#4 in the Life's Little Problems Series
Color Outside the Lines
A Little!Danny fic by: Maj. Cliffhanger
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Part 3
"Hey, Dave!" Jack greeted Dixon as he, Sam and Teal'c all spilled back into Cam's living room and discovered Mitchell and Danny's guest. "How's the back? I heard about the 'accident.'"
"Healing," the other man answered, taking the proffered hand and giving it a genial shake before the general started shedding his coat. "Couple of my kids are in the bedroom with Danny," he quickly warned them. "As for the back, I should be back to harassing my team again before they can start to decently miss me."
Jack grinned - then his eye was caught by the container on the coffee table. "Are those Katie's homemade cookies?"
"Help yourself, sir," Cam offered even as the general rounded the couch to snag one.
Jack offered him an eyebrow, wondering if Cam had said that automatically or if he was being sarcastic. Ignoring the possible rebuke, he popped the treat in his mouth.
"'Brought 'em over as a housewarming gift from the misses," Dixon explained, ignoring the silent byplay and biting back his own mirth. "'Would've packed a lot more if I'd known you were coming, sir."
The eyebrow went up again at the subtle taunt. Jack had been known to have to put in extra time in the gym whenever the Dixons managed to come to the annual SGC potluck every summer - and he'd placed the blame squarely on Katie Dixon's chocolate chip cookies every time. "Bite me," he told them both flippantly and stole another cookie.
"Daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy!" A small human-shaped missile suddenly shot out of the hallway and launched itself at the man in the wheelchair. How the kid kept from careening head first into the metal arm rest was a mystery but, somehow, he managed to defy the laws of physics and pull up just shy of disaster. "Candannyspendthenight? Please! Pleasepleasepleaseplease--"
"--Whoa!" Dixon's hand shot out and clamped itself firmly (but gently) over the kid's mouth. Jack decided he was about five or six; right around Danny's current age. "Slow down motor mouth. 'Can't understand a word you're saying when you're talking faster than the speed of light."
The kid heaved a massive sigh but waited patiently until his father dropped his hand. "Can Danny spend the night?" he quickly repeated at about half-speed. "He's never seen Shrek, can you believe it? I gotta show it to him, Dad. I gotta! So com'on, please? Pleasepleasepleaseplease!"
Apparently the half-speed button didn't work with the word 'please.' The hand shot out again and his son fell silent. Rather than fidget or pull away, he merely stood perfectly still while giving his dad a long suffering expression. Dave offered him a pointed look before taking away his hand again. Apparently it contained some secret magic to keep the kid from resuming his pleas. Having been fully briefed on the situation, Dave didn't even have to ask what the other adults in the room would say. "Not tonight, kiddo," he answered simply.
"Ah, but Daa...aad!"
"One!" Dixon snapped and a single finger went up.
The boy instantly stopped his whining and frowned down at his tennis shoes. "Sorry," he mumbled contritely. Apparently Dave didn't tolerate whining. Given that he had four munchkins in the house, Jack could well understand why!
Dixon merely nodded and explained. "Danny's uncle is in town for a short visit, plus he just got over being sick. This is not a good time for a sleepover. Got it?"
"Yes, sir." The boy scuffed his toe dejectedly on the carpet and offered a dramatic sigh.
Jack noted that Sam had to bite her tongue to keep from giggling. Kids always made such a big deal out of little things like this. He glanced over his shoulder and was a bit surprised to see Danny standing at the corner of the hallway looking a little disappointed himself!
The look immediately vanished when he caught Jack's glance.
"Maybe he can come over later in the week and you can show it to him during the day?" Dave suggested instead. He glanced up at Cam, not sure how the suggestion would be received.
"Maybe," Cam allowed pensively, not sure Danny would go for it. He had no idea how the kids had actually gotten on yet. "We're a little busy this week, but we'll see."
The kid seemed to suddenly get excited about something. "What about Halloween?" he asked urgently. "Can Danny come Trick or Treating with us? Pleasepleasepleaseplease!"
The hand shot out again even as Dave glanced up at Cam, not at all sure how one Dr. Daniel Jackson would take the idea of going Trick or Treating.
Cam shrugged and glanced at the hallway, belatedly spotting the blond tousled head peeking around the corner. "Danny already told me he didn't want to go," Cam offered, placing the blame firmly on the kid's little shoulders.
"He did?" Jack and the rest of SG-1 instantly turned to the hallway and frowned in surprise.
"'Absolutely refused to even look at costumes the other day when we were buying toys," Cam added with another helpless shrug. He couldn't exactly force the kid to have fun.
Danny returned their surprised looks with a stubborn frown and offered Cam a definite glare for putting him on the spot.
Jason ignored the look and ran over to confront him. "Why don't you want to go?" he asked, surprised as well. "It's a lot of fun. You just go door to door and the people give you candy and other stuff like movie tickets or coupons for goldfish or MacDonalds and stuff like that. And Dad always goes with us. He only lets us go to the houses he knows the people at so it's really, really safe! And the MacDermotts always have a haunted house and it's a lot of fun and they even scared Andy last year but I wasn't allowed to go in. This will be the first year Dad lets me and it would be so cool if you could go too!" The kid was practically hopping up and down as his talked a mile a minute trying to get Daniel to agree. Jack was only catching about one word in three. "I don't want to go alone cause Andy and Robert will tease me something awful if I get scared but I wouldn't get scared if you were with me, so you've gotta come. You gotta! Pleasepleasepleaseplease--"
"--Jason!" Dave snapped in his best command voice. The boy was too far away for the hand across the mouth number. The boy cringed and fell silent, glancing back over his shoulder at his father. "No begging," the man told him firmly. "If Daniel doesn't want to go, he doesn't have to go."
Cam leaned down and quickly corrected the other man. "Danny," he whispered firmly.
Dixon glanced at him in surprise but Cam merely nodded, serious about the name. Dave offered a nod of his own and turned back to the two boys.
Jason was looking embarrassed and frowned down at his shoes. "Please?" he said one final time, glancing up at Danny uncertainly.
Now Danny was really on the spot and looking absolutely miserable. Jack could not stand the kicked puppy-dog look! He hurried forward and scooped the boy up, rescuing him, then turned to the other kid. "I think we already have plans for that night, Jason," he lied flat out, not caring if it fit with Mitchell's claims that the decision had been entirely Danny's or not. "But we'll let you know if we change our minds, okay?"
Jason bit his lip, not about to argue with a strange adult. "Okay," he said shyly and hurried back to his father's side.
Dave gave him a light chuck under the chin. "Now go get your brother and coat," he instructed. "Time to head home before your mom decides I deserve to spend the night in the doghouse for making her hold dinner. That giant mongrel of ours isn't much good at sharing."
The boy offered the visual a surprised smirk and rolled his eyes – apparently a habit he'd picked up from his older siblings - but hurried off to get his brother and coat without argument.
"Thanks for the cookies," Cam offered with a grin as he stepped forward to shake the other man's hand. "'We'll let you know about Halloween, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Still, it's good to know there's someone else in the neighborhood Danny can run to in case of emergency."
Dave suddenly frowned and lowered his voice. "You mean like if the Trust makes a grab for him or something?"
"Maybe." Cam shrugged and then shook his head, lowering his voice as well. "'Don't think it's much of a danger really, but you can never be too careful."
"Don't worry, Dave," Jack quickly assured him, knowing the man had to be thinking about the danger to his own family as well. "We're not looking for any heroics. Something goes wrong, you hit the panic button. We're going to harden your phone line and give you a straight connect into SGC Security. You'll have SF's swarming the area before you can blink. Just tell the wife Danny has an older brother who's deranged or something."
The sound of Dixon's eldest telling the younger something about some video game or other brought the discussion to an abrupt halt.
"We'll talk later," Cam promised, leaning in to pat the other man's shoulder before straightening as Dixon's kids reappeared.
"Thank you for coming over, Col. Dixon," Danny offered politely from his perch on Jack's hip, holding onto the other man firmly. "And please thank your wife for the cookies too. They're very good."
Jack's eyes immediately drifted to the container of cookies setting on the coffee table.
"I'll see if we can't get you and Cam another batch after your uncle leaves," Dave answered Daniel with a knowing wink. "These won't last very long with him around."
He'd been caught eying the container obviously and jerked his eyes away with an irritated grunt. Beside him, Carter turned away to cover up a rather suspicious cough.... And even Teal'c avoided his eye, looking far too amused for the normally inscrutably Jaffa. Jack turned to the kid in his arms and shook his head. "Is that anyway to talk about an Air Force General?" he asked.
Danny merely giggled and buried his face in Jack's shoulder.
* * *
Ba'al frowned out at the deepening night as he sipped his scotch and forced himself to continue listening. Their mole at the SGC had earned himself a bit of a bonus by obtaining an actual recording of the meeting between the Tauri, Asgard and Tokra. Ba'al didn't know how it had been done and didn't care. He merely appreciated the end result, even if the information wasn't what he wanted to hear.
Behind him, the ever vigilant Mar'tak stood guard at the door and kept his own council as he listened to the same recording. As silence finally descended once more, Ba'al remained where he was.
It seemed the Tauri were closer to a solution then he'd thought – albeit only very slightly.
He rested the snifter against his pursed lips as a single finger tapped a pensive beat upon the rim. He found it interesting that apparently Egeria hadn't passed the knowledge of how to construct a sarcophagus down through her genetic line. Oh, he was as aware as any other that the Tok'ra disdained their use, but he hadn't been aware their orak of a Queen had made the choice for them by withholding the information from her offspring. A benefit for him, yes; but sooner or later, they would find one and start down a path he didn't wish them to travel. Chances were better than good they still wouldn't discover what they needed, but it was a risk he didn't want to take.
He'd learned a long time ago not to underestimate his enemies.
"Make sure our people are in place and ready," Ba'al instructed Mar'tak without bothering to turn around. "We make our first move the next time Daniel Jackson leaves his house."