This is an attempt on my part to fix the stunning dismissal of Jonas Quinn from the SG multiverse. An ensemble story is very difficult to write and since in my little SG world there is no way Daniel would go back to Kelowna, this chapter is just to set all of that up and pare down the number of characters involved with the rescue of Jonas Quinn. It exists in my Sunshine and Shadow/Moonlight and Steel AU but I have been constantly encouraged to make it a stand-alone story for the Jonas Quinn fans. Sunshine and Shadow readers lived through Daniel's first death and Ascension with Jillian (his wife in that series) and will understand her reaction. At this point in that series they have a son named Jonathan Daniel.

Sam and Jack are also in an established but still clandestine relationship. This turned into a pretty kick-ass Sam & Vala adventure when it was done.

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The voice of Chief Harriman was still insistently paging Daniel to his office over the base intercom system as Daniel was exiting the elevator.

"All right, all right," he growled under his breath as he walked more quickly. He checked his phone one more time because if something was wrong with Jillian surely someone would have texted him about it and he wouldn't be getting paged to his own office.

He rounded the corner into the office with a thousand questions all wanting to tumble out at the same time. But they all died unasked when he saw who was waiting for him.

Cameron, Sam, and Teal'c, and seated in the chair at the desk was Jack O'Neill.

Daniel stumbled to a halt.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He spoke as if no one else was in the room and it was obvious that it was directed at Jack.

"Waiting for you apparently. Where were you?"

"On my way home. I was almost in the elevator. How did you get here?"

"Asgard beam," Jack answered. "As to why I'm here, come in and close the door."

Daniel felt a small thrill of alarm as he pushed the door closed with a decisive click. He walked over to his desk and had a short and silent confrontation with Jack over the chair. When Jack didn't get up, Daniel sighed in frustration and hopped up on the table. "So what's up?"

"We heard from SG-23," Jack said.

Sam straightened on the stool at the table. "The team you sent to Langara to search for Jonas," she said.

"Yep."

"What did they find?"

Jack sat back in the chair and rocked it for a moment. "Nothing," he said.

"Nothing?" Sam repeated.

"Oh, they found the Ori. They've pretty much taken over. There are pockets of resistance, but nothing that's making much of a dent yet. What they did not find was Jonas Quinn, or any sign of him."

"His locator beacon," Teal'c began but Jack shook his head.

"No sign of it," he repeated. "Either he doesn't want to be found or he isn't on Langara anymore."

"You're sure?" Daniel asked skeptically.

"SG-23 is the best at what they do, Daniel."

"What exactly is it that they do, Jack?"

Jack refused to answer, just stared hard enough for long enough that Daniel decided to drop it.

"Could he have Gated off-world?" Sam asked.

"It's possible. Twenty Three wasn't authorized to go planetside. They were told to scan for him and see what they could find. There's not much on the public airwaves these days except for Ori propaganda and if he still has a radio he wouldn't – or couldn't – respond to it.

"And they didn't dare try to raise him on the radio too long or too often," Sam guessed.

"No," Jack admitted.

"So when are we leaving to go look for him?" Sam asked, urgently.

"I can't justify sending a team to look for one man who isn't even part of the program anymore, Carter," Jack answered.

"But we are going to look for him," Daniel said, peering at Jack over the top of his glasses.

"All I can do is authorize SG-1 for some serious downtime. You've all got more leave time saved than you ever use. What you do with that is up to you."

The four members of SG-1 exchanged meaningful looks.

"Can you get us an Al'kesh?" Cameron asked Teal'c.

The Jaffa flashed him a wolfish smile. "Indeed. One complete with weaponry, rings and cloaking technology."

"You don't have to go, Cam," Sam said. "You didn't even know Jonas."

"I read the reports. If the rest of SG-1 is going, I'm going," Cam answered. Since there didn't seem to be anyone inclined to argue with him he added, "And I think we should take Vala. This is the kind of thing she should be good at. She can fly an Al'kesh, for one thing."

No one seemed inclined to argue with that either, though all of them looked at Jack, who shrugged and stood up. "If you think she'll help, take her along."

"What about weapons? We can't leave the base with P90s," Sam pointed out.

"We can beam out with them though," Cameron said. Then he looked at Jack for permission.

"Let me know what you need," O'Neill said. "Oh, and make sure you let me know when you're ready to leave."

"Why?" Sam asked, suddenly suspicious.

Jack grinned a little bit. "Because I'm coming too."

Before any of them could react in any way but stunned silence, a light engulfed Jack. It briefly blinded all of them and when it was gone, so was Jack.

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Daniel approached the subject of Jonas very cautiously that night, in his home, after his son had fallen asleep for the night to a soft lullaby from his mother. Jillian joined him in the kitchen, where he was cleaning out the coffee maker and getting it ready for morning. She tried to help but he took the things out of her hands and set them on the sink and pulled her around to face him.

"What?" She asked, instantly alert that something was going on.

Very slowly, with his hands linked behind her back, Daniel told him about Jack's visit and what they were going to do. When he finished he waited. He had believed he was ready for her reaction and for her objections. He even had arguments planned and reassurances.

But nothing had prepared him for what Jillian did next. She stared at him for a moment and then her eyes filled with tears and she flung her arms around him.

"Don't," she whispered with her face pressed against his chest and her fists gripping handfuls of his shirt against his back. Her voice was fierce and filled with terror.

"Jill," he gasped her name, startled. His arms tightened around her automatically.

"Don't go there," she repeated. He had never heard her sound this way. Not ever. She had started to tremble as if she was feverish. "Please, Daniel. I have never asked you not to go on any mission. I've never stood in the way of anything you wanted to do, but I am begging you this time not to go. Not to Kelowna. Not there, anywhere but there."

There were few things that made Daniel speechless, but this did. He braced his feet to bring her in closer, tightened his hold on her and bent his head into hers. "Jill-"

"Daniel," she cut him off, "Just please don't. You weren't here. You don't know what it was like. Jonas was here. He knows. He'll understand! Every time you go there - It's like, it's like Tegalus only worse. Jonas wouldn't ask this of you. He wouldn't ask it of me."

It was pretty clear to Daniel by this time that nothing he said was going to make any difference. She had told him once that he was like a star that had fallen into her hands and then she had been forced to put him back in the sky and it was the most painful thing she'd ever experienced.

"The team," he said, helplessly, "Sam, Teal'c-"

"They did just fine without you for fifteen months," she said, sharp as a knife. "I didn't. Daniel, please."

She was actually crying now, sobbing into his shirt in a way he had never seen. Unconsciously he had started rocking, the way he did when JD was upset beyond calming.

"Okay," he said, defeated, because god when Jillian cried he would do anything to make her stop. "All right. I won't. Jill, it's okay. I won't go."

It took a moment for what he was saying to penetrate. She took a deep, shaky breath and looked up at him.

"I don't want you to feel controlled. I would never do that to you," she still sounded so torn and miserable that it nearly broke his heart. "This isn't a cage, Daniel. This is your home and I'm your wife not your jailer-"

"Jill, stop. That's not how you're making me feel," he paused to wipe the tears from her cheek with his thumb and then cradled the side of her face in his palm, "I forget sometimes that it was you who endured those fifteen months. I don't even remember them; and you're right that Jonas wouldn't ask any of us to do this. I'm also an idiot who forgets sometimes how much you love me. You seem so strong all the time. So independent. I forget how fragile you can be when it comes to me. I'll tell the team I'm not going. You're right. You have never once asked me not to do something, no matter how dangerous. I can sit this one out. I can think of a dozen things I can be doing with downtime, including spending it with you and JD."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, turning her head to kiss the heel of his hand. "I don't want to hold you back, not ever. But I ..I…"

He pulled her close again and she pressed her face into his chest again. "It's all right," he said again. "You've been through something unique in the history of relationships and come out stronger."

"Not stronger," she said, looking up again and tossing her hair back, "Not stronger at all. The thought of losing you again brings me to my knees. I know that anything can happen to you out there. But there's something about Kelowna…. About Langara."

"I know that now," Daniel said, "I've always known it. Like I said, I'm just an idiot about some things."

"You're the most brilliant man I've ever met," she answered.

"Well, I did manage to marry you, so I'm not a complete idiot; and I've learned the nine most important words I ever need to say to you."

"Only nine in your vast multilingual vocabulary?" Jillian sniffed a little and tried a brave smile.

"Yes." He couldn't keep the emotional quaver out of his voice.

"And they are?"

"I love you," Daniel said, leaning down to sweetly kiss salt-tears from her cheek. "You are beautiful." He paused again to kiss her lips. "Please forgive me."

"Daniel," Jillian whispered. She reached up to put her arms around his neck and held him as if she would never let him go.

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