Adrienne reached into her computer bag, her right hand fishing for the small bottle to no avail; she must have left it in the lab. She was about to try to catch Carson as he left the weekly meeting, see if he by chance had anything on him when she felt fingers at her jawline, guiding her gaze upward.
“You need to go rest,” Daniel ordered gently, Adrienne shaking her head in the negative.
“No, I promised Rodney I’d get through the end of the thermal link information so he can get working on that and Sam can get started on configuring the computer systems. She wants my help with that too...” her voice trailed, her never ending to-do list racing through her head. Sure, she understood what it was to be a department head, but archaeology and anthropology was what Adrienne thought she would be doing, yet so far she was doing nothing but translating and playing computer geek. Add to that being a parent, to Nicholas no less, her greatest challenge.
“Let me see that eye,” he urged, his thumb already to the area in question, running it there so lightly it almost tickled.
“It’s been three days Indy; it’s healed,” Adrienne insisted, lying because it still hurt like hell and he knew it, pulling away as Daniel frowned, glancing at his watch.
“I need to get Nicholas from Vala; John wants her to test fly some jumpers that he and Dex have been working on,” she argued, Daniel shaking his head as he pursed his lips.
“Ja-wer, I feel like this is a vicious cycle that we’re trapped in. We get bogged down, the two of us take turns working ourselves to death until one of us has a breakdown, then the other is completely out of commission nursing the ill one back to health. Do we see a pattern here?”
Now she made the face, averting her eyes from his. He had a point, he always had a point, they tended to kill themselves with work, but this time he didn’t get it. His current obsession, no, as he was calling it his ‘area of focus’ was to find Todd who had slipped away into space in one of the fully functioning jumpers.
The Wraith she let slip away.
The logical part of her mind knew it was stupid, what in the world could she have done, but she still felt like she had let Daniel down, allowing the injured creature to knock her out and fly away in the stolen...
“Stop,” his words were harsher now, his fingers at her chin to meet his gaze, “I know you Ad, cut it out. I’ll go get Nicky, you go take a nap.”
“Daniel, I’ve got to..”
“No,” he countered, but Adrienne was shaking her aching head, Daniel stepping back to cross his arms across his chest.
“Fine,” he added, “you want to play it that way we can. Dr. Jackson, I’m ordering you to your quarters for the remainder of the day. You did not get proper rest after your injury and you are feeling ill. I will not tolerate sloppy work due to illness under my command. Are we clear?”
“I hate you,” she spat, her eyes rolling.
“No, you don’t and for the record, I would do the same to any other member of my staff. The only reason I let you return to work that afternoon was because you’re my wife. No more favoritism,” he explained, Adrienne grumbling when her eyes widened as she looked back up at him.
“Well, you can’t keep Nicky in here with you all day,” she argued, Daniel shaking his head having already anticipated this as well.
“Actually, today I can,” he said, pulling out his tablet to display his calendar, “I don’t have any meetings, heading around base to check on a few things while Ronon is on recon. Nicholas will love it.”
Adrienne sighed. He was right, their son loved learning, he was such a sponge and to make the rounds of the city with his dad and get to ask questions would be much more interesting than hanging out in their quarters playing video games while Adrienne read and slept.
“Ok, I’ll go rest. But Daniel, we need to talk about this. We can’t keep juggling Nicky around between personnel or forcing him to endure our jobs. It’s not fair to anyone,” she added, her husband shrugging as if he had been thinking the exact same thing.
“No, you’re right. I was thinking about it last night. I need Ronon and Vala to find Todd, Sam and Rodney together to get things running, in all wings, and Teyla, considering any day now she’s gonna be hosting our child I don’t feel like I can ask her anything else,” he admitted, Adrienne nodding as she packed up her things, “so I was thinking of asking Jack.”
Adrienne stopped packing.
“Excuse me?”
“I was thinking of asking Jack. Sam says he’s retired, but how long’s that gonna last? He’s going to go crazy with boredom,” Daniel argued as he shut down the briefing room, stuffing his own things into his case, “Besides, he’s had Nicky nearly every day since they’ve arrived as it is.”
She had her arms across her chest, ready to debate him, but he had a point. Jack and Nicholas had been inseparable for the past seventy two hours, so much so that it wasn’t until this morning Adrienne had to ask for any help at all. It had been nice and Nicholas seemed to listen to the general, not that he didn’t listen to others, but there was this respect and awe when it came to Jack.
It might not be a bad idea...
“Ad? You in there? Jack’s not an idiot,” Daniel was still rambling, waving his hand in front of her face.
“Yeah, no I’m here but Indy think for a sec. He wants to spend his days fishing, relaxing, he’ll never agree to it. You can’t just march down to their room and say ‘Jack I want you to be our nanny,’ ” she tried not to giggle as a vision of general Jack O’Neill in a Mary Poppins outfit popped into her head because she really didn’t want him to be a nanny; he deserved better than spending his days as a glorified babysitter.
“I’m not and he’s not gonna be the nanny. Think of it more as the buddy system. They can keep one another out of trouble and that lets Jack still be available for me if I need him and he’s willing,” Daniel had thought this through, Adrienne could tell, so she relented, tossing her bag across her chest. It would be nice to be able to have Jack at the ready, conveniently, for unofficial advice, without any IOA officials wondering why Jack was spending more time with the Jacksons than a normal friend would.
“Then how are you gonna do it?”
Daniel’s grin was unmistakable, yep, she thought, Daniel’s planned this...
“Oh trust me ja-wer, I have my ways...”
Trusting him, something that sometimes bit her in the butt, Adrienne gave him a cautious kiss before heading down to their room to get medication and relax as ordered, to an extent. She peeked back over her shoulder as her husband sauntered back into his office, a sly smile across her face.
“Sam?” she whispered as she tapped her ear, ducking her head down to hide her voice.
“I’m here.”
“He benched me, stupid Indy, can you bring that stuff down to my room?” Adrienne quickly went to plan ‘B’, Sam giggling in her ear.
“Already on it; I’ll be there in ten,” she replied, Adrienne’s headache easing already.
*****
“His majesty graces the masses!!”
It was declarations just like that that annoyed Daniel when he entered a room, declarations that no one made except for Jack, well and Vala, but he’d gotten extra practice ignoring her lately.
“You finished?” he said as he stopped at the door.
“As long as you’re in charge of this place? Never,” was about the best answer he was going to get.
“Got any beer?” Daniel dove right in, his eyes lingering at his watch noting that based on the clock system he and Rodney had set it was only a little after ten in the morning.
Perfect.
“Woah,” Jack sat up from his recliner, the request getting his attention as Daniel and hoped, “what in the hell has gotten into you?”
“Vala,” Daniel started to work his magic, noticing that Jack wasn’t getting up to get him anything but that didn’t matter. He had his old friend’s attention and that was what he was here for.
“Isn’t that supposed to go the other way around?”
“Christ Jack, really?” ok, attention but not like that...
“Sorry, I forget that Dr. Perky put a stop to all of that carrying on,” Jack replied laughing at Daniel’s flushing.
He enjoyed all of that way too much.
“I have to say, I’m so glad that Sam is here, I am, because Vala is not only is putting her nose into my relationship, you and Addy should do this or that, but she’s starting to weigh in on our parenting. It just gets old...” Daniel set bait number two, Jack’s face screwing in confusion.
“What in the hell does she know about parenting? I think her experience with the demon spawn should have been enough,” he shot back, Daniel shrugging.
“Why does she get to spend so much time with the little guy anyway?” the retired general continued, Daniel taking a seat in a nearby chair.
“I can’t keep him in the office, some of the personal that are not as friendly with us don’t take to it too well, especially given his abilities. Adrienne can’t be expected to keep him with her every second, she has a job to do here as well, so Vala and Ronon step in when they can,” he explained, his hands folded in front the him.
“Wait?” Jack sat up again, “Vala’s your babysitter? Could things between you and her get any weirder?”
Again, Daniel simply shrugged, letting Jack take in the situation.
Weirder than her being my wife’s closest friend, nooo, but we’ll not mention that for now...
“The boy needs someone with a brain to fill in when you two eggheads can’t be there,” Jack said from his hand, where it was now resting against his face, the general rubbing his chin.
“Jack where do you presume I get competent childcare in the Pegasus galaxy?”
Take it...take it...
“Right here,” Jack replied smugly, pointing to himself as he sat back in his chair.
Shit, it worked. It really worked... Act shocked Daniel...
“You?”
That should be convincing enough.
“Yes, me,” Jack said with a frown, “The boy needs to learn how to be a man and I really don’t see that happening if I don’t intervene.”
Yes he just insulted your masculinity, let it go...
“Jack, I can’t ask you...”
“You aren’t asking me. I’m telling you. Get the kid up, feed him and have him report to my quarters no later than 1100,” Jack was up, directing, going over to his dresser to presumably get ready.
Hiding his smile Daniel stood from the chair, turning to collect his son, hoping this bright idea wouldn’t blow up in his face.
After all he had assured Adrienne this would work and in their marriage, parenting as yet another way to compete with one another.
He needed a win.
*****
“I have no problem coming down, but he’s gonna kill you,” Sam said with a smile, securing the door behind her.
“Nah, he’ll fuss and fight and then I’ll just feed him,” Adrienne replied, Sam chuckling.
“Either way, I appreciate your help on this. This has really bothered me since I left, it was on my list of initiatives from before but not something Rodney felt important,” Sam explained as she hit the switch on the wall, a table popping out from the side.
“Trust me, I need this. I was just telling Indy last night that I feel a little out of touch. He was going to have me take a small team to the mainland, excavate, look for traces of the Athosians as well as any earlier civilizations the jumper scans are showing might have been there, but with Todd. Well, let’s just say that his little overprotective streak is back and I’m trying to be patient with him,” the archaeologist answered as she made her way to the bathroom to secure the needed medicine from earlier.
“He’ll get better, trust me. Command is hard enough without the fear of your wife and child getting hurt,” Sam replied, unpacking her things, “he already thinks fate is just teasing him.”
“Teasing him?” the Cajun yelled from the bathroom, “What in the hell is that supposed to me?”
“It was something he said to Jack, the other night when we arrived. Addy, you guys have passed a year just married and been together, what two years now? Nearly three?”
Halting her advanced back into the main area, Adrienne paused at the doorframe, downing the pills dry.
“Two and a half,” she answered in a whisper, “it’s been two and a half years since I told him that I loved him too...”
“Things like this don’t happen to Daniel Addy, just bear in mind,” Sam offered softly, “he tends to be the one that loses it all.”
Without a word, her face furrowed as she was deep in thought, Adrienne diverted her path from the table, walking right into the bedroom, kneeling and reaching under the bed.
*****
“And there will be no back talk and if your Mom says you can only eat twigs and pine cones then twigs and pine cones it is!!”
He had to admit he was pretty damn impressed that the little guy has stood there for the entire speech and had arrived on time, something he did not get, thankfully, from his mother. Adrienne Jackson couldn’t make it anywhere on time if her life depended on it. Jack waited a moment for Nicky to respond, to say anything, but the boy just stood there, his tiny hands clasped behind his back.
“Well?” Jack goaded, Nicky looking him straight in the eye.
“Yes sir?” the boy tried, Jack roaring with laughter.
“You thought I was serious?”
“Dad said to behave and he gave me that look...” Nicholas started, Jack shaking his head.
“He’s been giving me that look for years and do you think I pay any attention?”
That got the boy to smile.
“Alright, so today’s agenda is to make it look like we have daily agendas,” he continued, walking over to a whiteboard hanging in the corner.
“What’s that?” Nicholas followed, with the same look of curiosity that Daniel always had.
“This my dear munchkin is a calendar and planner,” Jack explained, taking a marker out of his pocket.
“No Uncle Jack, that is a blank whiteboard,” the child corrected.
“For now...” the general replied, peering back at Nicholas, “this is how we keep this Jack and Nicky and Jack and Nicky alone.”
Again, the boy was all smiles.
*****
It was all rather impressive and much more than he had expected, Rodney’s cloning technique coupled with some information Adrienne had been translating during their early days on Atlantica, allowing Dr. Radek Zalenka to create the garden to end all gardens.
“You seem pleased,” Radek was beaming and had every right to do so, Daniel just shaking his head in sheer amazement.
“This is spectacular Radek, truly spectacular. You should be very proud of all of this,” the commander praised, his eyes not on the recipient of the praise but on the array of green spread out in front of him.
He had given Zalenka the largest lab in this wing, much to Rodney’s dismay, hoping he could start growing food for them, but he had done so much more. In the short time they had been here, Radek was growing nearly every vegetable that they could imagine, an entire area dedicated to medicinal herbs, rows and rows of popular decorative flowers and now Daniel was here to get Radek’s plan for the Destiny, to help them attempt to grow things themselves with their own limited supplies.
“Now, Dr. Jackson, we can start here, where you can see...”
Daniel should have been listening, he should have, but the sheer volume of food that was being grown here at such an amazing rate was just spellbinding and as Zalenka rattled off a rather extensive list of fruits and vegetables, more than he thought he had read in his preliminary report.
What Daniel was thinking of, instead, was how cool Nicholas would think all of this was and how he had been somewhat disappointed that Jack wanted to start their little adventure today.
Maybe I should call them, he thought, see if Nicholas wants to come down and see all of this. He held up a finger, for Radek to stop speaking, which he did, starting to reach for his communicator when he paused, frowning.
“Is everything alright?” Radek asked, Daniel nodding. Cool or not, he didn’t want Jack to think he was checking up on him.
“Yeah, sorry, thought I had an incoming message but no, carry on,” he replied, wondering what his son was doing right now...
*****
“It looks like school,” Nicholas said from his knees, peering over at his temporary guardian.
“Exactly, you’re catching on,” Jack replied, capping the marker and gathering the whiteboard from the floor to hang it on the wall.
“But that’s kinda like lying,” the boy pointed out, Jack shaking his head quickly.
“No, lying would be if we’re not doing any of these things, but we are,” Jack explained, pointing to Thursday, “this says math. We are gonna learn about how to calculate RBI. Today says science. We are gonna learn how to fish. See, both subjects covered.”
Nicholas frowned.
“You’re giving me the Daniel look.”
“No, that’s the mom glare, my eyes are just a bit lighter than hers.”
“Look squirt, do you want to do this or not? Wanna be trapped watching your parents work all day?” Jack reasoned, noting the boy’s eyes were nearly hazel in color, nothing like those voodoo eyes of his mother. He started to protest further, point out that Nicholas didn’t really need formal school as advanced as he was, and he was sure that Daniel and Adrienne already had that in place, when he saw that the boy was smiling.
“Of course I want to Uncle Jack,” the child answered quickly, “listening to Rodney scream at Dad all day just makes me mad and poor Mom’s been doing nothing but translating. She’s going slowly insane.”
“Your dad became me and your mom became him,” Jack responded, standing to hang the board back onto the wall, “so that means I get to become, well, nobody and you’re gonna come with me. Go grab my pole...”
And then he staggered, swearing under his breath, catching himself on the nearby desk, dropping the whiteboard.
“Are you ok Uncle Jack?” Nicky asked, Jack nodding, bringing himself halfway to his feet, walking hunched over to the bed, sitting and leaning for his nightstand. Straining, Nicholas rushing to the side, Jack pulled the drawer opening, his hand rummaging inside the sparse contents.
“It’s ok, just pain every now and then, need my medication.” Nodding, the boy unloaded the contents of the drawer carefully, reading each label, shaking his head at Jack.
“It’s not here, everything here is for stomach pain or indigestion, nothing for joint or muscle pain.”
Great first day on the job Jack...
“Alright munchkin, change in science lessons for the day. I need you to go and get Dr. Beckett or Dr. Keller, can you do that? Quickly?” he asked, his stomach tense with nerves as he reasoned sending a ten month old child out into the city. Granted, it was a small, protected city, a protected city run by the boy’s father, but still it was a stupid decision, and Jack sat up, slowly, intending on changing his mind but the boy was gone, the door to the hallway sitting wide open.
*****
“Fo gawd! WHY did I lie to him!?!” Adrienne exclaimed, her head slamming into her arms.
“I told you you should have asked him to work from here,” Sam scolded, Adrienne’s head darting up and over to glare.
“I’m gonna call him, he’s gonna die Sam, jus die!” Adrienne said as she looked back over their notes, the discovery just too good to be true.
This was even better than her love note with candy bar she’d laid on his pillow, her peace offering were she to get caught.
“Well, can we at least wait until we finish?” the scientist teased as she watched her friend’s dark eyes jet along the screen at a manic rate. The Cajun didn’t answer at first, back and forth, back and forth, her eyes her hands, the woman clearly not suffering from her headache any longer. Times like this Sam couldn’t help but smile; Adrienne was so perfect for Daniel, so much so she wondered if the two of them even slept at night or if they just rambled on and on with one another about that things they had learned each day.
Honestly, it was probably the latter.
“Sam!!” Adrienne interrupted her actions with words only, her eyes still at her tablet, continuing to race back and forth, “I’ve got the BEST idea.”
Curious, the former general walked over behind Adrienne, peering over her shoulder at the image on the screen.
*****
“Here Jack this should help,” Jennifer said as she slid the needle carefully into his arm, her patient nodding in reply.
“God bless the little fella; I knew he wouldn’t let me down,” Jack mumbled through gritted teeth, Jennifer nodding with a smile.
“It was very sweet. He came racing right in, told us his Uncle Jack was in pain, gave us an entire rundown like a little medical encyclopedia and that we needed to help. Carson was examining Teyla, so I came down,” she explaining, recapping the needle and placing it back in her jacket, “it’ll take a few minutes and I brought you a refill of your pain pills. You really shouldn’t have let them run out, you were due a refill before you and Sam arrived.”
“Thanks,” Jack replied as he took the bottle from her hand, setting it over on the nightstand, “where’s the munchkin now?” he asked, noting that the boy was not standing behind being nosey like he would.
“Oh, he was talking to Carson and Teyla when I left. They’re trying the first embryo transfer today; I think he’s excited.”
Jack nodded, thoughtfully, taking a deep breath at another tinge of pain. Little booger was adorable and he could only imagine him driving poor Carson crazy with a barrage of questions about his possible new brother or sister.
“Alright, well, tell him to stay put, I’ll be there as soon as this kicks in,” Jack said as he lay back on the bed, taking a breath and letting the effects of the medicine take over wondering himself what the next Jackson child would be like.
*****
His mom had talked to him about things like this, boundaries, privacy, so even though he was disappointed that he couldn’t stay he understood why. It was gonna be his baby brother or sister after all, but he’d just have to bug his mom for the details later or look them up on the computer. He’d already discovered that Teyla should be pregnant longer than a human, that Athosians took ten or more months, up to forty four weeks, but he himself had been ready at thirty six so maybe he wouldn’t have to wait that long.
Would it be another boy?
A girl?
Would it look like Mom or Dad?
When would they know if it took?
Curious, wanting to talk this out with the one adult that seemed to be the most open with him, Nicholas started to head back to Jack’s room where his dad had walked him after picking him up from his Aunt Vala this morning, but he felt bad. He’d looked up a stroke on his computer and he knew it was not an easy thing to recover from, in fact, his Uncle Jack was pretty awesome for getting around as well as he was. And after all of that he STILL wanted to spend free time with Nicky and teach him cool things.
He was the best uncle ever.
The boy knew it would take a bit for the medication to kick in and he wanted more than anything to learn how to fish, something he had only seen in movies his mom had played for him. It was also something that would mean a lot to Jack, Nicholas knew, his own father having told him about Charlie.
Today just HAD to work out.
The problem was that by the time the medicine would work, his assigned caretaker would still have to get ready, find a place, set up and by that time his Dad would be picking him up for dinner.
Dad insisted on the family meal every day, which Nicholas understood but limited the amount of time he would get to spend with his faux uncle today.
So, if he and Jack wanted to fish, he was just gonna have to take matters into his own hands...
*****
Jennifer had left and Nicky hadn’t come back.
The doctor ordered Jack to take it easy for the day and he had every intention of doing so, cueing up some Simpsons episodes and planning on teaching Nicky the fine art of animated satire but the boy didn’t come back.
For almost an hour.
That was way too long, there was no way that Carson let mini-Daniel yammer on and on about test tube babies for an hour, and if he had, Jack was reasonably sure his cuteness was the only thing keeping him from being thrown out of the room. He debated calling down to the infirmary, but then again Jennifer said they were doing the implanting procedure on Teyla and knowing the Jackson nerd spawn, he had probably worked his way into observing, well, something, or had attached his pudgy little hands to a computer.
Standing from the bed, his painkillers working their magic, Jack shoved his communicator into his ear, on a mission to retrieve Nicky from driving anyone crazy.
*****
“Are you all complete MORONS!!” Rodney was shouting at his staff, his voice and words making Nicholas cringe. His mom and dad never talked to people like that and they seemed to get their work done just fine. He didn’t want to ask, to interrupt, but Jack needed him to make this all work so Nicholas wouldn’t have to go back and sit in his parents’ offices day in and day out. Taking a deep breath he stepped forward, nearly getting slammed into by a young Swiss scientist.
“I’m sorry little one,” the man said, looking down his face quickly turning to confusion, “wait, what are you doing here?”
“I wanted to talk to Dr. McKay and see if he could help me with a question that I have...” Nicholas tried to remember every lesson his mom had taught him on politeness even as the person he wanted to speak with was raging in the exact opposite fashion.
Straightening, the young man gazed down at him in confusion, tucking his tablet under his arm.
“You’re Dr. Jackson’s son, aren’t you?” he began as Rodney continued to rage from the other side of the room, “what’s your question? Maybe I can help you?” he asked as he lowered himself down to Nicholas’ level.
It worked!
All he had to do was ask nicely and it worked, just like his mom had said!
Smiling, Nicholas opened his mouth to explain when that other nasal voice began to boom from the other side of the large lab, not very polite in the least. He needed to act fast before Dr. McKay messed this all up.
“I wanted to know more about the aquatic life here on-”
“Dr. Bosse, are you just making these numbers up, or did you decide to take your own steps in the procedure!!!”
The man was standing upright again frowning, Rodney continuing to scream at his subordinate.
“There is NOTHING about this that makes any sense, get over here!!”
“Sorry little guy, it’s a nightmare here today. Maybe get your dad to bring you down later?”
And he was gone, nearly running across the lab leaving little Nicholas Jackson standing alone at doorway to the main science lab.
*****
“What do you mean he’s not here?” Jack was livid as Carson stood in front of him, shrugging, having not seen the boy in a good long while.
“I told you, I showed him a few things and when it was time to do the procedure on Teyla, he said he was going back to you,” the doctor defended, Jennifer reaching for her communication device.
“We should call Daniel,” she suggested, Jack’s brown eyes cutting into her with ferocity.
“No! No one is calling Daniel, he doesn’t need to know just yet that Carson lost his kid!”
“I didn’t LOSE NICHOLAS!” Carson started to shout back, Jennifer’s hand going back and forth between the air and her ear as if she were unsure what to do.
“Well how else do you explain it?!” Jack continued to scream, Carson taking a deep breath before continuing.
“He left, right out of those doors the moment I went in with Teyla who is right in the other room trying to rest!” the doctors hissed, Jack hunting around for a clock.
“And how long ago was that?”
“About an hour..”
“An hour!?!”
“He said he was going straight back to your quarters!!”
“He’s a BABY!!”
“YOU sent him here alone in the first place!!”
“It was an EMERGENCY!”
“I REALLY think we should call Daniel or Addy...”
“NO!!” the men said in unison, Jack breathing out.
“Ok,” the general began, “I’m going to go, try to figure out where he might have gone. You two stay here, look out for him and DON’T call Daniel. Are we clear?”
Jennifer paused, unsure as to what she should do, Carson peering over at her nodding. Truth was that Daniel didn’t get angry at too many things, he had a temper sure, but to completely go crazy...
THAT he did over his family.
It was best to let Jack figure this mess out.
Not a word in argument, Jack back out to find his charge.
*****
“I think it needs a visual representation,” Adrienne declared from over Sam’s shoulder, her friend peering over at her.
“Really? I was just thinking of installing it into the main relay stations, more of a system wide program,” Sam was confused, they’d found it and it was going to be very easy to convert as long as Adrienne didn’t get a headache from the tedious translation but she wasn’t sure why they needed a visual.
“Well, I was thinking more for educational purposes, like a cyber-professor,” Adrienne tried to explain, Sam frowning at her poor word choice.
“So we need something to talk to us?” Sam asked, pointing back at the screen as though Adrienne was completely insane.
“No,” Adrienne shook her head, dashing to the bed to get her personal computer, “I have this video clip; let me show you...”
*****
Jack wasn’t sure why, but he felt if Nicky would be anywhere, it would be in the science wing. The kid seemed to have a knack for numbers and such, not as interested in history like his parents.
The wing was buzzing with activity, Jack vaguely remembering Sam talking to him the other night about Rodney trying to connect to the core of the planet like they had on Lantea, but other than Jack understanding it was volcano power, he had just smiled and humored her. People in those drab grey wool uniforms were darting around, some also wearing lab coats, a scene so chaotic that he had no idea how in the world he was gonna find the boy.
Sighing, Jack knew where he needed to ask, walking straight for Rodney McKay’s lab hearing the man’s shouts before he made it to the door.
“RODNEY!!” the general didn’t bother with pleasantries, waving from the back, the scientist storming around the room ranting and raving.
“RODNEY!!” Jack repeated, the ranting only stopping long enough to garner a glare in his direction.
“What!?!” McKay spat as he came to a halt, throwing his hands into the air.
Control Jack, don’t go bananas despite the overwhelming desire to do so...
“Have you seen Nicky?” Jack was yelling as he walked since Rodney didn’t seem to be headed his direction, just standing there with that smug look on his face.
“Who?” he wasn’t making eye contact as he passed a folder over to a lackey in a lab coat, reading a slew of numbers on the screen behind him.
“Nicholas Jackson, about two feet tall, creepy smart, not much hair, brown eyes..”
“Why in the world would he be here?” Rodney asked, finally looking back at him again, Jack shaking his head.
“I don’t know why he’d be here but he’s geeky so I went where I would find geeks,” he replied, Rodney’s face ready for more ranting.
“Again, I repeat, why would a ten month old child, no matter how smart he is, be wandering around my lab?”
Jack just shrugged.
Because that little munchkin is about a thousand times smarter than you are and a hell of a lot nicer...
“Well, he’s not here and, wait,” Rodney’s eyes widened, “you lost Nicholas? Daniel’s gonna flip out...”
“I didn’t lose Nicholas, Carson did,” the general shot back.
“I saw him,” another man stepped forward, Jack ignoring Rodney’s additional smart remarks regarding what was to become of Jack once Daniel finds out about this development.
“You did?” Jack stepped away from Rodney to the young man, a Swiss flag on the shoulder of his woolen jacket.
“Yeah, he came down here, very politely, said he wanted to ask me a question about aquatic life but I was called away. Told him to have Dr. Jackson bring him down later and I’d be happy to help,” he explained, Jack looking back over at Rodney.
“Aquatic life, dammit, he’s looking for fish,” Jack mumbled, knowing exactly what was on the boy’s mind, “ok who’s the bio nerd around here?” he questioned, Rodney crossing his arms and rolling his eyes.
“Radek, he’s switched to biology and we really don’t have the-” Rodney sneered, Jack dashing out before he could even finish.
“There’s no zoology department yet, but fine, dash off to go play with Radek’s flowers,” Rodney finished to Dr. Bosse, who seemed concerned.
“Sir, do you think we might want to alert Dr. Jackson?” he inquired, Rodney walking back to where he was, seemingly ignoring the question.
“Unless Dr. Jackson is going to rerun those trials for you, then, no,” Rodney hissed, ignoring as well the look on concern on the young scientist’s face.
*****
Daniel wrapped up things in storage, the supplies Sam and Jack brought replacing the stores well. He was meeting with the head of supply, the now Colonel Reed, who had returned with the expedition. Fortunately, everything seemed to be in order and with the progress being made in botany, this was more than enough food for a while between this, the Asgard replication machines and the garden. All in all, he couldn’t be more pleased with his stops so far this morning.
Glancing at his watch, his stomach telling him that he needed to eat, Daniel noted that it was indeed lunch time. He hadn’t talked to any member of his family all day, part of the job he really wasn’t liking, so he decided at the very least he could radio everyone, see what they were doing, maybe get some lunch together. Family meal rule or not, he just didn’t want to wait until dinner to see them.
“Ja-wer?” he tried Adrienne first, missing her voice, making a mental note to work from her lab tomorrow since he was just doing paperwork.
“Ad?” he repeated, but not getting an answer. She must have fallen asleep, which while he was disappointed, he was very happy that she was getting some rest. Tapping the open line button, he decided to try the rest of his little family.
“Jack?”
No answer again. Alright, advanced brain or not, the boy did need sleep, and maybe Jack was laying down with him, watching a movie or something, in fact they could both use some rest.
That would actually be cute.
“Jack?” he decided to try one more time, waiting just outside the main doors of supply for his answer just in case Jack was awake and hadn’t heard him.
Again, there was silence.
Disappointed, Daniel let out a sigh, deciding to return to his office and have a Powerbar and coffee by himself.
*****
Dr. Kiang in Botany was very nice and had sent Nicholas to the gardens so he could find Dr. Zalenka who told him that he needed to see Dr. McNabb in Oceanography who told him that they were still working on the stability of the systems around the city before they started to try to examine the wildlife.
It seemed that his pseudo-uncle wasn’t gonna get any fishing done today.
Nicholas was discouraged; he wanted to spend time with Jack, fishing was very important to him, but his small stomach was rumbling. Looking over at the clock on the wall he saw that it was lunchtime and he was starving.
Thinking he could get one of the mixed shakes like his mom made for him in the commissary, thereby not alerting his father or his mother to his whereabouts, Nicky left the biology section of the science wing, letting his grumbling tummy guide him.
*****
Ignore it...
Daniel’s voice was buzzing in his ear, repeating him name over and over again, saying something about bringing Nicky to meet him for lunch.
Well, that wasn’t gonna happen because at this point Jack had scoured the entire science wing, including the botany departments, the gardens and the one lone oceanographer who seemed to be quite annoyed to have been bothered twice today , once by a ten month old child no less.
“Ok, so the little guy isn’t in the nerd wing, not in the infirmary...”Jack calculated out loud, his stomach answering for him.
“The mess!” and he was off, hoping he and Nicholas were on the same wavelength as he continued to ignore Daniel’s voice echoing through his head.
*****
“At this point I’m only going along with this to see Daniel’s face,” Sam was laughing as Adrienne stood at the main switch board in their room, hoping her husband wasn’t noticing any mainframe changes from where ever he was.
“Shug, I LIVE for seein’ Daniel’s face in moments like dis!” the Cajun replied, her accent slipping as she grinned brightly. Sitting back down at the desk, Sam made a few adjustments when there was a voice at her ear, Daniel’s, seeking her location.
“Uh oh,” she said, Adrienne peering over her shoulder at her.
“Uh oh wha?” Adrienne didn’t like that look nor the voice that went with it.
“Uh oh Daniel is looking for me,” Sam replied.
“LIE TO HIM,” Adrienne spat quickly, Sam shaking her head.
“And say what??”
“Anything but I am in your room working on insane shit with your wife!” the Cajun hissed back, throwing her hands into the air.
“Adrienne, I can’t lie to him,” Sam argued back, his voice again in her ear, more insistent, saying that he couldn’t find Jack and was just checking to see if her husband and the boy were taking a nap. They probably were, Jack had called to tell her about the new arrangement and how today he planned on mapping out a schedule and maybe showing the boy how to fish.
“Then don’t,” Adrienne reasoned, an idea popping into her head, “tell him you’re here and I called you and I can’t sleep and we’re just chatting. THAT’S not a lie.”
Not technically, Sam thought, sighing out.
“Hey Daniel,” Sam tapped her ear, blue eyes darting over at Adrienne, “yeah, I have. She called me a while ago, can’t sleep, so we’ve been chatting. No. No we haven’t seen Jack or Nicholas; I’d check anywhere there are fish. I will. Bye.”
“Everything ok?” Adrienne was already frowning, Sam shrugging her shoulders.
“He was worried, about you, Nicholas...” Sam started, Adrienne halting her typing and standing at the mention of her son’s name.
“What about Nicholas?”
“Nothing. Daniel hasn’t heard from him or Jack, but honestly Jack has probably found a pier and is showing your son how to fish, that’s been his plan since we set foot in the city,” Sam’s response was so confident, so sure, Adrienne was relieved, an image of her small son sitting in Jack’s lap, decorated pole in hand, popping into her head. She had to admit, she really liked Daniel’s idea, with both of their parent’s dead having a role model like Jack was exactly what her son needed in his life, the extended family that he was missing.
“Alright, so can you take a look at this then; you have much more experience in this area,” Adrienne refocused, her fingers tapping lightly at the screen again.
*****
Nicholas was pretty sure that the nice woman behind the serving counter hadn’t given him what he requested, the drink sitting between his legs instead a strawberry milkshake, but he wasn’t one to complain. After all, his mother had taught him to have the upmost respect for his elders and that no one liked it when you pointed out mistakes that should not have been made.
Especially when a mistake tasted this good.
He hadn’t found one person on this base so far that had any idea about any kind of fishing or where one could even find fish. Either they were all too busy or too aloof to notice his presence. So here he was, enjoying a sugar paradise that his dad would have died for, wondering what he should do.
The medicine probably would have taken effect, and judging by the time on the digital read out on the wall it was far too late to go fishing even if he knew a place to fish. Besides that, his uncle probably would still be too weak to do much of anything and Nicholas knew that if today didn’t go well it was back to occupying himself in his mom’s lab.
THAT didn’t need to happen.
Mom was cool, but it was only so exciting to watch her work, really it was only mildly entertaining when she began to swear in Cajun, Nicholas making sure to jot those words down in his language notebook.
They were just good to know.
Deciding that Jack was probably in the room, resting, waiting for Nicky to return, the young boy made a decision, standing and tossing the cup onto the dish tray, toddling out of the cafeteria.
*****
“Yeah, I made him a milkshake.”
Of course the little guy would come here, he was after all Daniel’s child as much as he was Adrienne’s and hunger was not something Daniel Jackson would ever ignore.
“Alright, so you made him a milkshake, then where did he go?” Jack now questioned, wondering why in the world he seemed to be the only person in this entire city that thought there was something wrong with a baby wandering around. Daniel, of course, would have minded, but at this point he still didn’t want his old friend to know what happened, that his only child was MIA and it was really Jack’s fault.
“He sat at the table where his family usually sits. I didn’t realize that he was gone until you arrived,” she explained, Jack shaking his head.
“Do you have any idea when that was?” he asked, the woman’s face pulled into a grimace as she shrugged.
“Sir, would you like me to call down Dr. Jackson, I’m sure he - “
“No,” Jack put a stop to that quickly, “no one calls Dr. Jackson. Clear?”
The woman nodded as Jack set out again, starting to debate calling Daniel himself.
*****
Torrin hadn’t been exaggerating.
Nicholas hadn’t had the time to come down here yet, well, more like Adrienne and Daniel hadn’t had the time to bring him just yet, but standing here it was like the prize at the bottom of the cereal box.
Or so he heard.
The screen on the back wall was of the same quality as the view screen on the bridge and gateroom, the characters dancing across it appearing to be real rather than two dimensional. He didn’t know the young man and woman using the console at the time, but they were just as engrossed as he was, watching the two knights power down at one another on the screen.
He had to get his hands on that game, or one game, some game, it was just too awesome not to. Brown eyes danced around the room, calculating, looking, trying to figure out how and where to start when there was a slam at his back making him cascade into the floor.
“I am so sorry, are you alright?”
He was, really, his only pain a throb in his small knee through tiny jeans.
“I’m ok...”
There were arms at his shoulders, under them, lifting him to his feet, a collection of confused faces all staring down at him.
“Who is that?”
“He’s so little.”
“Did he just talk? Was he walking?”
“That’s Dr. Jackson’s son; you knocked over his kid. Consider yourself OUT of here.”
“It was an accident, why’s he wandering around?”
“Doesn’t he stay with his mother?”
“Hey buddy, where are you supposed to be?”
“We should call his dad, should we?”
“I’m not calling Dr. Jackson, he likes me and I wanna keep it that way.”
“But if we don’t call Dr. Jackson he might send us all back to Earth!”
“Or to work with McKay. I prefer greasing things up with Dex ANY day!”
Not wanting his dad called, at least not until Nicholas found something to make his Uncle Jack feel better, the boy slipped back around the corner, his tiny feet slapping the corridor tiles.
*****
“Dr. Jackson?”
Daniel looked up from his desk, Davidson peering through the door, an expression of bewilderment on his face.
“What’s up?”
“Sir, there’s a jam in the communication system,” the young man replied, Daniel setting down his pen in concern. And to think, the day had been going so smoothly...
“What kind of jam?”
“Too many messages all coming to one person, and the system is crashing, reading it as a routing error...” Davidson explained, walking a tablet over to Daniel.
“Too many messages? To who? About what?” Daniel was reading the screen, ok, looking at this screen, analyzing anything computer related was more his wife’s territory.
“They’re all coming to you sir,” the young man replied, taking a breath, “Apparently sir, Nicholas is, well, exploring the city. Alone.”
*****
According to the collective of twenty somethings in the game room, once again he had just missed Nicky. He had to give himself credit for at least anticipating the little booger’s moves, glad that despite his crazy advanced brained and rapidly changing physique that Nicholas Jackson was still a child at heart, video games and all.
Yet with the science wing out of the question, the commissary and now the game room, Jack was not only at a loss as to where else to look but was growing slightly worried, fears of the boy having fallen down into the waters...
It was time to call Daniel.
Taking a breath in, slowly, carefully, Jack stepped aside into a corridor, tapping the communicator at his ear.
“Hey Daniel,” he tried to sound as chipper as possible, silence on the other end.
“Oh Danny boy, we’ve gotta talk...”
“Jack?” Daniel answered instantly, the general trying to decipher his mood in his voice.
“Yeah, hey, where are you?” he started simply, Daniel puttering around on the other end he could tell.
“Did Nicky sleep well?” the city commander replied. Right to the boy, of course, not that Jack could blame him and he felt awful that he was going to have to tell him...
“Or did he sleep at all? Because now that the communication system is back online, I’m hearing about all sorts of adventures that my son is getting into. Alone.”
Shit...
“Daniel, listen, let me explain, I sent him to get Jennifer, that's it, he was supposed to come right back...”
“I have him.” Jack heard, making him trail, a voice not Daniel’s on the other end.
“Wait? How did you find him?” the general stammered.
“Our DNA signature Jack, same as beaming,” Daniel answered quickly before talking to the interrupting third party, “Where is he Davidson?”
“Main living suites. O’Neill quarters.”
Jack was running, the best he could in the direction of his quarters before Daniel could say anything further.
******
The old general stood there, gazing down at his bed, the tiny body in toddler jeans and a t-shirt curled up on top of the covers.
Little shit was cute when he was asleep.
“He naps after lunch, that’s the only one we can get him to take anymore,” Daniel was behind him suddenly, Jack peering back with a grimace on his face.
“I told him to come right back,” he defended before his friend could scream, Daniel already shaking his head.
“He listens about as well as Adrienne just so you know.”
“I don’t think I’m the person to be watching him though Daniel,” Jack began honestly, his eyes on the bottles of pills the doctor had brought down earlier, “I’m not at full power.”
“No you’re fine. Welcome to parenting Nicky. It’s not that he takes advantage, he just gets in a zone...”
“Like you and Dr. Perky?” Jack interjected.
Daniel frowned.
“Yes, like me and Ad. He must have thought whatever he was doing would help you or something. But he’s back now and I’ll have a talk with him when he wakes up. Let him sleep at least an hour,” Daniel continued, Jack furrowing his face.
“You’re not mad, that worries me,” he said as Daniel shook his head and rolled his eyes.
“Nope, I’m livid and it’s taking everything in my power not to scream and yell and go ballistic because the only thing I love in this world more than my wife could have gotten seriously hurt. But it’s not your fault, it’s not really anyone’s fault, it’s just the way things seem to go,” the commander eerily calm.
Jack sighed.
He was right; it was par for the course around here.
“Oh Indy...” Jack heard Adrienne’s voice in Daniel’s ear, answering the other question that Jack had: Did Daniel tell his wife about this little incident?
Her voice was happy, so, apparently not, Jack listening in to see why she was so damn chipper.
“Hey Ad, you feeling better?” Daniel replied, holding a finger to Jack.
Yep, he didn’t tell her.
“I’m feeling great. Are you at your desk? I sent out a memo, I need everyone in the briefing room by five,” she was so loud that Jack could hear her, Daniel giving him a frown that the general was certain was intended for his wife.
“Ja-wer, if you were sleeping all day, when did you have time to send a memo or prep a briefing?”
“I Love you!” and Jack could tell by the look on his face that she had ended the transmission, Daniel rubbing his temples.
“See, listens just about as well as Adrienne,” he said as he started for the door, “he ok?”
“Yeah,” Jack replied, looking over at the TV and his crate of movies, “I’ll put something fun on for him when he gets up, hang out with him until you guys are ready.”
“Thanks, and let me know when he wakes up. We need to have a father son talk,” Daniel said and was at the door leaving, Jack slightly dumbfounded.
******
He was frowning as Adrienne and Sam set up the presentation, just slightly annoyed that she hadn’t been resting after all. The woman worked too damn hard, but then again, that was what made him start to fall for her in the first place. She was smiling so he decided not to mention their son’s little adventure until later, that might put a damper on whatever she wanted to present to him.
“I’d like to thank everyone for coming despite the hour,” his wife began, Daniel chuckling at her words. Always Southern and polite, because in his career at the SGC at meeting called at five in the evening was still considered normal; eating dinner at a normal time considered a gift.
Taking his seat at the head of the table, Daniel scanned the room at his senior staff, Vala and Ronon even showing up which was strange considering Adrienne’s all call asked for more academic members of senior staff, not security and intelligence.
“I know that we’re still in the process of exploring the base, resuming the functional levels that we were at prior to the return to Earth, but I think that we can all agree that sometimes we’re just at a loss. Not only for the more complex challenges that we face every day but for simple things, like where can we find the location of something on base. Thanks to Rodney, we have access to the electronic manual, but that is still a rather extensive volume and some staff members are a little too intimidated to tackle it,” Adrienne made sure to look over at Rodney so that he understood she did appreciate the manual access being made public, even though Daniel was still a little more than peeved that Rodney had kept this secret to himself for six weeks.
“In addition,” the slide flashed, Daniel recognizing the room, one he hadn’t bothered to stop by since they had arrived. He had found answers in that room, answers he hadn’t really wanted to hear from someone that was not who she seemed...
“We have children on this base and will be having more soon,” he saw her smile, at Teyla and then at him, making his heart skip a beat, “and we will have the need in the future to educate them.”
Daniel was now completely confused; what was she talking about?
Did Adrienne want to add school teacher to her already growing list of responsibilities??
“So, without further ado, Dr. O’Neill and I would like to present to you the Digital Ancient Technical Archive or DATA for short,” Adrienne said with a smile and her usual flair, tapping a few buttons on the main panel. There was the familiar hum of tech firing up, the hologram program, and suddenly standing before him was...
...a Star Trek character.
Daniel was pretty sure that he visibly face-palmed.
“I had to let her do it, it’s funny,” Sam was leaning back to whisper to him, Daniel shaking his head.
“Greeting inhabitants of Atlantis, I am DATA and here to assist you in any way that you may require.”
“Dear God she downloaded the voice...” he said before he could control himself, earning himself the Cajun glare.
“DATA, once complete, will be accessible at every computer terminal with a full educational version to be installed in the former classroom facilities,” she added, motioning for Sam to join her.
“I’d like to turn to floor over to Sam for the next part of our presentation....”
*****
“I should be mad at you,” Adrienne said as she placed the book in her lap, watching him strip off his uniform, tossing the jacket over the back of the chair.
“And I’m the only guilty party? Who was supposed to be in bed but decided to reprogram part of the system mainframe?” he shot back as he unzipped his pants, watching her blush at his accusation.
“He lost our son,” she pointed out, carefully.
“Yes, and we have had a stern conversation regarding this...” Daniel defended, pulling back the covers and slipping in beside her, shutting off the lamp as he did, “ with both of them. Nicholas is not innocent here; he’s smart enough to know better.”
“I was reading,” Adrienne grumbled.
“No you were just waiting to yell at me,” he replied, grabbing her book from her lap and tossing it to the desk, feeling her elbow him in the side.
“He could have gotten hurt,” she was still muttering, the bed shaking as she moved away.
“We have the entire city shielded now with Todd out there and our son is not stupid,” Daniel said as he pulled up the blankets, “He just does stupid things. Like his mother.”
“Definitely no cuddles for you tonight.”
“I don’t think so,” he argued, rolling over and reaching out to pull her to him. She didn’t fight; she never really did, even though she could launch him from the bed. Laughing, Adrienne let him wrap his arms around her waist, holding her tightly to him, his lips at her ear.
“Carson did the first implantation today,” he whispered, Adrienne nodding her head.
“I know. I’m trying not to get my hopes up,” she murmured softly in reply.
“If it rejects, he was able to create a decent amount of viable embryos. Apparently we make good babies together,” he said, a light kiss at her head as she chuckled before sucking in air.
“Daniel,” that uncertain voice, one she only had with him, the only person in her life to whom she had ever shown any sign of weakness.
“What ja-wer?”
“Do you think Todd is a threat? That he’ll come back?”
He paused for a moment, reading the tension in her words. She was scared, rightfully so, in that fleeting moment facing a Wraith that for some reason didn’t kill her realizing that her training wasn’t enough, that while Anubis may have been a threat, he was a solitary one that had to raise his own forces.
The Wraith were just that, the Wraith, a collective of the most horrible creatures in galaxy, possibly the universe.
“If he does, we’ll be ready for him,” Daniel assured her the best the he could, Adrienne rolling over as she swore she wouldn’t be doing tonight, burying herself into his body.
*****
There really was no good way to approach a hive ship. Granted they had no shields, but it was the thick organic hull that prevented any kind of surprise landing from occurring. Fear was an emotion that he had learned from the humans, and as he approached the vessel it was that very disgusting feeling that he was feeling.
Knowing where the darts would land, Todd eased the ship into the first bay he saw available. Like a true hive ship, there was no crew to greet them, not one creature to acknowledge him as he docked his vessel.
He was alone and he would be alone until they found him.
Nerves, yet another result of being with humans too long, rocketed through his core, Todd shutting off the ship quietly, thankful for the combined DNA that let him operate it in the first place. He sat in the pilot’s chair, calming himself, standing only when his heart was finally at rest.
Walking slower than he would have normally, Todd approached the back hatch of the jumper, slamming his palm against the inside activate to open the door, the slab of metal rising ever so slowly.
“We’ve been waiting...”
There, standing in front of him was the man from his dreams, his black eyes staring right through him.
He hadn’t been left to dock alone after all.
