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SG-1: Prophetiae
Title: Prophetiae
Genre: SG-1, Gen, Team
Spoilers: The Shroud, Season 10
Rating: PG (minor language)
Synopsis: “It wasn’t just Merlin, was it?”
Author’s Notes: The title comes from “Prophetiae Merlini” one of the earliest known works related to Merlin by Geoffrey of Monmouth.
Disclaimer: I don’t own them, people with a lot of money do. I’m just borrowing them in a solely not-for-profit way.
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“It wasn’t just Merlin, was it?” Jack’s voice startled the man, forcing him to look up from the manuscript he had been studying.
“Huh?” he asked eloquently.
O’Neill sighed and sat down on the edge of the desk, folding his arms in front of him as he gazed down at his friend. “Don’t play stupid,” he warned. “The extra goodies you used, the moving stuff with your mind, the Ancient knowledge, it wasn’t just Merlin’s brain being downloaded into yours, was it?”
Daniel looked him in the eye and said, “I could not have done any of it without his help.”
“I believe that,” Jack told him. “But that’s not what I asked. What I want to know is, did Merlin give you all that crap, or did he just show you how to use what you already had?”
“I can’t answer that,” Daniel replied honestly, and he looked pained to admit it.
“Can’t, or won’t?”
Daniel bit his bottom lip and seemed to contemplate something for a moment before answering, “Both.” He held up a hand to stop his friend from bustling through and continued, “I honestly don’t know how much was Merlin and how much was me. He showed me how to do things with my mind that I never dreamed of. At the same time, it was my mind, me doing it, and there was this sense of rightness, this sense of this is how things are supposed to be. And now that his presence is gone, I’m not sure if I can tap into that place again.”
“Have you tried?” Daniel looked down towards his studies and shook his head. “Why not?”
“The Others.”
Jack scoffed. “They didn’t stop Merlin. And they sure as hell didn’t lift one glowy finger to try to stop the Ori.”
“They stopped me before,” the formerly Ascended being pointed out.
“Oma stopped you before,” his friend countered. “She might have said it was because of ‘Them’, but really, I haven’t seen them do a damn thing yet. If they really cared enough to enforce that whole ‘do not interfere’ policy, why would they let you do everything you just did, Merlin or not?”
“I don’t know,” Daniel answered honestly.
Jack nodded, then reached a decision. “I want to show you something,” he said, standing to pull a folded piece of paper out of his back pocket before getting comfortable once again. He offered it out and, seeing his former teammate’s hesitance, dropped it on top of the manuscript with a shrug.
Daniel reluctantly unfolded it, his brow furrowing as he tried to make out just what he was being shown.
“It’s a print out of your brain, from that Ascend-O-Meter thing,” Jack explained.
Daniel looked at the highlighted areas, the little percentage number at the bottom far higher than it had any right to be. “Is this from when I was a Prior?”
“No.”
“But...” he trailed off, not knowing what to say.
“That was taken months ago, after a mission,” Jack told him. “Carolyn kept it out of your file, but sent it to me. If she did another one today, I would be willing to bet it would be the same.”
Daniel opened his mouth and closed it several times, thoughts grabbed at and discarded. Finally, he settled on a simple, “Why?”
O’Neill stood, shoving his hands in his pockets as he wandered around the desk. “We started noticing things after you got back. Well, the first time after you came back, the second time just made us more suspicious. Anyway, we didn’t have the technology to figure it out until recently.”
“You studied me?” Jackson asked, enraged. His look of betrayal broke the military man’s heart.
“No,” Jack vehemently denied. “We noticed things, and we wondered. The IOA demanded studies, and we wouldn’t give them to ‘em. We covered for you. None of us knew if you were even aware of any of it – the languages suddenly mastered, the Ancient technology responding to you and no one else, the ‘intuition’ and dreams...”
Daniel’s voice cracked as he asked, “Why? Why did you cover for me? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Jack stopped his pacing and turned to face his friend, eyes bright with withheld emotion. “We just got you back! We sure as hell weren’t going to risk losing you again! Do you know what they would have done to you? The tests, the dissection? They would have taken you away and we would have never heard from you again.” He paused and swallowed, blinking back something that he knew looked, and felt, suspiciously like tears. “We just got you back,” he repeated, all the heat from his words dissipated.
“But why didn’t you tell me?” Daniel whispered.
Jack scrubbed a hand through his hair before drawing it over his face. “We – I – thought it was best if you didn’t know. If you figured it out on your own, fine, but if you didn’t... I thought I was protecting you.”
“You thought you were keeping me,” Daniel countered.
“Yes,” he admitted. “If you didn’t know, you wouldn’t try and if you didn’t try, you wouldn’t go back.”
“Back?” Daniel laughed without humor. “I’ve been kicked out twice, why would I want to go back?”
“I didn’t say it would be voluntary,” Jack pointed out with a wince.
“You thought...”
“I couldn’t know, and I couldn’t risk it.”
“None of us could,” a new voice joined in from the doorway. They looked up to see Sam braced against the jamb, Cameron to her side and Teal’c just behind her.
“It’s pretty obvious now that the Ancients, the Others, or whatever the hell you want to call them could give a rat’s ass about us humans,” Mitchell pointed out.
There was a little commotion as Vala shouldered her way past her teammates and sauntered over to the desk, plopping down practically in the stunned man’s lap. “Adria said you were special, that she had plans for you,” she pointed out, reaching out and placing her hand over his. “Call it Mother’s Intuition, but I think making you a Prior was just the beginning.”
“She wanted you on her side. If she couldn’t control you, she would have killed you,” Sam agreed.
“Not that you’re good at staying dead,” Mitchell pointed out with a shrug and a small smile.
Carter allowed herself a little grin before turning serious again, adding, “But if anyone had a chance at actually keeping you down, it would be her.”
“She is very persistent,” Teal’c agreed.
“She gets that from her mother,” Vala chimed in with almost a hint of pride.
“If I may make a suggestion?” the Jaffa asked, waiting until he had everyone’s attention to continue. “Perhaps this is not the best place for having this conversation. May I suggest a place both out of reach of the man known as Woolsey and providing copious amounts of alcohol?”
That got a grin out of Daniel. “’Copious amounts?’” he quoted.
Jack chuckled, “T-man, I didn’t know you imbibed. Mitchell, what have you been teaching him?”
Cameron held up his hands. “Not me,” he protested, looking over to where Sam grinned suspiciously.
Teal’c ended the speculation by admitting, “I shall abstain, but must admit it is often tempting when attending certain Tauri gatherings.”
“Did he just say it’s easier to be drunk around us?” Vala asked innocently, pretending to be offended.
“I believe he did,” Jack agreed.
“I say we put that to the test,” she dared, hopping down from her perch and rubbing her hands together.
“And maybe Jackson can try using his Ancient powers to find a hangover cure in the morning,” Mitchell added, watching as the scholar started closing down his office for the night.
Daniel looked up, blue eyes gleaming in the lamplight. “Sounds like a plan,” he decided. As they started heading back out into the hallway, he grabbed his former team leader by the forearm, his voice lowered so only the other man could hear him as he said, “I’m home, Jack, and I plan on staying for a while.”
O’Neill returned the gesture with the first full smile he had all day. “Good to know, Daniel, good to know.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Feedback is always welcomed.
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Nice job!
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I kind of thought it before, but in "Camelot" when he steps up to the platform and it lights up for him and not Mitchell... It was probably a set glitch, but it gave me ideas.
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