Sorry about the delay, everyone. My computer crashed soon after I posted the last chapter, and then I was on vacation in Hong Kong for the past couple of weeks, so things have been a little crazy! Anyway, thank you for your patience. My computer is restored to me, so I'll be able to post the next chapter soon. :)
They slid the box onto the bottom of the cart just as Daniel's phone rang again.
Daniel straightened up and pulled the phone from his pocket, seeing it was Sam again. Ethan reached for the phone, tugging on Daniel's jeans and bouncing up on his toes.
"Hey," Daniel said into the phone, placing a hand on Ethan's head in an attempt to calm him.
"Hey," Sam replied. "We've got all the food packed up and ready to go. Where are you guys? We'll come meet you."
"Car seat aisle, back of the store," Daniel said, looking down at Ethan who was becoming audibly upset at being denied the phone.
"Okay, we'll see you in a sec. Everything okay?"
Daniel realized she could hear Ethan who was still jumping up and down and requesting the phone in a less than polite manner. "Um, yeah. He just wants the phone," he explained as Vala came and picked the little boy up, trying to get him to be quiet.
"Let me talk to him," Sam suggested.
"Uh . . . okay." Daniel was a little reluctant to let the toddler handle his phone, but he held it up to Ethan's ear. The little boy stilled instantly and listened for a moment.
"Fam?" he said, reaching up to hold the phone himself. He listened as Sam said something else, and nodded, not realizing she couldn't see him. "Bwue one," he said, looking toward the car seat. Then he started babbling incoherently, though Daniel thought he caught the word "buttafies" more than once.
Sam was still on the phone when they came around the corner to meet Daniel's group. Ethan caught sight of them and nearly dropped the phone in his excitement. "Fam!" he exclaimed, in awe that he had been talking to Sam on the phone and now she was right there in front of him. Vala set him on the floor and Daniel plucked the phone from his grasp on the way down. The little boy raced over to Sam, Jack, and Teal'c, skidding to a stop in front of them.
"Bwue one!" he said, tugging at Sam's jeans and pointing toward his new car seat.
Sam, Jack, and Teal'c all exclaimed over the car seat and let the little boy tell them about it even though his words weren't understandable.
Daniel realized the employee that had helped them find the car seat was still there, watching the scene with interest. "He's a lucky kid," she said, smiling at Daniel. "Looks like he's got quite a family!"
Daniel couldn't think of anything to say. He watched his teammates huddle around the animated little boy and felt the weight of the decision he would have to make descend upon him again.
"Can I help you with anything else?" the woman asked, breaking Daniel out of his thoughts again.
"Oh, um, I think we'll be fine. Thanks," Daniel said, forcing a smile.
She smiled back and cast one more glance at Ethan. "Good luck, then, and congratulations." She turned and moved away from the little "family."
"Daniel," Jack said, moving away from Ethan. "All you have is the car seat? You've been here for twenty minutes!"
"We had to make sure it was the right one," Daniel said defensively.
Jack rolled his eyes and turned back to the rest of the group. "All right, people. We've got food waiting in coolers, so let's make this fast." He waited for a minute for everyone to drag their attention from Ethan. "Daniel, Vala, take the kid and get clothes and shoes. T and Mitchell, you got bath stuff and diapers, and me and Carter'll take books and toys."
They all started to move off in separate directions, Cam grumbling under his breath about the general getting the fun part. Vala plopped Ethan in the shopping cart's child seat and started pushing it back toward the clothes. As the cart started to move, Ethan looked around frantically. "Dano!" he shouted.
Daniel had been at the front of the cart where the little boy couldn't quite see him. He stepped quickly into the toddler's view. "Right here, Ethan," he assured him.
The little boy relaxed visibly and began his running commentary on everything he saw.
"Let's find shoes first," Vala said, almost unable to contain her excitement as they approached the clothing section.
Daniel didn't reply, content to let her take the lead. Besides, between Vala and Ethan, there wasn't room for him to say anything.
They stopped in front of the many rows of shoes and Daniel realized it was going to be just as complicated to find the right pair of shoes as it had been to find the car seat. How was he supposed to know what size the kid needed?
Vala solved the problem easily however. "Look, Daniel! A cute little foot measurer!" she exclaimed, pointing to a mat on the floor with various child-sized foot prints and corresponding sizes on it. She eagerly lifted Ethan out of the cart and stood him on the mat.
Ethan was quiet for a moment, watching curiously as Vala placed his little bare feet on the mat, trying to find the right size. "Five and a half, Daniel," she said, standing up with Ethan in her arms.
While the size narrowed down the selection a bit, Daniel still had no idea what kind to get. He hadn't even bought shoes for himself in years.
Vala, however, seemed to know exactly what she was doing. She scanned the shelves with an expert eye, Ethan sitting on her hip. She pulled out a box of tiny tennis shoes. "These are perfect! Look, they light up!"
"I guess that way we won't lose him in the dark," Daniel said logically.
She sighed at his lack of enthusiasm. "Go find some socks so he can try them on," she ordered.
Daniel hesitated, unwilling to be bossed around by Vala, but they did need socks. He shoved his hands in his pockets, glaring at her a little, and turned and went in search of the socks. He hadn't gotten far when he heard Ethan's cry.
"Dano!"
He turned and walked back down the aisle. Ethan held out his hands to Daniel and he took him from Vala's arms. "I guess we're both going to get socks," he said.
"Hurry up," Vala said, already turning her attention back to the shoes.
Daniel and Ethan went and got the socks and returned to find Vala had stacked up several shoe boxes full of shoes for Ethan to try on. For the next ten minutes, they proceeded to put different little shoes on Ethan, finally narrowing it down to a pair of tennis shoes, a pair of sandals, and a tiny little pair of flip-flops that didn't really stay on his feet but Vala insisted on getting. In fact, she would have kept trying different shoes on him, but he started to get bored and wiggly and she was forced to stop.
"All right," she said, putting the boxes in the cart. "Clothes, now!"
Daniel fought down a groan, knowing the clothes would take even longer, but settled Ethan in the cart again and followed her.
Vala was examining a rack of little cargo shorts and Daniel was leaning against the cart listening to Ethan chatter about who-knows-what, when an older lady approached them.
"How old is your little boy?" she asked, grinning at Ethan.
This time, Daniel was ready with the answer. "He'll be two in June," he said.
The woman leaned closer. "Oh, he's such a cutie!"
Ethan went quiet for a moment and regarded her carefully. "Shoes," he said solemnly.
The woman glanced at Daniel and he clarified. "We just got him new shoes," he said, pointing at the boxes in the cart.
The woman nodded in understanding and turned her attention back to Ethan. "And did you get a new car seat, too?"
Ethan nodded. "Bwue one!"
Just then Vala came over, holding up a green pair of shorts and a khaki pair. "Daniel, which one?" she asked, and then noticed the woman talking to Daniel. "Oh, hello."
"I was just saying how cute your little boy is," the woman said, smiling at Vala.
Vala grinned back. "Why thank you! We think so, too."
"And you two are quite a lovely couple as well," the woman gushed.
Vala smiled sweetly and managed to shoot a mischievous glance at Daniel at the same time who was fighting the urge to run away. "You're very kind."
"Well, I'll leave you be." She waved at Ethan. "Bye-bye!"
Ethan smiled at her and waved back, his little fist opening and closing. As soon as the woman was out of range, Vala turned her full grin on Daniel. "Well, darling, that was interesting."
Daniel just dropped his head.
"Oh, come on, Daniel, she's right. The three of us make a perfect little family!" she said, ruffling Ethan's hair.
Daniel kept his head down, but that was only so Vala wouldn't see the change in his expression. He would never admit to her how much her teasing statement suddenly, irrationally, appealed to him. Him and Vala and Ethan a family. He shook the thought off and answered Vala's previous question.
"Just get them both," he muttered.
Vala patted him on the head and dropped both pairs of shorts into the cart. He could practically feel the grin radiating off her.
"Come help me pick out shirts, darling," she said, bouncing ahead.
"Can't you just call me by my name?" he grumbled, pushing the cart after her.
"Darling and Daniel really aren't that different," she said, pulling out a garish little shirt plastered with cheesy looking dinosaurs.
"Yes, they are," Daniel insisted, taking the shirt and hanging it back on the rack.
"They both start with the same two letters and have the same number of syllables," Vala argued, pulling out another shirt with a strange blue dog on it.
"That doesn't mean they're not different. And can't you find some normal shirts for him?" he said, putting the weird dog shirt back as well.
Vala folded her arms and pouted. "Fine, mister know-it-all. You pick out the shirts, I'm going to find him some jeans."
Daniel watched her go, frustrated that he'd made her mad again. Sometimes she would fight with him for hours, and sometimes she would stalk off and make him feel guilty, and he could never tell which one it was going to be until it was too late. He looked down at Ethan who was also looking after Vala.
"Where Vawa go?" the little boy asked, turning his big blue eyes to Daniel.
Daniel sighed and decided to change the subject. "Which shirts do you want, Ethan?"
With Ethan's input on the colors, Daniel picked out a few striped polo shirts and a couple t-shirts with Disney characters on them for variety. He didn't see Vala anywhere, so he pushed the cart over to the jackets and Ethan picked out a little blue windbreaker.
Just as Daniel was getting ready to leave the department to go look for Vala, she came around an aisle, her arms laden, a grin back on her face.
"Daniel! Look!" she exclaimed, holding up several pairs of tiny jeans. "They were on sale!"
He didn't even attempt to reply, sensing she was on a roll. "And look at this!" she said, dumping her items in the cart so her hands would be free to show him things. She pulled out a pair of blue footie pajamas triumphantly. "Aren't these the cutest things you've ever seen?" She continued to show him the rest of the things she'd found, including a pair of swimming trunks with Finding Nemo characters on it, and a bib that said "Spit Happens."
With a great effort, Daniel refrained from smiling at the bib, having to hide it with a frown instead. "Are we done yet?"
Vala thought for a minute. "Let's see, we have pants, shirts, socks, shoes . . . did you get him a jacket?"
"I'm not completely incompetent."
"I think we're good in that case," she said, standing with her hands on her hips, surveying the cart. "What do you think, Ethan? Are we all done?" she asked, smiling at the little boy.
"All done!" Ethan repeated, grinning back.
As if on cue, Jack and Sam came up and dumped their armloads of toys and books into the cart. They had also found a portable crib and a little plastic booster seat to strap to a chair for meals. "There we go," Jack said, dusting his hands.
Ethan craned his head around to look into the basket behind him, and upon seeing the brightly colored packages and books, tried to reach for them. Sam handed him one of the books, and he took it eagerly, though held it upside down. He studied it for a moment, a thoughtful frown on his face that was remarkably similar to Daniel's, and then lifted his head.
"Dat?" he asked, pointing at the cover.
"It's a book," Sam supplied, taking it from his hands briefly and turning it the right side up.
"Book," he repeated, studying it again. It was a Franklin book, and the little turtle and his animal friends all smiled happily at the little boy. Then, peering closer, Ethan noticed something. "Buttafies!" he exclaimed, pointing out the butterfly in the corner of the page.
"I told you he'd like the butterflies!" Vala told Daniel with a smug smile.
He rolled his eyes and was about to explain to Jack and Sam about the butterfly car seat when they heard a loud ripping sound. They all looked down at Ethan who was frozen in place, half of one page clutched in his hand. Daniel knew he should reprimand the little boy so he'd learn not to rip pages out of books, but he didn't want to make him cry in the middle of the store. Luckily, Sam stepped in.
"Uh-oh, Ethan," she said, gently taking the book away and looking the little boy in the eyes. "You can't rip books, okay? Here, why don't you play with this instead." Before Ethan could be upset at having the book taken away, Sam reached into the cart and brought out a little stuffed leopard. Ethan took it and looked at it curiously, then smiled and hugged it to his chest.
It was Sam's turn to be smug. "I told you he'd like the leopard," she told Jack, nudging his arm a little.
Jack grimaced but Daniel could tell he was proud of her for handling the situation so smoothly. Daniel was too. "Thanks, Sam," he said.
She shrugged and smiled down at Ethan who was chattering away to his new toy, telling the leopard all about "buttafies" and "bwue ones."
They watched the little boy for a minute, and then Jack piped up. "Have you guys seen Mitchell and Teal'c?"
"No," Daniel answered. "But if they're not still in the baby section I know where they are."
Jack raised his eyebrows in an unspoken question and Sam clarified for him. "Teal'c always likes to check out the movies and Cam looks at video games. We've lost them in the electronics department before."
"Ah," Jack said in understanding.
"Let's go find them and get this stuff packed so we can go to the cabin!" Vala exclaimed, taking control of the cart and heading for the electronics. Jack, Sam, and Daniel exchanged amused glances, Daniel shaking his head a little, and followed Vala.
As suspected, they found their remaining team members browsing through the movies and Playstation games. Teal'c had a huge package of diapers under one arm and Cam was carrying a basket full of baby shampoo, baby lotion, and other things they'd need for Ethan, including a rubber ducky.
Teal'c nodded in their direction as they approached and turned to Cam who was still oblivious to their presence. "Colonel Mitchell, I believe we are finished with the shopping."
Cam looked towards them. "Oh, hi guys."
"Let's move 'em out!" Jack said, making a broad gesture.
"Move 'em out!" Ethan repeated, copying Jack's movements.
They all chuckled and began moving toward the front of the store, Ethan once again starting up an unintelligible monologue. Daniel paid for everything, despite several offers from his teammates to chip in, and they all went out and loaded it into Daniel's trunk, except for the car seat. They left the box sitting on the pavement, and made a circle around it, waiting for someone to volunteer to attempt installing it.
Finally, Cam stepped up and grabbed the box. "Oh, give me the damn thing," he said, ripping open the top.
Vala, who was holding Ethan, smacked his arm. "Don't swear in front of him!"
Cam ducked away from her, rubbing his arm. "Geez, sorry."
"I will assist you, Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c said, coming forward to help Cam wrestle the thing out of the box. The two of them managed to remove the seat in a shower of bubble wrap and Styrofoam, and Teal'c lifted it into the back seat.
When Ethan saw the empty box and bubble wrap and Styrofoam scattered around it, he squirmed around in Vala's arms, excited to explore the strange new substances.
"Here," Sam said, going to the trunk and rummaging around in the bags. "Let's put his shoes on."
Vala attempted to hold the little boy still while Sam got his new pair of sandals on. Then, to Ethan's delight, she put him down amidst the various forms of plastic.
"Don't let him eat it," Jack said, a faint smile on his face.
Daniel watched as Vala showed Ethan how to pop the bubble wrap. His little fingers weren't quite strong enough, so they resorted to stomping on it. The little boy was giggling hysterically, and Sam and Vala were laughing right along with him. He looked over and saw Jack grinning as well.
The sudden thought came to Daniel that Ethan must remind Jack of Charlie, at least a little bit. He'd been so concerned with how he was going to deal with this, he hadn't even thought of what it might mean to Jack. He shook his head slightly; it wasn't like he could ask Jack about it, but it didn't stop him wondering what his friend was feeling. He turned his attention to the progress of the car seat installation instead.
Teal'c was half in the car on one side, and Cam was on the other, both of them attempting to sort out the various straps and buckles the car seat involved. "How's it going?" Daniel asked, lowering his head to look inside.
Cam glanced up at him. "I think we're gonna need Sam for this one. A naquidah generator has got to be simpler."
"The instructions are most unclear, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said, frowning at the inch-thick booklet that had come with the car seat.
Just then, Daniel felt a tug on his jeans and looked down at a grinning Ethan. "Sty-a-foam, Dano?" he said, holding out a big chunk of the strange white stuff.
Daniel took it, unsure of what he was supposed to do with it. "Thanks, Ethan," he said, and the little boy gave him a quick hug around his knees before running back to play with the rest of the Styrofoam.
Daniel looked down at the chunk of foam in his hand and smiled, thinking of the hug the little boy had given him. He was still gazing at the white block when Sam came up and leaned against the car next to him.
"So, explain to me why he can say Styrofoam, but not Sam," she said with a grin.
Daniel looked up at her and smiled back. "Who knows."
Sam had opened her mouth to say something else when Cam poked his head out of the car. "Sam! We need reinforcements!"
Sam rolled her eyes and shared another grin with Daniel before going to help her team members, and Daniel turned his attention back to Ethan and Vala.
Ethan was now in the car seat box, which was just tall enough for him to hide in. Vala was crouched next to the box, and was poking her face over the top of the box, playing peek-a-boo with the little boy. Jack was watching them with a faint smile on his face and a faraway look in his eyes when his three team members all emerged from the car.
"It wasn't that bad," Sam said, raising her eyebrow at Cam.
He glared at her. "That's 'cause me and Teal'c had it mostly figured out already."
Sam just grinned and shook her head, turning her attention to the others. "Are we ready to go?"
Jack looked up. "You've got all your stuff in my truck, right, Carter?"
She nodded. "Yep. I guess you guys still need to pack, right?" she said, looking around at everyone else.
They nodded and Jack clapped his hands together. "Okay, here's the plan. Me and Carter already have all our stuff, so we'll head up with the food and you guys can pack and meet us up there."
"Sounds good," Mitchell said, closing Daniel's trunk and leaning against the car. "Guess that means we're takin' your car, Jackson."
Daniel looked doubtfully at his car. "Are we all going to fit?"
Vala picked Ethan up out of the box and came over to join them. "It will be nice and cozy, Daniel," she said, giving him a big grin.
Ethan leaned out of Vala's arms toward Daniel, and he took the little boy. "Go bye-bye?" he asked seriously, looking into Daniel's face.
Daniel smiled. "We're going to go to Jack's cabin."
"Dack's cabin?" Ethan repeated, looking over at Jack.
"Yep," Jack said, coming and ruffling the little boy's hair. "And we better get going or Daniel well be driving in the dark and he'll hit a deer or something."
Daniel glared at him. "I've only done that once and it was your fault for giving me beer."
Jack grinned back impishly. "Stop whining, it didn't even do that much damage to your car."
Daniel just rolled his eyes and got in the back seat with Ethan to try and get him in the car seat.
Ethan wasn't particularly excited about being strapped into the seat, and trying to get the various straps around the squirming toddler was made even more difficult by the fact that Daniel was being distracted by the conversation going on outside the car.
"Sir, I never heard about Daniel hitting a deer! And why did you let him drive after giving him a beer? " Sam said.
"It wasn't a beer, it was more like a swallow of beer," Jack defended himself.
"Are we bringing beer?" Vala asked. "Because I think I'd like to see Daniel drunk."
Daniel heard Cam snort with laughter, and hurried to click the last buckle into place so he could prevent them from giving Vala any more ideas. He started to get out of the car, but Ethan reached out to him, slightly panicked. "Dano!"
Daniel sank back down on the seat. "It's okay, I'm right here," he said gently, letting the little boy grab onto his index finger. With a sigh, he resorted to leaning as far out of the car as possible with Ethan still hanging onto him. "Let's go," he said, shooting a pointed glance at Jack.
"Okay, okay," Jack said, grinning unrepentantly. "Ready, Carter?"
She nodded and the two of them got in Jack's truck and pulled out of the parking lot. Cam got into Daniel's car on the other side of Ethan and managed to distract him enough with the little stuffed leopard that Daniel could get into the driver's seat, and Vala took his place next to Ethan. Teal'c had walked to the other end of the parking lot to throw the car seat box into the dumpster, and they picked him up on their way out of the lot, finally on the way.
