Childhood Roulette - The Crawling Terror of Doom by voracity

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Jack O'Neill got the translated copies back from his geek and read them slowly. He wants to know. He wants to avoid some paperwork he has to get done so it's a great time to know. Then, when he knows, he loses his temper. His assistant doesn't even try to bother him. When one of the doctors tries to bother him his assistant tries to stop her. "No, I want her ass in here," Jack yelled.

"Yes, sir," the doctor said, walking in and shutting the door. "Do you need a sedative?"

"Yes!" He handed her the pages he had read, pacing as he kept reading the rest.

"Is he a soldier?"

"Not exactly and now he's two."

"Ancient machine?"

"Ancient being."

"Interesting. Why tell me?"

"Keep reading." Jack went back to the battle that the kid had fought a few months back. It wasn't good. It wasn't making him happy. It might even make him lose his lunch.

"Excuse me?" she demanded, staring at him. "They're real?"

"Yeah," Jack complained. "His whole town, overrun. Keep going and don't lose your lunch when you get to the swim team." He went back to his own reading, flopping down in his desk chair for a bit. He was tired. Xander wasn't even really his kid and he was tired. Now the doctor was pacing. "Janet, calm down."

"No! Where is he?"

"With a foster family. We'll be splitting custody with them. Right now he's with one of the most overprotective SEALS there is." He handed her the rest of the pages when he got done. "Keep going until you've at least finished Thanksgiving." She scowled but sat down to read the rest. Her subsonic growl kept getting louder and louder. It nearly made Jack flee for his life but she wouldn't be taking this out on him. "The overprotective SEAL asked that we use our super doctors to check him over for injuries."

"Of course I can! How long before he's here?"

"Probably about six months. We only set up custody the other day, Doc. That's why I went to Texas."

"Why there?"

"That's where the uncle they sat him with was. There's actually three of us splitting custody but one's on active spec ops duty." She grimaced. "To that town." He smirked. "His whole team got sent out there to take Xander's place."

"Good!" She huffed as she sat down. "Any other bad news? Like aliens might've cloned him too?"

"He knows Thor. Thor showed up to give him something to block some of the energy he's filled with." She stared at him, a little muscle tick starting next to her left eye. "He has a lot of artillery too. And a mutt he calls a steppuppy that likes to rip the heads off drug dealers." She let out a tiny smile but that tick was getting faster. "So, he'll be here in about six months. Do you have a doc you like out there?"

"No," she said in a scary state of calm. "I'll go check on the poor little guy myself to make sure nothing gets out." She stood up. "Anything I should be aware of?"

"Sam Carter hacked. NID knows about him. That project was part them and part NSA. They've got a contract on his life." She growled. He smirked. "Exactly. That's why me and the overprotective SEAL are handling him. I'm technically his godfather and the SEAL's father served with the kid's original father."

"As long as they're good, or at least better than his last one, GOOD!" She stomped off. She had some things she had to gather. The general even let her beam over when she told him she was going to. She appeared in the office, staring at the boy.

"Not Thor," he said. "Prettier than Thor though."

She smiled. "Thank you, Xander." He scowled. She squatted down in front of him. "I'm Doctor Janet. I work with General Jack O'Neill. You know him?"

"That's his other custodian," Steve said from his seat in the corner looking at a file. He stared at her.

"I'm the head doctor on his nutball base," she said with a smile. "He wanted me to check a fishy thing and a Thanksgiving present." Xander grimaced. "I know but it's best to make sure you're not in pain or in danger of breaking out in something huge that'd send you to the hospital and get the NID to find you."

"Not like that," Xander agreed. "Blood ouchie?"

"Small one." She found the tiny needle she had grabbed. "I have a butterfly. That'll hurt a lot less and I can do it on your leg. Then I have to check you over. We can do that in an office. Okay?" He grimaced but nodded. She picked him up. "I'm only mean if you're stubborn like Jack is, Xander. Him, I tend to threaten with the scary needles." She took her bag into the office, Steve following her. "Are you the overprotective SEAL O'Neill told me about?"

"I am. Steve McGarrett. This is my team and they know about him."

"Good." She smiled. "I'm still using a few classified things."

"I have a high security rating, ma'am."

"I figured you did." She sat Xander on the desk. "Let's start with the ouchy first." He grimaced but nodded. She found a vein right below his knee and tapped it to pull four vials then put that away and the needle into her portable sharps container. She pulled out a scanner. "Okay, hold still." She scanned him, reading what was going on.

"We so need one of those in the local ER for when we're hurt. It'd mean less time there," Steve quipped.

"Yes it would. Xander, how did you bruise a rib?" Xander shrugged. "Does it hurt?"

"Not pay attention to that shit."

She stared at him. "First, don't swear." He groaned and nodded, looking down. "Little boys of your age don't get to swear." She kissed him on the head. "And secondly, it does matter and we do pay attention to that shit. Your new guardians? Much nicer than your old ones. Because if I catch them being that unobservant, I'll do an autopsy on their living bodies and enjoy every single second." He gaped. She smiled. "Little boys and girls have to be protected. That's why I'm a doctor." She tweaked his nose. "Let me do two more things. I'm going to listen to your chest. Then I'm going to look in your throat." He nodded. She did that. "Did you ever have your tonsils removed?"

"Appendix. No tonsils that I know of."

"Hmm. They're not there."

"Maybe a demon stole 'em," he muttered. "Or Willow did." Steve texted that at Jensen. "Who you asking?"

"Jensen."

"Tell him I said hi."

"I can do that." He added that on the end. A few minutes later Jensen wrote back. "She laughed and said she remembered doing her first surgery to remove your tonsils because you had a sore throat from post nasal drip."

"She was how old?" Janet demanded.

"Twelve."

"I should beat her ass."

"She stitchees nice," Xander said.

"Good. Still not appropriate for her to do." Xander snorted, shaking his head. "I saw. It's apparently been a long term issue with her common sense having been removed." She smiled and ruffled his hair. "You need a hair cut." He shrugged. She hugged him. "You're a good boy."

"Fishy?"

"The scanner won't tell me that. I'd need a different one and it's not down here."

"'Lantis?" Xander asked with a happy grin.

"It is. How did you hear about that?"

"Demons. Poker. Myths."

She smiled. "Sometimes we all think the people up there are mythical." She winked. "I'll tell this uncle and your uncle in Colorado what I find so they can tell you." He nodded and hopped off the desk. "Be careful of the twisted ankle," she ordered.

"How many things is he ignoring?" Steve asked politely. He knew doctors like her. She'd kill him for parts.

She showed him the screen. "Too many."

"I'm going to fly to Sunnydale and shoot someone," he decided. "If I can't beat them to death." He walked out there to pick Xander up and stand him on a chair. "We'll be wrapping that ankle. We'll be taping your ribs. We'll be making sure you eat better tonight so your insides quit hurting and you can have milk for lunch if it'll make your stomach less upset. Your older concussion is healing nicely and the newer one is better."

"Been weeks," Xander said.

"Yay," Steve said. "We take care of injuries here." He held up a finger at Danny. "Not one word." He looked at the baby again. "You're to tell us when you get injured. You're to let us help you handle them. There is nothing bad enough in Hawaii that you have to hide injuries." Xander hopped down and ran out.

"Too much too soon," Janet advised. "When you go from no contact to a lot of contact it can be overwhelming even if you're not dealing with a seriously screwed up situation like losing twenty years." She got beamed back to the medical lab.

Steve followed with Danny. "You can explain it better, right?"

"Yeah. As long as you take me with you when you go beat them to death."

"I can do that. Kono is a great sitter." They shared a look. Steve listened, finding where the boy was hiding. He couldn't get to him because he was inside an air vent. As he learned the layout of the building it'd get harder to find him. Right now he only knew what was on the path to the main doorway they used. And the bathroom he was presently inside the air vent of. Steve squatted down. "I didn't mean to upset you, Xander, but we can't let you stay hurt." Xander shifted further back into the darkness.

"Let me," Danny said, nodding him out of the way. He sat on the floor, staring in there. "C'mere. Let's talk about my daughter."

"No thanks."

"Yay. If I can't hide and sulk, neither can you." He got the air vent cover off and pulled him out by his leg, plunking the kid into his lap. "So, anyway, I have a brilliant daughter. She's eight, nearly nine. She's super smart and wise." Xander blinked up at him and slightly shrugged. "I don't want to introduce anything like demons to her but I want you two to get along. But to do that, I have to make sure you're not going to teach her the same bad habit you and Super Seal have of ignoring injuries. See, I'd kill if someone hurt my Gracie." He stared at him. "And you."

"No."

"Yeah, I would."

"No." Xander tried to move but Danny held him. "Ow."

"Nah, not hurting." He cuddled him. "Cuddling does not cause pain unless you have some sort of funky touch condition." He stared at him. "You tell us when you're hurt. We help you with that," he said quietly. "Okay?" Xander shook his head slowly.

"I know it's not the soldier way, Xander," Steve said. "We get injured, we have to keep going. Especially in a small team setting like you guys had." He took him from Danny to sit on the sink. The boy hissed. "What hurts there? She didn't say you had a booboo there."

Danny got up and looked down the back of Xander's pants. "Looks like he scraped himself pretty good getting in there." He looked at the boy. "You can help me protect Gracie but you cannot teach her how to ignore being in pain." Xander nodded he could agree to that. "And you gotta tell us so we can treat things. Because Sunnydale might not have had social workers but Hawaii sure as hell does." He stared at him. "Do you really wanna be in the system?"

"No," he said quietly.

"Then let us handle the big things, like injuries," Steve said. "When you're older, I'll make sure you get updated medic classes so you can home treat."

Xander shrugged. "I'm good."

"Yeah but there's stuff you probably haven't learned yet. The same as there's stuff I don't know." He smiled. "We'll learn it together."

"Long time," Xander said.

"Well, yeah, but you're not quite two yet so that means we've got sixteen years, Xander." Xander grimaced and shifted on the sink. "I know, it sucks being little." Xander gave him a dirty look so he grinned back. "I was little once."

"Now I'm little twice."

"Yeah, that's the sucky thing," Danny said, taking him from Steve. "C'mon, we'll slap some neosporin on that and wrap your ankle and your ribs. Then we'll see what happens for the rest of the day." He started to open the door but Xander sniffed and held it shut shaking his head. "No, what?" he asked quietly.

"Jackasses," he muttered. "Smells like Riley."

Steve smiled and moved Danny out of harm's way. "Lock it," he muttered. He walked out and heard the bathroom door lock as he headed for the office. "Can I help you people?" he asked, pretending to be nice about it.

"We have reason to believe that you know the whereabouts of a person wanted on a national terror warrant," one of the guys in suits said.

"Have we busted them? We are officers." He crossed his arms over his chest. Now he wished he had packed on more weapons today.

"No, I don't think he's come to your attention yet," the lead suit said smugly. "We're here to use your system to find him."

"Hmm. What's his name? Detective Sergeant Kelly is very good at finding people."

"We can do it," the flunky said.

"No, if it was legal you'd be at the federal building doing it," Steve shot back. The guy started to pull a weapon and lo and behold, they didn't do their homework. The last one standing was giving him a freaked out look. Steve smirked. "Yes, I'm Lieutenant Commander McGarrett, Reserve status SEAL." He stared at him. "You wanted *who*?" he demanded.

"We're NSA, Commander."

Steve shrugged. "Yay. If what you were doing is legal you'd be at the federal building."

"We just want this one terrorist."

Steve snickered. "Captain Finn, you might be an idiot who doesn't do his homework, but I've seen the Initiative files." The man went pale and backed up shaking his head. "Oh, yeah. Saw the *whole* thing that got found. Hell, I had a hacker go looking for more for me," he lied. Finn coughed. "So yeah, I don't care what you want or who you want unless it's a real terrorist. You going after someone from your old life, not worthy. Anything else you wanted to discuss?"

"We can have you removed," Finn offered.

"Sure, I'll go surfing." He smirked. "I could use a day off anyway. Chin, couldn't you use a day off?"

"Definitely. It's been weeks," Chin agreed.

"We just want Harris," Finn said again.

"And if I gave a damn about what you nutsuckers wanted, it'd be different," Danny said as he strolled in. "Because I don't. And by the way, even if we felt like helping you torturing sicko bastards, I still have ethics." He stared at him. "What makes you think he's out here?"

"A phone conversation with someone we have tapped."

"Yeah, she said she probably was," Steve said dryly. "Mostly because, oh my God, she's good at something and you guys have all but conscripted her. She wasn't even given a choice to not go military." He stared at him. "She also said you guys complained because her uterine cancer meant she couldn't breed for you. I hope like hell someone like O'Neill takes her in." Finn backed up looking scared. "Yeah, met with the general." He smirked. "In Texas no less." The soldier shook his head. "Special meeting." He smiled. "Now, get out of my office before I kill you."

"Since we saw what you used ta do, we're all for making sure you can't pass on any of those bad habits," Danny agreed. "Not like I'm nice enough to tell McGarrett to make it a quick one either. I'm thinking we should replay some of your people's greatest hits on you." The one on the floor hopped up. He went back down too when Danny punched him. "And stay down. You belong below the floor but we'll make an exception so we don't have to remodel for your sarcophagus." He stared at Finn. "I want you off this island now."

"We're NSA."

"And I'm the fucking tooth fairy," Steve quipped with an evil, cold smirk. "Watch me twinkle all over your soul." Finn shuddered.

"Can't we just have Xander?"

"No. Because it's wrong that you guys want to punish someone for sticking up and doing the right thing," Danny said. "For that matter, I'm pretty damn sure no one above you knows you're here." He looked at Chin. "Call someone?"

"Already on with the governor's assistant. He's making threatening phone calls and has the FBI on the line with him," Chin said. "They said we're to arrest them unless they fight back too hard and then Steve can use the shark cage again."

Danny smirked. "Way too nice for them." He stared at the one standing. "No way in hell you're getting anyone on this island, Finn."

"We have a warrant."

"It's not legal," Steve said. "And if it is, I'm going to start going higher and higher up the chain until I can complain to someone who can rip your balls off."

"You know, Xander was talking about how his ex liked that," Danny said with a grin for his buddy. "We should see why."

"I already know why." He smirked at Finn. More agents stomped in. "Who are you people?"

"FBI, Commander," one said, flashing his ID. "Can we have him?"

"No," Danny said. "Because I saw your picture on that film too." The agent gasped and backed up. "Like I'm stupid? I may be from Jersey but not all of us partied *that* hard. Nor do I spray tan." Chain stifled a snicker. "Pecker," he said.

"Perdecker," he corrected politely and calmly. "Can we have them all, Detective?"

"Sure! As long as you toss their bleeding asses somewhere they can be eaten."

"That's really more the CIA's job," Steve said. "I know a few though." He pulled out his phone to look through the contacts list.

"Please don't make this even worse," Agent Perdecker begged.

Then the bad thing happened. "Fuck, I thought you were a ninja," Danny complained, moving himself and Steve away from the demons that had just appeared. He grabbed the only good agent among them and moved him too. They all fell over the data table but yay. They weren't in the crossfire.

"Our master said you're evil and he will have the one he wants. Not even the evil that was your people will take him."

Steve looked over. "Xander said he'll kill himself first."

"That may be but it will not be that this slime will touch our master's wanted one."

"Steppuppies, attack," a tiny voice called. Three hellhounds rushed in and went for Finn and the demons. Steve got the other two agents winged and down. One of the demons ran for the door to try to catch him but Xander had a gun. It was a bit big in his hand but it was nice. Kono had nice weapons. He stared at the demon. "Think I'm too young?"

The demon backed up, shaking his head. "I will not stress you further, Wanted One."

"Bullshit. You tell him I don't want him. He comes near me and I'm blowing his ass up."

"I can pass along a more polite version of that message." He bowed and disappeared.

Xander ran off to hide again. Kono was outside calling in backup. Xander was going to hide like a mo-fo at the moment.

Steve came out of the office and looked around. "That won't save you," he called. "It really won't." He went back inside to call off the backup. The bad agents were now dog food. Really messy wet dog food. "I'm starting to think the kid needs a nice, normal pet."

Danny looked at him. "I doubt any of them are as protective as his steppuppies."

"No, probably not, but a normal one doesn't rip heads off. Or arms."

"Or a foot," Chin said with a point. "Though I think it came off a demon. Let me go get some air."

"Go find him," Steve said. "Earlier he was in the bathroom air vent. No telling where he is this time."

"Sure, that's getting air too. Then we can talk about normal people things." He walked off trying to hold down his breakfast. He found Kono scowling outside. "We've gotta find the sprout."

"He headed for the back exit this time. I barely saw his ungodly bright t-shirt as he rounded the far corner."

"Steve said he was in an air vent earlier."

"Yay." She followed him. "Think we'll get a day off for the trauma of this?"

"I think we'll get the day off so the cleaning crew can throw a hissy fit at all the mopping they've got to do." It was going to take a while to find Xander. They even locked down the building saying he had gotten away when the idiots who had invaded had shown up. One officer caught him sneaking out an hour later so that was nice of the kid.

***

"Governor," a reporter called. "What do you say about the stories of someone going around beheading criminals?"

"I say it's utter bullcrap," he said bluntly. "I haven't heard of any such incidences."

"There's been three in the news," another reporter at the statement said.

"I haven't seen any but I doubt it's a serial killer. Probably just some inner-gang squabbles or something." He looked where the reporters were staring, finding a slobbering, flame colored dog there with a head in its mouth. It was obviously happy with the way its tail was going. "What are you?" he demanded. It barked and put the head down then disappeared. "Um... I have no idea what that was." His guards were calling someone about the head. "If that's what caused that problem we'll be sure to have someone end it." The reporters all nodded and left. Those few who had gotten pictures of it put it around so everyone would know to be careful of it. It was clearly a dangerous animal. The governor looked at his assistant, who looked more shaky than he should be. "What?" he demanded.

"I've seen that thing. The baby that McGarrett was doing the artillery inventory for had it beside him," he said quietly. "His partner offered it Wo Fat."

The governor looked at the head then at him. "I'll talk to them."

"Watch out for that baby. It's clearly not a normal thing either, sir." He fled, going to hide in case the beast came back.

The governor got driven over to HQ. They were conveniently in from a case. "What in the name of the ancient gods is that dog thing?" he demanded as he stomped into their office.

"Xander calls the hellhound his steppuppy," Danny said, looking at him.

"You offered it a criminal?" he demanded.

"Him taking out Wo Fat's people means we get to arrest 'em easier while they're trying to figure out what's going on. She's only gotten two."

"Three. It dropped a head where I was giving a speech."

"The four days they were in Texas, the dog had a huge nest of heads from drug dealers," Steve said. The governor glared at him. "At least it's helping keep crime down."

"Not. Funny," he growled.

"Steppuppy?" Steve called. The dog showed up to stare at him. "Can you be a bit more discrete about how many bad guys you're eating? You're freaking out the normals." The dog barked and wagged her tail. "Thank you. Good girl. Some day I'll send you to some SEALS I know so you can eat terrorists." The dog let out a happy sounding growl. He grinned. "Jensen's whole team is back in Sunnydale dealing with a huge evil thing." She barked and rolled onto her back for belly scratches. He did that. The governor stomped off. He grinned. The dog barked and disappeared.

Chin looked at him then shook his head. "I don't want to know." He walked off shaking his head.

"Where is the kid today?" Kono asked.

"Home. He's got some injuries," Danny said. He looked at her. "How did he get your gun?"

"No idea," she admitted.

"Looks like he's already got ninja SEAL moves," Danny taunted with an evil smirk.

"He's got a good start but I can train the rest into him so whatever he wants to end up doing he'll be great at." He stood up and went back to his paperwork. Maybe having the dog eating Wo Fat's people would be good for their arrests.

Danny and Kono shared a smile then got back to work on their own paperwork.

***

Dr. Janet Fraser walked into General O'Neill's office with some papers. "I'm going to go destroy that town before more bad things get spread into the real world." She put down the papers. "It's not pretty."

He looked. "Is that like Sheppard's bug DNA?"

"Similar reactions at some levels but more attuned toward water than the faster/tougher thing it gave him," she said.

"So he'll be a hell of a swimmer?"

"Yes. Probably. Though I wouldn't encourage him to cheat by going professional with it." She flipped the page. "The other bloodwork results."

He read it over. "What's that?"

"Looks like it's something that eats red blood cells. I'm thinking if vampires are real, that's some of the virus. Probably because of a non-fatal bite. Can we get it out of his system? Yes. It'll take a few times but we can do that." Jack nodded and went over the rest. "I have no idea what to do about the other results."

"We tell the overprotective ones out there." He looked at her. "We keep it in mind for when he's back here."

"He told me that he knew about Atlantis," she offered.

"I have the feeling Sheppard would be the world's most spoiling uncle but McKay would freak, Doc."

She grinned. "It'll do him good to have Rodney and Daniel both over his educational needs."

"McGarrett said he's a hands-on learner and he said the kid told him he hated school."

She considered that. "That's easily worked around." She smirked. "Any other big problems?"

"Did you get to meet his steppuppy?"

"No but I've been watching the news out there. They've got something ripping the heads off their cartel people."

"That would probably be his steppuppy."

"Think it'd like wraith or ori?" she quipped.

"I don't know. I'll ask when he comes out here for my turn."

"Sure." She took the papers. "Let me shred these."

"I need to let McGarrett see them."

"Unless you beam him here, I don't want this getting out into even our hands, General. There's too many that gossip with Area 51's people. Since the NID still want him...."

"Good point." He considered it and called McGarrett. "Bored? Could use you for a minute. Thanks." He tapped his earpiece and got the ship to beam him. Doctor Fraser had slipped him a dot of the marking liquid they all used to tell them from everyone else. McGarrett appeared, looking around and then up. Jack grinned. "It's a nifty thing."

"Huh. Land-based?"

"No, and you have to have targets marked."

"Damn. I could definitely use that for extractions." The doctor handed the forms over. He read them. "Okay, so no swim team when he's older." He turned the page. "Shit."

"That's apparently the vampire virus." She smiled and pointed. "He's not got a bad antigen count, even for his weight."

Steve nodded, folding them and handing them back. "Can we weed any of that down?"

"The vampire virus, yes. Probably. The rest? I have no idea. I'm not actually a virologist and if I tell someone about this, they'll want samples."

"Considering we had some supposed NSA people who had tapped a friend's phone invading the office, that's probably not a good idea." He handed them back. "Any precautions if he gets scraped up?"

"Probably not transmittable. I'll see if there's anyone I trust with this information who can tell me how to go about lowering both of those." She smiled. "How is he healing?"

"He's hiding from us." She rolled her eyes. "Even at the house."

"Do we think his present guardian is not paying enough attention?" Jack asked casually.

"I do," Steve admitted. "But I think if we set him up with someone more strict it'd probably freak him out more. When we told him we were going to take care of the injuries, he ran and hid in an air vent in the bathroom." Jack growled. "By his journal, he used to run the town without supervision, and Jensen's email last night said that his parents were unfortunately still alive. Drunk but alive."

"Greatness," Jack growled. "So we're slowly moving him back toward where normal kids would be used to?

"I doubt we'll ever have a firm grasp on him the way you would most kids his age, General. I think he'd probably try to run from it."

"Probably."

"We're doing good getting him used to usual things, like bandaids being applied by other people."

Janet nodded. "He didn't seem to realize that others would do that. Did Jensen talk to that Willow girl? The one who took out his tonsils when they were twelve?"

"Excuse me?" Jack demanded. She nodded. "How in the hell!"

"Xander said she used to stitch him up too. She learned to play doctor out of her mom's textbooks," Steve said then smirked. "I told Jensen that. He said unfortunately she's important to the battle. Afterward.... Well, we're not sure, sir."

Jack nodded once. "Fuck it, she can go to jail for it," he decided.

"Can't charge her. The police out there haven't come out to answer any calls for the last few days according to that team." He grinned. "They've been in there filing reports about dead bodies that were supposedly eaten by animals again."

"That's stupid, it would be evident," Janet complained.

Steve nodded. "They have a fairly significant minority of bodies that are killed by barbeque forks, Doctor Fraser. They attribute about five to ten percent, depending on the year, killed by them." Her mouth fell open. "Plus a few percent that were killed by chainsaws in the house. About thirty percent of the deaths are attributed to either animal attacks or gangs on PCP."

"That town needs to be shut down," Jack decided, picking up the special red phone on his desk. "Sir, O'Neill. We've gotta talk. No, it's important."

"Jensen said it'll be about a week before the big thing happens," Steve offered with a smile.

Jack snorted. "Can we stop it otherwise?"

"No. The battle's going inside the hellmouth."

O'Neill listened to the spluttering going on over the phone. "Yes, sir, that town. Well, there's a huge situation that you are not aware of beyond all that mess out there. Yes, sir, an hour would be fine." He hung up. "Let him take something for his upcoming headache and give it time to kick in." He smiled. "Want to attend, McGarrett?"

"No, I'm fighting off the asshole governor who hates his steppuppy." He smiled. "Ate three of our major cartel's people."

"Wonderful!" Janet said, walking off shaking her head. "Let me know if he gets injured more than usual, McGarrett."

"Yes, Doctor Fraser." He looked at the general. "Have fun with the president, sir."

"Yup, sure will," he said dryly. "Go home." He had him sent back to the office. Jack got beamed to the White House once he had the journal pages and a few other things. The president was not looking happy to see him already. "I can wait, sir." He sat down and went over a few of the other files that needed to be included. Finally the president's personal assistant left the office and told him to go in. He would not wonder where she had been since he hadn't seen her when he had nearly walked in. "Sir." He saluted.

"You only salute when I'm going to vomit, O'Neill."

"Yes, you probably will. I nearly did." He laid down the files. "I'm not sure how aware you are of some of the back history so I'm being inclusive."

The president looked at the files then nodded, looking at him. "Why is this important?"

Jack put down a single file. "One of the things out there changed this one into a baby. He's my godson so I'll have partial custody."

The president read it, grimacing. "Charming. I saw him mentioned before."

"The NSA has a price on his head to capture at all costs thanks to that."

"Even more charming," he sneered. "Anything else we should know?" Jack put down the journal pages. "What's this?"

"His journal from right after he started helping Miss Summers. Right now, his step-uncle's team is out there taking his place in the battle they're about to have. I'm sharing custody with him and the son of the kid's father's friend from the service. By the way, he's got all the weapons right now."

The president read it slowly. "Translated by Doctor Jackson?"

"Yes, sir. McGarrett used an online one. I pissed Daniel off. He wanted me to find the boy and bring him back full time but as you know we're about to have a battle."

"I heard." He kept reading. He paused and looked up. "Fish?"

"Found, Doctor Fraser is looking it over."

"Okay." He kept going. "What bitches," he muttered.

"We're of the opinion that a certain one of that pair is excessive in her addiction to her skills."

The president nodded and kept going. "This sucks, O'Neill. How old is he?"

"He's supposed to be about eight. He's presently just under two." He smiled. "He's cute. If you've heard something about the beheaded criminals in Hawaii it's his steppuppy."

"His what?"

"His steppuppy. His hellhound that adores him. He said she's like a mommy to him."

"Huh," the president said, taking some more antacid before burping. "Damn that hurt."

"It's going to make you scream in a few, sir." Jack sat down.

The president went back to reading and sure enough he got up to pace and rant about things. "How dare we do this!" he shouted.

"If that's the Initiative? That's the same people that the NSA sent to retrieve the kid."

"Like hell!" he shouted. He went back to reading. "I'll deal with them in a few minutes." He was still pacing but paused and looked at him. "Tell me she can't find them," he said quietly.

"She can. She's searching for someone she trusts to talk to about weeding it down."

"I can understand that. She's a very careful doctor and woman." He slumped back into his chair, finishing the journal. He looked at O'Neill. "What happened?"

"Anya. His girlfriend. She got prompted to wish him gone."

"Who is his step-uncle?"

"Corporal Jensen. Delta. His whole Army team is out there now to take Xander's place."

The president looked him up. "Good service record," he admitted. "What's this note?"

"They found a traitor that was going to use them as a scapegoat and kill them while trashing them."

"Huh." He made a note of that name and file number so he could get that sent to him. He kept looking. "Who has the baby?"

"McGarrett. SEAL on reserve status."

"I've heard of that mess," he admitted, taking down that name. He looked at his general. "Are you going to need to step down to help him?"

"McGarrett and I are switching custody of him, sir. We're each taking about six months. Right now, he's trying to get Xander to accept that he's going to be fussed over, we're going to baby any injuries, and that we'll protect him."

"Figures." He clenched his hands on top of the papers. "What sort of problems are you foreseeing?"

"Not a lot yet. You needed to know that they're coming up on a battle out there. Which Jensen thinks will do something major to the town by what he's heard out there." The president nodded. "He said a few of the beings out there were worried that the town would be shut down for this one."

"Good to know. I'll warn the governor out there," he said calmly. "Anything else I need to hear about?"

"We know the kid had some intelligence network ties. He heard about Atlantis. Janet said he called it mythical."

The president winced. "How?"

"He was apparently playing poker with some of the harmless demons, sir. That's how he has a warehouse full of artillery."

"Charming," he mouthed. "Where?"

"Hawaii." Jack smiled. "McGarrett is most appreciative since it means he doesn't have to fill out forms, even if Xander is adamant that he's replacing anything he uses."

"So we have three fucked up situations tied together with one that's an even bigger fucked up situation," the president said. Jack grinned and nodded, looking happy. "Are you going to be okay splitting custody?"

"Yes, sir, and if Sheppard or McKay are down here, I'm going to introduce them because Sheppard and Harris sound a lot alike."

"They do," he agreed. "Your Doctor Jackson?"

"I'm going to have him planning the kid's education. He still has most of his memories."

"Even better," the president said calmly. "Home school." He looked at the folder on top then at the general. "Thank you for giving me heartburn."

"You can't react to a town going boom if you don't know in advance," Jack said dryly, taking the folders back. "Can and will you intervene with the NSA pussbags?"

"I can and will. As well as the NID ones since some apparently went there." Jack grinned. "They invaded?"

"Yes. McGarrett sent me an email that night. Apparently they started to muscle their way into getting the boy and then demons showed up to protect the baby for the demon that *really* wants the kid. To save the SEAL and his teammates, Xander sent in three hellhounds then went to hide some more before someone else fussed or yelled."

The president considered that. "The NSA people?"

"McGarrett said they mostly lived. Two didn't. The demons did not. Apparently the judge was forced into handing them back to their agency of idiocy."

"Wonderful. I'll talk with them in a minute. Is he protected?"

"Yes. A lot."

"Even better. Thank you for the headache, General." Jack saluted with a smile and left with the journal and most of the files. The president got that associated file sent to him and called up the head of the NSA to see why he had taken in those blights in uniform from the Initiative. He looked up as his guard walked in. "Bring me everything we have on Sunnydale, California."

"Sunnydale?" he asked, starting to look nervous. "Why, sir?"

"I just got told they're about to have a battle that may impact the town remaining open." The guard winced. "Tell me, what do you know about the town?"

"I cannot talk about that, sir. We were told at the inquest that the matter was sealed as a matter of national security."

"I'm the president."

"Yes, sir, but even you can't get those files open." The president gave him a look. "Sir, they won't let you." He walked off. "I'll see what I can find you that's not involved in that mess, sir." He left the White House and went home. He had some papers he had to write out and then he had to commit suicide before the president found out what had happened. There was no way he wanted his former teammates to take him out. They might get his new wife.

***

The president called O'Neill later that night. "It went deeper than you thought, O'Neill. The child is still in danger. Bring me the files," he warned then hung up. He had to take some of his own precautions since two of his guards were now dead by someone trying to kill him and one by his own hand. The Secret Service was having a melt-down. He called the head in. Jack O'Neill got sent back and handed them over again. "Sit, it'll piss you off." The man sat, his lips pressed together in a thin line. He took the files to look over. "It's important and all intertwined."

The director nodded and read over everything. He set aside a few things he wanted to ask about. He finally got done and looked at the president. "The person who this journal belonged to?"

"Got changed. He's nineteen months," Jack said. "With most of his memories."

The man nodded. "Why are they coming to light now, sir?"

"I asked him to stop the NSA since they've got a price on the kid's head and tried to grab him," Jack said.

"I asked for the files we had on Sunnydale," the president said. "One of my guards committed suicide and then I nearly got assassinated."

The head of the Secret Service nodded. "What's going on out there?"

"A battle in a few weeks," Jack said. "We have a team from the Army out there to fill in for the kid. His step-uncle. That's how we found out about the deaging and the cluster fuck."

The director nodded, standing up. "Has anyone over there said anything yet, sir?"

"No, they haven't. Though I believe Jack might know about the person who shot at us." He handed over the pictures from the security system.

Jack looked. "NID." He handed it back and took the keyboard to type in a name so the president could look it up. "We fired him for being a dick who wanted to torture natives for information." The director of the Secret Service gave him a pointed look. "I head an eyes-only project out of Cheyenne," he told him. "Only the president and a few others have access to our files. We've tangled with their group in the past when they wanted to take some of my people in for *testing*."

"Including you," the president said.

"Yes, including me."

The director huffed. "I've heard rumors about a geek project out there."

"We do have a lot of them and a lot of Marines and Air Force people," Jack admitted. "We need 'em."

The president nodded. "And more than you have usually." He looked up from reading that file. "He's supposedly been dead twice."

"So either a shiny box or he's covert," Jack said.

"Shiny box at least once," the president said. He let him see it.

Jack read and grimaced. "Yay," he muttered. He stepped back. "Sir, you should go somewhere a lot more protected."

"The White House has a lot of protected areas," the director complained.

Jack looked at him. "We have space ships, Director. They have covert agents that we haven't been able to find yet." The director gaped then looked at the president, who nodded. "Permission to read him in, sir?"

"Granted." He called upstairs to his wife. "Pack us a bag, dear. We're going on a short safe trip." He hung up. "Maybe I'll go check on the boy in Hawaii."

"If you want, sir," Jack agreed. "It's a pretty state." He pulled the director aside to talk about what he did and how. The guy was muttering curse words by the time he got halfway through. It was almost sweet how flustered the director got about the stargate program. Jack looked around. Something felt off. "Sir, let's move you," he ordered. "Something's wrong." The president nodded, grabbing a few things and a picture off his desk, taking them with him. They got to the hallway and the doors behind the desk blew apart. The glass tinkled on the antique carpet.

"That wasn't a laser," Jack said. "That was a ship's gun." He got them beamed back to the mountain, and his wife and children too. Even the one that had been on a date with her college boyfriend. She appeared mid-kiss goodnight - fortunately still dressed. The president cleared his throat and she squeaked, looking around. Jack smiled. "Welcome to Cheyenne Mountain, Miss. Your father was just almost shot." She nodded and followed along with what they were doing. Jack made sure the president's family had extra guards. The base could still be invaded.

***

Xander blinked awake, looking up at the roof of his hiding spot. "That's going to suck," he muttered, calling out mentally for Halfrek. She appeared and squeaked then started to call protection down for the house. The nanny rushed in and Halfrek gave orders. Xander crawled out of his spot. He had a few in the house. "Go where?" he asked.

"Go to the warehouse. I have it shielded already, Xander. Who is this?"

"Dweebs from mil." He took his guardian with him. She had to drive. He couldn't. It was too far to sneak.

"What woke you?" his guardian asked as she backed the car down the driveway.

He shrugged. "Vision." She nodded, accepting that. He concentrated on his contacts. Two were getting pissed off. He thought at one of them and that one told the other one. They would be fixing that problem. Permanently. Demons in space was weird but helpful this time.

***

Jack O'Neill looked up as the alarm started. "What now?" he complained. He called the ships. "What happened now?" He heard the rapid report. "No, if they're not generally attacking, let them capture whoever and have him sent to me with them. Beam them against their wills to the gateroom. I think they're protecting us." He hung up and got soldiers ready. Two units should be enough. The director of the Secret Service was watching from the gateroom. The demons and their captives got beamed in. "Gentlemen, I'm Xander's other guardian." One flinched and bowed slightly. "Is this all of them?"

"No," one grunted. "Two others. Hiding well down here." He summoned them and let them land in a heap with the ones they had captured. "No one touches the boy."

Jack smiled. "I'd love for none of you to have to go near him at all to protect him. If you have to, you let me know or McGarrett know?" The demons grunted and fled. He looked at the people on the floor. "Confine them. Get the docs to check for symbiots." The guards nodded and took them to the brig. Jack relaxed, calling out there. "We just stopped an attack on the kid I think." He hung up and went to oversee the checks. Sure enough, symbiots. "Great, what does the Trust want with them?" he demanded.

"We'll ask once they're no longer snaked, General," Janet said calmly and quietly. The colonel in charge of the ship the demons had invaded stomped their way. "Relax, Colonel Ellis. These people were snaked."

"What was that?" he demanded to O'Neill. "Some *beings* just appeared and took out some of my people."

"They're probably the same ones that fired on the White House earlier," Jack said bluntly. Ellis whimpered and shook his head. "Yeah. Help us get them unsnaked and we can interrogate." Ellis nodded, getting the doctor more staff to help her. This was insane.

***

McGarrett walked into the warehouse at the ass crack of dawn the next morning, looking at the pacing boy. "It's all good. Whatever demons helped last night got the ones that were going to attack you and the president. Apparently O'Neill told him about Sunnydale and they became unhinged." Xander nodded, stopping his pacing. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he said, looking around then at him. "Missing stuff."

"We moved some of it to the house." Xander pointed. The weapons were in a smaller stack. "That's not good. Any idea?" Xander shook his head. "Crap." He called in the others to search for them. Someone had to have it. The tentacle gun was part of it, and it was easier to track. It wasn't really a tactical weapon to use in the field. Anyone who saw it in action would freak out at the tentacles. It was only a few hours later that they got to run a raid on the governor's assistant. The guy was trying to figure out how to use the tentacle gun. Steve took it from him and used it to destroy the guy's car. The gun got happy reloading itself. The man shuddered and backed off. Steve stared him down. "It won't save you. You still stole from the kid."

"He doesn't need it," he sneered. "Nor do you."

Danny snorted. "You're so wrong about that. Especially since we got special notice last night that the same people who tried for the president wanted the kid." The man shuddered and started to stomp off but Kono slammed him onto the ground to cuff him. "Where's the rest of it?" Danny demanded.

"It's safely put up for destruction," he sneered.

Steve called the SWAT team to find out if they had it. That was their job. They didn't. "No, it's not." He hung up. They searched his office, finding the wire transfer confirmation he had printed. "He sold it."

"We can get it back and arrest them too," Chin said. He settled in behind the man's computer to look up that contact. It was nicely still here in the city. The shipment was waiting to be cleared for sailing out. They rushed over to grab the new bad guys. Regular HPD could finish the assistant's arrest. They found the weapons and rescued them.

Kono looked. "One's the special one." She looked around. "No one looks like a demon."

"A tenth of all the species look human," Steve said, staring around. He glared at someone who frantically shook his head and pointed. "You'd better have a very good explanation."

"We want to take out the same Higher," the demon defended.

"We'll get him for you." They dragged everyone back to the station to be arrested formally and booked. The weapons went back to the warehouse. They were only missing one thing by the inventory Xander was doing. That one had been used though so they were okay with that loss. Xander was happier. Even if Danny was staring at the kid in a way that usually meant he was using his detective skills. Steve nudged Danny and gave him a pointed look. Danny flashed a hand-code sign for 'stay'. He watched as his partner strolled over.

"Xander?" Danny asked quietly. Xander blinked up at him. "What happened to your back?"

Xander blinked a few times then shook his head. "Nothing?"

"Bullshit." He picked the kid up and put him on top of an artillery case that was too high for him to jump off safely. He took the t-shirt off him in one swift move. Xander flinched. He turned him around, staring at the marks. "Did something claw you?"

"I got itchy last night," Xander said, trying to look back there. Kono got a mirror out of the car that they used to check for bombs. Xander looked and grimaced. "What did that?"

"You didn't feel that at all?" Danny asked cautiously.

"No. I was a bit itchy. I scratched on a corner of my room."

"No, that's not I scratched too hard." He looked at them more closely. "There's fur in them."

"I'm not a werewolf," Xander complained.

"Didn't think you were. What about the dogs? Could they have gotten too friendly?"

"No, they'd burn." He sucked on his bottom lip. "I don't know."

"How can you not feel yourself being scratched?" Chin asked.

"After a while, the little injuries get no notice," Steve said. "It's a bad sign for your reactions and how injured you've become." He looked at him, going to get the first aid kit. He came back to smooth some anti-itch cream over the sores, getting a sigh of pleasure. "That's not scratches and I think the fur is incidental." He looked at them. "That's flea bites." Danny groaned. So did the kid. Steve smiled. "No wonder you itched."

"I not played with anything that had fleas."

"Grass fleas."

"Oh." He shrugged. "Thanks."

"Welcome." Steve let him have his shirt back. "How's your rib?"

"It's fine."

"Uh-huh." He ruffled his hair. "We're going to trim that mess."

"Sure." He looked down and started to move but Steve put him back onto the floor, getting a grin back.

"No twinkies for breakfast, mini man."

"Fine. They're at home anyway." Halfrek appeared. "It fixed?"

"Yup. The one that prompted the attack is very sorry. Stupid Initiative people."

"Did Buffy date?" Xander quipped.

"No, thankfully not this one." She smiled and patted him on the head. "What is that?"

"Fleas?" Steve guessed. "His back's eaten up by flea bites."

She looked and then at him. "Gotta be careful of that." She smiled and winked. "O'Neill actually used the demons that I sent to attack the ones trying to capture you to get the bad guys for us."

"Wow."

"Without hurting them."

"Bigger wow." Xander grinned. "He's good."

"He's very good." She winked. "Go rest."

"Not sleepy." He gave her a manic grin and cackled, bouncing off to play with something.

Halfrek looked then at McGarrett. "That's his needing a nap sound." She disappeared.

Danny nodded. "I did that a few times when I haven't slept in days." He caught the kid and held him.

"Hey!" Xander complained.

"Shut up," Danny said with a fond smile at the kid. Xander snorted. "C'mon, we'll look at some of the other boxes to see what's in there." He took him to do something more sedate. The boy was tired. He was trying to relax. "I'm not going to drop you," he said quietly.

"I know." He looked in the box. "I have no idea."

Danny laughed, helping him dig in the straw. "Huh."

"Oh, 'nades!" He nodded with a grin. "Nice 'nades."

"Yeah, I'm sure they are," Steve agreed, coming over to look. "These weren't on your inventory."

Xander shrugged and yawned. "Didn't know I had."

"We'll find out where they came from to make sure the dogs didn't steal them." Xander grinned and nodded. He dug out the others to make sure they were all secure and that the kid's new collection of toys weren't something too unusual. He would also make sure that they did not sit in his car's glove box or trunk, ever.

***

Xander looked at the daycare then at his caregiver, shaking his head. "No thanks."

"Tough. I can't leave you home alone when I go grocery shopping, Xander."

"No."

"Yes." She gave him a nudge inside the play room. "Go sit and play with blocks or something."

"No."

"Now," she insisted. "Halfrek said it was a good thing."

"Torture is wrong," he reminded her.

"It's not torture. Go play." She pointed then walked off.

He glared at her back, growling slightly. The room worker came over to see if he was all right but he stomped off. He had to go to the bathroom anyway. Better there than in a diaper. That was something he'd be ending soon. While in there, he found a window. It wasn't easily reached but he could climb some. He got up onto the toilet and checked. Locked. He found something on the sink to hit the latch with.

Someone knocked. "Are you all right, Xander? Do you need cleaned up?" a kindly female voice asked.

"Fine. Pooping."

"All right. Let us know when you're done so we can help you clean up."

"Okay." He shook his head because that was *not* happening. No one was wiping his butt and he was not playing with *babies*. He tapped the latch a few times until it popped up. Thankfully it wasn't one of those that you had to bend to get off the hook ledge. He climbed out and looked down. Long jump. He winced but jumped. His bad ankle twinged really hard but he didn't care. He strolled off looking like he was going to play. Someone slowed down to stare at him and he realized he was too little to be let out alone so he ran to hide in some shadows and moved more carefully.

He hated being this age. If he was older it'd be much easier. He had memorized the way here so he traced it in reverse, kind of. There had been a few big intersections so he had to use a smaller one and divert back. He hoped it worked. If not, he'd ask for some help. Demonic help, not human that would call the cops to come get his wandering, underage butt.

He finally found the street he lived on and ran to the house and up to his room to hide and relax. He was not going to daycare ever again!

***

McGarrett called O'Neill and Jensen on a joint video call. "The kid is real good at sneaking. Fair warning."

"What did he sneak away from?" Jack asked.

"Daycare." Jensen snickered, shaking his head. "Over a mile back to the house and it took his caregiver an hour to find where he was hiding in the house. By the way, he nearly fractured an ankle while escaping."

"Wonderful," Jensen said. "He good otherwise?"

"Grounded. If he had called, we would've come to pick him up and make sure he wasn't hurt or lost. Instead the daycare called when it couldn't get his caregiver."

Jack winced. "That's not good. No missing kid alerts?"

"No. I told her I'd set one up if I didn't catch him on his way home." He looked behind himself then at O'Neill. "I have no idea what to do about this shit. I'm not a parent. Even my partner, who is a parent, has no idea what to do about this shit without yelling at him."

"That might hurt him more," Jack agreed. "He does have to get it through his tiny skull that he's little."

"He knows but sometimes he seems to forget. He said it would've been easier if he was older," Steve said dryly.

Jensen nodded. "Probably. I made it about six miles when I was five." They both stared at him. He smiled. "I didn't want to visit that aunt at all."

"It's good to know that he gets it naturally," Jack said. He rubbed one eyebrow. "Any other traumas we should know about?"

"Right now, we're arguing over the grenades someone gave him. My partner hates that sometimes they end up in his car's glovebox."

"Grenades don't belong in a glovebox," Jack agreed.

"They belong on a utility belt," Jensen quipped with a grin.

"I don't usually have my vest. Just cargos," Steve said dryly. "You can't sit on them so I put them in the glovebox with extra ammo."

"I'd worry about that too," Jack said dryly. "Especially with the heat you guys get." He gave him a pointed look. "Buying a new car is expensive and most insurance policies don't cover 'blown up accidentally by the grenade in the glovebox'."

"Whatever. How do we counter the whole running away thing?"

"He probably didn't want to go play with real little kids," Jensen said. "I'd hate that. I adore kids but a roomful of them would finish off what sanity my team hasn't killed."

"That's about what he said. He wasn't a baby and didn't want to play with babies," Steve said. "Sometimes his caretaker needs to go grocery shopping."

"I took my former son," Jack said quietly.

"She thought he might have a problem." Jack shook his head. "I pointed that out. She said she wanted some non-kid time. So we had a talk about how he was in the backyard most of the day and she was inside reading." Jack growled. Steve nodded. "It'll get better. She knows he needs some structure or he'll run everyone ragged. Danny's done good getting him to quit swearing."

"That's good," Jensen agreed. "Though yeah that probably came from my side of the family too. No, Pooch, you have to fucking wait. I'm talking to Jack and Steve about the kid." He turned back to face the camera. "Anyway. We'll get a few days off for healing probably after this." Steve grinned. "It's not pretty. Tell him his friends miss him. They do not like Clay's methods."

"Figures," Jack agreed. "Teenage girls wouldn't like the commando method of battles."

"They went shoe shopping yesterday and he threw a fit," Jensen said with a smirk. He waved and hung up.

Jack and Steve looked at each other once the screen had adjusted. "Can we get him a better caretaker?"

"I think if she's too strict she'll end up scaring him."

"Probably," Jack said. "But there's still gotta be rules for his own safety."

"I pointed that out. Danny did as well at the top of his lungs. She tried to huff off but Xander pounced Danny and got him calmed down slightly. His ex-wife is going to start fussing over Xander too. Apparently he told her about a case he had back in New Jersey that Halfrek had caused."

"That's probably not a pretty thing to see." Jack shifted and grimaced then let it clear up. "Need Doc to come see his ankle?"

"We taped it. He even admitted it hurt without prompting when we asked."

"Good! That's a great sign. Send him my way in a few months. We'll be in spring so it won't be an adjustment to the cold winter weather." Steve smiled and nodded. "And I'll have some of my people back to introduce him to." He hung up, leaning back in his desk chair to consider things.

And this is as far as i've gotten on this. vo.

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