Liz awoke with a start. She looked at the Mickey Mouse clock on the wall to see the time was 8 am. She was lying in Chase's bed, but Chase was nowhere to be seen. She rolled out of the toddler bed and got up from her knees. She nearly ran out of the room, frantic that he wasn't there. "Chase!"

She heard a boyish giggle come from the area of the kitchen and followed the sound. She found Chase standing on a footstool next to Daniel. Chase was holding a measuring cup filled with batter and Daniel was flipping a pancake. Both her little man and Daniel seemed to be wearing quite a bit of pancake mix. She sighed in relief and went to the coffee pot.

"Mornin', Mommy!" Chase said, happily. "We're making pancakes!"

She smiled. "I see that." She looked at Daniel and he smiled at her.

"Like nothing ever happened," he commented.

Her smile widened. "I'm so glad." She moved to the table to watch them. "If only Mommy rebounded as quickly." She stretched and rubbed her back.

"What happened to your cheek, Mommy?" Chase frowned.

She raised her hand to her face and felt the tenderness. "Oh, Mommy ran into something."

Chase climbed down. "'Sokay, Mommy. I will be your Doctor. Daniel can't 'cause he's not a real doctor." He put a small, cool hand to her warm, bruised face. "You be okay and we'll make you a qu-mongish breakfast!" Chase's eyes were intent. "Okay? You drink your coffee and I will make you feel better!" Then Chase's eyes widened. "Oh, wait a minute. Hold on!" He ran out of the room.

She looked at Daniel. "You stayed all night?"

Daniel tilted his head. "Well, we didn't get here until almost four. It's eight, so I guess you can't really count that as staying all night. He woke up about an hour ago, full of energy, like he'd gotten a peaceful night of sleep all night in his own bed."

She nodded. "He's perfect," she said.

He smiled as Chase returned with a self-adhesive bandage that had a racecar on it and the tube of antibiotic ointment. Liz intercepted the ointment before he could open it. "Chase, I'm not bleeding, am I?"

"No, but you need medicine."

She leaned toward him. "I think a kiss would be the best medicine."

Chase smiled and gave his mother a sweet little kiss on the bruised cheek. Then he turned back to Daniel. "More pancake!"

Daniel repeated. "More pancake!"

The three of them spent the day together. Liz asked Daniel once about work, but he dismissed it. "I told Jack I'm not going in today. He called around six this morning. He's going to be spending the day interrogating the prisoners. I'd probably just get in the way."

That evening, Liz laughed until her sides ached when Chase insisted that Daniel give him his bath. Daniel ended up as wet as Chase, with bubbles in his hair and his glasses completely streaked. Liz, then, dried her little man and put him into his bed, holding him until he slept. Then she got herself up and moved into the living room, where Daniel was picking up cars.

"Oh, Daniel, just leave those. I'll pick them up in the morning."

He stood holding a red one. "This is the one he took to the picnic that first day."

She nodded. "You have a good memory."

He put it down on a nearby end table and looked at her.

She looked back at him. "Thank you…for everything."

He smiled. "My pleasure."

She moved to him quickly and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his chest. "I don't think I've ever been so afraid."

Daniel wrapped his arms around her. "Murray said he thought you were 'quite formidable.'"

She scoffed. "I thought he was mad that I hadn't followed his orders."

Daniel rested his cheek against her head. "I think he was impressed that you didn't. Not many people would defy him."

She sighed. "So is his name Teelk or Murray?" She suddenly felt Daniel tense. "Don't worry, he'll always be Murray to me," she hurried to assure him. "I'm sure it's all part of the non-disclosure thing I signed out there. Was it only this morning?" She felt him relax just a bit and sighed into his arms again and closed her eyes.

"Liz," he said after a minute.

"Hmm?"

"Look up, honey."

She pulled back slightly and looked up at him. "What is it?"

He looked down at her and touched her hair, then her cheek – the one that wasn't bruised – and ran his thumb across her lower lip. Her lips parted at his touch and he leaned down and touched his lips softly to hers.

She groaned deep in her throat and snaked her arms up around his neck, encouraging him to deepen the kiss.

When he broke the kiss, he searched her face and she smiled at him.

"What do you want for breakfast?" She asked softly, looking at him with hooded eyes.

He smiled. "I'm not sure, maybe I should sleep on it."

She blushed as she said. "If sleep is what you want, go back to your place." Then she took his hand and led him into her room.

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"WHAT!" Jack looked furiously across the table at Daniel, willing his friend to give voice to his outrage at the news General George Hammond, whose face was red – never a good sign – had just delivered.

Daniel looked at Hammond with his eyebrows drawn together in anger that reflected his friend's. "What do you mean, the NID wants us to release these people to them?"

"Sir," Sam spoke, in disbelief. "You can't possibly be considering –."

"If those NID bastards get their mitts on these guys, they'll be out terrorizing women and children again in a week," Jack ground out. "Absolutely not!"

Hammond frowned at the younger man. "Colonel, don't you think I know that? I've got a call into the President right now, but the NID says that because there was no police involvement, it is well within their jurisdiction to punish their own agents."

"And did they explain why these guys wanted naquada?" Sam asked.

"General, there's no way I can go back and tell Elizabeth McReynolds that the men that kidnapped her son are going to go free because of interdepartmental politics. Now, what they did was wrong and they need to be punished. At least one of them was military before, can't he, at the very least, be court-martialed?"

"That would be up to the NID." Hammond frowned. "Frankly, we acted outside our jurisdiction as far as the apprehension of these men."

"Does not the fact that they contacted DanielJackson in his office and the fact that they demanded naquada not currency, put it within our jurisdiction?"

"Yes, Teal'C as far as the naquada is concerned, but not the kidnapping charges. We can charge them with attempting to steal a chemical weapon, but the NID is insisting they handle it."

"Military tribunal." Sam said, suddenly.

Hammond frowned. "We are not at war with the NID."

"Feels like it," Jack muttered.

Sam glanced at him and then back to Hammond. "I know, sir, but we do consider ourselves at war with the Goa'uld. How do we know that they wanted the naquada for the NID? They haven't said so. They may have wanted to acquire it for a Goa'uld."

"To what end, MajorCarter?" Teal'C regarded her, closely. "The Goa'uld have ample sources of naquada."

"True, but how do we know that these men weren't trying to get it for use by the enemy? And they did attack a civilian – Liz looked pretty beaten up to me – and used Chase as a human shield. Those qualify as war crimes as far as I know." She looked at Hammond. "I know it's reaching, sir, but we can't just let them go."

Hammond looked at her, then to Jack who gave his best "sounds good to me" face, then to Daniel and Teal'C. "I don't think it will work, but it may give the President enough pause to keep them out of NID hands." He stood, prompting Jack and Sam to stand also. "Dismissed."

Jack looked over at Daniel who was still frowning. "Don't worry, Danny, he'll find a way."

Daniel looked up and nodded.

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Daniel was unlocking his door, when Liz's door opened.

"Daniel," she said, quietly. "Can we talk?"

He scrutinized her face and saw apprehension and sadness there.

"Sure, Liz," he smiled, hoping to put her at ease. "What is it?"

She looked down at her hands. "Chase and I are moving."

"What!"

She looked up at him. "Can we go inside?" She motioned to his door.

He looked at his open door, then to her. "Where's Chase?"

"He's at school, still," she said referring to his private Pre-K classes.

Daniel nodded and moved inside, and she followed. She went to the sliding glass doors and looked out.

"What is this about, Liz?"

"It's about me, Daniel. After the other night, I started thinking. I can't do it."

Daniel moved to her and took her arms in his hands.

Instead of moving away, she sighed and ducked her head. Then she did move. She turned to look at him. "I really have thought this through. I'm sorry, Daniel. I – The other night shouldn't have happened. I tried for so long to keep it from happening. I kept telling myself that you love your work and you work on that mountain. It was enough to keep you at arms length. I shouldn't have given in."

Daniel smiled, softly. "You've wanted…for a while?"

She grinned. "Oh, since the first time you played tag with my son and didn't try anything later."

Daniel moved to her again. "Then why --?"

She crossed her arms against her chest and looked down. "You do some dangerous work…"

He groaned and moved away. "It's because they thought Chase was my son."

She shook her head, quickly. "No. No, that's not it. Murray even pointed out how easy that mistake was to make. I didn't realize it until then, but Chase could be your son as far as looks go."

She sighed. "I'm not doing this very well. It's entirely me, Daniel. I can't handle being involved with someone who might not come home from his job because of his job."

He looked at her and saw the pain in her eyes. "I loved Mike. And I loved him enough to be with him even though I knew his job was dangerous. I never thought of asking him to go to another unit, because he was doing what made him happy. Then he died."

"But – "

"Don't say you're not Mike, because I know that. God, you're nothing like him! Maybe that's what I found so appealing – in addition to the way you are with Chase." She shook her head. "But you have a dangerous job. You have job you may not come home from. I may not know the ins and outs of it, but I know that much. And you love your job." She straightened. "I can't handle the thought that you may not come home one day. And I would never ask you to give up your job for us. I'm not that kind of person. I'm glad you're doing something that makes you happy, but I can't live with it."

"But you could get hurt at your job."

She smiled. "True, but the dangers of my job are more of the paper cut variety. You have phasers that kill on the second shot."

Daniel couldn't help a small smile as she reminded him of Jack then.

She looked at him, intently. "Please understand, Daniel. I can't go through it again. And I won't take the chance of putting Chase through that. I'm sorry."

Daniel looked at her, really looked at her, and saw that her mind would not be swayed. Then he thought of the possibility that the NID could get custody of their own agents and, possibly release them, a fact he'd never told her. He had no right to try to change her mind, knowing they might come back. He nodded. "Where will you go?"

"I have family in Chicago. We'll go there and I'll get a job in the civilian sector. I don't want to live my life alone and, after seeing Chase with you, I know he needs a positive male role model in his life. I wish it could be you, but it can't be anyone associated with the military. So I won't work for the military anymore."

Daniel moved closer to her. "I will miss you and Chase."

Tears sprang to her eyes. "We'll miss you too. I'm so sorry."

He smiled softly at her and wiped a tear from her cheek. "Don't be, Liz," he said, softly. He tilted her head up and kissed her softly.

When they parted, she stepped back, then turned quickly and left.

It wasn't too long after that Daniel called Jack and told him that he was coming over. He wanted a drink, but didn't want to drink alone. Of all the people in the universe, he knew Jack would understand.

As he locked the door to his condo, he could hear the strains of Travis Tritt from his neighbor's apartment and paused. He listened to the lyrics of the end of the song, frowned down at his keys and walked away with the last notes of the chorus following him as he went:

"Yes, I love you more than you'll ever know."

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A/N: Travis Tritt's music: "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'" (with Marty Stuart) and "Homesick" are from It's All About To Change, 1991, Warner Brothers Records. "More Than You'll Ever Know" is from The Restless Kind, 1996, Warner Brothers Records. No copyright infringement is meant, just homage to some really good music.

"The female of the species is more deadly than the male" is a quote from Rudyard Kipling's poem The Female of the Species.

Angels & Demons is by Dan Brown. Again, no ownership is implied. Just a small nod to a really good book and author.

A very special thanks to my Beta-From-Heaven, taylyn10, who keeps me on my toes and nags me to finish…Warm hugs, Beta-Angel.

Also, thanks goes to Marcia for her categorizing help and red ink as well.