A Most Eggcellent Day
By Mickey
Status: Completed 4/11/2009
Archive Permission: Ask first. I'll probably say yes.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't sue.
Word Count: 1502
Author's Notes: Written for the stargatedrabbles list's April 9th challenge. Pastel, Fake grass, Fluffy & Spring. Bonus word: Grandma. Second set (HARD!) Eggsellent, Eggstatic, Eggcitable & Eggsactly. Bonus word: Eggciting. Many thanks to Cheryl and John, who did a very last minute beta on this for me! And thanks to Cheryl for the title.
Jack groaned as Sara waved the fluffy sky-blue bunny in front of his face. Spring was here and Easter was just a week away.
"Come on, Jack, Charlie will love it!" Sara pleaded, giving Jack her 'pleading puppy dog' look that he could never resist and Charlie had inherited from her.
Throwing his hands into the air, Jack relented, "Okay, okay, you win!" he laughed.
Sara smiled triumphantly and set the bunny in the cart. It was followed by two bags of fake grass, jellybeans, peanut butter eggs, and assorted other Easter candies.
"Grandma O'Neill called," Sara stated, startling Jack from his thoughts. "She was able to catch a flight after all, and she'll be here in time for Easter."
Jack smiled, a huge toothy grin. "Eggsellent! Charlie will be thrilled. He misses his 'mamma'." Truth be told, Jack missed her too. It had been too long since they'd seen his grandmother, the last time being Charlie's third birthday several months ago. "She say eggsactly when she'll be arriving?"
Sara rolled her eyes and Jack wondered how much longer she'd put up with his changing words to start with egg. He'd been at it for the past few days. "Yes, early Friday morning. I'll get the guest room ready when we get home." Jack watched as Sara tossed a few small Easter-y toys into the cart. "We need to go pick out a nice outfit for Charlie."
Jack looked at Sara blankly. "Doesn't he have enough clothes already?" he asked.
Sara smiled and gave Jack a long-suffering sigh. "We're taking him to get Easter pictures taken tomorrow, remember? We need to get a nice suit or something for him." Obviously sensing Jack's impending question, Sara held up two fingers to his lips and added, "The one from last year is getting to small for him. The pants look like high waters and the shirt looks more like a belly shirt."
"Geez, already? That kid is growing faster than a weed!" Jack tried to pretend he was angry, but he knew Sara wasn't buying it. Chuckling, he said, "Okie dokie then, a new suit it is." Giving an exaggerated bow and making a sweeping motion with his right hand, Jack added, "Lead on milady!"
Together they made their way over to the children's cloths. Jack sighed as Sara "ohh'd" and "ahh'd" over the "absolutely adorable" outfits. After nearly half-an-hour, and much mind changing, they settled on a pair of dark blue pants, a long-sleeved white shirt with a "cute" little black clip-on tie, and a sky blue sleeveless sweater vest with a small, stitched white bunny on it. Jack had to admit, his boy would look great in the outfit.
They were walking towards the cashiers when Sara suddenly stopped. "We have to go back to the Easter section," she told Jack.
Puzzled, Jack asked, "Why? We have enough candy here for several kids."
"We forgot the eggs."
Jack knew exactly what she was talking about, but being the smart ass that he was, couldn't resist the opportunity to tease her. "They would be in the food section, not Easter."
"I meant plastic . . ." Seeing the smile on her husband's face, Sara let the sentence trail off and slapped Jack playfully. "You're incorrigible."
Jack didn't respond, merely smiled broadly as he followed Sara back to the Easter section. "Eggsactly how many of these things do we need?" Jack asked as he picked up a pack of sports themed plastic eggs and waved them in front of Sara's face.
"A lot more than what comes in these packs," Sara replied, grabbing the pack of eggs and hanging them back up. She grabbed a large bag containing twenty-four assorted brightly colored eggs. "Let's stick with these."
"Well, those aren't very eggciting," Jack pouted. He picked up a pack of camouflage colored eggs and tried to drop them into the cart. Sara caught him though and put them back on the hook. When she reached over to pick up one more pack of the same eggs she had before, and two packs of pastel colored ones, Jack tried again to sneak the sports eggs into the cart.
Slapping Jack playfully on the back of the head, Sara laughed. "You're worse than your son," she told him as she pulled the package out of the cart.
Jack gave her his most charming O'Neill smile and said, "Ohhhh, come on, Mom!"
Sara gave an heavy sigh, for effect, then relented. "Fine, we'll get one pack."
Triumphantly, Jack took his prize from Sara's hand and dropped it back into the cart. Then he leaned over and gave her a kiss.
As they made their way to the cashiers, Jack asked, "Sooo . . . whatever gave you the bright idea to invite eleven eggcitable kids over for an Easter egg hunt?" The reason they needed so many plastic eggs was that Sara had invited Charlie's entire pre-school class over on the Saturday before Easter for an egg hunt.
"I thought you'd be happy, Jack, being surrounded by kids your own age."
"Eggstatic," Jack mumbled. But she was right; he was almost as excited about the impending egg hunt as his son was. Catching what she'd said, he exclaimed, "Hey! Those kids are three, four, and five years old."
Grinning, Sara replied, "I know."
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"Daddy, Daddy! I finded another one!" Charlie exclaimed as he held up one of the sports themed eggs, this one with a baseball on it, and waved it in the air. "Ohhhhh, this one gots monies in it," the boy said happily as he shook the plastic egg.
"Good job, son," Jack told Charlie. He was in such a good mood; he didn't even bother trying to correct his son's grammar. "Keep looking, there's more out there."
Jack smiled as he watched his exuberant three and-a-half year-old run around with his little friends, searching the entire backyard for the eggs he and Sara had hidden the night before. Since there were only twelve of the sports themed eggs, they'd decided to do something a little special with them and had put a few coins in each. Jack loved the looks on the kid's faces as they found them. The regular eggs were filled with jellybeans or assorted small bunny and egg shaped chocolates.
Looking around, Jack was glad to see that the other parents seemed to be enjoying the controlled chaos as much as he was. He was also happy the weather had decided to cooperate. It had rained most of the day Wednesday and all day Thursday. While Friday had been dry, the sky had been overcast. When he'd woken up this morning to a bright, sunny sky, he'd known it was going to be a beautiful day. It was unseasonably warm that morning and most of the kids were dressed in jeans and t-shirts, as were their parents.
Over half an hour later, Jack figured the kids must have found all the eggs, since it had been over five minutes since he'd heard any squeals of "I found one!".
Cupping his hands around his mouth, Jack called out, "All right all you little rug rats, everyone come over here."
Within seconds twelve giggling kids bombarded Jack. They all held their baskets out for their eggs to be counted. Jack counted each basket individually, mentally keeping track of how many eggs each child had, and handed the basket back to the child as he finished. When all the baskets were counted he waved Sara over.
As Sara approached holding a large plastic bag, Jack announced, "With the most eggs collected at eleven, Simon is the winner! Sara, show him his prize."
All the kids "wowed" as Sara pulled a large fluffy brown bunny from the bag she'd been carrying. After several minutes of taking turns petting the bunny, the kids all dispersed and headed for their respective parents.
Jack saw the disappointed look in his son's eyes and picked him up. Tickling Charlie, Jack said, "You don't want that overstuffed ball of fluff anyway, kiddo" What Charlie didn't know was that "the Easter Bunny" would be bringing him one the following morning. For a moment, he thought Charlie was going to pout. Jack tickled him again causing his son to laugh loudly. "Besides, you did get the most money eggs." Sensing that Charlie was still a little disappointed, and seeing his grandmother give him a wave, he tried distraction. "Hey, Charlie, I think Mamma is looking for you."
Charlie squirmed out of Jack's lap. "I gotta show Mamma what I gots."
"Mamma, Mamma, lookit all the eggs I finded!" Charlie yelled as he ran into the open arms of his beloved grandmother.
Jack knew he looked dopey with the huge smile that was plastered on his face, but he didn't care. It had been a perfect morning that was shaping up to be a perfect day.
Tomorrow would be the first Easter he'd be spending with Charlie since he was a baby, and the day could only be better.
THE END
