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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Furious, Vice President Kinsey went to his office.  This was a disaster.  Not only was Hayes considering creating an organization that would seriously interfere with their plans, he was actually thinking about putting O'Neill in charge of the SGC.  This could not be allowed to happen – and neither could awarding Jackson the Medal of Freedom.

Kinsey sat at his desk and retrieved the cell phone from the locked drawer it was hidden in.

"We've got a big problem," he said to the person who answered the number he dialed.  He explained what the president had told him about the plans for the SGC and the new Homeworld Security.

"You're right.  This will cause a problem," the man agreed.  "It appears that we have no choice but to remove the president."

Kinsey smiled in satisfaction.  "It's about time you agreed with me on that."

"You are kept apprised of his schedule, so we'll leave it up to you to decide what will be the best time."

"Right.  I'll let you know what I come up with.  Are you going to have one of your own people do it or hire a professional?"

"We'll go with an independent hit man.  If, somehow, he gets caught, we can't have it be anyone with ties to us.  And we'll have to keep our identity a secret from him so that he can't be forced into revealing who hired him.  Give us a call as soon as you work out the best time."

There was a click, and the line went dead.  Kinsey put the phone back in the drawer.  He pulled out the president's itinerary for the next month.  With the exception of the weekend, the rest of this week was packed full of meetings here at the White House, so there was no chance that a hit could be arranged for this week.  Next week and the week after looked pretty much the same.  Kinsey saw that, later next month, there would be several opportunities for the assassination, but this needed to be done as soon as possible, before Hayes established his Homeworld Security.  Kinsey also wanted it done before the president had an opportunity to give the Freedom Medal to Jackson.  There was no way the vice president was going to let that happen.

Kinsey thought about this weekend.  Hayes was planning on going to Camp David.  Though killing the president there would be difficult, it wouldn't be impossible, not with the inside information he could provide.  It would be the only real opportunity for the assassination during the next three weeks.

The vice president got back on the phone with his contact and told him about the trip to Camp David.

"That is not much time to arrange a presidential assassination," the man said.

"No, but the information I can provide will make it easier.  Not only will I have his schedule, I can also give you information on the layout of the area, details on the security and more.  I've been there more than once and know the place well."

"True.  Very well.  We'll plan on this weekend, if we can find someone to do the job that quickly.  The moment you get the president's exact itinerary, let us know."

Kinsey hung up.  He was just about to call Hayes' aide when his own aide told him that the president was on the phone for him.

"Hey, Bob," said Hayes.  "I figured I should let you know that I'll have some company at Camp David this weekend."

"Company?"

"I've invited SG-1 to join me there, just for Saturday afternoon and overnight."

"SG-1?"  Damn!  This could cause a problem.

"Yes.  I want to chat with them about a few things."

"I see.  Will your aide have your itinerary?"

"As soon as everything is worked out."

"All right.  Have her send me a copy as soon as possible."

Kinsey hung up.  Dammit!  Why, of all times, did Hayes have to invite SG-1 for a little getaway?

It was then that an idea came to Kinsey, one that would solve two problems at once.  The more he thought about it, the better he liked it.

Once more, he called his contact in the organization.  "Once you find someone to do the job, I need to have his contact information," he said.

"Why?"

"Just in case there's a last minute change in the plans.  It will be a lot faster for me to contact the person directly than having to go through you."

"You do have a point.  But no phone conversations.  We can't take the chance of him recognizing your voice."

"Agreed."

"I'll contact you as soon as we've found someone."

Kinsey hung up with a smile on his face.  At last, he was going to get what he wanted, control of the Stargate Program and the elimination of Daniel Jackson once and for all.


"Camp David?" Jack said in surprise.  Hammond had just told them that the president was inviting them to meet him at the well-known presidential retreat.

"Why?" Daniel asked.

"The president has some things that he'd like to talk to you about."

Jack frowned.  "I'm not sure I like the sound of that."

Hammond smiled.  "I assure you, Colonel, it's nothing unpleasant.  Just the opposite, in fact."

"Then you know what this is all about, sir?" Sam questioned.

"Yes, but I don't have permission to tell you.  You'll just have to wait and find out from the president yourself."

"This weekend," Jack said.

"That's right.  Noon on Saturday, to be exact.  You'll stay there overnight, then fly back Sunday morning."

Jack smiled a little.  "Spend the night at Camp David.  Never done that before.  Actually, I've never been there at all.  Too bad it's not summer.  I bet there's some great fishing around there."

"I'm sure that you'll find other things to keep you occupied while you're there.  I've taken the liberty of having you booked on the 6 a.m. flight to Dulles.  There will be a helicopter waiting there to take you to Camp David."

"Sounds good, sir," Jack said.

SG-1 left the general's office and headed to Daniel's.

"I wonder what the president wants to talk to us about?" the archeologist said.

"No idea," Jack admitted.  "If Hammond hadn't assured us it wasn't anything bad, I'd be afraid that Hayes was going to try to talk you into letting the NID dig into your brain."

"Maybe he wants to talk about the stuff with Anubis and Antarctica," Sam suggested.

Daniel nodded.  "That's possible."

"Well, I guess we'll find out on Saturday," Jack said.  "Just be sure to pack your thermal underwear and snow boots, kids."

"I do not possess such attire," Teal'c informed him.  "Nor do I intend to wear . . . thermal underwear."  He said the last words with a mild look of disdain on his face.

Jack shrugged.  "Suit yourself.  I, for one, am not going to let any body parts freeze off."

"I have confidence that all of my body parts will still be attached when we return, O'Neill."

An imp of mischief took hold of Sam.  "And don't worry, sir.  I'll be sure to keep all of Daniel's body parts nice and warm."

Daniel and Jack gaped at her in shock, which both amused and embarrassed her.  Then the archeologist grinned.

"And I'll be sure to do the same for Sam," he said.

"Well, at least somebody'll be warm," Jack muttered.

As he left the office, he wondered why it was that the image of a certain physician came wandering into his mind.


The rest of that day passed uneventfully.  Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the following day.  As everyone had feared, the NID, upon finding out about Daniel's healing abilities, was openly expressing doubts about his claim that he remembered next to nothing of the Ancients' knowledge.  A Captain Greenwood and their old friend Major Rice arrived early that afternoon, requesting to speak with Daniel immediately.  Not wanting things to turn ugly, Hammond had only Daniel and Doctor Fraiser come to the briefing room, knowing that if Jack was there, he'd butt heads with the NID agents, especially Rice.

"Doctor Jackson," Rice said.  "Quite a lot has changed since we last met."

"Yes, it has.  But trust me, some things haven't," the archeologist told him with a hard stare.

"We'll see."  The major turned to Hammond.  "Several of my superiors are having a difficult time believing that, though he has retained the healing ability that came with the Ancients' knowledge, Doctor Jackson has virtually no memory of the knowledge itself."

"Excuse me, but the healing ability is only partially connected to that knowledge," Janet stated.

"How so?" Captain Greenwood asked.  "Isn't it true that it's only because of the download of that knowledge that Doctor Jackson gained this ability?"

"Yes, but you have to understand how it works.  The ability to heal injuries and illnesses like this is not something that can come about because of a set of instructions.  You can't tell someone how to instantaneously heal torn flesh."

"Then how do you explain it?" Rice asked, frowning.

"When Doctor Jackson interfaced with the repository, a lot more happened than just a bunch of knowledge being downloaded into his mind.  His brain was significantly altered by the download.  Normally, there are areas of the human brain that show little activity, and there are still lots of questions about what those areas do.  Since Daniel began using his paranormal abilities, some of those areas are showing significantly more activity, which leads me to believe that they are the source of those abilities.  Scans I took after the download showed that virtually one hundred percent of Daniel's brain was fully active, including those areas that science is still trying to figure out.  I believe that, because of the download, Daniel's natural ability to heal others was awakened in one of those areas."

"Then he already had this ability?  He just didn't know it?" Greenwood asked, skeptical.

Janet shook her head.  "No, not exactly.  You see, it has been long theorized that all human beings possess what we call psychic abilities.  It's just that the majority of us can't consciously tap into them.  So, technically, we don't have them.  However, if something happened to enable us to access and use those portions of our brain, everything would change."

Rice frowned.  "So, you're saying that the download did that, and he somehow kept the ability even after he lost the knowledge itself?"

"Yes."

"I don't buy it."

"Why not?" Daniel asked.

"Because I think that this is all an effort to hide the fact that you remember a hell of a lot more of that knowledge than you're willing to admit."

Angry, Janet was all ready to rip into the major, but Daniel's stopped her with a little shake of the head.

"So, tell me, Major Rice.  What would be my reason for hiding that?" he asked the NID agent.

"Because, if we knew for sure that you still had the knowledge, you'd be taken off SG-1.  That knowledge would be far too valuable to risk by having you stay on an SG team."

Daniel leaned forward.  "Think about it, Rice.  What's my main reason for staying on SG-1?  It's to help fight the Goa'uld.  Now, think about this.  If I really did have conscious access to all that knowledge, I could use it to stop the Goa'uld.  It would give us exactly what I've wanted for over seven years.  After everything I've done, do you honestly think that I'd be selfish enough to sacrifice the welfare of Earth and the defeat of the Goa'uld just because I wanted to stay on SG-1?"

"Considering everything you've already suffered and sacrificed for Earth, that wouldn't make sense," Greenwood admitted.  Daniel was glad that at least one of the two men had some common sense.

"You could have other motivations," Rice insisted.  "This wouldn't be the first time that you've deliberately taken actions to deny Earth of sorely needed technology."

Daniel sighed.  "You know, constantly bringing up that whole thing about the Tollans is really getting old, Rice.  Yes, I prevented our government from wrongfully imprisoning a group of peaceful aliens because I felt that the technology we might have gotten from them wasn't worth the crime that would have been committed to get it.  You want to know the truth?  There actually is one thing that would stop me from giving our government the Ancients' knowledge, and that's if I thought we'd end up blowing ourselves up with it or become what the Velonans did."

"Velonans?" Greenwood questioned.

"The people that the Ancient, Orlin, helped save from the Goa'uld by teaching them how to build a highly advanced weapon.  After defeating the Goa'uld that were attacking them, the Velonans began planning the conquest of other planets, using the technology Orlin gave them.  The Ascended destroyed them to stop that from happening."

"Then you're admitting that, if you thought we shouldn't have the knowledge, you wouldn't give it to us," Rice said in triumph.

"Yes.  Knowledge is power, Major Rice, and the entire knowledge of the Ancients is power beyond imagining.  Earth is not ready for that much power."

Rice smiled nastily.  "Then you've just told us your reason for hiding the knowledge."

"No, I've told you the reason why I wouldn't share knowledge that I thought was too dangerous.  I'm not a stupid man, Major, though you apparently think I am.  If I'd managed to retain a decent portion of the Ancients' knowledge, I could pick and choose what to give Earth and what to keep to myself.  I could claim that what I gave you was all that I remembered.  No one would ever know that I had a whole lot more.  Doing that would get people like you off my back since I'd be giving you enough weapons and other technology to keep you happy.  At the same time, I'd be helping us defeat the Goa'uld with that very same technology.  The fact that I've given you nothing at all should tell you that I have nothing to give."

Rice sneered at him.  "What I think is that you've realized you made a mistake by claiming that you remember nothing, and it's too late to correct it without showing your hand."

Daniel stared right back.  "No, I could just claim that some of the knowledge leaked back into my conscious mind.  After a year of remembering virtually nothing about the time I was ascended, I now remember it all.  It wouldn't be all that strange for me to suddenly say that the information for some Ancient weapons popped into my memory."

"I'd like to know something, Doctor Jackson," Captain Greenwood said.  "Why have you refused to let yourself be hypnotized in an effort to retrieve the knowledge?"

"Two reasons.  One is what I just stated.  A lot of that knowledge is too dangerous, and I'd have little control over what I remembered through hypnosis.  The other reason is that I really don't want to go through that whole thing over again.  Having all that knowledge nearly killed me.  If you started digging around in my subconscious, it could trigger a repeat of what happened before, which wouldn't help any of us.  If you read the report, you know that I wasn't much use in actually imparting my knowledge to others.  My brain was too overwhelmed to be able to do that."

"I'd like to interject something here," Janet said.  "It has to do with what Daniel just said.  The human brain is not designed to consciously hold that vast amount of knowledge.  As Daniel said, it nearly killed him when he had it, and the same thing happened to Colonel O'Neill over five years ago.  It would be impossible for Daniel to be consciously retaining a significant portion of that knowledge and not suffer any symptoms.  Just the fact that he's sitting here, completely healthy and cognizant, is proof enough that he's telling the truth."

"We never said that he had all of the knowledge, Doctor," Rice said, "or even the majority of it.  We just think that he has a lot more than he says he does."

"And who exactly is 'we'?"

"Myself and some of my superiors.  It's not really necessary for you to know all their names."

"Well, you and those superiors are wrong," Daniel said bluntly, "and, since you clearly don't have any proof of your beliefs, there's not a damn thing you can do."

Rice's eyes narrowed.  "Oh, there's plenty we can do, Jackson.  We're under a new administration now, and this president may be less enamored of SG-1.  I intend to tell my superiors that they should speak to him about having you transferred to Area 51, where your knowledge will be of greater use to the planet."

Daniel smiled.  "Hey, if you want, I can pass on the message to him at Camp David on Saturday," he offered brightly.

Rice frowned.  "What?"

Hammond also smiled.  "SG-1 has received a personal invitation from the president to spend a portion of the weekend with him at Camp David.  I guess he likes them just fine, especially since they just happened to save the whole damn planet yet again."

The NID agent scowled severely.

"I'll be sure to give him your regards, Major," Daniel said, his voice dripping with honey.  He noticed a faint smile flit across Captain Greenwood's face, which led Daniel to believe that the man was not another Rice.

"I believe that this meeting is at an end," Hammond said, rising from his chair.

"General Hammond—" Rice began.

"Major, I would suggest that you leave now without saying anything further," Hammond interrupted in a dangerous tone of voice, "unless you'd like me to talk to the president and tell him how much disrespect you've shown toward the man that all of us owe our lives to."

Rice proved that he did have some small measure of intelligence after all – or perhaps just a healthy sense of self-preservation – and shut up.  He got up from the table and left the room.

Captain Greenwood rose to his feet.  He met Daniel's eyes.  "I'm sorry about that, sir.  Personally, I think that you're telling the truth, and I don't think that you should be made to work at Area 51, if you don't want to."

"Thank you, Captain."

After Greenwood had left, Janet turned to Daniel.  "Though I admire your honesty, Daniel, it might not have been wise to say that you wouldn't give us knowledge that you thought was too dangerous for Earth to have."

"If I hadn't said it myself, sooner or later, Rice or someone else would have suggested that was my reason for hiding the knowledge.  With my track record, it wouldn't be that much of a stretch."

"Good thinking," Hammond said.  "In this way, you cut off that avenue of speculation before it even got started."

"Well, I have to get back to the infirmary," Janet told them.  "SG-18 came back from their last mission with a severe case of an alien version of poison oak, and the calamine lotion isn't helping."

"Thanks for your help, Janet," Daniel said.

"My pleasure, Daniel."

The petite doctor left the briefing room.

Daniel turned back to Hammond.  "Sir, do you think this is it or can I expect more trouble from the NID?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer that, Doctor Jackson.  However, I wouldn't object if you asked the president on Saturday to step in and tell the NID to leave you alone."

Daniel smiled a little.  "Maybe I'll do that, sir."

Hammond smiled as well.  "Now go on and tell your teammates that you're not going to be hauled off to Area 51.  After waiting in the corridor all this time, I'm sure they're getting anxious."

Startled, Daniel stared at him.  "You knew?"

Hammond's smile got bigger.  "I'm not a general for nothing, Doctor Jackson."

Daniel left the briefing room and went straight to where he knew that Sam, Jack and Teal'c were waiting.

"Hi guys," he said.

"So?" inquired Jack.

"Don't worry, Jack.  The NID aren't going to come here and drag me kicking and screaming off to Area 51.  Rice was his usual charming self.  We all argued back and forth about whether or not I remembered more of the Ancients' knowledge than I said I did.  I said that it didn't matter what Rice and his superiors thought since they had no proof and could do nothing about it.  He told me that they were going to talk to the new president and get him to approve my transfer, and I told him about our upcoming visit to Camp David at the president's personal invitation."

Sam smiled.  "I bet that surprised him."

"Just a bit.  After that, Hammond threw Rice out.  Oh, and Captain Greenwood apologized for Rice being a jackass."

That surprised Jack.  "He did?"

"Uh huh.  He apparently doesn't share Rice's viewpoint."

"That's good," Sam said.  "I know that there must be a lot of people at the NID who aren't in the same camp as Major Rice.  I'm certain that Agent Barrett isn't."

"So, how come it's just the jackasses that come here?" Jack asked.

"Maybe because of the fact that they are jackasses," Daniel replied.

"Oh.  Right."  Jack looked at his teammates.  "So, lunch anyone?"


Not surprisingly, no one heard anything about the NID talking to the president about transferring Daniel, which probably meant that either they realized it would be a waste of time or the president told them to take a hike.

Because of the early flight time to Camp David, SG-1 decided that it would be best to stay at a hotel in Denver Friday night so that they wouldn't have to drive all that distance Saturday morning.  Even doing that, they were still going to have to get up really early to catch their flight.

It was late Friday morning when the warning of an unscheduled off-world activation was announced.  SG-1 happened to be nearby and made it to the control room just as the wormhole was established.

"We're getting an IDC code, sir," Harriman said to Hammond.  "It's the Tok'ra."

"Oh, wonderful," Jack muttered.  "What do they want?"

Everyone was pleased to see Jacob Carter appear through the event horizon.  Hammond and SG-1 went down to greet him.

"Dad," Sam said with a smile, coming forward to hug him.

"Hey, Sam.  It's good to see you."

"So, I'm guessing you've heard all the news," Jack said.

"How could we not?  Earth destroying Anubis and his entire fleet is the talk of the galaxy."

"And you guys wanna know how we did it, right?"

"We'd sort of like to know that, yes, although we already know that Ancient technology is involved.  The Goa'uld are aware that you found some kind of Ancient weapon here on Earth."

"Let's go up to the briefing room," Hammond said.

"So, I'm assuming that this is a pretty long story," Jacob said once everyone was seated.

"Oh, not so long," Jack replied.  "I think I can sum it up in under two minutes.  A certain archeologist figures out that there's an Ancient repository on Planet X.  SG-1 and Company go to Planet X and find said repository.  The Goa'uld display their usual habit of showing up at the worst possible moment and try to blow up SG-1 and Company so that they can have the repository for themselves.  The aforementioned archeologist decides that we can't let Anubis get the knowledge of the Ancients, but we also can't let all that lovely knowledge be lost, so guess what he does.  He sticks his head in the Ancient headsucker.  Presto!  All that knowledge is now in his brain.  A little C-4, and boom goes the repository.  With half-conscious archeologist in tow, SG-1 and Company beat it back to Earth.

"Well, as everyone knew would happen, the archeologist starts to do and say weird things because of all that stuff crammed into his brain.  Amidst all the weirdness, he thinks he finds the Lost City of the Ancients.

"In the meantime, Anubis, royally pissed off that we cheated him out of his prize and thinking that we're now going to get all the really cool Ancient toys, decides to come kick our ass.  So, SG-1 and Bra'tac go running willy-nilly to what we think might be the Lost City, but, instead, turns out to be a planet that makes Netu look like a vacation spot.  But all is not lost, for there's this nicely decorated little place there that has a functioning power source.  SG-1 takes the power source and hightails it back to Earth.  Unfortunately, the archeologist isn't doing so good because his brain is being overwhelmed by all the Ancient knowledge.

"Back on Earth, Anubis has arrived and sees that, hmm, nobody's firing at him, so we must not have any cool weapons.  But, before he can get busy kicking our ass, it's SG-1 to the rescue.  The archeologist, despite the fact that he's no longer playing with a full deck, manages to out-fly several dozen Al'Kesh and death gliders, then finds an Ancient outpost hidden beneath the ice in Antarctica.  SG-1 rings down to it.  And that's when things really get interesting.  As the rest of SG-1 fights supersoldiers in the outpost and the Prometheus and our entire fleet of 302's battle Anubis' forces up above, the archeologist sits in this nifty throne and makes these glowy squid things fly up and totally blast Anubis and his ships to bits.

"But is this the end of our story?  Nope!  Because, now, his job done, the archeologist very inconsiderately dies on us."

Jacob looked at Daniel sharply.  Before he could make the comment that the linguist looked alive to him, Jack continued.

"But guess what.  It turns out that he's not dead after all, even though he laid in the morgue for four hours.  He's just," Jack made air quotes, "'sleeping'.  More accurately, he's in some kind of suspended animation that just makes him look dead because his heart's beating only twice a minute.  At last, the archeologist wakes up, and everything is just peachy."  Jack looked at his watch.  "Did I make it?"

"Sorry, Jack.  Two and a half minutes," Daniel replied.

"Damn.  I didn't talk fast enough."

Jacob shook his head.  "You know what's really sad?  This doesn't surprise me one bit, well except maybe for the suspended animation thing."  He looked at Daniel.  "Care to elaborate?"

Daniel explained it to Jacob, who, along with Selmak, was amazed by the whole thing.

"But what about the Ancients' knowledge?" the Tok'ra asked.

"Now, why does it not surprise me that you'd zoom right in on that?" Jack said.

"It's still there, but most of it is buried in my subconscious," Daniel explained.  "I don't dare try to get at it in case it causes everything to start happening all over again."

"So, you've got the entire knowledge of the Ancients sitting in your brain, but you can't touch it?"

"Yep."

"Too bad.  With that knowledge, we could destroy the Goa'uld."

"And ourselves.  Oh, don't get me wrong.  If I could manage to safely dig out of my head what we need to stop the Goa'uld, I'd be delighted, but that's as far as I would go.  You can't comprehend the vastness of that knowledge, how powerful it is.  The human race isn't even close to being ready for it . . . and neither is the Tok'ra."

Jacob's head dipped.  When he spoke again, it was with the echoing tone of Selmak.  "I would agree with you, Doctor Jackson, though I am certain that others among the Tok'ra would not.  The full extent of that knowledge is too dangerous for either of our races to possess."

"Glad to hear you say that, Selmak," Jack said.

The Tok'ra's head dipped again.  "I'd say it would be best if we didn't let the other Tok'ra know that Daniel still possesses that knowledge," Jacob stated.  "They'll just insist that he submit to the use of a memory recall device."

"Well, they could insist all they wanted, but it wouldn't do them any good," Jack declared.  "And they can't even throw the Earth/Tok'ra alliance in our faces since you guys broke that off."

"Nevertheless, it would be best of they didn't even know."

"Agreed," said Hammond.

"So, is this the only reason for your visit, Dad?" Sam asked.

"No, I'm afraid not.  After Anubis' defeat, the other System Lords decided to divide his armies and territories amongst themselves."

"Why, how very civilized of them," Daniel said sarcastically.

Jacob shrugged.  "Every once in a while they surprise us."

"This would be a good thing, right?" Sam reasoned.  "It means that no single Goa'uld will have all that power."

"Yes, it would have been the best thing we could have hoped for under the circumstances."

"I'm sensing a 'but' here," Jack said.

"Yes, I'm afraid so.  Someone beat them to the punch.  We don't know who it is, but somebody has taken over control of Anubis' drones and is attacking the System Lords."

"You have no idea who it is?" Daniel asked.

"We can only assume that it's one of the Goa'uld that was working for Anubis.  Strangely for a Goa'uld, they're keeping a low profile."

"Except for the fact that they're kicking the butts of the System Lords," Jack pointed out.

"So, what does this mean?" Sam asked.

"While we're not sad to see the System Lords getting their butts kicked, we're concerned about what's going to happen once the Goa'uld butt-kicking stops," Jacob replied.

"Whoever it is might go looking for other butts to kick," Jack guessed.

"Exactly.  Like I've said before, a single all-powerful Goa'uld is the worse thing that could happen.  That's what we were afraid was going to happen with Anubis."

"So, what do you want us to do?"

"We're hoping that you can find out who this Goa'uld is.  Your alliance with the rebel Jaffa gives you a source of information that we no longer have.  If we already knew who it was, I doubt I'd have come here, but the Tok'ra really don't like having a powerful Goa'uld out there somewhere that we know nothing about."

"We'll keep our ears to the ground, Dad," Sam assured him.

"And we can ask the Jaffa what they know about this," Daniel said.

"We'd appreciate that."  Jacob got up from the table, as did everyone else.

"Do you have to leave right away?" Sam asked her father, wishing he could stay a while.

"I can't stay long, but I could spare a bit more time."

Jack grinned.  "That's good, because you've got another surprise in store for you."

Daniel glared at him.

Jacob looked at everyone in puzzlement.  "What are you talking about?"

"I'll explain later, Dad," she shot a look at Jack, "in private."

Jacob looked even more puzzled.  "Okay, now I'm really confused."

Taking pity on Daniel and Sam before Jack could do something to embarrass them, Hammond dismissed everyone.

"Let's go to Daniel's office, Dad," Sam said.  She, Daniel and Jacob started heading toward the elevator.  When the archeologist saw that Jack was following a few yards behind them, he told Sam and Jacob to go on ahead, then turned back around.

"Stop right there, Jack," he commanded.

"What?  I was just walking in the same direction," Jack claimed.  "This is the only way to the elevators, you know."

"Give it up, Jack.  I know what you were planning.  You were going to sneak over to my office and see if you could listen in as we tell Jacob about us."

"No, I wasn't."

"Yes, you were."

"No. . . ."  Jack stopped when Daniel subjected him to a glare.  "Okay, so I might have entertained that thought for a few seconds."

"Uh huh.  Are you forgetting that I can sense your presence?  You wouldn't get within fifty feet of my office before I knew you were there."

Jack said nothing.  He had forgotten that fact even though, after all this time, he really shouldn't have.  Okay, so, if he couldn't listen in, maybe he could watch—

"And don't you dare go to the monitoring room to watch us on the camera feed," Daniel ordered in a steel-hard voice.

"Dammit, Daniel.  I really wish you'd stop doing that.  It weirds me out!"

The archeologist smirked.  He turned to Teal'c, who was watching nearby.  "Teal'c, I'm leaving it up to you to see that Jack stays away from my office and from the monitoring room."

"Have no fear, Daniel Jackson," the Jaffa said.  "O'Neill will not approach either place until after you and Major Carter have spoken to Jacob Carter."

"Thanks, Teal'c.  I knew I could count on you."  Daniel left, managing to catch the elevator as someone got off.

Jack spun around and glared at the Jaffa.  "Hey.  I'm the team leader here, not Daniel.  Are you forgetting that?"

"I am not, O'Neill.  But, since we are not on a mission and this is not a matter of the safety of this base or the Earth, I am under no obligation to follow your orders or do what you wish of me."

"So much for loyalty," Jack grumbled.

"On the contrary.  I am being loyal to my friendship with Daniel Jackson, as you should be.  The conversation that he and Major Carter must have with her father is a private matter between the three of them.  We should not seek to eavesdrop upon it or to watch it."

The censure in the Jaffa's voice stung.  "Okay, you're right.  I was just curious about how they were going to tell him and how he'd react."

"You may ask Jacob Carter before he leaves what his thoughts are concerning Daniel Jackson and Major Carter's relationship."

"Yeah, but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun as seeing the look on his face when they drop the bombshell on him."  Jack sighed.  "Come on, Teal'c.  Let's go get some blue jello or something."

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