Author's Notes: There's more language in this chapter than the others. I don't think it's enough to pop it up to PG13, but I could be wrong.

Chapter Fifteen
Awakening Knowledge

Something had switched overnight. Jack wasn't sure what it was. He remembered one nightmare, a strangled scream that he'd half-woken to comfort. After that, nothing. Seven hours of uninterrupted sleep. A new record.

Even now, Daniel looked relaxed. Happy. He was sitting at the other end of the kitchen table, occasionally nibbling at his pencil eraser while he answered the math facts on the worksheet Carter had given him for homework. Jack could feel the vibration of Daniel's feet kicking gently at the table legs. As if sensing Jack's scrutiny, Daniel glanced up, smiled sunnily, then returned his attention to the worksheet. No sign of the behavior that had made him as skittish as a mouse for the past three days. He still didn't like Jack out of his sight, but he had tolerated it twice now without latching onto Jack with immovable limbs. Something had changed.

        "Daniel?"
        "Jack?"  Daniel wrote industriously, not looking up.
        Jack shrugged.  Why rock the boat?  "Pass me one of your pens, would you?"
        "Sure."
        Jack sorted through the stack of papers in front of him.  A couple reports, a few 

bills, bank statement, a document Hammond needed him to sign about Daniel's homeschooling. Shouldn't take too long. Maybe he'd take Daniel to the park afterwards. See how far he could stretch Daniel's newfound contentment. He lifted his head just in time to see the pen sail in mid-air from Daniel's side of the table to his. It hovered a moment above his stack and dropped. It landed without a sound.

Daniel was still writing. From all appearances, oblivious to what he had done. The glow Jack had come to expect when Daniel accidentally acted on his ascended knowledge wasn't present.

Well, Shifu had told him Daniel might not have conscious control over his knowledge. Considering how upset Daniel had gotten when Elaine asked him to show what he could do, Jack decided not to make a big deal out of the pen.

He read through the reports and the document, signed off on them, and started looking for his checkbook. Daniel finished his math paper and grabbed the history textbook Ally had loaned him. Instead of opening the book, he watched Jack pat down his pockets.

        "Whatcha looking for?"
        "Checkbook."  Jack reached for the jacket that was slung over the back of the 
chair and dug through those pockets.
        "It's on your dresser.  I'll get it for you."
        Daniel opened his book.
        Jack started to ask how Daniel expected to get the checkbook with his nose buried 

in a book when the checkbook appeared out of nowhere and plopped to the table. Daniel didn't even look up.

This is so not good, Jack thought with a sigh. Shifu had warned that Daniel ran the risk of discovery whenever he used his ascended knowledge, and Jack was pretty sure even small actions like the pen and the checkbook were enough to draw the Others' attention. Yet, if Daniel didn't realize what he was doing, how could Jack make a fuss about it?

        Jack paid the bills and worried.
        After a half-hour of reading, Daniel closed the textbook.  He didn't say anything 

for several minutes, but Jack could feel the kid's stare boring into the top of his head. He looked up, and sure enough, Daniel was sitting there, elbows on the table, chin cupped in his hands, staring intently at Jack.

        "Daniel?"
        One corner of Daniel's mouth lifted.  "Jack?"
        They had caught themselves playing the Jack-Daniel game frequently the week 

before Elaine's visit, falling into the old pattern of saying nothing but each other's names and knowing exactly what the other one was thinking by the inflection and tone of voice. Daniel had thought it was hilarious, and they usually had to give up after the first exchange of names because Daniel was laughing too hard to continue. Jack was glad to hear Daniel renewing the game.

        Jack tried again.  "Daniel?"
        Daniel giggled, but instead of repeating Jack's name, he said, "When Teal'c and 
Jonas get here, can they go to the park with us?"
        Jack set his pen on the table and tried to remember if he'd said something about 
the park out loud.  "Teal'c and Jonas are at the Mountain, Daniel."
        "No, they're not.  Teal'c wanted to practice his driving."
        Daniel cocked his head, and a moment later, Jack heard a car pulling into the 
driveway.  Daniel jumped from his chair.
        "They're here!"
        By the time Jack put away his papers and reached the door, Daniel was already 

outside, talking to Teal'c and Jonas. One hand was tucked inside Teal'c's larger hand; the other was waving wildly in an attempt to describe a jungle gym to the mystified Jonas. Daniel caught sight of Jack and broke off his explanation.

"Let's go to the park, Jack! Teal'c says he wants to, and we gotta show Jonas the jungle gym cuz he's never seen one before."

Jack felt as if he'd been steam-rolled. He was almost positive he hadn't mentioned the park to Daniel. So Daniel was...what? Reading his mind? And how had he known about Teal'c and Jonas? Suddenly the incidents with the pen and the checkbook were not the one-time anomalies Jack had thought they might be.

As they walked to the park, Jack fell behind automatically, watching their six since Teal'c was in the lead. Ahead of him, Teal'c hoisted Daniel, and Daniel squirmed and kicked his way into a piggy-back position. Teal'c bore it as stolidly as ever. Even before he'd settled, Daniel began talking to Jonas, excitedly telling him about the program he'd watched on the history channel last night. Occasionally he gestured with his arm, lurching a little to the side. Jack's heart lurched right along with Daniel, but Teal'c adjusted his stance each time to accommodate Daniel's movements. Jack forced himself to relax. No way was Daniel falling on Teal'c's watch.

They passed Mr. Wilson's house, and the damn dog raced alongside the chain-link fence, barking furiously and snarling at their proximity to its master's abode. Out of habit, Jack checked for weaknesses in the fence. Only once had the dog escaped. Jack and Daniel had been enjoying a morning jog together, three years ago, and Jack had ignored the dog because it always barked at them. All of a sudden, the dog was lunging through a hole in the then-wooden fence. It sprang at Jack's leg and bit down hard, just above the ankle. Jack had lost his balance, fallen, and hit his head on the sidewalk.

Jack's memories for the rest of that day were fuzzy. What he did recall were odd things that had lodged in his mind with shocking clarity. He remembered the cloud overhead that looked like a fire truck. The profusion of recently-bloomed lilacs and the way they scented the air. The sharp rock under his hip that seemed to hurt more than the bite on his leg. Mostly, he remembered Daniel's calm. There was no panic in Daniel's voice as he called for an ambulance on his cell phone and no trembling in his hands as he ripped up his shirt and bandaged Jack's leg. Jack remembered staring at his fire truck cloud and wondering if Daniel was always this cool during a crisis or if the missions through the gate had trained it into him. It had bothered Jack that he didn't know.

Afterwards, when Jack had tried to thank Daniel, Daniel waved aside the gratitude in his self-effacing manner and teased Jack for ruining SG-1's "five missions in a row with no injuries" streak. Then Daniel laughed because he'd chosen Jack as the next SG-1 team member to be injured on or off world and won the betting pool for that month. Siler and Walter, co-administers of several unofficial SGC betting pools, had dropped by with Daniel's winnings while Jack was sleeping off the anesthetic from having seven stitches. It had taken Jack days to get over the shock that Daniel even knew about the betting pools, much less participated in them.

        Up ahead, Daniel called out, "Jack!  Hey, Jack, look!"
        Jack shook himself out of the memories and trotted forward to catch up with the 

others. Daniel, half-twisted on Teal'c's back while he demanded Jack's attention, was pointing eagerly. Daniel's wiggling was enough to throw anyone off balance, but Teal'c merely shifted and slid Daniel into place whenever the kid twisted too far. Jack rested a hand on Daniel's arm to settle him and looked toward the object of his excitement.

At the end of the block, a group of kids had lined up beside an ice cream truck, The truck was painted bright pink and warbling the tune to "Pop Goes the Weasel" at a nauseatingly high pitch. Just when Jack breathed a sigh of relief at the song's end, the song started again. Jack was very glad he wasn't the one driving the truck.

Daniel pushed himself up against the support of Teal'c's arms to lean over Teal'c's shoulder and peer at the truck. "Is it Santa? He's early. Sam said he don't come till winter. Is that why he's in the truck 'stead of his sleigh? What's that song he's playing? Can I have a present like them kids?"

After the three days of near-silence from Daniel, this sudden increase in questions was encouraging. Jack chuckled. "It's ice cream, Danny, which we have to pay for."

        "Oh."  Daniel subsided, slumping downward on Teal'c's back.
        Jack decided he had grumbled a little too loudly while paying his bills earlier.  He 

dug out his wallet and checked its contents. "Well, well, look at that. We're in luck. Plenty of ice cream money."

        Daniel whooped, which made Jack and Jonas laugh.  Even Teal'c's lips twitched.
        The pictures of the ice cream choices were displayed on the side of the truck.  

Daniel slid off Teal'c's back and studied each picture with the same care he would have given any artifact. He then selected four different offerings, one for each of them, explaining in a loud whisper that he wanted to taste them all. His own choice was a bomb pop, a monstrous thing that looked like four popsicles stuck together. It had three stripes--red, white, and blue--and Daniel's lips and tongue turned a brilliant red within minutes of sucking the top stripe. Jack paid for the ice cream, including a large tip for the woman's patience while Daniel made his decision.

Daniel got his taste from each of them and made it to the last stripe before giving up on his bomb pop and handing it to Teal'c to finish. When they arrived at the park, Jack cleaned the kid off at the water faucet and let him loose. He ran from swings to slide to jungle gym, trying everything, calling out to his entourage of three adults to push him or watch him go real fast or look at what he could do. It was as if Daniel had stored all his energy during the last three days and suddenly needed to release it all at once before he exploded. Jack felt his own tension dissolving as he watched Daniel's exuberant play.

As they headed home, Jack dropped to the rear again. Daniel was explaining to Teal'c and Jonas how they had to avoid certain cracks in the sidewalk because if they stepped on them, there'd be a great big humongous earthquake, and the cracks would open up bigger, and they'd all fall into the middle of the earth and get stucked there. Daniel pointed out the dangerous cracks as they came to them; apparently he was the only one who knew which ones to avoid. Teal'c and Jonas, walking on either side of him, obligingly caught hold of his hands and swung him over the cracks. Daniel lifted his feet above the ground and laughed. Jack decided he had never heard a more beautiful sound in his life.

They were nearing Mr. Wilson's yard, and Jack realized he hadn't heard the damn dog barking yet. Daniel, having tired of the sidewalk game, had raced ahead of the adults and was waiting for them beside the gate. The slightly ajar gate. Jack's heart stopped.

Jack started to run. He thought he called to Teal'c but wasn't sure if the sound made it past the fear that had lodged like a rock in his throat. His legs felt like jelly. The air around him seemed to harden, resisting his forward motion

The dog barreled out of the yard. Daniel heard it and turned, his face lighting with the "meet-and-greet" welcome that Jack knew too well. Heedless of the danger, oblivious to the fact that this was a vicious dog almost as tall as he was and probably twice as heavy, the kid extended a hand toward the dog. It growled. The huge jaws opened, and Jack could see the teeth that would tear into Daniel's throat. The dog sprang at Daniel.

They were all running. Jack, Teal'c, Jonas, even Mr. Wilson. None of them would make it. Not in time.

Daniel yelled a word. Some language Jack vaguely recalled but couldn't put his finger on. The dog jerked as if shot. It fell on Daniel, crushing him to the ground.

Even though he had been the farthest from Daniel, Jack arrived at the same time as the others. For a minute, they could only stand there, panting, trying to recover from their fear. At their feet, lying on his back, Daniel giggled and squirmed while the dog licked enthusiastically at Daniel's face and neck.

"Stop! That tickles!" Daniel cried. He reached up and tugged on one of the dog's ears. Jack expected the dog to snap in protest, but it backed off and let Daniel sit.

Jack reached for Daniel. The damn dog snarled, lunging between them. Jack snatched his hand back, both to rescue it from the dog and because the heat radiating off Daniel's skin had startled him. Daniel cuffed the dog gently.

"Be nice," Daniel said, his voice firm. The dog sank to its haunches and gazed at Daniel with adoration.

Mr. Wilson was shaking his head, watching the dog and boy with a shell-shocked expression. "Well, I never! Rufus here usually don't let nobody but me touch him. I was scared enough to piss when I saw I hadn't got the gate latched and Rufus was running out toward your young'n."

Scared didn't begin to describe what Jack felt. Now that he was looking closely, he could see the glow surrounding Daniel. It wasn't as visible in the light of day. He hoped Mr. Wilson wouldn't notice it because his mind was nowhere near capable of producing a convincing cover story.

Daniel beamed upward at Mr. Wilson. "Hi! I'm Daniel. Is this your dog? He sure is nice."

Mr. Wilson blinked, and Jack suspected "nice" wasn't a term he'd ever heard used to describe his damn dog.

Jack swallowed. It took him three tries, and his voice seemed to roar in his ears when he managed a gruff, "Let's go home, Daniel."

"'Kay, Jack," Daniel said agreeably, as clueless as ever to the gray he'd just added to Jack's hair. "I gotta go now, Rufus."

He scratched behind the dog's ears, and the dog leaned into the touch, whining a little.

"Sure you'll see me again," Daniel said as if the whine had been a question. "I live right next door. We'll visit each other."

        Over my dead body, Jack thought fiercely.
        Daniel planted a kiss on the dog's head, scrambled to his feet, waved good-bye to 

dog and owner, and dashed off, yelling over his shoulder, "Bet I can beat you to the house!"

Teal'c lengthened his stride. He allowed Daniel to win the race, but to Jack's relief, he stayed within easy grabbing distance the entire time. None of them needed another scare.

Reaction set in an hour later. Jack found that he was suddenly shaking, unable to stop, and he couldn't catch his breath. Leaving Daniel to Teal'c's care, Jack retreated to his bedroom. He sank onto the edge of the bed and dropped his head into his trembling hands. The scene replayed in his mind, except this time the dog's teeth closed and Daniel screamed and there was blood, so much blood. Jack shuddered and realized his cheeks were wet with tears.

        "Damn, damn, damn," he muttered, swiping at his watery eyes.
        Daniel had stood there with all the confidence of his adult self in the early days of 

their friendship. Despite the tragedies Daniel had gone through in his life, he still believed in the essential goodness of others. Everyone he met was a friend until they proved otherwise. He had no knack for self-preservation, saw no need for caution. Those things, Jack had drilled into him. Jack, with the help of an unkind universe that had targeted Daniel as its bull's eye, had forced wariness into Daniel's perspective.

Now, returned to the innocence of childhood, Daniel trusted again, but this time, there was a difference. Daniel knew he was safe. He had powers Jack couldn't comprehend. Jack felt as if someone had yanked the ground out beneath him. He wasn't certain of his footing anymore. Should he confront Daniel? In his desire to protect Daniel, would he end up stifling Daniel's potential? If he tried to squash Daniel's use of his knowledge, wasn't that like forcing a gifted child into a mainstream mold? But how could he stand by and do nothing? When the Others discovered how easily Daniel seemed to access the knowledge they'd tried to remove from his mind, what happened then? How did Jack fight an enemy made of energy?

"I could use some intel here, Shifu," he said to the air. "I don't suppose you've got a handbook on how to raise a once-ascended kid? Some advice, maybe? Or answers? Answers would be great. Shifu? Hello?"

To his disappointment but not to his surprise, he received no answer. He sighed heavily. The door opened, and Daniel bounced into the bedroom.

"There you are! Hey, Jack, can we have a barbycue? We can call Sam and tell her to come. I bet she'd like that. Can we? Please?" Daniel stopped bouncing right in front of Jack and peered closely. His face scrunched. "Why're you crying, Jack?"

Jack wiped away the traces of tears and tried to smile. "Something caught in my eye, that's all."

Daniel lifted his small hands and placed them on Jack's cheeks. Holding Jack's face, he stared into Jack's eyes for a long minute. Then he said softly, "I'm not gonna die, Jack. This is my home. I'm gonna stay here with you forever and ever."

        Jack closed his eyes to hide from Daniel's penetrating gaze.  
        "Don't be scared, 'kay, Jack?  I need you.  I need you to be brave for me cuz... 

cuz..." Daniel's voice dropped to a confiding whisper, "cuz I'm not brave enough yet. I get scared lots. I need you to take care of me. Promise?"

Jack nodded because he didn't think he could speak around the lump in his throat. He opened his eyes, leaned forward, and kissed the tip of Daniel's nose. Daniel giggled, released Jack's face, and grabbed Jack's hand instead. He started tugging.

"Come on, Jack. You gotta call Sam. Tell her to bring cookies, 'kay? The choc'late walnut ones, not the icky raisin ones. And no one else can come 'cept Sam and Teal'c and Jonas and you and me cuz it's a SG-1 barbycue."