#4 in the Life's Little Problems Series
Color Outside the Lines
A Little!Danny fic by: Maj. Cliffhanger
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Part 4/?
"So!" Jack offered abruptly, bringing his hands together before him in a decisive manner – only to suddenly decide that he didn't know what he wanted to say next. He couldn't exactly come right out and ask Daniel why he didn't want to go Trick or Treating. Kid or adult, he could be more than stubborn. If challenged, he'd clam up tighter than a magpie eating peanut butter!
Frowning pensively, Jack took a second to glance around the room, giving himself a moment to think while looking for a seat. The room was messier than it had been - which was good, he thought. Kids should not have perfectly clean rooms. 'A clean room was the sign of a messy mind...' Or... 'cluttered', maybe? Something like that anyway! He winced at the thought and quickly dismissed it. He was no good at remembering old quotes.
The only chair in the room was the match for Daniel's 'student desk.' A bit too small maybe. There was this thing about men and hips and age.... Nope. The chair was out. That left the bed itself. He eyed the kid laying in the middle of it, all cleaned and brushed and ready for sleep. Shrugging, he stepped forward and waved the kid to move over. "Scoot!" he ordered simply.
Daniel readily shifted himself closer to the wall and watched curiously as Jack sat down beside him.
"So!" Jack offered again, realizing belatedly he was repeating himself and hurrying forward with the first thing that popped into his head. "You had fun with Dave's kids?" He paused to consider the question for a second. Not the best thing to start off with, but not the worst either. Condescending, maybe? Daniel wasn't really five after all.... No, there was a part of him that was definitely all kid. Jack offered the thought an unconscious nod as he decided the question wasn't too weird and then turned his attention to Daniel, waiting for the answer.
Danny shrugged, frowning down at the edge of his blanket and playing with it a little. "Yeah," he admitted and glanced back up uncertainly. "Is that okay?"
Jack offered the question a surprised double-take. "Of course, it's okay," he replied. "Why wouldn't it be?"
Danny shrugged again and played with the blanket edge a little more.
Jack frowned and placed his palm against Danny's forehead checking for fever.
The boy immediately pulled away with a sharp frown. "I'm not sick anymore," he protested.
"Just making sure," Jack excused himself.
Danny gave him an easily read glare that said to keep his hands to himself.
Jack lifted them in a silent promise, then folded them across his chest as he considered the kid. "So ... if you had fun, why don't you want to go trick or treating?" So much for subtle, Jack!
Danny scowled again, then offered a sigh. "What kind of kid were you, Jack?" he asked abruptly.
"Me?" he asked in confusion.
"I can't see you as a bully," Danny answered. "Not a target either. You were probably one of the normal, easy-going, friendly kids that no one really paid a lot of attention to – weren't you? Or a jock, but that would be later when you were a teenager."
It was Jack's turn to frown as he listened to Danny's breakdown of childhood social groups. "Pretty much..." he agreed, knowing Danny hadn't been a bully or a jock, and he'd definitely not been normal – leaving only.... "Target?"
Danny nodded. "You know, the kids that stand out for whatever reason: too smart, too dumb, too clumsy, too different.... The ones who lack either the self-confidence or physical strength to stick up for themselves when the bullies target them."
Jack shook his head. "That was thirty years ago," he argued. "You'd probably lay flat any bully that tried to pick on you now!"
"I tried back then too, Jack," he answered. "I wasn't an easy target, but sometimes the bullies are just too big."
He was talking about something specific, Jack realized. "What happened?"
"Halloween, 1976," he answered. "I was eleven. Star Wars had just come out. I asked for an Obi-wan Kenobi outfit, and my foster brother and sister were Luke and Leia. They were five and six so it was my job to take them around the neighborhood and keep them safe. A couple of bullies jumped us and tried to steal our candy. Cindy dropped her bag as I was fighting them and ran into the middle of the street – where she was hit by a car."
Jack winced, knowing that Danny would have felt responsible. He shook his head. "It wasn't your fault."
Danny considered his words for a long moment but didn't comment on them when he spoke again. "Things got ugly when the driver claimed I shoved her in front of him. The bullies were long gone and Terrence had run home to get Mrs. Myers, who blamed me as well. I spent several hours at the police station until they got it all figured out and then my caseworker came. Mrs. Myers refused to take me back so they had to find me an emergency placement."
Damn.... what a terrible thing for an eleven year old to go through!
"Cindy survived," the five year old Jack faced added, "but I didn't learn about that until more than a year later."
Jack could only shake his head. "I'm sorry, Danny," he whispered.
Danny shrugged and tapped his head. "I just hope I don't have any nightmares about it now."
"You can barge into my room and climb into bed with me if you do," Jack offered.
"Mitchell will be in here before I can wake up enough to do that." Danny shrugged again, this time with a small smile. "I tend to have a lot of nightmares. He's good at distracting me when I do."
"Any ideas how to keep from having them in the first place?" Jack asked.
"It's usually just memories trying to sort themselves out." Danny shrugged for a third time. "It's not as bad as it was on base. I'll be fine."
Jack offered the comment an exaggerated roll of his eyes. "Oh, where have I heard that before!"
Danny's smile became an out and out grin. "I have no idea," he claimed. "Just don't ask me to go trick or treating again, okay?"
Jack nodded. "Got it." Couldn't blame the kid for hating the thought with that kind of memory floating around in his head. "And I'll make sure Mitchell doesn't mention it again, either."
"Thanks," Danny said and opened his arms wide for a hug. Jack found himself bending over and squeezing the boy tight before he even thought about it. The move was just so natural – although the adult in Daniel would have never asked for it.
* * *
Cam was feeling quite a bit happier this morning than he had in a while and he really couldn't decide why that was? Sure Danny was fully recovered from that Ancient business which had worried them all there for a bit. And big Daniel – whether he was from Danny's subconscious or actually his ascended-self from the past – had promised them it wouldn't happen again, so that was another good thing. Gen. O'Neill seemed to have backed off a bit on the over-critical judgmental routine since then too - or since big Daniel had decided little Danny needed them both. And no nightmares last night despite what the general had warned him about. But Danny was still Danny! A five year old boy with some rather nasty memories of being a lot older – and Cam was still stuck playing surrogate father. Carter's report, when she finally got around to telling him about the meeting back at the mountain, hadn't been particularly encouraging. And the fact that she was transferring to the Omega Site as soon as she could get her stuff together should have put a damper on Cam's mood too – but it didn't.
Maybe it was as simple as the fact that he'd awoken to a bird singing in the tree outside his window this morning. God, the last time he could remember waking up to birdsong was ... back home on the farm! What was he? Maybe twelve or thirteen? And it wasn't the stupid rooster either. That stupid thing would crow at mid-night if a squirrel ran across the hen yard! No, he seemed to remember that he'd left his window open part way because it had been so muggy hot. He'd woken up the next morning to find a little warbler sitting on his window sill and just singing its heart out like it was the first day of spring or something!
Waking up to birdsong when you were on an mission didn't count, he decided.
Whatever the cause, he found himself whistling merrily as he moved about the kitchen now in blue jeans and T-shirt, juggling eggs and bacon and pancake mix with one hand. He'd heard the general stirring a few minutes ago – least he was pretty sure it was the general. Danny usually had to be pried out of bed. He opened the fridge to get out the milk just as someone came round the corner behind him.
"Mitchell...." Gen. O'Neill's greeting sounded almost irritated. Glancing back at him Cam noted he was dressed in dark blue sweat pants and a loose gray Air Force T-shirt. Scrubbing a hand through his hair as though to scrub the sleep away only succeeded it making it stick up in short little spikes everywhere.
"Good morning, General!" Cam sang back easily, trying not to laugh at the sight and ignoring the tone. He was determined to enjoy his good mood while it lasted. "Coffee's on." He indicated the pot with a jerk of his head.
"Jack," the man corrected him firmly, even as he moved to the pot and opened the cupboard above it to be confronted with cereal boxes – including his own much beloved Froot Loops. He frowned and glanced at Mitchell. "What you making?"
"Scrambled eggs, bacon and pancakes," he answered brightly. "'Hope you're hungry, sir!"
Jack frowned and shrugged, closing the door on the Froot Loops. Cam went back to whistling and concentrating on breakfast. Measuring pancake mix was not the easiest thing with only one hand....
An exasperated sigh preceded an irritable demand for, "Coffee cups?"
"Below the coffee pot, sir," Cam called over his shoulder. "Danny likes to help out around the house so I let him set the table at night. We decided to put the dishes down low so he could reach 'em."
Jack answered with a grunt. Cam knew he probably thought it was weird. Everyone he knew always kept their dishes up high – but it only made sense given the circumstances. He shrugged and then winced at the mess he was making. Damn....
"Need a hand there?"
Cam almost jumped out of his skin, not having heard the general come up behind him. The other man immediately stepped back as Cam's involuntary jerk caused the milk he'd been pouring to slop out of the measuring cup. Cam quickly put the jug down and turned to grab a wet dishcloth. "No, sir," he answered, already starting to mop up the mess. "I got it, sir."
He froze in confusion when the other man abruptly slapped him upside the back of the head. Cam turned to regard him in surprise. It hadn't been hard or anything – just unexpected. "Sir?" he asked, wondering what the hell he'd done to deserve the smack.
And he got cuffed again.
Jack just lifted an eyebrow in answer and Cam finally got a clue. "Jack," he corrected himself.
Jack nodded satisfied and then snatched the dishtowel out of Cam's hand, elbowing him aside. "It'll be Monday before we eat at this rate," the older man decided. "Go find me the morning paper. When does Danny get up?"
"Usually 'bout the time I drag him kickin' and screamin' out of bed," Cam answered, heading for the front door. Hey, if the gener-- - 'Jack!' he corrected the thought - if 'Jack' wanted to take over the cooking duties, he certainly wasn't going to argue. He wasn't going to let it ruin his mood either. He started whistling again as he rounded the breakfast bar and crossed the living room.
"And could you turn down the whistling while you're at it?" Jack called loudly after him. "It's Sunday. I am not a morning person on Sundays!"
Cam grinned and rolled his eyes, but curtailed the whistling.
"I like it," one rather sleepy tousle-headed munchkin announced as he appeared from the hallway. A small fist was working at rubbing the sleepies from his eyes while the other hand was busy hitching up his pajama bottoms. "You guys are noisy," he complained.
"Noisy, huh?" Cam grinned and easily moved forward to scoop the kid up in his good arm. "You don't know what noisy is, kid. Now if we had us a dog, a couple of cats, a contrary rooster, two sisters and a brother all caterwauling for attention and breakfast at once – then you'd know what noisy is!"
"Add a dog, substitute a parrot for the rooster and make one of the sisters a six month old suffering withdrawals because her mother was a crack addict."
"Ouch!" Cam winced in sympathy. "One of your foster homes?" he guessed.
Danny tried to nod at the same time he offered a big yawn in answer. He wound up looking like a bobble-head doll with it's head bouncing around every which direction! Cam had laugh even as he used his bad arm to steady the boy. "Whoa there, Danny. That head of yours is going to fall off!"
Danny answered with a giggle and laid his head on Cam's shoulder just as someone decided to knock on the front door. Cam turned back to the entryway and quickly let Danny slide back to the ground. He didn't want the kid to get a chill when he went to answer the door. Instead, he turned him to the kitchen and gave him a gentle swat to get him moving. "Go make sure Jack doesn't burn the pancakes," he told him.
"Oh! Jack makes great pancakes!" Danny exclaimed, hurrying off to try and steal the first batch. Cam watched him go with a grin. It was kind of funny sometimes what the kid did and did not remember.
With a shake of his head, he moved to the front door to check the monitor, wondering who in the heck would be stopping by at eight thirty on a Sunday morning? To his surprise, Dr. Lam was smiling up at the camera and gave it a little wave. Someone else was behind her with some sort of equipment, but his head was down and Cam couldn't see who.
Cam quickly deactivated the alarm system and swung the door open. "Hey, Doc," he greeted her brightly. Her companion glanced up and Cam identified Sgt. Siler. "Sly." He offered the off-duty man a friendly nod and stepped back to let them in. He'd been right about the chill. It was definitely nippy this morning! His bare feet were down right cold by the time he swung the door shut again.
The other two had moved easily into the living room. Danny had already moved to see who it was and was hanging back at the breakfast bar as Jack came around to greet them. "You're just in time for breakfast," the general offered easily.
Carolyn offered them all a little shake of her head. "Sorry to interrupt. I discovered a little problem this morning and Dad ordered me to grab Siler to check out your place too."
"Too?" Jack echoed, frowning as he watched Siler fold open a small antennae like instrument and start sweeping the room. "A sniffer?" he identified it in surprise. He'd seen way too many of the things over the years. "This place was swept only a week ago!"
"Yeah," the good doctor acknowledged unhappily. "And apparently about a week ago someone tried to hack into Daniel's medical files."
"Only Danny?" Cam asked, frowning as he watched Siler moving around the living room.
Lam nodded. "From inside the base," she added significantly.
"Inside?" Jack echoed, stepping forward to lay a protective hand on Danny's shoulder.
The boy grabbed a fist full of pant leg and looked over at Cam. All of them knew that a leak from within the complex was a lot more dangerous than one from without.
"We have a mole at the SGC?" Cam asked in surprise.