Author's Notes: This is the third story in the Singer series, which was begun so long ago that Carter was still a captain and Daniel still had long hair! Significant amounts of time passed between each story, both for myself and for the characters, and I hope that I managed to capture some of the changes that they went through as the series progressed.

ANOTHER SONG

Tightening his lips over a curse of frustration, Daniel snapped his book shut with a crack that resounded loudly in his office, then rested the spine of it against his forehead. Closing his eyes, he tried for the thousandth time that day to calm the restless edginess sawing away at his nerves, but the vision that rose behind his eyelids had him throwing the book down so that he could pace around and around his work bench. It didn’t help much, not that he had expected it to, but it was better than re-reading the same line over and over, never remembering a single word of it.

When Sam had requested that the Gate be taken off-line for a week so that she and the technicians could run tests to determine what kinds of safeties built into DHD’s could be safely over-ridden, he’d been glad. He had a backlog of professional journals he had wanted to catch up on for ages, personal research that had been simmering in the back of his mind for even longer, and was generally more than ready for a week or so of peaceful boredom. Lately it seemed every time he stepped through the Gate, there was trouble on the other side - even when the destination was Earth.

The first few days had been exactly as Daniel had anticipated they would be - calm, relaxing and intellectually very rewarding. Though he’d worked out with Jack and Teal’c, had lunch with them or Sam in the officer’s mess, he’d spent the vast majority of his day in here, blissfully immersed in the sorts of linguistic and cultural puzzles that he’d thrived on for as long as he could remember. Then, bit-by-bit, hour-by-hour, he’d had more and more trouble concentrating; more and more difficulty just sitting still, let alone accomplishing anything.

After a while it began to carry over to his free hours off-base, leaving him roaming his apartment at all hours of the day or night, unable to stay at rest even long enough to watch a sit-com on the tv, let alone actually sleep. He tried going to bed anyway, hoping that the exhaustion nibbling at the boundaries of his endless fidgeting would let him collapse into sleep. Instead every time he closed his eyes, the restlessness took an erotic edge, making him acutely aware how long it had been since he’d had shared that bed.

His body would all but beg for a lover’s touch, skin thrumming with sexual anticipation, and his mental theater would feature fleeting images that left him achingly ready, more erect than he’d thought possible for himself. Most disturbing was what the visions were of - not rounded, soft womanly curves, not memories of his sweet time with Sha’uri or even any of the women that he’d known in his life. Instead Daniel endlessly re-ran the brief memory he had of the evening when he had walked in on Jack and Teal’c as they made love, or the one night he had been on the receiving end of their attentions.

At first he had resisted giving himself relief, never particularly liking the way the solitary activity underlined how alone he was. But when he began elaborating - fantasizing if he was going to be honest with himself - on those memories, adding activities that he once would have believed had no appeal for him, he surrendered to necessity. It only helped for a short time though; just enough that he was able to keep from reaching for the real thing.

Just thinking about that gave him another hard-on, and Daniel was forced to stop pacing long enough to adjust himself in his pants. A part of him wanted to simply go to Teal’c, explain his problem, and ask for help. A larger part reminded him sharply that from all appearances, Teal’c and Jack were still together, though Daniel couldn’t understand their relationship at all. He’d been far more upset than Jack had been when the Jaffar had taken a lady lover and planned to leave SG1 for her – which could have been simple denial on Jack's part. Yet the two of them were so comfortable with each other, so obviously friends and teammates on levels that most people could only dream about.

That confused Daniel in ways he didn’t want to examine closely, and but even more confusing to him was his own reaction to the pair. When he thought of the simple pleasure of companionship and chastely sharing the warmth of two bodies pressed close on an icy night, he almost automatically placed Teal’c in that role. But when his thoughts turned to raw, carnal acts, it was Jack that he wanted - and wanted very, very badly.

Suddenly angry with himself, Daniel went back to his book, determined to read it if it took all night. There was absolutely no reason he shouldn’t be able to concentrate; it was something he’d been able to do no matter what almost from the first time he learned to study. Through death, disaster and abandonment, he’d been able to lose himself in words and civilizations long dead with no effort at all; the only exception being the time Singer had infected him with her alien energy.

The memory of the blue-in-blue energy being who used music for language and glass as toys brought a reluctant smile to Daniel’s lips. She’d been indirectly responsible for his night with Jack and Teal’c, too, because of that. Interestingly, sex had been the cure for the irritating nervousness prolonged exposure to her presence caused, though Daniel didn’t have a clue why.

Without any warning, understanding crystallized and Daniel ground to a complete stop, mentally and physically, unable to believe what the evidence was telling him. Painfully, carefully, he looked at the idea from every possible angle, but it all added up to the same conclusion. The last time he was this edgy and restless, with a cutting thread of desire zipping through it, had been when Singer was with him, and it had accumulated gradually. Singer was invisible to any electronic device made by man and the Gate did not have to be activated for her to use it - from either side. She also knew the layout of the base on the SGC's levels, and was especially fond of his office, if for no other reason than because he had created a cache of ‘toys’ for her.

Finally beginning to accept that he might be right, Daniel slowly surveyed his office, looking for a place some one could hide without being detected, if they were quiet and still enough. Then, just to make sure he wasn’t being a complete idiot, he checked the stash of glass objects he’d accumulated for Singer and had not gotten rid of despite the two plus years it had been since he’d last seen her. The drawer was empty and in the farthest corner of the room was a waist high table running across the wall, and the area immediately under it was blocked with a large crate intended to be used for shipping some off-planet artifacts he was studying.

Cautiously, not wanting to frighten her if she were there, he wandered back, leaning on the table and pointlessly re-arranging the items on it. In a carefully pleased, quiet voice, Daniel said, “I know you’re under there.” He didn’t get an answer, but he hadn’t expected one right away, so he slowly knelt down until he could peer into the dark cubby made by the corner, the table, and the crate.

For a moment he was sure he had made a mistake, but the sheer impossibility of an intruder this deep in the mountain made him take a second look, this one allowing him to recognize Singer. Instead of the traditional Alice-in-Wonderland garb of light gray dress, pinafore, and brilliantly polished maryjanes she had dressed in before, she was wearing a denim bib-coverall with stars appliqued all over it and a white long-sleeve Henley under it. The buckle shoes had been replaced with white sneakers, complete with friendship pins in the laces and more hearts drawn in ink on the sides of the soles.

It was almost exactly what Cassandra was wearing in the picture that Sam kept of her in her office, though she had added another, more recent one, of Dr. Fraiser’s adopted daughter not too long ago. Singer had ‘seen’ the older one, of course, and she had obviously chosen to update her clothes so that she would look more human. Normally she couldn’t come close because of her blue-in-blue eyes and sapphire hair that drifted on invisible breezes, but the face that turned toward Daniel could have been that of any human child’s.

All that was missing from it was an expression, an emotion of some kind, but Singer’s features were as empty as a doll’s. That frightened Daniel more than finding her in his office; she had easily learned how to imitate human facial expressions and to match them to what she was feeling during her last visit. For her not to be able to do so now spoke alarmingly of just how distressed she had to be, and adding in how long she had to have been in her hiding place, Daniel’s surprise changed to concern.

Despite that, he said casually, “I’m glad to see you; I’ll call Jack and the others to let them know you’ve come by for a visit.”

“No, please, D'nelllll,” Singer hummed, the last notes deep enough to make the floor under them vibrate in harmony. “Don’t tellll, don’t tellllll.”

“Why? You know they like you. Are you worried about getting in trouble for coming without your parent again?” Daniel didn’t think for a moment that was the problem; Lalt had never struck him as being the kind of parent whose punishments for childish transgressions would inspire terror in his offspring. But he could sense in the music of Singer’s true voice that she was close to total despair and fear, and his concern deepened considerably.

“D'nelll, please, please, please. Don’t telllll, don’t tellllll.” Singer shrank back farther into her hiding place, curling up on herself as much as possible.

“Sweetheart, are you in trouble, bad trouble?” Daniel ventured, staying put and trying to put as much reassurance into his voice as he could.

“don’ttellllldonttellldontllldontlllll,” she murmured. For a moment her control fractured and her natural swirling color returned, writhing sickeningly over and through her before she was able to reassert the form she’d chosen for herself.

Sitting back on his heels, Daniel changed tactics and said firmly, “Look at me, Singer. Look at me!” Though she didn’t need to have her eyes on him to actually see him, she obeyed and the softly humming pleading faded away. “Do you remember Hammond?” he asked, glad his tactic to pull her back from her misery worked.

She sang a brief melody that seemed to describe the general perfectly, and almost as an after-thought, she created a partial smile to go with it. “Mmm’d,” she agreed.

“Well, he’s the same as a parent to me, and I can’t *not* tell him that you’re here. That would be wrong, and it would make him very unhappy with me. I wouldn’t like that. And Jack, Teal’c and Sam wouldn’t be happy with me, either. I have to tell them, Singer. I’m sorry, but I have to.”

She turned away from him and huddled into the wall, and the floor began to shake again as she cried to herself in notes so low that Daniel couldn’t hear them. Feeling miserable, but with no doubt in his mind that he was right to bring in the others, Daniel went to the phone and called the General. “Sir? Could you come to my office, right now? And bring the rest of SG1 with you? We have an un-authorized visitor; one you’ve met before.”

**Unauthorized. How in the….** The shoe dropped for Hammond, and he said, **Singer. I’m on my way, Dr. Jackson.**

Daniel hung up, listened for a moment as SG1 was summoned to the briefing room, and went back to where Singer was, sitting cross-legged under the table, back to the room and facing her. She was still turned away from him, but at least the horrible droning of her fear had stopped. “It’s okay,” he soothed. “Whatever is wrong, we can help fix it, I promise.” Instinctively he hitched closer to stroke her hair or back in hopes of consoling her, but she shrank into herself even more.

“No, Daniel,” she said clearly. “I promised not to hurt you again; to stay all *here.*”

“And you don’t trust yourself to do that right now?” he asked gently. “Would you tell me what has you so upset? Please? Funny thing is, even if you think I can’t do anything to make it better, just talking sometimes can make a difference in how you feel.”

Shaking her head awkwardly, as if just remembering that was a way to say no, too, she asked instead, “Can I please stay here? It’s a small, small space and you weren’t using it. I can give the toys back if I shouldn’t have taken them, but you weren’t playing with them so I thought you wouldn’t mind.”

Her tone was the coaxing, hopeful voice of a youngster who wanted desperately to appease the adult in power over her, and for the first time anger began to mix in with the apprehension Daniel had been hiding from her. With difficulty he shoved it all away so he could concentrate on Singer, and said, “I think we can do better than a corner under the table. You know you’re always welcome, and I keep those toys here just in case you do decide to visit.”

“Reallllllly?” she sang, the melody showing a hint of her usual merriment.

“Really,” he said positively. “And Sam still has seventeen billion gazillion questions she wants to ask you, and would be in heaven if you’d help her find the answers if you don’t know them.”

“And Teal'c and O’Neill? They wouldn’t mind if I played with you sometimes?”

“Absolutely not,” Jack said cheerfully, dropping into a squat next to Daniel, hand going to the small of Daniel’s back in a silent gesture of approval.

Or so Daniel assumed, very deliberately on his part, to combat the flood of sexual heat from that simple touch. Then Teal’c gently pushed aside the crate that formed part of Singer’s hiding spot and took its place, thick fingers finding a comforting place on Daniel’s shoulder as he knelt down. Somberly, but with a hint of a smile at the corners of his lips for the alien child, he said, “I, too, am pleased that you would choose to visit.”

Eagerly, touching her own face as if to remind herself yet again to contain her energies, she said, “I’ll be very, very careful, I promise.”

“I know you will,” Jack said firmly. “You’re a good girl and good girls always keep their promises.” Her answer wasn’t in words, but in a doleful note of worry/fear/sorrow that shook the entire room, and he shook his head in negation. “I’ll prove it to you.” Without any warning he wiggled into her corner and snagged her by the waist to pull her into his lap as he plopped onto his backside.

She didn’t struggle, though it was impossible to tell if that was because she didn’t know how to in her current form, or if she was afraid of losing control if she did. Either way Jack didn’t seem to believe he was in any danger. Smacking a silly, noisy kiss on her cheek, he said, “See? Not even a tingle. It’s *okay* to be here, Singer, as far as we’re concerned.”

Looking dubious, Singer shook her head again, but she didn’t try to pull away. Resting her head on Jack’s shoulder, she hummed softly to herself, then asked, “This is a ‘hug,’ Oneillll?”

“Yep, a little-girl hug. Best kind there is.” Sam joined them, punching their commanding officer lightly in the upper arm to get his attention. Jack grinned and tilted his head in her direction, saying, “I think Major Carter is jealous because she needs a little girl hug, too. Think you could oblige her?”

With a laugh that sounded like a garden full of perfectly tuned metal wind chimes, Singer let herself be transferred into Sam’s arms, hugging her tightly once before chirping, “A billion gazillion questions, Sam?”

“At least that many,” she confirmed. She and Jack exchanged a look, then she tucked herself under the table with Singer. “I like the new look; was it hard to change just part of yourself like that?"

Leaving their visitor to Sam’s care for the moment, Jack clambered out and stood, hand under Daniel’s elbow to take him along. Daniel started to protest, but a side-ways glance from Teal’c brought General Hammond to his attention, and he braced himself to give the explanations every one would want. They stepped out into the corridor, Hammond leading the way and clearly not happy with current events.

To Daniel’s surprise, it was Jack who came under fire first. “Colonel O’Neill,” Hammond said sharply, “What did you think you were doing? Even if her parent hadn’t told us specifically that the kind of control needed wasn’t possible, Singer *herself* had doubts that she wouldn’t accidentally burn one of us.

“She didn’t and if she did, she could fix it,” Jack answered lightly, hands in his pockets and rocking back slightly on his heels. At his commander’s exasperated glare he added much more seriously, “I never saw a kid who needed a hug more. The way I saw it, getting her calmed down and happy was more important than what I considered a nominal risk.”

Clearly setting aside the discussion - but just as clearly not forgetting it - Hammond turned to Daniel. “Dr. Jackson?”

As concisely as he could, Daniel filled them in on what happened, beginning with his growing inability to concentrate and ending with Singer’s pleas to be allowed to stay. He didn’t miss the significant look Teal’c and Jack exchanged at the mention of the restlessness, but he willfully let it slide without any acknowledgment that he had seen it. Despite the leap of his heart and the deep-seated throb of desire, he didn’t *want* to admit to them - or himself - the state his libido was in from Singer’s presence.

When he was finished, Hammond asked thoughtfully, “And you have no clue exactly how long she’s been in your office or why she felt compelled not only to hide there, even from us?”

“We know that things aren’t exactly perfect at home, or she wouldn’t have been slipping away from her Nanny to start with,” Jack volunteered.

“That’s an assumption on our part, Colonel. For all we know, her visits are simply symptomatic of another stage of development for her,” Hammond said. “Her version of the terrible twos.”

Shaking his head, Daniel argued, “Maybe in the beginning, though I don’t think so. What I can tell you for sure is that right now her fear is too genuine, too powerful to just be a developmental side-effect. This isn’t a case of being afraid of the monster in the closet; if it were, I’m positive she would have gone to Lalt. Remember when she accidentally burned me? When she understood what she had done, she didn’t hesitate to go to her parent for help, even though she knew she could get into trouble for running away.”

“Notice that she *didn’t* go to her Nanny,” Jack said softly.

“In any case her return may have serious consequences for the SGC,” Teal’c said, pulling his teammate and friend back to the problem at hand. “If she has indeed slipped away from her parent again, Lalt will arrive presently seeking her.”

Gleefully Jack said, “This time he’s not getting away without giving us an I.O.U. of some sort, even if it’s only a way to call him so that we can let him know we could use a helping hand. Only fair for all the babysitting.”

“And if she bolted here because she’s on the run from something that terrifies her?” Daniel asked, genuinely worried about their young friend.

“Then we better hope that Lalt deals with it first,” Hammond said flatly. “Even if it’s harmless to us, I don’t think we’re equipped to handle a hysterical Singer.” He paused, thinking for a moment, then said, “I believe that our first course of action should be to reassure her as much as possible, and that means doing what we always do when she’s here.”

“Endless questions on both sides," Jack said. Then he added hastily, "That’s Daniel’s department."

“See if you can get her into Dr. Fraiser’s care this time around, gentlemen. Maybe we can walk away from one of her people’s visits with a few answers for a change. All your missions are canceled for the time being, and all off-world teams not involved in essential projects will be recalled, simply as precaution. Dr. Jackson, the sooner we have a clearer idea of the perceived threat, the sooner we can prepare ourselves if necessary. I’ll leave you to get on with it.” Already deep in thought about what needed done, Hammond turned on his heel and left for his own office.

“I’ll go warn Doc Fraiser,” Jack said innocently, all too obviously not looking at either Teal’c or Daniel.

He beat a hasty departure before Daniel could respond, and unperturbed, Teal’c went back into the office, expression inscrutable even to Daniel’s practiced eye. Sam had coaxed Singer completely out of hiding, and was smoothing all of the alien child’s hair back into a ponytail. Expecting a comment on how pretty it was, Daniel was vaguely surprised and amused when Sam said, “So if I tried to cut this off, the blade would just go right through it?”

“No, I would go around it, Sam. It’s small enough that I can do that.”

“Well, what if you wanted to give me a strand of it, so I could look at it with something besides normal vision?”

Singer turned, her hair flowing from the fingers holding it as if it were liquid, and touched the end of Sam’s nose. Sounding absolutely serious, she asked, “What else would you look at it with? This?”

Half-laughing, Sam answered, “With machines that can do more than my eyes can.”

“Machines?” Singer said dubiously. “I think even the smallest piece of me would make a machine very unhappy.”

“But you *could* give me a bit? Without hurting yourself?” Sam cajoled.

“And contain it how, Sam?” Daniel asked, honestly curious himself.

Distractedly, Sam answered, “I don’t know, a magnetic field maybe. A thin metal tube. A coffee cup. Something.”

Unexpectedly Teal’c asked, “Singer, could you simply place a small portion of yourself where Major Carter wishes it to be, then recall it once she had completed her observations?”

Face losing its expressiveness in a way that meant she was thinking very hard, Singer said, “Give me away on purpose?”

Almost simultaneously, Sam said, “Teal’c that’s brilliant!” Excited, she took Singer by the hand and began towing her out of the room. “Remember me telling you about my friend, Janet? She’ll want to watch while you try this, believe me.” With a soft melody that was both agreeable and deeply thoughtful, Singer allowed herself to be taken away, Sam firing off questions as they left.

A few minutes later her voice drifted back up the hallway, clear and distinct despite the distance. “Dnllll? What’s more than a gazillion?”

Honestly smiling for the first time that day, Daniel started to follow her and Sam, but Teal’c stepped in front of him, one large hand planting itself gingerly in the middle of his chest and pushing him into a corner where the security camera couldn't spy. “I would speak with you for a moment.” Instantly wary, already sure what the topic of conversation was going to be, he started mentally creating excuses not to, but before he could voice any of them, Teal’c said softly, “May I come to your quarters this evening?”

Of all the things that Daniel could think of to say, what actually came out of his mouth was, “What about Jack?”

Apparently not surprised by the question, Teal’c said, “There is not a word in English for the deep connection one warrior may feel for another. ‘Partner’ is the nearest to the Chulak concept, but it does not do it justice.”

“I know the word you’re referring to,” Daniel mumbled, red-faced, understanding where Teal’c was leading them.

Stroking two fingers hesitantly over Daniel’s cheek, Teal’c said, “Then you know that if O’Neill were to meet the perfect mate and marry her, I would only celebrate that he had found a wife and mother for his children that was worthy of him. I would miss our intimacy, but she would be no barrier to the commitment already existent between O’Neill and myself, nor would I be a detriment to the growing one between them. This is not generosity of spirit on my part, nor an insult to how dear a companion he is to me, simply a statement of what we are to one another.

“Nor do I believe that he would begrudge me the comfort of hearth and home if I were to be the fortunate one.” Teal’c closed the small distance between them, fingers slipping down to the back of Daniel’s neck as if to anchor him. “He does not expect me to be sexually faithful to him, Daniel.”

Unable to resist leaning into the heat so close to him, Daniel closed his eyes and swallowed hard. “I’m…I’m not sure. It doesn’t seem right. I mean, just because Singer has overloaded my nerves or whatever, doesn’t mean you have to…. Not, not that I wouldn’t otherwise, of course. You know that I find you… but, but.” He forced himself to take a deep breath, then said carefully, “I feel like I’d be taking advantage of you.”

Teal’c dropped a soft, fragile kiss on Daniel’s lips, barely leaving a hint of warmth and taste before ending it. Those faint traces left him desperately craving more, and he murmured something that didn’t make sense even to him as he took off his glasses and reached up to claim what he needed. Teal'c's mouth was every bit as lush and satisfying as he remembered it being, and Daniel pulled himself away from it long before he wanted to.

Unwillingly remembering the lack of privacy, he managed though and murmured, "Are you sure Jack won't mind?" A subtle tension that he would have missed if he hadn't been so close to Teal'c flitted through the massive body pressed into his, and he looked up into the dark, dark eyes. "You use English very precisely," Daniel said slowly, thoughtfully. "Jack doesn't expect sexual fidelity from you, but maybe he expects something else?"

Clearly hesitant to answer, Teal'c said after a long pause, "I believe that O'Neill will be...disappointed you did not turn to him for assistance in this matter."

"Oh." The word sounded as small as Daniel felt, and he backed away, replacing his glasses and rubbing sweaty hands down the outside of his thighs. His incipient erection flared to painful readiness, then sullenly subsided as his conscience and desires warred with each other. "Oh," he repeated inanely. "Well, then, I suppose that I should, ah...." Trailing off, not at all sure *what* he should do, Daniel finally blurted, "Check on Singer," and made good his escape.

He found her in the infirmary, sitting on the edge of a bed, watching in utter fascination as Janet and Sam exchanged lab coat and outer shirt, apparently trying to explain to her that their clothes were not part of them. Apparently thinking it would help her cross the cultural gap, Janet handed the lab coat to Singer, then had to hold in laughter as the young alien struggled to imitate what she had seen them do. “This is *not* you,” Singer said dubiously, pulling a sleeve over her arm. “And you and Sam are not mates, not sharing selves.”

Thinking now was as good a time as any to jump in, Daniel said, “No, someplace far away a man picked the fibers of the coat from a plant, sent them to a place where they were made into a fabric. Then the fabric was sent to yet another place where it was cut and sewn into the coat, and the coat itself was sent to where Janet could get it to use.”

Clearly impressed, Singer untangled the other arm, took off the coat and tried again, this time getting it on properly. “Dr. Janet must be very important to have so many tending to her.”

“No,” Sam corrected. “That’s the norm for us; we trade labor or our own products to each other to have what we need.”

“How do you get what you need, Singer?” Daniel asked thoughtfully. “Is there a place where you go to get your toys or sustenance?”

Distracted by the feel and look of the lab coat, she answered, “My parent or Nanny make what I need. Sharing is a very personal thing.”

“That explains why she thought you two might be partnered,” Daniel murmured just for Sam’s ears. To Singer he said, “So if you want a toy, they take a part of themselves and make it for you?”

“No, because it wouldn’t sing with me if they did that; it would only be for them or their mate. They…” She lost English and began to sing a complex melody, stopped, and said carefully, “They would bind other forces from the many places to the shape of what they wanted to me to have.”

“Singer,” Sam said, her eyes brightening almost maniacally, “Do you mean they would change energy into matter, like taking light and turning it into a glass?”

Bubbling water over glass chimes sounded, then Singer said delightedly, “Yes! Like that. Not exactly, but like that.”

“That’s fantastic,” Sam breathed, and she started talking to Janet in techno-speak so fast that Daniel didn’t think the doctor understood more than every other word.

He didn’t get that much, so he turned his attention back to Singer. “Can you do it? Maybe show us how it’s done?” he asked, anticipating Sam’s next question, once she calmed down.

Taking off the lab coat and smoothing the fabric under curious fingers, she answered, “No, I haven’t learned how to reach into the many places, or how to hold the patterns to what I wish them to be. Lalt hasn’t been able to find a teacher for me.”

Daniel thought her last words were sad, simply because she didn’t use any inflection for them at all. “Well, you’re still a little young,” he said sympathetically. He thought maybe the skills she mentioned were the equivalent of reading and writing, and she was disappointed like any youngster that she couldn’t go to school yet like the big kids.

“Age is not how these things are decided,” Singer said matter-of-factly. “My parent can’t get a teacher for me because I’m retarded and deformed.”

Anger flashed through Daniel, but he kept his voice level when he asked, “Who said something like that about you? It’s not true, and it’s not nice!”

“Oh, Nanny, of course, but my parent has never tried to hide my differences from me, or our clan,” Singer said the same way another child might announce she was adopted. Then, as if realizing that he was upset, she said sweetly, “It’s okay, Daniel. Different is not bad, is not wrong. It just is.”

“I don’t understand,” Daniel said in confusion. “You seem like a very bright girl to me, and I don’t see anything different between you and your parent at all. Except the obvious, of course.”

Laying aside the lab coat and giving Daniel her undivided attention, Singer said, “When your people create a new life, you take a piece of the protector, give it to the nurturer, and she grows the infant within her. And you can do this many times. My people only create new life once, at the end of their own. When mates know that their harmony is complete, their sharing is powerful, they chose a Parent and a Nanny to raise their offspring, then combine completely, two becoming one that has all of both. The source divides, two, three, sometimes even *four* times, if the pairing is especially right and good.

“But something went very, very wrong when my bearers merged. There was no division, there was only me, and I almost was not there enough to survive. The knowing that they should have left within me is not there, and there is very little of them for others to sense and know who gave me life.” She looked sad, hair and hands going still. “I think this makes Lalt very, very unhappy. Nanny says that he could have had his choice of younglings to raise, but he deliberately waited for my bearers so that he could honor them by rearing theirs. That must mean he cared for them greatly.”

Not liking where his own thoughts were taking him and reluctantly remembering Jack’s suspicions about problems at home for Singer, Daniel asked, “Does Nanny say anything else about you or your birth?”

“Oh, all sorts of things,” she answered blithely. “She thinks my parent should not have let me survive at all, probably because she didn’t want to be held to her promise to be Nanny for me. But also because she thinks that it dishonors the memory of my bearers to have something like me as their legacy, as if they must have been damaged themselves to produce me. She didn’t want to raise a damaged child, either, to put all that care into one only to have it be refused adulthood.”

“Refused adulthood?” Daniel asked blandly despite his anger getting a serious hold on him this time.

Plainly growing bored with the conversation, Singer began to poke at the sheets on the bed where she was sitting, then compare them to the lab coat. “If a child is too damaged to be a good adult, they are not allowed assistance for their last Growing.”

Afraid he knew exactly what that euphemism meant, Daniel said tightly, “You mean, like when you collapsed in on yourself last time. You have to have help to expand back out after you, uh, ‘reorder your being’ with the new information.”

Shivering melodramatically, as if she were a human child talking about the boogey man, she said, “That was scary; seeing that your kind are even more different from me on the inside than you are on the outside.” She hopped forward a little on the bed. “Did I do the shaking thing right? For the right reason?”

“Exactly right,” Daniel praised automatically. “And I’m sorry you had to be shown that in such a bad way. I guess it must have been a good thing that Lalt came when he did or you could have stayed under that ramp for a long, long time.”

“It’s all right, Daniel. You didn’t know that I hadn’t learned that, yet.” She shivered again and said happily, “I like how ‘shivering’ feels!” Then, as an after-thought she added, “Not so long; I would have gotten too cold to hold me here and bled away into the many places.”

Seeing Sam and Janet bearing down with several pieces of equipment and a few of Singer’s toys, Daniel stepped back and let them reclaim her attention, waiting until all of them were absorbed in an impromptu experiment before slipping away. Anger, he was discovering, was not a good mix with the nervous agitation that came from being with Singer. Both twitched and stabbed through his muscles, stomping over rational thought with ease and leaving him wanting to scream and shout, wanting to destroy something, anything, even himself, and he mindlessly sought a quiet, private place to do just that.

Something - instinct, luck or maybe habit - brought him to SG1’s ready rooms, and he sat on the bench in front of his lockers, battling with an insanity of violence that he refused to give free rein to. Rocking back and forth, hugging himself tightly, he did his best to hang onto rational thought, but eventually Daniel exploded into movement, slamming his fists and head into the unforgiving metal. The pain was a relief powerful enough to make him want to cry, but he couldn’t. Couldn’t shout, couldn’t scream, couldn’t stop the lunge forward to hit the locker again, even harder this time, and the last sane bit of his mind prayed that he’d knock himself out.

Instead of cold steel, he crashed into human flesh, his forehead cracking against a bony shoulder as powerful fingers caught and held his wrists. With an enraged shout he tried to attack the person stupid enough to get between him and the release into unconsciousness he had to have, but rage took away any skill he had at self-defense. Within moments his back was pinned to the cold tiled wall by an unrelenting human chest putting enough pressure on him to make breathing difficult, his head forced to one side by the cheek planted against his ear. A knee strategically planted just under his crotch made the idea of kicking a very, very bad one, even to the animal presently doing the thinking for him.

Deprived of freedom of movement, his rage had no choice but to back down a few notches, enough for Daniel to recognize the man holding him and hear the quiet muttering. Though he couldn’t connect meaning to the words, he recognized Jack’s voice and responded to the calming in it, gradually relaxing into the strong, wiry body against his. He recognized that, too; knew the lines and contours hidden by the shapeless uniform, knew how responsive and sensual it could be. Letting his head sag onto Jack’s shoulder, he took a shaky breath, relishing the familiar spice of his companion’s scent.

The last of his anger drained away, leaving only the hunger that had been haunting him for far too long, and Daniel twisted ever so slightly to drag the erection he hadn’t even felt until that moment over Jack’s belly. “Please,” he whispered, hardly hearing himself and not at all sure what he was begging for. “Please.”

“It’s okay, Danny, it’s okay,” Jack crooned, hand and body gentling their hold. “I’m here, I’m here, but I gotta know what’s wrong first.”

The faint drift of air from the words slipped deliciously over the vulnerable skin of Daniel’s neck and ear, and he turned toward it, toward Jack’s lips and found them with his own, almost by accident. Whimpering deep in his chest, Daniel invaded his lover's mouth, tasting and exploring it with erotic intent and succeeding to judge by how eagerly Jack returned the kiss. A different kind of release from the one he had sought in his fury began to simmer through his middle and he began to chase after it with the same unthinking haste he had used to seek unconsciousness.

Then Jack pulled away, staying just beyond reach when Daniel tried to find his mouth again. “Danny! The answer is yes, and even right now if you honestly can’t wait, but I have to know what set you off. You’re bleeding here!”

Unwillingly, but drawn back to reason by the command in Jack’s voice and the worry in the velvet gaze, Daniel closed his eyes and tilted his head back to distance himself from temptation. “Singer. She’s going to die; her own people are going to kill her by doing nothing when she needs them most.”

“What!?” Jack said, taking a step back in shock and anger.

Feeling the withdrawal all the way to the pit of himself, not sure if he was miserable or relieved that the intimate contact had been broken, Daniel recapped his conversation with Singer. He finished by saying bitterly, “The worst part of it was how accepting she was of her fate. I don’t know if it’s because she’s too immature to understand what death means or if she’s been beaten over the head so long and so hard about how ‘deformed’ she is that she can’t imagine fighting for her own survival.”

“Told you there was something wrong at home,” Jack muttered uneasily, kneading at the back of his neck. “Do you think that’s why she was so panicked earlier? Because it’s getting close to time for her to do that rock up thing of hers again and she’s afraid they’ll leave her like that until she dies?”

Sinking down onto the bench, Daniel studied his shaking hands without really seeing them. “No, it doesn’t fit with how calmly she talked about the whole thing.” A drop of red splatted onto his knuckles and he touched a finger to the wetness on his forehead, realizing for the first time he’d hurt himself. Dismissing it, he added, “It might have a lot to do with why we met her, though.”

“Gotcha - Nanny’s not bothering to take good care of a kid that is pretty much a waste of space in her opinion. And they’re supposed to be soooo much more advanced than us.” Jack sounded disgusted, not that Daniel could blame him, but then his tone changed completely to wary concern. “You got a grip on things now? Enough for me to get you back to the infirmary for Doc Fraiser to look at that knot on your forehead?”

“It’s not that bad,” he said tiredly. “I’ll go to my quarters and lay down with an ice pack on it for a while.”

“I don’t think so,” Jack said sharply. “Fraiser will look at that and you being alone is *not* an option at the moment. If you’ll remember, I’ve been on the receiving end of the Singer-jitters myself and have a pretty good idea of what they’re doing to you. If you don’t want company of the more personal kind, fine, I can’t very well order you to get laid, but I can order for you to be put under observation so you won’t have any more up close and personal encounters with the base fixtures.”

Daniel glared at him, or tried to, but Jack was right, whether he liked it or not. Sensing the hurt hiding under the command persona, he admitted quietly, “I just don’t like having the choice of whether or not I have sex taken away from me; it’s happened too damned many times. I like it even less that you and Teal’c think that you have to help me take care of my little problem when you’re not responsible for it in the first place.”

“Did it feel like I was just offering a buddy a pity fuck?” Jack asked gently. “You know you’re more to both of us than that, so don’t insult everybody concerned by belittling what we could share, okay Daniel?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” he protested immediately. “I just meant, oh, hell, I don’t know what I meant.”

Putting a hand under his elbow and urging him to rise while handing him the glasses that Daniel didn't remember losing, Jack said, “For a man who knows as many languages as you do, you sometimes really have a problem talking, know that?”

“Story of my life,” Daniel mumbled, but let himself be led away, gratefully leaning on the ready support when his head finally caught onto the fact that it wasn’t in such good shape.

They walked into the infirmary in time to see Singer’s hands stop glowing as a broken glass reformed itself into one piece. “It wants to be like that,” she was saying seriously to Sam, ignoring the instruments both she and Janet were holding near the floating glass. “All I do is give it a way to be what it wants to be.”

Either not seeing or caring about their preoccupation, Jack snapped, “Could we have some help here?”

Startled, Dr. Fraiser looked up, then hurried toward them, but somehow Singer got there first, fingers already reaching for the wound on Daniel’s head, chiming her concern and sympathy. Her fingers felt cool and misty on the tight pain, then with a flurry of the warm tickles he remembered from when she healed his burn, all the discomfort was gone. Not just the knot on his forehead, but the nasty gnawing edge to his restlessness and the underlying fatigue that had been blurring his every thought and move vanished under her careful touch. The relief was incredible and he sagged, weak-kneed from the unexpected sense of well-being, and would have fallen if not for Jack.

Then powerful arms curled around him, and he was lifted and carried toward a bed. “Teal’c, I’m all right, she just caught me off-guard, that’s all.”

“Dr. Fraiser will be the judge of that,” Teal’c rumbled uncompromisingly.

“Don’t argue with the man,” Jack seconded.

“Singer?” Dr. Fraiser asked sharply.

She said confidently, “It’s even easier than making the glass whole again. Daniel can repair himself; I just.” Stopping for a second she sang to herself, as if she needed to phrase it in her own language before trying to express it in English. “Hurried him along?”

Dr. Fraiser used an alcohol wipe to clean away the blood, fingers gingerly probing at where the swelling had been on Daniel’s head. “What happened anyway?” she asked.

“Stumbled into a locker,” he mumbled, not looking at Jack and hoping that he wouldn’t feel compelled to be a good team commander and tell the doctor the truth. Teal’c raised a single eyebrow of disbelief at him, but held his peace and slanted a glance at their friend.

“I’ve already sent a repair crew to fix it,” Jack quipped lightly, meeting the Jaffa’s look with a telling one of his own. “Left quite a dent in it.”

The skeptical glare she gave him told Daniel that she didn’t buy it completely, but she didn't make an issue of it. She checked his pulse and other vitals, then planted both fists on the edge of the bed. “No downplaying - any headache, dizziness, nausea? Can you tell if you’ve had any kind of reaction at all to Singer’s touch?”

“Same sensation as the last time, but much more briefly,” he said honestly, “I feel fine now. Better than I did when I got up this morning.” He couldn’t quite keep an edge of surprise out of his voice when he reported the last, which must have been exactly what Janet needed to be convinced.

She looked over at Singer and asked, “Is he going to need to rest and eat the way he did last time?”

Singer tucked her legs under herself to float in midair and said, “No, it was a very small wrongness.” Leaning up on his elbows, Daniel looked over at her, worried because she had lost all the inflection in her voice again, then frowned because she looked different, somehow.

Before he could put his finger on the change, Jack said, “In that case, we need to go have a word with General Hammond. You, too, Doc. Looks like Singer could use a break from the poking and prodding, anyway; one of your orderlies can keep an eye on her and holler if we’re needed.” Not giving any of them a chance to protest, he nodded toward the door, looking stern, then led the way out.

Daniel got up hurriedly and trailed after the others, glancing back at their visitor as he did. Jack was right; she seem tired somehow, though there was no expression on her face to point to that. Which, for her, actually could be a sign of being tired, now that he thought about it. That wasn’t what was nagging at him about her, though, but he had to shelf the matter when Jack said as soon as they got out of earshot of the lab, “Daniel learned something from Singer we all have to know.”

“When?” Sam asked curiously.

“When you were caught up in the discovery that her people can convert energy to matter,” Daniel said evenly.

“The two of you were talking about how her people reproduce,” Janet said in confusion. “We *were* listening.”

Daniel nodded, but said, “I don’t think you heard all of it, or maybe didn’t understand the implications behind what she told me.” When Sam started to ask another question, he added, “I’ll fill you in on everything as soon as we get to the briefing room.”

An hour later that had felt more like an eternity as it slowly dragged by, Daniel sat back in his chair, fingers endlessly twirling his pen, unable to look at the others seated around the table. As neutrally as he could he finished his explanation with, “If anybody thinks that I’m misreading the information, I’d love to be proven wrong.”

“Is there any chance that she didn’t understand completely or didn’t interpret correctly what she’s been told, Dr. Jackson?” General Hammond asked, anger faintly underlining his words.

“Of course, she’s a child,” Daniel said without hesitation. “Or her Nanny could have fed her mis-information for whatever reason. If that’s the case, we’ll be doing her parent a great service by letting him know what’s going on in her head and why. But given her repeated escapes from her guardians and Lalt’s own reaction at what is apparently a unique ability to contain her energy completely within herself *before* she had to for ‘growing,’ I’d have to say there’s at least some accuracy in her beliefs.”

“He was *not* pleased,” Teal’c agreed. “He is also by his own admission in our debt. Perhaps we can use this to our advantage to protect Singer.”

“If he won’t,” Daniel said firmly, tossing the pen down. “I’ll ask if I can have custody of her.”

“Dr. Jackson, I’m not sure that I can allow that or even advise you that it would be a wise idea,” Hammond said in surprise. “While I’m sure you would make a good parent, I don’t think you can provide for a child as unique as she is. We don’t even know what she uses for nourishment!”

“Actually, I was thinking of asking for help in that,” Daniel said, his mind unexpectedly prodded into providing an answer for the problem because of the General’s mention of his parenting abilities. “Oma is an energy being, and she’s already raising a unique child.”

“Good idea,” Jack approved. “Shifu could use a baby sister; teach him a few of the more basic things about the human condition.” He swiveled his chair back and forth several times, clearly deep in thought, then said, “Here’s a idea for you. She was trying awfully hard not to be found and got pretty upset when she was; add that to the fact that she needs to be ready to rock up to visit with us safely. Much as I hate to suggest it, could she be trying to commit suicide? And don’t say she’s a little young to understand that concept; for all we know that’s something her *Nanny* explained to her very carefully.” His disdainful emphasis on the title underlined his opinion on that being.

“Much as I hate to admit it,” Dr. Fraiser said slowly, “That could be one explanation.”

“I don’t think so,” Sam argued immediately. “Once she was sure of her welcome, she was as enthusiastic and cheerful as always; just as eager to learn and willing to work with us. Why bother if she’s going to die in a few hours or days?”

“I believe that we’ll leave that mystery to Dr. Jackson,” Hammond said firmly. “If anybody will be able to get a straight answer in time to be able to help, he can.”

Not sure the general’s confidence wasn’t misplaced, Daniel stood, glad he had an excuse to be up and moving. “In that case… Sam, do either you or Janet have something to share that I need to know right now? Because if it can wait, I want to get back down to the infirmary and get to work before it’s too late. I’ve got a feeling we might be working against the clock.”

“Agreed, Dr. Jackson,” Hammond said.

“I’ll brief you later,” Sam promised.

With a wave of acknowledgement in her direction, Daniel left, stopping at the top step of the stairs to eye the large, bulky shadow that he had acquired. “Teal’c,” he started.

“I am obeying orders,” the Jaffa said calmly. Then he said much more softly, “And the dictates of my own heart, DanielJackson.”

Smiling uncertainly, but smiling for all that at the small admission, Daniel said, “Hammond wants us working in pairs because of the effect Singer has on humans?”

“A wise precaution, “ Teal’c agreed easily.

Daniel stared at him a moment longer, desire threading through his regard, lacking the frustrated bite from earlier in the day, replaced by a much sweeter anticipation that was easier to cope with. It didn’t cloud his judgment as badly either, and he finally nodded, agreeing to more than Teal’c accompanying him to the infirmary. All during the short trip there, he wondered why he’d made the decision he had, then admitted that it was because with Teal’c, it was ‘what you see is what you get.’ The Jaffa was straightforward and direct in all things, making him a known quantity to deal with and a source of strength that Daniel knew he could count on. Jack was the complete opposite - a major example of deep waters, and he simply didn’t know if he had what it took to navigate the treacherous currents a relationship with him.

At the threshold to the infirmary, he asked himself, **Is that what I really want? A relationship? Not just relief?** Daniel didn’t know the answer to that, and he eagerly put the question aside to concentrate on Singer.

She was floating where they had left her, her collection of glass objects arrayed in the air around her, singing softly to herself. Idly wondering if any one had given her other kinds of crystals, such as pyrite or amethyst, to see if she was as fascinated with them, Daniel studied her for a minute. The sense that there was something different about her nagged at him, and he said aloud, “I’ve never seen her more human looking; even the shade of her hair could just be one of the more extreme dye-jobs you see in any suburban mall. I am so used to her in her natural form that it seems wrong to see her any other way?”

“Perhaps it is because she truly looks like a child,” Teal’c offered. “Instead of an adult dressed as one.”

Mentally comparing her size to the first time she had taken a roughly humanoid form, Daniel said, “That’s right. She’s usually at least Jack’s height; but now she’s about Janet's. Trying harder to look right? Or compressing herself even more in preparation for the 'growing' that might be coming up?”

“I do not know,” Teal’c answered.

“Let’s ask and find out.”

Some time later, Daniel had to admit that her endless variations on ‘I’m supposed to be this way, Daniel,” were getting him nowhere and he had no idea where to redirect the conversation to find more useful information. Singer talked about her Nanny, her parent, her people without hesitation, showing no fear or distress, and painting a fairly clear picture of what he had always thought a true, workable socialism must be like. The only time she balked was when he tried as gently and obliquely as possible to bring up why she was with them instead of her parent, and if Lalt had any idea where she was.

Then she would turn her head down, her hair slowly drifting to hide her face, and she would murmur to herself in her own musical language, stubborn and unhappy echoing in the notes in equal portions. No amount of coaxing could get her to respond then, though if Daniel changed the subject, she would go along with him happily, doing her best to explain what was at times clearly inexplicable in English.

In the background he could hear Janet, Sam and the others coming and going. Sometimes they stopped and listened, or offered a comment, but for the most part they concerned themselves with the scientific part of the mystery that was Singer. Eventually the hour grew late, and the medical staff left for the night except the standby team that usually spent their hours in the officer’s mess playing cards unless they were needed. Janet retired to get some rest, but Sam went back to her own lab, still excited enough by the sparse information her observations had given her to be unable to sleep. That left him and Singer, with Teal’c patiently watching over them both as if he were a bodyguard entrusted with precious wards.

Tired of talking in circles around what he had to know, Daniel decided to do something, anything different, just to give them both a rest. Catching sight of a bloodstain on hands that he hadn’t had time to wash, he asked, “Singer, can you repair anything besides injuries for a human?”

“I don’t know,” she answered seriously. “What else would one need fixed?”

“Uh, we get diseases - uh, small lives that invade ours and damage us in the small places,” Daniel said.

She looked him over thoughtfully, then said, “You already have small lives in you, and on you. They sing that they are needed for you to be well.”

Vaguely remembering that there were helpful bacteria in a human’s digestive tract, Daniel tried another tact. “And if they didn’t sing in harmony with me?”

“Your body would try to battle wrong ones.” She stroked a finger lightly over the back of his hand, considering what she read from the touch. “I think that I could make you strong enough to be sure to defeat them.”

“And if something in the body went wrong on its own?” he asked thoughtfully, his bout with appendicitis at the back of the mind.

“That’s easy; it really wants to be right. I’d just show it how to be the way it’s supposed to be.”

An idea hit Daniel suddenly and gestured to his teammate to bring him closer. “Can you put Teal’c back the way he was?” For once he’d surprised the Jaffar to the point he couldn’t keep it from his expression, and before his friend could regain his composure, Daniel lifted the shirts to show the opening to the symbiote’s pouch.

Singer sang a questioning note and studied the seared flesh for a moment before tentatively reaching for Teal’c’s stomach. “This was done to him?” she asked uncertainly.

Holding his companion’s eyes, praying that the tiny flare of hope he saw there could be answered, Daniel said, “Yes. A bad person took away a part of Teal’c that he needs to live and put an awful thing inside him to replace it.”

“Why?” She sounded completely confused, her fingers hovering over the center of the ‘x’ sliced into what would have otherwise been a perfect six-pack of abdominal muscle.

“To control me, as he and his kind have controlled so many others,” Teal’c said harshly.

Losing all of the color she had imposed on herself, her face emptying of emotion, she sang, “Hooollllldd stillllll!” Her hands became nothing more than brilliant beams of light that illuminated the infant Gao'uld within Teal’c, somehow highlighting its loathsome nature and showing it for the monster that it truly was. Noise spilled from her in ugly clashes of metal on metal that hurt the ear and mind, then she said in an eerily echoing voice, “I can’t fix what’s been done to you; the damage was too long ago and too burned into your being.” The light coming from her intensified, forcing Daniel to turn his head and close his eyes against the cutting glare. “It’s a wrongness for you to be like this; a bad, bad wrongness that has to be stopped.”

“What are you doing!” Daniel shouted, suddenly terrified for his teammate. “You can’t kill it, you’ll kill Teal’c!”

The light began to fade and Singer murmured, “No killing; that’s a wrongness, too. It tastes its own poison, now.”

Squinting against the dying glare, Daniel found a phone, dialing for Sam almost by instinct, as he tried to find Teal’c in the midst of the radiance. When he did, he saw that the Jaffar was standing with his spine snapped almost inhumanly straight, his head thrown back and mouth open as if to silently scream, hands slightly away from his sides, fingers spread wide. Amazingly, his face did not show the agony Daniel expected from his posture, but ecstasy that seemed almost too intense to be endured. That pleasure echoed in his own body, bringing him to full readiness in a few breaths and taking most of his brainpower off-line.

Hearing Sam’s voice in his ear, Daniel said hurriedly, “Singer’s doing something to Teal’c - get here quick.” He didn’t hear her hang up; the phone had already dropped from nerveless fingers as he was pulled almost against his will toward Teal’c, the last of the vanishing glow coming from the powerful body summoning him as surely as a crooked finger and soft smile. On the periphery of his awareness, he knew that Singer had lost her human shape entirely, and had drifted up toward the ceiling away from people and machines, her toys going with her. That didn’t really mean anything to him except that she wasn’t between him and Teal’c.

Then he was close enough to touch, and he did so with a single shaking finger over a lush lower lip, licking at his own as if Teal’c had returned the caress. Ebony eyes opened and the lust in them would have made Daniel skitter away any other time, but now it was only a mate to what already owned him. He stretched up as Teal’c bent down, but before their mouths could connect and consummate their passion, Sam crashed into the room, shouting Daniel’s name.

It was enough to jar him back to sanity, and he jerked away a step. “I got the brilliant idea,” he said in self-disgust, unrelentingly holding Teal’c’s gaze, “Of asking Singer to fix his immune system so he wouldn’t need Junior. She couldn’t, but she said something about stopping the wrongness, then lit up like a star going nova.” Not daring to risk a glance at her to see what she was making of his standoff with Teal’c, he asked, “Would you see if you can get her calmed down? I’ll take care of him and see if we can figure out what she did to Junior.”

“Don’t you think Janet….” Sam started to say.

“No!” Teal’c interrupted harshly. Then he spun on his heel and marched double time out of the infirmary.

“I’ll call if he needs her,” Daniel promised hastily and ran after him. Working on the assumption that Teal’c would be looking for the sanctuary of his quarters, he headed in that direction, trying very hard not to think about what would happen when he found him.

As he rounded an intersection in the corridor, a substantial arm snapped out and caught him by the waist to drag him into a small nook. In the split second he had before Teal’c nailed him against a wall, Daniel recognized the spot as one of the odd cul-de-sacs created when rooms had been added to what had once been a missile silo. “No security camera,” he had time to think clearly before thick fingers fastened into the hair on the back of his head to force it back for a devouring kiss.

“But not private!” he babbled to himself, seriously torn between giving back as good as he got and shouting a worried refusal. His arms were caught between him and Teal’c, and he pushed at the unyielding wall of the Jaffar’s chest, fists beating at his shoulders in a vain attempt to express his unwillingness to be taken here, of all places! The self-defense moves Jack had taught him, the do or die ones that he shouldn’t use unless he *would* die if he didn’t, surfaced for a moment, but he pushed them away, unwilling to hurt his friend and teammate. Hearing footsteps coming up the corridor toward them, he writhed frantically, trying to break free of the embrace, even though all he really wanted to do was give in and let Teal’c have him. If nothing else, it would end his eternal confusion as to who he really wanted in his bed.

“What the hell do you two think you’re doing?“ Jack barked.

Opening eyes he didn’t remember closing, Daniel met Jack’s blazingly angry and hurt glare, but couldn’t break free of Teal’c to say anything. Stepping up his struggles, he tried to grunt what he hoped sounded like a request for some help, here, and his distress must have gotten through. Jack frowned, looked both ways to check for other people in the hallway, then stepped into the small recess. “Daniel? Teal’c?” he asked, more unease than anger in his voice now.

To Daniel’s relief, Teal’c broke their kiss, growling something obscene-sounding. The he nudged Daniel into a corner and body-checked him into it as his free hand shot out and dragged Jack in to take Daniel’s place. Jack’s eyes widened almost comically as Teal’c claimed his mouth, and he started doing his share of shoving and fighting.

“I think he got an overdose of Singer’s aphrodisiac effect,” Daniel panted, not trying to get past the elbow and hip corralling him. "I’m not objecting to giving him what he needs, but I couldn’t convince him to wait until we were someplace safe.”

Jack shot his thumb up to acknowledge that he heard, then he moaned softly, as if in spite of himself and relaxed marginally in Teal’c’s hold. His fingers drummed for a moment on a broad shoulder as he thought, then he beckoned Daniel closer with a waggle of those same fingers. With no idea why Jack would want him to, Daniel squirmed in until he was pressed tightly against Jack’s side, ducking under Teal’c’s arm to do so. Though he shouldn’t have been, all things considered, he was surprised when Teal’c murmured approvingly and left Jack’s lips to take his again.

Then it vanished under a new onslaught of demands from his own need, and Daniel gave up all thoughts of resisting a moment longer. He did his best to return the thrusts and flicks from Teal’c’s tongue, barely hearing Jack’s worried whispers.

“Teal’c, lover, it’s *dangerous* for Danny to be seen like this, not *safe* for him at all. You’ve lived with us long enough to know the kinds of things that happen to people labeled *fag.* Think Matthew Shephard here.” The emphasis on the key words of Jack’s warning was barely there, but enough for self-preservation to rear its head in Daniel’s mind as he went very, very still. Apparently it roused something in Teal’c as well; he lifted his head with a pained groan, reluctantly leaving Daniel’s lips.

“O’Neill?” he said with some effort. “I must.”

“You will; we will,” Jack said hastily. “Just not here. Some place safe.”

“Where?”

“Damn, what’s close?” Jack muttered to himself. He leaned out to peer back into the corridor as if to orient himself, then said, “We’re only few halls away from one of the workout rooms. You know the one I mean, Teal’c?”

“I do.”

“Will you go ahead and wait for me there?” This time the answer was a chest-deep rumble and a tight grip on Daniel’s upper arm and Jack’s hip. “I’ll take that as a no.” He looked over at Daniel. “Any bright ideas on how to get him there without attracting attention?”

“Yes, but I’m going to hate myself in the morning for it,” Daniel answered. In Teal’s native tongue he said quietly. “Do you trust me? Trust O’Neill, your lover and brother in arms?”

“Of course,” Teal’c snapped in the same language.

“Then do as we ask. We would not demand this of you if it were not necessary.” Daniel lowered his voice to an intimate, husky whisper. “We *will* be with you in all ways this day; only death could stop us.”

Teal’c studied him for a moment, reason shining through his mad lust. With a barked “Kree!” that was agreement and extreme irritation, he left so abruptly that Daniel staggered as the mass holding him against the wall vanished.

“Do I want to know what you said to him?” Jack said, forcing a light tone.

“Let’s just say that I’d make a good Jewish mother,” Daniel muttered unhappily.

“Hey, it worked.” Jack suddenly found the floor fascinating and asked, “How long do you think I’ll need to cover for the two of you?”

Guiltily Daniel admitted, “He’s expecting both of us. I, uh, kind of promised.”

“You okay with that?” Jack asked, voice and face empty.

“I’m terrified of all of it,” Daniel said with total honesty for Jack’s sake and his own. “But I’m tired of running from myself and the two people I care for most. For a little while all I want to do is *feel.*”

“And when it’s all over in the morning, are you going to pull away again? Pull so far back into yourself that you’re hardly a member of the team, let alone a friend?” Jack asked sharply.

“Didn’t work the last time, did it? If nothing else, I’m not stupid enough to repeat my mistakes,” Daniel answered without rancor. “Now you’d better go. I don’t have a clue what will happen if we wait too long to help Teal’c.”

He took it as a show of faith and trust that Jack patted his shoulder once, awkwardly. "It's the workout room across from the armory on this level," he said quietly, then left, affecting a casual stroll.

Refusing to let himself think, to let the self-doubts and anxieties take over yet again, Daniel closed his eyes and leaned back on the wall, giving himself permission to enjoy the anticipation running like quicksilver over his nerves. Tomorrow would be soon enough to concern himself with how he was going to juggle having two lovers, both men, all of them bound to a time and place where no relationship was simple or easy, let alone a homosexual ménage a trois. For now it was incredibly erotic to envision having both of them in all the ways possible to know lover.

He withstood the imperative to make the mental images real as long as he could, but all too quickly his body forced him into action, though he managed a sedate walk instead of the full-speed run that he wanted. Not giving himself a chance to think, Daniel slipped through the door to the workout room as soon as he reached it, locking it behind him as his eyes adjusted to the dimly lit space. Though he could hear the rasp of harsh breathing, for a moment he couldn't see either Jack or Teal'c, then he turned slightly to find his lovers hidden away in a small alcove created by lockers and equipment.

For the rest of his life, just thinking about the moment he saw them would send a sexual thrill straight from gut to heart, and at the second when it did happen, desires too long denied threatened to send him to the floor, helplessly climaxing. Jack was on his knees in front of Teal'c, pants hanging open as he roughly stroked himself, head moving in frantic haste as he worked his lover's thick cock with his mouth. He didn't look as if he could stop if his life depended on it, but if he had tried, the heavy hands clutching at his short hair in desperation wouldn't have let him.

As incredibly arousing as that was, it was the un-concealed ecstasy on Teal'c's face that hit Daniel the hardest. It pulled at him as if it were a tether connected directly to his hard-on, and he stumbled toward his lovers, taking off his glasses and putting them in a shirt pocket, not at all sure what he was going to do once he reached his lovers. Teal'c didn't have that problem. The instant Daniel was within reach, he grabbed him by the collar and dragged him in to take his lips, tongue plunging past them in rough imitation of the rhythm Jack had set.

Groaning, accepting the urgent invader eagerly, Daniel humped against a broad thigh, fingers gently threading over Jack's head for no other reason than to make a connection with him. Teal'c began to rip at Daniel's clothes, trying to get them off, and he helped as best he could, more than willing to be skin-to-skin with his lovers. Once he was naked, he started doing the same for Teal'c, reluctantly breaking their kiss so that he could kneel down to get rid of the boots without forcing Jack to release his prize.

It was hard not to be distracted by being so close to Jack's avid adoration of Teal'c's cock; it was obvious that he loved sucking the huge thing, taking it so deep in his throat that Daniel honestly didn't know how he could breathe. Then he would slide his lips off of the shaft slowly, pausing with the plum-dark crown just inside his mouth as he licked at the ridge and prominent vein just under it. For some reason the vivid pink of his tongue against Teal'c's dusky flesh was mesmerizing to Daniel, and he leaned in to take his own taste, absently setting aside the last boot as he did. For a moment he and Jack dueled for possession with lips and tongues, then Teal'c moaned a warning and came, his seed jetting onto Daniel's lips and chin.

Murmuring happily, Jack cleaned it off with silky swipes, and Daniel stole tiny kisses from him as he did, getting his share of the wetness. Then a tug on his hair made him look up at Teal'c, his hard-on jerking and bouncing against his belly at the sight of the unabated lust burning in the unguarded gaze. Not even remotely surprised that he still needed relief, Daniel took the proffered bottle of oil, asking with his eyes who should be opened for use.

"Jonathan?" Teal'c asked.

Pulling away from the hard length he had returned to sucking, Jack whispered, "Both of you, just like this. Damn, if you knew how many times I've thought about it, you wouldn't be asking."

Hands shaking, Daniel set aside the lube and started divesting him of his clothes, lavishing licks and kisses on bare skin as it appeared. When Jack was naked, moaning nearly non-stop from the attention being heaped on him, Daniel said unsteadily against one shoulder blade, "Don't let me hurt you. Hear me? Don't let me hurt you. If I do something wrong, tell me to stop."

Releasing his mouthful, Jack grumbled, "You're killing me now. Get *on* with it." He looked over his shoulder and added tightly, "I'm a battered old whore, Danny. I can take whatever you need to dish out."

Grabbing him by the jaw, Daniel kissed him fiercely, then said, "Don't talk about yourself like that!" Not giving his lover a chance to argue, he gently pushed him back toward the cock he had been servicing, fingers delving between the cheeks of his backside to find the opening to the lanky body. The fragile tissues quivered under his questing touch, and he massaged carefully around them, not at all sure what to do next.

Drawing on the memories of the time Jack had opened him for Teal'c, Daniel opened the bottle of oil with his free hand and let a tiny trickle of it flow down the shadowed cleft, using his thumb to guide it to its destination. The hiss of a sharply indrawn breath told him that he was doing something right, and encouraged, his own demanding need forgotten for a moment, he smoothed the thick fluid over the tense pucker. It opened for him, admitting a single finger, and Daniel froze, the tight heat surrounding that lone digit nearly erasing what was left of his self-control.

The only thing that kept him from yanking his hand away and ramming in was the fact that, despite his lover's words, the snug channel felt too delicate for that kind of abuse. Helplessly he looked up at Teal'c for guidance, and a calloused thumb caressed his cheek reassuringly.

"More oil," Teal'c said. "Yes, like that, slip into him. A little more...." His words trailed off to a near growl as Daniel followed his instructions, pumping his finger in and out with growing confidence. It helped that Jack was making ecstatic little noises, his channel fluttering around the slick probe as if to pull it in deeper. When he was riding back on Daniel's hand, as if to take the entire thing in, Daniel could take no more. He set the head of his cock at the rim of Jack's opening, still half-afraid to enter, but his lover took the decision away from him. Jack reared back to impale himself, screaming his pleasure around the mouthful of steely flesh still filling his throat.

Nothing – no self-gratification, no fantasy, no previous encounter, *nothing* - had ever prepared Daniel for what it was like to be sheathed in the incendiary clasp of Jack's body. Too stunned and overwhelmed to be able to move, all he could do was stare down at where he vanished into the perfect ass, palms bracing open the cheeks to see better. His hesitation didn't faze Jack at all. He rocked wantonly back and forth between the two cocks piercing him, keening his joy until Daniel worried he might hurt himself.

Dazed, the imperative to come crawling hotly down his spine, Daniel looked up at Teal'c yet again, this time for encouragement, or perhaps approval. He didn't know for sure, but discovered that Teal'c was as fixated on their lover's sexual frenzy as he was. Lips parted for harsh pants, he fed Jack his hard-on with barely controlled stabs, eyes roaming from the wide-stretched lips to the grasping hole.

As if feeling Daniel's gaze on him, he said hoarsely, "I have never seen him give himself with so much abandon." Roughened fingertips drifted lightly over the bobbing head and wide shoulders, as if afraid that stronger contact would derail Jack's mad pursuit of pleasure. "I believe he is going to find his satisfaction without so much as touching himself."

"Oh, God," Daniel muttered, that last bit of information finally destroying the flimsy reins left on his caution and restraint. "Oh, God, Oh, God!" He began answering each of Jack's thrusts with powerful lunges of his own, trying to force his lover farther onto Teal'c's cock even as he tried to pound deeper in the yielding ass. With a pleasure that was nearly pain from being withheld so long, his seed began to rip its way out of him, jetting into Jack in white-hot spurts that took all Daniel's strength with them.

He fell onto his lover's back, barely able to brace himself so that he didn't have to bear the full burden of his weight. Then Jack released Teal'c with an obscene slurp, and laid his cheek on a corded thigh. "Coming," he moaned. "Teal'c...Danny...uhhhhh.. coming!"

The soft caress of the sensitive flesh holding him drove away trace of relief Daniel had found from his own finish, and he began gently pumping again. Not hard or demandingly; just long, slow strokes to encourage Jack's pleasure and to work toward a climax that could finally free him from the clamoring demands of his own body. Planting nibbling kisses on Jack's shoulders and neck, Daniel worked his way up to a bristled jaw, swept his tongue over the strong line of it, then, on impulse, onto Teal'c's thigh, savoring the abrupt change in taste and texture.

When he reached the furred sacks drawn up so tightly against the straining shaft, he gingerly mouthed each orb, rolling them with his tongue and marveling at their firmness. Teal'c needed to come again, and needed it badly, he realized, but was somehow managing to let him set the pace. Grateful, and more than a little thrilled by being in command of such strength, Daniel lifted his head and licked at the darkly purple head of his lover's hard-on, then sucked it into himself, going as far down on the thick shaft as he could before his gag reflex made him retreat. Teal'c shouted, then drove into Daniel's mouth, flooding it with hot, bitter fluid that he hastily swallowed, save for the last few drops, which he shared with Jack in a lazy, sensual kiss.

Teal'c began to sag, legs buckling to either side of his lovers as he slid down the wall to sit on the floor. For a moment, Daniel considered pushing Jack down on top of the powerful body, then covering him, but as they shifted to accommodate their change in position, he heard battle-weary knees protest with a loud creak. Reminded that Jack had been on them on the cold, hard floor for a very long time, Daniel withdrew carefully from him and sat back on his heels. With a tired but happy sigh, Jack turned so that he was sitting back against Teal'c, idly stroking his still hard length.

It was compellingly erotic to see him sprawled lazily over the willing support of Teal'c's considerable bulk, the evidence of their shared pleasure glistening on his stomach. Drawn by it, Daniel started to lick him clean, but before he could begin, Jack said hesitantly, "Wait, wait. You got a clear head here?"

"Mostly," Daniel admitted.

"You, Big Guy?" Jack asked, tilting back his head to look at their lover.

"I regret...." Teal'c began.

"Don't start," Jack said at the same time Daniel blurted, "Never, ever." They exchanged a single glance, then Jack went on for both of them. "This was strictly mutual; the only problem I have is that this isn't the best time or place. I vote we move this to my place; bigger bed. Softer too."

"I don't think we should leave the base until we find out why Singer is here again," Daniel protested, half-heartedly. The erection poking straight out at his lovers had its own opinions on what they should be doing.

"And Teal'c needs to have Fraiser look him over; no arguments," Jack said sternly.

When the Jaffar merely gave his best silent wall impression, Daniel said for both of them, "There's no hurry for that, is there?" He understood all too well the powerful urge not to let his lovers out of arms' reach.

Jack bounced a look back and forth between them, then said reluctantly, "If you still need...."

"Not need," Daniel denied hastily. "We can wait for, uh, more intimate things until we're off base." He thought for a second, then said, "Rest might be a good idea; I can't remember the last time I had a good night's sleep."

"And when Singer did a number on you, the prescription was to sleep sandwiched between me and Teal'c. Doesn't sound like a half bad idea for Teal'c right now, not to mention no one will think twice about it if we explain our absence that way." Jack nodded to himself, decision made. "My quarters or yours?"

***

Daniel kept expecting it to feel strange or awkward to be in Teal'c and Jack's company while they made a bed on the floor of the Jaffar's quarters for the three of them. At the very least he expected conversation to lag or stumble around any suggestion of what they had just done together. But they washed up, dressed, left the workout room talking easily about what little Sam had learned about how Singer functioned, as if their passionate interlude had never happened. Apparently not needing to discuss sleeping arrangements at all, they lay down with Daniel between the two older men, Teal'c on his back for kal-no-ree. Draping his arm over the Jaffar's waist, Jack spooned up behind Daniel, who did his best to go to sleep, but wound up staring into the flickering shadows from the candlelight, mind endlessly trudging along the ruts he'd created for himself long ago.

“The middle of the night is not the time to be asking the big questions,” Jack said softly and unexpectedly.

“Big questions?” Daniel asked, almost automatically, since he had a pretty good idea what his lover meant.

“You know, like why did I ever get in that car with Catherine, where would Earth be now if I hadn’t figured out that the symbols were addresses, does sleeping with my best friends really mean I’m gay or just adventuresome? That sort of thing,” Jack reeled off lightly, almost believably so. “Stuff like that can drive you crazy in the wee hours because the questions seem a lot bigger and a lot more important in the dark. In the day you can usually keep a better perspective on it all.”

“Actually, I dealt with the last one a long time ago,” Daniel said, surprising himself by being upfront. “I think I’ve always had the potential, but I grew up traveling to so many place where it wasn’t just unacceptable, it was deadly, that I had it labeled as ‘dangerous’ in my head and stayed away from it. Part of what I’m having trouble coming to grips with is the chance we’re taking to be together.”

“I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that there isn’t one, or that it isn’t as bad as you think,” Jack said slowly. “Not with the kind of scrutiny SG1gets from the brass, not to mention our little problem with NID. We’re never going to be able to be open and above board - like moving in together or any of the other stuff normal partners do. Not until I retire, at least, or we get pushed out of the SGC.” Brushing the knuckles of one hand over Daniel’s cheek, he added gently, “But it is soooo worth it.”

Closing his eyes at the caress, he confessed, “Yes, it is. Maybe that’s the scariest part of all.”

To his amazement, Jack said, “For me, anyway.”

Stomach dropping painfully, Daniel swallowed hard at that simple declaration, the desire he’d never quite lost flaring bright and high again. Nuzzling at the hand so close to him, he fought not to do more, to ask for more. “I wish there was a way to make it easier for you.”

“One thing,” Jack said cautiously. “A promise, sort of.”

Suddenly worried, Daniel said, “Let’s hear it.”

“Don’t let me or Teal’c be used against you,” Jack said flatly without a trace of his usual smart-ass attitude. “Not blackmail, not ‘political pressure,’ no noble act to protect us, nothing. Someone comes to you with full 8x10 glossies of us el flagranto, wanting you to do something for them, you hold up a single finger and tell them to take a spin on it. Then high tail it straight to me and Teal’c and let us know; we’ll be through the Gate for Chulak or Abydos or wherever ten minutes later. Nobody says I have to protect Earth *from* Earth; it’s just easier.”

“Your career?” Daniel asked.

“Over before we got dragged into fighting the Gao'uld; fighting them is the only reason I came back. They can have the pension, court-martial me, hold me up in the press as a good reason why gays shouldn’t be in the military. I don’t give a shit.” Voice and expression deadly serious, Jack added, “The only thing that I won’t tolerate is being torn away from you and Teal’c.”

“Hence the trip to Chulak.” Daniel thought furiously, then said, “Done. But I want an equal promise from you.”

It was Jack’s turn to be worried. “Yeah?”

Taking a deep breath, mentally and physically, Daniel said, “Forgive yourself if I die in the line of duty, especially if it happens while I’m obeying an order from you.”

“Ouch.” Jack buried his nose in the nape of Daniel’s neck, then muttered, “I don’t know if I can do that. Never been sure if I could.”

Shivering from the barely perceptible movement of lips on sensitive skin, Daniel forced himself to concentrate. “Look at this way. I’m not a solider; I *chose* to join SG1, choose to obey orders and take the risks of being in battle or exploring off world. There’s no way you could force me to play it safe and stay at home - not and expect me to *be* home when you get back. If anybody’s to blame for my death, it’s me.”

“I *know* all that; every commander knows that. It just doesn’t make much of a difference sometimes.” Jack snorted in amusement. “We’re going to have some real shouting matches over this, aren’t we?”

Grinning, Daniel answered, “As if we haven’t already?”

“And Teal’c will raise a ‘oh-so-superior’ eyebrow at both of us,” Jack went on. “Then when we’re finished, he’ll drag us off into the bedroom and make us forget why we’re arguing in the first place.”

“Is that how he handles close calls?” Daniel asked, honestly curious.

“I couldn’t walk right for a week after… Hey, I was just teasing, Teal’c.” Jack leaned up on one elbow, hastily reaching for his lover as the big man abruptly sat bolt upright, eyes wide.

“I cannot sense the Gao’uld within me,” Teal’c said, sounding more shocked than Daniel had ever heard him. He reached under his shirt, fingers digging into the pouch burned into his abdomen. “It is physically there, but not moving, not aware of my presence.”

“Fraiser, now!” Jack ordered, getting to his feet. “No arguments.”

Daniel did the same, then went straight to the phone, calling the doctor to the infirmary. Though personally, he wanted to run, Teal’c wouldn’t be rushed, and it took far too long in Daniel’s opinion for them to get him to Janet. While the Jaffar sat on one of the beds explaining what had happened, beginning with Singer’s reaction to the symbiote, Daniel drifted over to where Sam was sitting. Though she was had her laptop open, her attention was mostly fixed on the young alien floating up near the ceiling, and Daniel looked up at the amorphous energy mass, watching the many shades of blue drift through it, wondering not for the first time if they held any meaning.

“Has she spoken at all since we left?” Daniel asked.

“Not so much as a hum,” Sam answered, shutting down her computer. “One thing… Is it my imagination or is there less of her than there used to be?”

“I noticed she was smaller than the last time we saw her.” Daniel glanced worriedly at his lovers, then added absently, “Thought she was trying to look more like a human child.”

“I don’t think that’s it,” Sam said slowly, fingers carding through her short hair as she considered her words. “Remember what she said about not being able to stay ‘rocked up’ as the colonel calls it?”

Forcing himself to listen to Sam, Daniel said, “She would bleed away into the many spaces.” Comparing for himself how large Singer was now to the first time he saw her, he added slowly, “Could she have meant that literally? She would just melt away?”

Clearly unhappy with where her conclusions were taking her, Sam frowned and admitted, “It’s possible; it’s what happens to any form of energy that doesn’t have some mechanism supporting it, and we still have no clue what she does for sustenance. And don’t forget, the way she keeps us safe from her natural form is close to the same technique used for ‘growing.’ Add that to how long she could have been hiding in your office and I can’t help thinking that she is slowly dissipating.”

“Damn.” Daniel looked up through the transparent layers of a thousand shades of blue, then said quietly, “Is that what’s happening, Singer? Are you leaving us permanently?”

She didn’t answer, but before he could try again, Janet motioned him over. “You were in here when she touched Junior?” the doctor asked briskly, removing electronic leads from both the Jaffar and the infant Gao’uld.

“Not touch,” he denied instantly. “More like lit it up so it couldn’t hide.” Replaying the scene in his head, he said thoughtfully, “It eats its own poison, she said. I'm guessing you can’t find any neural activity, right?”

Not waiting for an answer, he called up to Singer, “It can’t live outside of Teal’c now, can it? It has to stay in him and be his immune system.” With soft gasps of hope or shock, the other members of SG1 clustered around Teal’c, waiting for her answer, apparently content to let Daniel take the lead in questioning her.

With a melodious tinkle of glass as her toys drifted to a tabletop, she dropped to the floor, taking on her human shape and staying well back until she did. “It was a bad, bad thing that could only do more badness if it grew to what it wanted to be,” she said sternly, with only a trace of uncertain defiance underneath it.

“Evil,” Daniel corrected by habit. “It was evil. And you stopped the evil by making it do good, by making it keep Teal’c alive.”

“It was the best way to create balance,” she said, this time not trying to hide her hope for approval for her actions.

For a stunned moment no one reacted, then Daniel swept her into his arms, not caring if she burned him from head to foot. Amid a babble of excited questions and comments, he whispered softly, “Thank you, thank you, thank you. That was the perfect thing to do, the best balance that any one could have thought of.”

Then Teal’c was gently prying him away, his great hands handling Singer as if *she* were made of glass, his cheeks wet with silent tears. “There is no deed I would not do for you,” he said solemnly, fingers stroking hesitantly over her shoulders. “No boon that you could ask that I would refuse. Do you understand, Singer? You have given me what I had never thought I could truly have again: my freedom.”

“It should not have been taken from you in such a way,” she answered, equally solemn. “I had to do what I could. No deeds, no boons, not for fixing what was wrong.”

“Oh, for cripe’s sake,” Jack half-laughed, half-shouted. He caught her up and dizzily spun her in small circles until she was laughing with him in crystal notes. “You did good, kid!” He collapsed into a chair, Singer in his lap, and said much more soberly, “You did real good.”

Unexpectedly serious, Singer asked, “Then something evil can be good, too?”

Almost instinctively Daniel knew that they could get her to talk, finally, if they could just ask the right questions, themselves. Or maybe give her the right answers. Coming to kneel at Jack’s side, taking one of her hands in his, he said, “Sometimes. Sometimes it can be forced to, like you did with Teal’c’s symbiote; sometimes it happens accidentally. Once in a while, there can be a change of heart - evil can want to be good.” Acting on a hunch, he said carefully, “Or sometimes it isn’t really evil at all; sometimes a mistake was made or it was misunderstood. Singer, did you do something that you Nanny told you was evil after you did it?”

Hushed exclamations told him the rest of his team and Dr. Fraiser understood where he was leading the conversation, but Daniel kept his focus on Singer. For a moment her eyes changed, becoming pools of deep space, but they quickly shifted back to their human guise. “I didn’t know it was bad, honest, Daniel, but Nanny says that only proves that I’m evil.”

Mentally consigning that particular entity to whatever hell Singer’s species considered worse, Daniel asked gently, “What exactly did you do? I promise I won’t get mad at you, no matter what.”

Singer had never learned how a human would show shame in their expression, so her face stayed calm even while her voice warbled in and out of the musical accents from her own language. “I like this shape; I like the way it moves and the way you can use all parts of you to say things, like shivering and eyebrows. When my parent saw that I did, he told me that there are many peoples who use a form like it, all of them a little different, all of them talking in different ways with their body, and he told Nanny to show me some so I could play.”

She hesitated, to Daniel’s mind having trouble finding the courage to speak. The others all but held their breath, clearly not wanting to interfere. It was hardly the first time he had been their voice, and he relegated their audience to the back of his mind to wait patiently for Singer to go on. After a moment of uneasy murmurings that he felt through her skin, she said, “When Nanny was holding me, trying to chose what shapes to show me, I saw all the ones she thought about. I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to look! I didn’t know that I wasn’t supposed to be able to taste them well enough to be able to try them by myself!”

“She didn’t know you did it at the time?” Daniel asked carefully, trying to understand what Singer thought she had done wrong.

“Not until she found me practicing one while I was playing in my nursery,” Singer said sadly. “I wasn’t trying to hide it; I wasn’t! I thought we hadn’t done them yet because she wanted me to get the ones she picked right, first! She wouldn’t believe me, and went to my parent, demanding that I be Slept because I was a very, very bad person who would grow up to do awful things."

"He didn't listen to her, did he?" Jack said sharply.

Singer shook her head, though the unhappy rumblings of her real voice didn't stop. "Lalt knows that there is much that I should have received from my mother and father that simply isn't in me. He doesn't care when I have to be told what isn't nice or what shouldn't be done. And he *likes* that I can do things that I'm not supposed to, mostly; surprises are good, sometimes, he says."

"Good for him," Daniel said firmly. "So he told your Nanny that he didn't think you'd done anything wrong, and wouldn't have you, uh, Slept."

"She got mad," Singer confirmed obliquely. "Real mad, and went to...." She stopped, obviously fumbling for the words she needed to explain what happened next. "Those of my kind who decide for all when there is not one voice?"

Because of what little he did know about her socialistic culture, Daniel suggested, "Council?"

"That word will work," she agreed. "She went to the Council and complained that Lalt was being blinded by his feelings my bearers, then told them why I was a wrongness that should be stopped." Singer pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, making a small, small ball of herself in Jack's arms.

Without hesitation Daniel said, "She's mistaken. Your parent thinks so, we think so, and anybody who has a chance to talk to you for more than five minutes would agree with us. Nanny has her own reasons for not wanting to take care of you any longer; you told me so yourself."

"Council didn't talk to me," she whispered miserably. "I don't understand all the reasons why they sided with Nanny – Lalt said that politics was one disease that all sapient people have, but that doesn't make any sense to me."

She dismissed her parent's comment with a puzzled measure of music, then went on unhappily, "There is a way to argue with Council, to show that you don't agree with them and convince them you're right. Lalt chose to do that. It's not a safe thing to do, not safe at all, and the ones who watched over me during Council don't think he'll succeed."

Understanding all too well the lengths a child would go to keep their parent alive and well, Daniel said, "So you ran away again, so that he wouldn't have to risk himself. No Singer, no reason for the Council to test Lalt."

A glimmer of eagerness flashed over Singer's face, and she uncurled a bit. "At the very least they'll have to let him search for me, but I came the slidey, slippy way that grown-ups are too big to use and can hardly see at all. And he was so upset that I could contain myself and not hurt you that, I, I, I, didn't tell him I could do it anytime I wanted and not just when I was Growing." She said the last in a rush, as if torn between pleasure that she could finally share her secret, and guilt that she had had one to start with.

"Anytime?" Daniel asked in surprise.

"I don't understand why grownups can't do it whenever they want," she answered. "It's not that different from folding yourself into a shape; you just make the edge different.

Not wanting to let her – or himself – sidetracked, Daniel ignored her last comment and said, "So your parent won't find your 'taste' in the Hall of Portals, and thinks you wouldn't come here if because it's too dangerous for us. You hid really well."

For the first time, Jack spoke up, obviously speaking for the rest of the team. "I don't think that was the right thing for you to do, Singer." At her startled, unhappy noise, he added hastily, "That doesn't mean you're bad or anything; it just means you made a mistake. Everybody does once in a while, even Lalt. Otherwise he would have been more careful about telling you when you could come back the first time you visited. Said so himself."

Seeing her begin to huddle back in on herself again, Daniel asked for her, "Why a mistake, Jack?"

"Because sneaking out on your parent like that makes it looks as if you *are* bad, like you're afraid that Lalt can't win his fight with the Council," Jack said as gently as possible.

"But he could *die!*" Singer burst out, proving that she had at least some idea of the consequences of her parent's actions. "Better me than him!"

Shaking his head, Jack said, "I don't think Lalt would agree with you on that one. If he went to bat for you against the big guys, he has to think – just like we do – that you're very special. More than worth risking his life for, same as you're doing to protect him. Don't let him down by not backing him, Singer. That's one of those mistakes that keeps hurting a long, long time."

"Dan'lll?" she sang plaintively.

"He's right," Daniel said softly. "The absolute best thing that you could do for your parent is to trust him. The way things are now, even though he'll live, he'll always wonder what he did wrong raising you."

Deep-throated bass cords rumbled through the room, then Singer asked hesitantly, "You're sure?"

Stretching up to hug her, Jack's secure hold not withstanding, Daniel said, "I'm sure. You have to go back; tell them you needed to think to understand what Lalt was doing, and why. It's the truth, you know."

"Scared," she whispered, the word not even a disturbance of air in the too quiet room.

"It's okay to be scared; you should be. But that shouldn't stop you from doing what's right, either," Daniel said, worried that they were giving her too many adult concepts to absorb too quickly, and that she was too young for some of them.

But she sighed in a long, hushed ripple of high 'c' scales, then asked, "Carry me back to the Portal?"

Guessing that she wanted the comfort of being held as long as possible, Daniel exchanged a glance with Jack, then stood and moved away as Jack said cheerfully, "Sure. O'Neill's taxi at your service."

They made for an interesting, if solemn procession down the corridors to the Gate room, with Daniel and Teal'c flanking Jack with his nearly insubstantial burden. After scooping up a few instruments, Jane and Sam trailed after them, shooting Daniel a sheepish, apologetic look though he understood their reasons perfectly. Singer didn't try to talk to them again, but hid her face against Jack's shoulder, her hair cloaking her almost to the waist.

Once in the Gate room, she solemnly gave every one a final hug, lingering for a moment with Teal'c, as if making sure that her healing hadn't come undone. Jack tried to make her laugh with a razzberry to her cheek, but all she managed was a faint smile and extra squeeze for him that did nothing to brighten the sorrow in his eyes. Then it was Daniel's turn, and for a split second he honestly didn't think he was going to be able to let her go, but she carefully, determinedly pulled away, her fingers petting his cheek as she did.

"It's okay to be scared," she repeated back to him, then took one of her toys from her pocket and held it out to him. It was a glass sphere, about three inches in diameter and the color of Singer's eyes when she was in human form, but as he watched, it shifted to another shade of blue, this one darker and more vibrant. "Sam wanted me to try to leave a piece of me someplace else," she explained at his startled look. "I put me in this; the, the, the pattern of the glass all the way through will hold this tiny bit safely, I think."

She offered the toy to him again, and he hesitantly took it, mildly relieved that all he felt was the slick coldness of the glass. "Don't you need all of you before you go through?" Daniel asked uncertainly.

With a tinkling chuckle, she glided a few feet up the ramp. "A little is always lost in cold places like this; I won't miss that small part." Serious again, she mimed twisting the glass ball between her palms. "If you do that, it will sing to you in my voice."

Without thinking Daniel did as she indicated, and staggered back a step at the burst of music/images/feelings in his mind that totally encapsulated the person that was Teal'c. Somehow Singer captured in a single instant of sensation the satin brush of his lover's skin, the powerful grace of his hands and body, the deep, controlled timber of his voice and gentle melody of his smile, and all the things that couldn't be known from the surface. As surely as he if he held them in his hands, Daniel experienced Teal'c's abiding loyalty and devotion to SG1, his deep-seated guilt and remorse for his time as First Prime, the equally formidable need to make restitution and give retribution for that horror.

When the barrage was over, he blinked and tucked the small sphere close to his chest as if afraid of dropping it. "Is that what you call a 'taste?'" Daniel asked hesitantly, not ashamed of the awe under the simple question.

"Yes," Singer hummed softly, slowly losing her human shape and drifting closer to the Gate. "Just a few tiny, tiny ones, so you'll know that I'll always carry you and yours with me, Dan'llllll. And so you'll know if I no longer sing; if that falls silent, so have I."

At a loss for words, Daniel started up the ramp after her, but Jack gently caught his elbow. They exchanged a look filled with worry and fear, and it steadied him enough that he could hand the glass ball to his lover and say simply, "Thank you, Singer."

With a single note that said both 'you're welcome' and 'goodbye' she flowed onto the abruptly appearing event horizon of the Gate, then was gone.

Holding up the toy to the light and watching the leisurely tumble of blue through it, Jack said quietly, "At least this time we'll get an answer to the big question."

Epilogue

Sinking into the chaise lounge on the deck behind Jack's house, Daniel looked up at the summer's night sky and wondered where in that vast emptiness a little girl whose touch could either kill or heal lived. Holding up the gift she had left behind, as countless other people had done that day, he looked at the stars through its blue filter, wishing he had more than the faint glow of light for reassurance that Singer was well. And hoped that they had somehow given her as much as she had given them this time.

"She'll be okay," Jack said quietly from behind him. With a nudge he had Daniel scoot forward so he could sit behind him, long legs stretching out on either side of his on the heavy wooden lounger. "We have to trust that Lalt knew what he was doing. How'd you manage to bring that home with you, anyway? I would have thought the big brains wouldn't have let it out of their sight."

Folding his fingers over the glass sphere, Daniel leaned back into the support being offered. "I didn't give them a chance to claim it," he admitted. "Just walked out the door with it before they could argue the fact that it was a gift to me. Pretty much the same way Teal'c took off when he had enough poking and prodding from Sam and company."

"He's taking a shower now to get the gunk from the electrodes off," Jack said wryly. "He spent almost as much time hooked up to machines as Singer's miniature miracle there. How many different 'tastes' did they find, anyway? I went into overload at seven and went to catch a shower and nap; then did nothing but dream of how she saw Sam, Teal'c." He paused and his voice took on a trace of the wonder that all of them still felt. "You."

Stomach quivering from his memory of Jack's 'taste,' Daniel answered, "Eleven." A moment later he added thoughtfully, "Which seems like a strange number for her to use, since her native language is music. Not many 11ths in music."

"Is that what you were muttering about when I dragged you out of the shower so we could make good our escape and do a little celebrating? Maybe that's all she could fit in." Jack said lightly.

Finally smiling slightly at the celebrating that his lovers had told him they had in mind, Daniel tilted back his head and asked, "Are we private then? The house checked out?"

Beginning to tug and pull at buttons on Daniel's shirt, Jack said, "As much as we can be. I know it seems like we're overdoing it checking for bugs, but since Sam got spied on at her place, I don't want to take any chances. Even got perimeter alarms on the property for when I'm star gazing."

"I'm not objecting," Daniel said mildly. "Just wanted to make sure it was okay to do this." So saying, he set his glasses and the gift on the nearby table, undid the top button on his pants and pulled down the zipper. Moving his lover's hands down to the erection that had been growing from the moment Jack sat down with him, he thrust gently into the loose grip, moaning quietly at the touch.

"Christ....Danny!" Jack muttered, bucking up to press his own hard-on into the tempting backside so near it.

Not giving him a chance to say more, Daniel twisted awkwardly and claimed Jack's mouth, caressing the sensual lips with a sweep of his tongue before slipping past them to deepen their kiss. Without once losing that intoxicating contact despite the angle, they tore at clothes, both of them high and rampant by the time they were naked. Finally needing to breath, he broke away and hitched himself higher into his lover's lap, spreading his thighs over Jack's in a blatant request for what he needed.

Daniel felt the protest in the long-limbed body behind him and opened his eyes to calm himself enough to be able to argue, then lost every thought he had at the sight of their other lover watching them. Teal'c was standing in the doorway to the house, his naked form haloed by the candles burning behind him, the flickering light playing hide and seek over his taut muscles and sleek lines. The distance between them prevented Daniel from reading his eyes or expression, but the erection he so proudly sported spoke volumes.

Thankfully Teal'c had a bottle of massage oil in one hand, a towel hanging forgotten from the other, and Daniel opened his legs wider, sure that Teal'c was staring intently at where Jack's cock brushed the underside of his. "I want him in me," he said quietly, knowing that Teal'c would understand that it was important to him that Jack take him, though he didn't know why himself.

"Teal'c," Jack started desperately.

Before he could finish whatever he meant to say, Teal'c swiftly crossed the space between them and gracefully went to his knees beside the lounger, stretching over Daniel to silence Jack with a hard kiss. Sandwiched between the two of them, Daniel could do very little except wait for the silent debate to be over, hands restlessly playing over what parts of Jack he could reach, his mouth exploring Teal'c's chest as he hovered so close to his face. A soft groan reverberated through his back, then an answering one shimmied over his front, both sounds doing inexplicable things to his skin and the need stretching tightly all through him.

An oil-drenched hand found its way between his legs, and Daniel voiced his own cry of pleasure as Teal'c pressed Jack's hard-on into the valley between his legs. The head nudged gingerly into the base of his balls as the heated shaft branded the delicate tissues of perineum and anus, and Daniel fought with himself to stay still and let Teal'c handle things his way. At least the argument over who was going to be entered seemed to be over. Flinging one arm over Daniel's chest to secure him in place, Jack gently rocked into the hand holding him, doing interesting things to Daniel's body along the way.

A moment later a finger gingerly penetrated him, nearly sending Daniel helplessly into climax, but somehow he held off, though he could hear himself whimpering. For several long, sweetly tormenting minutes Teal'c stretched him, even as he covered Jack's cock with oil, teasingly stroking along the length of it with his palm as he opened Daniel. When he couldn't stand it any longer, Daniel tightly clutched the arms of the lounger and shifted position so Jack's hard-on was at the right angle to enter him.

"Now," he mumbled, tucking his heels up against his bottom to get his legs out of the way. "Now, now, now...."

"Yes, now," Jack agreed, his voice so raw-sounding that it rubbed over Daniel's hearing like another kind of touching. "But easy, easy. No hurry, here, Danny. No hurry at all."

Teal'c pressed a soft kiss onto his forehead, murmuring, "Slowly, my love. It *will* hurt at first, but not for very long." Then he guided Jack's cock so that it was just inside the tight ring of muscle, and Daniel did his best to relax, letting his lovers keep control of this critical moment. A second later he discovered that Teal'c had, like always, stated only the simple truth: pain burned into his ass, splintering through the desire that had commanded him for what felt like forever.

Before it could totally destroy any pleasure that might come from penetration, Teal'c took Daniel's hard-on into his mouth, effectively countering the harsh pain with a heated pleasure so intense that for a moment Daniel tottered on the knife's edge of consciousness. Then the conflicting sensations melded, good absorbing the bad and transmuting it into a wonderful thing that sang along his taut nerves and made him eager for his lover to begin moving inside him. As it was, all that kept him from taking what he wanted was Teal'c's hands holding him by the hips as his full lips slid up and down Daniel's length.

When he was all the way in Jack kissed/bit Daniel's shoulder, shaking from holding back for so long. "Can *not* believe how fantastic you feel," he muttered.

"Jack," Daniel whispered, nearly ready to scream from frustration. Or cry, he wasn't sure which and didn't really care. "Move!"

As if unleashed by that single word, Jack's cock thrummed, then carefully withdrew from the tight sheath holding it, only to return fast and hard. It was exactly what Daniel had needed, had wanted for so long that he couldn't stop a choked scream of relief, and, finally released from Teal'c's hold, he met Jack's next thrust with a powerful one of his own. Rising up to fill Teal'c's luscious mouth, then sinking down to take all of Jack's cock, Daniel mindlessly took what he had to have, the tension spun throughout his body growing with each stroke.

His frantic fucking went on for a long, long delicious time, then Jack growled, "I'm close, I'm close...." He began pinching and rolling Daniel's nipples between his fingertips, slamming up into him with so much strength that the chair shook under their combined weights.

Without warning, the tautness inside Daniel simply shattered into innumerable splinters of ecstasy, hurling him away from awareness of anything except the tremendous relief surging through every nerve he had. When he drifted back to himself, body limp and pliant, mind hazy with an arousal that hadn't been completely sated, Jack was shouting his own release, soothing the ache in Daniel's ass with the flow of his seed. Teal'c rumbled approvingly, gave a last gentle lick to Daniel's still nearly erect cock, then began nibbling and licking his way up Daniel's torso.

Snagging a deep, sweet kiss for himself as soon as Teal'c was close enough, Daniel reluctantly let him go to share one with Jack, absently deciding he could get used to being in the middle when it came to love-making. Then he glanced down between their bodies and saw Teal'c's hard-on; all he could think of was how good it would feel inside him, and how badly his lover must want completion. With shaking hands he grabbed the oil set next to the chair and filled both palms with the warm fluid. Wrapping them around the shaft, he stroked up and down the thick length, watching in fascination as the uncircumcised head appeared and disappeared in its sheath of skin.

Teal'c moaned and started to reach down to stop him, but Jack caught the errant hand. "No, he wants it, wants it bad. And he's ready for you lover – loose and wet from what you made me do to him. Made me fill him with my come."

Going very, very still, Teal'c almost stopped breathing, and Daniel realized that 'talking dirty' was exciting for the big man – a guess backed up by the way the cock he held was jerking, as if will power alone kept it from spilling its load. "Jack's right," he said quietly. "I can't wait for you to do me. I don't want you to hold back at all; I want it as fast and as hard as you can give it to me."

"No," Teal'c said hoarsely, trying to ease away. "I will harm you."

Wrapping his legs around Teal'c's waist, bracing himself against Jack, Daniel said, "If I thought there was the slightest chance of that, I'd be sucking you off instead. God, I love your taste."

Jack hooked his hands around bulging biceps to keep Teal'c from trying to escape. "For crying out loud.... What's he going to have to do to convince you he wants fucked? Beg?"

"I will, if that's what you want," Daniel said, surprised that he was practically purring the words. He switched languages to his lover's native one and added, "My lord, allow me to service you. Allow me the joy of being the vessel of your seed." With a groan so deep that it vibrated in *Daniel's* chest, Teal'c surrendered, cradling Daniel's backside in his great hands and lifting it to align his erection with the opening at the center.

"Wow," Jack murmured very softly into Daniel's ear. "Remind me to get you to teach me some Chulak dirty words."

Daniel started to laugh, but halfway through the sound became a long, contented sigh as Teal'c slid into him. Though he wasn't sore yet from Jack's use, he knew that he would be tomorrow, especially now, after accommodating Teal'c's bulk. But it was satisfying, so satisfying to answer the pump of his lover's hips, to watch the dark flesh flow over and around and into him with Jack's filthy, arousing words punctuating the ebb and flow of their love-making. Quickly, very quickly, he was near to finishing again, lungs working overtime to supply him with enough air to keep up with Teal'c's demanding pace.

Then Jack took Daniel's straining cock in hand and began to jack it in time to Teal'c's thrusts, and that was all Daniel could stand. Back arching until only his shoulders were still in contact with Jack's body, he came, a shout suffocating in his throat as all everything in him stopped for long, glorious moment except for the fluid bubbling over the fist working his hard-on. As incredible as the pleasure was, it had to fade, and as it did, Daniel melted back into Jack's arms, nearly boneless from exhaustion and fulfillment.

For a few moments all he could do was absorb the pounding Teal'c was giving him, relishing the simple joy of being taken while being cradled so lovingly by Jack. When he caught his breath, he deliberately tightened his ass as much as he could, and murmured, **Thank you, my lord, for the gift of release. Never have I been so thoroughly and well-used.**

Dark eyes opened, though to mere slits, and Teal'c growled in the same language, **You think to hurry me to my own finish? To spare your tender opening? For now it is mine to fill.**

Choosing his words with care and making sure his inner muscles were gripping tightly, Daniel said, **Only so that I may rouse you again; our love waits for you to honor him with your cock.**

Automatically flicking a glance over Daniel's shoulder to meet Jack's eyes, Teal'c growled again and impossibly picked up the pace of their love-making. Not even his massive strength could hold up to that kind of abuse for very long; a moment later he plunged in as deeply as he could and stayed there, roaring as he spilled his seed. It seemed hot to Daniel; hotter than Jack's, though not as abundant, and he sighed at the comforting heat soaked into the now-battered channel. Part of him wished that he could keep going, but common sense was reporting in that certain parts of him were far too tender now, and he didn't protest when Teal'c finally withdrew. His lover sank wearily onto the lower part of the lounger, pillowing his head on Daniel's stomach, one hand lightly linked with one of Jack's. He seemed to be dozing off, and Daniel stretched minutely to get more comfortable, settling in for the long haul.

"Definitely got to get you to teach me some dirty words in his language," Jack said sleepily, nuzzling at the side of Daniel's neck.

"Mmmm, not hard, really," Daniel said through a yawn, thinking that a short nap after so many restless nights was called for. He started to slip into slumber himself, and was far enough under that when a bright glow began to hurt his eyes through the lids, he thought it was a dream. But the pain was real enough that he instinctively turned from it, and the small shift in position was enough to jar him completely awake.

Even as he blinked his confusion away, the glow became brighter, and he squinted, turning toward the source. Singer's gift was lit up, the blues within it swirling and tumbling so fast that it was vaguely sickening to watch. Alarmed that he had somehow damaged the toy by not keeping it close enough to him, Daniel snatched up the glass sphere and held it close, as if to warm it.

Then the glow changed, expanding out and solidifying to form two familiar figures: Singer and her parent, Lalt. Startled, Daniel sat all the way up, unintentionally waking Teal'c, who instinctively reached for a weapon that wasn't there. A split-second later, realizing what was happening, the Jaffa sat up as well, grabbing a long-forgotten towel and dropping it over his and Daniel's lap.

"What the..." Jack muttered irritably, scooting toward Daniel to hide his nakedness behind him. "Singer, sweetheart, there's this Earth custom you have to learn about called 'knocking.'"

Guessing from the fact that neither alien changed expression, Daniel said quietly, "I don't think they're really here."

As if to prove him correct, the image wavered slightly, then Lalt said, "When Singer gave this tiny portion of herself into your care, she didn't know that I could use it as a way to communicate, though the power necessary to do so will destroy the fragment if I am not extremely careful.

"But she was insistent that you know our fate, and since you were instrumental in the outcome, I could hardly argue with her." He looked down at Singer, smiling at the top of her head, his expression shining with a love that Daniel knew was real for all that the facial features had had to learn to show the emotion.

"The Council was impressed that she would run away in an attempt to protect me, but even moreso that she would come back and insist on sharing my trial, no matter what the results. However, what truly made the difference in their decision was that she had friends who would cherish and comfort her until she calmed, the help her find the strength to do the right thing. Friendship is not lightly given among our people, and for her to find such true friends at such a tender age is as remarkable as her gift for controlling the small energies of organic life.

"She will be allowed to grow, more carefully watched over, and her unique talent nourished, for she is the link we have always sought to finally truly understand your form of intelligence." He smiled, his tone becoming wry and amused, "She will also be allowed to visit you, at General Hammond discretion, of course, and with my *express* permission. All you need do is place her gift on the surface of the active portal to extend the invitation."

Becoming very serious, he smoothed a few loose curls away from Singer's shoulder, as if to give himself time to choose his words. "We know about your battle with the Ga'ould, but cannot help you, though it is impossible for me to explain precisely why. You might ask Singer to try; her child's eye may be able to see the difficulty in terms she can express to you. Be that as it may, she has not been forbidden to do what small things she can to help – a necessary healing here, an irreplaceable thing repaired there." His tone became very sharp. "I am trusting you not to abuse the friendship she has given you."

With that the image faded to the brilliant shine that had roused him, then to the warm glow of the glass sphere's normal light - or what passed for normal for it now. Daniel stared down into it, his mind tumbling as surely as the many shades of blue inside it. Long fingers closed over his, both sets curling to hide the small toy, and he looked up to meet Jack's eyes.

"I'll work up a schedule with Hammond as soon as we get back on duty," Jack said, his voice level, with just a hint of command underneath. Then he grinned at Teal'c. "Think Master Bray'tec can stop by during one of them?"

Eyelids came down to shutter the gratitude burning in Teal'c's eyes, but not before Daniel saw the depths of it. But all the Jaffar said was, "I believe that may be possible."

"Now that that's settled," Jack said definitely, "Let's take this inside. Why can't we make it to a nice warm bed, anyway? Could just nod right off afterwards instead of disturbing a perfectly good afterglow with getting up and finding the bed we should have been in to start with."

Daniel tuned out the familiar grousing, a thought nibbling at the edge of his consciousness. Behind him Jack gave a nudge to get him going as Teal'c stood, offering his hand to help him up, and that minor bit of team work was enough to let the idea take a serious bite of his brain. "Wait a minute," he said slowly, catching the hand being held out to him. He opened his fingers so that Singer's gift was balanced in his palm, and set two of Teal'c's fingers to one side of the globe. "Jack, you touch it, too."

"Why?" Jack asked, automatically doing as told.

As soon as he touched the glass, Daniel twisted his wrist, and the by now familiar mental burst from one of Singer's 'tastes' hit. This one was of him, Jack and Teal'c together, but it wasn't simply a combination of the three of them with their individual traits standing out, all of them complementing each other. Instead they were a distinct unit that had its own music/feelings/images that spoke of close harmony, interlocking needs and wants, shared smiles and touches. There was a strength and confidence in it that went beyond a physical body or one person's experiences; there was also a power in it that could not be denied for all that it had no definition or description that Daniel could produce despite his many languages.

As quickly as the 'taste' filled his mind, it was gone, and Daniel had to fight to find oxygen as he reeled under the effort of absorbing all that it meant. "It's real to her," he breathed. "Love – it's as tangible and real as the warmth of a hand or wind moving over skin."

"Wow!" Jack blurted, then he reached around Daniel to steady Teal'c.

Their lover unsteadily knelt in front of them, resting his head on Daniel's shoulder as he composed himself. "To see so clearly," Teal'c murmured. "Advanced race, indeed."

Jack rubbed a shaky hand over Teal'c's shoulder, absently massaging as if to comfort both of them. "So that's what 'balanced' means. The first time she saw us she knew what took us *years* to admit to."

Leaning back to put his weight in Jack's care even as he hugged Teal'c closer to him, Daniel said quietly, reverently, "Out of the mouths of babes."

*finis*