#4 in the Life's Little Problems Series
Color Outside the Lines
A Little!Danny fic by: Maj. Cliffhanger
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Part 17
His pillow felt weird and it 'crinkled' when he turned his head.
Jason did not want to wake up. It was too early because he was still too tired so it couldn't be time to get up yet. All he wanted to do was go back to his dream about starting a camp fire. Robert had said he was too little to play with matches and had laughed at him when he said he didn't need any, but he'd shown him! Even Andy was impressed...
...Danny took a piece of string from Jason's shirt and was tying it around a weird looking thorn to make a hook for a make-shift fishing rod, but Jason was frowning. "That string's not going to be strong enough..."
"Jason?"
The forest morphed into his backyard and his dad was calling them in for dinner. His mom was fixing all the fish he and Danny had managed to catch. And they were weird looking fish! He just knew Katie was going to scream, and he and Danny would giggle about it and....
"Jason?"
And he was lying down and that didn't make sense because hadn't he just been running around in the backyard? And the pillow crinkled again when he turned his head so it couldn't be his pillow. He must be back on the space ship with Danny and Baal must've done something to him. He forced his eyes open to find out who was holding his hand, hoping it wasn't Baal, and was surprised to see his father. "Dad?"
It was the lines around his father's dark blue eyes that crinkled now as he smiled at his son. "Hey, monkey-butt."
Jason glanced around in confusion even as the missing pieces of his memory quickly fit themselves back into place. He was in a weird kind of hospital room with all kinds of medical equipment and gray cement walls and high ceilings and Danny was laying on another bed not far away with someone sitting beside him and a nurse was moving between the beds and there was a big window off to one side where a white-coated doctor was sitting and watching them.... "Dad?" He grabbed his father's hand tighter.
He'd walked into the wall of water with Danny and his friends and suddenly everything had felt so weird and was moving too fast and it wasn't like the flash of light that took them to and from Baal's ship. It had been scary and cold and then there'd been all those soldiers and they'd pointed their guns at him....
"Hey, hey - it's okay!" his father quickly reassured him, shifting in his wheelchair beside the bed so he could brush Jason's floppy red bangs back across his forehead. "Every thing's okay. I'm here. You're going to be fine."
"The doctor woman gave me a needle and I didn't want it and everyone was pointing their guns at me and--"
"--Shhhhh!" A large callused hand smoothed over his forehead once more, soothing him. "It's okay. It's over. You're safe now."
"There was this guy called Baal - only that's with two a's and one ell and not one a and two ell's like 'ball,' even if it's pronounced that way - and he kidnapped me and Danny and I told Danny you wouldn't believe me if I told you we were on a space ship. I didn't believe it at first either but he said you knew the guy and you would and we were on another planet and there was this really big moon, only Danny said it wasn't a moon, it was a planet, and we were the ones on the moon and there might be others but we didn't see them, and--"
"--Shhhh...." Dave Dixon again tried to calm his son who was talking so fast it was nearly impossible to understand him.
"And you do believe me don't you, Dad? 'Cause those people came through the gate and got me and Danny from that other planet and it was scary when that Baal guy just flew off in his space ship like that and left us all alone--"
His dad was nodding but he didn't look happy and was frowning. "--Did he hurt you?" he interrupted his son.
Jason shook his head, afraid for a second his dad was mad at him. "They took Danny and locked the door and then Danny came back and told me we were on a space ship and I didn't believe him at first even though the bad guy's eyes glowed and his voice got all deep and weird-like. Do you really know him, Dad? Danny said he's an alien with a snake inside him that makes him do things he doesn't want to do."
Jason's father glanced over at the other bed where Danny was still sleeping and exchanged a look with Danny's da-- no. Foster-dad or something. Jason knew Danny's dad was missing in Iraq and the other guy was taking care of him and he called him his uncle but he really wasn't.
He tugged on his father's hand, afraid he was going to get in trouble for lying; only he wasn't lying! "You gotta believe me, Dad! It's true! I swear it!"
Dave quickly turned back to his son and his face immediately softened as he brushed a hand back over his head yet again. "I know," he assured him easily, though he still didn't look happy. "I know. I believe you."
"He was kinda scary, but not at first. At first, he seemed kinda nice except for the fact that he'd kidnapped us and everything, and he said he wanted to help Danny but I don't think he really did. Danny was really scared of him, but he was brave too. You should have seen him! Is Danny an alien, Daddy? Because he's really smart and he taught me how to make a fire without matches and a whole bunch of other stuff and I've never met anyone who's as smart as he is and even if he is an alien I like him and he seems okay. Is that okay, cause I really like him and want to be his friend?"
His father's frown was gone and now he was looking like he couldn't decide whether to be confused or laugh and Jason knew he was talking too fast again and that was probably why but his father didn't put his hand over his mouth to make him stop and that was probably because he was in the weird hospital or something.
"No, Danny is not an alien," Dave assured his son and shot that other guy by Danny's bed another look, "though sometimes I've wondered the same thing myself!"
The other guy offered that a soft chuckle -- and then they were interrupted by a woman's voice that sounded like it was coming from a speaker somewhere.
"Jason?"
His dad leaned close and pointed his attention to where the doctor was standing behind the big window and now the general guy who'd rescued them was with her.
"You said they took Danny out of the room and then brought him back," she repeated what he'd already said earlier. "Do you know if they did anything to Danny? Did he tell you?"
Jason shrugged. "Baal said he wanted to help Danny but first he needed Danny's help with something and then he'd let us go."
Danny's uncle - or foster father or whatever he was - frowned sharply. "He wanted Danny to help him with something?"
Jason nodded. "Danny said he did but then we had to wait because Baal said he couldn't drop us off back at Earth or one of our space ships would find him." He suddenly turned back to his dad. "Did you know we have space ships, Dad? I don't think he just meant like the shuttle though 'cause I really don't think those would scare him; I think he meant something bigger like you see on TV or in the movies. I wonder if they've ever filmed a movie on a real space ship and just never told anyone it was real?"
The general leaned forward to talk into the mic that the doctor had been using. "Did this guy Baal have a gold metal ... thingamajig on one of his hands?"
Jason nodded. "Not at first," he explained. "But the last time he came in, before he beamed us down to the planet, he did."
The general winced and glanced away.
"You said Danny seemed scared and brave at the same time," Jason's father prompted him gently. "When they brought him back into the room, was he still scared and brave?"
"He was kinda mad," Jason answered. "They took his coat and backpack and he yelled at them to give it back."
The general leaned forward to interrupt them. "Mitchell," he said simply and nodded at the other bed. Together, they all turned to discover Danny slowly blinking his eyes open and glancing around.
* * *
"Hey, sunshine!" Daniel's blurry field of vision was suddenly filled with the gently smiling face of Cam Mitchell who reached down and ruffled his hair. He recoiled from the embarrassing gesture but being stuck in the hospital bed meant that there was nowhere for him to retreat. "Glad you decided to join us again," his guardian offered brightly.
Danny blinked overly large and heavily lidded eyes. Damn. The significance of the hair ruffle suddenly hit home. "I'm still little," he stated the obvious.
"Uh, yeah...." Mitchell frowned in confusion.
"I dreamt I was big again and Ba'al was torturing Jack."
Mitchell wasn't the only one to wince at that.
"Danny?"
Jason.... He glanced over at the other bed and discovered the other boy lying there with his dad at his side. Danny smiled and lifted a weary hand, not surprised to feel the pull of an IV. "Hey," he answered lightly.
"Are you okay?" the other boy asked bluntly with a worried frown.
Danny nodded and closed his eyes even as he offered a frown of his own. "I hate being sedated...."
"Yeah...." Mitchell offered sympathetically. "You sorta freaked out on us a bit last night...."
It took him a moment to remember it. Danny knew he'd been through decontamination and post-mission medical checks before. He knew they were required anytime anyone returned from off-world. He knew these things the same way he knew how to read Ancient or speak Goa'uld.
But he didn't remember them.
The decontamination procedures weren't so bad. He just had to take a shower with special soap and get new clothes. The warm water had relaxed him and made him really, really tired, but it was the MRI that threw him for a loop. He hadn't remembered it at all. It was big and noisy and like being put in a white coffin with a giant on the outside pounding on it to get in! He'd been through too much and was too stressed and too hungry ... and he'd lost it. It all just came piling in on him at once - and once he'd started crying, he couldn't stop.
"Sorry," he offered simply, glancing away in embarrassment.
"Feeling better?" Mitchell asked, ignoring the nurse who was busy noting various readings on the equipment around him.
Danny just nodded.
"Feel like answering some questions?" Mitchell added gently.
Questions? Oh, yeah.... There'd probably be a lot of those. Frowning because he still felt sleepy and knew it was just the meds being slow to wear off, he lifted a fist to rub at his left eye and forced himself to sit up. Again he nodded.
* * *
"He wants the zombiefication box thingamajig," Jack answered with a sigh, leaning back in the chair opposite his old desk - now Hank Landry's desk - and raking both hands back through his thick gray hair. It was time for another cut, he noted with a frown. He'd have to get that done before heading back to the Pentagon - whenever he got around to heading back to the Pentagon. Daniel's kidnapping had delayed his expected departure and he was hoping to delay it quite a bit more if the damn IOA and Joint Chiefs of Staff would approve the use of the new video conferencing system. He'd much rather work out of the mountain, literally on top of everything, rather than act as a simple information interpreter. He could still sort through the stuff for them and help direct things when it all fell apart, but there was no reason someone like Maj. Davis couldn't be the one to give the mucky-mucks in Washington any actual physical briefing that was required - or, given the security of the new system, why he couldn't do it from here!
He really needed to put Paul Davis in for a promotion. The guy was overdue.
"Tel'chak's device?" Landry asked, a little surprised by this announcement.
Jack nodded, lacing his fingers together behind his head and trying to gently stretch tired sore muscles - though he thought the tired and sore part was more from the adrenaline let down after coming back from his first off-world mission in over a year. Or maybe the release of too many hours of stress while Danny and Jason Dixon had been missing....
He sighed again. "'Says he knows how to fix Danny but he needs the device to do it, and us giving him the device is his price."
"Right," Landry groused, less than impressed with the claim or demand. "Like he knows more about it than the Tok'ra or Asgard who have been studying it for a while now."
"Actually, he might," Jack corrected him unhappily and dropped his arms to fold across his chest. "Apparently ol' Anubis might not have gotten his hands on Telechak's little ancient box back a few thousand years ago when they were fighting over it, but he did manage to find all the guy's notes on it."
Landry frowned sharply. "And now Ba'al has them."
Jack nodded.
It was Hank's turn to sigh as he shook his head. "The IOA and Joint Chief's will never go for it," he declared, knowing that Jack had already come to the same conclusion. "We have nothing but his word that he'd even try to help Daniel after we handed it over, let alone that he actually could!"
"Apparently he took some of Danny's blood to 'prove' his theories. He said he'd be 'in touch again' after he did."
"Prove them?" Hank frowned in mixed trepidation and confusion. "How?"
Jack shrugged a shoulder, looking less than happy. "Carter's a bit worried he might try to clone Danny...."
Hank felt as if he'd just been sucker punched. "Oh my god!" he whispered. The blood. It made sense. They knew Ba'al possessed cloning technology - whether it was Earth based or Asgard they weren't sure; regardless, the implications were enormous! "He could make dozens of Daniels! And if he implants one of them with a symbiote--"
"--It would be an empty shell," Jack quickly interrupted the thought. "Carter doesn't think he had Danny long enough to replicate his mind. Ol' Bocce can clone the body, but in order to access Daniel's memories, he would have had to copy them the same way Anubis copied Jonas' mind a few years back. Based on what both Jason and Danny have told us, he wasn't with Ba'al long enough for him to do that - not and manage to wipe the memory of it from his head as well."
Hank frowned pensively. "Well, that's something at least," he allowed and then frowned sharply. "But still--"
"--Still!" Jack agreed simply, giving a grim nod.
"He's gotta know we'd suspect a clone if he showed up with an adult Dr. Jackson in tow," Hank decided. "Even if we did believe him for some ridiculous and unknown reason - all it would prove is that he could 'fix Danny' without using Tel'chak's device."
"...Yeah...." Jack frowned darkly as he considered that little twist for the first time. Ba'al was anything but stupid. Whether he was planning to trick them out of Tel'chak's device or actually thought he could help reverse what was done to Danny, his 'proof' wouldn't be anything they could so obviously question....
"Regardless of whatever his proof might be," Hank continued, interrupting Jack's pensive frown, "you realize what this means for Danny, don't you?"
Jack frowned harder, but this time in confusion.
"It means we're going to have to lock him up down here until either Ba'al shows up again and we can nab him, or Carter and our good alien friends manage to find a fix on their own!" Hank claimed.
Jack's frown became sharply worried.
"He managed to kidnap the kid right out from under your and Mitchell's noses and whisked him half-way across the galaxy. His locater chip didn't do us a single ounce of good."
"He can't stay locked up down here forever!" Jack protested, knowing that was the last thing he wanted to see happen to Danny! "There's no telling when Ba'al will decide to show up again!"
"Not forever," Hank agreed. "Ba'al isn't going to wait that long to show up again. If Tel'chak's device is the key to fixing this, he can't afford to. He's got to know the Asgard and Tok'ra are studying it. If they find the fix before he does - or even just get close! - he's got to know he'll never get his hands on the device. Did he say why he wanted it? We know it isn't just to help Danny."
Jack shook his head. "He didn't say but I'll bet the Tok'ra are right," he nodded, even as he awarded the thought a distasteful grimace. He really didn't think he'd ever be agreeing with the Tok'ra about anything! "He's not that much younger than Lord Yu. I'll bet he wants it to try and perfect the sarcophagus technology."
"You think he's going senile?" Hank questioned in surprise.
"Probably not for a couple thousand years yet," Jack answer, wishing he could say 'yes!' - 'course a senile Ba'al was a rather scary thought too.... "But he's got to be worried about it. Lord Yu made it quite clear that the Goa'uld are not as immortal as they like to pretend they are."
"They'd come damn close to it if Ba'al could perfect the sarcophagus." Hank nodded. "Or he would anyway, especially with all those damn clones of his running around."
"Still...." Jack sighed, leaning his head back as he became aware of a growing headache, "I'd be tempted to give him the stupid thing if I actually thought he could fix the kid."
Hank offered Jack O'Neill a sudden double-take. "You're joking...."
"Nope," he responded deadpan, completely serious. "Let the Tok'ra and Asgard hunt him down if they want it back. The Ori are a hell of a bigger threat than any two or three dozen Ba'al's running around loose, I don't care if he has a better sarcophagus or not! I'd be happy to gift wrap the damn thing if I actually thought for one moment it would get us Danny back to his old self again."
"Danny isn't the one and only key to defeating the Ori," Hank corrected him, "and you know it."
"Nope," Jack agreed, "but he is key. The Ori didn't do this just for the heck of it, Hank. They targeted Daniel for a reason. We need him. And I have a feeling, we may need him soon."