Author's Notes: Thanks to Stonedtoad for betaing.
Enjoy.
It was late and my kid was asleep.
He was cocooned in the light blue duvet; his long blond hair was the only thing I could see. Curled up beside him was his puppy, he looked up at me lazily for a second. I gave Pip a quick smile and pat on his head, he whined softly before resting his head down again.
Sure Daniel was safely in dreamland I started out intending to make myself some tea before going to bed myself.
I stopped at Daniel's desk and looked down at the drawings sitting there. Carefully I picked them up so I could look through them in the other room without the possibility of Daniel waking up and discovering me doing so. He would dispose of them in the morning without looking at what he'd done as was the norm.
Doc Fraiser has a theory that Daniel bins his drawings because it lets him move away from the kid to his adult self again. Personally I just think he doesn't keep them since he has the same pictures in his head to look at whenever he wants.
x
Daniel had been odd all day.
He was quiet and didn't want to go to the base or talk to any of the others. I wasn't going on missions at the moment anyway and it was easy enough to do paperwork at home so I didn't push it.
He spent most of his day in his room, the only times he came out were for bathroom breaks or to get some food and drink. When I looked in to check on him Daniel was furiously scribbling.
Daniel is a talented artist, though he would never admit this, he once told me it's just something he likes to do. Whenever we stay overnight on a planet Daniel has a routine, assuming we're not attacked, imprisoned, about to be drowned by a sudden storm or any of the other disasters that hit us on occasion. He complains about the food, bitches about the coffee, takes first watch and writes his journal entry. Then he draws. Sometimes its trees, sometimes it's one of the team though most times it's Sha're.
So it seemed very natural to me that as a child he likes to draw most days. When he was five his lack of fine motor skills meant the pictures were done in crayon but now he had a set of drawing pencils bought for him by Janet.
Putting the kettle on for my tea I sat at the table and flipped through the pictures. There was a beautiful one of the Pip, the puppy looked as though he was about to leap off the page. A few pictures of random trees, one or two of the pyramid on Abydos and then there was the one that helped me understand his behaviour all day.
x
The picture was of Sha're and Skaara outside a tent both laughing, in the back ground was one of our packs from the first mission and a watch showing today's date.
Skaara was handing Sha're a present, one that would never exist in real life wrapped with a bow sitting on the top perfectly in the centre.
And the reason for Daniel's behaviour was instantly apparent.
When Daniel first came back he worked out all the important dates on Abydos to an Earth date. I really wish he would tell me these important things just once so I could help at the time. But no matter how close we became there were still parts of Daniel he keeps to himself.
I set the drawing of Pip to one side, because I was getting that one framed before I returned the rest to his room.
I kept an eye on Daniel the next morning. He seemed to be normal but considering he was eating breakfast only half-awake then I couldn't be completely sure.
I considered bringing up the picture but decided against it. Daniel was extremely touchy about his drawings and if he realised I was checking them then…well let's just say the next few weeks until he could live alone would be unpleasant for me.
"Jack," his voice came while I was trying to get Pip to stop eating Daniel's shoes.
"Yeah," I answered without looking up.
"Can we go to the mall?"
I paused and turned to look on him, he was still eating his breakfast eyes half-shut not looking in my direction.
"Anything specific you want to shop for?" I asked trying to keep my voice light.
I saw the hesitation before he shrugged, "Just thought we could go to the mall for a bit today. I don't feel like going to the base."
Honestly if Daniel had been a real kid wanting to play hooky from school because he didn't feel like going then he would have been sent there with his head spinning. Except Daniel wasn't really a ten year old so I nodded, "Sure, that sounds like fun. I can pick up some stuff."
x
Daniel wasn't talking to me at all, it was the quietest car ride I'd had since he was downsized and I didn't like it. When we reached the mall the parking lot was pretty empty so I was able to park close to the entrance. Considering this was Daniel's idea to come here, I let him take the lead on where we went.
We wandered past his favourite book store and onto one of those specialist candle stores where he looked some of the candle holders and smelled some of the candles. Personally I don't quite get the whole candles smelling like cake thing but I know Carter and Fraiser do, so I have on occasion bought some for them.
After ten minutes he decided he'd looked around enough and we left without buying anything. Next random stop was to a shop that sold scarves and ties. At this point I worked out what he was looking for when he lifted a silk scarf that was a mixture of red, yellow and orange.
"That'll look nice on her," I noted softly.
Daniel's head spun to me so fast his hair whipped round and smacked him in the eyes, "How did you know?"
I shrugged, "Just a guess. You could have told me this was why you wanted to come here."
He shrugged as well, "Didn't know if you'd think it was a good idea. Who knows how long it will take to find her, if we ever do and buying her a birthday or Christmas present is really just a way of torturing myself for something I have no control over."
"Okay," I stopped him, "You've really got to stop watching daytime TV with Teal'c. But if this helps you keep her close to you then I think it's a good idea."
He held out the scarf to me, "Do you think it's suitable?"
"I think you know her better than I do," I reminded him before continuing before he could say anything, "But I think Sara would have liked it."
He gave a decisive nod and headed to pay for the scarf, I followed him as he would probably remember once he was there that I had to pay as he had no money.
When this first happened we set up a special credit card so that whatever we bought for him was put on that and the payment would automatically be made into the account each month. He doesn't know this but there are quite a few things I haven't put on the card, paying for myself because I wanted to buy it for him.
This however had to be paid for by Daniel.
x
We left the mall quickly after he'd got Sha're's present.
"Do you want to go to the base now?" I asked as we drove.
I saw the slight shake of the head in the rear view mirror.
"You know Teal'c gave you all the Jurassic Park movies," I noted as we drove home, "We could do a movie day. Invite the others."
"Movie day sounds good," Daniel said softly, "But maybe just us this time."
"No problem," I told him with a slight smile.
We arrived back home and Daniel set up the movie while I made us some snacks, setting the snacks and drinks on the table I took my seat beside my kid who hit play.
We were almost a full hour into the movie when I felt the pressure on my arm where Daniel was leaning against me.
"Thanks Jack," was all he said.
"No problem, Danny," I smiled before resting my arm around his shoulders.
Big or small Daniel needs hugged sometimes and it's my job, while the beautiful Mrs Jackson isn't here, to fulfil his need for a hug.