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Daniel forgot it was Valentine's the next day.
He never paid much attention to the holiday, usually being offworld, or immersed in his work, or simply not caring, because it all revolved around romantic love, and that was something he couldn't compete with. Especially not now.
But then Cassie mentioned yesterday something that tickled his ear, and he decided he probably could spend a tiny amount of time on Internet research. Just for exploration purposes, of course. Not that he was getting involved in all the red-hearts-and-chocolates-everywhere hype.
Although the chocolate part sounded really good.
Daniel removed his slippers and sneaked out of his room and down the hall, straight into the living room. Manouvering his lithe body like a special-ops pro, he slithered along the walls and ducked in front of the window, so that Jack, who was playing in the dirt that was soon-to-be-rose-garden, wouldn't accidentaly see him. Just a little bit more to the left ... get lower ... third drawer up from the floor ... gently, gently ... there. Touchdown.
Just as his small hand grasped a bar of original Swiss heavenly chocolate, Daniel thought he would get a heart attack and die at the tender age of nine. Something thin and warm brushed accross his thigh. It took him a minute to slow down his racing heart and look at what he thought was smirking Jack's hand preparing to tickle him till he confessed the ultimate sin of wishing to eat chocolate before lunch.
It was anticlimactic to find a perky cat staring at him with wide innocent eyes and twitching ears.
His hand clenched around the chocolate bar as Daniel released a relieved breath. "Fluffy! Don't do that!"
Something between a grunt and a purr was the answer, then Fluffy stood on all four, licked Daniel's hand, nudged it with his head and strolled away towards his corner of the couch. Mission accomplished.
Shaking his head, Daniel closed the drawer and moved silently back into his room. Jack was blessedly unaware of his antics. Yet.
Once within the safety of his four walls, Daniel settled at the desk and googled several variations of the word "Valentine". Soon he got immersed in the facts and traditions, as well as unbelievably elaborate, contemporary red and pink hubbub. He barely noticed the chocolate getting smaller and smaller.
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A hissed "Shhhh...!" was followed by an annoyed under-the-breath growl. Daniel's left hand patted the furry head, while he tried to hit the light switch with the right one. It was a trick to do anything under Jack's radar, even in the middle of the night, but Daniel was counting on his stealth and Jack's healthy exhaustion from the yard-work. The small bedside lamp, once transferred to the desk, radiated just enough light to enable him to see the central part of the work-surface, while leaving the rest of the room in almost totall darkness.
As he begun unfolding and separating paper and cardboard sheets, a soft tapping sound informed him that the curiosity dragged the sleepy cat to his corner of the desk. Once settled in the shadows, Fluffy rested his head on front paws and started purring softly, his sharp eyes following every movement of Daniel's hands with undisguised interest.
Riverting his attention to the self-imposed task at hand, Daniel gathered the necessary tools and started to cut the thin red cardboard with scissors. A glance at the lit clock told him he had a little more than four hours to safely finish the project and hide the evidence.
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Daniel had to admit to himself that he enjoyed the air of secrecy, going as far as asking their neighbour, Miss Ellen, to send the cards for him, so that Jack wouldn't get a whiff of what he was doing. Miss Ellen was a nice lady, who, having no kids, took watching over her little neighbour very seriosuly, much to his amusement.
Once the other cards were on their way, there was just one left to be delivered.
It felt strange. He felt strange doing it, at first even a little uncomfortable. It stirred lots of memories he preferred to keep locked up, but there was also an underlying feeling of contentment, feeling that he was doing something that was right on so many levels.
And it was such a little thing, really. Just a piece of thin, folded cardboard in a hand-made blue envelope. Being small in size, though, didn't stop it from bearing a lot of weight, and, once finished, Daniel almost felt lighter himself, somehow.
Once again tipteoing around the house, this time straight into Jack's home office, Daniel placed the envelope carefully in the middle of Jack's desk. Just as he started to turn around, he heard a soft sound behind him, and Daniel sighed, rolled his eyes, and ran a hand through his hair. "Fluffy, will you stop doing that?"
He froze as a chuckle, that was decidedly non-feline, reached his ears.
"Don't know about Fluffy, but am I allowed to enter?"
Crap. Jack.
Daniel briefly closed his eyes, then turned to follow Jack with his eyes, as his much older friend strolled – barefoot, figures – towards the desk.
"So, watcha doin', sneaking around like that?", Jack asked in an amused tone once he sat in his chair, and Daniel relaxed. He was obviously not in trouble. Which was a ridiculous thought, really, considering he had a mind of a forty-year old man. Damn those kid-hormones, or whatever they were.
"Nothin'". Huh. That was eloquent for a linguist.
"U-huh". And Jack was so much better. Not. "So what's this?"
Oh.
Jack took the envelope with his name scrawled in Daniel's distinctive handwriting on the front, and started to open it, a curious expression on his face.
Daniel squirmed where he stood, scratched his head, then neck, then brought up his arms in the I'm-uncomfortable-just-ignore-me self hug. "A card".
Jack raised his eyebrows, looked at the fidgeting kid in front of him, then riverted his attention to the card in question. "So I see. May I-...?", he asked with a small, lopsided smile.
Daniel reluctantly nodded, trying to avoid direct eye contact. He watched as Jack pulled out the card itself, a piece of folded, dark blue cardboard with a red heart glued towards the upper left corner. Silver letters reading "Happy Valentine's" glittered on the blue background, and Daniel remembered how he was excited that he found that pen in his desk's drawer, so that he didn't have to cut out the letters from paper. He saw a smile pull at Jack's mouth, a silent "Oh" forming on his lips. He had obviously forgotten about the holiday. Despite knowing his cheeks burned bright red, Daniel found himself captivated by changing expressions on Jack's face.
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It was so unexpected that Jack had to catch his breath. He forgot about the holiday, immersed in the garden reconstruction, and even if he remembered, he wouldn't be expecting this. Aware of very uncomfortable Daniel standing stock still in one of the strongest self-hugs Jack had ever seen, he moved slowly, carefully, not wanting the kid to bolt. The card was beautiful in it's simplicity and intention, obviously very carefully put together, the heart artfully curved and letters resembling some medevial, elaborate script. Inside was a piece of folded glittering silver paper with text written in dark blue ink. As he started reading it, Jack knew he had a sappy smile on his face, but he didn't know how to cry and laugh at the same time. So he bit his lip, keeping himself from producing any sound, and forced the moisture back into his eyes, just for one moment more.
Hey, Jack.
I don't have much experience with this Valentine-stuff, so let's forget for a moment that I'm the resident linguist, and let me borrow the words from someone else:
"The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together." (Erma Bombeck)
I guess what I'm trying to say here, is thank you for giving me family that first time, within the team, and for the second time now, here with you. And even when I act like a nine year old brat, I know you love me and I just want you to know that I love you back, too. Whatever happens with me in the future, whether I'll become big again or not, I promise I won't forget the hugs, the laughs, the hair ruffling, camping in the backyard and stargazing, and how you left everything to give me home. Someone said that family consists of friends we choose for ourselves. I guess we did it a long time ago, with good results to show.
Your kid, Daniel
Something between a sob and a laugh burst out of Jack with the last word, and he dropped the card and jumped out of the chair at the same time, grabbing Daniel in a bear hug that lift him in the air, making him unwind the arms from around himself and put them around Jack. They stayed tangled like that for a long time, unaware of a purring cat sitting in the doorway, a satisfied expression on its face.
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Thanks to a tacky commercial in the middle of a game, Jack knew it was Valentine's Day. That revelation stirred up contradicting feelings; sappy happiness at the memories of last year, and profound, almost guilty sadness that this year was different. Not that he was complaining that Daniel was no longer trapped in a child's body, not at all. Jack thought it was a first rate torture, to lock up that brilliant forty-something-year old mind into a body of a little boy, with all of its experiences and emotions. But try as he might, he couldn't help feeling sad at the loss of a child, whom he had come to think of as his own.
A doorbell interrupted Jack's thoughts, and he got up to see who dared to invade his privacy. He knew it couldn't be Daniel, since his friend was currently offworld, playing in the dirt. He was suprised to find his neighbour, Miss Ellen, standing on the other side of the door.
"Ellen? What's up?", he asked at the same time as the woman spoke. "Hello, I have-..."
They chuckled, and he motioned at her to go first. "I have something for you. Daniel left it to me to give it to you today. Said he'd be on a trip", she told him, and Jack noticed a standard envelope in her extended hand.
He took it, holding it carefully as it was one of those precious artefacts from Daniel's lab. He shook himself, realizing he had zoned out. "Uh ... thanks, Ellen. Appreciate it".
"No trouble", she smiled pleasantly, nodded and strolled away.
Jack got back inside and went to settle in his armchair, all the while his gaze locked on a piece of paper in his hand. Once settled, he turned the envelope around and saw "Jack" scrawled across its front. With a widening smile, he opened it and pulled out its contents.
Ah, this year it was a dark red background with a glittering heart in the center. Simple, without any words interrupting all that the carefully curved heart was saying. As he opened the card to see what was inside, Fluffy jumped up and settled on his lap, licking his hand once and then sniffing the card he held. Obviously satisfied that he scented Daniel, Fluffy started purring softly, transferring his relaxed demanour to Jack. With a chuckle aimed at the furry heap, Jack's eyes fell on the first line and he laughed at the same time as his vision blurred.
Hey, Jack.
I guess becoming big me again hadn't taken care of my Valentine-linguistic-capabilities, or lack thereof. Nevertheless, I wanted to...
Reading and rereading the card, Jack though how, when Daniel came back home, they could set up a tent in the backyard, weather permitted, and spend a weekend telling stories and stargazing, keeping alive that precious something they had found over the last two years.
Yup, sounded like a good plan. An insistent "meow" reminded him who should be included in the plans as well. He scratched the thick fur, admiring the soft, fluffy feeling. "Oh, yeah, dontcha worry; you get to scare him at least twice a day. Gotta keep that boy on his toes..."
THE END