Daddy's Little Girl -- SG-1 - Part the Three
Title: Daddy's Little Girl
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Rating: PG-13 (might ramp up to R at some point, but not for a while)
Characters/Pairings: General Team fic, with appearances by Jack, Landry, Lamm and original characers
Disclaimer: Ain't mine, don't own um...just like playing with them...especially that Danny Boy...
Summary: DJ and Daniel bond over feeling out of place, and DJ makes friends...a little bit of Jack/Daniel hinted at...
This is developing rather slowly...but well...what can I say. More action in the next part, I promise.
First Part, Second Part
At the end of the day, DJ sat in the mess hall with Daniel, looking a little shell shocked after about 10 years of alternative history crammed into 5 hours of show and tell. Her dinner sat untouched in front of her.
“You okay?” Daniel asked gently as he sat next to her with his dessert.
“Hmmm…?” She looked at him distractedly and shrugged. “I’m…dizzy. I think that’s the best word to describe it.” She put her fork down and pressed her hands against her temples. “It’s been a full day.”
“Daniel Jackson. I was told you were looking for me.” Daniel looked up as Teal’c stopped beside the table.
“Teal’c! Yes. I wanted you to meet someone. DJ, this is my very good friend Teal’c, Teal’c this is my daughter, Dr. DJ Moore.”
Teal’c’s left eyebrow arched upwards as he bowed toward her, though his eyes remained on Daniel. “How is this possible?”
“Ah, well. Her mother never told me about her.”
“I see.” Teal’c turned to look at her and bowed again. “Welcome to the SGC, Dr. Moore.”
She smiled her thanks before her face went back to its former thoughtful expression. Teal’c wandered off to get his own meal. Suddenly she looked up again. “Wait. Wait. You-he-that was it, wasn’t it?”
Daniel looked lost. “What?”
“Him, he’s…what did you call it….a Jaf…” She snapped her fingers, looking for the word. “A Jaffa. He’s it, my first encounter with an alien.” She was nearly whispering when she was done and he chuckled.
“Yes, actually, it was. Congratulations.”
“Wow. I’m sorry. I usually have a much bigger vocabulary.”
“Its been a big day. I think we can overlook it.”
“So, let’s say I’m interested. Enough to stay through until I’m supposed to be in England. What’s next?”
Daniel shrugged. “We’d have to check with Landry, but I have a whole room full of artifacts waiting to be deciphered and understood, anyone of which could hold the key to defeating the Ori.”
“I think I’d like that.”
“And what about England?”
“I’m not saying I’m not going. I just want to explore my options.”
“Let’s start by exploring your plate. You should eat.” He looked up as Teal’c rejoined them. “Teal’c can keep you company. I need to find General Landry and make a few phone calls.” He stood, even as Teal’c sat. “Will you be okay?”
“I’m a big girl, Dad.” she said, making a face at him. “I’ve gotten by on my own for a long time. And look, you left me a body guard.” She gestured at Teal’c with a smile. “I’ll be fine.”
Daniel rolled his eyes and headed for his office to grab his journal and a few files before heading up to Landry’s office. The door was open, with Cameron Mitchell lounging in the chair in front of the desk, while Landry hung up the phone. “Ah, Dr. Jackson. I was just calling your office.”
“You have Dr. Lamm’s report?” Daniel asked almost breathlessly.
“I do.”
“So, a daughter Jackson? Congratulations.”
Daniel scowled at him as he reached a hand for the file Landry was handing him. “Thank you, I think.”
“Where is she?”
“Eating…with Teal’c.” Daniel flipped open the folder and scanned down the page. Slightly elevated cholesterol. Seasonal allergies. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but after the third scan of the page, he stopped looking and gave the report back to Landry.
“Is she cute?”
“Mitchell!” Daniel looked at him in exasperation. “She’s my daughter!”
Mitchell shrugged. “I just asked if she was cute.”
“You are not hitting on her.” Daniel said. “And yes, she’s cute.”
“If you two are done.” Landry said, looking at each of them in turn. “We have an opportunity for Dr. Moore to do more than look at artifacts.” He thumbed a remote and the TV near his desk came to life. Rocky footage showed ruins, pillars and what looked like a temple of some kind, followed by a village with thatched roofed buildings and a series of standing stones and then a ring of stones that seemed to lead into a cave in the ground. “SG-8 brought home these images from P58-905. According to Lt. Majors, the villagers speak a form of Gaelic. He understood a little of it, but figured you would do better.”
“And DJ would of course, do even better.” He glanced aside at Mitchell. “She speaks Gaelic…I only pick at it.”
“Good to know.”
“Is she ready for something like this?” Landry asked, switching the TV off again.
Daniel shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. She’s pretty overwhelmed right now.”
“I was thinking that SG-1 and SG-4 could go there in three days or so, and take Dr. Moore along for the ride. Dr. Parilla’s leaving for her maternity leave, so SG-4 will be down one linguist. She should fit right in.”
“I’ll run it by her and see what she says.” Daniel said. “Oh, and here’s my preliminary report on the information we’ve deciphered so far on the Glastonbury stuff.” He handed across the file. “Not a lot, but some of it is very hopeful.”
He stood. “I should…get back.”
“I’ll come with. I’d like to meet her.” Cameron stood and saluted Landry, then followed Jackson from the room. “So a daughter, eh? A wild oat you sowed back in the day?”
Daniel smiled. “Yes, it would seem. It’s weird. I keep thinking its some kind of trick, and she’ll turn into a Prior or something when I’m not looking.”
“Not everything in our lives has to do with the Stargate or the SGC or all of this.” Mitchell gestured his arms around for emphasis. “A point I keep trying to make to all of you…you know leave, when you actually…leave?”
“We left.” Daniel said defensively. “I was invited to speak at a symposium in Washington. Sam came with me. That was where DJ found me.”
“See, still working…okay, I’ll give you credit for finding a relative…but what was the first thing you did? Bring her back here. Which-“ he held up his hand when Daniel would have protested, “I agree was the right thing, at least as far as the testing to make sure she wasn’t some Ori trick or something, but that is really part of my point too.” He stopped them both, with a hand on Daniel’s arm. “Was that really your first thought when she told you?”
“Well, no. Not my first. My first thought was ‘No, that can’t be right’ followed closely by ‘no, really…can’t be’…the thought of the Ori was at least tenth.”
“But all within the first 60 seconds?”
Daniel thought about it for a minute. “Yes, actually. Is that…it is…isn’t it?”
“What, twisted?”
“I was going for less than normal myself.”
“It is what it is, Jackson.”
Daniel shook his head and resumed walking. He wouldn’t expect Mitchell to understand. After everything he had seen and done, Daniel Jackson knew it was at least as likely that she was a device of the Ori to destroy them as she was his actual flesh and blood.
The reached the mess hall and stopped short. Teal’c and DJ were laughing. Loudly. Daniel didn’t think he’d ever seen Teal’c do more than chuckle before. It struck him as odd. DJ looked up with tears in her eyes from laughing so hard. “There you are,” she said when she finally caught her breath.
“What’s going on?”
“Dr. Moore was telling me stories of her days in college.” Teal’c responded, folding his hands on the table before him.
“And Teal’c was telling me about his first year here on Earth. It was…”
“Quite humorous.” Teal’c filled in for her.
“What he said.”
“Oh.” Daniel suddenly felt jealous, although he wasn’t sure of what. “Okay.” Beside him Cameron cleared his throat, but before Daniel could respond, he’d reached around the fumbling archeologist to offer his hand to DJ.
“Sorry, I’m Cameron Mitchell, Lt. Colonel and leader of SG-1.”
She took the hand and shook it lightly. “Dr. DJ Moore.”
“What’s the DJ stand for?” Cameron asked.
She blushed a little. “I was named after my father…as much as my mother could. Danielle Jacklyn. But she always called me DJ.”
Daniel chuckled. “That’s what she used to call me too.”
“She never told me that.” She pulled her hair back away from her face and stood. “Thank you Teal’c for keeping me company…but I think I’m going to beg to be taken home for a long soak in a tub of hot water and an early bed. I have some major processing to do.”
“It was my pleasure, Dr. Moore. I look forward to seeing you again.”
She touched his hand in thanks and reached for Daniel’s arm. He was amazed how comfortable it felt there, like they’d walked this way together for a lifetime. “See you two tomorrow,” he called over his shoulder as they walked away. “So, home?” It seemed odd to him, and he briefly panicked to think she meant her home in Washington.
She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. “I am so tired. Home is good.” His fear subsided as he understood her to mean his home.
“Home it is.” Daniel agreed, though their steps were slow. He didn’t mind the looks he was getting from the various SGC personnel. He knew the news would spread fast enough. By the time they came in the next morning the whole base would know.
The morning of her twentieth birthday dawned bright and clear for the first time in days. She had insisted that she didn’t want a fuss, but Daniel wanted her to feel welcome, like a part of his life. It wasn’t meant to be a huge party, just a chance for the important people in his life to get to know her, for her to get to know them.
They had spent so much of her time there working and preparing her for her first off world mission that there had been little time for anything else. She had finally conceded to the party idea to make Daniel happy and as a means to deflect her nervousness about the next day’s mission. He watched her straighten her blouse in the hall mirror, a hand brushing through her hair to tame a stray flyaway. She was nervous, though she’d at least met most of those who were coming.
So much had happened since he’d flown into Washington the week before, seven days that had been a whirlwind of emotion and fear and activity that he still tried very hard not to think about. His feelings toward this woman, this daughter, were complicated…but then what relationship in his life wasn’t complicated?
Still, she’d impressed him with her aptitude, a quick study of language that beat him hands down. Her memory was detailed and incredible. He’d grown comfortable with her in his home, in his office…in his life. Seven days and he already knew he would feel a loss when she left. The ways in which they were different were few and only seemed to make all the similarities mesh together even more.
The doorbell rang and she started, turning toward Daniel. “That will be Teal’c, he’s always punctual.” He reached for the door and she smiled.
Teal’c inclined his head as Daniel stepped aside. He smiled broadly as he spotted DJ and wrapped her in a hug. Together the two moved off into the living room. Daniel couldn’t see, but it looked like Teal’c gave her a small package. Daniel almost closed the door on General Landry who appeared on the doorstep bearing a pink bakery box while Daniel was trying to watch DJ. “Cake.” Landry said in explanation to the unasked question in Daniel’s eyes, before he too moved into the living room.
Daniel was once again closing the door, when the sound of a closing car door stopped him. He stepped out into the cool night air, surprised when he spotted the last two people he’d expected to see. “Cassie! I didn’t know you were in town?”
She grinned and hugged him around the cake box. “I finished up my finals and thought I’d come see Sam. She told me about the party, and the whole daughter thing. I had to come!”
He grinned. “I’m glad you did. Where’d you dig up this old fossil?” He gestured with his chin at Jack who held up one finger in warning.
“At the airport. He gave me a lift.”
“Don’t you have work to do?” Daniel asked and Jack shrugged.
“I’m doing it.”
“Let me take this inside. I can see this is going to take a while.” Cassie took the cake and disappeared in the door. When she was gone, Jack looked around quickly before pressing a brief kiss to Daniel’s forehead.
“Missed you,” he said softly before stepping back.
“I just saw you seven days ago.” Daniel said, but his sly smirk said that he understood. DJ’s advent in their lives had prevented them from a little quiet…or less than quiet, time alone together in Washington.
“I know. Virtually forever.” Jack looked liked he would say more, but Sam’s car pulled up and she and Cameron climbed out. “It’s a party, Daniel. Relax.”
“You just…behave.” Daniel said as Jack waved hello to Sam and Cameron and disappeared into the house. “Hey.” He greeted as Sam hugged him and Cameron handed him a bag.
“We brought beer.” Cameron said, nodding at the bag.
“Good.” Daniel replied. He suddenly could use a beer. “Come on in. General Landry brought cake.”
“Ooh, cake.” Sam said, smiling. “Its always a party when there’s cake.”
Never really a beer drinker, Daniel none-the-less found himself with a beer in his hand, pressed there by Mitchell, then another put there by Jack. He could already feel the buzz in his head. It wasn’t helped by his general discomfort having so many people in his personal space. He found himself standing out of the way, near the table where he could watch the room.
Teal’c and Lt. Jameson were playing some Star Wars game on the Play Station Jack had left behind. DJ was in a corner opposite him with Mitchell and Cassie, her smile bright as they talked animatedly. “You okay?” Sam asked, joining him.
He shrugged. “I hadn’t thought about her mother in nearly twenty years,” he said. “But I can see her mother in her, as if it were yesterday.”
“Memories are funny things.” Sam said, following the path of his eyes to where DJ laughed at something Cameron was saying.
“I didn’t love her.” Daniel said, surprising himself, and trying to hide it behind drinking his beer. “Colleen, I mean. I thought I did. But…” He sighed and shook his head. He should put the beer down, it was clouding his judgment, making the odd melancholy worse. “What do I know about being a father?” It wasn’t like he had any role models for the job.
“You’ll be fine Daniel. She is a wonderful young woman. You should be proud.”
“I am,” he agreed. And, he was. But he was also worried…worried about her going through that gate, and about her not ever getting to….worried about her being some sort of weapon they hadn’t figured out yet…worried that she wasn’t anything other than an ordinary girl looking for the one thing from him he wasn’t sure he was ready to give. “She’s-“
“A lot like you.” Jack finished for him, handing him a new beer. Daniel tried to shake his head no, but Jack insisted and he took it, setting his empty one aside.
“You think so?” he finally asked, his eyes snapping back to DJ who was now watching Teal’c positively destroying Jameson at the game.
“What, you can’t see it?”
“See what?”
“The idealistic, dreamy eyed romantic that you used to be before you started carrying the weight of the world on your back.”
“Not to mention the facial expressions.” Sam chimed in. “And, those eyes.”
“Yeah, those eyes are something.” Jack slapped a look at Daniel that was nearly predatory before he took a swig from his beer. “Not to mention that she apparently dislikes the Simpsons,” he added. “That can only be hereditary.”
Daniel grinned, loosening up a little in the familiar banter. “Or good taste.”
“Heresy!” Jack exclaimed, slapping Daniel’s shoulder.
Sam laughed as Daniel rubbed the spot. “Ow.”
“Drink your beer.” Jack ordered, tipping his own toward his mouth again. “I’m stealing Carter, we have a date with the Play Station.” Jack put his bottle on the table and put both hands on Sam’s shoulders to steer her toward the couch.
“You just want me to get drunk.” Daniel called after him, but he downed a hearty portion of the beer anyway as he watched Teal’c and Jameson abandon the controllers to Jack and Sam.
“Do you always do what he tells you to?” DJ asked playfully, suddenly beside him. She gestured at his beer when he looked at her quizzically.
Daniel looked at the beer and thought about it. “Not if you ask him. He’ll tell you that I never do as I’m told.” He took a long drink and smiled at her. “In fact, he’ll tell you that every time I died, or got captured or all the other stuff it was directly due to the fact that I didn’t do what I was told.”
“So you make up for it in the little things?” She seemed suddenly quiet, withdrawn.
“I suppose.” He set down his bottle beside the decimated cake and the slowly growing graveyard of empty bottles. “Jack is…well, he’s Jack. I spent 8 years under his command, so to speak. There’s something of a pattern ingrained. He says duck, I duck. He says, eat, I eat. He says, get to the gate now….I look for one more artifact to save.”
She smiled. “You trust him.”
“With my life.” Daniel said softly. His eyes strayed to the back of Jack’s head. “Jack made me feel like I belonged somewhere…it was after I came back from being Ascended. I’d never really felt like I belonged. He let me know I did.” Daniel bit his lip, remembering the conversation, the fierceness in Jack’s eyes, the fervent swearing that if Daniel ever tried something like that again, Jack would kill him himself.
“I know that feeling,” she said.
“You do?” Daniel was surprised.
She made a face that crinkled her freckled nose. “I was always kind of on the outside, you know? Mom tried, but I was a kid in an adult world.” She swiped at a strand of hair that had escaped from behind her ear. “And, school was even worse. I swear, I don’t know if I was so out of place because I was so smart, or so smart because I was so out of place that I retreated into books.”
Daniel touched her hand in understanding. “I was out of place for a long time. Every now and then, I still am.” He looked around him at the faces that filled the room, friends…people who made him matter…people that mattered to him. “Point is, I found…I found this.” He held up his hands to encompass the room. “This is my family. It’s where I belong.” He looked back to her. “And now, you’re a part of that.”
She hugged him and he let his arms fold around her, feeling the melancholy slip away a little as the warmth of her embrace reached through the cloud of beer fog. When they both let go, she wiped a tear from her eye. “Thank you.”
Daniel touched her face gently. “Go on, enjoy your party.”
DJ drifted off to the area near the stereo where Mitchell and Teal’c were standing. Daniel exhaled slowly. He was really feeling the beer now. The last thing he needed was a hangover for the morning’s mission. He decided a strategic retreat was in order.
He was stopped on his journey across the living room by General Landry making his goodbyes, then a few of the science guys that had come with Dr. Lee, also making excuses and leaving. Eventually Daniel made the privacy of his bathroom, searching through the medicine cabinet for the aspirin. He swallowed two of them to stave off the inevitable morning headache, then splashed water over his face.
He was startled when he looked up to find Jack in the mirror. “Hey, you good?”
Daniel closed his eyes and swayed a little on his feet. “I’m…”
“Drunk.” Jack snorted. “I thought as much when I saw you weaving and bobbing out there.”
“I’m fine.” Daniel turned from the sink and stumbled over the throw rug. Jack steadied him and laughed.
“Things are breaking up out there. How about I get you settled into bed and help clean up.”
“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of my own party.” Daniel protested, even as Jack lead him into the bedroom and sat him on the bed.
“I know you are.” Jack placated as he knelt to remove Daniel’s shoes. His hands moved up Daniel’s legs until he was holding his slender waist. “But I want you right here.” His kiss was soft, silencing the bubbling protest. “Daniel.”
“Jack?”
“Take off your pants.”
“Yes Jack.”
“That’s my boy.”
Jack got up from the floor, leaning heavily on the bed and steadying Daniel with one hand as he teetered while unbuttoning his jeans. He helped pull off the shirt and tossed it in the general direction of Daniel’s hamper. “Now, lay down.” His voice was firm, guaranteeing compliance from Daniel, though his descent to the bed was clumsy. Jack bent to kiss him again, just letting his tongue slide across those soft lips. “Now, you stay here. I’ll be back.”
Daniel’s eyes were already closed, his breathing shallow. “Promise?”
Jack smiled, though Daniel wouldn’t see it. “Yes, Daniel. I promise.”
“Good.”
Jack left him then, emerging into a living room that was much more deserted than it had been when he’d left it, as if the absence of the two generals had released a valve that let everyone else leave. Cassie and Sam were rounding up empty beer bottles while DJ and Teal’c finished clearing off the table of the remaining food.
He went to clean up the Play Station and the games scattered on the coffee table. It was quick work and when he looked up Cassie was slipping into her light jacket. “I’m crashing at Sam’s.” she said as she caught his eye.
“Good. I’ll come by tomorrow. We can do lunch.”
“I’d like that.” She hugged him and went to stand by the door and Mitchell.
“Night Sir.” Sam said, as she paused there also. “It looks like I get to be team taxi again tonight.”
Teal’c was the last to join them, emerging from the kitchen with DJ behind him and nodding his farewell. Jack smiled and held up a hand to say goodbye. “You kids drive safe.”
Then, they were gone and an awkward silence filled the space they’d left empty but for him and DJ. “You should probably get some sleep too,” he said when the silence got to him.
She sat on the couch near him and ran her fingers through her hair. The gesture was familiar, something Daniel would do when his hair was longer and he was tired or frustrated. “I don’t think I could sleep.”
“Nervous about tomorrow?”
“Would you believe me if I said no?”
“No, not really.”
She smiled, but it was strained. “It’s all so hard to believe…even now. I-when I found him, I only wanted to…I don’t know…meet him, make it real…and now it is, and I don’t know if I can…it’s just so much…He’s so amazing, and what you guys do…and…I think the word is still, Wow.”
Jack chuckled. “You ramble.” Just like Daniel.
They were quiet for a moment, then she turned, curling her feet up under her as she looked at him. “Of all the people here tonight, he trusts you most. I can see it in his eyes.” She licked her lips, her expression thoughtful. “You, Dr. Carter, Teal’c and Cassandra…you’re the family he was talking about.”
Jack leaned back and stretched his legs out. “The others are too…okay, maybe not as intensely…but the four of us, we’ve been through a lot together. It’s not a relationship that translates real well into words. And, Cassie…well, she’s special. She was just a kid when we found her…we’re all pretty attached to her.”
DJ smiled and sighed. “Yeah, she told me. The point is, I’ll never have that with him.”
Jack looked at her sharply. “What do you mean?”
“Well, Cassie is more his little girl than I’ll ever be. The love in his eyes when he looks at her-“
Jack shook his head. “Daniel cares for you. I can see it, even if you can’t…but he’s…cautious.”
“Is he still afraid…that I’m not…real?” she asked softly. There were tears in her eyes that she was trying to ignore. “I mean, I understand that, given what I’ve seen so far. I’d be suspicious too, I guess. I just…” Her voice trailed off and Jack couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.
“Daniel…he’s been…he’s gone through a lot of tough times. He’s lost friends, family…and I don’t just mean that they died. He’s seen things none of the rest of us have. He’s…been hurt…” He hadn’t realized it before, not on a conscious level, how much Daniel had changed from the young man he’d been when they had met. He’d been so trusting, so eager, so ready to believe that people were good. Jack had to wonder when that had gone away…and if maybe some of DJ’s enthusiasm and idealism might rub back onto the jaded archeologist.
“He told me he’d died…more than once. But, he didn’t really go into detail.”
Jack sighed and rubbed his chin. How many times now? “I’ve given up counting.” As long as he keeps coming back, he thought to himself. “Give him time, DJ. He’s worth it.”
She nodded and huddled into herself. “I’ve known him for a week and I feel like I’ve known him forever. I only want to know he feels something too.”
They were quiet again for a long time. A part of Jack wanted to launch into the speech he’d come her to give, to warn her that if she hurt his friend, his Daniel, that he would find her and hurt her in return, that if she wasn’t exactly who and what she said, she would find herself in a whole lot of trouble…but looking at her, with her head down, lost in thought, there was no denying who she was. The shape of her face, the color of her eyes…and how they got all stormy with her mood…if she wasn’t Daniel’s progeny…
He stood and took her hands to pull her to her feet. “I’m going to give you some advice. Be patient, and go to bed. You want to be rested tomorrow.” He kissed her forehead in a fatherly gesture and released her hands. “I’ll finish up out here.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
He watched her withdraw to the spare bedroom where he had spent more than one night after drinking too much and tormenting Daniel with his television viewing habits. He made a slow circuit of the living room, turning off lights on his way to the front door. He locked it and made for the kitchen. There were dishes to be done, but they could wait for morning. He turned off the light and navigated his way through the dark to Daniel’s bedroom.
He’d abandon the use of the spare bedroom after the first time he had pinned Daniel to the wall and jacked him off. He stripped down to his boxers and climbed into bed. Daniel moved instinctively to cup his warm body against Jack’s. Jack slipped an arm across Daniel’s ribs, resting his big hand against the younger man’s chest, and brushed a kiss just behind his ear.
He chuckled at the resulting moan. “Sleep, Daniel,” he whispered, closing his own eyes.
“Yes Jack.” Daniel whispered back, though Jack was fairly certain Daniel was asleep. A few minutes later, he was as well.
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Rating: PG-13 (might ramp up to R at some point, but not for a while)
Characters/Pairings: General Team fic, with appearances by Jack, Landry, Lamm and original characers
Disclaimer: Ain't mine, don't own um...just like playing with them...especially that Danny Boy...
Summary: DJ and Daniel bond over feeling out of place, and DJ makes friends...a little bit of Jack/Daniel hinted at...
This is developing rather slowly...but well...what can I say. More action in the next part, I promise.
First Part, Second Part
At the end of the day, DJ sat in the mess hall with Daniel, looking a little shell shocked after about 10 years of alternative history crammed into 5 hours of show and tell. Her dinner sat untouched in front of her.
“You okay?” Daniel asked gently as he sat next to her with his dessert.
“Hmmm…?” She looked at him distractedly and shrugged. “I’m…dizzy. I think that’s the best word to describe it.” She put her fork down and pressed her hands against her temples. “It’s been a full day.”
“Daniel Jackson. I was told you were looking for me.” Daniel looked up as Teal’c stopped beside the table.
“Teal’c! Yes. I wanted you to meet someone. DJ, this is my very good friend Teal’c, Teal’c this is my daughter, Dr. DJ Moore.”
Teal’c’s left eyebrow arched upwards as he bowed toward her, though his eyes remained on Daniel. “How is this possible?”
“Ah, well. Her mother never told me about her.”
“I see.” Teal’c turned to look at her and bowed again. “Welcome to the SGC, Dr. Moore.”
She smiled her thanks before her face went back to its former thoughtful expression. Teal’c wandered off to get his own meal. Suddenly she looked up again. “Wait. Wait. You-he-that was it, wasn’t it?”
Daniel looked lost. “What?”
“Him, he’s…what did you call it….a Jaf…” She snapped her fingers, looking for the word. “A Jaffa. He’s it, my first encounter with an alien.” She was nearly whispering when she was done and he chuckled.
“Yes, actually, it was. Congratulations.”
“Wow. I’m sorry. I usually have a much bigger vocabulary.”
“Its been a big day. I think we can overlook it.”
“So, let’s say I’m interested. Enough to stay through until I’m supposed to be in England. What’s next?”
Daniel shrugged. “We’d have to check with Landry, but I have a whole room full of artifacts waiting to be deciphered and understood, anyone of which could hold the key to defeating the Ori.”
“I think I’d like that.”
“And what about England?”
“I’m not saying I’m not going. I just want to explore my options.”
“Let’s start by exploring your plate. You should eat.” He looked up as Teal’c rejoined them. “Teal’c can keep you company. I need to find General Landry and make a few phone calls.” He stood, even as Teal’c sat. “Will you be okay?”
“I’m a big girl, Dad.” she said, making a face at him. “I’ve gotten by on my own for a long time. And look, you left me a body guard.” She gestured at Teal’c with a smile. “I’ll be fine.”
Daniel rolled his eyes and headed for his office to grab his journal and a few files before heading up to Landry’s office. The door was open, with Cameron Mitchell lounging in the chair in front of the desk, while Landry hung up the phone. “Ah, Dr. Jackson. I was just calling your office.”
“You have Dr. Lamm’s report?” Daniel asked almost breathlessly.
“I do.”
“So, a daughter Jackson? Congratulations.”
Daniel scowled at him as he reached a hand for the file Landry was handing him. “Thank you, I think.”
“Where is she?”
“Eating…with Teal’c.” Daniel flipped open the folder and scanned down the page. Slightly elevated cholesterol. Seasonal allergies. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but after the third scan of the page, he stopped looking and gave the report back to Landry.
“Is she cute?”
“Mitchell!” Daniel looked at him in exasperation. “She’s my daughter!”
Mitchell shrugged. “I just asked if she was cute.”
“You are not hitting on her.” Daniel said. “And yes, she’s cute.”
“If you two are done.” Landry said, looking at each of them in turn. “We have an opportunity for Dr. Moore to do more than look at artifacts.” He thumbed a remote and the TV near his desk came to life. Rocky footage showed ruins, pillars and what looked like a temple of some kind, followed by a village with thatched roofed buildings and a series of standing stones and then a ring of stones that seemed to lead into a cave in the ground. “SG-8 brought home these images from P58-905. According to Lt. Majors, the villagers speak a form of Gaelic. He understood a little of it, but figured you would do better.”
“And DJ would of course, do even better.” He glanced aside at Mitchell. “She speaks Gaelic…I only pick at it.”
“Good to know.”
“Is she ready for something like this?” Landry asked, switching the TV off again.
Daniel shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. She’s pretty overwhelmed right now.”
“I was thinking that SG-1 and SG-4 could go there in three days or so, and take Dr. Moore along for the ride. Dr. Parilla’s leaving for her maternity leave, so SG-4 will be down one linguist. She should fit right in.”
“I’ll run it by her and see what she says.” Daniel said. “Oh, and here’s my preliminary report on the information we’ve deciphered so far on the Glastonbury stuff.” He handed across the file. “Not a lot, but some of it is very hopeful.”
He stood. “I should…get back.”
“I’ll come with. I’d like to meet her.” Cameron stood and saluted Landry, then followed Jackson from the room. “So a daughter, eh? A wild oat you sowed back in the day?”
Daniel smiled. “Yes, it would seem. It’s weird. I keep thinking its some kind of trick, and she’ll turn into a Prior or something when I’m not looking.”
“Not everything in our lives has to do with the Stargate or the SGC or all of this.” Mitchell gestured his arms around for emphasis. “A point I keep trying to make to all of you…you know leave, when you actually…leave?”
“We left.” Daniel said defensively. “I was invited to speak at a symposium in Washington. Sam came with me. That was where DJ found me.”
“See, still working…okay, I’ll give you credit for finding a relative…but what was the first thing you did? Bring her back here. Which-“ he held up his hand when Daniel would have protested, “I agree was the right thing, at least as far as the testing to make sure she wasn’t some Ori trick or something, but that is really part of my point too.” He stopped them both, with a hand on Daniel’s arm. “Was that really your first thought when she told you?”
“Well, no. Not my first. My first thought was ‘No, that can’t be right’ followed closely by ‘no, really…can’t be’…the thought of the Ori was at least tenth.”
“But all within the first 60 seconds?”
Daniel thought about it for a minute. “Yes, actually. Is that…it is…isn’t it?”
“What, twisted?”
“I was going for less than normal myself.”
“It is what it is, Jackson.”
Daniel shook his head and resumed walking. He wouldn’t expect Mitchell to understand. After everything he had seen and done, Daniel Jackson knew it was at least as likely that she was a device of the Ori to destroy them as she was his actual flesh and blood.
The reached the mess hall and stopped short. Teal’c and DJ were laughing. Loudly. Daniel didn’t think he’d ever seen Teal’c do more than chuckle before. It struck him as odd. DJ looked up with tears in her eyes from laughing so hard. “There you are,” she said when she finally caught her breath.
“What’s going on?”
“Dr. Moore was telling me stories of her days in college.” Teal’c responded, folding his hands on the table before him.
“And Teal’c was telling me about his first year here on Earth. It was…”
“Quite humorous.” Teal’c filled in for her.
“What he said.”
“Oh.” Daniel suddenly felt jealous, although he wasn’t sure of what. “Okay.” Beside him Cameron cleared his throat, but before Daniel could respond, he’d reached around the fumbling archeologist to offer his hand to DJ.
“Sorry, I’m Cameron Mitchell, Lt. Colonel and leader of SG-1.”
She took the hand and shook it lightly. “Dr. DJ Moore.”
“What’s the DJ stand for?” Cameron asked.
She blushed a little. “I was named after my father…as much as my mother could. Danielle Jacklyn. But she always called me DJ.”
Daniel chuckled. “That’s what she used to call me too.”
“She never told me that.” She pulled her hair back away from her face and stood. “Thank you Teal’c for keeping me company…but I think I’m going to beg to be taken home for a long soak in a tub of hot water and an early bed. I have some major processing to do.”
“It was my pleasure, Dr. Moore. I look forward to seeing you again.”
She touched his hand in thanks and reached for Daniel’s arm. He was amazed how comfortable it felt there, like they’d walked this way together for a lifetime. “See you two tomorrow,” he called over his shoulder as they walked away. “So, home?” It seemed odd to him, and he briefly panicked to think she meant her home in Washington.
She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. “I am so tired. Home is good.” His fear subsided as he understood her to mean his home.
“Home it is.” Daniel agreed, though their steps were slow. He didn’t mind the looks he was getting from the various SGC personnel. He knew the news would spread fast enough. By the time they came in the next morning the whole base would know.
The morning of her twentieth birthday dawned bright and clear for the first time in days. She had insisted that she didn’t want a fuss, but Daniel wanted her to feel welcome, like a part of his life. It wasn’t meant to be a huge party, just a chance for the important people in his life to get to know her, for her to get to know them.
They had spent so much of her time there working and preparing her for her first off world mission that there had been little time for anything else. She had finally conceded to the party idea to make Daniel happy and as a means to deflect her nervousness about the next day’s mission. He watched her straighten her blouse in the hall mirror, a hand brushing through her hair to tame a stray flyaway. She was nervous, though she’d at least met most of those who were coming.
So much had happened since he’d flown into Washington the week before, seven days that had been a whirlwind of emotion and fear and activity that he still tried very hard not to think about. His feelings toward this woman, this daughter, were complicated…but then what relationship in his life wasn’t complicated?
Still, she’d impressed him with her aptitude, a quick study of language that beat him hands down. Her memory was detailed and incredible. He’d grown comfortable with her in his home, in his office…in his life. Seven days and he already knew he would feel a loss when she left. The ways in which they were different were few and only seemed to make all the similarities mesh together even more.
The doorbell rang and she started, turning toward Daniel. “That will be Teal’c, he’s always punctual.” He reached for the door and she smiled.
Teal’c inclined his head as Daniel stepped aside. He smiled broadly as he spotted DJ and wrapped her in a hug. Together the two moved off into the living room. Daniel couldn’t see, but it looked like Teal’c gave her a small package. Daniel almost closed the door on General Landry who appeared on the doorstep bearing a pink bakery box while Daniel was trying to watch DJ. “Cake.” Landry said in explanation to the unasked question in Daniel’s eyes, before he too moved into the living room.
Daniel was once again closing the door, when the sound of a closing car door stopped him. He stepped out into the cool night air, surprised when he spotted the last two people he’d expected to see. “Cassie! I didn’t know you were in town?”
She grinned and hugged him around the cake box. “I finished up my finals and thought I’d come see Sam. She told me about the party, and the whole daughter thing. I had to come!”
He grinned. “I’m glad you did. Where’d you dig up this old fossil?” He gestured with his chin at Jack who held up one finger in warning.
“At the airport. He gave me a lift.”
“Don’t you have work to do?” Daniel asked and Jack shrugged.
“I’m doing it.”
“Let me take this inside. I can see this is going to take a while.” Cassie took the cake and disappeared in the door. When she was gone, Jack looked around quickly before pressing a brief kiss to Daniel’s forehead.
“Missed you,” he said softly before stepping back.
“I just saw you seven days ago.” Daniel said, but his sly smirk said that he understood. DJ’s advent in their lives had prevented them from a little quiet…or less than quiet, time alone together in Washington.
“I know. Virtually forever.” Jack looked liked he would say more, but Sam’s car pulled up and she and Cameron climbed out. “It’s a party, Daniel. Relax.”
“You just…behave.” Daniel said as Jack waved hello to Sam and Cameron and disappeared into the house. “Hey.” He greeted as Sam hugged him and Cameron handed him a bag.
“We brought beer.” Cameron said, nodding at the bag.
“Good.” Daniel replied. He suddenly could use a beer. “Come on in. General Landry brought cake.”
“Ooh, cake.” Sam said, smiling. “Its always a party when there’s cake.”
Never really a beer drinker, Daniel none-the-less found himself with a beer in his hand, pressed there by Mitchell, then another put there by Jack. He could already feel the buzz in his head. It wasn’t helped by his general discomfort having so many people in his personal space. He found himself standing out of the way, near the table where he could watch the room.
Teal’c and Lt. Jameson were playing some Star Wars game on the Play Station Jack had left behind. DJ was in a corner opposite him with Mitchell and Cassie, her smile bright as they talked animatedly. “You okay?” Sam asked, joining him.
He shrugged. “I hadn’t thought about her mother in nearly twenty years,” he said. “But I can see her mother in her, as if it were yesterday.”
“Memories are funny things.” Sam said, following the path of his eyes to where DJ laughed at something Cameron was saying.
“I didn’t love her.” Daniel said, surprising himself, and trying to hide it behind drinking his beer. “Colleen, I mean. I thought I did. But…” He sighed and shook his head. He should put the beer down, it was clouding his judgment, making the odd melancholy worse. “What do I know about being a father?” It wasn’t like he had any role models for the job.
“You’ll be fine Daniel. She is a wonderful young woman. You should be proud.”
“I am,” he agreed. And, he was. But he was also worried…worried about her going through that gate, and about her not ever getting to….worried about her being some sort of weapon they hadn’t figured out yet…worried that she wasn’t anything other than an ordinary girl looking for the one thing from him he wasn’t sure he was ready to give. “She’s-“
“A lot like you.” Jack finished for him, handing him a new beer. Daniel tried to shake his head no, but Jack insisted and he took it, setting his empty one aside.
“You think so?” he finally asked, his eyes snapping back to DJ who was now watching Teal’c positively destroying Jameson at the game.
“What, you can’t see it?”
“See what?”
“The idealistic, dreamy eyed romantic that you used to be before you started carrying the weight of the world on your back.”
“Not to mention the facial expressions.” Sam chimed in. “And, those eyes.”
“Yeah, those eyes are something.” Jack slapped a look at Daniel that was nearly predatory before he took a swig from his beer. “Not to mention that she apparently dislikes the Simpsons,” he added. “That can only be hereditary.”
Daniel grinned, loosening up a little in the familiar banter. “Or good taste.”
“Heresy!” Jack exclaimed, slapping Daniel’s shoulder.
Sam laughed as Daniel rubbed the spot. “Ow.”
“Drink your beer.” Jack ordered, tipping his own toward his mouth again. “I’m stealing Carter, we have a date with the Play Station.” Jack put his bottle on the table and put both hands on Sam’s shoulders to steer her toward the couch.
“You just want me to get drunk.” Daniel called after him, but he downed a hearty portion of the beer anyway as he watched Teal’c and Jameson abandon the controllers to Jack and Sam.
“Do you always do what he tells you to?” DJ asked playfully, suddenly beside him. She gestured at his beer when he looked at her quizzically.
Daniel looked at the beer and thought about it. “Not if you ask him. He’ll tell you that I never do as I’m told.” He took a long drink and smiled at her. “In fact, he’ll tell you that every time I died, or got captured or all the other stuff it was directly due to the fact that I didn’t do what I was told.”
“So you make up for it in the little things?” She seemed suddenly quiet, withdrawn.
“I suppose.” He set down his bottle beside the decimated cake and the slowly growing graveyard of empty bottles. “Jack is…well, he’s Jack. I spent 8 years under his command, so to speak. There’s something of a pattern ingrained. He says duck, I duck. He says, eat, I eat. He says, get to the gate now….I look for one more artifact to save.”
She smiled. “You trust him.”
“With my life.” Daniel said softly. His eyes strayed to the back of Jack’s head. “Jack made me feel like I belonged somewhere…it was after I came back from being Ascended. I’d never really felt like I belonged. He let me know I did.” Daniel bit his lip, remembering the conversation, the fierceness in Jack’s eyes, the fervent swearing that if Daniel ever tried something like that again, Jack would kill him himself.
“I know that feeling,” she said.
“You do?” Daniel was surprised.
She made a face that crinkled her freckled nose. “I was always kind of on the outside, you know? Mom tried, but I was a kid in an adult world.” She swiped at a strand of hair that had escaped from behind her ear. “And, school was even worse. I swear, I don’t know if I was so out of place because I was so smart, or so smart because I was so out of place that I retreated into books.”
Daniel touched her hand in understanding. “I was out of place for a long time. Every now and then, I still am.” He looked around him at the faces that filled the room, friends…people who made him matter…people that mattered to him. “Point is, I found…I found this.” He held up his hands to encompass the room. “This is my family. It’s where I belong.” He looked back to her. “And now, you’re a part of that.”
She hugged him and he let his arms fold around her, feeling the melancholy slip away a little as the warmth of her embrace reached through the cloud of beer fog. When they both let go, she wiped a tear from her eye. “Thank you.”
Daniel touched her face gently. “Go on, enjoy your party.”
DJ drifted off to the area near the stereo where Mitchell and Teal’c were standing. Daniel exhaled slowly. He was really feeling the beer now. The last thing he needed was a hangover for the morning’s mission. He decided a strategic retreat was in order.
He was stopped on his journey across the living room by General Landry making his goodbyes, then a few of the science guys that had come with Dr. Lee, also making excuses and leaving. Eventually Daniel made the privacy of his bathroom, searching through the medicine cabinet for the aspirin. He swallowed two of them to stave off the inevitable morning headache, then splashed water over his face.
He was startled when he looked up to find Jack in the mirror. “Hey, you good?”
Daniel closed his eyes and swayed a little on his feet. “I’m…”
“Drunk.” Jack snorted. “I thought as much when I saw you weaving and bobbing out there.”
“I’m fine.” Daniel turned from the sink and stumbled over the throw rug. Jack steadied him and laughed.
“Things are breaking up out there. How about I get you settled into bed and help clean up.”
“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of my own party.” Daniel protested, even as Jack lead him into the bedroom and sat him on the bed.
“I know you are.” Jack placated as he knelt to remove Daniel’s shoes. His hands moved up Daniel’s legs until he was holding his slender waist. “But I want you right here.” His kiss was soft, silencing the bubbling protest. “Daniel.”
“Jack?”
“Take off your pants.”
“Yes Jack.”
“That’s my boy.”
Jack got up from the floor, leaning heavily on the bed and steadying Daniel with one hand as he teetered while unbuttoning his jeans. He helped pull off the shirt and tossed it in the general direction of Daniel’s hamper. “Now, lay down.” His voice was firm, guaranteeing compliance from Daniel, though his descent to the bed was clumsy. Jack bent to kiss him again, just letting his tongue slide across those soft lips. “Now, you stay here. I’ll be back.”
Daniel’s eyes were already closed, his breathing shallow. “Promise?”
Jack smiled, though Daniel wouldn’t see it. “Yes, Daniel. I promise.”
“Good.”
Jack left him then, emerging into a living room that was much more deserted than it had been when he’d left it, as if the absence of the two generals had released a valve that let everyone else leave. Cassie and Sam were rounding up empty beer bottles while DJ and Teal’c finished clearing off the table of the remaining food.
He went to clean up the Play Station and the games scattered on the coffee table. It was quick work and when he looked up Cassie was slipping into her light jacket. “I’m crashing at Sam’s.” she said as she caught his eye.
“Good. I’ll come by tomorrow. We can do lunch.”
“I’d like that.” She hugged him and went to stand by the door and Mitchell.
“Night Sir.” Sam said, as she paused there also. “It looks like I get to be team taxi again tonight.”
Teal’c was the last to join them, emerging from the kitchen with DJ behind him and nodding his farewell. Jack smiled and held up a hand to say goodbye. “You kids drive safe.”
Then, they were gone and an awkward silence filled the space they’d left empty but for him and DJ. “You should probably get some sleep too,” he said when the silence got to him.
She sat on the couch near him and ran her fingers through her hair. The gesture was familiar, something Daniel would do when his hair was longer and he was tired or frustrated. “I don’t think I could sleep.”
“Nervous about tomorrow?”
“Would you believe me if I said no?”
“No, not really.”
She smiled, but it was strained. “It’s all so hard to believe…even now. I-when I found him, I only wanted to…I don’t know…meet him, make it real…and now it is, and I don’t know if I can…it’s just so much…He’s so amazing, and what you guys do…and…I think the word is still, Wow.”
Jack chuckled. “You ramble.” Just like Daniel.
They were quiet for a moment, then she turned, curling her feet up under her as she looked at him. “Of all the people here tonight, he trusts you most. I can see it in his eyes.” She licked her lips, her expression thoughtful. “You, Dr. Carter, Teal’c and Cassandra…you’re the family he was talking about.”
Jack leaned back and stretched his legs out. “The others are too…okay, maybe not as intensely…but the four of us, we’ve been through a lot together. It’s not a relationship that translates real well into words. And, Cassie…well, she’s special. She was just a kid when we found her…we’re all pretty attached to her.”
DJ smiled and sighed. “Yeah, she told me. The point is, I’ll never have that with him.”
Jack looked at her sharply. “What do you mean?”
“Well, Cassie is more his little girl than I’ll ever be. The love in his eyes when he looks at her-“
Jack shook his head. “Daniel cares for you. I can see it, even if you can’t…but he’s…cautious.”
“Is he still afraid…that I’m not…real?” she asked softly. There were tears in her eyes that she was trying to ignore. “I mean, I understand that, given what I’ve seen so far. I’d be suspicious too, I guess. I just…” Her voice trailed off and Jack couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.
“Daniel…he’s been…he’s gone through a lot of tough times. He’s lost friends, family…and I don’t just mean that they died. He’s seen things none of the rest of us have. He’s…been hurt…” He hadn’t realized it before, not on a conscious level, how much Daniel had changed from the young man he’d been when they had met. He’d been so trusting, so eager, so ready to believe that people were good. Jack had to wonder when that had gone away…and if maybe some of DJ’s enthusiasm and idealism might rub back onto the jaded archeologist.
“He told me he’d died…more than once. But, he didn’t really go into detail.”
Jack sighed and rubbed his chin. How many times now? “I’ve given up counting.” As long as he keeps coming back, he thought to himself. “Give him time, DJ. He’s worth it.”
She nodded and huddled into herself. “I’ve known him for a week and I feel like I’ve known him forever. I only want to know he feels something too.”
They were quiet again for a long time. A part of Jack wanted to launch into the speech he’d come her to give, to warn her that if she hurt his friend, his Daniel, that he would find her and hurt her in return, that if she wasn’t exactly who and what she said, she would find herself in a whole lot of trouble…but looking at her, with her head down, lost in thought, there was no denying who she was. The shape of her face, the color of her eyes…and how they got all stormy with her mood…if she wasn’t Daniel’s progeny…
He stood and took her hands to pull her to her feet. “I’m going to give you some advice. Be patient, and go to bed. You want to be rested tomorrow.” He kissed her forehead in a fatherly gesture and released her hands. “I’ll finish up out here.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
He watched her withdraw to the spare bedroom where he had spent more than one night after drinking too much and tormenting Daniel with his television viewing habits. He made a slow circuit of the living room, turning off lights on his way to the front door. He locked it and made for the kitchen. There were dishes to be done, but they could wait for morning. He turned off the light and navigated his way through the dark to Daniel’s bedroom.
He’d abandon the use of the spare bedroom after the first time he had pinned Daniel to the wall and jacked him off. He stripped down to his boxers and climbed into bed. Daniel moved instinctively to cup his warm body against Jack’s. Jack slipped an arm across Daniel’s ribs, resting his big hand against the younger man’s chest, and brushed a kiss just behind his ear.
He chuckled at the resulting moan. “Sleep, Daniel,” he whispered, closing his own eyes.
“Yes Jack.” Daniel whispered back, though Jack was fairly certain Daniel was asleep. A few minutes later, he was as well.