Chapter 2

Colonel Jack O'Neill, was putting on his coat to go start the truck, when Tobias reached over and grabbed his shoulder.

"Jack, there's someone outside," said Tobias.

O'Neill looked up, quickly walking over to the window where he gently lifted one of the vinyl slats in the blinds. Whatever he saw he must not have liked as he turned back to Jon, and Tobias with a grim expression.

"Stay here kids," Jack said.

Jon glared at him incredulously.

"I'm not arguing this, Jon. You know where the backup is," Jack said.

Jack reached under the seat and grabbed the box he kept his gun in. He slid the clip in place before attaching the holster to his belt.

Jack palmed the weapon he already had holstered and opened the cabin door.

Jack O'Neill inched away from the front door as quietly as possible darting over to the door to the truck and crouched to the side. The kids watching from the behind the blinds in the cabin. He stood there for a moment before ducking around the corner and pointing the gun into the truck bed.

The flatbed was empty, he lowered the weapon slightly, and stood walking over to the cab of the truck to peak through the window. Though it didn't look like anything had been disturbed. Turning to go back inside there was a flash of something from the treeline and a bolt of yellow hit the ground in front of the house kicking up chunks of dirt and gravel.

Jack steadied himself and fired once into the trees receiving another answering bolt of plasma which hit a chair on the porch next to the front door.

Jack took aim and fired twice at where he though the shot had come from.

Another round came out of the woods this one slamming into Jack's leg and he yelled in agony collapsing to the ground. After a moment he gritted his teeth and took aim one handed, firing back with three bullets.

A thump was heard in the distance. Jack lay there panting for a moment. Before looking up as the screen door slammed.

Cassie was crying, "Uncle Jack."

"You're hurt," Tobias said.

"I'll be fine kid," Jack said. "Cassie, I'm okay, I need you to grab the cordless phone. Jon, you know where the first-aid kit is, grab it please."

Jon and Cassie nodded, entering the cabin.

"Tobias, put some pressure on my leg here," Jack said pointing to a pressure point on his leg. "The plasma bolt mostly cauterized the wound but there's still some bleeding, and this should keep it from getting worse."

Tobias nodded and bit his lip. He stretched out his hand and followed as Jack directed him to apply pressure to the vein. He barely noticed as his palms grew almost uncomfortably warm and he felt a bead of sweat roll down his forehead even though it wasn't hot outside.

Colonel O'Neill, felt something itching from the plasma burn on the outside of his right leg and looked down, flinching as the open wound looked like it was slowly closing over.

"If I said Nox would that mean anything to you?" O'Neill asked.

Tobias's brow furrowed.

"Not so much?" Jack said.

Tobias shrugged, but seemed to have decided something.

"Father said the Nox are old allies," said Tobias.

O'Neill pushed himself up until he was seated on the ground his back against the cabin wall.

"Who is father, Tobias," said Jack, suddenly very focused despite the pain.

"Father is father," shrugged Tobias.

"And father didn't give you a name to call him by?" said Jack.

"Father is father," repeated Tobias.

"Damn, I liked that chair," He grumbled, glancing over at the remains of the chair the second plasma blast had hit.

Tobias flinched at the sound of the screen door opening, the glow under his hand quickly receding as he moved it away from the plasma burn. He looked at his hand, the bunk from the burn wound leaving his palm messy, and made a face before wiping his hand on his pants.

The burn which earlier was angry red and weeping blood from around the edges where the skin had cracked when Jack fell, now looked like it was two weeks old instead of only ten minutes. Jack looked between the two of them.

"Hand me the phone will you," He asked.

Cassie placed the phone in his hand, while Jon kneeled down beside him and started unpacking the kit.

Jack dialed a number wincing as Jon poked the tender skin on his leg while showing Tobias how to wrap the bandage around the wound.

After a moment of arguing with an operator he finally gave a sigh of relief, "General Hammond, sir."

"Yes, sir."

"I need a team sent up, sir, someone just shot at me with what looked like a staff weapon."

"No, sir, they only grazed my leg, the kids have almost finished bandaging it up."

"No, sir, I don't think it's related to the kids, but for their safety I want that team up here even more so," jack was silent for a moment listening to the other end of the conversation.

"Teal'c is cleared to go outside the mountain? That's great, you know how he is with the kids."

"The ladies shouldn't be too far away from Buffalo, they'll be exhausted from the drive but should still be able to help."

"Best bet would be a field outside of town, or the football field at the local high school."

"Alright, I'll have them meet the helicopter on the field at the high school in about three hours."

"Cassie would you call Janet for me," Jack asked handing the phone back to her after he hung up.

Janet frowned as her phone rang from her bag.

"Hello," after a moment of digging she answered the phone.

Sam glanced over from the driver's seat and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"It's Cassie," Janet said in answer.

"He what?" Janet scowled, calming herself she said, "Cassie, would you tell the Colonel I'd like to talk to him."

Jack put the phone to his ear, only to pull it away just as quickly as Janet started in on him.

"Just what the hell are you thinking, Colonel. You, are supposed to be on vacation, not getting shot at," the kids could hear Doctor Fraiser yelling from the phone, her tirade continued at length describing in detail the measures she was going to enact when she got her hands on him.

"Hi, Doctor Fraiser," he said tentatively when it sounded like she'd calmed down.

"Don't you, 'Hi, Dr Fraiser,' me colonel. Just remember I have a large needle with your name on it," she replied. "Tell me how bad the damage is."

"Oh, just fine, doctor, turns out Tobias here has something of a healing touch."

"Try again, and this time without using the word fine, colonel. And don't think you won't be explaining in great detail just what you meant," Janet said. O'Neill's gulp was audible from the other end of the line.

Jack winced, "Understood doctor, I have a partially healed plasma burn on my right thigh, the rest of the comment should be explained in person."

Jack heard carter faintly in the background, "A plasma burn I thought he said he was shot."

"Same difference. Janet, tell Sam, I have a feeling that shooter wasn't alone, and we'll need to search for how they got here. Would you two do me a huge favor? SG3 and Teal'c are headed up by helicopter, they should be here in about three hours, they'll probably land in the football field at the local high school," Jack said.

Janet lowered the phone to relay the message to Major Carter before picking up the phone again.

"Sam has her radio, we'll coordinate with the pilot when they're in range," Janet replied.

Jon sat back crossing his arms as he examined his work.

"Help me up," Jack said.

Tobias looked at cassie and tilted his head. Cassie shrugged in response before grabbing Jack's right hand. Tobias copied her taking his left and the two of them pulled him to his feet.

Jack glanced at his knees, gingerly putting pressure on his injured leg.

"You do good work kid," he said ruffling Tobias's hair.

"I swear," Doctor Janet Fraiser said ending the call. "Take your eyes off him for an hour and he gets in a mess."

"Sounds about right," Sam laughed. "We're about an hour and a half way from town. Which should give us just enough time until the team shows up, so how about we stop and get lunch once we get there."

"Deal," Janet replied.