Work Text:
August 2005
If she hadn’t been aware of it before, she sure as hell was now.
Sam hurried down the corridor and rushed into the elevator. Miraculously, she was alone in the car as it descended several levels down.
She huffed, sighed, tried to not think about what she’d heard. But since it came from people she knew and worked with closely, it stung. Actually, no. It made her damn angry and irritated. And yeah, okay, it stung a bit to find out they thought her to be a constipated brain on heels, but it was no worse than half the Air Force thinking she slept her way upwards in the military chain. But, really, at least her coworkers from the Physics lab knew her history with Cassie and that she had nieces. What did they think? That Dr. Carter dragged kids into her lab, sat them in a chair and ordered them not to move or talk, or else? Jeez. Talk about fried grey cells. She should give them all a week off, to recharge their neurons.
Elevator door opening, Sam strode out and down the corridor, slowing down as she neared the AP-department. Familiar voices drifted from the half-opened door and her ears strained to distinguish the words.
“... and you make sure to eat regularly or we’ll have Janet on our heels. And take you allergy meds, I wrote the dosage on the box. And there’s...”
Sam stopped in front of the door, bowed her head and sighed, then pasted a smile on her face and strode in just as a young voice was saying, “Jaa-ack! I may look like eight but you know that’s just a disguise. And Sam knows what to do...” Daniel sighed, and Sam saw the exasparated look aimed at the nervous O’Neill. “Don’t. Worry....Please.” Ah. The pleading puppy-dog look. No one was immune to that secret weapon. The tough retired General caved in immediately. Sam smirked, then cleared her throat.
“Sir, I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to handle Daniel. You just go to the DC and do your thing”. She hoped she didn’t sound too put off. So her ex CO didn’t think she was good with kids, either. So what?
Daniel looked at Sam, his blue eyes seemingly reading her mind. He came to stand next to her, then glanced at O’Neill, effectivly dissmissing him. “We’ll be okay, Jack. Have fun in the Pentagon. Call before coming back so we can order pizza.”
O’Neill just looked at him, started to say something, then just heaved a sigh, gave them both the Look of “You better take care”, ruffled Daniel’s hair and briskly strode out.
For a minute there was complete silence in Sam’s lab, then Daniel broke it, putting his small hand on Sam’s arm. “It’s okay, Sam, he didn’t think anything by it... He’s just.... You know how he is... worrying all the time. Now more than ever....”, he mumbled, shrugging. “And you know how he hates the Pentagon. Even retired, they won’t let him just dissapear. It makes him cranky”.
Sam patted his shoulder, then went to sit down in her desk chair, Daniel doing the same clambering onto the high stool next to it. “Don’t worry, I know.” She frowned. “Okay, I thought he’d trust me more with this, but I understand where he’s coming from. So, it’s okay. Don’t worry.” Sam looked around the paper and gadget-strewn table, then bit her lip and glanced at her young charge. “Um...’d you mind to wait a little while I finish up here? Then we can call it a day and go have some fun.”
Daniel smiled and Sam caught herself thinking how cute he looked as an eight-year old. Not that she was going to tell him that. “Sure. I’m just gonna dig through your library over there”, he said, pointing at the back wall covered by bookshelves from floor to ceeling. “Take your time”. He jumped off the stool and picked one of the books from it’s place, looked at the title, winced and put it back. He did the same thing with several more until getting to something which obviously captured his attention, if curling up cross-legged on the floor and peering at the pictures was any indication to go by.
Sam shook her head fondly, then turned back to the almost-finished experiment involving a communication device from PC-486. Giving herself an hour to finish it, tops, she set to work, soft mumbling in a child’s voice creating the background noise.
%%%%%%%%%%
“...okay, but what about antimatter?”
“What about it?”, Sam asked, digging through her bag for the car keys. Daniel was practically hopping with excitement. Who knew that the universe could still amaze him in the wow!-this is so cool way?
“That book says that....wait....errr...okay, I got it! .... it says that the antimatter is made up of elementary particles which have masses identical to their normal-matter counterparts, but some other properties are reversed. Right?”, he looked at Sam and she nooded. She wasn’t the only one with near-photographic memory recall.
“And when antimatter colllides with normal-matter, both particles....or whatever... are destroyed. Annihilated. Right?” He was practically bouncing along her on their way across the SGC’s parking lot.
“Right”, Sam nodded again, smiling indulgently at her short friend.
“So, if every particle in the universe has its anti-particle, what if there’re anti-universes and what if our normal-universe collides with anti-universe? They would both be annihilated in the collision! But what I’m not sure is if we’re actually living in the normal universe? Because...well, can universe be normal if it contains antimatter? Or is antimatter extradimensional or something like that, and it doesn’t really count?” It was fired out with the speed of light and with all the energy of an eight-year old.
Oh, boy. Sam knew she was getting slightly glassy-eyed. She stopped in front of the car, looked down at Daniel and put her hand on his shoulder. “Daniel, breathe!”
“But...”
“Aaht!” Sam guees she did a pretty good copy of O’Neill’s The Finger. It made Daniel catch a breath and look at her in a funny way.
“Lets get into the car and let my brain unspin for a few minutes and catch up to your questions, okay?”
She was rewarded with a grin and Daniel opened the door and climbed inside. Obviously, making Dr. Carter’s brain spin was cool in its own right. Sam sighed, smiled, put her belt on and started the engine. “So... if we consider the theory that the universe is one huge bubble...”
%%%%%%%%%%
They kept up the conversation on the drive to Sam’s house, in the driveway, in the hall and finally stopped when they entered the kitchen and dumped the groceries they got on the way on the kitchen table.
“You get settled and I’ll put away this stuff and start dinner”, Sam told Daniel, messing with the bags and boxes, cans and bottles.
“’kay”, Daniel said, picking up his carry-all and walked out of the kitchen, down the short hall and straight into Sam’s spare room. Although far less often, he still had spent some time here, whether after long nights in the labs, bad missions which left Jack on the other side of the gate or stuck in the infirmary, or simply after evenings off filled with laughter, movies and too much drink to drive safely home.
As Daniel entered the room, he had mixed feelings about being here now. Sam’s spare room was so much different from Jack’s, not counting current situation where Jack’s spare had become actually Daniel’s own. No, this room had that feminine touch to it, although not pronounced enough to make a man uncomfortable in it. The furniture was light oak, solid wood but with modern lines. An odd object here or there - the slim emerald-glass vase with a single red rose, silver metal lined mirror on the wall, a small collection of model airplanes, a huge puzzle-picture of some European castle and a dark blue blanket with starry pattern covering the bed - just added to the ambience and the character of the place that screamed “unique” and “Sam”. Glancing around the yellowish walls, Daniel put his bag down, opened it and the nearest drawer, and started putting away his stuff. He didn’t like this side of the coin - being dependant on others to take care of him while Jack was away. Okay, he needed Jack to take care of him, as well, but Jack mother-henning him was...normal. Familiar. Jack had done that while Daniel was big. Nothing new there. He was sure he’d have great time with Sam - as always - but he still hated the feeling of dependancy. Jack had told him he’d get used to it, but it had been almost six months already and Daniel still felt himself floating unanchored from time to time.
Huh. Anchors. Maybe he should think of it that way. Think of Jack as the main, biggest anchor. And Sam and Teal’c, Janet, Cassie...even Hammond....they could be his other anchors, the ones holding him in place, like the tent secured with many lines in the face of the approaching storm. Yeah. He could visualize that in his head. It didn’t diminish him in any way. It made him stronger and more resilient. And he added his own weight, too, because what were the achors without the thing they were supposed to hold securely in place? ... Okay, so he was... the tent?
His own mind sometimes made Daniel shake his head at himself, too.
He quickly finished putting his clothes and other items away, opened the window just a little bit to let the fresh air in, then went back into the kitchen, led by the sounds of clattering pots and knife hitting the chopping board. Sam was in the full cooking swing, and Daniel grinned. It was good seeing her doing something as domestic as cooking. And let no one say Samantha Carter didn’t know how to cook. Okay, some of her meals left a lot to be desired, but she made the best veggie-meat-potato mix this side of the Springs. Sam called the dish “Carter’s experiment”. Daniel called it “Sam’s all-in-one”. Whatever it really was, it smelled great even at this early stage.
“Wanna help?” Sam’s voice shook him out of his contemplation and Daniel nodded.
“Sure. Just tell me what to do”.
She pointed at the water-filled bowl and the vegetables on the counter to her left. “Those need to be chopped in finger-thick slices, or whatever shapes you can manage. Use that high chair over there and that knife, it should fit in your hand okay. Put the pieces in that bowl.”
Daniel did as he was told, found that the knife indeed fit nicely in his small palm, and felt gratitude for being allowed to do something “adult”. Jack was good with him, good to him. But handling sharp objects was the absolute no-no in the O’Neill household and a matter of often heated debate between them. Daniel grabbed a yellow bell pepper and started to extract the core.
“So, Gen... Jack letting you cook?”
Daniel glanced at Sam who was still looking down, patiently slicing the chicken breast and dumping them in the pan with sizzling onions. “Not really. I help, but it’s faster when he does it by himself, or we just order the take-out”. He shrugged, like it was no big deal. And it wasn’t. Really it wasn’t.
Sam thought it was, though, apparently. He saw her frown, throw a glance his way, then return her attention to the last bits of meat. “You’re tall enough to reach stuff on a counter. And using a chair like this you can do lots of things. No reason for you to not cook if that’s what you’d like....” She frowned a bit more, then shook her head a little. “Okay, except maybe handling big pots full of hot water or oil...or big butcher knives...but other stuff, the preparation and some simple meals...”, she shrugged one shoulder, said it all so very lightly like they were discussing weather. Daniel wanted to hug her then and there, but he had his hands full of carrots.
He felt the need to defend Jack. Not that Jack did something wrong. He was just being...Jack. He smiled, concentrated on a small carrot which decided to throw itself down from the counter. Gotcha. “It’s okay. I like cooking, sure. You know I do. But I really am a little too...short for Jack’s kitchen. He’s got those tall cupboards and we haven’t yet got around to re-shuffle the things onto lower levels. There’s not enough room for that, I think, anyway... So, I help around, but Jack does most of the cooking... It’s no big deal, Sam, really. I can make myself breakfast or a snack when I want to. I just agreed to not handle big knives and stuff like that.” Daniel looked at Sam and found her watching him, while the smell of curry and soya chicken filled the kitchen. He glanced back down, grabbed a zucchini and started slicing it. “You know how he gets about kids and sharp objects and w....” He stopped himself just before saying “weapons”.
Sam obviously knew what he was talking about and the things he was not saying. A silence followed, interrupted only by the sounds of washing and seasoning the vegetables.
Her voice drew Daniel back from the never-mention-land. “Well, you’re always welcome to play cook in here. You make mean stew and your bolognese are to die for. So, don’t hesitate to drop by occasionaly. I’ll take care of the guard-dog. You just let me know you’re making me dinner.”
There was a smile behind the seriousness of Sam’s voice and Daniel grinned. “Sure. No problemo. I’m all yours.” He chuckled at her “Oh, really?” toothy grin, then sniffed appreciatively. “Hmm, this smells good. Salad?”
“Oh, yeah!”, Sam’s eyes widened and she pulled out a bunch of green salad, almost tossing it towards Daniel’s side of the counter. “Here. Have fun. The oils and vinegear are in there”, she said, pointing at the leftmost cabinet. “I’m gonna set the table. This won’t take long now.”
She started to take out the plates while Daniel battled the weeds. It was only after Sam’s chuckle that Daniel realized he was humming “Always look on the bright side of life”. He snorted, then sang the words a little bit louder. “Always look on the bright side of life, ta-da, ta-da ta-da ta-da, always look on the bright side...”
%%%%%%%%%%
“Carter’s Experiment” worked out fine, as usual, and the end result was a satisfiying visual of sqeaky clean, empty plates. After they’ve eaten, Sam and Daniel settled down on the sofa and watched several documentaries on astronomy from Sam’s extensive DVD collection. Sam found herself completely at ease with this new, little version of her friend and brother-by-heart. Sure, there were differences. Daniel -- while trying very hard to behave like an adult -- sometimes “slipped” and the eight-year-old he now was shone through, and not necessarily in a bad way. They were all still learning how to balance the adult and the child in the way they communicated with Daniel, but Sam’s experience with too-bright-for-her-age Cassie helped her a lot.
After the spacey marathon they decided to cool off their brains with cold Cokes and walnut cookies. Not really knowing why, Sam pulled out her both old and new photo albums, stacked them up on the coffee table, and Daniel sat back next to her on the sofa, looking at the oldest, leather bound album curiously. Noticing his interest, she took it, nestled it in her lap and leaned back into the cushions. It had been a while since she looked through those photographs, and she couldn’t remember if she’d ever shown them to Daniel. She didn’t think so. Some things stayed private, even after all that time, even in the unit so closely knit as SG-1. But something compelled her to show her life to Daniel now, and she gently opened the first page. A woman smiled at her from the artistically posed black and white photo, holding a small bundle in her arms, a tall man Daniel recognized as Jacob standing just a little behind her left shoulder.
Sam smiled as she felt Daniel lean a little bit into her side. “That’s my Mom. And me. And Dad.” Her finger caressed the edge of the photo, and for once it didn’t shake like it usually did on this particular page. Sam thought the warmth from Daniel’s body pressed into her side might had something to do with it. “I think I was only a week or so old when this was taken.”
“You looked cute”. Trust Daniel to make things look okay.
Sam chuckled. “Sure. You can’t even see my head. Only a tuff of hair, here, see?”
“I had blonde, almost white locks while I was a baby”, Daniel stated almost proudly, and Sam sqealed with glee.
“Ohhh, I want to see that! Any photos?”
“Maybe. If you’re good.”
“I’ll be bringing you cookies for a week.”
Daniel looked like he was considering the offer, then squinted at her. “The copy of such a picture wouldn’t, by any chance, end up on the information board in the SGC’s mess, would it?”
Sam batted her eyelashes in the most innocent manner she could without bursting with laugher.
“Right.” Daniel rolled his eyes, then turned the next page of the album. There were several photos of a small girl with pigtails, a boy and a dog, an older woman and a parrot. He raised his eyebrows at Sam. “A parrot?”
She grinned. “Oh, it wasn’t mine. It was my Granny’s. Here, see? The old lady here? That’s Grandma Jennifer, my Dad’s mother. Everyone called her Jenny. Granny Jenny. Despite living in the 20th century, she dressed like it was 19th, and the parrot Jake was her trusted companion for many years, till the day she died."
“Jake?”, Daniel asked, eyebrows climbing up high. “Her parrot was called Jake?” He snorted.
Sam chuckled. “Yep. Cute, huh? Of course, Dad thought it wasn’t. We had some good laughs over it”, she said wistfully, thinking of some other, different times. Times before her mother’s accident, before the period of constant strain between her and her father, before feeling like a tampon zone between her father and brother. She turned another page and laughed at the image of little Mark being thoroughly licked by a much bigger dog.
“Oh, I remember this! Look, this is Bobby. He was only three years old then and look how big he was, standing almost taller than Mark! I think I took this picture, see how unfocused it is....”
They continued to travel though Sam’s past for several hours, well into the evening, deciding at some point it would be better to get asleep in their respective beds instead of on the sofa too small for even one of them.
After doing the security check of the house (some things were obviously too ingrained), Sam went to take a peek into the spare bedroom. She wasn’t planning on tucking Daniel in, or anything like that ... but when she looked through the half-closed door she noticed he was still awake, and he smiled at her, looking so cute in the too-large bed that she had to get closer and sit next to him.
Sam forced her hand to stay still and not ruffle Daniel’s hair. “You need anything?”
A sleepy voice mumbled “Nope”.
“I’ll let you sleep in tomorrow. We’ll have late, lazy breakfast and then decide what to do with the rest of the day, ‘kay?”
“Hm-hmm”.
Sam’s hand had a mind of its own because it moved on its own accord and gently brushed through Daniel’s hair. She had it bad. They all did, the General at the helm.
“Hmmm...” Daniel smiled in his half-sleep, his guard completely down. He was adorable and Sam regretted not having a camera at hand. The material would be first-grade.
With a small sigh she got up and switched off the reading lamp. Before she could move away, a small hand clumsily patted her arm. She had to lean down to distinguish the murmured words. “Thanks for today...for showing....for sharing....just...just thanks.”
A huge smile blossomed on her face and Sam gave in and leaned further down to plant a kiss in the tousled hair. “You’re welcome. Now get some sleep. See you in the morning.”
“Hm-hmmm.”
With a chuckle Sam left the room, leaving the door just slightly open so that the night light from the hallway could reach inside a little bit. On the way to her bedroom, she was thinking about the breakfast menu for tomorrow morning. And then they might go to a park. Or a museum. Or maybe they could just stay at home at watch more documentaries and movies. Or they could go hiking. She couldn’t remember looking forward to a weekend so much in a long time.
%%%%%%%%%%
It wasn’t like he didn’t trust Carter. She was one hell of a woman and he put his life in her hands many times over the years. It wasn’t like he didn’t trust Daniel. Okay, so he trusted big Daniel, while this little version was ... well ... it was different now, but at the same time it wasn’t. He still trusted the guy, however short he was. What Jack didn’t trust were Carter and Daniel, together. Oh, he would trust them with the fate of the planet, no problem. But with everyday stuff? Trust to not blow up things? To not get stuck out of phase? To not fall from a cliff while on a hiking trip, or to not get in the middle of some freaky out-of-the-movies Earthy situation? And it wasn’t like they looked for trouble. The trouble sorta always found them, especially Daniel. It was the law of Nature.
So Jack worried. Even though the Pentagon sessions went fairly smoothly, even though the weather had been cooperating and it was nice and sunny, blue skies and singing birds, and he even managed to get back home a few hours earlier than planned. Jack worrying was the natural phenomenon, and so he simply went with the flow and approached Carter’s house with an unhealthy dose of trepidation.
Oh, hell. He really needed a vacation. Wait. He was retired. He only needed to explain that tiny detail to his former employers. Right.
With a snort, Jack skipped over a couple of steps leading up to the porch and straight in front of the door. Knocking in a well-known rhythm, he waited for someone to show up, all kinds of scenarios going through his head, and none of them fell into the G category.
The silence continued with no movement whatsoever, not even a flick of the drapes at the nearest window. Frowning, Jack walked along the porch, around the house and stopped at the first view of the backyard. It was a fairly big garden, full of flowers and bushes and trees lining up along the fence. Carter’s gardener was to die for and Jack was thinking about hiring the man himself, at least occassionaly. But what really captured his attention was a tent-like wodden thing in the shade of several trees surrounding it. It was... it was... a tree house on the ground? Frowning curiously now, Jack walked stealthily towards the handmade ... dwelling ... being careful to not be seen.
As he got closer, he could hear voices, and, as there was no other option, Jack started to lean down in order to take a look through the main entrance to the shoulder-high house-thing, when Daniel’s voice surprised him. “Jack! Stop sneaking around and come in! We have some pie left!”
Eyebrows riding high, Jack peeked inside and saw Carter and Daniel lounging on pillows and blankets and sleeping bags, all piled up on the floor that was made from what looked like two big wooden doors. There was a neon lamp hanging overhead, a plate with a few pieces of pie, a small portable fridge, and holes - er, windows - in the back and side walls allowed air to circulate. There was also some monitor-like thingy on Carter’s left and Jack squinted at her. “You spy on your own house?”
Daniel snorted, grabbed Jack’s armsleeve and tugged him down to sit onto the floor. Carter rolled her eyes. “No. I made this some time ago”, she said, patting the square cross between computer monitor and ancient TV set. “The box is just a ravamped old set, it’s the chip-stuff inside that matters. There’re micro cameras all around the house walls and I can move around with this thing here” - her finger pointed at a joystick - “so you’ve been seen and followed from the moment you stepped within 10 feet of the porch”.
Jack grunted approvingly and glanced at the plate with pie nudging his hand. He looked at smiling Daniel and reached out to ruffle his hair. “Cute, Carter. Nice tree house, here.”
“Houent”, Daniel said proudly, and Jack scrunched his eyes.
“Houent? What the hell is that?” Not the cleverest way to start the conversation with a linguist, but that was so not a word.
Daniel sighed and spelled patiently “House - tent. Hou-ent. Houent.”
“Ah”, Jack nodded sagely, then dug into the pie. While it was still there.
“So, you see, sir”, Carter said, like she was just continuing a conversation - which was sorta true, because they were all good at following each other thoughts, "there’s no need to worry about us, we’ve been having fun.”
Jack swallowed a bite of pie and pointed his fork at her. “I wasn’t worried!” Double snort made him glare half heartedly at both of them. He sighed, then attacked pie again. “Okay, so I thought....I wasn’t sure...oh, hell, just...let me eat, okay? And tell me what fun things you’ve been up to while I was slaving away in the DC”.
“Oh, I found this book in Sam’s lab, and it had this interesting theory about...”, Daniel piped up, chattering merrily and scrambling over to nestle next to Jack. Carter had that “isn’t he just adorable” look on her face and Jack tried to look like the big tough guy he was, although that impression was dilluted by his hand ruffling the kid’s hair again and sneaking around the small shoulders. He listened about the anti-particles and exploding universes, and then about DVD marathons and cakes and cooking - and, could he, please, allow Daniel to try Sam’s recipe at home once? - and about sleeping in, and tree houses versus tents, and the fun of planning and building the houent with Sam.
Jack kept his attention to Daniel’s story, but spared a moment to glance at Carter who looked very relaxed, sitting on the pile of pillows. She shifted her focus to Jack and smiled. We’re gonna be just fine, Sir. Whatever happens.
Jack felt his smile dim a little, but Daniel’s excited voice had that cheering-up quality that all happy kids’ voices held, and so he nodded and smiled back at her. It’s what we do, Carter. And, thanks.
“Jack, are you listening to me?”, a slightly annoyed voice broke into Jack’s thoughts and he quickly reverted his attention back to the little bundle of energy.
“Of course I am. I’m a special ops, remember? I can multitask as well as you.” He knew he sounded a little defensive, but damnit, he hated to be caught in the open like this.
But Daniel only grunted, frowned with no intensity whatsoever, almost like he could read Jack’s thoughts, and continued his narrative about the ... basement experiment? And Carter was suddenly shooting warning glances in Daniel’s direction. Oh, boy. Maybe Jack was right in worrying, after all.
The evening was approaching fast and the neighbourhood was still and quiet. Voices drifted from the house-tent, mixing with the birdsong.
“Alright. Carter, I wanna see your basement!”
“My basement...?”
“You have a lab down there, right? And dontcha say no, I know you, Carter!”
“But, sir...!”
“No sirs, Carter. Basement. And you better not be building a stargate down there, or I’ll .... I’ll...!”
“...”
“What? C’mon, spill... don’t hear ya. What?”
“... couldn’t power it up.... and it’s very small ... tiny ... and...”
“Oh, for cryin’out loud! And you tell me not to worry!?”
“Jack, calm down, you’ll get yourself a heartattack...”