Rating: Chapter 1 Parental Guidance

Disclaimer: DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters and
places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret
Productions. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment No monetary purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognised characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
In a nutshell - enjoy but don’t sue.

Warnings - Set at end of S8.

----

He is screaming as he runs forward and is bodily tackled to the ground. He almost makes it to his feet before others join the fray. For a second he thinks he is going to be torn limb from limb in some kind of mass hysteria and is pathetically grateful because that means he won't be left alone.

The hands that are everywhere pinning him to the sand, on his legs, back and arms are gentle but firm. Daniel looks sideways and a child of about four years old is leaning on his bicep with her full weight, her eyes dark and grim.

He screams again and the crowd surges around him, taking up their own ululations to mask his desperate thrashing and ragged cries. He struggles mightily, but every time he throws off a body, another is there in its place. He is manhandled onto his back to avoid his face being pressed into the ground and gentle hands frame his face, a dark haloed head entering his field of vision. The woman above him could have been Sha're's sister.

Same heart-shaped face

Same dark eyes.

As the first staff blast echoes Daniel lets out a ragged sob. They're not even letting him bear witness.

Long fingers stroke his cheeks, trailing through the tears and sweat mingled together and a voice tries to soothe him.

"Don't cry Dan-yel, don't cry."

xxxxxx

"Uh, Jack, you should say something here." Daniel reached out and snagged the sleeve of Jack's robe, pulling him onscreen.

With his most put-upon expression he relented. "Um, college football is played on Saturdays; pro on Sundays; and there are no fish in my pond...at all ... where I fish." Jack looked wryly at both Sam and Daniel.

"Uh, I think that covers it for me."

There is a click and Teal'c lowered the camera, carefully packing it back into its carry bag. Daniel, being concerned about the amount of battery left, had volunteered to make the last entry alone. Jack having currently exhausted the jokes about what he'd rather see on the tape, shrugged and wandered back to the pile of roughly woven rugs and stuffed cushions that was currently serving as their couch.

"Do you really think anyone's going to find this?" He gestured vaguely toward the camera bag and the wrapped item beside it, the hard-won ZPM.

"We have to try, Sir. We may not be able to take it ourselves so this is the best way." Sam scratched at her neck, the fabric she was currently swaddled in head to toe irritating the hell out of her skin. She was used to being covered from neck to ankle but had never felt so swamped by clothing in her life.

She watched, amused, as Jack had to stand and adjust his own robe as it had twisted around when he'd plopped into their makeshift couch. They had already had the 'knees-together-when-sitting' discussion since there was only so many days a man could wear the same pair of underwear in a row and Jack had opted for going commando before any of the others.

Daniel was currently still vowing bloody vengeance against her for making him broach that particular subject.

Sam turned her smile to Daniel, who had retrieved the camera and was finishing the tape. There was the telltale beeping of the battery running out and Daniel finally cursed, retrieving it from Teal'c who had been again playing cameraman.

"We covered everything?" Jack asked.

"I think so." Daniel said, packing the camera away for the final time.

"Did you mention the ship?"

"Yes Jack."

"The ZPM."

"Yes Jack."

"The other -"

"Jack!" Daniel barked, pulling the straps on the camera bag tight.

Jack held up his hands in a placatory gesture, grinning.

xxxxxx

"I thought we'd decided, Air force and then NASA." Jacob Carter had his arms crossed over his chest, looking at his daughter with patient exasperation.

"I just... I can't explain it but... I've changed my mind."

Jacob watched his daughter, troubled. NASA had been her dream, ever since she was a little girl. He had also been hoping that the Air force would knock all the gangly awkwardness out of her. She was a beautiful girl when she wasn't fidgeting or slouching, both of which she was currently doing.

Sam had a way of pulling back into herself, like a child hiding under the covers to escape the monster in the closet.

"What's going on with you lately? You seem different."

Sam was picking at her nails. He'd tried to break her of the habit when she was little but had never been successful.

It drove him nuts.

"I just can't." She said, her voice soft.