"Daniel, don't wander off."

Daniel sighed at the shortness in Jack's voice, and did what he did best - ignored him. If there was anything dangerous around, Jack would be sure to let him know. In no uncertain terms.

So Daniel waved in Jack's general direction and concentrated on the pyre of stones, which most obviously was a marker for something. There were no etchings or marks other than the high pile of rocks, but about fifty feet further was a large marble slab in the ground, and he was sure the two were connected. Straightening, he brushed the dirt from his knees and slowly walked towards the marble slab.

He circled the slab, looking for signs of writing, sketches, or anything to indicate what it was. Oddly enough, the grass around the slab was high and wild, but for about a foot surrounding it, the growth was short, closely cropped, as if someone had dragged a lawnmower right around the edges. He stopped and squatted, putting a hand to the grass when Sam's voice came through his radio.

"Colonel, I'm reading a spike in the level of radiation!"

"Carter?"

"Sir, you and Daniel are in danger. Get out of there."

"Daniel!"

Even before Jack bellowed his name, Daniel was up and running. Except that he only got one foot onto the marble slab, intending to cut across it, when he was hit with pain so intense, he was unconscious before he hit the ground.

The screams cut a swath of fear up and down Jack's back as he skidded to a stop on the grassy ground. The level of pain coming out of Daniel's mouth was so intense that all fear for himself was gone as he turned around to go back after Daniel.

But he couldn't see him. There was a blurry, gaseous section right where Daniel had been earlier, coming up about a foot off the ground. The screams were coming from that area; obviously Daniel had fallen into the mist. From the sounds of him, the gas was caustic and he was being burned alive.

"Colonel, no! Don't! The radiation!"

Carter's cries came from behind him. He glanced back, torn between his own life and Daniel's. Then Teal'c raced up to him, slid to a stop and grabbed his arm. "You must leave."

"Daniel—"

"I will retrieve him."

"I can't see him—"

"O'Neill, it is dangerous. You must..." Teal'c's voice wavered and faded, only to come back with a few words missing. "...deems it safe."

"What?" The world spun around him and his knees felt funny. Then the world tilted, and the next thing he knew, he was staring at blades of grass.

"Colonel?"

Jack tried to turn around, but his head felt like it was too big for his shoulders. He grunted, wishing the noise in the background would stop. It was high-pitched, almost like a child screaming in fear or pain.

"Sir? Are you all right?" Carter put a cool hand on his cheek and he blinked in confusion. Then everything came back to him and he sat up, clutching his head when the movement upped his headache a notch and set his stomach rebelling.

"Daniel?" he managed to mutter without throwing up.

"Teal'c's... Sir... Something's... He can't get to Daniel."

Suddenly the noise stopped and his ears rang from the silence. "Radiation—"

"We're safe here."

"No... Daniel. Teal'c."

"Teal'c said his symbiote would protect him—"

"CaptainCarter, you must dial the Stargate immediately."

There was something in Teal'c's tone of voice that scared Jack, just as much as Daniel's cries of pain earlier. He forced himself onto his knees as the world did a quick dip to the right while Carter ran and began hitting the glyphs on the DHD.

He remained there, on his knees, while Teal'c ran towards them, carrying something small in his arms. Then it hit Jack that Teal'c was going to reach the Stargate in just a moment, while he was still kneeling there, in a daze. He managed to get to his feet and walked unsteadily towards Carter, who was already on the horn with the SGC, asking for medical aid while sending their ID code through.

As Jack staggered up the stone steps, he caught a flash of BDUs flapping loosely as Teal'c ran past them, into the wormhole. Jack went through the Stargate, only to come back onto the base in such a rush of dizziness that he had to hold onto the metal handrail for a moment while the room spun. Then there were hands helping him down, and he saw Fraiser kneeling on the floor, obviously working on Daniel who - was the size of a young kid?

"What the—" He shrugged off the hands and stood, swaying as he took in the shock of long, wavy blond hair, the too large glasses, the open mouth which was gasping for air and the adult-sized BDUs which swallowed up the tyke. A chocolate bar was sticking out from a vest pocket; the same brand chocolate bar which he himself had stuck in there just before they'd left the base.

"Colonel, what in blazes is going on?"

Jack swayed, and couldn't for the life of him come up with an explanation. "I think that's Daniel, sir," he said with a mouth so dry, his tongue actually made rasping sounds.

"DanielJackson was affected by an alien device. At first he was hidden from my sight, but by the time I reached his side, his physical form had been reduced to that of a child."

"You saw him turned into a child?" Hammond's tone, while disbelieving, held a hint of command and Jack forced his gaze from Fraiser shoving an IV needle into the tiny forearm and met his commanding officer's confused gaze.

"Yes. No. He was there, behind me. I—" The room spun again and Teal'c grabbed hold of his arm, holding him steady. "Carter said something about radiation. We ran. Daniel screamed. I couldn't see him—"

"The radiation levels spiked, sir." Carter's face was white, almost as white as the kid lying on the cement floor. "Colonel O'Neill passed out and Teal'c carried the child out of the immediate area, into a safe zone."

"Colonel," Fraiser said, glancing up at him quickly as she held a stethoscope to the boy's chest. "I want you to report to the infirmary stat."

"Daniel..." He waved towards the kid, but Fraiser's attention was now on the heartbeat coming through her instrument. "Teal'c went after Daniel. I couldn't see him from where I was but he came back with that little boy."

"Would there have been time to remove Doctor Jackson's clothes and dress the boy in them?"

Jack had no idea how long he'd been unconscious. He turned to Carter, who shook her head and answered, "No, General. The whole thing didn't take more than two minutes."

"So you believe this is truly Doctor Jackson?"

Fraiser removed the stethoscope and looped it around her neck. "I need that gurney, now!" She went to pick up the kid but Teal'c moved more quickly, and with a gentleness belying his size and strength, carried the child to the waiting gurney. "Colonel, I thought I told you to report to the infirmary."

Jack nodded slowly. He tried to take a step but his knees felt locked in place. With a huge effort, he began walking, and when Teal'c occasionally steadied him as his body threatened to list to one side or the other, he didn't complain.

"Well, you'll live." Despite Fraiser's smiling face, Jack wasn't so sure. His headache and dizziness had gotten so bad during her examination that he didn't think he'd manage to get out of bed if he wanted to, and now he was cold enough that the scratchy infirmary blanket wasn't doing much to keep the chill away.

"I'll prescribe something for your discomfort, sir. It shouldn't last more than a couple of days. Thankfully, you weren't exposed to enough radiation to do any permanent damage." She wrote something down in his chart, and the sound of the pen scratching on the paper was like nails on a blackboard.

"What about Daniel?" he asked with his eyes scrunched shut.

"Sir, we're not certain that the child Teal'c brought back truly is Daniel. Until Teal'c returns from his search on the planet and until I get the results of DNA tests and—"

"Doc." He opened his eyes. "It's Daniel." He'd nosed around once in Daniel's apartment while waiting for him, and had found a couple of black and white photos of him with his parents. The kid in those too big BDUs had looked identical to pictures of Daniel when he was five years old.

"The boy's condition is critical. He's suffering from shock and his organs are showing signs of extreme stress. If, and I stress the word, if, this is truly Daniel and his body was somehow changed from that of an adult to that of a child, it's very possible that the shock of the transformation is what's affecting him now." She shook her head sadly. "On the other hand, according to Sam's readings, the radiation emanated from the device where Teal'c found him. While your symptoms are relatively minor—"

"Doesn't feel minor to me—"

"The radiation could be what's making Daniel, I mean, the boy, sick." She looked over Jack's bed to where the kid was lying unconscious in the next bed. "Only time will tell."

When Fraiser walked away, Jack turned onto his side to look at the kid. Daniel. He looked lost in the bed. His face was turned to the side, towards Jack, and even though the oxygen mask hid a large portion of his face, Jack could see the bloom of fever on his pale cheeks.

An eternity later, a nurse showed up with a couple of pills in a tiny cup, and a glass of water. He managed to raise his head just enough to swallow the pills and water without choking and then lay back, watching the kid's chest rise and fall in a rhythm that was obviously too fast for normal sleep. With Teal'c offworld and Carter examining the results of her readings, there was nobody to sit with either one of them, a situation that Jack didn't really mind, personally, because he really didn't feel like, or want company. But Daniel, lying there in that bed, alone, deserved someone to watch over him, even if it was from the next bed.

But despite his best efforts, Fraiser's drugs slowly began to take effect and his eyes got heavier and heavier. He'd just started to drift off when a small whimper pulled him out of the lure of sleep.

He opened his eyes, only to see large, blue eyes staring at him. Eyes that were filled with pain, and fear. The kid was crying quietly, the sounds muffled by the oxygen mask. Those glazed eyes followed Jack's movements as he sat up. He wasn't sure what he was about to do, reach for the call button to alert the nurse on duty, or try to comfort the kid himself, but when Daniel reached out his arms to him, he reacted without thinking.

"Shhh, it's okay. Nobody's going to hurt you." He lowered the guardrail and leaned over Daniel. "Hey, don't cry," he crooned. To his surprise, Daniel raised his arms and caught his neck, trying to pull him closer. Jack allowed himself to be tugged down despite the position making his head pound. He eased a hand against the small chest, feeling the heat of fever through the thin, oversized scrub top the child was wearing.

Daniel pressed his face against his neck. Hot, tear-dampened skin rubbed against his and he felt the plastic of the oxygen mask shift as Daniel sobbed in his ear. Memories of Charlie's demands for comfort came to the fore and he pulled the small body into his arms as he stretched out on the bed. He murmured inanities as he repositioned Daniel so he could get the oxygen mask back on.

The sobs began to ease as soon as he lay against Jack, the breaths turning into hiccups that caused the heart monitor to stutter every time. Within seconds, a nurse ran up to the bed, her gaze flitting from Jack and Daniel, to the monitors. "I can take him now, sir," she said, reaching to pull Daniel off of Jack.

At her touch, Daniel began crying again, this time more loudly. Even muffled by the oxygen mask, his howls were enough to send Jack's headache escalating, as well as sending the monitors racing, and the alarms triggered added to the cacophony in the room.

"No, I got him," Jack said over the noise. He laid his hands over Daniel's back and ribs, making sure the kid knew he wasn't going anywhere. Unable to maintain the level of hysteria, his cries became whines, shortening into moans as he fought for breath.

As he seemingly became aware nobody was going to take him away from Jack, the boy calmed. Jack pulled back slowly so he could see Daniel's face and smiled at him while he wiped the tears away with his fingers. Daniel's eyelashes were spiky and dark, accentuating the blue eyes that were glazed over with fever. A small hand came up and reached for the oxygen mask, but Jack caught it and held it loosely down. "Nope, leave that alone for now, okay?"

Daniel looked at his hand, which was swallowed up in Jack's, and sighed.

Even as he watched, Daniel's eyelids drooped. After each blink, the eyelids opened less and less, until finally, they stayed closed. He occasionally drew a hitched breath even in his sleep but overall his breathing was slower than before, his body more relaxed as he lay nestled against Jack.

"He's doing a little better," the nurse confirmed after a moment. "His breathing's a little stronger, despite that little exhibition. And his heart's slowing nicely." She looked away from the monitors and looked at Jack. "How are you feeling, sir?"

"Better. Wouldn't mind a blanket, though."

Soon, with the two of them covered with a double layer of blankets, Jack allowed himself to relax.

"Colonel?"

Jack startled awake at the sound of Hammond's voice. "Sir?" He opened bleary eyes then wrinkled his nose as something soft tickled it. He blew away the flyaway strands of Daniel's hair and turned onto his back as the headache from hell moved from the top of his skull and settled somewhere near his forehead, right between his eyes. Daniel whimpered softly and clutched at the material of his scrub top, his fingers latching onto chest hairs along with the cotton material. Jack stared at General Hammond and the SGC's CMO, both of whom were standing at the foot of his bed. Aware of more eyes on him, he noted Teal'c and Carter on one side of the bed with Fraiser on the other.

"Sorry to wake you, Jack. Doctor Lam has news and I thought you'd like to hear it."

Lam gave Jack a no-nonsense nod. "DNA results have proven without a doubt that the child is Daniel." She looked serious, and serious usually meant something bad.

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Jack croaked as he shifted sideways, trying to move away from the small, living furnace plastered against his side when the small fingers lost their grip on his shirt as Daniel slid back into a fevered sleep.

"Good in that we've made a positive ID, bad in that it doesn't appear that we'll be able to reverse his condition."

"You can't reverse... You mean he's going to stay like this forever?" His head felt like it was going to split open and his mouth felt slimy and thick.

"No, sir," Lam said. "If Daniel recovers from the shock of the transformation, he'll grow at a normal rate. Give him another thirty years, give or take a couple, and he'll be the same person you knew two days ago."

Jack slowly sat up, adjusting the blanket to keep Daniel well covered.

"What about the device on the planet?" He turned to Carter. "You were going to go back and study it. Did you find out anything about it? We can't just give up."

"We can't approach the device because of the radiation, sir. It's too dangerous." Lam helped adjust the blanket as Jack moved away from Daniel. "Even Teal'c suffered some minor effects from it—"

"T?"

"I am fine, O'Neill. My symbiote has protected me."

"So far. But we don't know what repeated exposure might do to you, or it." Lam put her hands in the pockets of her lab coat, looking down at Daniel. "We did try putting a couple of lab rats in the device, Colonel."

"Rats? And? Did it work?"

"Yes, sir. They turned into babies the first time around." Lam stared at Jack, her dark eyes hard and determined. "The second time they were turned back into adults. But they didn't survive the reversal. I'm sorry, sir, but based on these results, I recommend that Daniel not be returned to the planet and placed in the device. His body won't be able to sustain the secondary shock."

Jack stared at Lam unbelievingly. He turned to his team, trying to see their reactions. Teal'c's face was expressionless but Carter looked devastated.

Fraiser, on the other hand, looked angry. She'd remained out of the conversation, letting Lam do all the talking, but she caught Jack's gaze, then set her shoulders back as she cleared her throat. "With all due respect, General, I disagree. I think we should make the attempt and put Daniel back in the alien device. He's a fighter. He stands a good chance at survival if we have a medical team standing by at the safe zone when he changes back—"

"We don't know that, Janet." Lam raised her chin in determination. "He's alive now, and that's what counts. His chances of survival are slim, given the shock to his body along with the radiation. You saw the rats—"

"Rats, not a human being—"

"I'm sorry, but as Chief Medical Officer, my decision stands. Based on Daniel's vitals, he's too weak to even be transported, never mind being exposed to an alien technology we know nothing about."

Jack watched the two women face off and was eternally glad neither of their attention was on him while sparks flew over the bed.

"In that case, seeing how potentially dangerous the radiation levels are on the planet, notwithstanding the device itself, I'll have the 'gate address struck from the dialing computer." Hammond sighed heavily as he stared down at Daniel. "I'm sorry, Jack."

"Yeah, me, too," Jack said morosely.

Hammond left the infirmary with Lam, while Carter fiddled nervously with the edge of the blanket. "Sir, those rats died horribly. As much as I hate to say so, I think Carolyn's right. I wouldn't want Daniel to have—"

"Right."

"We'll let you rest now, sir." Fraiser's voice sounded as discouraged as he felt. Actually he felt deflated; all the hope he'd held on to had degenerated into depression. He slid back onto the bed and closed his eyes, faking fatigue as he listened to their footsteps fade, telling himself the only reason he didn't get up off this bed right this minute and go sulk in his own was because of the little boy whose hand had snuck back onto his chest and who was slowly fingering the material of his scrub top in his restless sleep.

Even with his eyes closed, Jack could feel Daniel staring at him. Sighing in resignation, he turned on his side to face him. After eight hours' sleep in his own bed, he still felt like crap, though less crappy than the day before. Lam, on the other hand, wasn't too impressed with the kid's recovery powers. And this morning, as Jack stared at the next bed, Daniel's huge blue eyes were fever-glazed.

"Morning." Jack waggled his fingers.

A small hand snaked through the bars of the bed and waved.

Jack smiled back, reining in the intensity of his smile. "Hey, sleep well?" He didn't expect an answer. Actually, that little wave was the first sign of communication Jack had seen outside of tears and screams. Jack held up his right arm, the one with the IV attached. "This sorta makes getting comfortable an impossibility."

Daniel's kid-sized arm was strapped to a board, he had wires and leads attached to every part of his body but at least the oxygen mask had been exchanged for a nasal cannula. The lights in the infirmary were dim, the voices of the staff hushed.

"It's really early," Jack whispered.

Daniel blinked, a single tear escaping, tracking over the bridge of his nose, before falling onto the pillow. He shivered, and a monitor answered, its blip off tempo, before dropping back into its regular rhythm.

Jack knew that look. Recognized the tears for what they were. "Give me a minute, okay?" Slowly, Jack sat up, testing his equilibrium before sliding off the bed. He and his IV pole walked cautiously to the infirmary's bathroom, Daniel's eyes tracking his every shuffling step.

Between Daniel's tubes and Jack's IV, it wasn't an easy feat to crawl into Daniel's bed without setting off any monitors. Patiently, Daniel waited as he readjusted everything, plastering himself against Jack before he had a chance to settle down. "Whoa, let me—"

Daniel howled in protest as Jack held him at arm's length.

"Shush," he said, firmer than he meant, but at least it achieved the desired reaction.

Daniel clamped his mouth shut.

"Good." Jack chose to ignore the trembling chin and the tears, as long as the screaming was kept in check. Screaming, at the intensity level this pint-sized Daniel chose to express himself, reminded him too much of that planet. And those screams. The screams nightmares were made of.

With a shake of his head, Jack dismissed the nurse who'd come to investigate. With a thumbs up, she backed away, blending back into the infirmary's scenery. "There you go," Jack soothed once they both got comfortable. "You need to give me a chance, okay?" He thought he felt a tiny nod of understanding against his chest. "I'm usually sitting on that ugly plastic chair over there, waiting for you to wake up. Getting into the bed takes some doing."

God, holding the kid so close was like leaning into a blast furnace. "I'm betting you feel really lousy. Headache. Body ache." Jack forced a yawn. "And it's way too early in the morning to be up. How about you and I just close our eyes for a little while?" He looked up at the big clock on the wall. Oh four hundred hours. "How about we catch a little shut-eye until a doctor comes on duty?"

Daniel touched Jack's wrist, his fingers reaching for the tape that secured Jack's IV. When he began digging at the edge with his fingernail, Jack picked up the tiny hand and pulled it back. "Not a good idea. If Fraiser or Lam catches you playing with that, there'll be hell to pay."

Daniel frowned, looked at Jack's IV then held out his own arm, similarly bound with tape securing an IV.

"Yeah, I know, it sucks, doesn't it?" Jack rubbed a finger around the site as he gave Daniel a quick smile. "It's for medicine. To make us feel better, so no touching, okay?"

In answer, Daniel closed his eyes, snuggling closer.

"Colonel?"

The sun on the beach was high overhead, the temperature of the planet increasing exponentially with every mile they walked. As soon as he wiped the sweat off his forehead, beads of moisture popped up, replacing the ones he'd just swiped away. And he was—

"Colonel!"

— In the infirmary. "Doc," he croaked. His throat was dry and parched as if he'd been hiking under the hot sun or - Jack looked down - slept with a pint-sized, feverish Daniel.

"Hold on a minute, sir."

Jack gratefully latched onto the straw Fraiser stuck in his mouth, finishing the cup of water in seconds flat. "Tha—" He cleared his throat. "Thanks."

She put the cup on the bedside table and glanced down at the bed with a smile. "Don't mention it, Colonel. It's the least I can do considering you're..." Gently, Fraiser smoothed down Daniel's unruly cowlick and he opened his eyes, blinking sleepily at her. "Hey, honey."

Daniel whimpered, shrugging away from her touch and tried to crawl into Jack's skin, setting off a cacophony of monitors.

Jack felt Daniel draw a breath, getting ready to scream. He threw his arms around him and drew the trembling child tightly against his chest. "I gotcha," he whispered into Daniel's ear. "Promise, hang with me and I won't let the big, bad doctor—"

"Colonel," Fraiser threatened.

But Jack's words had the desired effect, and Daniel stopped, his tense body relaxing in Jack's arms, and he sighed. And if Jack stretched his imagination, in that sigh there was a hint of chuckle. "Okay, she's not big—"

"Watch it, sir."

"Doc's not going to hurt you, Daniel. Remember how you said you didn't feel well—"

"Daniel spoke?"

"Not in words, but you know... He waved at me early this morning." Jack lifted his arm and demonstrated Daniel's previous finger waggle.

"How did you know he didn't feel—"

"His eyes." Jack released Daniel, but he still held onto Jack, burrowing under his neck. "That and the fact that his hot little body has been plastered to me for hours."

It had been a struggle, but Jack had eventually convinced Daniel to release him, allowing him to get off the bed and permitting Fraiser to examine him without screaming. The poor kid was trembling like a leaf. Even from where Jack stood by the side of the bed, he could see that. And his eyes never met Fraiser's; they were glued to Jack's, silently begging and pleading with him to make the torture stop.

Daniel's eyes. God, they reminded him of Charlie. Trusting Jack to save him. Protect him. He shook his head. They all knew how that had turned out. "Stop it, Daniel." His voice held a gruff, nasty undertone, close enough to the surface that Fraiser shot him a look of confusion. "She'll be done in a minute."

But that blue-eyed gaze never wavered. It stared at him, until Jack couldn't take it any longer and he turned away, his IV pole rolling at his side. The sounds of frantic whimpers built the closer he got to the bathroom. The screaming started as soon the lock clicked in place.

He leaned against the door, fighting the urge to cover his ears. Or crawl into a hole. Or rip out the IV, dress and escape. Or at the very least, wipe out the past days and make Daniel an adult. Again. None of this kid shit. Daniel didn't need a do over of his formative years and Jack didn't need his own skeletons in his closet making an appearance.

A sharp rap on the door and Jack jumped, the IV pole rattling against the sink. "Are you okay, Colonel?"

"I'm fine," he said, borrowing a line from Daniel's book. Hurriedly, he moved to the sink, turned on the faucets and slid his hands under the water. "I'm almost done," Jack lied, before turning off the water then wiping his hands on his scrubs.

Fraiser didn't give him a chance. She just herded Jack towards his bed, pushing him along right past Daniel's bed. "I sedated him," she said before Jack could inquire about the reason there was only silence from Daniel's bed.

She pointed to Jack's bed. "You. Get in."

"Doc."

"With all due respect, sir, I would highly recommend that you get your six into the bed before I have to sedate you as well."

Jack grumbled, but followed her orders.

Fraiser began to take his vitals before his ass was settled under the blanket. "Hey, you didn't say anything about examining me."

"Your temp's elevated. Blood pressure is—"

"Low, I know. You said these are the results of the exposure to radiation."

"Yes, those symptoms are." She flipped her glance over to Daniel.

"He's very sick, isn't he?" Jack followed her gaze to the tiny, flushed child.

"Do you want me to lie to you?"

"Doc..." he said as she began to walk away.

"Colonel?" She stopped and gazed at him. "Is there something you need?"

He dropped his hand when Fraiser stopped. "Do you think he's gonna be... You know..." Jack twirled his finger by his temple, "...in the head?"

"There are sensory issues."

"Come again?"

"Daniel's aversion to light. Loud noises. His inability to allow touching and comfort from unfamiliar people..." She drew a deep breath and continued. "Daniel cannot or chooses not to speak. He hasn't reached REM sleep since returning from the planet. Irregular vitals. Inability to maintain consistent body temperatures."

"So, what are you saying? Is that a yes or a no?"

"I don't know, sir. Honestly, it could be his body's readjustment to this size. The radiation. Or—"

"Permanent?"

With a placating pat to his arm, Fraiser gave a small smile. "I think we should just wait and see."

"How long?" Jack levered himself to a sitting position. "How long before it's decided—"

"Decided what? That he's permanently a child? That he's a child without the ability to interact with people. Or that we should say, screw it all and head back to the planet and touch whatever he touched and return him to the Daniel we all know and love?"

Jack jumped on her hesitation. "You're really thinking that, aren't you? The planet—"

"Don't get any ideas, Colonel. At the moment, neither you nor Daniel are up to traveling through the wormhole, especially to the planet that put you both in this infirmary."

Jack stared at the ceiling. The Styrofoam container of pancakes, bacon and eggs that Carter had brought from his favorite diner sat closed and untouched on the rolling tray. Even though he didn't feel one hundred percent, inactivity was making him nuts. He needed to do something, hell, even working on mission reports was more appealing than counting the ceiling tiles.

His stomach growled, reminding him that it had been a long time between dinner and the number two breakfast platter from Lou's sitting within arm's reach. "Okay." Sitting up, he pulled the rolling tray across the bed, opened the Styrofoam and inhaled deeply. His stomach gave a gentle roll of contentment. "You're so easy," he said as he shoveled in a mouthful of eggs.

Then he felt it. He turned to the right. "Sleep well?" Jack asked.

There was no answer except he realized that Daniel's gaze wasn't centered on him, but on the container he was eating out of. "Wanna share?"

Like a baby bird, Daniel opened his mouth, waiting for Jack to spear another triangle of pancake.

"You know," Jack teased with the fork, "if you ate like this for the doc, I'm sure she'd disconnect some of your tubing."

Daniel chewed then pushed Jack's hand to the last piece of pancake.

"You know, Daniel, it doesn't make a difference what size you are, my food is never safe whenever you're around."

Daniel dragged his finger through the syrup lake sitting in the corner of the Styrofoam container then stuck his finger in his mouth. He reached into the container again and Jack snapped it shut, gently capturing Daniel's hand. "Gotcha."

Daniel pulled his hand back, dragging the platter out of Jack's hands and onto his bed, dumping the crumbs and unfinished eggs all over him.

"Crap." Jack stood up and grabbed a handful of tissues from the stand on the side of the bed. "Let's see if we can get you cleaned up before we get into trouble."

Daniel began to slink up the bed, moving away from Jack, cowering and brushing so frantically, he began to disconnect the leads. The monitors and Daniel began to wail simultaneously and medical personnel descended on him like a plague of locust.

It had been a horrifically long afternoon. After a severe tongue-lashing by Fraiser that had something to do with playing doctor, liquid diets and 'you're lucky he didn't vomit pancakes all over me', Jack buried himself in the paperwork Carter had brought him, ignoring the huge eyes boring a hole into him.

"I'm ignoring you."

Daniel coughed; the sound was wet and congested.

"Nope," Jack said, clicking his pen. "There'll be no medicinal sympathy from me. I got burnt once today with the pancakes. Contrary to popular belief, I do not have a death wish."

Daniel coughed again, the sound was hard to ignore.

"Drink?" Jack said, tossing the report onto his bed. "Sounds like you've got a frog in your throat. Hmmm." Jack situated the straw from the cup to Daniel's lips. "Ever wonder where that saying came from?"

Daniel's tongue flicked at the straw then pushed it aside, turning his face away from Jack.

"Whoa, Daniel, I'm not angry at you." He put the cup down with a sigh then reached over to push a strand of hair from Daniel's forehead. Without hesitation, he grabbed the call bell and rang repeatedly for the nurse.

Pneumonia. How the fuck did that happen? A fever high enough to fry an egg. Respiratory treatments and a step backwards to the oxygen mask. Daniel had no screams left in him; the only noise he was now able to make was a congested cough or a whimper, all of which were smothered by the mask.

Jack held his hand, made soothing noises, patted him, made nice, listened to the doctors and nurses as they spoke in hushed voices, and worried. A lot. Worried more than he had every time Daniel had gone with them through the 'gate.

Gently, Carter swiped the damp washcloth over Daniel's arms, lifting each hand, wetting each finger. "Sir, I've got this. I'll sit with him for a while. Why don't you go lie down?"

"Listen to your second, Colonel," Fraiser commented with a slight smile as she took Daniel's vitals.

"I'm fine," Jack protested.

Carter and Fraiser glared at him.

"Okay, I'm doing better. Feeling better."

"I'm glad to hear that." Fraiser snapped off her gloves and tossed them in the bedside trashcan. "Daniel's doing better, too. Fever's down."

Jack leaned around Fraiser and Carter. "Good job, buddy. Play your cards right and I'm sure Carter and Teal'c will make sure there's pancakes for breakfast tomorrow."

Jack woke up slowly, and for the first time in what felt like forever, realized that he actually felt almost normal. The low-grade fever that had been plaguing him wasn't aggravating his joints and muscles, and as he turned to stretch, his head didn't feel like it was on the verge of blowing his skull off.

He lay there half-asleep, enjoying the feel of near-normalcy, beating back the feelings of guilt when he acknowledged how much more comfortable he was without having Daniel glued to his side like a giant leech. And with those guilty thoughts, he listened for the telltale residual cough and wheeze.

He heard, instead, an odd rhythmic squeaking sound. He opened his eyes in alarm, coming fully awake when he realized he hadn't heard Daniel cough or cry, only to relax when he saw what was causing the odd noises.

Carter had appropriated one of those aluminum and canvas deck chairs with tube rockers from one of the rec rooms, the cheap kind that someone had brought in from home. And Daniel was sitting on her lap, his head on her shoulder, his thumb in his mouth, and his gaze trained on Jack, his half-opened eyes moving back and forth as Carter slowly rocked him.

Awareness seemed to come slowly to Daniel, but Jack actually saw the moment Daniel realized Jack was awake as something clicked behind those fever-bright eyes. Without even a whimper, Daniel simply took his thumb out of his mouth and stretched his arms out towards Jack.

"Carter?" Jack said, sitting up. She'd been staring into space and seemed surprised to see that Daniel was not only awake, but was asking to leave her lap. She half-stood and handed Daniel over to Jack.

For the first time since Daniel had been downsized, his body heat wasn't frighteningly high, though he was still warm, and probably enough so to make him whiney and crabby. Daniel happily curled himself up next to Jack, the change in position causing him to start coughing, while Carter adjusted their IV lines so they didn't cross as Jack raised the bed so he was sitting up.

"He looks better," Jack said when Daniel finally stopped coughing. Even with his face flushed from the bout, his eyes were clearer and he was more alert. The wheezing wasn't as pronounced as before, and he was definitely breathing easier.

"So do you, sir."

"I'm beginning to feel human again. Where'd he get the new pajamas?" Jack ran a hand over the soft cotton pjs, which fit Daniel a whole lot better than an overly large scrub top. Daniel looked down at his new clothes and gave Jack a shy smile as he imitated Jack and felt the material of his top, tracing the pattern of a puppy dog with his index finger.

"I went out and got him some clothes, sir. I think everything will fit. There's four pairs of pajamas, and a couple pairs of pants and tee shirts."

"Thanks, Carter. I think Daniel likes his new clothes, don't you, Daniel?"

In response, Daniel fingered the sleeve of Jack's scrubs.

"Yeah, I know. Nothing fancy for me while I'm here. The scrubs will do for now."

"I brought you a few things to read and some games for Daniel, for when he feels up to it." Carter pointed towards a small pile next to the bed; there was a newspaper and a few magazines, a coloring book, a small pack of crayons and what looked like a book of puzzles for children.

"Hey, sweet." Jack reached for the newspaper and puzzle book, which he flipped through, then showed it to Daniel. "I used to love doing these." He pointed to a page filled with dots. "Connect the dots. You ever play this?"

"There's a pencil, sir." She handed him a pencil, and Jack immediately began drawing lines from one dot to another. Memories of doing exactly this with Charlie were painful, but the sight of Daniel watching curiously as the picture on the page slowly took shape was worth the hurt.

"Oh look, it's a bunny rabbit," Sam exclaimed when Jack closed the line on the last dot. Daniel was smiling, obviously recognizing the animal.

"Wanna try?" He handed Daniel the pencil, and waited as small fingers grasped the implement awkwardly. Then Daniel tentatively touched one of the dots with the tip of the pencil on the next page and drew lines, moving slowly as he tried to keep his outline accurate.

They watched while Daniel filled two and a half pages. They encouraged him whenever he finished a page, and Daniel's smile sent pangs through Jack's body. The smile was so reminiscent of that of his adult friend that it was painful to see, while at the same time it pleased Jack that they were finally beginning to get a reaction from Daniel. But halfway through the third page, after another bout of coughing, Daniel was making mistakes, losing sight of the hidden picture. After several false starts, in a fit of rage, he scribbled over the page and pushed both pencil and book away from him, his lower lip jutting out even as it was obvious he was having trouble keeping his eyes open.

"I guess you've had enough for the moment." Jack wrapped an arm around Daniel's chest and he turned to Jack, seeking comfort, his head on Jack's chest, his thumb in his mouth. Carter pulled the blanket up around him and seconds later, Daniel was fast asleep.

"Has he been sleeping long?"

Jack looked up from the crossword puzzle and blinked at Fraiser. He'd been concentrating so hard he hadn't heard her approach. He checked his watch. "About an hour."

"And you? How are you feeling?"

He put the paper aside as Fraiser began to check him out. "Better."

His examination went quickly, and when she was done, she examined Daniel, who slept through the whole thing.

"Well," Fraiser said, putting her stethoscope away, "I think I can say you're well enough to leave the infirmary, as long as you remain on base for a couple of days so we can continue to monitor you to make sure there are no secondary effects from the radiation."

"Okay." Freedom was looming, even if it meant a VIP room. "What about Daniel?"

"The infection is down. His lungs are still congested but clearing up with the antibiotics. His sleep cycle is still a little off but at least now he's getting the rest he needs. He still has sensory issues but some of those have eased off. My biggest concern right now is his dependence on you, sir."

"Oh, you noticed that, did you?" Jack smiled down at Daniel, who'd curled up on his side, his back against Jack's chest.

"He's very easy to spoil, sir. It's wonderful that Daniel's bonded with you but it's not helping with his recovery. He needs cuddling; actually he appears to crave it. But his dependence on you is making it harder for everyone else to deal with him.

"I think we need to begin weaning him from that dependence. It might be a good time for you to leave him, now, while he's sleeping."

"He's going to be mighty scared and unhappy when he wakes up and I'm not here."

"I know. But he needs to learn separation, and I'm beginning to think allowing him to sleep with you wasn't such a good idea after all."

"He was sick—"

"Yes, he was. And he was scared and confused and we still have no idea how much damage was incurred from the transformation, but by indulging him, we may have impressed that dependence onto him and now his recovery may suffer a setback due to our actions."

"He was sick," Jack repeated, deliberately keeping his tone soft despite wanting to rant and rage. "He was sick and scared and confused and hell, he's still sick."

"Yes, he is, but his life's no longer in danger. We have to start thinking long term from now on. Daniel Jackson isn't the person we knew. We need to start testing him, try to find out how much, if any, brain damage has occurred. And based on those tests, we need to determine what level of institution he may require to live out his days—"

"What the hell are you saying?"

"Have you even thought about what will happen to Daniel when he's well enough to be discharged from the infirmary?"

Jack blinked. No, he hadn't. He'd spent most of his time trying to get over the effects of the radiation and trying to keep Daniel from screaming his little brains out whenever he wasn't sleeping with him.

"Well?"

"No, not really," Jack was forced to admit.

"General Hammond has already started looking into foster homes. There are a couple of families who have experience dealing with children who have sensory issues and who can—"

"Can't one of us take him?"

"Who, Colonel? You?"

The thought was almost appealing, but the memories of Charlie's death were still too close to the surface and to be honest, the idea of being responsible for a child, whether healthy or not, scared the hell out of him. He'd failed Charlie; there was no way he was taking on the responsibility of this Daniel's life.

"What about you? You've got Cassie. I'm sure Cassie would love to have a younger brother."

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me. By myself? A single parent with two kids? Yes, I have Cassie and I love her dearly, but I don't have the time to give Daniel the kind of care he truly needs."

"What about Carter?"

"She doesn't have the time either, sir. There is no way a single parent could deal with a child of Daniel's needs and be able to remain on your team."

"Damn." Fraiser was right. He'd need to think on this because there was no way he was abandoning Daniel to the Foster Care system. Daniel had been through that during his first childhood; he certainly deserved a second chance this time around. And he wasn't about to let his friend out of his life; he couldn't take care of a child, but there was no reason that someone close to Daniel couldn't. Maybe there was a way that they could all help and chip in. That way, Daniel would remain in their lives, and Jack wouldn't have the responsibility of his welfare.

"I'll have someone bring you clean clothes. I'm sure you'll be happy to change before you get out of here."

The shower felt great, the change from scrubs to fatigues even better, and the meatloaf in the commissary tasted ten times better sitting at a table than in an infirmary bed. But during the whole ninety minutes he was gone from the infirmary, he was filled with a sense of guilt.

Three hours of paperwork left him with a headache that reminded him he hadn't fully recovered from the radiation poisoning. He decided to go lie down in his newly appointed bed in a VIP suite, but instead of heading for that floor, he found himself punching the button for the infirmary.

The guilt that followed him through the afternoon caused him to slow down and not go straight to Daniel. He couldn't hear any crying or coughing, which had to be good. Still, he stopped at the intersection and peeked around the corner. Teal'c was sitting on Daniel's bed, holding the boy in his arms. Daniel was almost a rag doll, his head resting on Teal'c's shoulder, his arms hanging straight down. Figuring Daniel was sleeping, Jack backed off, and nearly bumped into Fraiser.

"Just going to take a nap," he said hurriedly at her raised eyebrow. "I wanted to see how Daniel was doing first."

"He was pretty inconsolable when he woke up," Fraiser said hesitantly. "He didn't want to have anything to do with any of the doctors or nurses, and only stopped crying when Teal'c picked him up. There's definitely some sort of memory pattern going on. I just wish I knew what was going through his head."

"Do you want me to...?" Jack waved to the infirmary section beyond the intersection.

"No. You need to rest and we need to try and get Daniel over this. Teal'c's got him well in hand so go get some rest before I order your ass back in one of my beds."

"Yes, ma'am." Jack sidestepped past her and hurried out of the infirmary.

Despite his fatigue, Jack couldn't sleep. Fraiser's words kept going through his head, and he just couldn't fathom putting Daniel in some sort of institution or foster home. The trust in those eyes... He just couldn't do it to him. There had to be some way they could do this; Fraiser hadn't sounded like she was against taking Daniel in, she just didn't have the time to deal with his issues. Maybe Carter and Teal'c would be willing to help out, until Daniel got the help he needed and adapted.

And Daniel would adapt. He refused to think of the alternative.

So maybe that was the solution. Fraiser would take him in and the rest of them would help where they could. He'd talk to Carter when he got up. Decision made, sleep came easily.

A glance at his watch indicated that he'd slept for five hours. He stretched and sat up slowly, wincing as his back, hips and shoulders complained. His bladder was full and demanding, forcing him to half-shuffle, half-run to the bathroom before he could work the kinks out. His stomach grumbled loudly as he washed his hands so he decided he'd grab some supper before hunting down Carter.

He walked into the commissary, thinking roast beef might be good for supper, and stopped short at the selection of eggs, ham, bacon and other breakfast items. He scratched his head and rubbed a hand over his cheek before checking his watch again. It still read nineteen hundred hours, give or take a few minutes. It was only when his fingers rasped against stubble that he realized he hadn't slept for five hours, but for seventeen.

Shocked at the amount of time he'd slept, Jack walked through the line in a daze while trying to tell his stomach it would have to make do with scrambled eggs and bacon instead of roast beef. He was pouring himself a cup of coffee when he spotted Carter sitting alone at a corner table.

He headed on over to her and sat. She gave him a quizzical look, watching him avidly while he sat. "I, um, sort of fell asleep yesterday," he said as he brought the coffee cup to his mouth.

"Yes, sir, I can see that."

He ignored the comment. He'd been too groggy when he'd gotten up to really notice what he looked like in the mirror.

"How's Daniel doing?"

Carter's face immediately reflected the worry she must have been feeling. She gave him a quick, glancing look reminiscent of the adult Daniel before turning her attention to her waffles. "I think he's missing you, sir."

"Fraiser said we had to deal with his dependence on me." He forked eggs into his mouth and chewed the suddenly tasteless food.

"I know," Carter said into her plate. "But, well, he seems depressed, sir, since you were released. He's not eating or sleeping, and he's shown no interest in anything. If Teal'c or me aren't with him, he'll start crying. He made himself sick crying last night until Carolyn had someone get Teal'c. He quieted down but, well, I think we've lost whatever ground we'd gained. His fever was up this morning but Carolyn said she thought it was due to his weakened state and lack of sleep rather than the pneumonia."

Jack sipped his coffee and forced himself to eat despite his quickly declining appetite. "They're wrong. This isn't doing Daniel any good."

"I have to agree, sir. Carolyn and Janet thought it would be best to try and do it this way but he's just so unhappy."

"Teal'c's with him now?" Jack took a large bite of toast, chewed quickly and washed the whole mess down with the last of his coffee. When Carter nodded, Jack wiped his fingers on his napkin and started to stand. "Then I'll see what I can do about cheering Daniel up." Then he froze, remembering. "There's something I wanted to talk to you about regarding Daniel."

"Me, too, sir. Janet mentioned putting him in an institution or—"

"Putting him in foster care?"

"Yes, sir. I don't feel comfortable with that."

"Neither do I. I was sort of hoping you or Janet would take him in—"

"Me?" Carter squeaked. "I was sort of thinking maybe you could—"

"I don't think so. But Fraiser, she's got Cassie, she just doesn't have the time to deal with Daniel's issues at the moment. But if we gave her a hand, took some of the responsibilities—"

"Yes, sir." Carter's smile almost lit the room. "That's what I was thinking. Even though she'd have primary care, we could be surrogate parents, or aunts and uncles."

Some of the tension he'd been feeling eased and he nodded. "Good, I'll bring it up again and see what she says."

"You'd still be the best choice, sir," she said quietly as he walked away.

"Not gonna happen."

Carter's words haunted Jack on his way to the infirmary. He was torn. As much as he didn't want the responsibility of bringing up a child, he couldn't help but feel smug at the thought that Daniel had turned to him for solace and comfort. He was smiling as he stepped out of the elevator and his step had a bit of a bounce in it as he walked into the infirmary.

His cheerfulness faded when he saw Daniel curled up on his side, his back to Teal'c. With a hand on Daniel's leg, Teal'c was sitting forward, talking to him. There was a bit of an audible wheeze in Daniel's breathing. As Jack approached, Teal'c stopped talking as he raised his eyes towards him and nodded.

There was a breakfast tray on the rollaway table, the food on it untouched. Daniel appeared to be asleep, until Jack saw his fingers moving across a piece of blue material bundled up in his arms. Slowly Jack circled the bed until he was facing Daniel.

Face splotchy with emotions rather than fever, Daniel was staring at what looked like a wrinkled scrub top, which he held tightly to his chest. Jack had a sneaking suspicion that top was the one he'd left on the bed next to Daniel's once he'd gotten dressed yesterday.

"Hey, Sport."

Large, sad eyes turned to look at him, and Daniel's chin began to quiver. As tears began to flow down his cheeks, Daniel silently held his arms out to Jack.

"Awww, c'mere." Quickly sitting on the bed, he reached for Daniel. He was shocked at the limpness of the kid, who only made an effort to hang onto the scrub top as Jack took him into his arms. "I'm sorry I was gone for so long." He stood with Daniel and moved to sit in the rocking chair. "Shhh, don't cry." Jack tried to use the edge of the cotton scrub to wipe the silent tears but Daniel suddenly twisted in his lap, his knees digging into Jack's thighs as he buried his face against Jack's shirt, coughing and crying.

"Perhaps DanielJackson would now partake of his meal. He has not taken sustenance since last night and DoctorLam was considering replacing his intravenous fluids."

"Nah. Daniel's going to eat some breakfast, aren't you, buddy?" He rubbed a hand up and down Daniel's back while he slowly rocked back and forth. When the coughing stopped, Daniel sniffled and rubbed his nose against his shirt. Jack turned him around so that he was sitting in his lap. "Now, here's the rules." Jack reached for the rollaway table and pulled it close. "I sit with you for a while, and you eat all of your breakfast."

There was buttered toast with jam, so Jack picked up a triangle and handed it to Daniel, only to have Daniel rebuff him by shoving his hand away.

"I didn't finish. You eat all of your food so you can get your strength back, and then we'll be able to do things like go out and take walks. Go to the park and the zoo." Daniel's expression changed from that of defiance to almost longing as Jack spoke. Then his eyes shifted to the piece of toast in Jack's hand, and slowly he extracted his fingers from where he'd buried them in the folds of material and reached for the toast.

Two triangles and a quarter bowl of cereal later, Daniel was dozing in Jack's arms. Mindful of Fraiser's concerns, Jack gently placed Daniel on the bed. And when Daniel went to scramble back into his arms, he put a firm hand on Daniel's chest. "Rule number two. You sleep here, in the bed, while I, or Carter, or Teal'c, sit in a chair next to you."

Daniel glanced over at Teal'c, then back at Jack, and although he wasn't happy, he allowed Jack to pull the blanket up over him. He clutched the scrub top like a lifeline and brought it so that it was tucked under his chin and he could fit his thumb into his mouth without letting go. Jack smiled down at him and cupped his cheek. "Go to sleep, Danny."

Almost as if Jack had given him a subliminal command, Daniel's eyes drifted shut and his fingers relaxed their hold on the top. Jack gently wiped the last traces of tears away and sat back with a satisfied sigh.

"Have you made arrangements to take possession of DanielJackson once he is released from the infirmary?"

"I just had this conversation with Carter. I think Fraiser's the best choice for him."

"And is DoctorFraiser of the same opinion?"

"Well," Jack said, evening out the creases in the blanket. "I'm working on her."

"I see." Teal'c stood and left the infirmary, leaving Jack with the uncomfortable feeling that he'd let Teal'c down.

"Are you ready?"

Instead of replying, Daniel tightened his grip on Jack's hand.

"Okay, let's go." Slowly, Jack led Daniel down the infirmary, taking slow steps so the boy could keep up. Even though this was their third time walking today, Daniel craned his head every which way, checking out the empty beds as they headed towards the far end of the infirmary. When they reached the exit, Jack turned around but Daniel looked at the closed doors curiously.

"You sure? There's lots of people out there and I don't want you getting scared."

Daniel tugged on Jack's hand and led him through the doors and down the long corridor, only to stop to watch as personnel walked back and forth in the busier main corridor. A moment later Daniel had shrunk back against Jack, clutching an arm tightly around his legs, nearly tripping him.

"Told ya." Jack put a comforting hand around Daniel's shoulders. "How about we stay here a minute and just look?" The arm relaxed its grip but Daniel didn't move it away. He watched, wide-eyed, until Jack gave him a gentle tap to get his attention. "How about we go back? I think Carter said she'd be coming by with a treat so we don't want her having to wonder where we are."

They made their way back to Daniel's bed and it was obvious that the short walk had tired Daniel. Still, he gamely climbed onto the bed and reached for the coloring book and crayons, busying himself while looking up every few minutes, glancing towards the entrance.

Ten minutes later Carter arrived, carrying three small bowls on a tray. "Hey, Daniel. Colonel." She placed the tray on the rollaway table and smiled. "I brought ice cream. Do you want some?"

Daniel looked eagerly inside the bowl as she handed it to him. Jack smiled as he ate his own ice cream, watching Daniel devour his treat. Daniel caught Jack's gaze and grinned happily at him before returning to his coloring book, alternating between eating and coloring.

"So did you speak to Fraiser?" Jack asked, leaning back and speaking softly so Daniel wouldn't hear.

Carter nodded. "She's pretty much convinced that we can do this. We still need to have Daniel evaluated but if we help, she'll take him."

Daniel paused, yawning mightily. He shoved the coloring books and crayons aside and slid off the bed, coming to stand next to Jack.

"What?" Jack asked, knowing full well what Daniel wanted. Despite agreeing to sleeping and napping in the bed, he had come to expect a cuddle session first. In which Jack indulged him. He just wished Daniel would try to start talking.

Placing a tentative hand on Jack's knee, Daniel looked up at him pleadingly. Giving Daniel a smile, Jack picked him up and sat him on his lap. Daniel leaned back, his thumb immediately going into his mouth and he sucked for a few seconds then pulled it out. Ever since Jack had laid down the ground rules yesterday, Daniel's thumb sucking had eased off.

Jack smoothed Daniel's shirt. Again. Brushing off an imaginary spot. "Remember what I told you?"

Daniel nodded but remained silent.

After a parade of doctors and therapists over the past days, selective mutism had been the final diagnosis. "Hey," Jack said with a soft touch to Daniel's cheek. "I'm sorry I ever complained that you talked too much."

Daniel answered by throwing his arms around Jack's neck and holding on.

For a minute, Jack reveled in the tiny body clinging to him and the memories it invoked.

"Colonel?"

Jack looked up. "He's all yours." He pried Daniel's hands apart then patted them down to his sides. "Fraiser's ready for you." Jack hated having to push Daniel away as he reached for him. "Nope, not this time, buddy."

On cue, the chin quivered.

Without making eye contact, Jack lifted Daniel off the infirmary bed, grabbed his hand and led him over to Fraiser. "Here you go."

Fraiser bent down until she was eye level with Daniel. "Cassie can't wait to meet her new brother."

Panic stricken, Daniel glanced at Jack, who just offered him a smile and a pat on the head.

Fraiser and Daniel left, the little suitcase packed with Daniel's clothes swinging from the doc's left hand while Daniel clung to her right, stumbling along, his focus on Jack, who was still standing in the infirmary's doorway.

"Shit!" Jack ran back into the infirmary and located the tiny shopping bag of crayons and coloring and game books. He took three steps towards the door, then backed up, found the scrub top and shoved it into the bag, under the other items. He caught up to them right by the elevators.

For a second, Daniel's face lit up when he saw Jack and he dropped Fraiser's hand and stepped towards him.

"You forgot this." He raised Daniel's hand, then forcibly gripped it around the shopping bag's handle.

Daniel glanced at the bag then at Jack. Confused, he held out his free hand to Jack.

Jack knew what Daniel wanted. What Daniel thought he needed. What Jack would like to, but was unable to give him. Jack shook the tiny hand extended in his direction just as the elevator doors slid open. "There's your ride, buddy. See you soon, okay?"

"Let's go, Daniel." Fraiser's voice was soft, yet insistent, leaving no room for argument.

Jack was grateful that Daniel got on the elevator without a fuss, and with a thumbs up, he turned and walked down the corridor even before the elevator doors slid shut.

The incessant buzzing pulled Jack from his restless sleep. Strange. He was always up before the alarm. From under the blankets he pulled out a lethargic arm and slapped at his alarm clock, only opening his eyes when he realized that after pounding it a few times, the clock was still emitting its annoying sound.

"Huh?" He opened one eye. The large luminous numbers read zero three hundred hours, which was approximately three and a half hours before the alarm was due to go off. Phone. His hand slid from the clock to the phone, knocking it off its cradle before he was able to pick it up.

"This better be good. O'Neill."

"Colonel."

Fraiser. Daniel. Emergency. Jack shot up and swung his feet over the side of the bed.

"I think I need your— I think Daniel needs you, sir."

And then Jack heard it. Fraiser's voice was echoing as if she were making this call from her bathroom. Muted, yet still managing to travel through her closed door and miles of telephone wires, was screaming. Deafening, breathless screaming. "Is he sick?"

"No. Inconsolable. Hysterical. Hours upon hours of tears. It's either you, sedation, or a trip back to the SGC."

"I thought you said he needed to—"

"Maybe I was wrong." Her voice was brimming with self-condemnation.

"I'm on my way. Tell him I’m on my way."

A hug, a kiss, and he'd sit by Daniel's bed for a few minutes until the poor kid fell back to sleep. Stick the scrub top that he'd adopted as his security blanket back into his arms, but this? Getting up in the middle of the night? This was not going to be a habit. Not if he could help it. And not if anyone wanted to get any sleep for the next ten years of Daniel's life.

Fraiser's house was like a beacon in the darkness. Bright enough that Jack was surprised that planes weren't mistaking her block for a landing field. Every light was on, their luminosity increased due to the darkness of the surrounding homes.

Cassie greeted Jack at the door, wearing an expression no child her age should wear - exhaustion, exasperation and thorough annoyance. "Uncle Jack," she said as he stepped into the brightly lit living room. "Are you here to take him back?"

In consideration of Fraiser's neighbors, Jack quickly shut the door behind him in an attempt to hold the screams within the house. He cringed sympathetically. "Why don't you point me in the direction of your mom and then take yourself back to bed. I'll take care of this in a minute."

Cassie snorted. "Yeah, that's what my mom said as soon as he started this." She turned with a flip of her braid. "She's in the kitchen. Good luck."

Jack walked into the kitchen, Daniel's screaming covering his entrance, allowing him a few extra seconds to get his bearings. Fraiser was disheveled, wearing a pink sweat suit, her hair tied up in a ponytail. She looked frazzled, exhausted and so out of her element. "Come on, baby," she said, attempting to rock the unwilling child. "Shush."

Daniel might have been sitting on Fraiser's lap, but he wasn't there of his own volition. The hands that anchored him there around his waist, from where Jack was standing, seemed to tighten every time Daniel drew a breath.

Daniel's eyes were closed to mere slits. His face was a mass of blotches, and the wadded-up tissues piled on the table in front of him led Jack to believe Fraiser had given up the battle to stop the flow of snot streaming from his nose.

Daniel lowered his forehead onto the edge of the table and Fraiser relaxed her hold and brought up one of her hands to rub his back. Jack stepped directly into Fraiser's line of vision. He gave a sharp nod then brought his finger up to his lips, stopping her from announcing his arrival.

"Daniel?"

Daniel's head shot up and he pulled Fraiser's hand from his waist. "Jack. Home," he said hoarsely and he slid from her lap. "Home. Home," Daniel repeated as he wrapped his arms around Jack's legs, looking for purchase as he attempted to climb his way up his body.

Jack wasn't sure who was more shocked at Daniel's verbal utterances, him or Fraiser. They were probably equal, though Fraiser, bless the poor woman, recovered faster.

"It was only a matter of time." She stood, swept the tissues off the table and into the garbage. Realizing how she must look, Fraiser shot Jack an embarrassed smile and began to fix her hair.

"Home," Daniel said, smacking Jack's leg. "Jack. Home." He raised his arms to Jack, opening and closing his fists.

"Sorry, big guy." Jack bent down and swung Daniel into his arms. "You sorta distracted me."

Daniel immediately snuggled against Jack, burrowing his head under his chin, eyes closing. His finger found his mouth and he settled in with a sigh. "Home." Around his thumb, the word was muffled, yet decipherable.

"You are home," Jack said firmly.

Daniel lifted his head so fast, he clocked Jack in the chin. "Ow." Daniel clamped his hand over the injury.

"Yeah, I know," Jack said, rubbing his chin across Daniel's hands. "Easy."

"Jack. Home." Incessantly, he patted Jack's chest.

"Yes." Jack held his hand. "I'm Jack. And this is your home."

"No!"

Jack planted Daniel's ass on the countertop. "I think we need to get you cleaned up before we have an intelligent conversation, Dannyboy."

Fraiser pressed the box of tissues into Jack's hand. "Start with those. I'll go get a washcloth."

Daniel blew. Jack blotted. And half the box of tissues was gone before Fraiser returned with a wet washcloth and clean pair of pjs.

"Doc?"

"I'm going to be in the living room."

"I'll just get Daniel cleaned up, then I'll put him to bed."

"No!" Daniel screamed. "No!" He batted blindly at Jack.

"Enough. You have to sleep," Jack insisted.

Daniel hiccupped and blinked at Jack. He inhaled shakily. "Wanna go." Daniel glanced at Fraiser. "Jack's home." He leaned forward, collapsing against Jack's chest, as if finding the words to make himself understood was exhausting.

Jack glanced at Fraiser.

"It would appear, sir, that Daniel's made his decision."

"Let's be realistic, how the hell can I take—"

"Please," Daniel whispered. "Please, home."

"I'll pack up his things, sir."

Daniel was fast asleep in the booster seat before Jack even got to the end of Fraiser's block. "Just so you know, I'm too old for this."

Daniel whimpered as he shifted positions, slumping sideways.

"Hell, don't complain. This... me, I was your choice. You know, it's not too late to change your mind. I could be right back to Fraiser's house in less than a minute." Jack made a left, turned on the radio. Turned the radio off. "Sure, now you're quiet? You going to be like that damn friggin' singing frog in the Warner Brothers Cartoon? Hello, my baby, hello, my darling," Jack mimicked as he pounded the steering wheel. "Wake up, Daniel. Wake up!" he shouted.

Daniel roused himself. "Jack's home."

Jack took the forty seconds at the red light to bang his head on the steering wheel.

Daniel's head fell forward and he began to snore.

"Oh, great. I couldn't get you pre-allergies?" Jack continued to drive. "Okay, my mother always said that every cloud has a silver lining." Jack paused. "My mother? Not even ten minutes into my life and you've brought my mother into the conversation. Not good. So not good.

"You do know, you live in my house, you live by my rules. There will be sports. Hockey. Basketball. Baseball. ESPN. There will be no Egyptian documentaries, History or the Discovery Channel, and don't for a second think there will be Tellie Tubbies, Barney or Thomas the Tank Engine playing on any television in the O'Neill household." Jack stopped. "Thankfully, you're housebroken. Piss anywhere but the toilet and you'll be cleaning it up. Mark my words. Nothing makes me grumpier than stepping in warm pee in the early morning."

Jack pulled into his driveway. "You'll eat pancakes for breakfast and like them. There will be Froot Loops and Captain Crunch. Granola is a no no. And never, ever, request yogurt." Jack shut off the engine, unbuckled his seatbelt and peeked around the opening between the seats. "I hope to god you know what you're doing, Daniel, 'cause I have a bad feeling about this."

Jack had saved the world, traveled to different planets, yet here he was, all thumbs trying to figure out how to open the locks to the damn booster seat. Okay, this was a conundrum; maybe he should bring Daniel's stuff into the house first and then come out and get Daniel. Or bring Daniel into the house and then come out and retrieve his baggage. Either way, Daniel would be alone. House. Truck. House. Truck. Daniel wasn't even in the house and already there were issues.

He opted for taking Daniel into the house first, that way if he began to scream when Jack ran out to collect his stuff, at least he'd have four walls to contain his vocal diatribe as opposed to just the truck. "Upsie daisy," Jack said triumphantly as he finally opened the booster seat and lifted Daniel out. He hugged the limp body tightly, then amazingly grew another pair of hands and managed to drag out the suitcase as well, carrying both to the front door without dropping either.

"Aw, shit." Jack wasn't too sure when he realized that the body he was holding so closely was damp and not sweaty damp, but damp as if 'no one had reminded Daniel to use the bathroom before they left Fraiser's house' type of damp. Jack turned in circles, trying to figure out the safest place to put Daniel down that didn't involve changing sheets or steam cleaning at this hour of the night.

The old, battered, threadbare rug in front of the fireplace became Jack's changing table of choice. Gently he placed Daniel on the rug, and the little bastard didn't even open one eye as Jack unsnapped the bottom of his feetsie pajamas and peeled off the sodden mess. He struggled with the top because Daniel was sucking his thumb, which obviously was more important than removing a pissed on pj top. A sudden thought occurred to Jack and he shook Daniel awake. "Do you have to use the bathroom?"

Daniel sat up, rubbing his eyes. He scrabbled onto all fours and stood. "I gotta pee." Buck-ass naked, he took off at a dead run down the hall right in the direction of the bathroom.

Open-mouthed, Jack stared after Daniel. It took a moment for the shock to wear off. "Shit." Jack bounded after him when he realized how much trouble a naked five year old could do in a bathroom.

Jack jiggled the door handle. "Open up, Daniel."

"Pee-ing," the singsong voice answered.

"You don't need to pee with the door shut."

"Almost done."

"Remember the rules about peeing. Only in the toilet. Not on the—"

"Oh oh."

"Oh oh? Daniel, why doesn't that sound good?"

"I'm all done."

Jack pressed his ear against the door. Toilet flushed. Then there was childlike humming. A grunt or two then there was water running. The faucet.

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Jack!"

This was a cry of anguish and Jack shouldered the door, the old hinges gave way and he stumbled into the room. Daniel was kneeling on the bathroom countertop, the faucet running full blast, the sink threatening to overflow.

Jack got it in one. Hot water - too hot for a five year old's tender skin. He scooped Daniel off the countertop before turning off the water. "Let's check out the damage, okay?"

There were tears and squirming but the boo boos were all fixed. Though reddened, Daniel's hands were fine and he was once again jammified, this time in the ones with tiny jet planes. "Carter's got a warped sense of humor, you know that?" Jack peeled Daniel off him and onto the bed in the spare room. He expected some resistance, but Daniel offered none and just yawned as Jack covered him with the quilt.

"Home," Daniel announced with satisfied smile and closed his eyes. "I'm home."

It was already zero five hundred hours by the time Daniel was settled in the spare room. Not enough time to go to sleep and barely enough time to formulate the wording for his retirement letter. Jack sank into the recliner, clunked it into the upright position then instantly regretted not grabbing a pre-dawn beer before settling in. The living room was littered with the contents of the suitcase. The soiled pjs were in a pile by the stone hearth. Daniel had dumped the shopping bag so there were crayons and kid's game books in an untidy pile.

Jack sighed. His once pristine living room, after today, was going to become a thing of the past. And that sucked. Or did it?

Daniel was still sleeping. Good. Slowly, Jack backed from the room and headed to the kitchen. The coffee pot was now filled and Jack poured himself the biggest mug of black coffee and picked up the phone and dialed General Hammond.

"Hammond."

"We have a situation, General." Jack sank into the kitchen chair.

"According to Doctor Fraiser, Jack, it would appear that you have a situation." There was a deep, grandfatherly chuckle.

Oy. "Doctor Fraiser has been in to see you already?"

"And the good doctor even brought me an egg white on bagel sandwich with freshly brewed coffee when she came to see me this morning."

"Breakfast."

"It would appear, Jack, that I got breakfast and you got Daniel Jackson."

"Yes, I did."

"You do know that I allowed you to delude yourself into believing that Daniel would end up with Doctor Fraiser..."

"Excuse me, sir?"

"The boy's exactly where he belongs, Jack."

"I'm too—"

"No, you're not too old. If you're not too old to travel across the galaxy, you're not too old to raise a child."

"My track record with raising a child, if you'll excuse my language, General, sucks."

"You'll never forget and Daniel doesn't remember. It's a perfect match."

He was speechless.

"Yeah, I figured you'd be at a loss for words. For now, I'll put in the paperwork for leave time. Give it a few days then we'll discuss the situation and your duty roster."

"General, I—"

"I'll make sure Captain Carter and Teal'c get in contact with you."

Jack watched as life as he knew it sped past his eyes.

"Don't worry, Jack."

"Considering I'm middle-aged—"

The General graciously cleared his throat.

"Well into my middle-age years," Jack amended. "That don't worry part, is pretty much an oxymoron when referring to raising a child."

That statement earned him a full belly laugh from the General. "You're the best man for the job."

Best man for the job? Bullshit, Jack thought as he bent down to add the wet pair of pjs on the hearth to the laundry basket. He was doing laundry. When he was supposed to be at work, he was doing laundry. And he had to go shopping. As in food. Not for beer, chips or pretzels, but for things like milk and juice.

"Jack?"

Jack spun around. "Daniel."

Daniel knuckled his eyes and yawned. "I'm hungry."

Jack dropped the laundry basket. "Want cereal?"

"Pancakes."

"Blueberry?"

Daniel thought a moment. "Chocolate chip."

"Blueberry-chocolate chip?"

"Yummy. Okay."

"Go pee and wash your hands, and then join me in the kitchen."

" 'K." Daniel bounded down the hallway.

"Daniel!" Jack yelled. "Do not—"

"Close the bathroom door. I know," Daniel shouted back. "It's broke, Jack, can't close."

"Great," Jack grumbled to himself as he got out a pen and a piece of paper and began to make a list, Home Depot's hardware department being number one.

Jack watched as Daniel stared at the pancake covering his plate. He speared it with his fork and struggled to rip off a piece, but instead, managed to pull the pancake, in one big circle, up to his mouth, the front of his face hidden behind the pancake's circumference.

Frustrated, Jack dropped his fork, leaned over, pulled the pancake off Daniel's face and dropped it back onto the plate, its nucleus gone. Daniel was chewing furiously, using his fingers to make sure he didn't miss a crumb.

Jack wiped his syrup-covered fingers on his napkin. Daniel picked up his napkin and mimicked him. Little pieces of the napkin stuck to his fingers and Jack rolled his eyes. Obviously it was going to take more than a napkin to clean Daniel. "Would you like me to cut up your pancake so it's easier for you to eat?"

"Oh. Please?" Daniel pushed the plate towards Jack.

Daniel ate two huge pancakes and drank a large glass of milk and was now sulking in a bathtub full of bubbly stuff Cassie had given Jack on his last birthday. He'd never had a use for it, until now.

"I took a shower at Janet's last night."

"And you ate pancakes covered in syrup. Now you're covered in syrup. We need to go out shopping—"

"I don't wanna go shopping."

Jack opened the medicine cabinet, took out the large bottle of Tylenol and dry swallowed three. He flipped down the toilet seat and sat. "How come now you're talking?"

Daniel drew his attention away from the bubble pyramid he was constructing. "Because I'm home."

"Okay." Jack wasn't too sure how to answer that. He decided on another approach. "What do you remember? When you woke up, when you were sick?"

"You."

"And..."

"Hurting. But I don't hurt no more." He smiled brilliantly at Jack.

"I'm glad."

"And Teal'c and Sam. I remember them... Where are they?"

At work. Where Jack wished he was at that moment. "They're with—"

"I don't wanna go where they are. I wanna stay here." Daniel slammed his pyramid flat, bubbles and water flowing over the side of the tub. "Jack's home."

"What about before the hurt?" Jack tossed a towel to cover the flood Daniel had made.

"Nothing."

"How do you feel now?"

"Wet." Daniel scrunched his face and looked at Jack. "How do you feel?"

The words Jack wanted to use to describe his frustrations were certainly not meant for a five-year old. "Good." Too little sleep, heartburn, headache, a bathroom full of water, a kitchen full of syrupy residue and more laundry in the making. "Nothing's hurting now?"

"Nope." Daniel leaned forward and brought a huge armful of bubbles forward against his chest, exposing his legs. He forced the bubbles up until they hid his face and then blew on them, forcing an opening.

"What if Carter and Teal'c were to come here later?" Oh, bad move, Jack decided the moment Daniel's face lit up. What if Carter and Teal'c couldn't make it, and then he'd have to deal with a kid with an attitude. As if he hadn't been dealing with that since Daniel had been shrunk...

"When? Now?"

"Later." He held a hand out when Daniel made to get up. "Tonight, maybe after supper."

"Oh. Okay." Daniel smoothed the bubbles out with one hand.

"So, before the hurt..." Jack wasn't sure how much probing he should attempt but a talking Daniel, after the silent treatment of the past weeks, was a gift horse he needed to take full advantage of. "Do you remember anything before that?"

Daniel paused, his hands going still then slipping under the suds as he stared at the bubbles. He shook his head violently. "Nope. It hurt, then it didn't, and you were there." Daniel didn't look up, remained still for a long moment, then began reshaping the bubbles.

"Okay, I think you're about done now. How about we go get dressed?" Jack reached into the water and pulled Daniel out of the tub, settled him between his knees and wrapped him in a large bath towel. He rubbed Daniel dry while the kid stood there, one hand braced against his knee for balance. The motion was familiar, but it wasn't until he pulled the towel away and Daniel grinned impishly at him did the memories of doing this with Charlie hit him like a blow to the gut.

"C'mon." He went to wrap the towel around Daniel but he took off towards his bedroom at a run, the wet slap of damp, bare feet echoing down the hall. "Daniel!" he shouted as he followed after him, then sighed. No use trying to tell a kid not to run in the house, especially naked. Streaking seemed to be a built-in mechanism in kids.

Daniel had already pulled open the drawers that Jack had temporarily liberated for him, haphazardly pulling clothes from it. Jack picked out a pair of jeans and a tee shirt, handed them to Daniel, pointed at the underwear he'd dropped on the floor, tossed a balled-up pair of socks on the bed, and pushed a pair of sneakers towards Daniel with his feet.

"Don't forget your socks and shoes."

While Daniel got dressed, Jack called Fraiser. "He's talking," he said the moment she answered the phone."

"He said a few words last night."

"No, I mean, full sentences. Like a regular kid. I asked him what he remembered before and he said pain. He remembers Carter and Teal'c—"

"Sir, I think you need to bring Daniel in so we can re-evaluate him—"

"He started talking the moment he was away from the SGC. Doesn't that say something to you?"

"With all due respect, sir, Daniel wasn't talking last night at my house. That happened only when you arrived."

Jack rubbed a hand across his face, getting a whiff of the bubbly stuff from Daniel's bath. "Look, how about you and Cassie come over for supper tonight? I'll ask Carter and Teal'c also. That way you can see him in action and we can try to figure out what to do next."

"Next?" Fraiser laughed. "Seeing that he's talking, I'm thinking the next step is enrolling him in school and setting up a fund for his graduation day."

"Hey, that's not funny. Hammond gave me three days off to be with Daniel. By then, you'd better—"

"Jack?"

"Just a second, Daniel," Jack shouted. "Gotta go. Shall I get two extra steaks?"

"We'll be there, sir."

"Great." Jack put the phone on the counter and returned to the spare room. Daniel was more or less dressed, but he was staring at the waist of his pants. "What is it?"

"I can't get the button buttoned."

"Here." He crouched and reached for the small, metal button. With fingers that felt too clumsy for the tiny sized button, he finally managed to force it through the similarly tiny hole. "We'll need to get you some more pants. Maybe something easier to do up."

"Who were you talking to?" Daniel dropped onto the floor and began to thread his socks onto his feet.

"Fraiser."

Glancing quickly at Jack in a motion so reminiscent of the adult man the boy had once been, Daniel pursed his lips. "I'm not going back."

"No, we're going shopping. So hurry up."

His bare foot made a screeching sound on the wood floor as Daniel brought it forward so he could put the second sock on it. "I don't wanna go shopping."

"Well, that's too bad. We need to fix the bathroom door, we need food, and you need clothes, and those aren't going to fill the fridge or closet without our going out there to get them."

"But I wanna stay here." Daniel's voice picked up a whine.

"How about we get a couple of movies while we're out? I'm sure there're a couple of Disney movies I haven't seen."

"Movies?" The whine was gone and his face perked up in interest. "What kind of movies?"

"I dunno. That's why we need to go shopping so we can look at the titles and choose."

"Can I choose a movie?"

"Sure."

"Yippee." Daniel hurriedly reached for his sneakers, stuck his feet in them and pulled the Velcro closed then stared at his feet. "I don't need the sticky stuff, you know."

"You don't?"

Daniel did a little kid two step, testing out the shoes. "Nope. I know how to tie a bow."

To Jack's surprise, Daniel, the adult who'd never given a shit about what he wore, was downright vocal in his choice of clothing. Embarrassingly vocal. His 'no's!' cut through the mid-morning quiet of the store and forced more than one person to give Jack a sympathetic glance.

"Ra had nothing on you." Jack dumped two armfuls of clothing, socks, boxers and pjs onto the conveyor belt of register ten.

Daniel smiled at Jack and pointed to the three-pack of Matchbox cars right by the endcap of the register. "Please?"

"Don't you think you got enough?"

Daniel blinked at Jack then sighed, his shoulders rising and falling with the effort. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"All right." Daniel gave up and instead, stood on tiptoes, watching in amazement as his new clothes traveled down the moving belt and into the waiting plastic bag.

"Daniel?"

"Hmm?" Daniel didn't take his eyes off his traveling clothes.

Jack shook his head. "Do you want the red cars or the blue trucks?"

Wide-eyed, Daniel sat in the booster seat, arms raised, while Jack buckled him in. His gaze was glued to the three-pack of red cars in his hands. "Thank you."

"All done."

Daniel lowered his hands, then hugged the box to his chest. "Thank you, Jack."

Jack reached towards the box. "I can take them out if you want—"

"No!" Daniel swung around, protectively covering the box of cars with his body.

"Sorry." Jack offered up a gentle squeeze to his shoulder as an additional apology. "Sit up, okay?

Daniel righted his body in the seat. "I like them just the way they are."

"Got it. Ready to go food shopping?"

"Can I bring the cars?"

"Sure."

Daniel sat in the child's seat of the shopping cart, examining the cars. Jack thought he was mumbling to himself until he realized that Daniel was actually reading the print on the boxes. "Once a genius, always a—"

Finally, Daniel looked up. "Mac 'n' cheese."

"What?"

"Kraft macaroni and cheese." Daniel leaned over the seat. Right. Left. "Where's the mac 'n' cheese."

Jack thought a moment. "Don't you hate macaroni and cheese?"

Daniel shook his head. "Nope. I don't think so."

"Well, Carter and Teal'c are coming over tonight. So are Fraiser and Cassie. I don't think that's what they want to eat."

"Why not?"

"Because they want steaks. Burgers. Franks."

"I want mac 'n' cheese."

Jack sighed.

Daniel waved the box of cars at him. "Mac 'n' cheese?"

"Hamburger?"

"Mac 'n' cheese," Daniel insisted.

Jack sighed again.

Daniel smiled.

Jack pushed the cart with the brilliantly smiling child to find a box of macaroni and cheese.

"How are you doing, sir?"

"Surviving."

"And Daniel?"

Jack looked into the living room. Daniel was fast asleep on the couch, a three pack of Matchbox cars and a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese tucked against his body.

"Daniel's doing okay. Making me grey before my time, but doing okay."

"He hasn't even been with you twenty-four hours, Colonel."

Jack sunk down into the kitchen chair. "It just seems like forever."

"Do you need me to bring anything tonight?"

Jack thought a moment. "Something sweet. Something chocolaty."

"Something for Daniel? No problem. I know just the thing."

Jack opened the cabinet and the can of baked beans took a nose dive. Before Jack had a chance to stop it from landing on the glass microwave-safe dish sitting on the counter, the can took a weird bounce and caught the corner of the dish. In horror, he watched the bowl and the can perform a graceful pirouette through the air. The can landed on the floor with a thud and rolled to safety. The bowl, while being able to withstand the heat of the microwave oven, was unable to save itself from the hardwood kitchen floor and shattered into a million pieces. Jack wasn't sure if his curse stemmed from the mess he now faced or the terrified screams of a five year old in the living room.

Daniel was clambering off the couch with the cars in one hand and the box of food in the other. His balance was off, but at least Daniel was luckier than the can, Jack was able to get to him before he took a header off the couch.

He was a pool of sweat and his heart was pounding so hard, Jack could feel the vibrations as he held him. "Scared you, huh?"

Daniel nodded. "I was sleeping."

"Yeah, you were."

Daniel yawned and settled against Jack.

This really wasn't what Jack wanted - Daniel sleeping on the couch while he did barbeque preparations was more what he had in mind. Not this. "How about if I just put you down on the—"

"No! Here's fine." Daniel patted Jack's chest with the box of macaroni and cheese.

"No, here's not fine." Jack settled into the corner of the couch.

Well, here was actually fine enough for Daniel and Jack because somewhere during Jack's protests, Daniel closed his eyes, then Jack followed suit, waking up stiff and sore with an armload of Daniel and a whole lot of eyes staring down at them.

"How cute."

"Carter," Jack hissed, trying to stretch out his legs and allow the blood to once again begin to flow.

"I meant Daniel, sir, not you."

Cassie giggled.

Carter turned beet red. "It's not that you aren't cute, it's just that—"

"Carter, there's a shovel in the backyard; it can help you with the hole you're digging yourself into."

Carter huffed indignantly. "I think I'll go put dessert in the fridge."

"Watch the—" Jack yelled after her.

"Sir, you have broken glass all over the floor."

"I know," Jack said. "Give me a moment—"

Daniel gave a whimper of protest as Jack placed him on the couch.

Cassie bent down before her mother could stop her.

"Cassie, he's sleeping."

Gently, Cassie reached out and touched Daniel's cheek then looked at the adults standing behind her in awe. "Wow, Uncle Jack, he's so much cuter when he sleeping."

"Uncle Jack?" Jack settled on the wooden bench across from Cassie. Daniel was still sleeping, cuddling with his boxes. Jack had left the sliding glass door open just a smidge on the off chance Daniel woke up terrified. He reached for a plate, then a hamburger, answering Cassie as he dressed his burger for consumption. "Yeah, honey?" "Where's Uncle Daniel?" Teal'c raised an eyebrow. Carter abandoned him by finding sudden interest in examining the ingredients of her potato salad, and Fraiser? She looked at Jack as if to ask 'where is Daniel'? "Ummm..." There wasn't any doubt that Jack was floundering. Cassie wasn't stupid. She was a little girl in size only. Her experiences had made her galaxy-smart, held back only by her size. Her eyes grew huge and she turned to gaze at her mom. "Did Uncle Daniel die?"

"Oh, God, no," Carter answered. "Daniel didn't die, he's—" She glanced at Jack to finish her sentence.

"He's in the living room, sleeping on the couch. You know, that cute, sleeping kid? That's Daniel."

Cassie began to giggle. "Uncle Jack, you're so fu—" She looked around the table. "Mom?"

"Uncle Jack's not kidding." Fraiser threw an arm around her daughter's shoulders and hugged her.

"Daniel's a kid?"

"Yeah. A kid. Like you."

"Uncle Jack," she huffed with a young girl's indignation. "I am not a kid."

"Sorry, how silly of me." Jack bit into his burger and chewed thoughtfully.

"Does he know?"

"It would appear that DanielJackson is not aware of his previous life."

"He doesn't remember being a grown up?"

"No, he doesn't." Carter smiled sadly.

"He doesn't wear a diaper or anything 'cause that would be just too ewwww."

Jack thought back to last night's ewww time with Daniel and suddenly feared for the safety of his couch. "No, he's housebroken."

"Phew," Cassie smiled. "Because there was no way I was going to change a diaper when I babysat—"

"Who said you were ever going to babysit for him, young lady?"

Cassie just rolled her eyes at her mom. "Give it time. Then Uncle Jack will be knocking on my door and I'll be raking in the big bucks."

"Time?"

"Don't be difficult, Uncle Jack."

"Cassie... You are not allowed to say anything to Daniel about this."

She made a zipping sound across her lips. "If I promise, can I go wake him?"

Fraiser pushed Cassie's plate closer to her. "You can eat your lunch."

"Does he remember his mom and dad, like me?"

"He is not yet comfortable with the English language and chooses not to speak."

"Yeah, about that," Jack smiled over his hamburger. "Daniel's gift of the gab returned."

Carter's smile was brilliant. "That's fantastic news, sir."

"What about DanielJackson's memory?"

Jack sighed. "Nothing. Pretty much remembers nothing except..." In deference to Cassie, he didn't want to make inference to the pain Daniel remembered. "Waking up and being five."

"Does that mean he doesn't know he's an orphan?"

"If you look around this table, CassandraFraiser, you will see that DanielJackson will never be without family. As you are not without."

"Cool. I get to be a big sister and he lives at another house. I think I like this arrangement. So when he cries, the only person he wakes up is Uncle Jack."

Blindly, Daniel walked onto the deck, the boxes tucked into his arm, and zeroed in to where Jack sat, a bottle of beer hanging loosely from his fingertips. "I'm hungry." He dropped the macaroni and cheese box in Jack's lap.

They descended as one on him - Carter, Fraiser, Teal'c and even Cassie. All touchy feely, with bright exclamations of happiness.

Panicked, Daniel clambered up Jack, stiffening as caring hands reached out.

Jack waved everyone back. "Have a good nap?" he whispered, just loud enough for Daniel to hear.

Daniel nodded nervously, burying his face in Jack's chest.

"Want to say hi to everyone. Sam. Teal'c..."

At the mention of their names, Daniel raised his head, looking around with interest.

"Hi, Daniel," Carter said from a safe distance.

"DanielJackson, it is good to see you are awake."

"Hi." Daniel's greeting was soft.

"Don't forget Cassie and Doc Fraiser—"

Daniel looked at Jack.

"Don't worry, you're staying here." Jack felt the little body relax in his grip. Any hopes of sharing the kid with Fraiser or the rest of his team in the near future went out the window with Daniel's reaction.

Daniel waved at Cassie and Fraiser, they both waved back.

"How about I get you something to eat? You gotta be hungry after sleeping—"

Daniel pulled the box of macaroni and cheese from between their bodies and shoved it in Jack's face.

"No. We have burgers. Franks."

Daniel insistently tapped Jack on the nose with the box.

"I do not believe DanielJackson desires flame-broiled food."

"Daniel, can I make this for you?" Hesitantly, Carter stepped up and touched the box smushed into her commanding officer's face.

"You're going to cook in my kitchen, Carter?"

"Come on, Daniel." Carter plucked the box Daniel and held out her hand, waggling her fingers in invitation. "How about I make this for you?"

Daniel slid off Jack's lap, the sleeve of Matchbox cars still in his right hand. He reached up and took Carter's hand, then glanced towards Teal'c and Cassie, inviting them. Fraiser and Jack were obviously excluded from their little party.

Jack glanced over his shoulder. "Carter can't burn down my house making macaroni and cheese, can she?"

"I don't believe so, sir."

"I'm thinking Daniel's pulling the Marcel Marceau routine in the kitchen."

"I think it's time for Mackenzie."

Jack snorted - his run in with the SGC's psychiatrist hadn't been pleasant. Actually, the man wasn't a favorite of anyone on either SG-1 or the entire SGC. "Daniel's not talking for the people he knows best, what in god's name makes you think he's going to utter a sound for that quack?"

"I'm concerned that there's more going on—"

"Ya think? A few weeks ago when I spoke to Daniel, we both stood pretty much eye to eye. Now? When and if Daniel decides to speak, he comes up to below my crotch. I'm thinking that's a pretty big adjustment for him, whether or not he even remembers the scenario that led up to this."

Jack got up suddenly, finished the rest of his beer and tossed the empty into the recyclable bin. "Time to make sure Carter read the instructions on the box."

"Sir..." Fraiser stood and blocked his way.

"Doc, not now, okay? Maybe sometime in the future we can look back at this and laugh. But not now. Now I just have to make sure that my kitchen is still in one piece."

Daniel was sitting on Teal'c's lap, which in and of itself was a sight to behold, but to see Carter smiling while wearing an apron, stirring a pot on his stove, in his kitchen, was downright surreal.

Teal'c placed a restraining hand on Daniel as he began to squirm. "DanielJackson is most impatient."

"Almost done." And surprisingly, the macaroni was drained, prepared and placed in front of Daniel within a matter of seconds.

"I'm impressed, Carter."

"If I can save the world, sir, I can handle a simple box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese."

Ouch. Jack had definitely stepped on his 2IC's Achilles' heel.

"DanielJackson." Teal'c placed a hand over Daniel's as he dug a spoon into the orangey mess. "I believe it would be most prudent to allow this food item to cool."

Daniel pursed his lips and blew into the steam wafting from the bowl.

Cassie jumped up. "I have an idea."

Cassie preened as Daniel ate the frankfurter that she'd cut up and put in the bowl with the macaroni and cheese. "Isn't that good? I learned how to do that when I went on my Girl Scout Jamboree in the spring."

Daniel smiled and scraped the bottom of the bowl, then handed it to Sam.

"All done?"

Daniel shook his head.

"You want more?"

"Isn't that box supposed to feed a family of four?" Jack shook the opened and empty box.

Daniel stood leaning against Jack's leg, looking out the front door, waving along with Jack, saying goodbye to their guests. He was hot, sweaty, and a touch of sun had brought out a smattering of freckles across his nose. Daniel yawned. Loudly.

Jack moved his leg and Daniel bopped up and down. "You need a shower."

"Bath."

Jack rested his head against the doorframe; that one word had been the first word Daniel had spoken in hours. "Why?"

"I don't like showers."

"No, I meant—forget it. Bath it is."

Daniel refused to sleep. Jack cajoled him with everything he could think of, but refused to take him into his bed. Daniel followed him around, getting underfoot, nearly tripping them both down the steps between the living room and the hallway.

"Stop it!" Jack yelled, grabbing the wall and Daniel at the same time.

Immediately, tears welled up in the huge blue eyes. "Don't yell."

"I'm sorry. But I'm tired and cranky."

Daniel held up his arms.

Exasperated, Jack took the sleeve of cars from Daniel's hand and angrily slammed it on the low wall. He ignored Daniel's whimper of protest and with a growl of annoyance, Jack bent, lifted Daniel up, then settled him on his hip. "I'm too old to walk around the house like this so don't you dare get used to this."

"Can I have my cars?"

"Here." Jack picked the box up and shoved them at Daniel. "Happy?"

"Why're you mad at me?"

Because since Daniel had been downsized, Jack had spent a lot of time thinking about Charlie. Fatherhood was a thing of the past with too many memories that belonged in the past. Jack dropped heavily into the recliner and popped the footrest up. "I'm not angry."

"Open my cars for me?" Daniel settled against Jack. With his back to Jack's front, he forcibly pressed the box into Jack's hands.

"No. It's late."

Daniel took the box back, turned it over a few times, then cuddled with it. He sniffed and Jack knew he was crying but he didn't have it in him to verbally offer Daniel words. Emotionally spent, he was all tapped out. He wrapped his arms around Daniel and cuddled with him without cuddling. He tried not to relax, tried to keep his arms at a distance, but it was hard. He was tired and as Daniel drifted into sleep, he grew heavier. His weight was like a comfortable blanket and against his better judgment, Jack's eyes closed.

Jack woke disorientated with empty arms. He was up in a shot. "Daniel!" Shit.

Daniel was in the kitchen, sprawled out, sleeping on the floor, the three Matchbox cars meticulously removed from their box and were parked next to Daniel's right hand.

Great. Jack gave his face a frustrated scrub. Gently he prodded Daniel with his toe. "Hey, Daniel," he hissed. "Wakey, wakey. The floor isn't the softest place to sleep. And there's no way I can bend down and—"

Daniel sat up with a soft sob. Eyes closed, he patted the floor until he located the cars, then gathered them into his lap. "Bedtime?"

"Yeah, how about..."

Daniel scrabbled up, thrust the cars at Jack, then scampered off, heading to—

Jack groaned, then yelled, a moment too late as the sound reverberated throughout the house. "I just fixed that. Please don't slam the bathroom door—"

Jack waited while Daniel crawled into bed before driving his toy cars over the blanket into Daniel's waiting hands. "What was with sleeping on the kitchen floor?"

"Didn't wanna wake you." Daniel made a tunnel and drove the cars under the blanket with him. "You were mad. I wanted to play. Done playing now." He yawned, deep enough for Jack to get a visual of his tonsils.

Jack covered Daniel up with the blanket, patting down the entrance to the car tunnel.

"You're not mad anymore?"

Yeah, he was angry. But his anger was directed at the fates more than at the poor unsuspecting child getting ready to sleep in his spare room. "I had a little nap. Think my anger got lost in my dreams."

Daniel sat up suddenly and threw his arms around Jack's neck. "It was fun today even with you being mad."

Okay, Jack was definitely going to have to work on Daniel and this grudge-holding thing.

His twenty minute power snooze left Jack out of sorts. It was a perfect night for some stargazing and he actually had one hand on the door until he realized that he couldn’t in good conscience go up onto the roof, enjoy a beer and check out the universe while a five year old slept inside.

Jack settled for a beer, keeping the sliding door open and sitting on the back deck, the chair pulled up to the opened door, just in case. The bottle was half finished when the phone rang. He checked out the time, surprised that it wasn't later than it felt.

"Hello."

"It's not too late, Jonathan, is it?"

Shit. "No, Ma. Not too late."

"I just wanted to make sure we're still on for tomorrow."

Tomorrow. Tomorrow was... crap. His mother was coming to town tomorrow. A friend's grandchild's wedding. They had talked about this a few weeks ago. The obligatory visit. The nicey nicey. Breakfast in the diner before the wedding. Stilted conversation.

"You forgot, didn't you?"

"No, I just didn't remember." Jack cleared his throat. "How about you come to my house for breakfast?"

"Instead of the diner?"

There was no mistaking the panic in his mother's voice. They had barely spoken since Charlie's death. Distance had made that an easy accomplishment, living hours apart from one another simply making it convenient to stay out of touch. But time had been a slow healer and when his mom had reached out with a telephone call just before his mission to Abydos, Jack had reciprocated. Tentatively, they had been working on mending their relationship, telephone calls and visits, but one of the unspoken rules was meeting in neutral territory.

They never met at Jack's house. Ever. Or at his mother's house. Until now. Weighing the odds, Jack would rather deal with his mother in his home than deal with Daniel at a diner. "Yeah, my house. Breakfast at my house."

There was hesitation.

"Do your coffee making abilities still suck, Jonathan?"

Doctor Daniel Jackson wouldn't have allowed Jack to make horrible coffee. "No, I think you might be surprised at my coffee making abilities."

"Tomorrow then. Around nine?"

"Nine's fine, mom, see you then."

Jack wandered around the house, picking up things, refolding the afghan, wiping down the table, until there was nothing left to straighten up. Finally, he made one more visit to a sleeping Daniel before he headed off to bed.

In the bed that had been too small for an adult Daniel, Jack literally had to move the quilt down to locate the kid.

He sat at the end of the bed, pushing the sweaty strands from Daniel's forehead. "My mom's coming tomorrow." Jack sighed. "Yeah, you remember her. Met her once."

Daniel sniffed, then sleepily rubbed his nose against the side of the pillow.

"I know, I know, she's a bit overpowering. Feel free to not talk to her. Maybe selective mutism is contagious. What'cha think?"

They were awake by six. Jack was up, dressed and showered thirty minutes later. Daniel, on the other hand, was sitting in the living room still wearing his pjs, running his cars along the bumpy route of the bricks by the fireplace.

"Ten minute warning, Daniel."

"Warning about what?"

"Getting dressed."

"Why?

"Because we need to go to the store."

"To buy some more mac 'n' cheese?"

"Among other things."

Daniel took off and Jack proudly preened. That was easy. Not a problem. Daniel listened. Hell, Daniel listened much better in this little body than he did as an adult.

"This is the macaroni and cheese I want you to get." Daniel dumped the empty box from last night into Jack's lap.

Jack strapped the pajama-clad Daniel into the booster seat. The three Matchbox cars were stuffed into the empty macaroni and cheese box.

"Look," Jack said, looking at Daniel though the rear-view mirror as he backed out. "I'm sorry I yelled."

Daniel stuck his hand inside the box and pulled out one car and made it drive over the bar of the booster seat.

"Guess I'm getting the silent treatment."

"You're mad. I don't wanna talk when you're mad. I didn't wanna get dressed. I didn't wanna go out. I wanna play with my cars."

"You're playing with your cars now," Jack tried to reason.

"Are we gonna go to the store with the mac 'n' cheese?"

"Yes. Yes we are."

"Can I get the pack of blue cars?"

No, you can't, Jack wanted to say. Actually his brain was already formulating the words and his body was preparing for the onslaught of tears, the problem was, his heart wasn't connected to his brain. "Sure. As a matter of fact, we'll pick out the cars first before we start shopping."

Jack looked at Daniel wearing the feetsie pajamas and at the asphalt parking lot, then at the wagons all lined up neatly at the entrance. "I'm going to carry you."

Daniel's face lit up.

"Don't get used to this," Jack groaned, awkwardly lifting him out of the truck.

"But I like this."

"Ow." Jack pulled down the little hand holding the box with the cars that had just attempted to slice open his jugular with its cardboard edge. "Next time," he hissed, "clothes and shoes."

Up until the moment that Daniel clutched himself and began to cry that he needed to pee now, Jack had never known that grocery stores came equipped with bathrooms. "Are you finished yet?" He could feel a cramp beginning to build. At his age, holding a five year old under the arms and having an empty box of macaroni and cheese stuck under his arm while said peeing was going on, could not be good for Jack's back.

Daniel began to squirm then giggled. "You're tickling me." And the stream of piss from his movement began to make a wide arc.

"Pee on my shoes and you're going to be in big trouble."

Daniel tried to turn his head. "Do you still have my cars?"

"Damn it, Daniel, you just peed on the wall. Yes, I have your cars."

"I don't want you to lose them."

"No, I'm not going to lose them. Though in about another two seconds, I'm going to lose you."

Daniel giggled. "You're funny."

"Hysterical." Jack peered over Daniel. "You done?"

"Yup."

"Good, we're done."

"No, we have to wash our hands. I remember that."

"If you can remember that, why couldn't you remember to pee before you left the house?"

Jack was pretty damned impressed that they were home. Daniel was dressed and sitting in the living room, his cars driving up and down the multitude of macaroni and cheese hill boxes, playing quietly.

The coffee was brewing. The French toast was made and warming in the oven, the ingredients for the omelettes were all cut up. The pan for said omelettes was prepared and ready. The juice was chilling. The bagels and fruit were the centerpiece on the dining room table, which was set. God, two days with a child in the house and Jack was turning into Martha Stewart. Teal'c would be so proud.

Now, all he had to do was wait. And pace. And come up with a believable lie as to why said child was now living in his house.

The doorbell rang. Great. It's show time. Jack drew a fortifying breath, wished for a drink in his hand and went to answer the door.

"Mom." Jack held the door open.

"Jonathan." She stepped into his house and he could see how much she was fighting the urge to assess his humble abode.

"Pssst." Jack glanced down as Daniel tugged on his pants' leg. "Who's she? Is she a babysitter? And who's Jonathan?"

Maybe silence would've been better. Jack reached down and picked up Daniel, who eyed his mom with a mixture of confusion and suspicion.

"I don't need a babysitter. Jack's job is to take care of me. You can go home now. Tell her there's a mistake. Go away."

"Shush, Daniel."

"She's not leaving, Jack. Make her leave."

Jack clamped his hand over Daniel's mouth. "Mom—"

"Obviously, there's something you're not telling me."

Jack grinned sheepishly and dropped his hand.

"Mom?" Daniel stuck out his hand, car and all, to his mother. "Hi. My name's Daniel. What's yours?"

"Why, hello, Daniel. My name is Rose." She wrapped her hand around Daniel's and gave it a little shake.

"Like the flower?"

"Yes, just like the flower." His mom smiled at Daniel.

Jack remembered that smile. He hadn't seen it for a long time and it hurt to see it now, directed at Daniel.

"Why are you here? Are you going to be my babysitter when Jack goes shopping? He made me go shopping with him today. I don't like shopping."

"No, honey, I live too far away."

Daniel's face fell. He glanced suspiciously at Jack then back to his mother. "Are you really Jack's mommy?"

"Yes, I'm Jon... Jack's mother."

"I don't remember my mommy or my daddy. I live with Jack now. So, if you're Jack's mommy, are you my gramma?"

"I'd have to be your father for Rose to be your grandma, Daniel."

"But—"

"And seeing I'm not your father—"

"Then Rose can't be my gramma?"

"Daniel, could you let the poor woman take off her sweater before you start to—"

"It's okay," Rose crooned to Daniel, holding out her arms. Her gaze, directed at Jack, wasn't as soft as her voice or her actions. Talk. Later. And this better be good.

Daniel went willingly to his mother and Jack stood there, trying to sort out his feelings as Daniel settled comfortably against her.

"I think I'll start breakfast..." Jack pointed towards the kitchen.

"I'm going to show my not gramma my cars, Jack."

"Sure, you do that."

"Where's Daniel?"

"Playing with his cars."

"He let you leave?"

His mom tweaked an eyebrow at him. "I told him I needed to speak to my son."

Jack threw a handful of cheese into the omelette he was making. "Talk away."

"I don't think I'm the one who needs to do the talking."

"His name is Daniel Jackson, Jr. His father, my friend, was killed, along with his wife. In an accident. Tragic accident. And the little guy in there was privy to their deaths. First hand visuals. He remembers pretty much nothing of the first part of his life, just that he lives here and has no parents." Jack exhaled then waited. Not all of the story had been a lie. Only the names had been changed to protect the innocent. Sorta.

Gently, his mother touched his arm. "I'm sorry your friend died."

He clamped his mouth shut and nodded. Daniel, his friend Daniel, had, by some stretch of the imagination, died, and in some strange way Jack was still mourning his loss.

"So you're this child's guardian?"

Jack nodded. "Guardian," he repeated. "Yeah, that's what I am."

Daniel pushed his eggs to the side. "I want mac 'n' cheese."

"There's cheese in the eggs, Daniel."

"I hate eggs." Daniel pushed the plate away.

"Then you won't have breakfast."

"I'm hungry."

His mother said nothing. She got up, went into the kitchen and returned with a second plate and a banana. She filled the empty plate with French toast, peeled then sliced the banana.

Wide-eyed, Daniel watched, raptly following her every move, practically salivating when she covered the whole mixture with more than a generous portion of syrup.

"Is that for me?"

"I don't know, Daniel," she said, examining the plate from all sides. "There's no cheese on it at all."

"Oh... that's okay. Can I try it?" The little brat only had eyes for his mother and the plate in her hands.

"You may not like this. All this syrup. And cinnamon. Bananas. What do you think, Jonathan, do you think Daniel'll like it?"

"Hmmm. It's not macaroni and cheese, I'm not too sure."

Jack flashed his mother a grateful smile as Daniel sopped up the last remaining drop of syrup with a miniscule crumb of French toast. "So, Daniel, better than macaroni and cheese?"

Daniel nodded vigorously as his tongue darted out to clean up whatever syrup hadn't made it into his mouth. "Almost as good."

Rose stood up and began to clean off the table.

Daniel slid off his chair and went to help her, grabbing his own plate and half-filled glass of juice.

Jack saw it. Knew it was going to happen, but he wasn't quick enough.

The plate was too big. The juice glass was too full and Daniel's hands were too small. And in a blink, Jack lost a plate from his grandmother's good china.

"Don't move," Jack shouted, more concerned about Daniel trying to clean up the mess than the actual loss of a plate.

Daniel froze.

His mom froze.

And with one arm out, stopping Daniel from taking a step into the shattered glass, Jack bent down to clean up the mess.

"I'm sorry," Daniel whispered softly, gently touching Jack's bent head.

"Come on, sweetheart," Rose said, pulling Daniel backwards, away from Jack. "Let's let him clean up the mess. You and I can go sit outside while he calms down."

Twenty minutes later, Jack walked onto the back deck. Daniel was squatting in the grass, playing with his cars and his mother was watching with a slight smile on her face.

Jack dropped down into the chair next to his mother with a sigh. "It was just a plate. I got upset because I was afraid Daniel was going to—"

"I understand. You didn't want him to get hurt. As an adult, I understood. But he's not an adult. He's an extremely intelligent, precocious child, but he's still a child."

"I suck at this." Jack encompassed the backyard with a sweep of his arm.

"At what? Making breakfast? Cleaning up messes. Caring? Parenthood is like riding a bicycle; you never forget how to do it."

Jack snorted. "I'm not his parent."

His mother shook her head. "That's right. You're his guardian." She leaned over and patted his forearm. "Why don't you get back to me in a few months and let me know if that's changed."

"I don't want to be Daniel's parent. I don't want to be anyone's parent."

Daniel chose that exact moment to look up and wave.

They waved back in unison.

Daniel gathered up his toys and headed for them.

"As far as being a parent to Daniel, I'm thinking you don't have a choice in the matter."

Jack's rebuttal took a backseat as Daniel stood in front of him, a car nestled in his outstretched hand. "Daniel?"

There were tears in his eyes, and his hand shook a little. "I'm sorry I broke your plate. You can break my car if you want. Then you won't be mad anymore."

Jack took the car from Daniel, ignoring the tears that started the second the miniature Mustang was lifted from his palm. "This belongs to you, right?"

Slowly, Daniel nodded. "It's my special car."

"Then you better make sure you take care of it." Jack stuck the car back into Daniel's palm and pressed his fingers around it.

"But that was a special plate."

Jack tugged Daniel onto his lap. "You were trying to help. It was an accident. If I broke your special car, it wouldn't be an accident. And that wouldn't be right."

Daniel settled against Jack with a contented sigh.

"Don't get too comfortable," Rose warned.

"No?" Jack and Daniel responded simultaneously.

"Nope," Rose said with a tight nod. "I think maybe we could take a drive to the toy store."

"I have toys."

"Mom..." Jack unburied a long ago memory of having an argument with his mother about the amount of toys she always brought when coming to visit Charlie. "Not today." He appeased his mother with a smile. "Maybe next time."

"Next time?" She repeated the words as if the concept was an alien one.

"Next time. Jack's mom, you're coming to visit again? When? Will you make me the French toast with the bananas? And we don't have to go to the toy store—"

"See, Mom, Daniel doesn't need—"

"We just have to go the food store 'cause that's where Jack buys me all the cars."

Jack groaned.

His mother laughed.

And Daniel gave a high-pitched giggle, and Jack was pretty damn positive that he was totally unaware as to why they were laughing.

By fourteen hundred hours, the pleasantness of the morning had worn off. Conversation between Jack and his mother had been and still was strained, but instead of leaving, she was hiding behind Daniel. She had relegated herself as Daniel's personal protector and Daniel was playing off of it, soaking up the attention, running to her every time Jack so much as breathed in his direction.

Daniel was whiney. The last straw and the stretching of Jack's last nerve came when he shed crocodile tears as Jack accidentally tripped over him in the kitchen, then yelled because he was underfoot.

"Don't cry. This never would've happened if you would just..." Jack took him by the shoulders and walked Daniel to the kitchen wall. "...Stand here. Please. This way I won't hurt you and you won't hurt me."

"I'm sorry," Daniel sobbed, sinking to the ground in an emotional outburst that was worthy of an Academy Award. It wasn't until his mother ushered Daniel out of the kitchen with a dirty look that guilt washed over him.

"Aw, crap." Jack slammed the fridge door shut, drew a deep breath and walked into the living room.

Daniel was curled on his mother's lap, thumb in his mouth with lids at half mast.

"He needs to take a nap."

"You don't have to hold him, he can just sleep—"

"In his bed," Rose finished before Jack had a chance to.

Daniel resisted for a second as he was lifted from Rose's lap, then settled against Jack with a kid-sized snore that made Jack smile, but did nothing to improve the look of consternation on his mother's face.

His mother was down his throat before his foot had even hit the last step. "He's five."

"Okay. Daniel's five." He was pretty damn clueless where his mother was going with this.

"He's an orphan."

"Yeah."

"And you're the parental figure in this—"

"Guardian," Jack shot back. "I'm his guardian."

"Personally, Jonathan, I don't give a crap what you call yourself, you just need to be aware of his needs. When did we have breakfast?"

Maybe his mom was suffering from dementia. "We had breakfast at nine."

"And what time is it now?"

Jack checked his watch. "After three, but what does this have to do with Daniel?"

She shook her head. "Therein lies the problem. He was hungry. He needed a nap. He needed you to pay attention to him."

"He could've told me that he was hungry."

"Oh, come on, Jonathan, behave like the adult I know you are."

"This is my house. You have no right to come in here—"

"Down that hall, in that room, is a lost little boy who needs you." Rose grabbed her sweater and purse. "You have no right to be his guardian."

"I don't deserve that."

"Daniel doesn't deserve this, son." She planted a light kiss on Jack's cheek. "I know it hurts, but try to get past the pain and remember what a good father you were to Charlie. Daniel needs you to remember that."

"Mom..."

"I'll be by tomorrow, before the wedding, and you and I can show Daniel what a toy store really looks like."

"Jack's mommy! Jack's mommy!" Daniel's screams pulled Jack's wandering attention away from the ESPN announcers.

"Hey." Jack made it up to the room in record time. He sat on the bed and a confused Daniel glanced at him before scrambling into his lap.

"Where's your mommy," he sobbed. "I want your mommy."

"I'm not good enough for you?"

"No," Daniel answered without hesitation.

"She'll be back tomorrow."

"Promise?" Daniel used the front of Jack's shirt as a tissue.

Jack ignored the snot trails. "Promise."

"Will she make me bananas with syrup and toast again?" The sobbing eased, the tempest becoming hiccupping breaths.

"Well, she won't be here for breakfast, but I can make you some if you'd like." Jack made a mental note to pick up more ingredients for making French toast when they went for groceries next week. He rubbed the sweaty back. "Why did you talk to my mom?"

"Because." The word was muffled, stuck between Jack's snotty tee shirt and his chest.

"Because why?" Jack cupped Daniel's chin and forced eye contact.

"Because she's a part of you." Daniel sniffed loudly and squirmed in Jack's grip. "I'm hungry." Knuckling his eyes with one hand, he sat back against Jack in a quick motion, nearly knocking the breath out of him.

"Okay. What'd you like? I can heat you up some soup and how about a grilled—"

"Mac 'n' cheese."

"—cheese sandwich to go with it? Or there're bagels left over. How about some melted cheese over a bagel?"

"Mac 'n' cheese."

"And we got plenty of franks and hamburgers from last night. I can heat one of those up—"

Daniel sighed loudly. "I want mac 'n' cheese, Jack."

"Or, I could make you some Kraft Macaroni and Cheese."

"Yeah!" Daniel bounced against Jack, then wriggled free and ran out of the bedroom. Jack could hear Daniel's footsteps as he raced to the kitchen. "C'mon, Jack, I'm hungry."

Shaking his head, Jack went into the kitchen and began preparing Daniel's supper, aware of the pair of bright, blue eyes watching his every move. While the pasta was heating, Jack toasted a bagel and heated soup for himself, slapped a few pieces of ham and a slice of cheese over the bagel and declared that as supper for himself.

"Can I have a hotdog in my mac 'n' cheese, like Cassie made for me?"

Without a word, Jack pulled a frankfurter from the fridge and chopped it up. "Go wash up, supper'll be ready in a few minutes." When Daniel raced out of the kitchen, Jack couldn't help smiling.

Five minutes later, Jack had their suppers laid out on the kitchen table. "Daniel, supper's ready."

Daniel hurried into the kitchen, carrying a book in his arms. He placed it on the table, climbed onto the chair, scooped up a large spoonful of macaroni, then carefully blew on it and delicately teased a few strands of pasta off the spoon, his teeth clanking on the metal.

"S'good." He shoveled the rest of the spoonful into his mouth, then reached for the book. Although there were pictures, there seemed to be a lot more text than Jack felt a five-year old should be familiar with.

"Where'd you get the book?"

"Janet gave it to me. It was Cassie's." Eyes glued to the book, Daniel shoveled food into his mouth, his attention focused on the story within the pages.

Jack took a bite of his sandwich and watched Daniel. A few times the chewing stopped as he peered closer at the book, obviously studying a word. Several times he frowned, but after a short while, he'd resume reading. The food disappeared quickly and soon the spoon was scraping the sides of the bowl. Daniel peered at his empty dish, surprise apparent on his face.

"Want more?"

"Please?" He smiled up at Jack a moment before falling back into his book, fingers still clutching his spoon. Jack stood, dished out more macaroni and cheese and slid the bowl before Daniel. Once more, Daniel began eating by rote, his concentration still on the book.

Jack contemplated enforcing the no-reading-at-the-table rule that Sara had imposed on Charlie. Then he realized that if he stopped Daniel from reading at mealtimes, he'd have to follow that rule himself. The realization of not being able to read the newspaper with his coffee in the morning quickly had him dismissing the whole idea.

"Can we watch a movie tonight?" With his face smeared with cheese sauce, Daniel reached for his milk with both hands and slurped it down. He stared at Jack over the glass as he gulped the milk.

Jack thought of the hockey game starting up in about an hour's time, and sighed. "Sure."

Daniel came up for air with a loud 'ahhh'. "Can I go pick the movie?"

When Jack nodded, Daniel began sliding off the chair. "Dishes," Jack warned. Daniel had been obvious in wanting to help and despite the accident this morning, Jack wasn't going to discourage him from doing chores. He finished his soup while Daniel brought his dishes to the dishwasher, then came back for Jack's empty plate, and made yet another trip for the soup bowl.

"Ack, just a sec," Jack said quickly as Daniel started to race out of the kitchen. He crooked his finger at him and tore off a piece of paper towel as Daniel approached. He wet it under warm water and washed the supper evidence from his face before letting Daniel go.

A quick clean up, and he found Daniel sitting in the den, four movies spread out in front of him while he read the back of the VHS box.

"This one." Daniel waved a tape at Jack, then scrambled up onto the couch. Once the movie started, he snuggled close to Jack, watching avidly, while Jack spent the next hour alternating between watching the minute hand on his watch tick forward, and Daniel's eyes slowly begin to drift shut.

"Okay, bedtime," he announced five minutes before the hockey game's start time.

"But the movie's not done." Daniel tried to burrow closer.

"We'll finish watching it tomorrow." He turned the movie off and set the TV to the sports channel before he took Daniel into his arms. As he carried him upstairs, Daniel snuggled sleepily against him. It was only when he tried getting Daniel into his pajamas that he remembered how difficult it was to undress and dress a limp, sleepy child. "Next time, you put your jammies on before the movie," he grumbled as the strains of the hockey game's theme song echoed into the bedroom.

The national anthems had been sung and the puck dropped before he got a sleepy and pliable Daniel under the covers.

"Can I call your mommy and say goodnight?" He blinked sleepily up at Jack.

"No. She's probably not in."

Daniel turned on his side, and his hand came out from beneath the blankets and began patting the top of the bed. Jack reached down for the crumpled scrub top and handed it to Daniel, who snatched it back with a sigh and snuggled his face against the cotton material.

"Sleep tight." Jack turned the light off and eagerly headed back down to the den.

He hadn't quite plunked his butt into the recliner and put his feet up, when he heard a pitter patter on the stairs.

"What's wrong?" Jack said with a sigh, bringing the footrest down as Daniel trotted over