Characters: Jack O’Neill, Daniel Jackson, Samantha Carter, Teal’c
Themes: Action/Adventure, Semi-angst, Humor, UST/RST, First Time(s), Friendships, Jack/Daniel, Sam/Teal’c, shades of OT4

Author’s Notes: Written for J/D Ficathon 2006, hosted by Live Journal’s Greensilver.

Prompted by Live Journal’s faerie_mistress who wanted:

Requirements: majority of fic set offworld, action/adventure genre.
Optional Requests: angst, first time
Restrictions: mpreg, Sam-bashing

ESRB Ratings: Mature: Strong Language, Sexual Themes
Season: 4-5esque
Spoilers: Nothing specific, though oblique references to season 1-5 episodes.

Alpha/Beta: Alphaed by He Who Holds My Hand, Thededine Von Crankengeshteitmeyer, and Betaed by the Delectably Delicious Sorcha Gaia.

Written: June 06

The little girl noticed them approaching first. She tugged on the sleeve of her brother’s shirt and when he didn’t pay her enough mind, she kicked him in the shin.

“Ow! Sissin, what’s your—!” But she was pointing, and with a dirty look, he glanced up and caught sight of them: Daniel and Jack in the lead, Sam and Teal’c in the rear. Daniel had traded his P90 with Sam, holstering her zat against his thigh. It left him somewhat vulnerable, which always drove Jack batty, but did make him seem more approachable. And as official spokesperson of the ‘Please Don’t Shoot at Us’ club, Jack let Daniel have his way.

Sam was making the best show she could with the blocky weapon. She didn’t feel nearly well enough to be effective with it, but she did what she could to at least look like she was. Picture worth a thousand words and all that. And Teal’c had his staff weapon braced securely in his hand. If push came to shove, SG-1 knew Teal’c would be a whirling dervish of massive destruction with the energy device.

Violence heaved upon him by his little sister, the boy slapped at his brother’s shoulder to share the wealth, pointed them out, and then called for his father. They left their fishing traps and gathered into a loose knot on the bank while they waited. When they were finally at a distance to make out individual details, something drove the locals to their knees, arms splayed before them, palms up in clear supplication. The father drew the youngest to him, almost covering her with his body completely. Jack and Daniel exchanged a glance, Jack’s eyebrow arching crookedly, Daniel’s lips pressing together firmly. Behind them, Sam and Teal’c passed a similar exchange back and forth.

“Uhm, hey, uh,” Daniel began awkwardly, wincing at the uncomfortable situation. He jogged the last few feet, bending slightly to touch the man’s shoulder lightly. “No, no, please, you don’t— this is hardly necessary. Please, stand back up? We aren’t going to hurt you.” Ineffectively, he tugged at the man’s shoulders.

Slanting his attention up, the man looked briefly at Daniel then slid his eyes over Jack. But it was Teal’c his eyes hit on like a brick wall, head dodging back towards the damp sand. “Please, Lord, sir,” his voice muffled. “We didn’t, haven’t yet, still— still haven’t seen, from last night. We’re only gathering the catch, I promise.” Disjointed as the explanation was, it was clear the man was afraid. Teal’c only had a lift of his chin and a spike of his eyebrow for the display.

“Hey, really. Not necessary.” Extending his hand down, Jack offered it to the young man nearest him. “We’re not those… other guys. Or, well. We’re probably the guys your guys were looking for, but those other guys? We’re not them. We’re the good guys.” The young man hazard a glance up at Jack’s hand, then Jack himself. Following his cue, Daniel offered his hand down too.

“Dad? He… he bears a different mark than the Lady.” It was the second adolescent, younger of the two boys. With an air of defiance he lifted his head, regarding Teal’c with a resolved stare. Carter had a small grin of approval. A spunky attitude could take you far in a world. Teal’c arced his eyebrow even further.

They all lifted their heads in tentative movements, regarding SG-1 with a grab bag of emotions, though fear and distrust were highest on the list. Pushing back to sit on his heels, the man regarded Teal’c with narrowed eyes.

“You… you are as they are, they who serve the Lady. But you bear an encircled snake. What…” His eyes darted from Teal’c to Sam, Daniel and then Jack. “What trick is this? We are good! Loyal! Many of our daughters and sons have gone to the Lady, we’ve done all that She’s asked of us.”

“There’s no trick.” Daniel tried again, tones soothing. “I’m Daniel Jackson, this is Colonel O’Neill, Major Carter and this… is Teal’c.” With a touch of showmanship, Daniel rested his hand up on the Jaffa’s broad shoulder, coming to stand besides him. Teal’c’s head dipped in solemn acknowledgment of his name. “He once served Apophis, but now…” Daniel’s eyes rolled a bit as he thought of the best, least threatening word. “…works… with us. He does not serve the Lady. He serves no one but himself. Please, stand up. It’s alright.” Again, Daniel offered his hand down with his best ‘we come in peace’ smile. Jack’s hand had never wavered.

Looking once again into each of their faces, the man slowly accepted Daniel’s invitation, pulling himself up. The boy, Jack guessed fifteen or sixteen, was less reluctant, grasping the Colonel’s hand in a testing grip while he hauled himself up. The second boy took command of the girl, hands resting protectively on her shoulders.

The man brushed his knees off. “You… are who the Jaffa were looking for last night?”

Jack’s shoulders stiffened just a bit, both hands coming back to rest against his P90. He made it look casual, but his finger laid against the trigger guard in a familiar caress. “Probably. The thing that came across the sky? Blew up?” He jerked his head backwards, approximating where the ship had crashed. “That was us. All we need is for you to point us in the direction of the Stargate, and we’ll be on our way. No fuss, no muss.”

His smile wasn’t as easy going as Daniel’s; it held too much of a dangerous edge to it, but it had an equally as important message to get across: yeah, sure, we come in peace, but don’t think we’re push overs.

Father and sons exchanged puzzled expressions, the girl having given up on manners and openly staring at Teal’c. “Stargate?” The man’s head shook.

“You might call it something else,” explained Daniel. “The Chappa’i? Arouch? Sur-corcona?” He brought his fingertips together in something that was probably supposed to look like a circle.

While the locals worked on figuring out Daniel’s charades, Sam tried for a more practical description. “A big ring of metal, has seven points of light on it, and looks like an upright pool of water when in use.”

“Oh! Oh, you mean the Starcircle. Some call it the Circle of Stars, too.” There was a note of incredulence to the man’s tone. How could they get such an important name wrong?

“Yeah, that’s it.” Jack’s grin was cheeky and twice as fake. “Starcircle. We just need you to point us in the right direction and you can get right back to your fishing.”

Dashing a look at Jack and then again at Teal’c, the man’s face faltered as he seemed to brace himself for the worst. “My Lord, that… that is many, many miles from here. It rests besides the Lady’s throne. It would take you many weeks by cart. Even longer on foot.”

“Yeah, don’t— O’Neill’s just fine. Colonel if you have to.” Sighing in the face of this new information, Jack rolled his neck and cast his eyes blankly towards the sky. Weeks. Many of them. Great.

“Do you have one of them in your stomach even if you do not serve the Lady?” Into the uncomfortable silence, the girl blurt her question out in Teal’c’s direction. A pixie of a child, her auburn hair was short and frizzy, eyes a bright hazel. When she spoke, she lisped around her missing front teeth. Sam guessed her to be maybe six at the most.

“Sissy, hush.” Her brother shook her roughly.

But Teal’c was never one to hide the truth. “Indeed, I do. I must. I am Jaffa, my people enslaved by the false gods by our forced dependency on symbiotes. I fight for the freedom of all Jaffa everywhere. Including those here who serve she who you call the Lady.”

“It is sacrilege, blasphemy, to say such things! The Lady is the one true Goddess! Her Jaffa the divinely chosen!” Even though his eyes were wild, Daniel heard something in the man’s voice that made him pause, think, and take the chance.

“But people do it anyway,” Daniel said — not asked — with a quiet confidence. “Don’t they.”

The man hesitated then took a chance of his own. “There… there are some. Who still believe in the old ways, yes. How we were before the Crossing.” Skepticism was back in the man’s face, his apprehensive attention shifting between each of the four SG members.

Prompting, Daniel asked, “The Crossing?”

“Before the Lady Inanna brought us here to Myos. There are some who still observe the ways and teachings of our ancestors.”

“And,” Jack asked in a drawl. His hand twirled between them. “Which… ways… do you happen to go with?”

With a purse of his mouth, the man looked once to his children before lifting his face towards the Colonel. “The Lady Inanna says we are to be grateful to Her, thank Her for Her generous gift of Myos. For this She takes our children, hinders our scholars and makes honorable men slaves to Her whims. I cannot think this is the life our ancestors meant for us. She may be a God, but She is a wicked and capricious one.”

“She is no God.” Teal’c’s heavy timbre threw a weight behind the simple statement. “She is a creature who must both steal a body to make it a host and steal the freedom of those around her to gain power. She is nothing more then a parasite. Nothing divine.”

“And… and you fight against Her? Such a thing is even possible?” Eyebrows collecting over the bridge of his nose, the man seemed to hold judgment in the palm of his hand. Daniel saw that everything could fall either way for them now.

“Yes,” Daniel said with as much dignified authority as he could. “It is and we do. No one should be forced to live a life not of their own choosing. Or taken from their families.” Holding his eyes, the moment drew between them, time counted in breaths rather then anything as mundane as seconds. The man searched each of their faces yet again, looking for something. Feeling for something.

Daniel watched, and waited, then breathed a silent sigh of relief when he saw the decision made.

“I — I am Baraan. These are my sons Kyler,” he motioned towards the oldest. “And Atlan. And Sissin’s made herself known.” Placing his palms together, he twisted them in a detailed motion, fingers folding over to make a clasp of his hands. The tattoo on his wrist was turned outward in the ceremonial gesture. “A Circle of four, a Family of three.”

Teal’c accepted this strange statement with his usually aplomb, but the three Tau’ri each put a curious expression in place. Daniel’s eyebrows drew together, Sam’s head tilted and Jack had a puzzled frown.

“Please, if you’ll forgive us.” Daniel made an encompassing gesture. “We’re not familiar with those phrases.” The last thing they needed was for this tentative alliance to fall through because they didn’t give back the appropriate response.

Baraan simply frowned and repeated, “I am a Circle of four, we are a Family of three.” As if it would help, he added, “From Blue Meadow.”

Carter could always be counted on to do the math, concussion be damned. “But… three children. You and your wife would make five.” Which was neither four or three.

“Oh, no,” Baraan chuckled, his hand coming down on Atlan’s shoulder. “We have eleven children to the Family.”

Sam and Daniel exchanged a quick glance. Of course, silly them.

“But come,” Baraan’s other hand gesturing off to the side. “We almost have the catch pulled in and you look as if you could use a rest. And you have much yet to tell me. Atlan, Ky: gather the traps.” With bobs of their heads, the boys moved off. Sissin hung from her father’s belt, bare toe twisting in the sand as she watched on with big eyes. Sam caught her eye and flashed the girl a grin. She was rewarded with a shy, gap toothed smile.

With another motion, Baraan began leading them towards a worn grassland path. “Are you not bound to a Circle, a Family, Daniel Jackson?”

Daniel chewed on his bottom lip, his face still scrunched confused at the unfamiliar terms. “We came here from somewhere very — very — far away. And there are no ‘circles’ there. That I know of, at least.” A winsome smile flickered across Daniel’s face. Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. That was more than half the work of translations: finding the middle ground where you could brace understanding between worlds. Earth very well could have “circles”. But call them “rutabagas”. Who knew? Not him, not yet.

“But we’re a… team of four. Part of a — a kind of family. I suppose you could say. But I don’t think you mean what we mean.” Baraan hardly looked like a member of an elite first contact team working out of a secret military base under a mountain, after all.

“Tell me, the marks on your wrist?” Daniel quickly undid his watch and thrust his arms out, twisting his fisted hands to show his own blank skin. Something told him the answers to his questions waited in the man’s inked flesh. You didn’t create an entire hand gesture to showcase it if it wasn’t significant.

“Strange,” remarked Baraan, the word pulled long as he scrutinized Daniel’s naked wrists.

“What does it mean? I’m not familiar with the iconography. The symbols.”

Baraan came to a stop, giving Daniel the opportunity to examine his markings closer and the boy’s the chance to jog up with the day’s catch.

Two bands, roughly two inches apart, held individual pictures in place. The effect was very much like the illusion of a bracelet indeed. With a finger, Baraan pointed out the details. “My Family, their colors,” and his finger ran over the bracing bands, a detailed herringbone braid of green and purple. Notched into the braid were three ‘twists’. “One each for the Circles to our Family.” Then he tapped each of the individual pictographs within. “Faelan, Teral, Helain, Baraan.”

Daniel’s eyes popped just slightly. “You have three wives?” Jack snapped his attention over towards the man. He’d been admiring the boy’s nets, but this was something he had to hear.

But Baraan’s eyes narrowed again in confusion, Daniel’s startled reaction perplexing. “I am bound to three. But we’ve just two wives to our Circle.”

Again, Sam pulled the math from the conversation. “Two wives… two husbands? Four to your marriage? Three marriages to your whole family?”

“I don’t know this word, ‘marriage’. But it sounds to mean the same thing, so, yes, I believe you have the just of it.”

“Well, that’s….” Jack thought about it, eyes casting up searchingly towards Teal’c. “New.”

“Indeed,” was Teal’c taciturn contribution.

Dancing at the end of her father’s hand, Sissin stole glances up at Teal’c until curiosity drove her past her limit.

“Can I see it?”

“No.”

“Can I see it now?”

“No.”

“Maybe now?”

Flexing his jaw, Teal’c took a deep breath before answering in his sternest tone. “No.”

“Trust me,” Jack said with his patented wry smirk. “Junior’s best left where he’s at.”

Shifting his net from one shoulder to the other, Atlan tilted his head in question. “Junior?”

“It is what O’Neill insists on calling my symbiote.”

Kyler sucked on the inside of his cheek before joining his siblings. “Does it… hurt? Being in you like that.”

Teal’c regarded the young man at an angled tilt. Kyler flinched gently out of long habit. “No, not usually. Though occasionally I must enter a state known as kel’no’reem, to commune with my symbiote so as it may heal whatever is ailing my body.”

Sissin stretched the limit of her father’s arm. “Like taking a nap?”

The big man gave the little girl serious thought, his expression coming together as he considered. “Yes. Somewhat. Naps can be most refreshing.” At Teal’c’s elbow, Carter let out a quiet breath of laughter.

As Baraan’s children grilled Teal’c, Daniel grilled Baraan. “So, your people were brought to Myos from somewhere else. But it wasn’t called ‘Earth’ but ‘Elyasin’. And when you were there, you were watched over by a collection of Nature Spirits, guided by your Ancestors. But then Inanna brought you here, in the Crossing, and told you you had to worship her.”

“When you say it, Daniel Jackson, you make it sound very… dry.” Baraan had a furrowed frown and a long, drawn out sigh. “The history of my people is rich, fraught with as many tragedies as it is buoyed by its accomplishments. You… you make it sound like a crop yield report.”

“He’s good at that,” Jack tossed in with a bright smile.

Throwing a narrow-eyed, scathing look over his shoulder towards the Colonel, Daniel made apologetic motions back towards their host. “Please, I mean no disrespect. I’m only trying to understand and sometimes, reducing it down to its basic elements puts it all into perspective for me. Otherwise, I’m likely to be overwhelmed by all the details.” His smile was both hopeful and tentative, boyish in its sincerity.

“He’s good at doing that, too.” Jack carried on with a casual toss of his hand. “This one time, in this run down castle where we found a naked guy—”

“Sir?” Carter’s sharp interruption was as close as she ever came to officially reprimanding her superior officer.

Jack decided to let it go, but not before giving both Carter and Daniel a sly twist of his mouth and a single pump of his eyebrows. Mess with the bull, you get the horns, kids. Remember that.

“We’re not far now,” Atlan hastily volunteered.

Baraan pulled their little troupe up, turning Sissin towards him with a gentle twist. “Sissy, do you think you can run ahead and fetch Mothers Faelan and Merella and Father Cavan?” When she nodded eagerly, he swatted her on the backside and sent her on her way.

Watching the girl bound off, Sam asked, “Do you raise your children communally?”

“All children are of the Family. It doesn’t matter who their birth parent might be, they are ours and we are all theirs.” Evident pride made Baraan reach out and feather his hand through Kyler’s dark blond hair. The boy mockingly scowled and ducked his head away.

“Did you not say before, Baraan, that many of your daughters and sons had been taken into the service of the Goa’uld Inanna?” Teal’c’s scowl was set in dark lines. He thought of Rya’c. He thought of Cassandra Frasier.

Baraan pressed his lips together before letting his head drop in resigned acknowledgment. “As is ‘necessary’, Her priests comb through the meadows and fields, picking out children as they see fit. Some for their looks, some for their promising height, for their bell-tone laughter, bold imaginations, and others still….” His shoulder rolled into a dejected shrug. “Who knows Her will. It’s… it’s supposed to be a great honor. Even more so if more than one is chosen.” After a pause, he added, “We have had two daughters and three sons chosen to serve. We are… honored. Indeed.”

Both Kyler and Atlan joined their father in hanging their heads.

Sam was aghast and couldn’t stop herself from asking heatedly, “What in the world would she want with children?” Her experiences with Goa’uld were all based on Hathors, Apophis, and Seths. Megalomaniacs bent on the accumulation of power and little else. Children were used as pawns, exploiting a weakness. What would a Goa’uld do with so many at once?

But Daniel and Jack exchanged an uncomfortable glance, images of Ra’s court and entourage flashing past their mind’s eyes independently.

“As courtiers, servants. The Lady Inanna says there is purity in youth, a spirit of will that is easily dedicated towards worthy tasks. She Herself is the Eternal Child.” Baraan’s voice was tight.

Jack had a disgusted snort. “Okay. That’s officially ‘ew’. A Goa’uld keeping themselves as a kid?”

“It is not unheard of, O’Neill.” Though the sour turn of Teal’c’s mouth spoke volumes on his opinion of the matter.

“Still ew.” Jack reiterated his point with a hard wrinkle of his nose.

Suddenly, Daniel’s hand lifted over his head. “Of course!” As if something fell into place for him. All eyes turned in his direction.

Gesticulating with both hands, Daniel tried to slow his train of thought long enough to share. “Inanna, Summarian goddess of Love and War. She was a child bride, forced to marry the shepherd god Damuzi by her father Utu when she herself wanted to marry the god of farming, Enkimdu.”

Some other detail seemed to come to Daniel, his eyes narrowing towards Baraan in thought. “In some versions of the myth, Inanna marries both. That way, her husbands can have twice as many children to help them tend the lands.”

Baraan shifted uncomfortably, the implication obvious. Daniel realized his mistake about two seconds too late and sucked his bottom lip in in contrite embarrassment.

The moment drew long and awkward.

“I, uh. What I meant of course was—” Daniel’s eyes cast desperately around for his teammates.

Making a motion with his free hand, Teal’c drew their attention towards a bend in the path. “I believe that is Sissin returning with those you requested, Baraan.”

As far as a change of subject went, it was a good one, giving everyone something else to focus on rather then Daniel’s unintentional conclusion on their entire way of life.

“Baraan!” The man, Cavan presumably, called ahead, his hand raised to shield his eyes. “What does Sissy mean that there is a ’snake head servant who’s— oh. Oh!” Cavan and the two women dropped immediately into the dirt, hands out in supplication.

Jack sighed, then slapped Teal’c on the back. “We need to get you a hat.”

A quick conference between Baraan, Merella and Cavan had the idea of tucking SG-1 into “the cottage” until everyone else could be taken aside and have everything explained to them. But Merella was having serious reservations about it all, stolen glances dashed across her shoulder towards Teal’c.

While that was going on, Faelan ostensibly met with Jack and Daniel, though really it was a test of wills between the woman and the Colonel.

Faelan demanded to know what kind of people they were. Did they really fight against the Gods? Just the wicked ones, right? Why had they been in a flying ship so far from home and how did it fall from the sky? Working with other ‘Gods’? No, more not-Gods. And none of O’Neill’s people had been killed? Good. But why were they not ‘bound’ to a ‘Circle’, at their ages, as Baraan had told her? The fact Jack, Daniel and Teal’c had all been married at one time seemed to mollify her, but a narrow eyed scrutiny passed over Sam for her single status.

She threw question after question at him, holding her own until she got an answer she was satisfied with. Colonel O’Neill’s trademark sass was reduced to a lot of “yes, ma’ams” and “not exactlys” and “certainly, of course, ma’ams”. He felt like he’d been hauled into the principal’s office.

Sam liked her immediately.

Her hands set on her hips, Faelan lifted her chin one more time before dropping it in a decisive nod. They seemed to pass muster. And then she demanded to take a look at Carter’s head wound right then and there on the grassy path. Jack motioned to Sam that it was okay. Faelan seemed to have passed his muster, too.

Her fingers were gentle but probing, seeking the tender spots out on the back of Carter’s head. “Have you had anything to dull the pain since?”

“Some aspirin, but nothing in at least the last ten hours.” If Jack felt like he was made to stand before the school’s principal, Sam felt like she was in the care of an especially tenacious aunt. At any moment she knew she could expect a spit bath.

“Well. There is a considerable amount of swelling, and I can tell by your eyes that you are still unwell. Your pupils are too big. You should be resting.” Faelan had another nod of her head, but patted a soft hand to Sam’s shoulder before moving ahead to rejoin her….

“Her husbands? Her wives?” Sotto voce, Sam asked of her team as she stood back up. “Her… circles? What are we supposed to call… them.”

Daniel had a subtle shrug and shake of his head, his eyes tracing the connection from husband to wife to… wife to husband. “I have no idea. Family, I suppose. Her Family. Seems the most… inclusive.” It really was one of the more unique cultures they’d ever come across. If he hadn’t been so weary to the bone, he’d've loved to be asking them all about it.

As if prompted, Daniel had to smother a yawn behind the back of his hand. Faelan caught the action and took hold of Merella’s elbow to quell the other woman’s current protest.

“We can talk of this later, when we’re with the others. Major Carter needs willow salk and rest, Daniel Jackson is half asleep on his feet, and the Colonel is antsy to be out of the open.” She had a nervous glance for Teal’c, but kept any commentary on him to herself.

“Baraan would not have brought them this far if he didn’t trust them, and I believe they come with noble intentions.” Linking arms through Merella’s, Faelan smoothed a gentle hand against the woman’s temple, tucking a wayward lock of hair carefully behind her ear.

The gesture was tender and rich with affection, whispering of love and assurance and a certain intimate understanding. Trust me, it asked. I would never hurt you. Merella bit her lips together one last time before laying her hand over Faelan’s in the crook of her elbow. Her head dropped, then nodded in acquiescence.

Pulling her against herself, Faelan turned them both and headed back up the path. “We’ll get the others,” she told Baraan with a nod, leaving he and Cavan with SG-1. The children followed the women without needing to be told.

“Hell of a lady.” Jack’s head swung with genuine appreciation.

“Yes,” Cavan answered with undisguised pride. “She is. But come. The cottage is closer to the lake than the rest of the house. We’ll have to back track a bit to pick up the right path.”

The cottage, as it would turn out, was just that. A small, two story white washed structure set right against a small dock, tucked against a goodly sized lake. Not far off, other buildings of obvious farm life stood against the bright blue of the late morning sun — barns and silos and animal pens — but here it was quiet and calm. Almost serene.

Answering Daniel’s inquisitive expression, Cavan’s unassuming smile was crooked as he explained. “It’s used for the newly bound. To give them a little time to themselves.”

“Oh,” Sam exclaimed. She was just as interested as Daniel in it all, if truth be told. “Like for a honeymoon. A, uh. A trip just married people take on our planet.”

“Or for those kicked from bed,” Baraan added, a knowing, teasing smirk lobbed towards the other man. Cavan only rolled his eyes and pulled on the thick latch of the door.

The first floor was really just one big room, distinct areas designated by the clever use of furniture rather than walls. O’Neill and Teal’c covered the front door while Daniel and Sam moved further into the room, taking a look.

A huge, wood burning stove dominated the furthest corner, undoubtedly working as a heating unit for the cottage as much as a place to cook food. Exposed plumbing ran up the outside wall, joining the large sink to a water pump, and Sam presumed some sort of facility of sorts upstairs. Which was curious as she’d noticed an outhouse. So what could it be for?

A round table and a healthy collection of chairs finished off what would be called the kitchen, leaving the rest of the open floor plan to several benches with thick cushions, a set of rocking chairs, and a wide fireplace. From the look of the thick chimney, Jack bet dollars to donuts there was a second one upstairs.

Woven rugs dotted the hard wood floors, thick shutters closed over the unglassed windows. Homespun muslin served as curtains. Everything was clean, warm and inviting. Comfy. Cozy.

“You get hard winters around here?” Jack knew Minnesota and everything around him made him think of his cabin. It put him immediately at ease, something he had to consciously work to shake off. The last thing he needed was to let his guard down on a strange alien planet just because a rocking chair looked like something Grandpa O’Neill could have made.

“Snow high as your shoulder if the storm’s mean enough.” Cavan hooked his thumbs into his wide leather belt, dark bangs falling across his brow as he nodded.

Baraan continued to play tour guide, one hand coming to rest on the banister of the staircase while the other gestured upwards. “Pantry here, though it’s pretty bare. You won’t have to worry about that, though. Bedroom upstairs, as is a water heater for the tub. Firewood for the furnace’s over there.” His fingers twiddled towards a box just under the stairs. “It’s good for one good bath or several shallow ones. The girls like to come out here in the last few weeks of their pregnancies, so its something of a luxury for them.”

A bath. A real bath. Carter couldn’t help the tiny, wistful sigh from escaping. Only Teal’c seemed to hear her though, an indulgent twitch to his full mouth playing out.

“Well,” Cavan started with the air of a goodbye. “No doubt Fae’s getting everyone together. And probably something for you folks to eat. And that willow salk for you, Miss Major Carter.” The Myosians seemed to have troubles understanding what to do with their multiple names. Which was fine, Sam figured. They were having troubles understanding what to call their multiple partners.

“Thank you. Again. For everything.” Coming forward, Daniel offered his hand first to Baraan and then Cavan. Each man took it in turn, adding a formal bow of their head that Daniel reciprocated. Jack also gave them a nod, though his was more authoritative and clipped.

They lingered in the door way, exchanging a glance with each other before looking back once more on SG-1. “We’ll leave you to rest,” Baraan said while Cavan shut the door behind them.

Silence came into the house with a sudden rush. They stood looking at one another for a second, the whisper quiet sound of fabric shifting and plastic creaking as there bodies adjusted to the new surroundings.

“So,” Jack began, letting his gun slide to his side for the first time. He flexed his hands and fingers before him.

“So,” repeated Daniel, his attention still focused towards the now closed door. Teal’c had an enigmatic lift of his brow, which was unhelpful, while Carter eased herself down onto a bench.

Jerking his head, Jack shot a look of concern at the woman. “How you doing?”

“I’ve been better,” she admitted truthfully, pulling her cap off to rake fingers through her short hair. “Uncoordinated, lethargic, headache fit to kill.” Sam let her eyes slide closed as she leaned back.

Jack nodded, familiar enough himself with the symptoms to know the finer details. “T? What about these Jaffa. Do you think they’ll come back through?”

“It is difficult to say.” Teal’c shifted in his wide stance to regard the Colonel, the butt end of his staff weapon resting on the floor. “If they suspect we survived after all, they may maintain a patrol. But in which direction, I could not say without knowing more of Inanna’s forces. Or more about the area. I believe our best chances lie in keeping a down profile.”

“A ‘low’ profile, Teal’c. Low.” But Jack was nodding at his assessment too, agreeing. “Daniel? What do you make of our new friends.”

Startled from his thoughts, Daniel turned an unguarded expression towards Jack, eyebrows lifted and lips slightly parted. “Wha?”

“Our friends,” O’Neill repeated, hand waving in a vague gesture. “Baraan, Fae, their… large and assorted relations. How do you figure them.”

“Oh, well.” Daniel adjusted his glasses and licked at his lips, all habits Jack knew as stalling techniques while the man gathered his thoughts. “There are other examples of group marriages — polygamous relationships — both in modern cultures and antiquity, though the… grouping of marriage to marriage into a single family unit through those marriages is something I’m unfamiliar with.” He set his hands on his hips and took another look around the room. “It’s going to make for some touchy negotiations for their help, I’m sure of it.”

Again, Jack was nodding. He had suspected that too when he’d seen that other woman — Merella — and her hesitations. But they were too thick into it at this point. “Well, if they want to turn us over, there’s little we can do about it now. We just have to keep our fingers crossed while minding our Ps and Qs.” Nothing they could do that wouldn’t result in a bloody massacre of a fire fight, that was, and Jack had a hard time believing he could do anything against that little girl. Maybe once, in a different time in a different place, but he hadn’t been that man in a long, long time.

Jack glanced serendipitously towards Teal’c, catching his eye by chance before letting his focus slide behind him towards the innocuous fire place. No one gave him orders like that anymore. And Jack wouldn’t issues orders like that. If it came down to fight or flight, they’d just have to run like hell and hope for the best.

Daniel was still going on. “We need to be respectful of their customs, their lifestyle.” Which was a shade too little too late for Daniel to be saying, and he knew that, but it couldn’t hurt to point out. Again. Less foot-in-mouth this time. “Our ways are going to be just as foreign to them, so we’ve got to. You know.” An encompassing hand swept out towards them as a whole. “Work with that.”

“For now,” Teal’c said with a set of his broad shoulders. “We are in need of them more then they are in need of us.”

“Exactly.” Then Daniel was turning towards Teal’c, hands now motioning over the big man. “And we really have to do something about… uh.” His face scrunch up in apologetic lines towards his friend.

“I concur, Daniel Jackson. It makes me most… uncomfortable, the prostration.”

“He needs a hat,” Jack said for a second time, earning a wry twist of the mouth from an otherwise uninvolved Carter. She was letting Colonel O’Neill do his thing. If he needed her, he’d let Sam know. She slid down further into the cushion, reveling in the feeling of sitting down, being still, and not doing it in a grubby ditch under a rotting tree with Jaffa prowling about.

It wasn’t the world’s most perfect plan, but it would have to do for now. Reaching around himself, Jack made to slide out of his backpack, keeping the P90 for now. It was a silent signal to both Daniel and Teal’c that they could do likewise, Daniel following the bag to the ground to kneel and dig out a notebook.

Just as Jack was using both hands to massage his stiff neck muscles, a knock at the door made him reach again for his weapon. From the corner of his eye he saw Teal’c draw himself up and heard Carter stand. Looking up, Daniel cast a quick look around before silently volunteering himself.

Daniel threw one last look over his shoulder, Sam giving him a subtle nod as she covered him. No one was overt in their tension, but Jack very much had Daniel’s left side, Teal’c his right side and Carter his six. “Right,” he murmured before pulling on the latch.

It was Faelan with nothing short of a small army behind her. Two men, neither of whom were Cavan or Baraan, Merella again, a third woman who was very much pregnant and Sissin, who wore the stubborn look of a child who had demanded her way and won.

“Daniel Jackson.” Faelan greeted him pleasantly, a twitch at the corner of her mouth betraying how well aware she was at the picture they had to present.

Daniel had his very best Peaceful Explorer smile in place. “Faelan, hello.” His smile passed around to the faces that pressed in behind her. “Please, this is your home, we’re only guests. Come in, all of you.”

They did as bid, the baskets and bundles in their arms immediately apparent. But it was almost as one that their attention latched onto Teal’c. Baring the weight of their scrutiny, Teal’c kept his expression placid and tilted his head forward in a sign of respect.

Daniel took the initiative, gesturing behind him towards his stoic teammate. “This is Teal’c…” A quarter turn. “Major Carter… Colonel O’Neill, and I’m Daniel Jackson, though Daniel’s just fine. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Again, Daniel laid on his winsome We Come In Peace moves.

In turn, Faelan began her own introductions. “You’ve met Merella. This is Bethay of her Circle, and Druin and Goss of Cavan’s Circle.”

“And me,” Sissin added, least she and her efforts to get here be overlooked.

Nods and hesitate smiles swirled around the room until Faelan took charge. “Here,” she said with a motion of her finger. “The table.” There they laid bare the wealth of items brought for SG-1. The pregnant woman, Bethay, took over from there.

“There are breads and cheeses, some dried meats, a patch of carrots and milk.” The milk she motioned for from Goss and he sat the lidded pail on the table. “It isn’t much…”

“No, no it’s fine,” Sam said quickly, already making bedroom eyes at a loaf of crusty bread. “Thank you. This is amazing.” And not an MRE.

Druin was next, having the largest bundle. “Baraan impressed on us your need to… stay ‘obscure’, so we brought you some things to change into. Hopefully everything will fit someone, but if there’s any problems, we’ve an attic full of things to try.”

With a grave solemnity, Sissin walked over and raised her hands, offering a knitted cap to Teal’c. He accepted with a deep inclination of his head.

“This is so much,” Daniel began, looking at the table’s bounty. “Is there anything we can do in return? To thank you?” Jack frowned, just a touch. Sure, he didn’t like hand outs either, but Daniel had a habit of trading away the farm if he could get away with it. Tread lightly, Danny, a flick of his eyebrow warned the other man.

“There’ll be time enough for that.” Faelan walked into the kitchen, reaching into a cupboard for an earthen mug. Using the water pump until a gush ran cool and sweet, she filled it. “You’re tired, you’re hungry, and if you’ll forgive me saying so, you could all use a good scrubbing behind your ears. Eat. Rest. Today is yours and you’re welcome to come join us for dinner in the Big House if you’re up to it. Tomorrow, we can figure out how we’re to get you to the Starcircle.”

Faelan turned to hand the mug over to Sam who took it with a look of confused expectation. From her pocket, she took out a small envelope and upended it into Carter’s water. “Drink,” she told her. “It’ll help with your head, though I suspect it’ll make you sleepy too.”

Before she did any such thing, Sam shifted her eyes to Jack, asking for permission in a silent exchange. They had rules about taking things like this from kind alien strangers for reasons. O’Neill seemed to consider it for a moment before giving his equally as silent assent; a gentle nod that said ‘go ahead, but don’t go dying from it, okay?’

While Sam took her fill — “All of it,” Faelan admonished when she tried to short change the bitter liquid — Merella took her turn at bat, turning towards Jack.

“Though, Colonel, if you have the… strength… a few of us have some… questions. That we’d like to ask as soon as possible.” Merella had pale gray eyes that looked almost incandescent. They shifted from Jack to Teal’c before coming back to O’Neill, the color of an April shower.

An indignant frown settled over Jack’s brow. The strength? Hmph. “Yeah, I’m sure you folks would have a question or two.” He saw the man, Guess or Geoff or something, eye Teal’c again. At some point Teal’c had pulled the cap over his head, the worn green yarn looking incongruent to his black uniform.

“It’d do much to reassure the others,” Faelan admitted with reluctance. She was set on treating them as guests, giving them the hospitality and comfort she felt they needed, but hers wasn’t the only opinion to consider. In another set of silent exchanges, Daniel and Jack briefly made eye contact. Remember those tricky negations? Yeah, here we go.

“Why don’t we go now then.” Jack pulled his shoulders back in a decisive gesture, hooking his chin back towards the door. “Have a little sit down, a quick chat, put everyone at ease until we can gather ’round and work out a more formal exit strategy.”

Teal’c, green knit beanie in place, added: “I shall come also.” This seemed to satisfy something in Faelan, an appreciative smile taking her face.

“Alright then. Carter, Daniel—” Jack waited for her attentive head dip and his pursed mouth squint. “Stay here, eat up, rest. And make sure she doesn’t drown in the tub or anything.” The last he said just to Daniel, though Sam had a dry scowl for it.

Gathering Faelan’s attention with an uplift of his brow, Jack slapped his hands together and rubbed them. “Shall we?”

It was another two hours before Jack and Teal’c were able to escape — as Jack had privately dubbed it — ‘The Jaffa Infomercial’. As he suspected, everyone’s biggest concerns were about Teal’c and the big guy’s ways and means. More than once Jack had wished for Daniel’s eloquence in their impromptu seminar on the Goa’uld, or Carter to explain away the “magic” of their technology, but was appreciative of Teal’c’s straight forward truthfulness in the matter. The guy simply didn’t pull punches and that was a quality Jack could respect. Teal’c dealt with life on life’s terms, only all too aware of how those terms could change on a dime. He moved with it, let it take him where it would and where it could, appreciating it all in ways very few people were capable of.

It went a long way towards explaining Teal’c’s collection of bad Hawaiian shirts, cowboy hats, and super soakers.

Ultimately, Teal’c and Jack both felt it turned out well. A job well done, mission accomplished. Teal’c did much to dispel the mystique surrounding Inanna’s Jaffa and Priesthood, and revealed many of the uncomfortable truths of life with a symbote. And it probably didn’t hurt that Sissin insisted on hanging off Teal’c like a bad neck tie. Every bit went that one extra step in closing the gaps left between themselves and the Myosians.

But it was now hedging into forty-five-plus hours awake for them both and even Teal’c’s feet were dragging as they took the path back towards the cottage.

Everything was much as they’d left it, though the food baskets had migrated to the kitchen counters and their packs were gone. Presumably they were with Sam and Daniel, though neither of them were in sight. But that was almost to be expected. O’Neill had ordered them to rest after all.

Teal’c followed Jack’s laborious sigh up the short flight of stairs, his steps heavy in O’Neill’s shadow in the play of the afternoon light. Much as the first floor was, the second floor was mostly one large space composed of areas rather than individual, compartmentalized rooms.

Two more rocking chairs kept watch over a lamp on a small end table near a window, its shutters open to face the late summer sky. An armoire, two dressers, and a single half wall that separated the bathing area from the stair’s line of sight made up the rest of the space. And there was the second fireplace Jack had suspected, and—

“Holy…. Wow.” It was a bed. It was a giant bed. It was a bed that should have been the punch line to an especially racey joke.

“It would need to accommodate several full sized adults,” Teal’c said matter of factly. Which didn’t exactly shake Jack’s notion that something that decadent shouldn’t come with a wealth of Playboy Bunnies and Hugh Hefner.

From the depths of a butter yellow down comforter, Jack could just see Daniel struggling to sit up, glasses knocked askew and zat loose in his hand. It looked like he’d tried to keep up some sort of watch, hitching himself up against the headboard. But exhaustion had drug him horizontal. Now their voices were dragging him back up. As Daniel’s frame pushed the blankets around, they could make out the shape of Carter, her head and shoulders buried comfortably — and obliviously — into a thick pillow.

“Just us, just us.” Jack lifted his hand, hoping to stave off any inadvertent sleep deprived shoot outs.

A knuckle drove Daniel’s glasses to an even more rakish angle when he rubbed at his eye. “Hey guys.” His voice was thick with exhaustion. “S’everything okay? Go well?”

“We’re good, Danny. Now put the six shooter down before you yawn and hurt someone.”

Daniel’s eyes rolled gently, but then he did yawn, an arm lifting and stretching up behind his head until the elbow popped. He shuffled back under the covers, disappearing. Jack and Teal’c went about taking off their vests, jackets and boots, laying them out as Daniel and Sam had done earlier. Muscles protested, joints creaked. They’d been pushing themselves, and pushing themselves hard.

Jack wasn’t comfortable with the idea of all of them out at once, without a watch rotation, but these were some extenuating circumstances. He couldn’t expect someone to sit up for another six to eight hour shift, and as useful as Teal’c’s ‘I do not require sleep, I have this groovy meditation thing instead’ was, forty-five hours awake were forty-five hours awake, and Jack could only assume T and Junior needed some serious communing.

Daniel had the right of it, and as Jack unclipped his thigh holster, he drew the pistol out. There really wasn’t any question as to where they were all going to sleep. Sure, he could be chivalrous and opt for the floor, maybe one of the benches down stairs, but the cargo hold had sucked and last night he’d sat up in a trench waiting for Jaffa to find him. He’d be an absolute idiot to pass up a real, honest to goodness bed, and it wasn’t like they weren’t all adults; as if any of them would really care. Hell, Carter and Daniel had already set the pace. He’d just take Daniel’s side, leave Carter to Teal’c, and it’d be as prim and proper as could be expected in the situation.

Teal’c went off into the bathroom and while the sound of running water tempted Jack to wait his turn, he was just too tired to bother. Leaving his pants on but ditching the black utility shirt, Jack pulled the covers back on “Daniel’s” side of the bed and made to get it.

He pulled up short though, a crooked smirk teasing his thin mouth. Seems Daniel had gone the other way around. Having laid back down, he presented his back to Jack, black tee-shirt twisted tight across his shoulders while his bare legs in tighty whities scissored the sheets. It’d be like one of those letters Penthouse used to print: “I never would have believed it if it hadn’t happened to me — suddenly, whoops! My best friend had no pants!”

Jack twitched the blanket a little higher, unable to resist getting a peek at Carter and what she’d decided on. Sports bra and BDUs. Sweet. But then Daniel was grumbling, tugging the blankets back down and making Jack feel ridiculously caught out. Hi, stop checking out your co-workers, O’Neill. They’re trying to sleep off a couple threats against their lives.

Giving himself a serious shake, Jack claimed a spot for himself, tucking the gun loosely under his pillow and keeping a gentle grip on it. There was plenty of room for all of them, with space to stretch out and not feel crowded on either side. It felt nice. Wonderful. Fantastic. Absolutely everything that wasn’t a Goa’uld shipping crate with a sleeping bag tossed across it.

Still, space or no space, as Jack flexed his feet back and forth, enjoying the stretch and pull in his calves, he felt Daniel’s bare foot brush against his arch in a sleepy, sluggish movement. He’d shared enough tents with the man to know Daniel tended to take up as much room as he could. Hallmark of someone who hadn’t shared his bed with anyone else in a long, long time. Not that Jack could claim innocence in that department either. Jack had accidentally once popped Daniel in the nose, making it bleed, by just rolling over. Well, rolling over and swinging his arm, smashing it right across the other man’s face and scaring the crap out of them both. O’Neill had been in the dog house for weeks after that. At least it hadn’t been Carter.

So Jack was used to Daniel’s nocturnal nudges. Even took a measure of comfort from them if he’d let himself admit it. They reminded his subconscious mind, if not always his conscious one, that he wasn’t actually alone in the world. That someone was right there, with him, in the long, stillness of the night.

Time passed. The bed dipped again, though the movement was minimal, and Jack cracked an eye open to see Teal’c leaning against the headboard, knees bent casually as he settled himself into his usual meditation pose. Propped against the wall, well within reach, was Teal’c’s staff weapon. Good. Though it made him wonder what Carter had stashed with her. He just hoped to God no one snored. It could get ugly.

Something was brushing Daniel’s nose, and when he reached up to knock whatever it might be away, his hand fumbled against something solid and slight furry. Not furry. Hairy. Slitting an eye open, he looked passed the angle of his frames — right into Jack’s chest. Jack was on his back, arm tucked up under his head and pillow, but turned slightly towards Daniel. And Daniel had somehow worked his head onto Jack’s shoulder and was being tickled by the sparse hair that peppered the Colonel’s chest.

Frowning in sleep, Jack was waving his other hand in Daniel’s general direction. Stop bugging me, it said in the ancient language of ‘wake me up and die’. Daniel lowered his hand slowly back against himself.

Whatever time it was, it was late, the room dark and damp from the open shutters. Stars were brilliant in the inky darkness of a crescent moon, framed so much like a picture by the window. It was cooler than he’d expect, but maybe it was the breeze off the lake dropping the temperature. Either way, Daniel knew he should scoot back to his spot, get out of Jack’s space. Even if O’Neill was nice and toasty and… comfortable feeling. A certain contentment stole over Daniel as he lay there, temple pressing into Jack’s collarbone while his cheek rested in the hollow of shoulder to joint. He spent a guilty second just letting the moment soak around him.

Daniel would never call himself a brave man, he was simply someone who did what he felt was the right thing to do, and if people didn’t agree with that, that was hardly his problem. Nor would he call himself a fearless man, though he’d defended two thesis before two separate academic councils. And that was long before he’d ever even heard of Catherine Langford, the Stargate, or the Goa’uld.

But there was just something empowering to know you had someone like Jack O’Neill in your corner. All of them, really. Sam would twist science until it resembled nothing familiar if it meant she could build a machine that would save your live. And Teal’c would simply lay his down for yours if he thought it’d do any good. Sometimes even when he knew it wouldn’t. But Jack was really the glue that held them all together, gave each of them a foundation to stand on and a standard to measure by.

All of that only seemed more so, seemed underscored, as Daniel breathed softly of Jack’s breath and leeched slowly of Jack’s body heat. Daniel was safe here. Daniel was comfortable and comforted. I should really move, he thought one last time before sliding back into sleep.

Jack rolled away from the light. Just five more minuets, ma. Digging his shoulder deeper into his pillow, there was a twist and a shift behind him before something seemed to resettle itself against his back. It curved with his spine, nestled between his shoulder blades and hooked a foot over his ankle.

Who the what? Snapping awake, Jack ground his teeth and berated himself for sleeping so soundly. What if they’d been overcome in the night? ‘Sorry about the capture, guys,’ he’d tell his team. ‘But, you know me and a good duvet….’ No excuse, no excuse at all. And what time was it? He could hear life moving outside, bird song and the general chatter of a world wide awake and getting on with itself. The light against the wall was a pale gold, not the cool shade of dawn and not the brilliant hue of an afternoon. So midmorning?

Whoever this was behind him snuffled thickly against his bare back, raising goosebumps up his neck. A moist, not wholly pleasant sound. Like someone who hadn’t had an antihistamine in a few days. Ah. Daniel. This was Daniel. Which would explain the little matter of….

Caught with your pants down, Dannyboy? Daniel’s “sidearm” was most insistent against Jack’s thigh, making Jack’s mouth curl in a knowing smirk. Jarhead Marine to brilliant Egyptologist — a guy was a guy was a guy. Especially in the morning.

“Why Doctor Jackson,” Jack sing-songed. “Not even dinner and a movie first?”

“Mmmuh?” The weight against Jack’s shoulders shifted, the corner of Daniel’s glasses digging into the soft flesh before the man pushed himself up onto an elbow. “Wha? Oh, sorry I— oh. Oh! Oh, uh. Hey, yeah.”

Jack had just enough time to glance over his shoulder to see Daniel’s sleepy, tousled, befuddled expression flare into a flush before the other man was rolling away and pulling the covers around himself. The rest of the bed was empty, the others apparently having started their day already, leaving Jack and Daniel to sleep in.

And snuggle, evidently.

Putting distance between himself and Jack, Daniel shot a sour look at the Colonel before pulling his glasses off and letting them drop into his lap. Jack kept up his wry smirk.

“Sam and Teal’c?” Daniel ground his palms into his eyes, asking after the others.

“Downstairs, I guess. I just got up myself.” There was a pregnant pause behind Jack’s words, the double entendre bolstered by his lopsided, rakish grin. Daniel pulled his hands away from his face and narrowed his eyes further.

Pretending innocence, Jack sat up and pushed his feet towards the floor. His pistol he pulled out from under his pillow and tucked into the waistband of his pants. “I should wash up,” he said with a scrub at his own face.

“Yes, if you would. Please.” Daniel’s eyebrow arched delicately, the tone of his voice pointedly derisive. Jack just rolled his eyes and shuffled off towards the bath room.

Since he’d cleaned up last night, Daniel sorted through the clothes left for them and picked out something that would reasonably fit. Trousers, linen shirt, and a blue pull over sweater for the chill, he carried the boots with him downstairs for wont of a proper chair to sit on and lace them tight.

“Hey, Daniel.” Sam greeted him from the kitchen table, spoon lifted in a wave. She and Teal’c each had bowls in front of them, two more place settings waiting across. “Sleep well?” Her tone was honey sweet and her smile overly brilliant, the corners of her eyes crinkling with mischief. Even Teal’c had a wry turn to his full mouth as he spooned another helping between his lips. Daniel had a narrow-eyed squint for them, too.

“What’s that?” Being the bigger man — and because he couldn’t think of a retort scathing or witty enough — Daniel sat down at one of the empty place settings to work on his shoes.

“It is like no oatmeal I have ever experienced at the SGC.” Teal’c pointed towards a pot resting on the stove behind Carter. “It is actually enjoyable.” This seemed a surprise to him.

“Faelan came by earlier,” explained Sam, amusement still lingering on her bright face. “Brought by breakfast, gave me more stuff for my head, made sure the clothes fit.” She motioned down at herself where she was in a simple spun dress of pale blue and an off white sweater of her own, and towards Teal’c who wore a leather jerkin against a brown shirt and trousers. His green knitted cap was firmly in place.

“I don’t know what that is exactly she’s giving me,” Sam said with a marveled shake of her head. “When we get home, we should really look into a negotiation. Better then any aspirin I’ve ever had.”

“We’ll have to see about that pesky Goa’uld problem first, though.” Jack was still running his hand through his damp hair as he trotted down stairs, interjecting himself into the morning ritual. It was another linen shirt, an unbuttoned green vest and dark pants for him. But he wore his own boots, laces snapping against his ankles. The modern design contrasted harshly against the rustic homespun, but Carter didn’t think it’d be too noticeable if he pulled the pants legs all the way down.

They were a complete set of four now, no longer members of Stargate Command, but simple peasants out here in Blue Meadow.

Jack pulled the chair out across from Carter and took it in a slump while Teal’c inclined his head deeply in acknowledgment. No teasing for him, Daniel noticed.

Thick farm boots laced to his knees, Daniel grabbed both his bowl and the empty one next to it, walking into the kitchen to ladle oatmeal into each. Jack had a suspicious frown for the action, but he let it slide. Beggars couldn’t be choosers when it came to free food.

“Grab the berries in the little pail, too.” Sam said with another motion of her spoon. “They’re in the sink to keep cool. It’s really very good,” she tried to assure Jack as the Colonel bent forward to finish off his laces.

Teal’c used the edge of his spoon to scrape the very last bits from the bottom of his bowl. “Faelan has asked that we join her as soon as we are all awake. She, Baraan, Goss, and Linel–”

Jack’s head lifted. “Linel?”

“Of Merella’s Circle,” Carter supplied around another mouthful.

“Linel,” Teal’c continued. “They wish to discuss a plan that they have to get us to Inanna’s Throne.” Daniel let Jack’s bowl drop down harder then was necessary, it rolling around softly on its base before coming to rest. Jack simply picked up his spoon and motioned with it while Daniel took the seat next to him.

“I thought we wanted to get to the Star… circle?” Looking between Teal’c and the contents of his spoon, Jack took a hesitate bite. Then he took a more enthusiastic bite. He knocked shoulders with Daniel — Daniel, who had been eating just fine in the first place — and motioned towards the other man’s bowl. “S’good! Eat up, Daniel!”

Daniel rolled his eyes and let loose a slow, put upon sigh. With a charitable, if not down right patronizing smile, he decided they could let that mornings… indiscretion be swept under the table. For now. He knocked back into O’Neill’s shoulder with a half-hearted grunt.

Sam had a grin for the two men before answering the Colonel’s previous question. “Inanna’s Throne seems to be the name of the capitol, too. Not just, you know. Where she sits. And it’s where the Stargate’s kept.”

Reaching out, Jack dug his hand into the berry pail and threw two back into his mouth. “And our friends think they have an idea how to get us there? Is it a good idea?”

Sam and Teal’c flicked a quick glance between them before Sam shrugged. “They didn’t say what this idea was, just that they had one.” Her head tilted. “We’ll find out soon enough, I guess.”

“Right after breakfast,” Jack finished with a broad, over filled smile.

Jack stood up with a strident wave of his hands into the air. “Absolutely not, it’ll never work.”

“Sir,” Carter began, her voice looking to placate the man now pacing behind her.

Daniel motioned a sincere apology towards Baraan before turning. “Jack, they have a point. People don’t travel alone on this planet, and the groups that do are usually….” His hands flipped back and forth between himself and Jack in a supposedly meaningful gesture.

“Married. Or at least Family.” Teal’c’s honesty, that thing Jack had so admired the night before, now made O’Neill squinch his face and shake a fist towards the Jaffa.

“We can’t pretend to be married.” Jack’s hand swung again, a swift chopping motion towards both his team and those of the Family assembled. “It’s— it’s like a bad movie. A bad movie rife with horrible clichéés and a laugh track eight miles long. Where whacky hijinks ensue around every corner and you just want to put your own eyes out to make it all stop!” As if this was making his argument, Jack lifted both hands off his chest. “None of us are even Jerry Lewis and this is certainly not France.”

Sam rolled her eyes softly.

“Jack.” Daniel stood and put himself in Jack’s fevered path, his expression stern and warning, his arms folding high against his chest.

“Daniel.” Jack returned, hands jutting off his hips while his eyebrows shot up high. “The four of us can’t be married. That’s just ridiculous.”

“Colonel O’Neill, Daniel Jackson,” intervened Goss, his hands coming up between the men who stared with earnest frustration towards one another. “Please. It isn’t ideal, no. We understand that. Understand your reluctance. But it will cause the least amount of suspicion.”

“Like hiding in plain sight.” Carter added with a hopeful sound.

Tilting his head, Daniel addressed Jack and Jack alone. “It’s exactly like hiding in plain sight. Every Circle must gain the blessing of Inanna’s temple before it can be formalized. If we pose as a Circle making the pilgrimage, no one will even think to question. And with the wristbands, no one will notice none of us are birth marked.”

Teal’c fingered the supple band of suede with its detailed braided design. Before a man or woman had their Circle added to the ‘birth mark’ on their wrist, they wore these in symbolism. Major Carter had called it similar to an engagement ring. That had apparently been the last straw for O’Neill, who’d tossed his back when it had been handed to him.

“Daniel,” Jack repeated plaintively, pinched mouth slanting off to the side. It was a measure of how uncomfortable the whole thing made him feel that Jack was willing to whine in front of others. “It’s like painting a giant red X on each of us.” Now he was trying to reason his way out, not always his strong suit. “‘Please, use these people against me when devising your nefarious torture scenarios.’”

It was Daniel’s turn to roll his eyes softly. “If you’ve a better way to get to the Stargate, please, by all means.” Bowing softly from the waist, his hand arced over Jack, indicating he had Daniel’s leave to go right on a head and be brilliant any time now.

Jack cast an eye back over Carter and Teal’c, then beyond them towards the Family. Teal’c was already trying the wristband on.

“They do no appear to have any names on them, simply the binding of your lineage.”

“They don’t.” Linel confirmed, leaning forward just slightly to adjust the fastening around Teal’c’s thick wrist. “I— I didn’t know what names to use.”

“See? There. We can’t do it because we can’t put our names on the things.” Jack reached out and slapped Daniel in the chest with the back of his hand. “It’d be like a red flag sticking right out of the red X.” Daniel leveled a glare at the man but it was Sam who said the obvious.

“We don’t have to use our real names, sir. Alias’ are used all the time when a team goes under cover.” And if she sounded a little fed up with Jack, well. That’s because she was.

Was there something particularly unpleasant about just pretending to be her husband? Or was it also pretending to be Teal’c and Daniel’s husband too that rattled him? Privately, Sam was all about having three of the most amazing men in the universe as her “pretend” husbands. Not that wearing a suade bracelet was going to be really changing anything between SG-1. By Inanna’s Law, a Circle couldn’t… consummate their nuptials until they had been recognized by the temple. So it wasn’t like there’d even be any pressure on them from that sector. Sam simply failed to see how this changed absolutely anything about the dynamic they already shared, or why it would set the Colonel off the way it was.

“Alright, fine.” Hooking his hands under his armpits, Jack regarded Daniel with a ‘thoughtfulness’ that made the group at large worry. He took an exaggerated moment to consider his next words. “Obviously, Daniel’s a Millhouse. Carter, you can be Lisa. Clearly I’m Bart, but Teal’c… Comic Book Guy?”

“I can once again be Tor. Major Carter can be Therra. Daniel Jackson, Carlin. And you can be Jonah, O’Neill.” Teal’c lifted his chin, pleased at his counter. Daniel slapped the back of his hand into Jack’s chest.

Linel watched the exchange with a frown, glancing over towards Baraan — who simply shrugged back at a loss — before looking back. “Which ever names you settle on, you’ll need to show me how they’re written. It would be a most unfortunate time to misspell something.”

Once again, reason and logic shot Jack O’Neill down.