that Gate."

SWAT! SWAT! SWAT!

"Auuuuugh. Stop. I’m sorry. Auuugh, ouch, OW! I’m s-sorry, Jack. I didn’t mean it."

SWAT!

"Well, I did."

SWAT! SWAT!

"I meant what I said. You chose to break the rules, then I chose the punishment."

SWAT! SWAT!

"And you can look forward to more once we’re home."

SWAT! SWAT! SWAT! SWAT! SWAT!

Daniel felt Jack release the firm hold on his waist and he scrambled to get to his feet. The sharp sting in his backside screamed at him with every hurried movement. Daniel stepped back from the close proximity of his punisher and tried not to make it too obvious he was rubbing at the fire in his butt.

Jack strapped back on his pack and looked Daniel in the eye, conveying the depth of his displeasure along with a promise of more to come without using a single word.

Daniel tried unsuccessfully to rein in his hurt five-year-old pout.

With a graceful economy of motion, Jack snagged Daniel’s pack in one hand and Daniel’s arm in the other. They were all stepping through the Gate before one tender-bottomed archaeologist knew what happened.

For once Daniel was at a loss for words to deal with one of the newest and most dangerous situations he had encountered off-world or on, the infamous Colonel Jack O’Neill in full blown, pissed-off, pushed to the end of his rope, paternal mode. Daniel was suddenly very happy there would be lots of people waiting on the other side of the event horizon.

**********

"Wipe that pout off your face, young man. Nobody put you in this position but you." Jack crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the doorjamb. He watched Daniel slowly gather up his pajamas and wordlessly head off towards the bathroom. Not that Daniel wanted to be wordless, but as clueless as the young genius could be, even he could see that a misplaced word right now would bring the earlier promised retribution sooner than later. That was to be avoided at all costs. Later was bad enough.

It wasn’t that Daniel thought his behavior today didn’t deserve what Jack was planning. It was that Daniel never thought his behavior deserved the same kind of response that Jack did. But then teenage boys rarely thought their father’s idea of just punishment was just. Even if Daniel wasn’t technically a teenager and Jack wasn’t technically his father, their current attitudes, both mental and emotional, put them in that place.

It had been only 6 weeks ago that the two of them had come to an understanding about their relationship. The hole left in Jack life when his son Charlie had died was rapidly being filled by one lost and lonely, young archaeologist who needed stability and guidance in his traumatic short life.

Similarly, Daniel had desperately needed someone to soothe the aching void and heal the substantial damage left behind by the sudden death of his parents, the cruel rejection of his grandfather and the years of growing up living on the fringes of a normal family life as a fostered outsider.

They had found that together they were better. Together, Jack and Daniel were whole. And when combined with Teal’c and Sam, they were a unique family, special, talented and strong.

But that didn’t mean it was easy or that the road they chose to travel was smooth, especially for Daniel. With little experience to base ‘normal’ family interactions on, he was frequently stumbling to find his way. Daniel’s biggest hurdle was his tendency to forget that he was an important part of the ‘family’, if not the hub of it. The others centered their efforts on their desire to provide a stable, loving, accepting atmosphere for Daniel, each relishing their new bond and special role in his chaotic life.

And now, Daniel was chaffing under the unaccustomed collar of family caring and love.

The bathroom door closed a little harder than it needed to. Jack couldn’t resist a smirk at the mumbled, but quickly delivered apology that filtered through the door. Daniel might be a defiant little shit right now, but he wasn’t crazy. A little more petulant acting out and Jack would make damn sure the boy didn’t sit for a week, mission or no mission tomorrow. All things considered, he just might do that anyway.

When Daniel finally emerged from the bathroom, he found his room empty. Seeing a golden opportunity to evade Jack and the coming ‘discussion’, Daniel slid into bed and turned off the light. Nervously darting his blurry gaze around the darkened room, he didn’t have long to wait before a deep, carefully neutral voice from the open doorway made him jump, despite all his efforts to keep that from happening.

"So it’s ‘Daniel coping mechanism number four’ tonight, is it? And here I was all excited about being treated to number two."

Reluctant to let Jack know he wasn’t really asleep, but too curious to do otherwise, Daniel lifted his head and stuttered out a confused word. "W-what?"

Jack walked into the room and dropped down onto the bed, flipping on the bedside lamp as he sat. "You know, Daniel. Coping mechanisms numbers one through ninety-five from Daniel Jackson’s manuscript of survival strategies. This is number four—avoidance. Pretend the problem doesn’t exist until people give up in frustration and stop hassling you about it, or let so much time pass that a new problem takes first place and the old one is forgotten." Jack watched a flash of guilt flicker across the young man’s face.

"I was expecting good old number two. The one you have perfected to an art form—sidetracking. You know that one too. That’s when you dive into a conversation and twist the discussion around until everyone forgets what the point of it was because you’ve slipped another item onto the agenda right under their noses. Sidetracking them from making a decision you don’t want made about the main topic. Nobody does it better than you, Dr. Jackson."

This time the lower lip got a work out as Daniel struggled to keep himself from letting loose a smartass comment. The recent memory of being a smartass off world still throbbed a bit too much in his own ass for a repeat performance, just yet.

"This one is just old reliable number four—avoid facing or thinking about a problem at all costs, if possible. Sorry, Daniel that’s not going to happen tonight."

Jack tugged firmly at Daniel’s shoulder. With a deep sigh, Daniel turned over onto his back and gave Jack his patent grimace and squint to convey his displeasure. "Talk to me, Danny."

"I’m fine, Jack. Really, there isn’t anything to talk about."

"And number one comes rolling out right on cue. I don’t want to hear it, Daniel. Lying is on that list of things that’ll get your wings clipped, remember?"

Daniel averted his gaze and chewed on his lip for comfort, silently praying for Jack to take the hint and let him get some sleep.

"Don’t you wanta know what number one is?" Jack teasingly shook Daniel’s blanketed knee closest to his hand. "Come on, it’s gotta be killing you not to ask. Want me to tell you?" A small shrug of shoulders was the only indication that Jack knew he wasn’t talking to himself. "Okay then, since you begged so nicely, I’ll tell you—silence. The classic ‘I’m fine’ that’s supposed to shut up everyone. Daniel Jackson’s greatest weapon in his arsenal of ways to cope with life without really coping."

Daniel’s eyes darted up to flicker a quick glance at Jack. Expecting to find anger or even disgust, he was surprised to find a half-amused, patient expression on the older man’s face. Unnerved by the unexpected reaction, Daniel fidgeted in place under the covers. A small movement meant to distance himself from Jack was aborted before he’d traveled two inches away when Jack leaned over him and rested a restraining arm on the far side of Daniel’s slender body, effectively aborting any and all attempts to withdraw. A steely look of determination glinted in the dark brown eyes above him, making Daniel swallow hard.

"Well, silence is going to be in short supply around here in about two minutes, little boy. Either you start talking, face up, or you start shouting, face down, but there will be a conversation here. It’s up to you whether I’m looking at your face or your butt while you do it. What’ll it be, Danny?" Jack let the full weight of his resolve shine down into the conflicted face grimacing up at him.

Jack was determined for Daniel to open up. Daniel needed to talk. The young genius had taken insolence and impertinence toward Jack and the rest of his team members to new heights over the last few days and Jack was calling him on it before they walked through the Gate on something more serious than a botanical recon survey like today.

Tomorrow SG-1 was off on a mission to a new gate address and Jack had to know all of his team was ready. Daniel’s disregard for the chain of command wasn’t something new, but his blatant rudeness and exaggerated absent-mindedness yesterday would be a potential hazard on a serious mission. One that endangered the whole team, not just inconvenienced them. This little tantrum was over, as of right now, one way or the other.

Daniel thought about all the conflicting feelings that had been running through him the last few months. Not just through his head, but through his entire body, making him ache with pain sometimes, making him flush with joy other times, even making him light-headed with confusion but inexplicably happy at times.

It felt strange to feel these things. They hadn’t been a part of his daily life for so long he’d forgotten how to deal with them. The faint memory of feeling this way when his parents were alive teased at the edges of his most secret and cherished remembrances.

And Daniel knew he shouldn’t be feeling this way. He didn’t deserve this. He couldn’t afford to get used to these feelings, this comfort, this sense of belonging, of being loved and valued for himself. Soon enough Jack, Teal’c and Sam would realize he wasn’t worth all the effort. He was too much work, too hard to handle when his moods of melancholy struck, too much to put up with when he turned surly and uncommunicative, when Daniel began to do things to deliberately stop the formation of attachments.

Life had always, without fail, left him on his own. He knew from experience it was better, safer, less painful if he stayed alone. Daniel Jackson just wasn’t worth the emotional investment. Daniel had accepted it, and pretty soon, Jack would too. Probably in about five minutes, if Daniel worked this right. Then both their hearts would be safer and their lives simpler.

All he needed to do was to keep Jack at arm’s length a little longer and Jack would tire of having to fight Daniel at every step. They all did. Every family, every single time, without fail. Even though Jack was better than all the other substitute families put together, even he would only take so much shit.

Daniel bit his lower lip harder to hold back the desperate words that silently screamed at the back of his constricted, dry throat. He stared silently down at his hands, watching them fidget with the binding on the edge of one of the blankets draped over his body. Five more minutes of silence should just about do it and Jack would walk away for good, Daniel knew it.

It seemed, however, one Jack O’Neill didn’t.

Totally oblivious to the convoluted logic swirling around in his charge’s head, Jack did what Jack did best when he didn’t know the rules to the game. Jack made his own. And it didn’t take five minutes either, for him to share them with a surprised and disbelieving Daniel. Of course, Jack’s idea of sharing was a little one sided. He shared his frustration, his right arm and his lap. Daniel got to share his backside.

Pulled out of bed and upended over a pair of hard, muscular thighs, Daniel gasped at the disorientation the sudden movement caused.

"Okaaaay then. Your call, Daniel. We do it the easy way then. Let me know when you’re ready to try the harder but less painful, ‘face up and talking with words’ approach instead." Jack ran a warm hand briefly over the young man’s trembling back in reassurance. "But either way, I’m going to be right here for you, Danny boy."

As soon as his pj bottoms were pushed down to his thighs, the first ten spanks landed hard and fast. Daniel could only gasp through their rapid delivery and fight to settle the dizzying bewilderment that swept over him. Jack hadn’t walked away like the others did. He hadn’t sighed or shrugged or yelled or cried or quietly just disappeared.

Jack was definitely here and it looked like he was planning on staying. Daniel’s stomach flipped over at the thought. Jack was staying. He wasn’t throwing him away, he wasn’t giving him up, and he wasn’t going to let him go. Daniel would have laughed out loud in relief if he could have caught his breath long enough to do it. His relief was hastily pushed into a hidden spot in his heart to be savored at a later time as the reality of pain filtered through his confusion.

The flat of Jack’s hand coupled with his powerful arm continued to ‘talk’ to Daniel’s backside taking over Daniel’s focus. Each jarring spank forced Daniel to hitch a breath and grunt out a small protest at the burning sting that was rapidly blooming into a full fledged blaze in his hindquarters. Daniel hoped tomorrow didn’t include a lot of sitting. For once, Daniel decided to make it a short conversation.

"Okay, Okay. Jack. Stop! I’ll talk." Daniel tried to squirm around to look Jack in the face, but the restraining arm around his waist held tight. Fat, hot tears of pain and joy rolled unchecked down his face.

"You’re sure? You’re ready to talk without the bullshit and silences and the sidetracking and the lying?" The hard edge to the man voice left no doubt in Daniel’s mind that he had better be prepared to talk fast and talk honestly.

"Jack." Yes. I’ll tell you what’s wrong. I will. Honest!

"Let me think about it."

Daniel squirmed a little more while Jack sat and thought about it. After almost a full minute with no response, Daniel couldn’t stand the suspense of worrying that the ‘talk’ with his backside would resume.

"Jack?" What’s going on?

He twisted his neck around to catch a glimpse of Jack smiling at him.

"Jack!" You’re just trying to torture me!

"Daniel." Behave yourself. You’re not in a position to complain about anything right now.

Wiping tiredly at his wet face, Daniel sighed in defeat and relaxed against the firm support of Jack’s body. Half a second later he was pulled up and settled back down on the bed, back pressed up against a pile of pillows in front of the headboard. He hissed as his hot, aching butt pushed into the sheets and struggled briefly to reposition his clothing back in place.

Jack patted the blankets back down over Daniel’s body and again leaned forward resting his weight on the arm placed on Daniel’s far side. It was an intimidating yet reassuring pose. It left no doubt in either of their minds as to who was in control of the situation while giving both of them a sense of closeness, of connection, without saying a word.

"Comfortable?" Daniel froze in his efforts to find a less painful spot to rest his weight on his sore butt and grimaced at Jack. Jack had the audacity to give him a crooked smile of amusement.

"Oh, sorry." The unrepentant tone was accompanied by a widening smile. "Okay, sooo— talk. You can do this. I so know you know how to talk, my little linguist." Jack’s weathered, handsome face took on an open, expectant expression. He was prepared to listen and was determined to find out the cause of Daniel’s recent run of adolescent behavior before he would even consider taking SG-1 through the gate.

Daniel squirmed a moment longer then wrapped both arms around his middle. Jack frowned at the familiar gesture of self-comfort, but was pleased that it was a fairly loose hug. Jack would make sure Daniel got a real hug before he left the room. For now, Jack knew Daniel was fortifying himself so that he could talk.

"I-I’ve been…. Everything has been going so… That usually means… I mean… You, Teal’c, Sam, …being part of a family again…" Daniel hung his head and clenched his eyes tightly to regain some measure of control over the emotions and words that were pouring out at warp speed. "I get… worried."

"Let me take a guess. Afraid we’ll go away like everyone else has? That we’ll get tired of the geeky, young genius that can learn every language in the universe except ‘military’?"

"Jaack." You know I can’t speak every language.

"Dan-ielll." Humor me. I’m making a point here.

"We used to have a lost and found box back at the orphanage. I-I always kind of felt like a-a mismatched glove that kept getting put back in the box. People would try it on, but it never seemed to fit anyone or be quite what they were looking for. So I—it went back—it went back into the box until the next person who wanted me—it… to fit their lives came to try it on. Until it grew too old to be of any interest or value anymore and got thrown out of the box altogether. Alone again, no match, no home, no one that cared because it wasn’t useful or cute or decorative anymore."

Daniel chewed at his lower lip and wrinkled his nose up in the attempt to stop the tears that began to trickle down his heated cheeks. "I was always just the not-quite-right, mismatched glove in other people’s lives." He darted a frightened glance up at his rock of stability in his short, chaotic life, anxious to see how Jack was taking all of this, but he was having difficulty seeing through his tears.

"I got tired of being thrown back, Jack. And scared of waiting to be thrown back. I… just… I get… scared." The last word was barely a whisper, croaked out along with a silent sob that shook Daniel’s whole body.

Jack leaned in closer and wrapped his arms around the slender form, holding on tighter when Daniel relaxed immediately into the embrace. Long moments passed with the only sound in the house being the muffled sobs and gasps that were intermingled with soft gentle sounds of comfort and love.

"Trying to throw yourself back before I decided I was done with you first?" A small nod brushed hesitantly against Jack’s damp shoulder. "Think it would hurt less that way?" Another terse nod. "Did it work?" This time a decidedly negative shake vibrated against his chest. "Kinda thought not. In case you were wondering, I think my hand fits your butt the way you fit into my heart. Like a glove, Danny, just like a glove."

"Jaa-cck." That doesn’t make any sense. But I love you, too.

Daniel’s watery smile and sudden snort of laughter made Jack grin with delight.

"Dan-iel." Me, too. Live with it.

"And hell, I only use one hand on your butt, so who needs a pair? I’m damn happy with just the one. It’s God damn perfect for us."

Jack ran a hand through Daniel’s hair, ruffling it and annoying the hell out of its owner. He playfully pushed the young man’s head down deeper into the pillow and leaned over to plant a quick kiss on the top of Daniel’s forehead.

"Hell, You’re not a single glove anymore, Danny. You’re part of a family, a complete set. Teal’c can be your scarf, ‘cause I think he wants to strangle you sometimes, and Carter can be the hat, ‘cause she’s too damn smart not to be the head thingy. Maybe one with a tassel on the end of it." A wicked gleam came into Jack eye as he mentally envisioned his own personal version of what he was describing. "Make that two tassels." Catching Daniel’s disbelieving look, Jack cleared his throat lightly and banished the picture in his head of his second in command with tassels that weren’t anywhere near her head. "Never mind, no tassels."

Daniel snorted a small chuckle through his tears. "I so don’t want to know." Growing serious again, Daniel looked up at Jack through tear-spiked lashes. "What’s that make you?"

"Me? I thought that was obvious. I’m your other glove, Daniel. Older, more worn than you are, not even made from the same fabric, but I’m the one that’ll be there to hold onto you when you need me. Whether it’s to wrap around you, to comfort you, or to swat your six to make you listen to reason. Your mismatched glove has a home, Danny. Remember that, no more trips to the box. Ever."

Another ruffle of spiked hair brought the predictable grimace. "Okay, Jack. I get it. Again."

"You’d better. We stick together. That’s what we ‘tight-knit’ families do." Jack tossed out the lame joke with his usual deadpan delivery that was ruined when he smirked in delight at the sound of Daniel’s soft groan of exasperation. He turned off the light and rose from the bed, pausing to stop by the doorway.

"Get some sleep, Daniel. Tomorrow is coming up fast and SG-1’s going to need its linguist at full speed when we hit that new planet."

"I’m halfway there, Jack. If someone would let me get some peace and quiet, I’d be asleep by now." Daniel’s voice was actually drowsy and muted by fast approaching sleep. Emotions drained the young man like nothing else did.

Jack whipped around to pause in the doorway when Daniel whined under his breath, "And if I wasn’t in pain."

Jack put a growl into his tone and knitted his eyebrows close in a scowl. "Watch it, little boy. You’re not that far off the hook. I have a pair of those leather gloves I wore off world in the closet if I need them."

"I’m asleep." Daniel’s reply was crisp and clear and fast.

"I though you might be. Night, Danny." The growl was still there, but Jack’s tone had taken on a rough, raw quality that showed how much the earlier conversation had stirred up his own emotions of family and loss. After a tiny pause a very soft and shaky reply came back at him.

"Nigh’, da’." A light snore followed the mumbled declaration a heartbeat later.

Jack pursed his lips to stop the smile on his face from breaking out into a grin that would probably crack his face open. He was pretty sure that last word had been a slurred proclamation of fatherhood being bestowed on him. He softly closed the bedroom door and leaned his head against the cool wood. "Damn straight, Danny, damn straight."

********

SG-1 walked through the gate at exactly 0800 earth time and into a pitch-black dawn of the planet P34-H78. The planet had the dubious distinction of spinning so fast on its axis that night morphed into day and day into night in the span of twenty seconds each day virtually eliminating the transition between twilight and dusk, darkness and the dawn. The days were also only seventeen hours long in earth time. The team had calculated their arrival time to make the most of the short hours of daylight.

The MALP survey had encountered evidence of a massive energy emission on the planet. SG-1’s mission was to find it, learn about its source of power, if possible, and meet and greet with the people responsible for its construction if they were there.

It was sure to be a Carter/Daniel joy fest, something for each of the scientists to get excited about. It would be up to Jack and Teal’c to watch their sixes while the two of them oohed and ahhed over their discoveries. Even the possibility of discoveries made the two of them gush.

A few minutes into their trek, Jack watched Carter slide up close to Daniel and nudge him with the elbow of the arm that cradled her P90. "Hey, Daniel? Are you feeling all right?" His wide-eyed look of confusion made her hasten to clarify herself. "You’re walking kind of stiff. Slower than normal. Is your back sore?"

Just my backside, thanks for noticing, Sam. "No, no, I’m fine."

Daniel gave her a tiny smile and ducked his head, embarrassed at the sound of Jack’s voice saying ‘Daniel coping mechanism number one’ echoing through his mind. A quick glance at Jack let him know the colonel was hearing every word. A warm flush tinged his cheeks. "I’m…I’m a little stiff this morning. I couldn’t get comfortable last night." Daniel threw another shy glance at the back of Jack’s head. "I woke up …achy in a few places." He smiled reassuringly at her concerned expression. "I’ll loosen up on the walk. Thanks."

"As long as you’re sure you’re okay?" Her perceptive glance told him she wasn’t buying his explanation entirely, but she was willing to let it slide if Daniel was all right with things. She returned his shy smile of pleasure at her concern, her face crinkling around her eyes, softening her intense expression and offering unconditional comfort to the young man.

"I’m good. And Sam? I’m sorry about yesterday. I know I was being …irritating and difficult. I’m sorry." Daniel couldn’t stop himself from casting a peek over at Jack. The half-smile on the colonel’s face as he turned to face them under the pretext of scanning the surrounding area let Daniel know he had heard his apology and approved.

"Apology accepted. Don’t worry about it." Sam touched his arm and tilted her head to one side, running an appraising glance over his slight frame. "I could tell you were in a better frame of mind this morning. Even General Hammond commented. I’m not sure I would have noticed how stiff you were if he hadn’t drawn my attention to it."

"General Hammond?" Daniel had to fight to keep the squeak out of his voice.

Sam nodded and swung back into position in the line that they were weaving across the rocky hillside, eyes wandering over the terrain instead of Daniel, missing his moment of sheer panic.

"He thought you were having more trouble than usual sitting still during the briefing. I told him you were just anxious to get through the gate. It’s been weeks since you were on a mission and I know you were excited about the pictures of the monolith by the gate the telemetry sent back. He even said something that made me chuckle."

"He did?" Suddenly feeling nauseous Daniel swallowed several times. The memory of squirming uncomfortably in the thickly padded briefing room chair popped up in clear, crisp detail in his mind. No matter where he had rested his weight, after several minutes his recently spanked backside had started to burn from the pressure and he’d had to reposition himself or get up.

Attempting to retrieve his sixth cup of coffee, more for an excuse to leave his seat then for a need or desire for more caffeine, although that was a plus, Jack had silently reached out and gently but firmly pushed him back down into his chair. The unhappy furrowing of Jack’s eyebrows were enough to let Daniel know not to get up again. Daniel had no sooner resumed his seat than Teal’c had wordlessly reached across the conference table and plucked his empty coffee cup from his grasp.

A quick glance around the table had shown that Sam was fighting to keep a smile from forming on her lips, and General Hammond was attempting to ignore the entire exchange, but the understanding, indulgent look on his face gave him away. The blush that stained Daniel’s face burned almost as much as the redness that blazed in his bottom half.

Sam nudged him playfully again and chuckled. "The General said your squirming reminded him of when he was a boy and his father had ‘tanned his backside’." Sam chuckled again, completely missing the look of panicked horror that crossed Daniel’s face.

"I just can’t picture that. I mean, General Hammond as boy! And one that needed that!" She threw Daniel an embarrassed look and hurried to clarify her point. "I mean, it’s just that he’s always so mature and responsible, it’s hard to imagine him as reckless or impetuous, even as a child. But I guess that’s how young boys learn to grow up to be mature, responsible Air Force Generals." Her smile widened and she picked up her pace a bit when Daniel returned the grin. In the space of a few strides, Sam caught up with Jack and the two of them wordlessly flanked Daniel while still keeping several feet ahead of him.

Rubbing absently at his aching backside, Daniel concentrated on calming down the surge of embarrassment and fear that had welled up at the thought that the General had known about his reason for not being able to sit still comfortably. Jack would never say anything to embarrass him at the SGC, but Hammond was a smart, observant man. Daniel would have to be more careful around him.

Giving his left hip another covert rub, Daniel turned to find Teal’c in his usual position behind him. The Jaffa graced the young man with an amused, but understanding look along with a meaningful glance at where Daniel’s hand was. Daniel bashfully dropped his hand and gave Teal’c his best repentant puppy dog look.

"I want to apologize to you, too, Teal’c. About my attitude yesterday."

"Indeed. You have been exceptionally abrasive for the past week, DanielJackson. It is a relief to see you have ‘adjusted’ your unpleasant attitude." Teal’c allowed a tiny bit of a smile to tug up the corners of his mouth at the pink blush that colored Daniel’s cheeks.

"Well, I had help." Still unhappy over the intensity and continued lingering effect of Jack’s eager assistance in his ‘attitude adjustment’, Daniel muttered the comment out loud before he could stop himself. Horrified at his admission, Daniel closed his eyes and grimaced, berating himself for the slip of his tongue. "Crap." Jack’s influence was beginning to show.

Catching himself as he stumbled over a rough spot in his path, Daniel reluctantly blinked open his eyes and whimpered. "You know, don’t you?"

A slight inclination of Teal’c’s regal stance in affirmation was all it took to make Daniel’s stomach plummet to his toes. "Oh, God." Daniel fidgeted with his glasses and tried unsuccessfully to form a few words of denial before stammering silently to a halt. His eyebrows arched repeatedly up and down as he nervously swallowed in a familiar gesture of unease as the humiliated young man attempted to cope with the new turn of events. "Teal’c, I-I--."

Teal’c tilted his head slightly to one side to better be able to drop his glance down to indicate Daniel’s lower half. "I take it the ‘adjustment’ was sufficient?"

Mouth twisted in a wry grimace, Daniel nodded, sourly mumbling yet another telltale, familiar phrase before thinking. "Oh, yeahsureyoubetcha." Two Jackisms in a row only re-enforced the evidence of who exactly had helped Daniel ‘adjust’ his attitude yesterday.

Daniel sighed in defeat. He was pretty sure Teal’c accepted, even approved of, how things were between Jack and him. But knowing that just made it all the more embarrassing. Daniel sighed again and shook his head. Alpha males are all the same. Only warriors like Teal’c and Jack would think whomping on someone’s backside was an effective way to communicate with them.

He rubbed at his sore butt again, a little less self-consciously this time. Daniel grudgingly admitted to himself that he actually did pay closer attention to what Jack was saying when he was upside down over Jack’s lap than at any other time the older man was speaking. Except maybe when there was gunfire or zats going off around them. "Well, Teal’c, then you won’t be surprised if I don’t sit down a lot this trip."

"Would this be as a direct result of the exceptionally large amounts of caffeine you ingested during this morning’s briefing or should it be attributed to O’Neill’s assistance with your ‘adjustments’? I have heard O’Neill comment on many an occasion that the coffee at the SGC is extremely potent."

"Oh, it is. But believe me, Jack’s swing is even more potent." Daniel winced and tried not to squirm.

Teal’c nodded in regal approval "Indeed. A responsible father must have a firm and steady hand. I trust O’Neill was thorough." Teal’c pinned Daniel a steely gaze. "However, should it become apparent that he was not, I will gladly offer my assistance in helping to further ‘adjust’ any lingering inadequacies in your behavior. I am quite experienced in such matters."

Daniel’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in shock. If he was expecting sympathy, he should have tried Carter. He blinked several times to be sure he read the expression on Teal’c’s face right. Finding nothing but unwavering certainty, Daniel sighed and mumbled under his breath to no one in particular. "For crying out loud. This is just not fair." Daniel could almost feel the scarf that Teal’c represented in Jack’s version of their tightly knit family unit wrapping snuggly around his neck. Perhaps too snuggly. He hurried to catch up to the others, seeking the imaginary relative safety of Jack and Sam’s presence.

*****************

Three clicks from the gate, a large imposing building came into view. Carter immediately pulled out her handheld scanner and gleefully confirmed that this was the origin of the unusual power source they had detected earlier by telemetry.

O’Neill watched his 2IC, absently thinking that Carter practically qualified as an energy source herself when she was radiating with excitement at the thoughts of the coming scientific discoveries she might encounter.

Jack twisted his mouth into a wry smile as he contemplated what it would take to get that much enthusiasm out of her if the subject wasn’t scientific in nature. Maybe he could convince her he was interested in a ‘biology’ experiment. Suddenly hit with the realization of how inappropriate his daydreaming was, on world or off, Jack snapped back into Colonel mode and counted heads. Seeing one dog-eared, boonie cap too far out of his immediate sphere of influence, Jack didn’t hesitate to verbally retrieve it.

"Daniel! Get your butt over here. Behind me. Carter, take point. Teal’c, you’ve got our sixes. Stay close. That means you, Daniel. Civilization coming up at twelve o’clock. Stay alert. Come with, kids."

Jack waited until Daniel stiffly jogged over to his side and then motioned for Carter to lead on. Noticing Daniel’s flushed face and the shy, apologetic flittering of his eyes, Jack reached out and squeezed the back of his archaeologist’s neck, kneading the tense muscles under his hand for a moment before returning his grip to his P90. "Stay with."

A brief nod of agreement calmed Jack’s overprotective instincts down to just under the ‘deadly force required’ limit. Jack had suspected that the first few times SG-1 went off world again after Daniel had been so badly injured would be hard. And it was. Damn hard. Shifting consciously into a tight military mind frame, Jack carefully slipped ‘family of loved ones’ back into its proper pigeonhole and concentrated on his ‘team of professionals’.

It took them several moments to reach the outer perimeter of the building. It was a single structure, gleaming tall and white against the colorless backdrop of the barren, rocky hillside. Huge by anyone’s estimate, the building appeared to be the size of several city blocks. No opening or windows could be seen. The only marking on the entire structure as far as they could see was one massive, arched doorway etched into the smooth façade directly ahead.

As they neared the markings, Daniel stepped up his pace, eager to get a closer look at the drawing. Unable to detect anything more than the faint outline of an archway and several leaf-like designs entwined around the arch, Daniel reached out to run a hand over the edges of the carved stone. His hand stilled in midair as a fingerless glove closed over his wrist in a firm, unyielding grasp.

Looking up, Daniel watched Jack hold an admonishing finger in the air as he carefully enunciated each word. "Ah, ah, ah, Daniel. Don’t touch an-y-thing. Nada. As in leave your hands in your pockets. Look at it, talk to it, breath on it, take pictures of it, but do—not—touch it. Got it?"

"Jack." It’s just a wall. You worry too much.

"Daniel." With damn good reason. "For crying out loud. I don’t want to hear it. Do not touch. Period."

Daniel stepped back from the wall and threw Jack a sour look. Pulling his camera from one of his many pockets, he began to film the etching, intent on figuring out the reason for its sole placement on the smooth, seamless stone wall. Never moving the eyepiece from his face Daniel called out to the person he knew would be behind him without even looking. "Teal’c?" The air shifted to his right and the Jaffa’s silent presense quickly shaded Daniel from one side. "Would you stand next to the side of that carving so I can get some sense of dimension on tape? Please."

Teal’c’s long-suffering expression was barely discernable from his everyday expression, but Daniel had enough practice to recognize it. Just as Daniel lowered the camera to tease his ever present bodyguard as Teal’c moved next to the symbol, the carvings behind Teal’c came to life.

"Oh, my God." The awe and wonder in Daniel’s voice drew Sam and Jack’s attention, both knowing that tone from their youngest team member meant mayhem was inevitable.

Teal’c spun around and forced Daniel away from the wall by the sheer momentum of his body. Planting himself between the wall and Daniel, the warrior activated and pointed his staff weapon at the designs that had come to life.

"For crying out loud, Daniel, I told you not to touch." Worry and concern clung to every gruff word Jack yelled as he raced back to Daniel’s side and Teal’c’s from where he had been investigating the edges of the fortress walls.

So transfixed by the sight before him, Daniel didn’t even bother with an indignant sputter. "I didn’t. I think it was Teal’c." Peering over Teal’c’s tense shoulder, he watched the fascinating light show evolve.

Blue-white light flowed from the bottom of the deep lines in the marble-like stone, growing and climbing up the arches and through the intricate twisted design, adding more symbols and writings as it raced through the solid rock. More and more symbols began to glow and with each new marking, Daniel’s excitement grew.

Arriving through the gate earlier, Daniel had been drawn to a three-foot tall, single stone tablet that had been placed directly in front of the gate dais. Its placement was obviously meant to give the tablet significance and the message it carried was undoubtedly of importance to any expected visitors to the planet. Daniel just couldn’t figure out why.

The text wasn’t Goa’uld or Asgard or any of the other alien languages Daniel had come across in their limited explorations so far. Even Teal’c didn’t recognize it. But the more Daniel stared at it the more a faint sense of familiarity tugged at his subconscious. Frustrated with himself, he had been resigned to copying down the text, both in long hand and with rubbings to be puzzled over at a later time. Now it seemed that time had arrived. The symbols from the tablet were being eerily reproduced on the wall carving.

Unhappy with the growing intensity of the light, Teal’c nudged Daniel further away. Refusing to be protected from what he saw as merely a message from this planet’s inhabitants, Daniel attempted to shift to one side of Teal’c and step around him. Sensing the move, Teal’c spun around and wrapped one arm around Daniel’s waist, picking him up and carrying him several feet away. The moment they were twenty feet away from the wall, the message stopped forming and began to fade away, silencing Daniel in mid-irate protest. "Teal’c! I’m not in any--."

Sam came to a skidding halt beside the three others and stared in amazement at the wall. "Sir, look. The symbols, they’re disappearing. It’s like the power suddenly shut off before it was finished."

Daniel watched the last of the blue light course down to where the earth met the wall. Inspiration struck and Daniel turned to his burly companion. "I think it was reacting to Teal’c. It didn’t glow when I was standing there or when Jack came over. But as soon as Teal’c stepped near it, the message started. Maybe it responds to something in Teal’c. Like his symbiote maybe?"

"Is that possible? It’s a stone wall."

Sam tilted her head in thought and nodded slightly in absent agreement. "Yes, if there is a chemical sensor imbedded in the particle makeup of it, it is possible, sir. It may be reacting to that or the levels of naquada in his blood. Like mood ring stones react to levels of saline and heat on the surface of the skin."

"Mood rings, Carter?" Jack’s tone left no doubt what he thought about the subject.

"We were all teenagers once, sir." Sam beat back a smile.

"I’ll bet yours was always stuck on brainy." His overly serious expression of mild confusion threw her self-restraint out the window. The smile broke through.

"Brainy is not a mood, sir." It was hard to be exasperated and amused at the same time.

"Speak for yourself, Carter. I occasionally get in the mood for brainy things. Then I go spend time with Daniel and I snap right out of it and go back to being normal."

"Hey!" Affronted, but still too interested in the wall puzzle to put up much of a fight, Daniel settled for mild indignation. "I guess I know where to go if I get in the mood for insipid conversation."

"I rest my case. What kind of word is insipid? Now I ask you, who uses that in everyday conversation. Brainy people, that’s who. Who wouldn’t need normal after a couple of hours of that?"

Sam giggled and shook her head, dismissing both men from her immediate thoughts. She cautiously moved closer to the wall now that the energy had leeched away. "It wouldn’t take much to check out Daniel’s theory, sir."

Jack tipped his head questioningly at Teal’c and the Jaffa took up the challenge.

Releasing his hold on Daniel, Teal’c stepped away, but not before growling a soft command in Daniel’s ear. "Stay." Unfazed by the hurt expression the young man gave him, Teal’c walked slowly over to the silent structure. As he approached, the wall again began to glow and sizzle as blue-white light flowed in its nooks and crannies again. Planting himself a few steps inside an imaginary perimeter where the light started working, Teal’c watched as the entire archway came alive with energy.

When the archway was completely illuminated and no deadly beams of energy engulfed or attacked the Jaffa, Daniel looked to Jack for permission to get closer. He got a reluctant nod and a raised finger signaling caution. Nodding his understanding, Daniel moved to stand in the middle of the doorway arch, straining to remember why the symbols were so familiar yet not.

Teal’c moved closer to Daniel in his usual protective stance, stepping in front of him again as the archway shimmered. Unexpectedly, its etched seams began to part and a portal through the twelve-foot thick stone was revealed.

Carter and O’Neill immediately moved in front of Daniel, one on each side of him, weapons drawn and ready. Teal’c moved to his usual place behind Daniel. Teal’c was so close, Daniel could almost feel the body heat of the large Jaffa.

As a singular unit, SG-1 advanced through the entrance, the military members alert and ready for confrontation while one young archaeologist was practically bouncing with excitement over this newest development. The entire archway was etched with designs and symbols and Daniel’s enthusiasm grew in direct proportion to the increase in written evidence of an advanced culture being present.

"Daniel, stay close and keep your hands in your pockets. Let’s go meet the wizard." Jack cautiously advanced further into the tunnel.

The archway delivered them out into a massive, domed room decorated with exotic plants, crystals and brightly colored pillows arranged artfully around the room. Several conversation areas were isolated at different corners of the room with one large area being devoted to what appeared to be a low conference table surrounded by dozens and dozens of plump pillows and low stools.

"Everybody stay close. No lone exploring. They opened the doors, so someone knows we’re here. Let’s wait for them to come to us."

"Yes, sir." Carter nodded and continued surveying the room, eyeing the gorgeous array of textured and beaded fabrics surrounding the hall along the way.

"Indeed." Teal’c never let his eyes wander from examining the walls looking for hidden seams and passageways.

"Um, what? Oh, right." Transfixed by the writings scattered around the walls and ceiling, Daniel blinked in confusion, only pulled halfway from his thoughts and speculations. He wasn’t even sure what he was agreeing to, but saying yes seemed like the answer Jack was looking for, so like the good little soldier he was playing, he said it. The extra long stare from Jack made him wonder for a brief moment what he had promised before he got caught up in the mystery of the etchings again.

At the far end of the room stood another gigantic archway that led to a smaller room. A shimmering, thin, translucent silver veil of some type of fabric hung across the entrance to the room. Through the veiled archway they could see a slab of black granite-like stone that towered over a large pool of still, pale-blue water. The slab was covered by the same intricate symbols that Daniel had already decided was a written language.

Amazed at the sheer size and imposing presence of the monument, Daniel was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Ignoring his cautiously exploring teammates, he slowly approached the veil, straining to make out the details of the room through the thin, shifting barrier.

Just as his hand passed through the archway and reached out to push aside the gossamer veil, a bright light engulfed his entire body. Daniel Jackson, archaeologist and linguist of twenty-three different languages stood helplessly within the beam’s warm grasp, unable to speak, unable to cry out, unable to warn SG-1 of his fate.

*********************

Jack gripped his P90 more firmly and cautiously scanned the room for signs of life, hidden or otherwise. Multiple areas around the room were curtained off with miles and miles of thin silk-like fabrics in a rainbow of soft, soothing colors. Although the fabrics were completely transparent they gave the illusion of privacy and intimacy to each of the small sections. Shouldering aside the layers nearest the walls, Jack appreciated the sensuous texture of the fabric as it brushed against his cheek, without actually registering the fact in his conscious thoughts.

Still concentrating on finding a warm body to talk to, Jack was suddenly assaulted by a burst of near-blinding brightness to his left. Turning, gun raised, instincts on high, senses tuned to his team, Jack swore at the sight that greeted him. Trapped in a beam of shimmering green light, surrounded from head to toe in the archway leading to the next room stood a panicked Daniel Jackson.

Daniel twisted and turned, pushing frantically at an invisible wall that appeared to be created by the light. Daniel’s mouth moved, obviously calling out for help, but no sound escaped his prison. He shoved his shoulder against the restraining force field when his pounding fists had no effect.

Jack raced to Daniel’s side, noting that his youngest had ventured through the opening that led to the next room alone. Both Carter and Teal’c were on opposite sides of the expansive hall, nowhere near their wandering archaeologist. So much for listening to Jack’s command to stick together and wait. When would the brat understand orders were meant for everyone, especially him?

Seeing the panic on Daniel’s face begin to increase, Jack yelled to him while he tried unsuccessfully to breech the beam with the barrel of his gun.

"Hold on, Daniel." Daniel’s wide-eyed face blinked back at Jack from behind the shimmering light. The boy’s complexion was ghastly in the soft green glow, fear evident in the blue eyes magnified by the lens of his glasses that were slipping down his nose. Jack rested a hand palm side out on the invisible wall of energy and spoke confidently to its willing prisoner. "Calm down, Danny. We’ll have you out of there in a minute."

One of Daniel’s hands moved to instantly cover Jack’s from the inside, unable to actually touch, but giving the younger man a sense of connection to the man on the other side.

Jack raised his voice to a rough commanding growl. "Carter. Teal’c." Before the words left his mouth, they were by his side, their own hands tentatively pushing at the energy field, testing its power and adding their physical comfort to Jack’s.

Daniel responded to their presence, taking a few deep breaths and allowing his heart to slow down its pounding rhythm. Realizing he could hear Jack, but that he couldn’t be heard, he stopped trying to talk with words and opted for hand signals.

Jack stared in confusion at the rapid hand movements. Daniel was trying to convey some piece of information he obviously thought was important, but Jack couldn’t guess what it was for the life of him. "What the hell is he trying to say, Carter?"

"I have no idea, sir." Carter shrugged after a moment of watching Daniel and began to examine the floor and surrounding walls of the archway for a way to shut the beam down.

Teal’c merely raised his eyebrows at the young man’s antics and proceeded to manually attempt to find a weak spot in the force field. He pushed and prodded at every inch of the shimmering wall.

Daniel tried to mime that touching the veil apparently triggered the beam. The rest of them would fall prey to the trap themselves. He had to warn them. His actions became more pronounced as his teammates worked their way closer to the veil.

Oblivious to the danger Daniel was frantically trying to warn them about, Jack pushed his way around the cylinder of light. Never taking his hand off of the beam, he shifted the veil away with his shoulder and shrugged if off his back like a barely felt breeze.

Daniel froze in mid-hand signal, his expression changing from frantic to shocked disbelief as he watched Jack and then Teal’c breech the veil and the archway without incident.

Jack caught Daniel’s sudden stillness and narrowed his eyes in concern. Frightened and silenced, Daniel looked impossibly young and lost to Jack. "Daniel?" What? Are you all right?

Daniel heaved a sigh of exasperation, widened his eyes and blinked like the familiar habit would clear his mind as well as his sight, and dropped his hands uselessly to his sides. Perplexed and confused, he soundlessly worked his mouth, unable to find the right words to voice his jumbled thoughts then halting in mid-attempt when he remembered he couldn’t be heard anyway. Looking up into Jack’s unhappy face, Daniel shook his head and shrugged his hunched shoulders.

Carter stood up from her inspection of the flooring and sighed. "I don’t see anything that looks like a control panel or a triggering mechanism, Colonel. I’m guessing it’s controlled remotely. I think we’ll have to find help to get Daniel out, sir."

Teal’c walked around from the far side of the beam. "Possibly a strike directed at the top of the beam with my staff weapon would disable the device. The ceiling is extremely high. I believe the distance would pose little threat to DanielJackson."

The Jaffa’s displeasure over his inability to free his self-appointed charge was evident in the way Teal’c’s mouth formed a tight, thin line across his seemingly neutral face. The slight downward turning of the corners along with a miniscule lowering of his eyelids spoke volumes about the level of distress he was experiencing.

Jack cast an inquiring glance at his 2IC. Carter shrugged and looked up, calculating the distance and the force of the staff weapon’s energy. "I think it could work. Most energy fields will short circuit if the weapon pulse is large enough. Daniel should be safe as long as he isn’t touching the beam when Teal’c fires. That’s assuming the beam is just surrounding him and isn’t solid." Carter craned her head back to try and get a good look at the point on the ceiling where the beam touched it.

"And if it is?" Jack appeared to be only mildly concerned with the possibility of Daniel being zapped during the rescue attempt. The unconcern was false, but the anger behind it wasn’t.

"I’d say he’ll get quite a tingle from it, sir." Carter struggled to hide the small smile that tried to push its way onto her lips.

"Oh, he’s going to get a tingle all right, Carter. A whole lot of them. It just may not be from this." Jack gave the object of their discussion a hard, grim look that promised of many unpleasant things to come.

Used to Jack’s heartfelt and sincere, but meaningless threats of violence against Daniel’s person, Carter just chuckled and shook her head, not catching the pleased look that passed over Teal’c’s face at O’Neill’s cryptic words. Out of Carter’s line of vision, Teal’c momentarily risked leveling an amused, slightly raised eyebrow at O’Neill.

Daniel darted his eyes nervously to one side and then back at Jack, shifting his feet restlessly in the small circle of freedom he had available to him. Unconsciously, Daniel altered his position so that his backside was as far away from Jack as possible in his present confinement. He couldn’t slink away, but he could take consolation in the fact that at least Jack couldn’t reach him either. Yet. Jack had already proved that being off world didn’t mean Daniel’s butt was safe.

Now that Jack knew Daniel was unharmed, the reason he was imprisoned was beginning to take a front seat in the colonel’s mind. Daniel had disobeyed a direct order and wandered off mere seconds after being warned not to. Granted, it was possible, no probable, that Daniel hadn’t even heard what the colonel had said, but he had acknowledged the command and given everyone the impression he had heard and understood. Jack added lying to the mental list of transgressions.

"Let’s get Daniel out of there. Daniel, stand in the center of the circle. Don’t touch the beam, okay?" Jack waited for Daniel to signal he was ready. He touched the beam with his hand again. Lowering his voice to a husky growl, Jack let its soothing tones reach through the barrier to flow over his youngest and comfort him with the only thing he could. "It’ll be okay, Danny. I won’t let anything happen to you. Hang in there, big guy." Jack’s gaze softened and Daniel swallowed down a sob, blinking back a tear at the love he saw in Jack’s eyes and heard in his comforting voice.

Daniel extended his fingers to briefly touch the point where Jack’s hand rested then he shifted to the center of the ring of light and wrapped his arms consolingly around his middle. Giving a quick nod to signal he was ready, he tightly closed his eyes and gritted his teeth to keep from crying out in fear at the last moment.

Satisfied with Daniel’s position, Jack stepped back from the force field, Carter at his heels. Jack raised one finger in the air and glanced at his waiting brother. "Go."

The staff weapon sprang to life at a touch of Teal’c’s practiced hand. Just as the charge activated and the weapon readied a booming voiced brought a startled halt to the rescue attempt.

"Cease. That is not necessary. Your child is unharmed. He will be released and returned to you. Violence is forbidden here."

Jack, Carter and Teal’c turned as one at the sound of the authoritative voice. Hurrying from one of the veiled areas came two men clad in silk robes and turbans, looking like something out of the Tales of the Arabian Nights.

The man who had spoken was imposing in his manner, authoritative and confident, a sultan look alike in his rich colors and fancy robes. Tall and dark, his face was covered with a short, dark beard, piercing black eyes that seemed to convey little or no emotion beyond anger that the hall would be violated or disturbed.

The second man trailed a few paces behind the first, the traditional role of servant or guard. Though well muscled, broad and taller than the first, this man had an air of understanding and openness about him, a gentleness that was reflected in his slate blue eyes and the casual, easy grace of his movements. The man looked quite capable of violence, but he also had the appearance of a man who rarely liked or needed to resort to it.

Jack stepped forward and met the small party of two head on. "Who are you? Better yet, get Daniel the hell out of there and then tell me who you are." Jack gripped his P90 tighter to his chest in the effort not to train it on the strangers. "I want him out. Now." O’Neill let the full force of his unhappiness radiate from his hardened covert ops practiced stare. "If you don’t allow violence here then explain why you imprisoned one of my people?"

The first man stilled his approach and sighed dramatically. "He has not been imprisoned. He was detained for his own protection. The young are not allowed in the temple room. The room is sacred. Only the guardians of the chosen are permitted to view the tablets of Marr and bathe in the Pool of Blessings. The pool is deep, the water deadly to the very young. The scanner detected his slight age and his solitary status as he attempted to enter the temple room. It rightly contained him until adults could retrieve him and remove him from potential harm. There are many children such as he in this place. Your child is uninjured, I assure you."

With a wave of his hand the beam shut down and Daniel was left standing in the archway, confusion and amazement clearly written on his expressive face. Daniel swiftly moved a safe distance back into the main room with the aid of Teal’c’s strong right arm. Daniel practically flew through the air from the force of Teal’c’s ‘help’ and before he got his bearings again he was standing beside a bristling, protective alpha Jack, his arm still gripped in the Jaffa’s own version of a short leash.

Daniel absently noted that he might be losing the feeling in his lower arm and hand if Teal’c didn’t relax soon. He was relieved to out of the beam and close to his family. Even invisible walls can make a frightening cage. The touch of a warm hand to the back of his neck startled him from his uneasy thoughts.

Jack gripped Daniel’s neck and pulled the younger man close to his side, an uncompromising stare bored into Daniel’s face forcing his darting gaze to still and meet Jack’s. A small nod and a mumbled, "I’m fine, really," settled the older man’s instinct to defend, down to a less than lethal level. Just.

Daniel refocused his energy on the people standing before him and forced himself to extend a hand in greeting. Every one in the room noted that the young man keep his body behind Jack’s even as he started his usual ‘meet and greet’ dialogue.

"Ah, Hi. Hello. I’m Daniel Jackson. This is Colonel Jack O’Neill, Captain Sam Carter and this is Teal’c. We’re explorers from a planet called Earth. I’m sorry about the intrusion. I didn’t realize it was a temple. I’m not completely familiar with the writings on the walls, although I actually think I have seen them before. I-I just can’t remember where." Daniel flashed his self-depreciating smile at the two men and pulled his body in closer to the center of his team, arms automatically wrapping around his waist when he wasn’t gesturing to the etched markings. "They’re really quite fascinating. I’d love to be able to take a closer look at them. If I could just place where I know them from, I’m sure I could translate them." Daniel barely paused to catch a breath in between sentences. The note of awe and excitement in his voice made the taller of the two men smile softly despite the fact that neither man made any effort to acknowledge Daniel’s overtures.

"Get used to it, he does that a lot. Maybe a quick reading lesson would be a good thing. At least then he’d know where you have the ‘do not enter’ and ‘no one under 18 allowed without a parent or guardian’ signs up at." Jack’s serious deadpan delivery pulled a grin from Carter, a disgruntled huff from Teal’c and an indignant dirty look from Daniel. Their hosts merely exchanged confused glances and smiled benevolently.

"Yes, well. I’m sure the child will be more cautious in the future. I am Talmac, headmaster and Keeper of the Temple of Marr. This is my most trusted advisor and Temple disciplinarian, Draco." Talmac pulled his right arm to his chest, fist over his heart and bowed deeply from the waist. Draco mirrored the gesture.

Jack tipped his head to one side and pursed his lips, silently mouthing ‘all righty then’ before saying a curt perfunctory, "Hey," punctuated with a short hand wave.

"I see your Jaffa carries the mark of the Gods. You are most welcome visitors. How may we help you?" Talmac was put at ease by the presence of the large Jaffa warrior, but he was beginning to suspect that his visitors were not aware of the temple function. Indeed they were not even aware it was a temple, so they could not know its purpose. He would need to proceed cautiously. In the distance, the sounds of playing children began to echo off the stone walls.

"Is that children I hear?" Sam canted her head to one side and glanced down a hallway that had appeared in the flawless wall.

"Of course. The Temple of Marr is a school. Our students are very young. That is why we have safety features like the force field in place. It would not do to have one accidentally injured. They are the best and the brightest of their kind. In the Temple they are given every educational advantage and taught all that is of value to those they will return to serve. You may meet with them during the mid-day meal if you would like." Talmac keep his expression open and sincere.

Jack nodded. "Cool. Yeah, okay. If we’ve got time, why not? I get along great with kids. Ask Daniel."

Carter muttered what was to be the first of many pointed comments over the length of their stay. "Similar interests and attention spans, sir."

Daniel let a small snicker escape his lips before biting down on his lower lip to stop it. "We’d like to be able to sit down and talk together. Learn about your people, and your culture. We have many things we could exchange, science, medicines, technology." Daniel warmed to his subject letting his excitement and interest lead the way, never noticing the way neither of the two strangers made eye contact with him or answered.

Carter, however, did. She stepped forward and brushed against Daniel’s side in a subtle show of support for the young man’s words. "We couldn’t help noticing the immense amounts of energy this place must need to provide light and heat and security for a dwelling this size. We’d be interested in learning about your technology, maybe trading ideas and theories, sharing what we have that your people could benefit from, as much as the things you have that our people could benefit from."

Her bright, intensely intelligent gaze almost made Talmac’s mouth water with delight. "We should endeavor to discuss the possibilities, Mistress."

Sam started to correct the man, insisting on her rank when the futility of the effort struck her. When in Rome. She settled for a muted smile and nod of her head.

Talmac’s interest and attention shifted back to the obvious leader in the group. "Colonel O’Neill. If you and your wife would accompany me to a place were we can discuss these things in peace and quiet, away from the children, we will begin. Your Jaffa may attend as well. The child will have to remain here with Draco. No child is allowed in the inner Chambers of Words."

"Whoa, whoa there, Sultan, I mean Talmac." Jack had to force himself not to show his delight at the shocked wide-eyed expression that hit Carter’s face like a ton of bricks at Talmac’s assumptions. Jack knew better than to let anyone think he was sleeping with his 2IC, even if the idea secretly appealed to him, and the guy thought the two of them were cozy in the blissful state of legal matrimony. ‘We’re not a married couple. Carter’s—"

The color drained from Talmac’s face and his voice rose two octaves as horror raced across his dark features. "You are not bonded? The boy is the product of an unblessed union? He is a blasphemy, an unclean abomination? He can not be in this temple. You can not be in this temple. The Temple of Marr has been soiled, the blessing---."

Talmac’s frenzied hysterics escalated. Draco drew a short dagger out of the hidden folds of his robe and silently took up a defensive stance at Talmac’s side, ready to banish the outsiders if their demands to leave the Temple were not met.

Jack had no choice, but to intervene with some fast-talking nonsense before bloodshed occurred. All three of them backed up and surrounded the object of Talmac’s tirade, none to gently pushing Daniel into the center of a controlled huddle.

"Wait! For crying out loud, listen to me. You…misunderstood me. Daniel is the product of a legal marriage. He’s been baptized and…and everything. When I said we weren’t…that Carter and I weren’t… a m-married couple, I…I…I meant….I meant...thaaat…" Jack shot Carter a pleading look and furiously worked to correct the problem. She widened her eyes and gave a minute shrug, her own razor-sharp mind drawing a blank on the subject of Daniel’s paternity and her own supposed involvement in it. Jack plunged back into the fray, empty-handed and floundering. "That we…don’t…do things…..without Daniel along. We don’t like to think of ourselves as just a couple anymore. We’re a…family, a single-family unit. House, dog, two car garage, Jaffa,… the usual. Daniel is definitely…our…ours and…we are definitely…mar-bond—together. Carter was… assigned to me…legally…by the man who …assigns…units…family units…where we come…from." Jack cleared his throat twice and idly picked at a nonexistent thread on his sleeve, avoiding any and all eye contact with his unusually silent teammates. Even Daniel was stunned speechless. Jack just hoped it would last.

The sound of Jack’s expected life span shortening was clearly heard in the air along with a sharp intake of air from Carter’s direction. Teal’c murmured a soft condolence that Jack would be missed and Daniel merely hissed in pained sympathy. Jack threw them both a dirty look before braving a glance at his …wife.

The intensity of Carter’s glare made Jack swallow hard and pray to God that her retribution wouldn’t be worse than their present situation was. Maybe he couldn’t out think her, but he did still out rank her. It was the only thing saving his hide at the moment. That and the issue of Daniel’s continued safety. God, he hoped he’d remembered to pack chocolate.

Talmac immediately calmed down, a fisted hand still clenched at the folds of his robe over his heart, his color rapidly restoring itself at the news of the misunderstanding. "It is my turn to apologize, Colonel, Mistress, Master Teal’c and, of course, young Daniel. I fear it is a language difficulty when new visitors enter our world. Not all of our words hold the same true meaning to others as they do to us. I should have been more patient with your explanations. Forgive me." Talmac and Draco gave another of their floor sweeping bows.

"Hey, no problem. It happens." Jack grimaced at Carter’s unhappy, but resigned expression while the two harem boys were checking out their slipper tops. Thankfully Daniel had enough sense to stay silent and out of harm’s way. He had cautiously moved to stand behind Teal’c. Jack again wondered about the chocolate bars. A bribe was definitely going to be needed if he even wanted to make it to the gate on the trip home.

"Then, if we are of an accord, let us retire to the Chamber of Words." Talmac gestured towards the far wall where a section of the seemingly seamless wall parted to reveal a hallway.

Daniel’s natural curiosity and indignation at being classified as a child, to be left behind during the part of the mission that was his specialty, overrode his admittedly weak sense of self-preservation and tact. "Jack! I’m not going to stay behind like some insolent child being punished for bad behavior. I’m the linguist here. It’s my job. I should be there during the talks."

"I know that, Daniel. But in any situation like this you know its best to give in to the cultural mores and values of the people we’re attempting to negotiate with unless it risks someone’s life. You’ve told me that a dozen times. I think I just forfeited my life a few minutes ago in exchange for protecting yours. So calm down and just accept it. These people look at you as too young and inexperienced to be included in formal discussions, and that’s it." Jack could see the hurt and disappointment in the young man’s face and body language. The familiar wrapped arms and strained swallows as Daniel pushed back the rejection in the message that he wasn’t good enough to do the job. His job.

Jack sighed and rested an arm across Daniel’s hunched shoulders, rubbing gently at the tense neck under his hand. "Take the opportunity to learn about them from the kids. Explore the kiddie palace. Work on figuring out the symbols, get Draco to talk to you. If anyone can beat down a person’s resistance to conversation, you can. If only to make the other guy tell you to shut up."

A small smile peeked up at him through long shaggy bangs and Jack couldn’t resist the need to ruffle the hair back out of Daniel’s face. "Besides, it looks like we’ll be sitting on the floor for these talks, and I’m not so sure your butt could tolerate it. Mine’s already numb at the thought of it. All you need to do to prove their estimation of your age is to squirm through hours of negotiations like a five year old on caffeine overdrive."

Serious blue eyes cast a hard glare up at Jack. "And whose fault is that?"

"Yours." A warning glare made Daniel’s mouth snap shut and his eyes darted away. "You were the one with the attitude problem. I just helped you adjust it, little boy, and I’ll do it again if this conversation doesn’t come to an abrupt halt right now. We have a job to do. Go research the species, play with the kids, or work on learning the language. Use that overdeveloped brain power of yours."

One last ruffle of hair and Jack turned to find Draco waiting and listening nearby. "I’ll be less than pleased if he isn’t right where I left him and in the same condition I left him in when I get back." Jack tipped the end of his P90 in an unsubtle threat and walked away to join the others, never tearing his eyes away from Draco’s until he was forced to enter the hall.

Draco smiled and bowed his acceptance of the challenge. He admired a man who was confident enough to offer open threats in such a casual, assured tone. The hard, unforgiving stare in the brown eyes promised retribution from the very depths of their owner’s soul. This young one was indeed much beloved to inspire such deadly affection. Draco grinned wider and shepherded his newest charge reluctantly toward the children’s playroom.

*************

Continued in Part 2