The Darnedest Things, Stargate SG1, PG-13

[phantisma]

fandom: Stargate SG-1
title: The Darnedest Things
Characters: Daniel Jackson, Samantha Carter, Cameron Mitchell, Vala Mal Doran, Teal'c, Jack O'Neill
Word Count: 7221
Rating: PG-13 (minor language)
Summary: When Daniel disappears on a planet with a questionable scientific culture, Cameron Mitchell gets a sinking feeling. When they find Daniel's jacket, boots and pants, he assumes the worst...but when a little boy is found in Daniel's t-shirt, incosolable and demanding they find his Jack, Cameron realizes that no matter how much he's read about SG-1, he wasn't prepared forthis.

A/Ns & Warnings: So, this is deaged Daniel (which, yes, I've done before, but once it got started, it wouldn't go away). This is
badfalcon's fault and it's a good job I adore her. No real warnings to speak of. Early season 9 ish.



"Carter." Mitchell beckoned her with his fingers also, pulling her away from the alien eggheads she was conferring with, her face filled with question. "Have you seen Jackson today?"

She frowned, shaking her head a little. "No, but he was supposed to go with Lenta over to the Archives this morning."

"Damn." He sighed and looked around them, holding up his hand as the collected Glonai scientists looked up at him. "He never showed, he's not in his room and he's not answering his radio." General O'Neill was going to kill him. Dead.

"Have you checked with Teal'c or Vala?"

"Neither of them have seen him either."

"That doesn't sound very good."

"Tell me about it. General O'Neill is going to bust my ass back down to private."

Sam smiled and put a hand on his arm. "I’m sure Daniel is fine. He's just…Daniel. He probably just found something to read and hasn't come up for air."

Mitchell nodded, trying to make himself believe that, but he had a sneaking suspicion something was wrong. "I'll start back tracking, figure out who saw him last and when."

"I'll finish up here and join you." Sam glanced over her shoulder at the waiting scientists.

"Anything promising?"

She sighed and shrugged a little. "They…don't really have the best scientific method and they tend to ignore basic safety and morality issues…" She sighed again. "A lot of promise, not as much cohesive follow through I'm afraid."

"So no cool toys to take home to for show and tell?"

"Possibly, but they all need a lot of work."

Teal'c appeared at the door with Vala beside him and Mitchell turned toward them. "Okay, Jackson, where the hell are you?"

"Colonel Mitchell."

Cameron pressed the button on the radio, pulling Vala away from a store display with his other hand. "Go ahead, Teal'c."

"I have found something."

Vala protested, but he shoved her toward the door. "We're on our way." They had split up in their search of the streets surrounding the government housing they had been given for their overnight stay. The late afternoon sun was hot as they rounded the corner to the place where Teal'c was holding a teenager by the scruff of the neck. A teenager who was wearing Jackson's jacket.

"I observed this boy as I exited the building. He will not tell me his name."

"Where'd you get the jacket?" Cameron asked, reaching out to touch the name panel. The boy flinched away, his hand moving defensively.

"It's mine. I found it."

Mitchell glanced up at Teal'c who lifted an eyebrow. "I’m not saying you can't keep it, I just want to know where you found it."

He looked between them nervously, then pointed. "Over there."

"Why don't you show us? Teal'c?"

Teal'c turned the boy and they crossed the street, down a few buildings. The kid pointed to a pile of trash. "It was just lying there. I found it, I keep it."

"Yeah, kid, fine. Teal'c, let him go."

As soon as he was released, the boy took off at a run. Mitchell frowned at the trash. "Okay, spread out. See if you can find anything."

"Cameron, this is Sam."

"Go ahead, Sam."

"Any luck?"

He followed Teal'c down the street, his eyes sweeping for any sign. "We found a kid with Jackson's jacket. No sign of him yet though."

"So…not just Daniel being Daniel?" Sam asked, worry creeping into her voice.

"I'm thinking no." He spotted something green down an alley and snapped his fingers to get Teal'c's attention, pointing him toward it.

"Counsellor Graton has volunteered to put his picture out to their national media and law enforcement."

"At this point, Sam, that might not be a bad idea." Cameron felt his stomach clench as Teal'c emerged from the shadows with a pair of military issue pants and Vala came from further up the street holding two boots. "Whatever has happened isn't good."

The doors to the train opened and he huddled a little deeper into the seat, trying to hide how afraid he was. Nothing was right and he didn't understand any of it. In fact, he only knew exactly three things: His name was Daniel, he needed to find Jack and he was very, very lost.

The world outside the train window was getting dark again and still, none of it looked familiar.

He pulled the shirt that covered him down further over his legs and wiped at his nose.

A woman was looking at him as the train started moving again. She didn't look as scary as the one that tried to grab him on the street, the one who kept calling him Logan and wanting him to come home with her, but still, he didn't know her. He looked away, out the window, fighting back more tears.

"Is it okay if I sit here?"

Her voice was soft and Daniel sort of nodded, squeezing himself closer to the window. "Are you okay?" He nodded again, but didn't look at her. "Are you alone?"

He wasn't sure he should answer her, but he knew he needed help. "I'm looking for my Jack."

She smiled. "Where is your Jack?"

He frowned, biting his lip. He didn't know for sure. He couldn't remember. "I don't know." Tears leaked out of his eyes again and he sucked his thumb into his mouth for comfort.

"What is your name?" she asked softly.

"I'm Daniel." He said it around his thumb,

"It is very nice to meet you, Daniel. I'm Mirim. Would you like me to help you find your Jack?"

He pulled his thumb out of his mouth and dropped his feet off the seat. "Can you? Do you know where he is?"

"I don't know where he is, but I bet that together we can find him. How about you tell me where you last saw him?"

"There was a room with people in it, and uniforms and…." He tried to focus on the memory, but it slipped away, leaving him with just the image of Jack. "I don't remember."

She touched his shoulder. "It's okay Daniel. That helps. But I think we're on the wrong train. We should get off here at the next stop and catch one going into the city, okay?"

"Is that where he is?"

"We'll find out, okay?"

Daniel nodded, letting her take his hand as the train came to a stop. His socks were slippery on the floor of the train and when they stepped out it was windy and cold. Mirim walked him toward a shelter and picked him up to stand on the bench inside it. "Where are your shoes?"

Daniel shrugged, his thumb back in his mouth.

"Okay, here comes our train. Let's go find your Jack."

"We need to report back to Landry, get some more boots on the ground." Mitchell said, his face clearly indicating he wished otherwise.

"I'm sure that the Glonai aren't going to like that." Vala observed.

"Well, tough. We found Daniel's blood on the ground by those boots. At this point I think it's safe to say that something isn't good here."

"We don't know that it was Daniel's blood." Sam countered. "But I agree, we need help. And we're due to check in in a few hours anyway." Her misgivings about the Glonai as well, but they could handle those concerns once they found Daniel. So far the police had found nothing, and the media campaign had been playing on all of the news outlets for several hours. Nothing more had turned up since they'd found Daniel's clothes.

"Colonel Cater."

She put a smile on her face that she didn't actually feel and turned to face the approaching Counsellor. "Counselor Graton, is there news?"

"Perhaps, perhaps." He looked them over, nodding to himself. "I have received word from a local police headquarters that they believe they may have found your Dr. Jackson."

"May?" Cameron asked, moving closer. "May have found? Believe? It isn't that hard, either they found him or they didn't."

"In my experience, Colonel Mitchell, things are seldom that specifically one thing or another. Things get complicated."

"How complicated?" Sam asked. "And where is Daniel?"

The Counsellor gestured for them to follow, leading them away from the terminals where the Glonai scientists had been doing their best to impress her and largely succeeded in making her think that none of the Glonai were born with the common sense and self preservation instincts of a third grader. He led them through a hall and down a corridor, ushering them into an office.

A woman sat in a chair near the desk, a young boy of maybe five in her lap. He was dressed in nothing but an oversized t-shirt and a pair of socks, sucking his thumb. He turned his tear stained face into the woman's shoulder, his little body shuddering.

Sam looked to the Counsellor for explanation, but he only gestured back to the woman and the boy. She frowned and took a step closer. The socks were too big and one was nearly falling off. The shirt was a man's size, and unlike anything the Glonai wore. Sam squatted beside the chair reaching out a hand to touch his arm gently. "Hey, it's okay."

"Sam?" She held up her hand to hold Cameron off while she assessed the situation.

The boy raised his head, his blue eyes finding hers. "S-sam?"

She nodded, glancing up at the woman and back. "That's right, I'm Sam. What's your name?"

He looked like he might cry again and his voice was barely audible when he said, "Daniel."

"I found him on my train on my way home from work," the woman said softly. "He was looking for someone named Jack?"

"Sam, are you going to tell me what's going on?" Cameron asked.

She stood, turning back to Cameron and the Counsellor. "I don't know how or why, but I think…." She shook her head because it was just impossible.

"Spit it out."

"I think that is Daniel."

"No, that is a little boy. The last I checked, Daniel was a full grown man."

"Last you checked." Sam agreed. "It would explain why you found his boots and pants and jacket." She turned back to the boy. "Daniel, can I see your knees?"

She squatted next to him again and pulled the t-shirt up enough that she could see his scrapped up knees. "And that explains the blood you found. He probably fell when his boots were suddenly too big."

"No." Cameron touched her shoulder, pulling her back. "You are not suggesting that that is Daniel Jackson."

"That shirt is standard SG issue, look at his face, his eyes." Sam shook her head. "I'm not saying I know how…but yeah, I think he might be."

"I want my Jack." The boy was crying again, thumb back in his mouth.

"He's not here." Sam said, cringing as that made him start wailing. "Daniel, Daniel, listen to me. We can find him, we can get him here. But I need you to calm down."

There was a break in his cries and Sam exhaled slowly. "It's going to take a little time, okay?"

"Want him now."

"I know." She turned to Cameron and Teal'c. "I think we should send Teal'c back to the gate, send a message to General Landry, get General O'Neill here."

"Is that wise?" Teal'c asked. "If this indeed Daniel Jackson, we have not yet determined the cause of his condition."

"I WANT JACK!" Daniel screamed, jumping off the woman's lap.

"Just do it." Sam said. "Whatever it takes to get the General here."

"Except telling him that this happened." Cameron amended.

Teal'c left and Sam turned back to Daniel. "Okay, Teal'c went to get Jack for you. Now, I need you to calm down."

"Daniel, do you remember what I told you when I found you?" the woman asked gently, drawing Daniel back to her. He nodded, his eyes big. "I promised you that I would make sure you were safe and that we'd find the people who could get you home." He nodded again, calming some, though he was still crying.

Sam went to sit on the floor beside him. "Daniel, can you tell me what happened?"

He shook his head, shoving his thumb between his lips. "Do you know who I am?"

"Sam." He said it around his fingers and she nodded.

"Do you remember me?"

He squinted at her, as if he was trying to remember. "You know Jack. You call him Sir."

She smiled at him. "Good. Now what about these guys?" She pointed behind her at Cameron and Vala.

His eyes went wide and he shook his head. "Okay, that's okay Daniel. They're friends too." She could see he was moving back toward the edge of a meltdown. "I bet you're hungry. Why don't we go get you something to eat, and maybe a nice warm bath?"

He looked skeptical, and reached for the woman's hand. "Can Mirim come too?"

Sam smiled and nodded. "Of course she can." She stood. "Cameron, we're going to go back to my room. See if you can get us some food brought up, and maybe the Counsellor can find us some clothes that will fit him better?"

Sam took Daniel's other hand and together she and Mirim walked him back to the small apartment the Counsellor had given her the day before. It had a sitting room and a bedroom with a spacious bathroom. "It might take Cameron a little bit with that food, why don't we start you with that bath?"

She went into the bedroom and started filling the tub, letting the water run while she found towels. "Okay, Daniel." She stepped aside as Daniel looked at the water, then up at her. "Do you need me to help?"

He shook his head. "I can do it."

"Okay, Mirim and I will be just out in the other room. Call us if you need help." She stepped out of the bathroom to give him some privacy and drew Mirim back out into the front room. "So, Mirim, thank you."

Her smile was warm. "He looked so lost. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter. And I don't know how, exactly, but that little boy in there is Dr. Daniel Jackson."

Mirim nodded. "The police said that you were visitors here, from the Portal?"

"Yes, we come from a planet we call Earth. We are hoping to establish trade relations with your government, but …I'm not sure it's the wisest partnership."

"Because of what has happened to Daniel?" Mirim moved to the soft couch and sat. "I can't say that I blame you. Far too many of my colleagues take the lack of government oversight as permission to explore scientific questions that are better left alone."

"So I'm noticing." She had said as much to several of the excited scientists presenting their work to her. Just because something can be done, doesn't necessarily mean that it should be done. "Does your government really have no laws or even guidelines about what kind of experiments are legal?"

Mirim sighed, folding her hands in her laps. "It is generally felt that the creativity of scientists should not be held to artificial boundaries. The government only steps in when an invention or discovery is ready to go to market. Then they determine who it can be sold too and sets the starting market value."

"On Earth there are regulations and a certain morality that govern our sciences. For example, what happened to Daniel would never have happened. I can't even extrapolate what happened because no one would ever consider such technology."

"No one on your world ever wishes they could relive their lives? To try again?"

"I'm sure that they do, but the idea that it might be possible would never be considered, no one would take the concept seriously enough to try."

"Obviously we do not have problems with imagining such things." She sighed again. "I am afraid I can do little to be of assistance. My area of expertise is mechanical sciences, not physical."

There was a knock on the door and Cameron preceded a tray of food into the room. "The Counsellor sends his apologies, and this…" He handed Sam a pile of cloth that turned out to be a child sized pair of pants and a shirt. "He said he would compile a list of possible suspects and get back to us."

"I should take my leave. By now my husband must be worried I am sleeping at my lab again. It will be daylight soon." Mirim said, standing.

"Thank you again for helping him." Sam said.

"Take care of him." Mirim nodded to Cameron in passing and the servant carrying the tray of food followed her out.

"Now what?" Cameron asked.

Sam shook her head and sank to the couch. "We…figure it out…same as always."

"This isn't exactly same as always material." Cameron said, sinking down beside her.

"Not exactly, no." Sam agreed.

"General O'Neill is going to bust me down to private for this." Cameron sighed, closing his eyes and leaning his head back.

"It's not your fault." Sam comforted.

"We can fix this, right Sam?" Cameron asked, turning to look at her.

She wished she could assure him that they would, but the truth was, whatever science had caused this was something she couldn't even begin to understand, not without seeing the work and talking to whoever created it…and even then she wasn't sure. "I don't know. I just don't know."

Everything was wrong and he didn't like it. He wanted to go home, but he couldn't remember where home was or why he wasn't there, and he still wanted Jack. The clothes Sam had given him were strange and the food tasted funny and the tall guy scared him.

Not as much as the other guy, the one who went to get his Jack, but enough. He yawned and played with the food on his plate.

"What is taking so long?"

"General O'Neill was in Washington, Cam. It takes time to get back to the SGC when he doesn't have Daedelus or Prometheus to beam him there." Sam said. "I'm more upset that the Counsellor hasn't come up with anyone for me to talk to about this." She turned to look at Daniel, sighing. "You really need to eat something, Daniel."

He wrinkled his nose. "It tastes funny."

"He's not wrong." Cameron said, holding up his hands when Sam looked at him.

"Okay, how about getting some sleep then?"

Fear pounded through him and he shook his head, climbing up onto the couch to get further away from her. "Not until I see my JACK!" He didn't mean to scream, but once he started he couldn't seem to stop. "JACK! I WANT JACK!"

Sam came toward him, but he jumped away, over the low table where the food was, his voice bouncing around them. "NO! I WANT JACK! I WANT JACK!"

The door opened and the big man with the funny symbol on his forehead appeared, making Daniel stop. "What's with all the screaming?"

He knew that voice. Daniel turned as the big guy moved and behind him was Jack. "JACK!" He threw himself at the man, still screaming, grabbing his leg and trying to climb up it.

Jack looked down at the boy trying to climb him, then over to Sam and Mitchell.

Cameron held up his hands. "Sir I can explain!"

At the same Time, Sam was talking to the boy in a soothing tone, trying to get him to calm down. "I told you we'd find him, Daniel."

And the boy was still trying to climb up Jack's leg, his tear streaked face upturned, his voice cracking as he yammered about being scared and couldn't find him and---"Wait. Carter, did you just call him Daniel?"

She stepped back, biting her lip and dropping her hands to her side. "Yes, sir. I did."

"As in...Daniel."

She pressed her lips together and nodded. "Yes, sir."

Jack turned his eyes to Mitchell who opened his mouth, then closed it again immediately. Jack reached for the boy, lifting him up onto his hip without ever taking his eyes off the Lt. Colonel. "Would you care to explain to me why in the world my archaeologist is a five year old boy?"

"Sir...I..."

Jack glared, taking a step closer. "For fuck's sake, Mitchell, it's only your fifth mission."

The boy had calmed down considerably now that Jack was holding him. He took his fingers out of his mouth and whispered, "You said a bad word."

Jack grinned at him and nodded. "I did, didn't I?" The boy nodded, his eyes big. "Sometimes I do that when I'm upset.

"Are you upset?" he asked, looking at Mitchell as if it must be his fault if Jack was upset.

"I am upset." Jack said, his eyes back on Carter and Mitchell. "I was having breakfast with the President when I was told I was urgently needed at the SGC, and while I got to ride on Air Force One, no one would tell me why I was urgently needed and then I was sent to this planet with no idea why and when I walk in here, you are screaming my name and you're a five year old boy. Something that someone maybe should have told me before I got here."

"I'm not always five." Daniel said. "The man made me five."

Carter looked surprised. "What man?"

Daniel took a deep breath, shuddering a little. "I sawed him outside and he yelled and said I shouldn't be there." He turned to Jack and pointed to his knee. "I fell when I tried to run away. I scrapped my knees. You can't see it because she found me pants."

"Sir, that's more than he's said since we found him." Carter said.

"Sometimes it just takes the right person, right Daniel?" Daniel threw his arms around Jack and hugged him tightly. "Okay, Danny, okay. I'm here. I've got you." He moved into the room, over to the couch, rearranging Daniel's legs as he sat, ending up with the boy in his lap, still clinging to Jack's neck. He stroked a hand down Daniel's back gently as he looked up to Carter. "Okay, now it's your turn."

She opened her mouth, then closed it again. "I…sir, I don't know what to say. I don't know what happened or how. These people…they treat science like we do art…anything goes. They're not even sure who could have possibly been working on something that would do….this." She gestured at Daniel.

"Well, then I suggest you and Mitchell go and help them figure it out. Daniel and I are just going to hang out here."

Jack rubbed Daniel's back, working very hard to not think too much about the fact that the five year old in his lap was Daniel at all. He'd seen his fair share of strange in this job, but this was one step beyond anything he'd seen.

"Jack?"

"Hmmm?"

Daniel looked up at him and it was impossible to deny that those eyes belonged to the archaeologist Jack knew so well. "I want to go home."

The sadness in his voice was enough to cut through any of Jack's doubts and he hugged the boy close. "I know you do. Soon okay?"

"I can go home with you?"

Jack smiled at him. "Wouldn't you rather go back to your own home? Once Carter figures out how to turn you back?"

Daniel shook his head, his thumb creeping up to his mouth again. "I miss you," he said around his thumb, his head on Jack's shoulder.

"Yeah, Danny. I miss you too." Jack whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of his head.

"Counsellor, I'm beginning to think you're deliberately attempting to stall me." Sam said, anger coloring her voice. "Trust me when I tell you that you do not want to get in the way of us figuring this out."

"Colonel, I assure you, we are doing our best. This is clearly an unregistered project, it is difficult to track if the project is not voluntarily registered."

"Sam." Mitchell touched her shoulder and she turned, just as Teal'c dragged two men into the room, with Vala practically dancing behind them.

"Colonel Mitchell, Colonel Carter, I believe these two men might know what happened to Daniel Jackson." Teal'c said.

"Teal'c, how did you …" Mitchell gestured at the men.

It was Vala that answered. "Well, I thought that maybe some less formal poking about might yield better results, and I found this one…" She grabbed the arm of the shorter of the two. "…in a bar not far from where we found Daniel's clothes talking about his brother's work having a major breakthrough two nights ago."

"I take it this is the brother?" Sam asked, looking at the taller, and clearly older man.

"Meet Draken and Arkin." Vala said, frowning. "Or is it the other way around?"

"I am Arkin, " the older of them said. "And I demand you release us at once."

"Not so fast." Mitchell said, moving closer. "We need answers."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Arkin said defiantly.

"I'm talking about a grown man that you somehow turned into a five year old boy." Mitchell said.

Arkin tried to pretend he still didn't understand, but Sam saw the start of the smirk. "Counsellor, I believe this is the man we need to talk to. I want to see all of his research, any prototypes he's built, everything."

"You can't do that!" Arkin struggled against Teal'c's hold on him, but got nowhere.

"You performed an unsanctioned trial on an unwilling human subject, I think you will find we can do far more than confiscate your materials." The Counsellor summoned two guards to relieve Teal'c of the men. "Separate them, make sure they can not escape. I want them properly identified and teams sent to any and all spaces where they might be keeping information." The Counsellor turned to Sam and Mitchell. "And now, Colonel Carter, you will see the full weight of our laws."

Sam let herself into the apartment, exhausted and in desperate need of sleep and food and a shower. General O'Neill was still on the couch, his head tipped back against the cushion, Daniel curled up on his lap, thumb in his mouth. She shut the door as quietly as she could, tip toeing into the bedroom. She really wanted to lay down, but she had too much work left to do, so she headed into the bathroom instead, stripping down and stepping in under the stream of water, letting it wash over her and hoping it took some of the fatigue with it.

She let it run cold, shivering slightly when she stepped out and toweled off so that she could re-dress. She emerged from the bedroom to get her brush from her pack which was still by the door where she'd dropped it when it became apparent that they weren't actually leaving.

"Hey." Colonel O'Neill's voice was soft, drawing her attention as he lifted his head.

"I'm sorry, I was trying not to wake you."

"What time is it?"

"Late, middle of the night." Sam pulled the brush through her wet hair and dropped it back into her pack. "You'd probably be more comfortable in the bed."

"Didn't expect to still be here." He rolled his head, cracking his neck. "Here, help me with him."

Sam crossed to them and bent down, getting her hands under Daniel and lifting his little frame. He whimpered, one hand reaching out for Jack, who followed, grimacing as he stood. Sam stepped back and carried Daniel into the bedroom, letting Jack get around her to pull down the blankets. She eased Daniel down, holding her breath as he shifted and stretched, then rolled toward the center of the bed.

They both watched for a minute to make sure he was going to stay asleep, then quietly withdrew back to the front room, pulling the door mostly closed. "So?"

She nodded and exhaled. "Well, we found the man responsible, but so far I'm not making a lot of sense out of his research. This guy makes Felger look like Einstein." She stifled a yawn and shook her head. "I should get back to it."

"How long since you slept?"

"I'll be fine, Sir."

"That isn't what I asked."

"It's been…a while," she admitted, largely because in her current state she couldn't quite remember how long it had been.

"Get some sleep. The work will be there in the morning."

"Sir, I--"

He pointed to the bedroom. "That's an order, Colonel."

She knew better than to argue when his voice took that tone, so she nodded. "What about you, sir?"

"I'll take the couch."

"If he wakes up and you're not there…" She looked into the bedroom and back at him. "Sir, the bed is big enough for all three of us." For a minute she thought he was going to argue, but he just nodded and they both moved back into the bedroom, pausing to remove shoes before they slipped in on either side of him.

Sam was asleep in moments, dropping into the refreshing darkness despite the looming consequences of failure.

There were voices and for a moment, Sam wasn't sure where she was, inhaling as she sat up and opened her eyes. The last few days shifted into place and she stood, padding toward the living room. General O'Neill and Colonel Mitchell were sitting on the couch, with Daniel between them.

"…there was a lot of sand there and a big triangle building and we met people who talked funny."

General O'Neill looked up and nodded to her. "Daniel was just telling us about the first time we went through the Stargate."

Sam frowned. "He remembers that?"

"Not a lot of detail, but overall images, it seems."

"When we first found him the only thing he remembered was you." Sam said, crossing her arms.

"If I'm not mistaken, he's grown a bit overnight too." Cameron said.

Sam looked at Daniel again and she could see what Cameron meant. He was at least an inch taller than he had been before. "That's a good sign." Sam said. "It means this likely isn't permanent."

"Does that mean I can go home?" Daniel asked.

"Maybe, not just yet. But very soon, I hope. I should get back to the lab."

She got her shoes on, pausing on her way back through the front room. "I…can't promise anything."

Colonel O'Neill came to her, touching her shoulder. "You'll figure it out. Meanwhile, Mitchell tells me that the Counsellor is taking us to some…park. Keep the boy entertained."

"Have fun, sir. I'll let you know if I find anything."

She bit her lip as she walked through the building, past offices and down the staircase to the lab where the Glonai techs had replicated the lab Arkin had been working in. The Glonai scientist assigned to help her was already there, her long black hair pinned back as she bent over a microscope. "Good morning, Alai."

"Ah, Colonel Carter. I hope you don't mind, I thought I'd get started analyzing the slides we found."

"Good. Find anything?"

She gestured to the microscope. "Have a look."

Sam peered into the microscope at the frozen tissue sample. "What am I looking at?"

"This is the fifth sample in the lot, taken approximately two hours after the treatment was administered."

"Okay, I can see the changes." These slides had been from his first test on a living organism. "So, this indicates the change is gradual, but radical."

Alai nodded. "It reaches full affectivity at around two hours, but as I was sorting through his notes, it occurred to me that there had been no indication of permanence. He logs this experiment as only a partial success, and stops taking tissue samples after the first ten hours."

Sam sat back from the microscope. "We are seeing some changes in Daniel that might indicate that he is also reverting, albeit slowly."

"I ran some of the numbers we found yesterday, and I don't see how the change can be sustained without a secondary process." Alai said, holding up a stack of notepads. "Unless there's research beyond this that we haven't found in this mess." She made a disgusted noise and dropped the books, shaking her head. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't get so upset. I can't stand dabblers like this idiot. They can't get a real job in a real lab, so they dabble on the side and they create the most asinine things and then they get all the fame and glory and we get all the work cleaning up the mess and documenting the process properly so that the government can regulate the use of the….whatever. It's frustrating."

"I would be just as frustrated. Maybe it's time your government starts to think about getting out in front of it, you know? Put together some law to govern some of the murkier points? "

"Don't think we haven't made that argument before." She shook her head. "The way it's supposed to work is that these weekend scientists are supposed to submit documentation and a testing plan when they reach a certain point, particularly when their testing requires living subjects. Most of them know that the way to get the media coverage is to go big instead, get a volunteer and next thing you know, they're on all the talk shows and some government grunt like me is spending their overtime trying to piecemeal their documentation into something cohesive for the patent committee."

"Wait, did you say this sample was from two hours into the experiment?"

Alai nodded. "Why?"

Sam bit her lip. "And what was his test subject, exactly?"

"His brother's pet."

"So not human."

"What are you thinking?"

"The timeline doesn't fit. Daniel lost his clothes not far from where Vala found the brother, and just a few blocks from where the police found his lab. It wouldn't have taken Daniel two hours to walk that distance."

"Perhaps he altered the potency?" Alai offered.

"But then we have no way of knowing how that will affect the reversion rate."

"Unless we can figure out how he altered it."

Sam nodded. "Okay, you keep digging here. I'm going to see if the Counsellor will let me speak to Arkin again."

"I hope you made coffee." Daniel grumbled as he shuffled out into the kitchen, his pajama pants slung low and his robe falling from his shoulders. "And so help me god, Jack, if you make another crack about it stunting my growth, I will break the pot over your head."

Jack looked up from his own cup of coffee and the paper, watching the decidedly teenaged body as Daniel pulled a mug out of the cupboard. He chose to stay silent until Daniel was sitting across from him, cradling the cup. "Did you get any sleep?"

Daniel sipped at the coffee and then pinched the bridge of his nose. "Some. Most of it filled with dreams…I think…You were the one tortured by Ba'al, not me, right?"

Jack nodded, sitting back and wishing, not for the first time, he could somehow make this easier on Daniel. "You got to watch though, tried to get me to Ascend."

Daniel was quiet for a while, his eyes on his coffee mug. "We supposed to go see Dr. Lam today?" he asked softly a few minutes later.

"If you're up for it." Jack responded.

"I'm going to shower." He left his coffee cup half full and shuffled off to the bathroom. Jack had listened to him restlessly tossing, groaning when the pain that came with the nearly constant growth was too much, walking the hall just to try to exhaust himself enough to sleep. It had been eight days since they determined that there was nothing they could do but wait it out, five since Doctor Lam released Daniel to come back to his own place to rest, with the condition that they come in every few days for a check up.

Mitchell had volunteered for the babysitting duty, but Jack had some leave saved up and he couldn't get the sound of little five year old Daniel's voice saying that he'd missed him out of his head, so he'd stayed, taking the spare bedroom and keeping watch as Daniel's body grew and his memory returned.

The truth was, he hadn't been around much since his promotion. It was too hard honestly. Watching Mitchell take his team through the gate, knowing his time was long over and he'd never be able to go back to how it had been. So he'd withdrawn. He didn't call.

Daniel never said anything, not until he was turned into a five year old boy with no filter between his brain and his mouth…but having spent this last week and a few days with him, Jack knew it was his own fault. And it was something he meant to fix once he was back in Washington.

But first he had to get them to the place where he could leave again. Daniel's memory was nearly fully back, even if he was stuck in the body of a fourteen to fifteen year old. There was at least another growth spurt to come, and judging by the amount of pain Daniel had dealt with in the previous twenty four hours, it was a good bet it would come tonight.

Jack finished his coffee as he heard the shower turn off, getting up to fill a travel mug for Daniel. When Daniel emerged, his hair still damp, they headed for the door without speaking. They drove in silence until Jack parked. "I should check in with Landry." Jack said, grabbing a stack of files he needed to return to the General.

"Yeah, fine."

They separated ways as Daniel got off to head to the infirmary, both hands in his pockets and eyes on the floor. Jack shook off the feeling that he'd done something wrong and headed to Landry's office, dropping the files on the desk and dropping into one of the chairs with a sigh.

"That sounds decidedly like a man with a teenager." Landry said, smirking.

Jack rubbed over his face. "A teenager with the memories of a lifetime and years' worth of growth every night, not to mention the insomnia and nightmares."

"How's he doing?"

Jack shook his head. "Better than I would be in his place. He's down with Dr. Lam now." He scratched at the back of his head and sighed again. "At least he's mostly back into his own clothes, needs a belt for his scrawny ass, but it's better than having to buy him new clothes every day."

"How about his memory?"

Jack shrugged. "He's still got holes and he gets confused sometimes, but overall, he's mostly back to himself. Hopefully a few more days and everything should be normal again."

Landry snorted. "Whatever normal is around here."

"How's it going?" Sam asked, making Daniel stiffen and count to three before he exhaled.

"I wish everyone would stop asking me that."

"I meant on the translation."

Daniel looked up, frowning at her. "Oh. Yeah, sorry. It's…frustrating." He took his glasses off and dropped them onto his notebook. "It's all slippery and even when I think I've got it…"

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself." Sam said, leaning on the table that held a plethora of artifacts he was attempting to decipher. "It's been a rough couple of weeks."

"I know, and I'm still not one hundred percent me." Daniel groused with a grimace. "Last night I couldn't remember the name of the street I live on. This morning it was how to make coffee." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "At least my body is more or less normal."

Sam grinned at him. "Yeah, you look like the you I met nine years ago."

He huffed and rolled his eyes. "The random not remembering stuff is getting on my nerves. I can remember sunrise on Abydos. I can remember the smell of her hair, the way she smiled, the way she said my name…but suddenly I won't be able to remember her name, or that she died…and then…it's like losing her all over again." He closed his eyes and turned away. "And wow, I didn't mean to say that. I'm sorry."

"Daniel, it's okay." Sam comforted.

"Dr. Lam says my bloodwork is all normal, and that it should only be a few more days before I'm…me. Jack has gone back to Washington. I have to admit, it was nice having him around for a while."

"I thought you might like to know that the Glonai are proposing some pretty sweeping reforms in their next general election. "

"For all the good it will do." Daniel picked his glasses up and put them on again. "I hope you don't expect me to get excited that we're establishing trade with them."

"They do have some remarkable tech--"

"They made me five, Sam." Daniel shook his head. "I know I haven't said much about it, but I was terrified." He could still feel it when he thought about those first moments after it happened. "It was so loud and dark, and I didn't know who I was, or where I was and all I could think about was being safe and warm." And in his mind, safe and warm had meant Jack. Even when he wasn't entirely sure who exactly Jack was. His face and his name remained.

"I can't even imagine what it must have been like." Sam said softly.

His memory shifted to his behavior just before Jack showed up. "I'm sorry I was a bit of a brat."

She shook her head. "You were fine."

"The best part though was the look on Mitchell's face when Jack asked him to explain why I was five years old." Daniel said.

Sam chuckled, glancing over her shoulder as if expecting Mitchell to suddenly appear. "He was pretty freaked out."

"Yeah, um. Jack told me that he warned Cameron that he had better not lose me, get me shot or dead or let me get otherwise 'messed up' and he was pretty stern when he said it."

Sam snorted. "Yeah, because Cameron is going to stop you from being you?"

"See, that's what I said." Daniel agreed. "Thank you. I am feeling so much better."

She grinned. "Good. Now that you look old enough to buy beer, you want to grab a drink with me?"

"You know what, that sounds good. Better than this hu'rasch anyway."

"Hu'rasch?"

"Huh, been trying to remember that word all day. It means 'crap' or something close to that."

"See, more you with every minute."

Daniel turned out the light in his office and let go of worrying about the things he didn't remember. He was home and among friends and the rest would sort itself out with time. He only hoped that nothing really important fell through the cracks.