Author's Notes: Takes place one month after "Full Circle."

Chapter Three
Briefing with Mister General

Janet Frasier barely managed to restrain herself from skipping like a giddy schoolgirl. Her heart felt as if it would burst from the effort. She wanted to run and shout and dance. Instead, she followed Colonel O'Neill at a sedate pace and hid her exuberance behind the calm facade everyone expected of their doctor.

When they reached the briefing room, Jack sent the SF for Sam and Teal'c. Once they were alone, he pulled the jacket off Daniel's head and sighed at the sight of the boy's disheveled hair. Janet smiled. Jack combed his fingers through the hair, and Daniel wiggled in protest.

        "Jack!  Stop it!"
        Janet almost laughed.  It was definitely Daniel's voice but pitched an 
octave higher than she was used to.
        Jack griped, "If you'd kept the jacket on instead of popping your head out 
every five seconds to ask the doc a question, it wouldn't have gotten messy."
        "I like it messy."
        General Hammond joined them from his office and quirked an eyebrow as he 

took in Jack's civilian clothes and the orange-robed youngster balanced on one arm. "Colonel?"

"As usual, sir, we have a little situation," Jack said. "I tried to keep a jacket over him so no one would see him until we'd decided what to do."

He gave Daniel a glare. Predictably, it didn't faze Daniel a bit. The boy stuck out his tongue. Janet bit the inside of her lip and choked back the laugh trying to bubble its way out of her.

        "It was hot, and I wanted to talk to Doctor Janet.  Nobody seen me."
        Jack sighed again.  "You are one stubborn pain in the mikta at any age, 
Daniel Jackson."
        General Hammond's jaw dropped.  Janet gave a self-satisfied grin.  At 

least she wasn't the only one to suffer from the shock. Really, they should all be used to it. They'd encountered so many strange things in the past six years, it shouldn't astonish them anymore when another one turned up on their doorstep.

        "My God."
        Jack looked rather smug himself at the general's reaction.  Janet thought 
he might be enjoying this a little too much.  "You see the situation, sir?"
        General Hammond recovered quickly, which didn't surprise Janet at all.  He 

had long years of military training and diplomatic experience under his belt, not to mention the past six years of dealing with the unusual at the SGC. He stepped forward with a smile.

"Doctor Jackson. Good to have you home." Janet knew the general's sincerity was heartfelt. Not only was Daniel a valued member of SG-1, he was probably the most well-liked and respected man on base. Of course, getting Daniel to believe that had always been the challenge.

Daniel fidgeted on Jack's arm. "I don't know him either. Why'd he call me Doctor? Won't Doctor Janet get mad?"

Before anyone could explain, Sam and Teal'c walked in. Sam's "You wanted to see us, sir?" was drowned by Daniel's shriek.

        "SAM!" 
        Daniel squirmed and slid from Jack's hold to the floor.  He streaked 

toward Sam and almost knocked her over when he flung his arms around her knees. She cast a frantic, confused look toward Jack as Daniel squeezed her legs. Jack smirked. He was definitely enjoying this too much.

        "Well, Carter, aren't you going to say hello to Daniel?"
        "Daniel?"
        Daniel stepped back and grinned up at her.  She sank to her knees, staring 

at him all the way. When she was eye level with him, she lifted her hand. It wavered next to Daniel's cheek, not quite touching him.

        "Daniel?" she whispered, her voice filled with wonder.
        He catapulted into her arms.  She caught him with a quiet "oomph" and 

embraced him gently as if she thought he would break. Daniel's arms tightened around her neck.

        "Missed you," he crooned.  "Missed you lots and lots and lots."
       Janet heard her stifle a sob, and then she was clutching Daniel closer.  

When she finally let Daniel go, Janet wasn't surprised to see tears sliding down her cheeks. Although all of SG-1 had missed Daniel desperately, Sam had been the most willing to show how much. Daniel rubbed his thumbs over the tears in a gesture that looked oddly mature in such a small body. Sam leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Daniel's forehead. When she stood, she turned aside without looking at her superior officers and swiped at her cheeks with one hand. The other hand was clasped around Daniel's.

Daniel looked past Sam, grinned again, and offered his free hand. "Hi, Teal'c!"

Teal'c took the small hand in his, and Janet could have sworn the Jaffa was as choked up as the rest of them when he uttered his, "DanielJackson, it is indeed good to see you."

"Come on, we're gonna have a meeting!" Daniel tugged Sam and Teal'c to the briefing room table. "Jack says it'll be boring, but we hafta do it anyway. It's a big people rule."

Sam choked on a laugh. Her eyes twinkled as Jack gave a disgusted snort. Janet was pleased. She hadn't seen unabashed joy in Sam's face for ages. Looking at Jack and Teal'c, she saw that joy multiplied. Daniel's departure a year ago had taken something vital from each of them. A certain magic had been missing. Unusual though it was, Daniel's return was probably the best thing that could have happened to SG-1.

        "Sam, you sit right beside me in that, that thingy."
        "Chair," Jack provided quietly while Sam took the indicated chair.
       Daniel pointed to a chair on the other side of the table and looked up at 

Teal'c. "Jack has to sit beside me too, so you sit there, Teal'c, where I can see you, 'kay?"

Teal'c inclined his head. Daniel clambered into the chair beside Sam, perched on his knees, and pointed to the empty chair beside him.

        "Sit here, Jack."
        Jack glanced apologetically at General Hammond.  Dismissing Jack's concern 

with a smile, the general gestured that they should seat themselves according to Daniel's instructions. He took his usual chair at the head of the table while Janet sat next to Teal'c. Daniel studied the general for a second and then nudged Jack's arm.

        "Who's he?"
        "That's General Hammond.  He's in charge, Daniel."  
       Despite Jack's emphasis on the command structure, Daniel ignored it in 

his typical fashion and kept talking. "How come he don't have any hair? Is he a Jaffa like Teal'c? How come he gets to see me? Does he make up the big people rules?"

Jack ground his teeth. "Daniel, let's save the questions for later, shall we?"

Daniel pondered that for a brief moment of silence and then demanded, "Why?"

Janet tried hard not to chuckle as Jack's mouth opened and then closed without a sound. General Hammond looked equally amused, waiting to see how this discussion would play without his involvement. Like a good 2IC, Sam came to Jack's rescue.

        "Daniel, I'd really like to know what happened to you."
        "Oh.  Okay.  Jack can tell you most of it."  And with that, Daniel propped 

his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his palms. The childlike pose was utterly at odds with the serious expression on his face.

Jack's account of Shifu's visit took some time, as it was interspersed with comments from Daniel.

"Kasuf and Skaara was real scared. Shifu too. They thought the Others would hurt them like they hurted me." Daniel made a face. "The Others weren't very nice."

Then, when Jack explained the difficulties Daniel was having with his memory, Daniel stopped chewing on his lower lip to say, "I 'member some things. I tried real hard to hide things. I knowed I wasn't supposed to forget it all." He scowled and thumped his forehead with his fist. "But I can't 'member what's there."

        "We'll do more tests," Janet soothed.  "They'll help us figure it out."
        Sam smiled encouragingly.  "You remember us."
        Daniel grinned.  "'Course!  You take care of me."
        Jack gave a small cough and ruffled Daniel's hair.  Sam blinked 
suspiciously shiny eyes.  Even Teal'c had an unusually sappy smile.
        General Hammond turned to Janet.  "Doctor, what can you tell us?"
        She opened Daniel's files in case she needed to refer to them.  "Well, it 
is Daniel.  The DNA match is perfect."
        "Who else would I be?" Daniel whispered a bewildered aside to Jack.
        Jack shushed him.
        "Physically, he's a healthy six year old."
        "No nanny bites or anything like that?"
        She smiled at Jack's persistent attempts to mispronounce words he knew 

perfectly well. "No. No sign of alien technology, including nanobots, nanites, or any other variation."

        "Good."  Jack pretended to shudder.  "Nasty little buggers."
        "There are some anomalies," Janet continued.  "Daniel's vision is fine, so 

he doesn't need glasses. Neither his lungs nor his sinuses show any signs of congestion. No allergies or asthma. His appendix is gone. So is the scar from when I took the appendix out. But other scars are still present. For example, he still has that scar from the staff blast he got in the alternate reality. I'm at loss to explain why some scars are present while others are gone, so I'll have to assume for now that it's a side effect of the descension process."

"Any signs of radiation?" Jack's voice was so tight, the words almost squeaked.

        "No, thank God."
        "What's rainy day shun?" Daniel asked.
        "You don't want to know."
        "Yes, I do."
        "No, you don't."
        "Do."
        "Don't."
        "Gentleman," General Hammond interrupted.  His mouth twitched, and Janet 

knew the firmness in his voice was just an act. He was just as amused by the familiar verbal sparring as the rest of them. "Doctor, what can you tell us about his amnesia?"

Janet frowned. "I did find significant damage to the medial temporal lobes and the hippocampi, which are the brain's memory centers, and also some lesions on the left temporal lobe, which would explain Daniel's difficulty with remembering words. Until we do further testing, it's impossible to say what damage has been done and how it will affect him. On the positive side, a child's brain is more adaptable than an adult's. It may rewire itself to compensate for the damaged areas."

Jack's knuckles whitened as he clenched his hands. "If I ever get my hands on those glowy octopuses--"

        "It's octopi, Jack," Daniel said.
        "What is?"
        "The plural of octopus," Daniel answered absently.  He had become bored 

with the medical talk and plopped into his chair sometime in the middle of Janet's discussion about the brain. Now he was kicking off the chairs beside him in order to make his own chair spin.

"You picked some really odd things to remember, Dannyboy," Jack said. He stuck out a hand and brought the boy's spinning chair to a halt.

        Daniel kicked again, trying to break Jack's restraint on his chair.
        "Well then, people, we need to decide what to do next," the general said.  
"Where Daniel will stay--"
        Daniel scrambled back to his knees, looking urgent.  "I hafta stay with 

Jack. Shifu said. Cuz my mommy and daddy are dead. 'Cept...'cept I don't 'member how."

He screwed up his face as if it would aid his memory, and Jack hurriedly patted Daniel's back. "It's not important, Daniel. It's okay if you forgot."

Better than okay, Janet thought. She was sure that particular memory had plagued Daniel most of his life. She'd heard him screaming about it once or twice when he was sleeping off anesthetics in the infirmary. For Daniel, the increase in nightmares was a side effect of certain drugs. None of them would complain if Daniel no longer remembered his parents' tragic, untimely deaths.

        "I'd like Daniel to stay with me," Jack said.
        "It would also be a good idea to have Daniel spend time at the SGC, sir," 
Janet added.  "Familiar sights may stimulate his recall."
        Daniel bounced.  "I'll be real, real good, Mister General, sir."
        He kept bouncing until Jack put a hand on his shoulder to hold him still.  
General Hammond smiled.
        "I'm sure you will be, Daniel."  He looked at Jack.  "According to Shifu then, this is a long-term situation."
        Jack grimaced.  "Seems so.  I realize it'll take some adjustment, sir, but 

from what Shifu was telling me, Daniel will be safer if he's around people he knows and trusts. And I'd feel better about it if we keep him close."

"Agreed," General Hammond said. He glanced around the table at the three adult members of SG-1, and Janet had a pretty good idea what he was thinking, since she was thinking it too.

       They needed Daniel close.
        Sometimes, she didn't know how SG-1 survived.  As the premier team, the 

one responsible for the most front-line, first-contact situations, they faced more than their fair share of trouble. When something went wrong, they took the blame and put up with a lot of crap from government toadies who didn't have a clue what "front-line" meant. Janet had worried, even from the earliest days, what that kind of responsibility would do to them as individuals and as a team.

She would be the first to admit she hadn't expected them to last. The pressure in their ongoing lives should have driven each of them to nervous breakdowns, ulcers, or any number of other medical conditions. She had recommended counseling over and over because she believed they needed relief from the job and distance from each other. Instead, they sought each other out. When one bled, they all did. They pulled each other through. They made the team work and stayed friends.

But since Daniel's ascension, she'd seen the others struggle. They became impatient and angered more easily. They didn't recuperate from injuries as quickly. The exhaustion and depression she had expected years ago were starting to affect them. The spark was gone.

Now, as she looked at each of them and the way they watched Daniel, she knew what she had always suspected. Daniel was their spark.

"We're on stand-down till Jonas gets back with SG-11. Friday, right?" Jack glanced at Sam and received a head nod in confirmation. "That gives us a couple days to settle Daniel in. Once Doc's finished more of her tests, we'll have a better idea what details still need to be worked out."

General Hammond nodded as he glanced at his watch. "Very well. Keep me informed on the situation, Colonel."

They all stood when the general did, except Daniel, who was taking advantage of the vacated chairs to give his own a good spin.

Jack turned to his team. "T, why don't you head over to my place and move the boxes in my spare room to the garage. Carter, can you handle the groceries while I take Daniel shopping for clothes?"

Sam and Teal'c murmured their assents. Janet grinned when Daniel piped up, "Do I still have to hide under your jacket?"