“No, thank you,” Thorn said with a soft smile for the baby, his experience showing. “Water would be good, though.” Jerrie went to fetch a glass for him. “I don't mean to intrude; I was wondering if I could speak privately with you about medicine on other worlds. How they have handled their epidemics. Would that be alright?”
“Sure,” Jack said. “But it's Sam and Daniel, you'd want to speak with on that, Doctor; I know what band-aids are for.”
“Gabriel, please,” Thorn invited.
Davy came in, munching on a carrot. He leaned into Jack’s side and shyly pushed his head into Jack’s waist. Jack gave his soft cheek a stroke.
“This is my little man,” he said affectionately. “He used to be a very sick little man.” Jack told Gabriel about Davy’s past with allergies. Gabriel nodded thoughtfully as he looked at the boy.
“I’ve seen a few cases,” he commented. “The body’s wiring gone wild. But you can eat everything now?” he asked Davy. The boy nodded.
“Daddy fixed me,” Davy informed him. Gabriel looked at Jack just as Jack was looking at Davy. He hadn’t realized Davy knew about the odd things that had been going on.
“I was considering whether or not I should ask,” Gabriel said to Jack.
Jack leaned down and pecked Davy’s head. “Go,” he said, scooting the boy. Davy left the room and went to find Aba.
“I don’t know how I’m doing it, or even if I'm doing it,” Jack quietly admitted. “I don't think so, not his allergies. Cuts and scrapes, yes, but not that. This whole thing is recent, though, and I certainly don’t have a history of these kinds of things.”
“There must have been an event that precipitated this,” Gabriel said, frowning. “I can’t believe you woke up one morning and started healing people.”
“No, there was an event,” Jack said. “It’s one of those things still under very tight security. I healed someone of a serious wound once, unconsciously, and it stopped for a couple of years. It started up again this past year. I honestly have no idea how I’m doing it. Dr. Lam found activity in parts of my brain that….”
Gabriel snapped his fingers. “The CT that was lit up like a Christmas tree,” he said. “Subject A. That’s yours, isn’t it?”
“I will never testify to it,” Jack warned.
Gabriel held up a hand. “Patient confidentiality, Jack,” he promised. “I don’t suppose you would consider….”
“No, I wouldn’t. I don’t foresee martyrdom in my future, only grandchildren.”
Gabriel heard the conviction and didn’t push it. “Why aren’t more adults doing these new things? Any ideas?”
“None of my own,” Jack said. “Sam feels that not everyone is changing, nor will they. Enki is of the same opinion. Davy has a cognitive problem, and I haven't noticed anything happening with his brain.”
“Sorry, Jack, but I think you’re wrong,” Jerrie said, surprisingly, from the table she was setting. The men looked at her. “He may not be upping his IQ points, but I think he’s developing those other senses just like some of the other kids. I think he’s doing that empathy thing that you can do. Remember the discussion about him seeming to read people’s heart? He’s pure, Jack; he sees the truth.”
“Empathy, too?” Gabriel asked. Jack reluctantly nodded.
“I’m sorry, I thought he knew!” Jerrie said, horrified that she had let loose a house secret. Jack waved her off
“It's a recent thing,” Jack said, not ready to bring the man into the fold. But he had a feeling Gabriel would be joining them.
There was a knock at the front door and someone in the living room answered it. A moment later, “Dad!” Matthew yelled. “It’s for you! Malek and M’Net!”
Jack raised his eyebrows and went into the living room. The two were exchanging greetings with Enki.
“Don’t yell, Matt, just come get me,” Jack said. “Mal, phone not working?” Malek thought about it and decided to put it aside. “M’Net, how’s it hangin’?” He knocked paws with the big cat.
The Sua glanced back at his tail. “Close to the floor?”
Children snickered.
“Scram,” Jack told them. The children scrammed. “So, boys, what’s up?” Jack sat next to Sam who had been coloring with Stacy. “Hey, no one called me, how did you get here?”
“Al'kesh,” Malek said. “We were only a few light-years away.”
Jack nodded. Malek sat as M’Net took the baby from a very startled Gabriel. Olivia screeched happily and took fistfuls of fur as he nuzzled her cheek with his nose.
“Where’s T’Keet?” Daniel asked.
“With her family,” M’Net said. “K’Nm, sister to N’Sa, has taken T’Keet. K’Nm is young; she is considering taking me as her consort. T’Keet has expressed a wish to keep us together. It pleases me.”
“You don’t have a say in it?” Daniel asked. “You are her parent, she can’t stay with you?”
M’Net considered it. “Cubs belong to the mother and her family. There is precedent for a consort raising the cub on his own,” he admitted. “And I would welcome it, but she needs a whole family, her clan. The destruction of our village was… T’Keet misses a mother and consorts. I miss N’Sa and my brothers, too.”
Daniel reached over and squeezed a paw. “I hope K’Nm does choose you,” he said. “She will be gaining a wonderful gift.”
M’Net flicked his ears. “Thank you.”
“M’Net is also the Sua representative to the unification council,” Malek said. “They will be requesting protectorate status as soon as the peace treaty is ratified. There was a lot of talk over the choice of him, but it was decided that since he already spoke both Tau’ri and Goa’uld, and his extensive experience with you, that he would be the appropriate choice. He will be reporting directly to the high queen.”
“Great!” Jack exclaimed. “How many worlds does that make?” He knew most of the worlds were going to be protectorates; until they were able to adequately protect themselves, they were going to need help. A few had decent ground troops which gave them the pride to sign on as full members. The main council of the unification was Chulak, the Tok’ra, Langara, Kalam, Serrakis, Mulakma, and Taklede. The last two Jack hadn’t met, but he was told that they both had air vessels and managed to stave off many attacks from the Goa’uld in their section of the galaxy. The two groups were neighbors who discovered that they needed each other’s help, when they weren’t fighting with each other. These seven were making the main decisions on the treaty before it was signed.
“Thirty-two,” Malek said. “There are six more currently considering the proposal. We are very close to the final negotiations over the treaty; it was written with great skill, so there hasn’t been very much to alter. Well done, Daniel, we are all in your debt for such a masterful document.”
“You’re welcome,” Daniel said, slightly embarrassed.
“We would like to know if Col. Carter can,… what is your expression… come out to play?” Malek said. “During the clean-up of remaining Goa’uld, Anubis’ storehouse was discovered.”
There was a squeak from Jack’s side. “Can it wait?” he said, amused. “Katie’s birthday is next week.”
“Since Col. Carter is the only one who seems to understand these things, they can wait,” Malek said. “What is ‘birth day?’ Is Katie not already born?”
Daniel explained the celebration. Malek and M’Net thought about it. “Tau’ri have strange customs,” Malek finally said. The Sua agreed.
“We brought tokens,” Malek said. He reached into the pouch at his waist and brought out several small devices and handed them to Sam. “These are always useful. We kept a few for ourselves.”
Sam was thrilled as she slipped the small healing device over her fingers. She concentrated and a small blue beam sparked from it. “Thank you, Malek,” she said with a delighted grin.
“What is it?” Gabriel asked.
“A healing ribbon,” she said, making it spark again.
“I don’t know,” Sam admitted. “Malek, does it work on diseases or just physical injuries?”
He thought about it. “Just physical injuries, I believe,” he said. “No, let me clarify; it can heal a physical injury caused by a disease, but not the disease itself. It mends tissue.”
“Can anyone use it?” Gabriel asked.
Sam shook her head. “No, only someone with a specific DNA marker,” she said. Gabriel was clearly disappointed.
Malek and M’Net stayed long enough for dinner and then took their leave. Daniel put several pieces of fruit into a bag and handed it to M’Net to take home to T’Keet.
Enki had been relatively silent during the evening except for attending to the children. Once in a while, Gabriel would look at him, curious. Sometimes even Jack forgot the old man was present.
After dinner, the adults retired to Daniel’s den. Gabriel was amused at the picture of the lion on the front of the door; he got the joke. Olivia was the only non-adult present and she was happy to play on the rug, attempting to scoot herself from one place to another. She hadn’t quite gotten the hang of knees, but she did belly-scoots just fine.
“I don’t know where to start with the big feline,” Gabriel said. “So, what’s with Malek’s voice? Dual vocal cords?”
“Only when the symbiote is talking,” Sam said. “We very rarely hear from the host; he has a regular voice.”
“And the symbiote?” Gabriel asked. “I thought those things were the bad guys?”
Daniel did his best to explain the different queens and parentage. Gabriel leaned back in the chair, absently watching the baby. Daniel leaned down and took a piece of fuzz away from her; it was on its way to her mouth. She scowled at him.
“Jack, the more open you are with me, the more I can help you,” Gabriel finally said. “I understand about secrecy, I know where more skeletons are buried than you would guess. I know that a lot was not said today. And why do I have the feeling that Mr. Enki here is more than a kindly grandpa?”
“Just Enki,” the old man said easily. He stared at Gabriel for a moment. “Jack, reach in to him. Not just his surface emotions, deeper; sense the river they are flowing from.”
Jack rubbed his face noisily and blew out a puff of air. He stood and went the couple steps to Gabriel’s side. “Would you mind?” he asked, holding out a hand. Gabriel gave him a hand. Jack immediately sensed a great curiosity followed by a slight shiver of dread. He saw a cord and followed it. An attraction to him, knowledge that he was unobtainable, amused acceptance, a longing for the healing device, a brief image of a small, emaciated child, lifeless, frustration, anger, a brilliant love, laughter of children.
Jack stepped back. “Gabriel, it will be considered treason if you disclose this information. Daniel, would you please start?” he quietly asked. Sam and Daniel looked at each other.
Several hours later, Gabriel was leaning back in his chair, white faced, wide-eyed, and wrung out from the debriefing.
“Dear Lord,” he whispered. Jack handed him a glass of something amber and Gabriel downed it in one gulp. “This is more than cops and robbers with space ships,” he said. Jack nodded. “You were right to keep this from the public. The data will be disseminated; I think Daniel’s summary will do nicely. I think I’d like to change a few things in it, though, just down-play the language a little more. I cannot do anything overt with countries, Jack, you know I can’t; it would constitute my invading someone else's property. I will do what I can around it. I, also, have information that isn’t public knowledge; the Director-General is stepping down and I’m taking over. Shortly. I promise you; to the best of my ability, I will do all I can to help. You will have one hundred percent of the World Health Organization at your service.” He kept staring from Jack’s head to Enki.
After Gabriel left for his hotel, they bedded Enki down for the night in the den and went up to bed.
“Was that the right thing to do?” Daniel quietly asked.
“I hope so,” Jack said, striping off his clothes. “When I went inside, I felt nothing except a great need for well-being. There was a vastness inside of him. The only thing I can think of is an unending cargo bay filled with information and he has the only key. We could use a medical director for HomeSec and SGC; I’d ask him on board, if I thought he’d take it, but I think he can be of more use where he’s going.”
Daniel slid his arms around Jack’s waist and held him. Jack paused in his dressing.
“I’m sorry,” Daniel said against his shoulder. “I’ve been selfish, thinking of my needs when you’ve been thinking of the entire world.”
Jack held tight to him. “No, you haven’t been selfish,” he said. “I blinded myself. My first thought should always be for home. I will help guide the unification; the world will evolve as it will. The information is where it needs to be, let the experts take care of it.”
He took Daniel’s face and kissed him, sucking gently and licking at his lips. He laid Daniel on the bed and moved over him. When Sam came out of the shower, they pulled her in.
In the morning, Jack stopped Katie on her way out the door.
“I’ll be late,” she said.
“I’ll take you,” he said. “I want to ask you something. Just how much can you read off people?”
Katie thought about it, looking at the ceiling. “It’s like, when I look at someone, sometimes I see a dark spot in them. I can’t actually see bones and organs and stuff, I can only see if something is off. Like, last week I looked at Mrs. Lewis, my math teacher, and I saw a dark spot over her jaw and the other day she had to leave school early because she had a dentist appointment.”
Jack frowned. “So, you just look at someone and you see it?”
She shook her head. “No, it’s more like I look just past them, not directly at them, and if something is wrong, I see a dark spot out of the corner of my eye.”
He nodded. He felt a hesitation in her. “What is it?”
“I talked with my guidance councilor,” she said. “He’s going to get me a tutor.”
Jack frowned. “A tutor? For what?” She had no need for tutoring, not with her grades.
“Pre-med courses; I’m going to take the M-SATs.”
Jack looked at her. He put his mug down and lifted her high with a yell. She laughed and he peppered her face with kisses. He pulled back and lifted his head.
“Don’t think this is getting you out of a grounding, Miss Thing,” he informed her.
“That’s Dr. Thing, to you,” she said impudently. “And when I graduate as the best doctor in the country, you are going to hire me.”
“Ma’am, yes, ma’am!”
Sam drove her to school with excited chatter while Jack informed Olivia that her big sister was getting too big too fast. Olivia offered him her bottle.
Daniel took Enki to school with him as a treat for his class, so Jack relaxed until Jerrie got back and could take over with the baby. Maggie came over and Jack told her Katie’s news.
“Her mother and your father would be so proud,” she said. Jack agreed. He knelt on the floor and laid his head in her lap. She stroked his hair. “Jack, I don’t know what’s going on with you, and I’m not sure I want to know,” she said. “I will say this, though; one day at a time, sweetheart.”
Even big, bad generals needed their mommy. Jack felt better by the time he got to work. He called Hayes and let him know that Dr. Thorn was completely in; Maynard wasn’t happy about it. He then told Paul that they were handing over the evolution reigns to Gabriel while they concentrated on the unification.
Several more alien representatives called on Jack, each with the assumption that their need was important enough to come calling on him instead of dealing with the main council. He turned them over to Paul and Cassie.
“Can I change my address?” Jack asked the ceiling.
He left the building to go and visit the Academy. The
y had a new general. Students and staff snapped to attention when Jack walked in. He returned salutes and waved them down.
“As you were, kids,” he offered. A helpful cadet escorted him to Hammond’s new home.
“Jack!”
“Nice place, George,” Jack said, taking his hand and looking around. The office furniture was dark and warm, the walls a rich umber. Hammond was decorating with medals and photographs. A picture of his girls was prominently displayed on his desk, and Jack spotted one of himself and SG-1. The cadet was wide-eyed when he left the generals. Jack held out a small box. Hammond looked at it and chuckled.
“I need candy like I need a hole in the head,” Hammond informed him. He took the box anyway. “I cannot believe I’m doing this, Jack, I must be out of my mind.”
Jack sighed and updated him on current events. When he was done, Hammond was staring at him.
“What would Jacob have said? Holy buckets?” Hammond asked. Jack chuckled and nodded. “Wow, Jack, you’ve been a busy boy. Just do me a favor? Don’t over-work Abigail; we have a date tomorrow night.”
“You’re a dog, George.”
Jack did a little shopping, picking up things for Matthew’s sleep-over, food that would be absolutely bad for growing boys and the videos Matthew had requested. He picked the kids up from school and noted a slightly absent look on Katie’s face. When they got home, he directed Matty and Stacy to put groceries away, and took Katie by the hand and led her into his office. He shut the door.
“Who is he?”
“Who?”
“The boy who put that look on your face,” he said, waving a finger. She flushed.
“Isn’t there some sort of rule about rummaging inside of people?” she asked him.
“Yes, there is,” he said. “It isn’t my rule, but I agree with it, usually, and I didn’t rummage, I guessed and you just confirmed it. Spill.”
She stamped a foot and turned to look at his books. “Esteban, okay?” she demanded.
“Okay,” Jack shrugged. “Are we meeting him? No, I’ll rephrase –when are we meeting him?”
She opened her eyes wide. “Oh, God, please don’t zat him,” she begged.
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