"Uncle Jack?"
Colonel Jack O'Neill looked down at the young girl tugging on his pant leg. "Yes, Cassie?" he prompted.
"What are those?" Cassandra Frasier asked, pointing at a cloud of multi-colored balloons being held by a man dressed in cheap safari gear.
"Balloons," Jack replied, leading her toward the man.
"I have seen these balloons on the television, O'Neill. I do not understand the purpose," intoned Teal'c as he followed in Jack's wake.
"Their purpose is to look pretty and amuse children, T," Jack explained, looking back at the hulking Jaffa, who was garnering a number of stares for his choice of a hot pink cowboy hat as a means of hiding his seal.
"Actually, various forms of balloons have been used throughout history for a number of purposes," Dr. Daniel Jackson chimed in. "The Aztecs used the intestines of cats, inflated with air, to make shapes which were then presented to the gods as sacrifices. Of course, when they ran out of cats they started using humans-"
"Danny, no talking about gods, ancient traditions, or human sacrifice," Jack interrupted. "It's the weekend."
Daniel humphed, and Captain Sam Carter patted him apologetically on the shoulder. "He has a point," she said wryly.
"Three please," Jack told the man selling the balloons and allowed Cassandra to pick the first. Then he waved Teal'c up to chose one and selected one of his own.
"Ok, I get why you bought Cassie one," Daniel said as they moved away from the vendor. "And I can see why you might get Teal'c one, since they don't have such things ... where he's from." A nudge from Sam's elbow changed his words mid-sentence to something vague enough for off base. "But why get one yourself?"
"Every child should have a balloon," Jack said playfully, tugging at the string in his hand and watching the floating sphere bounce in response. "I'm sorry, did you want one?"
Daniel just looked away and shook his head, but Sam giggled. "That's alright, sir, you enjoy for him," she suggested. As she and Daniel trailed behind the other three, she nudged Daniel again and said, "He's just a big kid at heart. Look at that grin."
"Almost identical to Cassie's," Daniel admitted. "But it's Teal'c's dimples that are really creeping me out."