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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Between Catherine's help during the day and everyone else's help in the evenings, by the time the weekend came, virtually all of Daniel's possessions were in the new place.

It was Saturday morning now, and everyone was at the Colorado Springs airport to see Catherine off.  She hugged each of them, giving an extra long one to Danny.

"I'm going to miss you," she said to the boy.

"I'm going to miss you, too," Danny responded.  "I wish you lived here."

"That would be nice, but my family and my work are over there.  But I'll try to visit as often as I can."  She straightened, meeting Daniel's eyes.  "Walk with me to the security checkpoint."

Saying a final goodbye to the others, Catherine walked with Daniel the final few yards.

"Daniel, I want you to know that I've been watching you with Danny, and I think that you are doing a wonderful job.  You have displayed all the patience, wisdom and love of a good father.  I know that your own childhood was not a happy one, and I'm glad to see that experience did not harm your ability to be a parent.  I think that, instead, it helped you."

Daniel stared at the floor.  "I just want him to be happy, Catherine.  I want him to know that he's loved.  I don't ever want him to doubt his worth, how important he is."

Her throat tightening at the thought of all the things Danny would have that Daniel had not had in his own childhood, Catherine embraced him.

"I know that you'll take good care of Danny, but I want you to take good care of yourself, too, Daniel."  Catherine drew back and looked him straight in eyes.  "Will you promise to do that?"

Daniel gave her a little smile.  "I promise."

Catherine stepped back.  "Now, I expect you to call me more often.  You have to keep me updated on Danny, and I'll be wanting to talk with him, too."

Daniel's smile got a little bigger.  "I will.  Goodbye, Catherine."

The archeologist watched the woman get in line, then he rejoined the others.  They all waited until Catherine had passed through the checkpoint, then left the airport.

"She's really nice," Danny said.  "I wish she was my grandma."

"Well, maybe the next time you talk to her, you can ask if she can be your pretend grandmother, just like General Hammond is your pretend grandfather," Daniel suggested.

Danny smiled.  "Okay."

Everyone went back to Daniel's.  They loaded up the rest of the furniture and the remainder of the other stuff and took it to the new place.  Then they picked up the new furniture Daniel had purchased.

"Wow.  I can't believe we got it all done already," the archeologist said after the last piece of furniture had been put where it belonged.

"Yes, and now comes the lovely job of unpacking," Jack remarked.  "Good thing you labeled all the boxes so that you'd know where the most important stuff is."

"Well, right now, I need to start cleaning the other house, including shampooing the carpets.  I want to get my security deposit back."

"I can help you with that," Sam told him.

"Sam, you guys have already been a big help.  I don't want to make you do more."

"I don't mind, Daniel.  Besides, the cleaning will get done twice as fast with me to help."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Okay, how about if Teal'c, Danny and I start unpacking the essentials here while you two get busy on cleaning the other place?" Jack suggested.  "Oh, and don't try to shampoo the carpets yourself.  For the time it takes to do it yourself, you'd be better off hiring professionals."

"That will have to be done on Monday, then.  We can get everything else done today and tomorrow."

"After we take a break," Jack insisted.  "I think we deserve it."

The five of them went out for a snack.

"When are we going to get my computer?" Danny asked Daniel as he ate his pie.

"I'm not sure.  If there's time, we could go shopping for one tomorrow."  Daniel looked at Sam.  "Maybe we could get Sam to help.  She's an expert in computers and would know which was the best one to get.  I was thinking that a laptop would be good so that you can bring it to the SGC."

Sam smiled.  "Sure.  That would be fun."

Finishing their desserts, Jack, Teal'c and Danny went back to the new house while Daniel and Sam went to the old one to start in on the cleaning.  Sam was right about the cleaning going faster with the two of them doing it together.  When they got back to the new house, they found that the others had made decent progress in unpacking.  All the kitchen stuff was sitting on the counters, ready to be put away.

"We figured that we'd better let you pick where you wanted the kitchen things put," Jack explained.  "The TV, VCR and DVD player are all set up, and your collection of tapes and DVDs are in the cabinet.  All of Danny's things are put away."

"Thanks, guys."

"So, did you get the cleaning done?"

"Yes, sir," Sam replied.  "It didn't take long with the two of us.  And Daniel's not a slob, so it's not like there was a lot of scrubbing to do."

"Great!  So, this means that we'll have the whole day free tomorrow."

"Well, not exactly, Jack," Daniel corrected.  "I'd like to get the rest of the unpacking done.  But if you guys would like to take Danny somewhere tomorrow, that would be fine.  Most of the rest of the unpacking needs to be done by me since I'm the one who has to decide where to put everything."

"We don't want to leave you here by yourself to do all that work while we go off and have fun, Daniel," Sam objected.  "That wouldn't be right."

"Sam, you guys have been fantastic help already.  Please, go have fun.  You can take Danny to the electronics store and find a good computer for him.  Either you can buy it, and I'll reimburse you or Danny and I can go down there later and get it."

"Well . . . okay, if you're sure."

"I'm sure."

Danny was excited about sleeping in his own room that night and took a long time to get to sleep.  Once he was finally out, Daniel retired to his own bedroom.  He gazed at the brand new queen-size bed.  Back when he first returned to Earth from Abydos, he had gotten a queen-size bed for two reasons: the greater length of queens and kings was nicer for a six-foot-tall man, and he'd believed that, if they rescued Sha're before the Abydos gate was unburied again, she would be staying with him in his apartment.  When Daniel returned from ascension, though the first reason still existed for getting a queen-size bed, the second one did not.  Though his grief over his wife's death had eased greatly, Daniel decided that he didn't want a bed that was meant to sleep two.  Of course, when he chose to rent the house that he did, a queen wouldn't have fit in the bedroom anyway.

Now, yet again, Daniel had been in need of a new bed, and he had once more gotten a queen, again for two reasons, the extra length and the hope that, someday soon, he would not be sleeping in it alone every night.

Staring at the bed, he imagined being in it with Sam, the two of them making love.  With those pleasant thoughts as his companion, he got ready for bed and slipped under the covers.  A short while later, he was asleep, where his dreams of being with Sam continued.


The next day, as Daniel unpacked, the rest of SG-1 spent the day with Danny.  They went shopping for a computer for the boy and found one that met with Sam's approval.  She, Jack and Teal'c all decided to share the cost of the computer with Daniel, so they went ahead and bought it.  They also got a whole bunch of games for the boy, plus some educational programs and electronic books.

When they returned to Daniel's new house, they had bags full of groceries, Jack having insisted that tonight would be a good day for the housewarming.  Janet and Cassie were invited, and everyone sat out on the veranda in patio chairs that Sam and Teal'c bought as a housewarming gift.  The chairs went with two glass top tables, one of which was now full of food.  Jack was happily cooking barbeque chicken on a grill, which was his housewarming gift.  Teal'c was standing by to make sure the chicken remained edible.

"I love the house, Daniel," Janet said.

"Thanks."

"We got it because it's like the one Mom and Dad had," Danny told her.

"Really?"

Daniel explained the similarities between this house and the one he and his parents had lived in.

After dinner, Danny climbed the tree, followed by Cassie, who stated that she wasn't too old yet to climb trees.  The others, who all agreed that they were past the tree-climbing age, sat and chatted.

The tree-climbers came back down before it got too dark, and everyone went inside.  Janet, Cassie and Daniel's teammates left shortly after that.

The next morning, Daniel called around to some of the carpet cleaners.  No one could do the cleaning that day, but one service had an opening for tomorrow, so Daniel headed on to work with Danny.  Shortly after arriving, with Danny playing happily on his new computer in Daniel's office, the archeologist went to the infirmary.

"Hello, Daniel," Janet greeted.

"Hey."  Daniel fidgeted a little.  "Um . . . I, uh, need to talk to you about something.  It's . . . kind of personal."

Janet was puzzled by his demeanor.  "Okay.  Do you want to go into my office?"

Getting a nod from the archeologist, Janet went with him to her office.  He took a seat as she settled behind her desk.  About twenty seconds of silence followed.  Janet could tell that, whatever this was about, Daniel was feeling ill-at-ease about discussing it.

"Daniel, is there a problem?" she asked gently.

"Yes, sort of . . . maybe.  I'm not certain.  It's . . . it's a medical issue."

The doctor instantly became concerned.  "Are you ill?"

"No, it's nothing like that.  I-I need you to, uh . . . test to see if I'm . . . sterile."

Surprised, Janet just sat staring at him for several seconds.  The response made Daniel feel even more uncomfortable.

Finally, Janet spoke.  "Daniel, do you have reason to believe that you're infertile?"

Daniel explained about Sha're, their year of trying to have a baby.  Janet asked some pointed and very embarrassing questions about how often they had sex and at what times during Sha're's cycle.  She also asked about Sha're's health and family history.

"I don't think that the problem was with her," Daniel said.  "She got pregnant with Apophis."

"That doesn't necessarily mean anything, Daniel.  Even women who have trouble conceiving can still manage to get pregnant if the conditions are right.  Many couples try for years before finally becoming pregnant.  Despite a common misconception, the window in which a woman can become pregnant is pretty small.  After ovulation, a woman's egg is viable for only twelve to twenty-four hours.  Fortunately – or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it – sperm can live inside a woman's body for up to five days, meaning that if a couple has intercourse shortly before ovulation, pregnancy can still occur, but each day that those sperm have to wait for the egg lowers the odds of pregnancy, which is why one of the things doctors have couples do if they're having problems getting pregnant is to keep precise track of the woman's cycle so that they know when she's ovulating."

"So, you're saying there is a chance that it was Sha're, not me."

"Yes."  Janet studied the man.  "Daniel, are you asking about this because of Sam?"

"Yeah.  I know that we've only just started dating, but I also know that I want to spend my life with her, that I want us to be a family.  And I want children to be a part of that family, brothers and sisters for Danny.  Well, sort of brothers and sisters."

"Have you talked to Sam about this?"

"No.  I figured that it was too soon.  But I need to know, Janet.  I have to know if that can even be possible for us."

"Okay, Daniel.  I could do the testing myself, but I'm guessing that this is not something you want anyone else here to know about."

"Yes, that would definitely be preferred."

Janet wrote down a name and phone number on a slip of paper and handed it to Daniel.  "Doctor Merrick is a specialist in fertility issues.  I've had dealings with him before when one of the female civilian scientists here was having trouble getting pregnant.  Just tell him I sent you.  He'll be able to do the test, and it will be completely confidential.  If you prefer, you can have him call me with the results instead of you."

"Yeah, that would probably be better."

Teal'c had agreed to give Danny regular "Jaffa Tai Chi" lessons, so, shortly after Daniel got back to the office, the boy went off for his first official training session.  Daniel took the opportunity to call Doctor Merrick's office.  As luck would have it, they'd just had a cancellation, which had opened up a spot on the schedule for that afternoon.

Saying that he needed to take care of some business, Daniel left Danny in Jack's care and headed off to the appointment shortly after lunch.  His experience at the clinic was definitely one of the most embarrassing ones of his life.  Doctor Merrick, a balding man in his fifties, assured him that it was quite normal for men to be uncomfortable in such a situation.  He was told that they'd have the test results back tomorrow.

At two o'clock the next afternoon, Daniel left the base for a while to meet the carpet cleaners at the old house.  Sam volunteered to watch Danny this time.  Giving the cleaners the key and a check, he returned to work.  They would lock up the house after they were finished and leave the key under the doormat.

Daniel had just gotten back to his office when Janet called.

"I just got the results back from Doctor Merrick," she told him.  "Do you want me to give them to you over the phone or would you rather come here?"

"Go ahead and tell me," Daniel replied, tensing.  "Danny's not here."

"You can relax, Daniel.  The sample was normal.  Sperm count, motility and everything else were well within the normal range for a man your age.  Now, since semen samples may vary from day to day, Doctor Merrick suggested that two or three more samples be analyzed within the next three months for accurate results, but, based on this first test, I see no reason at all why you wouldn't be able to father children."

Daniel felt almost weak with relief.  "Thank you, Janet.  You have no idea how relieved I am."

"I'm glad that we were able to give you good news."

"Janet, ever since we talked about this yesterday, I've been thinking about what you said.  Now that we know that the problem must have been with Sha're – that is if there really was a problem – I'm wondering if it's possible that Amaunet fixed her, healed whatever was preventing her from getting pregnant.  We know that a symbiote can heal illnesses and injuries in their host."

"That may very well be possible."

"I guess it doesn't really matter, does it, although, if that's true, if Amaunet enabled Sha're to have something that she could never have had otherwise, then at least there was one good thing that came out of her being taken as a host.  I know how much she wanted a baby, and I know how deeply she'd have suffered if she could never have one.  Despite the circumstances of his creation, I know that Sha're loved her son, and . . . and I'm glad that he came to be, though I will always wish that he was my son rather than Apophis'."


The next morning, on the way to work, Daniel dropped off the key to his former landlord.  He was feeling very happy, the news he'd gotten yesterday lifting a huge weight off him.  When Jack dropped by late in the morning, he noticed Daniel's cheerful mood and asked about it.  Glancing at Danny, the archeologist said that he'd explain later.

"Later" came that afternoon, while Danny was getting another lesson from Teal'c.  Daniel was heading back up to his office after dropping the boy off and ran into Jack, who walked with him to his office.

"Okay, so, now that the munchkin's not here, what are you so pleased about?" the colonel asked.

Daniel glanced at the open doorway to see of anyone was walking by.  "It's about what I told you several days ago, that possible . . . medical problem.  I had it tested, and I'm okay."

Jack smiled.  "I'm glad to hear that, Daniel.  So, there's a chance that the world will get to see some little Daniels and Danielettes after all."

"I hope so.  I haven't talked with Sam about whether or not she wants children.  We're both getting close to forty, and I know that having children at Sam's age is riskier.  Then there's the whole issue of her job.  Obviously, if she got pregnant, she'd have to leave SG-1, at least for a while, and. . . ."  Daniel's voice trailed off.  "And I don't even know why I'm going into this again.  We've had one date.  This is generally not something discussed so soon in a couple's relationship."

"That's generally true for the average couple, Daniel.  It was for me and Sara.  We didn't talk about having children until after I proposed.  But, with you and Carter?  Daniel, the writing is already on the wall."

Daniel frowned.  "I don't understand."

"There is not a doubt in my mind – nor, very likely, in the minds of Teal'c, Fraiser, Cassie and quite a few other people – that your relationship with Carter will have wedding bells in its future.  It's inevitable."

"Well, I'm glad that you're so sure of that, Jack.  I should imagine that you've already placed your bets in the various pools that have sprung up over my relationship with Sam."

Jack smiled.  "You better believe I have, and I expect to make a tidy little sum when they're paid out."

After Jack left, Daniel called Sam's lab.

"Hello, pretty lady," he greeted.  "Would you like to go out on a date with me?"

"I don't date strange men," she replied.

"I'm only a little strange.  I promise."

The two of them laughed.

"So, now that the moving adventure is over, I thought we should pick a day to go on our second date," Daniel said.

"That's an excellent idea.  In fact, I've been thinking about that very thing."

"How does tomorrow sound?  Of course, it depends on if I can find someone to watch Danny, but that shouldn't be a problem."

"Tomorrow would be great."

"If it's okay with you, I was thinking that we'd go back to Roberto's this time."

"Okay."  Sam smiled.  "I think I'm more prepared to handle any embarrassing looks or comments.  After the stuff that's been going on here, it would be nothing."

"You've got that right.  I'll let you know what I can get for a reservation."

"Okay.  I'll see you later."

Daniel's next call was to Cassie.  Unfortunately, the teenager had plans and couldn't babysit.  The archeologist considered asking Jack, but he knew what would happen if he did.  The man would get that insufferably smug smile on his face and suggest that Danny sleep over his place to "free up" the entire evening for Daniel and Sam.  If Daniel took him up on the offer, there was no doubt in his mind that, the next day, Jack would be probing him with questions on how the night went.  Of course, there would be one big advantage to this.  If Danny stayed with Jack overnight, there would be nothing to prevent Daniel and Sam from doing what they both really wanted to do.

The archeologist pondered on it and decided that he didn't want to deal with Jack's comments and questions, at least not yet.  He had a feeling that Sam wouldn't either.

So, back to the question of who to ask to babysit Danny.  Teal'c?  Hmm.  Maybe.  Janet?  Even if she could, she'd probably be tired after a long day on her feet.

That's when someone else came into Daniel's mind.  Dare he?  He thought about it for a few minutes and then looked at his watch, checking the time.  He picked up the phone again and placed the call.

"Hello," the person answered after the third ring.

"Hey, Jon."

"Daniel.  What's up?"

"Well, you know how you offered to babysit Danny if I ever needed it?  Is that offer still good?"

"Sure it's still good.  You going out on another date with Carter?"

"Yes, I am."

"Sweet.  Sooo, you want me to come over to your place . . . or will you bring him to mine?"

Daniel thought about the smug smile, comments and questions coming from a teenaged Jack O'Neill and decided that would be even worse than coming from the adult version.

"You can come over here," he replied.

"Suit yourself."  Daniel heard the smile in the teen's voice.

Daniel gave him the new address.  "I'll call you back when I know what time we need you here."

"Okay, I'll be waiting."

Daniel got a reservation for seven o'clock and let both Jon and Sam know.

A couple of hours later, he headed home with Danny, telling him about the date and who would be babysitting him this time.  Danny was pleased about the date and was excited about who his babysitter would be.

Shortly after dinner, Danny put down the book he was reading at the table.

"Daniel, you said that, after the moving was done, you'd tell me what Jack meant when he talked about keeping some of your things when you ascended."

Damn.  Daniel had really been hoping that Danny had forgotten about that.  Knowing that he really had no choice but to tell Danny the story, he asked the boy to come over to the couch and sit beside him.

"You know that I was gone away for a year, but I didn't tell you why or where I was."  Daniel paused, deciding on his words.  "On one of our missions, we went to a planet named Kelowna.  While we were there, we found out that they were doing experiments with a mineral called Naquadria."

"Is that like Naquadah?  Sam told me some things about Naquadah, that it's what the Stargate is made of."

"Yes, it is, but Naquadria is a great deal more powerful and more dangerous.  We discovered that the Kelownans were making a bomb with it."

"A bomb?  You mean to blow things up with?"

"Yes, unfortunately.  You see, the country we went to was having trouble with two other countries, and they were afraid that those other countries would attack them.  They wanted the bomb to protect themselves."

Danny frowned.  "War is really stupid," he stated.

"Yes, it is.  I wish that everyone felt that way.  While we were there, there was an . . . accident."

"Did the bomb blow up?"

"No, but it was going to.  It was going out of control and would have blown up if it wasn't stopped."

"Did you stop it?"

Daniel paused for a long while.  "Yes, I stopped it.  If I hadn't, everyone in the city would have been killed, including me, Jack, Sam and Teal'c.  It's even possible that the entire planet would have been destroyed."  He looked into Danny's eyes.  "Do you know what radiation is?"

The boy thought for a while.  "I think I saw something on TV about it, maybe on Star Trek or someplace else.  It makes you really sick."

"Yeah."  Daniel took a deep breath.  "When I stopped the bomb from blowing up, I was exposed to radiation, a lot of it."

Deep concern filled Danny's eyes.  "You got sick?"

"Yes, very sick."

"Did you die?"

Not hiding from the boy's eyes, Daniel replied, "This is very hard to explain, Danny, and I don't know how much you'll understand.  In a way, yes, I did die, but not . . . completely."

"What do you mean?"

"A few years earlier, we met an alien named Oma Desala.  Her people are called the Ancients, and they don't have physical bodies.  They're made of energy."  Seeing the confusion on the boy's face, Daniel asked a question as a memory came to him.  "Danny, did you see an episode of Star Trek where Kirk, Spock, McCoy and a woman who was sick crash landed on a planet where a man had been living alone for over a hundred years?  He hadn't aged at all, and they found out that it was because there was an alien on the planet that kept him young.  The alien looked like a cloud of light."

Danny nodded.  "The alien loved the man.  She went into the lady in the end so that they could be together."

"Yes.  Before she did, that alien didn't have a body.  She was made of energy.  That's what Oma and her people are, pure energy.  From her and from another Ancient that Sam met a couple of years later, we learned that human beings can become like them, their bodies transforming into energy.  While I was dying from the radiation, Oma came to me and offered to help me become like her.  It's called ascension.  I was dying, and there was very little chance that I could be saved, so I said yes.  At the moment that my body died, I ascended."

Danny's eyes were wide.  "You became energy?"

"Yes.  I was no longer human.  Because of this, I couldn't stay here on Earth.  I had to leave.  I was ascended for a year."

"You didn't come here that whole time?"

"I did at least a few times, but I don't know how many.  You see, I have no memory of that year."

"Why?"

"Well, the Ancients have rules, ones that prevent them from helping other people."

"That's a dumb rule," Danny declared with a frown.

Daniel smiled slightly.  "I have to agree, although, to be fair, I don't know the reason why they made the rules.  Anyway, I had a hard time following those rules, and I finally broke them in a really big way.  Because of that, I was punished by the others."

"What did they do?"

"They made me human again and took away all of my memories."

"All of them?  Even from when you were my age?"

"Yes, all of them.  But I eventually got back all of the memories of my life before I ascended."

"So, for a whole year, you were an alien made of energy?"

"Yep."

"Wow."

Daniel smiled again.  "Yes, you could say that."

"Can you ascend again?  Could I ascend?"

"Well, ascension isn't easy, Danny.  There are certain things that have to be done.  If Oma hadn't helped, I wouldn't have ascended, and I couldn't do it again without her help.  If you learned how to ascend, you could probably do it, and if Oma or one of the others helped you, you definitely could, but nobody on Earth knows how to make someone ascend."

"That's okay.  I wouldn't want to anyway, not if it meant that I had to leave everybody."

Daniel brushed a hand through Danny's hair with a smile.  "Neither would I."


Danny had a nightmare that night.  Daniel had been hoping it wouldn't happen, that he'd managed to tell the story in a way that would lessen the emotional impact of the fact that he had died.  The cry of Daniel's name sent him running into the boy's bedroom.  He gathered Danny into his arms.

"Shh.  Wake up, Danny.  It's just a nightmare."

The child awoke, clutching at him.  "You died.  You died and then you went away.  The Ancients came and took you away forever!"

Crap.  Okay, he hadn't anticipated that.  "Hey.  The Ancients aren't going to come and take me away, Danny."

"You promise?  Do you promise you'll never ascend again and go away?"

Daniel pulled back a little and looked into his clone's eyes.  "Danny, listen to me.  I would never leave you on purpose.  I would never want to leave you, not in any way.  I've already told you that I can't promise I won't die, but I would never choose to ascend and leave you, Sam and everyone else forever.  I love you all too much to leave and never come back.  So, I'll make you a promise.  If, for some reason, I'm faced with the choice to either die or ascend again, I will ascend, but I will come back.  I don't know how long it might take me to come back, but I swear that I will.  Do you believe me?"

Danny's wide, bright blue eyes gazed deep into his.  "Yes, I believe you."

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