-1Yay! I got this one finished in three weeks!! I'm improving g .

For those of you who might have been offended in any way by my characterisation of Sam in the last part, I apologise and there is a small section in this part which does explain why Sam was acting/thinking the way she was. I am not anti-Sam, this is just the way she has turned out so far in the story.

And thank you to all those who continue to give me feedback - it's truly appreciated.

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Part 38 - To the Cabin

Friday, 12th December

When Daniel woke the next morning, the first thing he noticed was that his book was gone. Then he realised that he didn't know if Jack was home or not. Slightly panicked, he sat bolt upright, Thoth clutched in one hand, and turned ready to get out of bed. Before he could go anywhere though, he saw a piece of paper lying on his pillow. Curious, he picked it up and looked at it. It was Jack kissing him goodnight and saying 'I'm home', which was strange but at the same time, comforting. Jack had to be home otherwise the paper wouldn't have been on his pillow, Daniel reasoned.

Sliding out of bed, Daniel put his slippers and robe on before hurrying into Jack's room. He slowed down once he was in the bedroom, mindful of Jack's warning not to get too close before his brother was awake, and climbed onto the end of the bed. Also remembering the admonition not to wake him unless it was an emergency, Daniel just sat there patiently, silently willing Jack to wake up. After a minute, he got bored and started fidgeting. Then, when Jack wouldn't do the decent thing and wake up, he reached out and patted his brother's feet with his teddy bear, keeping a safe distance. And when Jack still didn't wake up, Daniel became more insistent and reached over to push at the covered feet.

"What the--?" Jack woke suddenly at the touch on his feet. For a moment, he thought that he was back in Iraq and then he realised he was at home in his own bed. And his little brother had woken him.

"Jack, you're awake!" Daniel said enthusiastically, as if he didn't have a hand in helping his brother reach that state. He crawled up beside Jack and snuggled in close. "You didn't wake me when you got home but I knew you were home 'cos of the picture. Did you kiss me goodnight?" he asked, wanting assurance from the source, not just the drawing.

"I did. Thoth saw me," Jack stated, not the least bit ashamed of using the teddy bear in his defence. "Did you go to bed when Sam told you to?"

"Yep! She needs to practise being a lion though," Daniel informed him seriously. "She couldn't roar very good. But she builded a pyramid just like mine!"

"That's good then." Jack rubbed a hand over his face in an effort to wake up a little more; sudden returns to consciousness weren't always the best when trying to follow a four-year-old's conversation.

"Can we sing about Rudolph?" Daniel queried next, getting to his knees and bouncing eagerly.

"After breakfast," Jack compromised; it was way too early to be singing. Besides, he needed time to remember the words.

Daniel nodded, agreeing to that. "Sam writed the words down so we can sing it together. She sings funny," he confided, giving a little giggle as Jack ruffled his hair.

"So do you, kiddo," Jack shot back, smiling in spite of himself. It had turned out okay with Sam looking after Daniel; at least the kid had obeyed her most of the time. "By the way, if you read without the big light on, it's not good for your eyes."

"Why?" Daniel wasn't happy with his eyes because they had gone to sleep after him telling them not to.

"Because it hurts them and then you get a headache," Jack replied, remembering his mother telling him that many years ago. "Just why did you keep reading after Sam had turned the big light off?"

Daniel wasn't sure whether Jack was mad at him or not. He hugged Thoth and said, "'Cos I wasn't tired and Sam said I should go to sleep but my eyes weren't tired either and they wanted to stay up till you came home but then they went to sleep before I could finish the book."

What a long-winded explanation, Jack thought with some amusement. "Okay. We'll talk more about this later. Right now, I think we both need some breakfast."

"Okay!" Daniel jumped off the bed and raced into the kitchen, leaving Jack in his wake. Shaking his head, Jack hoped that Daniel would use up all his energy early and sleep for most of the trip to the cabin, or at the very least, go to bed early, because otherwise, it was going to be a very long day - for him!

Going into the kitchen, Jack immediately saw the paper with Daniel's writing on it. Wondering what it was, he took a good look at it and had to smile. 'Little forks'? That had to be Iris' idea. "Danny, what did Grandma Iris call about?"

"Oh!" Daniel had forgotten about that. "She said I need littler stuff to eat with 'cos the big stuff's messy, and she wants you to get me new stuff and to call her soon so she can tell you which stuff to get."

How many times had Daniel said 'stuff' in that sentence? "You mean new cutlery?"

"Yep. Cuttery," Daniel echoed not quite accurately. "But I didn't know the letters so I writed 'forks' instead." He swung his legs back and forth as he waited for Jack to get his breakfast. "Jack, I'm hunnn-gry."

Jack sighed; oh yeah, today was going to be a loooong day.

When Janet Fraiser joined Sam for lunch in the commissary that day, she noticed that her friend had a dreamy look on her face. Curious, she poked Sam's arm and said, "So how did the babysitting go last night?"

"Hmm?" Sam was pulled from her thoughts by the question. "Oh, uh, it was great. Daniel's a good kid."

"And Captain O'Neill?" Janet probed, a grin on her face.

"Gorgeous," Sam sighed, thinking back to how Jack looked last night. Then she looked at Janet, a serious expression on her face. "How can I get him to date me?"

Janet raised her eyebrows. "Wasn't he on a date last night?"

"Yes, but--"

"Ah! No buts," Janet cut in. Although she and Sam hadn't known each other very long, Janet knew that her young friend was still very much a novice when it came to relationships. "Rule number two: Never date a man who's already seeing someone else, especially if you're wanting something long term."

"Why?" Sam didn't see why she couldn't.

"Because if he can cheat on girlfriend number one with you, then he can easily cheat on you too," Janet said, speaking from personal experience; she had been girlfriend number two, her former best friend number three.

Sam absorbed that silently. "What if he asks me out though?"

"Then you find out if he's available. If he isn't, say no unless you want to share him with someone else," Janet advised. "Never a good idea, that."

"Oh." So she shouldn't try to date him just yet. Better to let him get over his current girlfriend first. "What's rule number one?"

"Never date your best friend's guy."

"Oh," Sam said again. Since she hadn't had much time for dating as she was growing up, and none of her female friends had been into dating either, she didn't know about all these rules. "So what should I do?"

Janet grinned. "Go out, date other guys, get some experience. I know this great guy - he's a policeman but wants to be a detective. Good looking, has a sense of humour, and knows how to treat a lady nice. You interested?"

Sam hesitated before nodding. She might as well get used some dating experience. "What's his name."

"Pete Shanahan."

As Jack went to pick Daniel up from day-care that afternoon, he mused about Carter's strange behaviour. When he had seen her early in the morning, she had been all coy smiles but after lunch, she had seemed back to her normal self when he had seen her at the shooting range. He didn't know what to make of it but decided not to worry about it. He still had a long trip ahead with a talkative little boy.

Daniel was very excited when he saw Jack. He was all ready for his adventure in the small plane that Jack was going to be flying up to Minnie-something and then they were going to stay in the cabin and see if there were any fishies in the pond and probably do lots of other stuff that he couldn't think of right now. He had been so excited earlier that he'd had to have a nap, and now he was full of energy. "Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack!" He ran at his older brother and hugged his legs. "Are we going now? I told Cassie and Robert where we're going and they want to come too."

"Well, somehow I don't think their parents will let them," Jack countered. He grinned down at Daniel. "Have you got anything to bring home today?"

"We painted with our fingers today!" Daniel shared enthusiastically. He took Jack's hand and tugged him over to where the paintings were drying on a table. "I did a blue one and a green one 'cos we were allowed to do two, and it was really messy, and they made us wear shirts so that we didn't get paint on our clothes, but it was lots of fun!" he said as he pointed his 'creations' out to his brother.

"I bet." Jack had vague memories of doing finger-painting at school and having a great time. He collected the two paintings as Daniel bounced beside him. "You'd better go get your backpack so we can leave."

"Okay!" Daniel rushed off, got his coat and backpack from the peg, and then ran back to Jack. "I'm ready!" He was really eager to get going. Daniel turned to his friends and waved enthusiastically at them, calling out his goodbyes and apologising to them for Jack not letting them come with him.

After he had got settled into his car seat, Daniel started asking questions. "Did you remember to put Thoth and Khufu and Taweret in? And my blanket and my books and the Lego?"

"Yes, I did." Jack refrained from mentioning that Daniel had supervised him this morning, making sure that everything was packed.

Daniel stiffened, having a sudden thought. "Jack, will Mommy and Daddy know where we are? What if they look for us at our house and we're not there and they don't know where to find us?" That would be a very bad thing.

"They'll know where we are," Jack stated confidently. "Angels always know where to find their children and besides, Mom knows where the cabin is." The second part was true; the first part, he didn't know if it was true but it sounded good.

"Good." Daniel was very glad about that because he wouldn't want his parents to think he had gone away without telling them. "They prob'ly listened to us when we were talking about it, didn't they?" he decided, remembering what Jack had said about mommy and daddy angels being able to hear their children's words.

"Probably," Jack agreed, going with the flow.

The trip to the airport - including a quick detour to buy some cutlery for Daniel - didn't take too long, which Jack was grateful for. Once there, he took Daniel and the several bags they had packed - which was way more than he would take for himself - into one of the smaller hangars where the light aircraft were kept.

"Which one is ours?" Daniel asked as he bounced up and down by Jack's side. His backpack, containing all his important stuff like toys and small books, was on his back while his brother carried the other two bags.

"That one." Jack pointed as best he could to a small white Cessna with a blue stripe along the side of it. When he finally saved up enough money to buy a plane, he wanted one that was similar. Until then, he would just have to make do with hiring this one. "Do you like it?"

"Yep!" The blue stripe was definitely in its favour. "Can we fly now, Jack?"

"I have to do a safety check first, make sure everything's where it's supposed to be," Jack replied. He put the bags down and then crouched down in front of Daniel. "Now, I want you to be really good for me. The check takes a few minutes so while I'm doing that, I want you to sit down here and read, okay?"

Daniel nodded his agreement even though he was naturally curious about the plane. He took his pack off, hunted down a book, and then settled himself on the floor to read while Jack went over to the plane.

After a few minutes, Daniel looked up but he couldn't see Jack. Where had he gone? "Jack?" When there was no response, Daniel put his book down and then stood up, thumb heading automatically towards his mouth. Had Jack left him all alone? "Jack?" he called a little louder.

"What's up, kiddo?" Jack appeared from behind the plane.

Daniel ran over to him and hugged his leg. Good - Jack hadn't gone away.

Jack reached down to ruffle Daniel's hair, a little confused by the kid's actions. Then he remembered. "It's okay, Danny, I'm not going anywhere without you. I just have to check on stuff on the other side of the plane."

"Can I watch?" Daniel asked, not wanting to let Jack out of his sight again for the moment, not in this new place. "I'll be really, really quiet."

Jack was torn between needing to concentrate on what he was doing and reassuring Daniel of his presence. There had to be a way he could do both. He grinned as an idea came to him; there was a way. He crouched down and faced away from his brother. "Danny, climb onto my back."

Daniel obeyed immediately, showing that he had had many piggy-back rides over in Egypt. Jack stood and, making sure that Daniel wasn't going to slip down, continued on with the safety check.

True to his word, Daniel was quiet - for a few minutes. Then his curiosity got the better of him and he started asking questions. Jack gave short answers to the first few but then reminded Daniel that he needed to be quiet for a little while longer and then they would be on their way.

Finally Jack finished the safety check - with no more interruptions - and he put Daniel in the passengers seat. "Don't touch anything," he warned as he went back for their luggage. Jack put the bags behind the seats and then collected the booster seat. After arranging that on the passengers seat, he sat Daniel in it and strapped the little boy in - not an easy task when Daniel was bouncing up and down. "How's that?" he asked.

"Good. Jack, I have to go," Daniel suddenly said.

Pleased that Daniel had at least announced that before they had taken off, Jack took his brother to the small bathroom near the hangar office. When Daniel was finished, they went back to the plane, buckled the seatbelts, and then Jack started the engine.

"Ooooh," Daniel said as they started moving. He could only remember flying in a big airplane on his way to America, so the difference was fascinating. He got a little bit scared when the plane went faster and left the ground but then he got interested in watching how little everything got, and all nerves were soon forgotten.

During the flight, Jack had plenty of time to answer all of Daniel's questions about the plane, and he threw in some of his Air Force stories as well - and they had a couple of renditions of 'Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer'. The time it took to get to Minnesota went by fast, and it was still daylight when they landed - just. Jack unpacked the plane and put all the luggage on the floor of the hangar before retrieving Daniel.

"Funny time of year to be visiting," Alex Mitchell commented as he walked up to the pair. Mitchell was in his late thirties, with short brown hair and grey eyes, and had grown up in one of the southern states. Had moved to Minnesota especially for the fishing apparently but spent a lot of his days fixing up old aircraft. He was also the caretaker for the O'Neill cabin, which hadn't seen much use in the past few years. Jack's call had surprised him greatly.

"I promised Daniel we'd come up here," Jack said as he lifted his little brother out of the plane and settled him onto one hip. "I'm Jack," he introduced himself.

"I gathered. Alex Mitchell," the other man said, shaking Jack's hand. "And you must be Daniel," Alex said, holding out his hand for the boy to shake.

At Jack's nudging, Daniel shook the man's hand and then put his arm around his big brother's neck. He had liked the plane ride and the stories that Jack had told but now he was hungry and a little tired.

"He's shy," Jack stated to Alex when Daniel snuggled close. Using his free hand, he picked up one of the bags and carried it out to where a rental car was waiting for them. Alex carried the two other bags and the booster seat while casually chatting with Jack about the weather and the likelihood of there being any fish in the pond.

"You got any kids?" Jack queried as he buckled Daniel into the car.

Alex grinned. "Cam's just turned ten now, Susie is seven, and Pete's five. I hear you're in the Air Force?"

Jack shot him a look. "How did you know that?"

"Small town," Alex chuckled. "Your grandparents filled their friends in every time they came to visit, and those friends filled everyone else in. Cam's interested in planes, so you may get a visit from him sometime. You staying for long?"

"Just till Sunday, going back after lunch." Jack got in the driver's side and wound down the window. "There food at the cabin?"

"Just what you ordered and a few special treats," Alex replied, winking at Daniel. "The wife cleaned and dusted too, and I stacked some firewood near the back door. Enjoy yourselves," he said, as Jack revved the engine.

"We will." Jack put the car in gear and then drove out of the small airport.

It only took a few minutes to get to the cabin, by which time night had fallen. Jack carried Daniel into the cabin and switched on all the lights before he put the little kid down.

"Wow," Daniel said, his eager eyes taking in his surroundings. It was a log cabin with lots of wooden furniture. The big room he was in had a table and chairs for eating at, and a couple of old couches for sitting on, and a kitchen was partially hidden at the back. "Where am I going to sleep?"

"There's a couple of bedrooms out back," Jack replied. "I'll just go and get the bags, then I'll show you." He quickly went outside, telling himself that it was just because he didn't want to leave Daniel on his own for too long; it had nothing to do with the memories associated with the place.

Back inside, he found Daniel wandering around the living room area, a small hand trailing over one of the couches. "You like it?"

"Yep." Daniel climbed onto it. "It's comfy."

"That it is," Jack agreed, forcing down the memories of snuggling up to his father on that same couch before things turned bad. "Come on, I'll show you the bedrooms."

Daniel bounded over and took hold of Jack's hand. The first bedroom had a double bed in it, an old-fashioned quilt covering it. Jack let Daniel look around and then led him to the other bedroom where they would both be sleeping; there was no way Jack was going to sleep in the same bed that his father had. "Which bed do you want, Danny?"

Studying the twin beds carefully, Daniel eventually decided on the one away from the window. "This one," he said, going over to it and trying to climb onto it. It was a little bigger than he was used to but he eventually managed to reach the top. "Where are you going to sleep, Jack?"

"Right here," Jack stated, sitting on the other bed.

"Yay!" That meant Jack would be close by in case he had bad dreams or got scared or something. Then his stomach growled. "Jack, I'm hunnn-gry."

Where had he heard that before? Jack stood and gestured to his brother. "Let's go see what food there is then."

Thirty minutes later, they were both slouching on the couch, their stomachs full. Dinner had just been sandwiches with home-made bread and a variety of fillings but it had been good. To finish it off, there had been ice-cream for dessert too. Jack had built a fire in the contained fireplace, and now the flames started to lazily grow and spread their warmth throughout the cabin.

Daniel snuggled against Jack's side, the food making him sleepy. He was determined to stay awake though so that he could spend lots of time with his big brother.

Jack was happy to let Daniel stay with him for as long as possible. He figured that if he kept Daniel here, then it would keep the memories at bay for awhile longer. So they just sat and chatted, Jack encouraging Daniel to tell him stories about Egypt. But eventually Daniel couldn't keep his eyes open any more and Jack had to put him to bed.

Getting a sleepy child through brushing their teeth and then into their pyjamas wasn't an easy task but Jack managed it. Then he checked for monsters and told Daniel a quick story.

Daniel was asleep before he got to the end.

Jack leaned down and kissed Daniel's forehead gently. Then he went out to the kitchen, got himself a beer, went back to the living room, and started to read the book he had brought up with him to stop the memories from haunting him.