Reversal of Fortune: Part 10

By Gemsong

The house was dark, the quiet of very early morning settled around it like a warm blanket. A Mickey Mouse nightlight, plugged into a wall socket in the hallway, cast its dim illumination into the darkness. The clock on the wall showed just shy of was two-thirty in the morning. Jack, who should have been sleeping peacefully in his own bed, wasn't. Instead he was in the den, peering intently at the screen of Daniel's laptop. His small fingers tapped away as he created a new folder in which to keep his projects. He wiggled a bit, trying to get comfortable. Because of his size he had carefully moved the laptop to the floor for easier access. He sat cross-legged, working with intense concentration.

He had been sleeping, but the nightmares had come again. The ones with the bad people who hurt him. Then she would come, making the bad things go away. He had awakened to see a woman, with dark hair and brown eyes, looking down kindly at him. Her hand was hovering just above his forehead as he stared up at her.

"Shau're.... Mommy?" he whispered.

She smiled. "Yes, little one," Shau're replied.

Jack had smiled at her and relaxed. He knew he couldn't touch her. She glowed faintly in the darkness of his room. She straightened as he sat up. "You made the bad things go away," he said.

Shau're nodded. "Yes... they are things that happened long ago. Things that helped you become who you were," she said. "But soon they will not come back to you again."

Jack nodded sagely, even though he honestly didn't know what she meant by that. A lot of things confused him. Thoughts and memories of another time and a life, or of someone else's life, came to the surface of his thoughts at the strangest times. That was why he was having nightmares as his mind tried to come to terms with what was going on inside his head. He really didn't want to think about it. It made his head ache. So instead of asking her about that, he changed the subject.

"Daddy hasn't seen you yet," Jack said.

Shau're shook her head. "He is not yet ready," she replied.

"But he misses you," Jack persisted. "He only has one picture of you."

"That is something you and I can do something about," Shau're had said.

That was why Jack was now on the floor with Daniel's laptop. He had opened a graphic program and was following Shau're's instructions.

"Will Daddy really like these?" he asked.

"He will," Shau're assured him. "Trust me."

Jack nodded and turned back to his work. By four-thirty, Jack was exhausted. Everything had been put back in it's place, and Shau're had vanished after telling him to go back to bed and blowing him a kiss.

He stood in the doorway of his bedroom, looking at his bed. Usually when Shau're make his nightmares go away he would go right back to sleep. But not this time. This time he felt uneasy.

He turned and took the few steps that took him to the master bedroom. Quietly he opened the door and peeked inside. The only light came from the window from the full moon that was working it's way down to the west. On the bed he could see the shape of Daniel sleeping.

Jack put his fingers in his mouth, chewing on them. Slowly he approached the bed and then tugged on Daniel's fingers. Daniel woke quickly to the odd sensation, looking over to see Jack standing at his bedside. He sat up slowly and then held his arms open. Jack climbed quickly onto the bed and into his arms to burrow against his chest.

"Bad dreams, buddy?" Daniel asked rubbing his back. Jack nodded against his chest but didn't speak. Daniel lay back down on the bed drawing the covers up over the both of them. "Think you can go back to sleep now?" he asked softly. His answer was again the silent nod.

Daniel held Jack close, his hand keeping up a soothing motion on his back until he felt the tension ease from the boy's body, followed by the slow regular breathing of sleep. Daniel remained awake for a few minutes longer, resting his cheek on Jack's soft hair. Shau're couldn't always be there to make the bad dreams go away, he thought. Or perhaps there would be times that Jack needed to be held. Daniel smiled as he drifted back to sleep. Holding Jack's small warm little body against him was something he realized he didn't mind at all.

A few hours later, Daniel woke up. Jack was still in bed in a deep sleep, so after untangling himself he left the room to take a shower and get dressed. When he returned Jack was still asleep, having relocated to the warm spot that Daniel had left behind. He walked over to the bed and looked down at him, reaching out to smooth the soft hair that was now thoroughly mussed. Jack's lack of movement from the touch was a good sign that he was obviously still exhausted by whatever dreams plagued him the night before, and Daniel didn't see any reason to wake him, so he tucked the blanket up over Jack's shoulder, then left him to sleep.

He walked downstairs to put on a pot of coffee, figuring that breakfast could wait until Jack woke up. While the coffee was brewing he walked into the den to turn on his laptop. Maybe he could get a little work done before Jack would need his attention.

He frowned when he glanced toward the printer. There was a stack of paper he didn't remember printing. He picked up the thin sheaf of papers and turned them over. What he saw made him sit down abruptly. Fortunately the chair was right behind him; otherwise he would have found himself on the floor.

In his hands he held pictures. Pictures he knew that had never been taken, but yet, here they were. The first picture was of himself and Shau're still on Abydos, his arms around her as they both 'smiled at the camera'. There were no cameras on Abydos, but this picture was clearly from before his return to earth, when his hair was rather long. His finger moved over the glossy paper. How was this even possible?

The remaining pictures were just as startling. Another picture of Daniel and Shau're, this time showing where she was obviously pregnant. Shau're holding a dark haired baby in her arms. A picture of Daniel, Sam and Teal'c, with Daniel holding the baby with Sam and Teal'c looking at the infant fondly. There was a picture of Jack, younger than he was now being held by Shau're as they both looked at something off camera. There was even a picture of a younger Jack sound asleep on General Hammond's chest.

Daniel couldn't stop the tears that burned his eyes. There was another family picture of him, young Jack, Shau're and Jack as an adult. All pictures of what could have been. Pictures that gave weight to the fabricated story they had come up with. He felt the tears spilling over. He didn't hear the soft sound behind him.

"M-mommy said you would like them," came a small voice.

Daniel swung around to see Jack standing in the doorway, looking uncertain. He set the pictures down on his desk and held open his arms to Jack. The little boy ran across the room and into his arms.

""I do like them," Daniel said, his voice a little rough as he pulled Jack onto his lap and hugged the boy tight. "I love them. Did you do this?"

Jack nodded. "Mommy helped me to create them," he said. "We mixed together memories and put them on the computer."

Daniel stroked his head. "How did you put them on the computer?" he asked. As an adult, Jack's computer skills were supposed to be rather limited to reports, sports scores and internet porn. Again, this must not have been the case.

Jack frowned a little at the question. "I am not sure," he said in a small voice. "We used the graphics program on your computer. When we had the memory right, it was there and I gave it a name and saved it. There are more pictures but I thought these would be the best to show you first."

"They're wonderful," Daniel said, hugging Jack tightly.

"They make you cry," Jack said not protesting the hugging as he snuggled up against Daniel's chest.

"Happy tears," Daniel said. "Very happy tears."

He felt Jack relax against him. "Good," Jack said. "I love you, Daddy."

"I love you too, little one," Daniel replied unaware he used Shau're's phrase for their 'son'. "Now, go brush your teeth, wash your face and hands, then get dressed while I work on breakfast."

Jack scowled a little. "I brushed my teeth last night," he said grumpily.

"Yes, you did," Daniel replied. "Now you will do it again. Perhaps there will be pancakes for breakfast."

Jack perked up. Hugging Daniel again, he jumped off his lap and run upstairs to the bathroom.

Daniel listened to him thumping up the stairs and then heard the sound of water running. He looked down at the pictures on his desk. He would need frames for them. He wasn't going to try to hide them. These are pictures of what could have been. He would also need to check the laptop and see what other pictures Jack and Shau're had created. Sam would probably go nuts trying to figure out how they did it. But he would do that later. Now he had to try his skill at pancakes.

Daniel's pancakes were not perfect. Not perfectly round, in an assortment of sizes, but at the rate Jack was inhaling them he had no complaints about Daniel's cooking skills. Something Daniel was determined to improve on if he hoped to keep his 'son' properly fed.

Since Sam and Teal'c would be showing up later in the afternoon, Daniel decided to take Jack shopping. They would buy frames for the pictures so that they could put them up where people could see them. The expedition took longer than he had expected with an active five-year-old with very definite opinions on the proper frame for each picture.

In the end they had several that met Jack's exacting standards. Afterward Daniel indulged Jack in eating out for lunch at the local fast food restaurant. Some of the children that Jack had met at the park were there and he waved at them when they called out. But this time Jack stuck close to Daniel, remembering the altercation that occurred at the park the day before.

As they were finishing their meal Daniel noticed Jack looking toward the play area where the other children were romping about happily.

"Do you want to go play for a little while?" Daniel asked.

Jack shook his head silently, poking at the cup of ketchup with a French fry he didn't want to eat.

Daniel frowned slightly. Jack had become more subdued than was normal for him. "Okay then, let's gather up our stuff."

With Jack's help, he cleaned up the trash from their meal. Holding Jack's hand they left the restaurant. As they drove home Daniel glanced in the rear view mirror to see Jack buckled firmly in his booster seat, sound asleep. Perhaps he was only tired. But there was a small frown on the child's face as if what he was dreaming was troubling him.

It had only been a few days since Jack was changed into this younger version of himself. But so much was happening so fast, Daniel was worried he wouldn't be able to keep up and care for Jack as Skar'ra had asked.