Settling In

 

 

Newly commissioned 2^nd Lt. Jonathan (call me Jon) O’Neill looked around his new quarters and grinned. He was off Earth and away from most of the factions that had wanted to dissect him to see how he had been made, and what he had been made of. More important to himself and his “father”, Danny was away from Earth. And he was still pretty much an unknown to the NID, the remaining factions of the Trust and parts of the new SGC. There had been several close calls over the years, with the various factions getting closer to discovering the secret as he and Daniel had aged and approached a point where they could legally rejoin the StarGate program.

One thing that he and his older counterpart had wholeheartedly agreed on was that the two clones needed to get off Earth as soon as possible. The need was even more urgent after Jack had been replaced as the head of HomeWorld Security. Jack had pulled a lot of strings to get Jon assigned to the Atlantis expedition, and the number of favors needed to get Danny included had been mind boggling. Jack had even had to dig out some of the favors that were owed to ‘Dr. Daniel Jackson Sr.’, and hadn’t that had raised a few eyebrows among those in the know.

Flopping backwards onto his brand new bed Jon closed his eyes and mentally pushed his Earth side worries away, his day had been busy enough without dwelling on old news. First up on the new list of worries was the way he was reacting to actually being on Atlantis. He had known, mainly through Jack, that once he was within the walls of the City that he would feel a strong connection with her. What he hadn’t anticipated, and Jack hadn’t bothered to mention, was the low hum filling his head and the burst of warmth that flowed into his soul. Given that the windows in his quarters were open and all that was coming through it was a cool breeze, it wasn’t the people living in the city that he was hearing and the last time he had felt anything like this was when Daniel had Ascended. So far the whole experience hadn’t been unpleasant, just startling and unusual. If it got any weirder he would go see the CMO (what was his name? Oh yeah, Beckett), and find out if any of the other gene carriers had experienced problems.

Number two on the new hit parade was his new CO, Lt. Colonel John Sheppard. Thanks again to the old man, he knew quite a bit about him that wasn’t in any official file plus what was in Sheppard’s official file. Jon hoped that he would never have to use that information, but it was better to be prepared, because there really wasn’t much he wouldn’t do to protect Danny. Sheppard had struck him as a decent enough commander and seemed to be one that Jon thought he could follow without too much trouble.

Wriggling back a bit further on the bed, Jon started to doze off. Just as he had settled in for a good nap, the chime to his door rang. Glancing over at the door, he concentrated and thought *open* at it. When it opened promptly, his face split in a grin that wouldn’t have been out of place on Huckleberry Finn.

Walking into the room was another young man, not as tall as O’Neill, but still taller than average. Wiry and bordering on thin with sandy brown hair, he carried himself like any of the soldiers moving through the hallways of Atlantis, and yet he wore the uniform of the science division. Glancing around the room, bright blue eyes settled on Jon and shaking his head, the young man said, “Napping already Jon? We haven’t even made it off world yet!”

Snorting out a laugh, Jon replied, “Hate to break it to you Danny, but we are off world. How are you? And where do they have you bunking down?”

“Funny thing, that.” said Danny. “My orientation email says my quarters are near the Archeo-Linguistics labs, but when I reported to the housing office they sent me here. So instead of being stuck with the other scientists by the labs I’m bunking in officer country. Specifically, right next door,” And gesturing to his left, he indicated their new common wall. “I wonder why that is? Any ideas?”

Shrugging at the question Jon stretched out again, enjoying the space after eighteen days aboard what amounted to a space going tin can. “Got me, Danny. I am just glad you are going to be within reach again. Hey! Think we can get someone to make us a door between the two rooms?”

“No. And don’t go asking Atlantis if she’ll make you one. If you really feel like we have to have a door there, check with Col. Sheppard or Dr. McKay to see if it is possible. Given that Sheppard has had the strongest natural gene here he might know, or McKay can build us one if you really feel it’s needed.” And with that, Danny sat down on the bench under Jon’s bay window. “So, did you manage to deliver your letter to Col. Sheppard?”

“Yeah, I did. He was rather surprised. I take it I don’t really look like Jack?” came the slightly muffled answer as Jon rolled off of his bed and started working on the unpacking he had been putting off.

“Yes and no, Jon. Jack has changed a lot in the last few years, especially since SG-1 went missing and he lost HomeWorld. Plus there are, what? Almost forty years between you two?” Watching Jon unpack, Danny asked, “Wanna come and help me sort my stuff out?”

“No. Not a hope in Netu. I am not going to help you unpack that mess you call your duffels and crates. How did you manage to get all your books shipped? And you’re right, Jack is thirty-eight years and a whole lotta miles older than this new me. Add white hair and the forty pounds difference in our weight, and I guess we don’t look all that alike. Huh.” And looking over at Danny, he wondered if the original Daniel would have had the same thoughts looking at his clone now.

Jack had all of Daniel’s stuff at his house in Minnesota now. Placed around the house, hanging on the walls, set on bookshelves and clustered on the mantle were pictures of SG-1, both individual and group shots. Ranging from times before they had joined the StarGate program to right before they had disappeared, those pictures were all that was left of almost fifteen years worth of memories. And in the middle of the fireplace mantle, right next to a picture of Charlie, was a picture of a young Daniel Jackson sitting on a camel in front of one of the great pyramids, placed next to that was his marriage bowl from Abydos. Jack was keeping them safe for Daniel, if he ever returned.

Thinking of that picture, Jon thought that Danny looked a whole lot like his original had at this age, just more muscular. This Daniel had gotten used to being in shape and when he found himself in a teenage body again, had decided he was going to skip the weedy stage and get back to being buff. If nothing else, the muscles helped when he had to haul loads of archeological supplies all over the place, so Jon wasn’t going to complain about it either. If it meant that Danny could keep up with the Marines and still do his job, then he was going to encourage it.

Stuffing his civvies into his new bureau, Jon looked over at Danny again. “Have you met with McKay yet? Or Dr. Weir?”

“No. The command staff was in a meeting that Weir called right before I went up to her office. I’ll try again after dinner. Wanna go with me?” asked Danny.

“Do I have too?” whined Jon. “You know I still hate meetings. And this one is likely to go on for hours!”

“Yes, you have to go. But we can at least grab some dinner before we enter the lions den,” and with that, Danny grabbed Jon’s arm and started dragging him away from his unpacking. “Let’s go! I am starving!”

Laughing at his friend and his enthusiasm, Jon walked out with him and with a thought, locked his room. He could get used to Atlantis. Indeed he could.