Chapter One

Summary: An answer to the 'Xander's real family' theme. Colonel Jack O'Neill just got a surprise. Life was interesting before, now it was just...well, pick an adjective.

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: SG-1 or BTVS/ATS. All of the people that own those shows make far more money than I do.

Warnings: Discussions of child abuse and sexual abuse. Foul language - it's Jack O'Neill and Xander Harris, people. Hurray for canon slash with Willow; I haven't decided if I will include male slash in here as well; I'll change the warnings per chapter if that happens.

Chapter 1: Mad Scientists

"Excuse me?"

The other members of SG1 gulped audibly at the soft, pleasant phrase that had just come from their team commander, and backed away. Loud, boisterous Jack was never soft-spoken; on the three separate occasions that the rest of SG1 could remember Jack using that tone over a six-year period, it had meant BAD THINGS.

Thor, High Commander of the Asgard, had been present for two of those three occasions, and still heard horror stories from his fellows about the third time. So it was to his credit that the small gray alien did not back away as well - though it was a near thing.

"I said, one of my teams has recently completed a study of one of Loki's old laboratories-"

"Yeah, I got that," Jack interrupted, danger beginning to show in his voice. "Say the part after again."

"It would appear the clone known as 'Jon O'Neill' was not Loki's first endeavor involving your DNA."

Jack's hands, resting on the table he was seated behind, slowly curled into fists, knuckles cracking loudly. The colonel counted to ten slowly and silently, then repeated the process in Latin for good measure; some good had to come of having the language shoved down his throat. "Start. Talking. Thor." Each word was measured out slowly and precisely, and SG1 backed away further.

Thor talked. Rather swiftly for the small gray alien, General Hammond noted.

Apparently, twenty-three Earth years ago, Loki had noticed what Thor called "fascinating anomalies" in Jack O'Neill's DNA. The alien was rather vague as to how Loki obtained the DNA; Jack, at the time, was eighteen and just exiting Basic Training. Loki had initiated an artificial insemination into one newly-married Jessica Harris, resulting in a son, who Thor's researchers had discovered was named Alexander Lavelle Harris.

Jack winced visibly at the middle name, and Daniel mouthed "Lavelle?" with a horrified expression. Sam and Janet (SG1 had brought the medical doctor along in hopes of doing damage control, since Dr. Fraisier was the only female other than Jack's mother capable of shouting him down) were slightly more controlled, but still cringed in sympathy for the unknown boy.

Records had been kept meticulously for the boy up until he turned ten years old. Loki had apparently observed only; the boy had no idea of Jack's existence, or of aliens. At the end of those records was a brief note, stating only that a higher authority had ordered Loki to cease and desist any and all current and future projects regarding on Alexander Harris. There was absolutely nothing after that on the project.

"We have ascertained that no one on our ruling council or among our highest-ranked military gave Loki such orders. We do not know who or what stopped him." Thor paused, glancing towards General Hammond. "You and Hammond of Texas have told me on numerous occasions that most of the Tauri will not react well to the presence of alien life forms. I have instructed my researchers to NOT initiate contact with Loki's subject-"

"My SON," Jack interrupted, light flaring angrily in his eyes. "Alexander Harris is my SON, not a goddamned SUBJECT."

"Colonel," General Hammond reprimanded.

Thor returned Jack's hot gaze evenly. "There are those on the Council who wish to study Alexander Harris, as they do not have access to your clone. I thought it best to place this information on lock-down, as you Tauri say, and give you the choice, JackO'Neill, of how to handle this situation."

Jack was quiet for a long moment. Teal'c, who up until then had been silent, placed a hand on his shoulder. "Have you ascertained AlexanderHarris' current location, Commander Thor?" his deep, ever-calm voice rumbled.

"Until two years ago, Alexander Harris resided in Sunnydale, California, United States of America," Thor answered. Sam gasped, and everyone's gaze turned to her.

"Carter?" Jack asked sharply.

"Sir, that...the sinkhole in California...that was Sunnydale." Jack paled at the words.

"Alexander Harris avoided harm," Thor assured SG1. "He currently splits his time between: Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America; London, England, Europe; and various locations that show no steady pattern on the continent you Tauri refer to as Africa."

Hammond and SG1 were blinking. "What does...Alexander-" Sam said after a moment's hesitation and a glance toward Jack, "-do for a living?"

"My researchers did not inquire deeply into his activities."

"You don't know," Jack summarized.

"I can enact further inquiries if you wish, JackO'Neill."

"No," Jack said, rubbing his temples. "Look, just...keep the rest of the Asgard away from him, please." Jack O'Neill almost never said please - not and mean it, at any rate.

"I shall." Thor indicated the medium-sized folder in front of Jack. "I have destroyed Loki's information crystals regarding this project. This is what remains; I place it in your keeping."

"Thank you, Thor," Jack said through clenched teeth. The little gray alien vanished in a flash of light.

Dead silence reigned over the room for several minutes. Then Jack reached for the folder - and slid it over to Daniel.

"Jack?" the archaeologist asked blankly.

"Just give me a summary when you're done reading it. My head hurts too much to wade through Thor's mumbo-jumbo," Jack growled, finger still pressed to his temples. Daniel didn't argue; he just silently opened the folder and started reading.

Janet quietly left the room and returned with a six-pack of beer. Just as quietly, everyone took one, even General Hammond, who did not say a word about drinking on duty.

Daniel read for a good hour. During that time, Teal'c did a short kel-no-reem, Janet worked on back-up paperwork, Sam fiddled with some strange bit of machinery none of them could identify, and General Hammond pulled out his laptop to look over data brought back from the latest SG missions. None of them left the room for any length of time - the fierce loyalty and friendship Jack had earned from them all demanded it.

At one point, anger darkened Daniel's face, and he passed a certain bunch of papers over to Janet, instructing her in a tight tone to read them. Janet blinked, but obeyed, and the concern on her face gradually darkened to a fury that matched Daniel's. The others desperately wanted to know what was going on, but knew better than to interrupt Daniel's concentration.

At the end of the hour, Daniel put the folder down and swore softly and viciously in nine languages. When he was done, he said fiercely, "Better get a twenty-four pack Janet, we're gonna need it to deal with this."

Jack's knuckles cracked audibly again, and General Hammond sighed. "Stay where you are, Doctor," he instructed Janet, who had actually started to stand up. She sat back down, a grim look on her face. "Your...summary, Dr. Jackson?"

"Genetically, so far as I can make out, Alexander Harris is normal. You might have Sam verify that: genetics and microbiology aren't my fields of study," he said to Jack, who nodded. Daniel slid the relevant papers over to Sam, who took them and scanned them swiftly.

After a moment, Sam said, "While I would need more time to examine this work, I can cautiously agree with Daniel. This looks like it worked the way an artificial insemination would have - just sperm combined with egg. It doesn't appear that any...tampering was done."

"If he's normal, why are you pissed?" Jack growled.

"The medical records Loki kept on Alexander," Janet said quietly, her nearly-lost Cajun accent showing in her upset. "According to these documents, Alexander was in the hospital for various injuries thirty-three times by the time he was ten."

"Am I to infer by your tone that this is not normal, Doctor?" Teal'c asked.

"That's not even close to normal, Teal'c - unless Harris has an illness of any sort?" Sam questioned, praying for that to be the case.

Janet shook her head. "Not unless you count a case of seeming perennial clumsiness. The excuses given for the injuries vary, but they all boil down to 'oops, it was just an accident.'"

"No kid has that many 'accidents,'" Jack snarled, rage blazing in his eyes. "Why the fuck wasn't this reported to child services?"

"It would have been - except, according to these papers, Sunnydale had the highest death and injury rate in the United States, worse than New York, Boston, LA, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and New Orleans combined," Daniel informed his friend, his own voice shaking with his anger. "Alexander's injuries were overlooked because they were about average with the rest of the town's inhabitants."

"What you're saying, Doctors, is that this child grew up in apparently the most dangerous town in America (which we've never heard of except for the sinkhole), and showed a pattern of long-term abuse, which Loki did naught but observe?" Hammond asked tightly, angry on behalf of the child and Colonel O'Neill, who looked ready to explode.

"Yes, sir," Daniel bit out. "That's exactly what I'm saying." There was silence.

"Carter," Jack growled.

"Sir."

"Find him."

"Sir. May I have this?" Sam asked quietly, nodding at the folder. "It will narrow my search." Jack nodded at Daniel and Janet, and they slid Thor's papers over to her.

"Colonel O'Neill," Hammond began, then stopped. "Jack," he said gently. "When you find Mr.Harris, what do you plan to tell him? This...situation concerns national security."

Jack stared off into space at something only he could see. "I've lost one son, George. If...there's a chance I could get to know this one..." His expression grew fiercely determined. "I'll figure out if he can be trusted with all this-" A wave of his hand encompassed the mountain, "and if he can, I'll tell him the truth."

"And in the meantime?" Hammond wanted to know.

"I'll tell him he's my son, that I didn't know," Jack said quietly. "I'll just leave out the whole mad-scientist alien part."

Hammond's mouth quirked in a wry smile. "You have several months' worth of leave saved up, Colonel. Let me know when you want some time off."

"I'll be using my leave as well," Daniel said firmly.

"Me, too," Sam agreed.

"I am interested in meeting the son of O'Neill," Teal'c put in.

Hammond frowned, but recognized the looks on all of their faces. Janet cleared her throat, and he scowled at her.

"Don't give me that look," the doctor said in a scolding tone. "You KNOW SG1. If I don't go with them, they're bound to get into trouble."

"Your presence won't stop that," Hammond pointed out. "NOTHING will stop that."

"True," Janet agreed, ignoring muffled protests from the team, "but I can at least stitch them back together again."

Hammond sighed. "I will grant you leave as well, Dr. Fraisier, on the condition that I can recall you at a moment's notice if there is an emergency."

Janet nodded - that was more than fair. "Agreed."

"Since when did I invite any of you to come on this trip with me?" Jack wanted to know. There was no real aggravation in his tone, just curiosity.

"You're family, Jack," Daniel said simply. "Family helps family." The rest of the team nodded in agreement.

Family. Two things occurred to Jack, and he turned to Hammond. "What about Jon and Cassie? If everyone's coming, no one can watch Cass, and Jon's - technically - Alexander's dad, too..."

"Let me find Alexander Harris first," Sam suggested. "We'll worry about travel plans once we learn a little more about him."