Chapter 25

Please read :

Just a reminder, this story is not slash. I don't know if I should continue with the OC s who are gay... It's not even romance… Keep in mind, when I do decide to bring romance into play, it will *not* be Canon Pairings. Sorry, Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione fans.

I know that someone asked me about a Jack/Daniel pairing, but (un)fortunately, I still have a Eureka slash story to write first. Rest assured, I will write J/D (I'm too much of a fan not to) in the future. *Please refer to note in bio.*

Although, not in this story, mind, there will be some kisses between friends… Gotta love magical mistletoe!

The ending scenes will be dealing with comfort between friends who are like brothers. There will be talk of the sensitive nature in the next chapter, so please take care. Oh, should I change the rating for this story, overall, or just the 'chapter rating'? I can't decide.

Daniel skidded to a stop when he spotted the redheaded Father fidgeting in the hall as the mountain preceded to lock-down. Sam and Teal'c stopped a few steps behind.

"What happened, Father?" Daniel gasped as he adjusted his glasses.

"I thought that was obvious- Sorry. I keep forgetting you don't live in Vermont," Tim shook his head and explained. "But anyway… I was heading toward the stairs and was about to go in when I heard something from one of the storage rooms on this hall."

SG-1 studied the hallway and noted that there were quite a few on this particular level.

"I thought someone needed help so I went to see if I 'fit the bill', as it were. Well, I found something alright, thus the phone call."

"Holy Hannah," Sam whipped her head around to stare at him. "There are Replicators on base? How the he-ck did that happen?" She remembered the man of the cloth at the very last minute.

"I don't know," Daniel bit his lip. Turning to Tim, he asked, "Father, did you see how many there were?"

He was silent for a minute before he said, "I lost count at twenty."

"That's twenty too much," Sam hissed in a breath through her teeth. "C'mon, we need to tell the General what's going on and see if we can get a group to help us round up some, well, 'stun guns'."

"How the hell did they get on this base?" General Hammond demanded to know. "Sorry, Father," he added absently as he saw the redhead enter with the team.

"Well," Sam shook her head. "Remember, sir, you don't need more than one to start an army."

"Thus the name," Tim nodded in understanding. "Take one and they replicate until they have enough to overpower a common enemy."

"Essentially," she nodded.

The next few minutes were hectic and, to Father Tim, exciting as the base was put on lockdown and teams started getting assembled as 'stunners', Major Ferretti explained, were given out.

"Do I get one?" Father Tim tried oh so very hard to keep the supposed 'puppy eyes' to a minimum. He didn't think he could pull them off, but his cousins Dan and Danni insisted that they couldn't say no to them.

"Ever fired a gun before?" Daniel questioned as he brought over an extra one. Even the General agreed that the more people out there the better.

"Yes, not that I enjoyed any of them," he said darkly. "I only wished I could bring myself to make a kill shot. It would make our lives easier…"

Daniel studied him at the last part, frowning as he detected genuine longing at that. "Uh, why?"

Father Tim's eyes refocused from where ever they were and shook his head. "Sometime in the future, my friend. I'm afraid I can't say anything more than that." 'Far, far, into the future,' he scowled inwardly.

"Well, alright… Anyway, you'll be with me, Sam, and Teal'c. Soler and Manna from SG-19 will be helping."

Tim nodded. As soon as the group assembled, they headed to Level 28, where the Gate room was located. Captain K. Soler explained to Father Tim as they headed down, keeping an eye out for anything that so much as twitched, "Us and two other groups are heading down to the Stargate and check things out. The search teams usually have a bit of a schedule, but that still depends on the current situation."

"Other teams are searching above us?" He asked, eyes sweeping areas in a manner that reminded the Captain strongly of Colonel O'Neill. Captain Soler wasn't entirely sure what to make of it.

"Uh, yeah. Right now, with the Colonel off-base, Major Carter is the ranking officer. The General is with two other teams on Level 12."

"Level 12...Secondary Power Grids?" Tim chewed his bottom lip thoughtfully.

"Yeah," Daniel piped up. He was a few feet away, behind Corporal Dina Manna. "We meet up with another group on Level 26."

"That's the Storage part," Major Carter supplied helpfully from further ahead with Teal'c.

The six of them met up with the other half of SG-19 along with SG-8 just past the armory located on that floor before continuing on their separate paths.

Jack O'Neill sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. Looking around the office attached to the classroom, he suddenly found himself missing his team. Yeah, he could visit anytime he wanted, but he couldn't help envisioning Carter, Teal'c, and Daniel all crowded around the space in front of him. He could just see Teal'c studying the class layout from the door as Carter and Daniel poked around at all the little magical things that Jack had out for display, all the while firing different questions at him about anything magical that they could form into words.

Standing up and shaking his head to get rid of the daydream, he left his office and looked out to see a head of platinum blond.

"Ah, Malfoy," he tilted his head as grey eyes were drawn up to him. "What seems to be the reason for this visit? I don't have your class until tomorrow and shouldn't you be doing something else?"

"Professor," he nodded slightly. The Prince bent back over his work. Giving into curiosity, Jack approached him and looked over his shoulder.

"Oh, I see," Jack nodded sagely. "Yes, flowers are very interesting to Slytherins."

"They are not just any flowers," Draco frowned up at him. "These are very important to certain, complicated potions that need to be done in a certain way."

Jack held his hands up. "Alright, alright! I get the point already, geez…"

Nodding, the blond went back to his 'potion flowers' and left his professor to himself.

Jack studied him and suddenly an idea came to him.

Draco didn't look at him as he heard Jack hurry back to his office and return, taking a seat on the opposite side of the room so that, should he want, he would only have to look to the left to watch him. As it was, he watched the older wizard from the corner of his eye as Jack started scribbling into a book that Draco fancied was a Muggle bit.

As an hour slowly passed, the blond glanced at him every once in a while. He didn't think he had looked up at him, but maybe Jack was looking at him whenever he wasn't looking.

Suddenly hearing a gasp, Draco looked up to see Jack bend over to put his head on the desk as his right hand took his left in a death grip. "Professor?" Draco slowly stood and made his way over to him, taking a peek at what the older man had been writing in.

It was him and another man who looked vaguely familiar. Draco was slightly impressed at the likeness that was displayed, but also interested to see his paper counterpart wearing some sort of Muggle outfit under a darkly colored… what was it that Pansy, Shopaholic Extraordinaire, called it? Oh, a vest. Yet it was different than the one Draco had seen, and would secretly wear on occasion…

"Sir?" He took his mind off the drawing and returned his attention to his professor. "Do you need to see the Nurse?"

"Nah," Jack ground out, slowly coming to sit upright again. "I'm good." 'What the all loving heck was that?' He rubbed his wrist again slightly as the pain receded. The pain was getting stronger but, up to this point, tolerable. In fact, it was only last week he had experienced one of the strange tingles centered around his left wrist. He still didn't know quite what to make of it.

Draco cautiously put a hand on his shoulder and patted him awkwardly. "Feel better?"

"Truckloads."

Leaving the blond Prince to wonder what that meant, Jack returned his art supplies to his office and sighed. "Lunchtime," he announced as he returned and swept his student's things off the desk he had been working on into his arms, leading the protesting Slytherin out of the classroom.

In the Three Broomsticks, nestled under a nest of blankets, grey eyes shot open wide.

"No way," AJ stared at the inside of her nest. "Are you kidding me? Right here? And so close…"

Before she could further contemplate her extraordinarily good luck at finding her quarry so close at hand, she fell victim to the beckoning darkness.

"As my cousin would say," Tim deadpanned. " 'Do your worst and pray to your God that you actually make it out in one piece, if not alive.'"

"Usually, Father," Carter smiled slightly. "I would agree with you, but I don't think that your cousin had this in mind."

"Probably not," Tim stared at the oncoming crowd of bugs that they had managed to bring out of hiding. Oh yes, he could definitely say that his cousin didn't have this in mind when he said it. At the time, they had been facing two other teams in what was known as an Anderson style Paintball Fight. That, however, was neither here nor there. "Just in case, I think I have us covered."

"Good to know," Manna readied her stun gun and waited until they were close enough to fire on. "Put in a good word or two for me, please."

"I thought you didn't believe in God or Religion of any kind," Soler grinned slightly.

"Just this once," she quipped. "Can't hurt…"

Suddenly, the air was filled with what could only be described as whines and falling Lego blocks. Since they were at an intersection with three halls connecting with the main hall, Soler and Carter paired up to deal with one section of the pesky Replicators as Manna hooked up with Teal'c to take up with the other section. That left Daniel with Father Tim.

"Ready, Father?" Daniel asked lightly as their section of bugs advanced toward them.

"Beyond ready, my son," Tim hiked up the gun and aimed.

It was all over pretty quickly. Once two other teams had taken care of some stragglers, it was reported that the bugs were gone from the higher levels. The cleared levels were being tentatively released from lockdown as the rest of the teams went farther below to sweep for any left.

As Soler and Manna reunited with their teammates, Tim and SG-1 returned to the Gate room where the General awaited them.

"I want to know how they got here this time," Hammond rubbed a weary hand over his face. "Until we get this sorted out, all Gate travel has been restricted. Those already off-world will have to sit tight at designated planets."

A few minutes later and the four were on their way to the locker room to get ready for home.

"Hey, Father," Daniel couldn't help but study the other man. "I couldn't help but notice how well you managed to take care of the Replicators…"

That was a bit of an understatement. When Daniel had glanced over at him, he almost stopped shooting as he saw that the red haired Father was taking no prisoners as he seemed to take care of the bugs with the pinpoint precision born of someone who had done something like this countless times before.

Sniper precision.

"Mm," Father Tim ruffled his short red hair as he adjusted his glasses. "You don't say."

As they left and entered the elevator that would take them topside, Carter nodded. "I couldn't really help but notice, too."

The elevator stopped and the group trooped out.

"Although," Tim suddenly stopped them after signing out and heading off to their cars. "I have to ask you something."

"Sure, go ahead," Carter nodded, pausing.

"Why did you think I became a priest?" Then he grinned and went off.

Marveling at the Father's little bombshell, Daniel had to grin as he drove away from the mountain. 'Never dull around here, that's for sure,' he thought as he turned the corner and continued down the street leading to his apartment. 'Who would have thought that I would be Head Linguist, Anthropologist, etc. for a top secret underground facility dealing with intergalactic travel and alien life? Now that I think of it, who would have thought that I would be friends with one of those aliens? Never mind the fact that my newest friend used to be a sniper, but is now a priest, and my best friend could very well be a wizard.' Daniel shook his head as he started thinking about the journal he, Carter, and Teal'c were trying to make heads or tails of. They did understand that their CO and friend wanted them to find out on their own, but that still didn't mean that they really believed it to be 100% true.

In order to erase those doubts but not let on that they (probably) knew, all of the team would be keeping a very close eye on their friend in the future before they would agree to confront him about it.

Turning yet another corner, Daniel suddenly saw a handful of Emergency Response Vehicles (ERV) parked haphazardly in front of his apartment. "What in the…"

Daniel quickly sped up before parking on the nearby curb and barely remembered to cut the engine before all but throwing himself out of the car. Rushing into the fray, Daniel's arm was grabbed by one of his neighbors, elderly Mr. Roger Mayn. "Mr. Mayn? What's going on?" Daniel wanted to know.

"We have been trying to get ahold of you, but your phone was off," Mr. Mayn was pale as he explained.

"Yeah, I've been, er, tied up in some work. Could you tell me what's going on?"

Jack yawned as he looked at his magic run watch. '11:09 pm. Our time, at least.' Doing some quick calculations in his head, he found that it was still fairly early back home. 'Maybe I'll head home after I check the Tower Commons.'

Since Jack was on what he termed 'hall duty', or roaming around and firmly coaxing kids back to bed, he had already decided to hit the 'Tower Commons'. Or, the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw common rooms to the more common folk.

He frowned as he stopped in front of the Ravenclaw entrance. Looking around, he found himself strangely alone.

As in, AJ was nowhere to be found.

Usually, the brunette would be lurking around that section of wall that she still glared at on occasion when he passed by. Then again, she could also be found arguing with either ghost or painting (Sir Cadogen) about anything ranging from the perfect time to become a ghost to the perfect way to run off 'scurvy rouges', after which the Knight in question would spout off some other kind of nonsense and ride off through the other paintings while calling for AJ to follow. Other times, she would scare the all living cookie dough out of him when he would be turning the corner into what he thought was an empty hall.

It was a very good thing that he didn't carry his weapon.

Sighing, Jack entered the Raven Commons and found only a handful still awake and even they were fading fast. Figuring all was right, he turned back around and caught sight of a vaguely familiar blonde curled up in an armchair with her wand behind her ear and reading an upside down magazine.

"Good evening, Professor," the blonde- Lovegood, he remembered- called out softly.

"Night," he nodded to her and continued on his way, this time to the red and gold side of the spectrum.

Stopping in front of the Fat Lady, Jack looked around again to make sure AJ wasn't going to sneak up on him like just two days ago. He gained entrance to the Lion's Den and had to grin at one of the few lions still hard at work.

Walking over to Missy, he tapped her on the shoulder.

"Professor?" Hermione questioned as she looked up her books. "I just need to finish this…"

"It'll still be here tomorrow, Missy," Jack slowly took the book from her and coaxed her up and out of her chair. "Time for all Lions to be sound asleep. Especially with Hogsmeade weekend just five days away now, you need to rest up."

"Alright, Professor," she supposed that a nap wouldn't hurt. "See you tomorrow?"

"Maybe in class," Jack nodded as she started climbing up. "I may have an errand to take care of."

After seeing her up the stairs and out of sight, Jack hung around for a few more minutes to make sure Missy stayed up there. He wouldn't put sneaking back down past her if he could help it. More than once, in the past, he would have to chase Daniel or Carter away from the Mountain and issue the order to keep them from getting back in to finish some work until enough time had passed.

Speaking of whom, Jack withdrew all thoughts about AJ and remembered him sleeping in his own house for once. He went back and tidied up Missy's table so that it wouldn't all end up on the floor in some fashion or another. It was just as he moved a History of Magic essay did he find a framed picture.

Picking it up, he studied the laughing figures held within.

Green eyes sparkled with laughter as Lily Potter grinned up at him with a cheerful wave. James Potter pushed his glasses up as he waved at Jack, who smiled slightly as he noticed James's brown eyes scan the out of frame area.

"He went to sleep," Jack informed him. "Probably forgot about you guys."

As James relaxed, the figure to Lily's left shook his head slightly, leaning on a cane and looking a bit worse for wear. 'Lupin,' he nodded at the younger man and smiled at the return wave.

On James's right, however, was the one Jack had only seen in the paper. 'Sirius Black,' he sighed, sinking onto a stool in thought. 'I knew there was something off about that story,' he mused as he watched Black's interaction with Potter. 'Best friends don't turn on best friends like the story said. It had to be something else.'

Black and Potter had just started throwing little jets of water from their wands at each other when Jack had a thought. "Potter, Evans," the two gave him their undivided attention. "I don't suppose we've met somewhere before, have we? And not just in the paper." (1)

The couple just shrugged and Jack nodded. "Let's get you lot up to bed, then."

Jack climbed the stairs to the 5th year boys dorms and carefully opened it. Slipping inside, he suddenly noticed a slightly brownish ball of fur that had curled itself up at the end Longbottom's four poster and smiled slightly as strangely familiar grey eyes blinked up at him before the cat yawned and went back to sleep.

Straightening Thomas's pillows and pushing Weasley into a more secure spot on the bed that didn't threaten to drop him on the floor, he made his way to Harry's bed and had to smile at the curled up Lion. With a hand on his pillow and next to his cheek, Jack was sadly reminded of his son, Charlie. Settling the picture in next to the Hero of the Wizarding World, Jack couldn't help but see Harry as the kid he still was and not just some kind of secret weapon. Tucking the covers in more securely, he brushed his friend's black fringe just a little bit and waved a goodnight to the picture. Jack left for the door, but first had to scratch the cat's ears. 'Funny,' he couldn't help thinking. 'Never seen this one before. Maybe it belongs to another House?'

Finally tearing himself away, Jack went out of the tower, and ended up at Dumbledore's office. "Dairy Mice," he intoned as he shook his head. 'With Dumbledore as Headmaster, nothing is dull around here.'

"Ah, Jonathon," Albus looked up as he knocked. "I suppose everything's as it should?"

"Yes, sir. I was just wondering if it was possible to spend the night stateside. It's just that-"

"By all means," Albus nodded. "I shall see you tomorrow, bright and early?"

Jack peeked at his watch. Just over half past midnight. "Later today, you mean?" He grinned cheekily.

Jack smiled slightly as he stepped out of his fireplace.

"Home sweet home."

He walked around the couch and came to a stop as he found a duffle bag resting against it. Immediately recognizing it, Jack was suddenly glad to have had the presence of mind to Floo from his quarters in his Muggle clothes. "Daniel?" He picked the duffle up and, using a quick spell to get clean and find his friend, headed to the master bedroom. Slowly pushing the door open, Jack found that his bedside lamp was on its lowest setting and the blinds closed. His eyes adjusting to the dim light, he spotted a lump in the middle of his bed.

"Daniel?" He tried again. "What's wrong?"

The lump shifted. "J'ck?" The blankets shifted to reveal his red-eyed friend.

Jack sat down on the edge of the bed as Daniel inched over to him. "Everything alright, buddy?"

"Can you lay down?" Jack blinked at the rare, but not unheard of, request. When things were bad, in whichever way they appeared, Daniel would come over to spend a few nights at Jack's place. When they were very bad, Daniel would crawl into bed with Jack and curl up next to him for some comfort. Jack had always had the suspicion that this was a result of Daniel's lonely upbringing, but he never managed to get hard evidence.

"Sure, just let me do a few things," Jack reached out to smooth ruffled hair and blue eyes slowly closed in response. Quickly grabbing some jammies, he went into the guest room and changed. Making sure his wand was hidden and house was locked (the fire had put itself out. Magically, of course), he returned to his room and closed the door.

Daniel had moved over and lifted the covers, revealing a light grey button up night shirt and the banana imprinted pajama bottoms that both Cassie Frasier and Lou Ferretti gifted him with just last Christmas.

Jack slid in next to him and they immediately settled in with Daniel sidling up into Jack's side and the older man wrapping a comforting arm around him. "You gonna tell me what happened?" Jack repeated.

Daniel didn't answer. He was already fast asleep.

AN:

(1) refers to other story, "Jack and Harry". Read it if you like.

Oh, and if you were wondering about Thor taking Jack off, please reread chapter 23. I think I was more vague than I thought. Where did you think Jack disappeared to?

May 23, 2010 Sunday

AN: The next chapter has been stalled because I cannot get it out of my laptop. I will try to transfer all information to my new computer as soon as I can. When I get a new one, that is... :)

6-24-10 Thurs