"You heard the lady. Carter needs us." Jack said as he left to find dry clothes, Daniel and Teal'c following. Sam slept on, dead to the world.
Chapter 22
In short order, the men of SG-1 had changed and washed off the flea shampoo smell with a lot of judicious scrubbing. After informing the General of their plans, they met up and collected the list from Janet, Daniel sharply elbowing Jack as he started laughing at the first item on the list, a flea collar. Janet had glared at them, and Jack had quickly quieted under her stern gaze.
Soon, the three were piled into Jack's truck, and headed off to the Petsmart, list in hand. Pulling into a parking space, Jack looked at the store in amazement, the place was much bigger than he'd imagined. He'd heard about the so-called pet superstore, but had not grasped the size of the place. Daniel and Teal'c were equally surprised looking. Actually, Teal'c just had his head cocked to the side, as he looked at the place curiously.
"O'Neill, I was unaware that pets were of such importance to the Tauri." Teal'c watched in curiosity as a little old woman walked three poodles on leashes into the store. The poodles had little bows and rhinestone collars.
Daniel seemed surprised to see people bringing their pets to the store. "Hey Jack, we could have brought Sam." He said, watching as a young couple tried to lead an obviously uncooperative tabby cat into the store by a leash attached to a harness.
"Somehow, I don't think Carter would appreciate being on a leash." Jack snorted at the thought. Although, there was that handy pack from the picnic... Jack banished the idea. If he thought Carter had been ticked off at him for that stunt, she'd probably never speak to him ever if he tried it again. Besides, the General had felt it would be best for Carter to remain on base for now.
Calling a halt to his introspection, Jack brought his gaping teammates back to the present. Pulling out the short list, he coughed, catching their attention. "Uh, why don't we head inside, see if we can find this stuff and get back to base." He didn't mention that he was eager to get back to check on Carter. After her behavior during the flea bath, he was a little worried about her adjustment, and like the Doctor, wanted to make sure the shampoo wasn't adversely affecting her in any way.
Teal'c and Daniel nodded their assent, and the three men headed inside, Teal'c looking about him in obvious interest at the various displays for all sorts of pets. From birds, to fish, to reptiles, to gerbils, this store seemed to have everything.
Jack dragged Teal'c away from the hamster display; the large alien seemed completely charmed by the small rodent like animals. "Let me guess Teal'c, no hamsters on Chulak."
Teal'c looked over his shoulder at the large cage of hamsters, and nodded. "Indeed O'Neill, I have never before seen such creatures. Tell me, do they have a purpose?"
Blinking, Jack turned to Daniel for help. Daniel shrugged, but took a stab at answering Teal'c. "Uh, well, they spend a lot of time running in those little wheel things. And they don't take up much space, so they make good pets I guess..." Daniel trailed off, he didn't really know much about hamsters. He'd never really had a pet as a child. Besides being allergic to just about everything with fur or feathers, being in foster care wasn't really conducive to having a lot of possessions, especially not pets.
Breaking up the impromptu q and a session, Jack interrupted Teal'c before he could ask further questions. "Let's just get this stuff for Carter, and you can go back to the little rats later, ok?"
"I believe they were called hamsters O'Neill," Teal'c corrected, "And I would like to study them further, when we have completed our mission." Teal'c looked like he wouldn't take no for an answer. If the Jaffa wanted to look at hamsters, than the Jaffa would get to look at hamsters. Jack sighed, and pulled out the list again, which was mercifully short.
"Ok kids, first things first, Doc wants us to get Carter a flea collar." Jack pulled his wandering teammates to the cat section, and eyed the wide array of food, toys, feeding dishes, and all sorts of other things needed for cats. Daniel quickly spotted the flea collars and pointed them out.
Jack had never realized there were quite so many different ones, all sorts of sizes, colors and brands. He was saved from making a choice when Teal'c picked one up. Holding it up for the others, Teal'c stated with finality, "I believe we should get Major Carter this one O'Neill. It is an appealing color, and contains a reflective stripe, which will make Major Carter more visible in dim light. I have often heard of Tauri pets meeting premature ends due to lack of visibility at night."
Being a simple guy, that liked a minimum of choices, Jack was more than willing to allow Teal'c to choose the collar. Jack motioned for Teal'c to place the boxed collar into the hand basket he'd picked up and looked down at the list. "Ok, now we need some combs and brushes." He remembered seeing the grooming section on the way to the collars and quickly led the way.
The three selected several different brushes and combs, including a flea comb, with minimal bickering. With the combs and brushes added to the basket, Jack read off the last item on the list, a small number of various nutritional supplements. Since they were making Carter's food, Captain Brunsfeld had felt that they should make sure she had all the correct elements her new body now needed.
"O'Neill, if that is all, I believe I would like to examine the hamsters again, I will not be long." Teal'c seemed anxious to return to the little rodents. Jack just shrugged. Whatever. "Ok Teal'c, meet us outside." He said, as he dragged Daniel off to the supplements.
On the way to the checkout, Jack couldn't resist adding one small package to the basket. He caught Daniel rolling his eyes, and grinned mischievously at the archeologist. "Just getting Carter a little something to cheer her up."
"Sure, whatever Jack." Daniel just shook his head, as they paid for their purchases and headed out to Jack's truck. Daniel was just as eager to return to the SGC, and get back to work on the translations; he was spending too much time away already, and felt he was letting Sam down. The longer the translations took, the longer Sam would be stuck the way she was.
Waiting in the truck, hands impatiently tapping the steering wheel, Jack glanced at his watch. It had been nearly 15 minutes, and Teal'c still hadn't appeared. Just as Jack was about to tell Daniel he was heading back into the store to look for the missing Jaffa warrior, the man appeared, the reason for his delay tucked securely under his arms.
Daniel and Jack could only stare in surprise as Teal'c placed a large bag in the back of the truck, than joined them inside, carefully carrying a small box, with small holes on the sides and the words "I'm going home!" stamped in bold letters across the top. "Uh, Teal'c, that's not what I think it is..." Daniel asked the question burning on both their minds.
"Indeed Daniel Jackson. I believe I shall call him Thor." Teal'c proclaimed as he settled the box gently on his broad knee. Something scratched and moved around on the inside. Jack shot one look at the small box, and another at Daniel. Shaking his head, Jack announced, "Fine Teal'c, but when the General asks, I had nothing to do with it!" Jack pulled out of the parking lot before Teal'c could decide on any more purchases.