Losses and Gains
By Mickey

Status: Completed 7/28/2009

Season: 3

Pairings: Daniel/Sam

Archive Permission: Ask first.

Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't sue.

Word Count: 1,805

Author's Notes: Written for the littlestargate list's May 2009 'Give and Take' Challenge. My prompt: "Your downsized character of choice is lost." I'm not a Daniel/Sam shipper (don't really ship anyone in SG but Jack/Sara), but for some reason my muse just decided that, for this fic, it had to be Daniel/Sam. Many thanks to Annie for the beta!

To say that Daniel Jackson was in a panic would be, in his estimation, a huge understatement. He'd lost a lot of things in his life. His earliest memory of a possession lost was when he was four and had lost his favorite - and only - stuffed teddy bear. He'd cried almost every night for nearly three months after that. When he was six, he lost one of his father's journals, which, of course, he wasn't supposed to touch for any reason - and, luckily for him, had been recovered just a week later, undamaged. When he was seven, he'd lost his glasses. Twice. When he'd gotten his first car, he'd lost the keys four times in less than three months.

But they had all merely been things - just possessions, objects, which could be replaced. Granted, some would be harder to replace than others, but they still could be replaced. Today though, today he'd taken the cake, as the saying went.

He'd never lost a kid before.

Not only did he lose a kid, Daniel had lost his three and a half year old son. His small son, who, until three years ago, had been his best friend and his commanding officer.

Daniel knew he was officially a dead man if he didn't find Jack soon. They were supposed to meet the others for lunch in about twenty minutes. There were, literally, dozens of people back at the base who would be lining up to skin him alive if anything happened to Jack. Every one of them would be lining up behind General Hammond, Janet, Teal'c, and Cassie. And the first one in line would be his wife, Jack's mother. Being pregnant only seemed to make her very . . . over protective to say the least and had kicked her mothering instincts into full gear.

When "The Incident", as it was now referred to, had occurred, Daniel had been devastated. When they'd agreed to join in "the cleansing ceremony" they'd had no way of knowing what would happen. None of the natives had given any indication that their lives would be so dramatically changed. It supposed to be a "spiritual ceremony to cleanse the soul". The members of SG-1 had gone to bed that night unaware of what would happen. They'd woken the next morning to find a six month old infant in Jack's sleeping bag. Daniel knew then he'd lost the best friend he'd ever had.

In losing his friend though, he had gained a son. In a roundabout way, he'd also gained a wife.

It still shocked him, nearly two years after the wedding, that she'd agreed to marry him. Their relationship had started out simply enough. They were teammates who had become good friends. When Jack was downsized, both had wanted to adopt Jack, neither had been willing to relent. In the end, they'd both adopted him and had agreed to shared custody. It had taken many, many months to get the situation all straightened out. After three months of bouncing the boy back and forth between their homes, they'd agreed that the situation was having a negative impact on their son. The constant back and forth had confused the little boy. In the end, they'd decided that the best thing for their child would be for them to give up their own homes and move into Jack's old house - which had never been sold - and live together.

Living together, seeing each other together every day at work and then at home, and caring for a child together had caused their friendship to grow and blossom into love. Exactly one year after Jack had been downsized, and three months after they'd moved in together, Daniel had proposed. Two months later, the newly promoted Major Samantha Carter had become his wife. The ceremony had been small, but beautiful, and had been held in their backyard. Jack had been incredibly handsome, and adorable, as the ring bearer. Teal'c had been Daniel's best man; Janet had been Sam's maid of honor. Cassie and Tessa had been bride's maids, the general and Siler, ushers, and Kayla had been the flower girl. The service had been presided over by an old chaplain friend of the general's.

Pushing the pleasant memory aside, Daniel sighed and turned towards the monkey enclosures. They'd been Jack's favorite zoo animal - dogs were his all time favorite animal overall - since they'd brought him here for the first time on his first birthday. There were several other exhibits along the way and he was sure to keep his eyes open just in case Jack had stopped at one of them. As he walked, he pondered on how he'd gotten into his current predicament in the first place.

It was a beautiful late spring Saturday morning. Jack, as usual, was restless and was impossible to keep still. None of the usual TV programs that usually kept him preoccupied for at least an hour were holding his attention at all. Cassie had come for a visit the night before and had wound up sleeping over. She was usually very good at keeping the little firecracker entertained, but even she couldn't contain him. She'd taken him outside to play so Daniel could get some work done that he'd brought home with him. Sam and Janet had gone out to do some shopping for Cassie's impending birthday. Exasperated, Cassie had come into the house on the verge of tears. This morning, it appeared, there was simply no controlling the "wild child", as Jack had been dubbed.

Sam and Janet had arrived just as Cassie finished explaining why Daniel's brand new lawn chair was sitting at the bottom of the pool. Instantly picking up on what was going on and obviously looking to avert any more chaos, Sam had suggested they pick up Teal'c and go to the zoo. Jack had jumped on the idea instantly, so they'd driven to the mountain and picked up their Jaffa friend. Less than an hour later, they were gathered by the zoo's entrance. Everyone was hungry, so they'd decided to eat then look at the animals.

Jack had had other ideas. Quite loudly, the boy had declared that he wasn't hungry and that they were supposed to got to a zoo to "see the aminals, not to eat" and crossed his arms defiantly. "Not hungwy now, wanna see the aminals first," he'd declared in no uncertain terms and had refused to move. Janet had wisely suggested that Daniel take Jack to see the lions, the child's second favorite zoo animal, while she and the others secured a table large enough for their group and ordered food. Not wanting to create a scene, Daniel swiftly agreed and, slipping on the kiddie harness - Daniel had quickly learned it was a necessary evil in order to keep his little boy close and safe - and headed for the lions.

Removing the harness had been a mistake, he'd known it when he was doing it, but he simply couldn't resist the pleading look in those big, bright brown eyes. The pouty lip had also been whipped out. Really, he reasoned, it was an irresistible combination. No one could have resisted it, especially on such an adorable little face. As much as he tried to deny it, his little boy truly did have Daddy wrapped tightly around his little finger.

It had all happened so fast. He'd let Jack out of the harness upon the child's promise to stay beside his father and not wander off. They'd watched the lions for a few minutes then moved on. Coming upon a gift shop, Jack had spotted a stuffed lion that he "had to have". After much pleading and more use of the pouty lip, he'd relented and made the purchase. After paying for the toy, he'd turned to hand it to Jack, which is when he'd realized the boy was gone. The whole transaction had taken less than a minute, but it was all the time his little escape artist had needed.

"Jack!" Daniel called out as he'd approached the monkey enclosure. "Jack, you're scaring Daddy, answer me, buddy."

The more he walked, the more worried Daniel became. Not for his own impending doom, but for the safety of his only child. He began to panic, worried someone might have abducted the boy. The possibility was frightening. Although they were still as different as night and day, Jack had become the light of his life. What would he do without his adventurous little daredevil?

"Jack!" Daniel exclaimed as he finally spotted his wayward son. The boy was sitting on a bench, a half melted chocolate ice cream cone in his hand.

Racing towards Jack, Daniel came to a skidding halt in front of the bench then dropped to his knees and pulled his son into a tight hug, ignoring the cold as Jack returned his hug, the ice cream cone rubbing against his cheek. After a moment, Daniel broke off the hug and held his sticky son at arms length. Accepting a napkin from a zoo security guard, Daniel wiped away the chocolate smear and addressed his son, "You scared the heck out of me, kiddo. Don't you ever take off on me like that again. Do you understand?"

Jack nodded, 'yes' then took a lick of his ice cream cone. The boy was completely oblivious to the near frantic state he had caused his father to enter.

Daniel stood and finally turned his attention to the guard. "Thank you so much for looking after my son. I really appreciate it."

"Not a problem, sir. I have three young kids myself. I know how easily they get lost. At that age, they simply don't realize the danger they put themselves in when they take off." Smiling, the guard pointed to the harness and added with a knowing grin, "Those things work much better when you don't let your kid con you into taking it off." That said, he turned and walked away.

Looking back at his son, Daniel said, "Come on, my little boy lost, let's go find Mommy and the others and get some lunch." Checking his watch, he realized they were supposed to meet nearly twenty minutes ago. He was surprised Sam hadn't called him yet. "They're probably thinking we got lost by now."

Jack looked up with a toothy, messy faced grin. "I wasn't losted, Daddy, you were! I knowed esackly where I was," the three year old reasoned.

Ruffling Jack's hair and smiling, Daniel laughed, "Of course you did, son." Taking the dripping cone from his son's hand, Daniel discarded the melted mess then scooped his mini-Houdini into his arms.

"Hey, buddy, let's not tell Mommy about this, okay?"

With a sparkle in his eyes that Daniel just knew meant trouble for him, Jack replied, "Okay, Daddy."

THE END