The next morning, they all headed out to the meeting place. Daniel was wringing his hands, despite everyone's reassurances.
He stood there, waiting. A firm hand pressed on his shoulder comfortingly. Daniel turned to smile at Jack. He was nervous and the whole team could tell. The tension flowed through his body, even Hammond noticed. Daniel grinned to himself, his best friends were around him. The blue Mini Cooper S pulled up. Daniel bit his lip – that was definitely Chris. He had loved those things.
A cheerful man popped his head out and the archeologist's breath caught uin his throat.
"Go get him Danny!" Jack whispered encouragingly. He got a weak smile in return. Jack could understand, to some extent. Daniel hadn't seen this man in some twenty years and he couldn't even speak to him as the real Daniel instead of his nephew. Chris Parson strolled over to General Hammond.
"Hello, General Hammond, I presume?" Daniel slammed a small hand over his mouth to suppress a giggle. SG-1 looked at him oddly.
"Old private joke," he whispered to quench their curiosity. Chris looked down at the gaggle of kids at Hammond's feet. His bright blue eyes scanned the group. His eyes rested on Daniel and they both felt their hearts skip a beat. Jack smiled at Sam and Teal'c and shoved Daniel out in front of them.
Chris knelt down in front of his friend. "Daniel?" he muttered, hoping. The team and Hammond were astonished, how did he know that?
Daniel obeidantly played the part of a ten-year-old. "Yeah?" he muttered looking up into Chris' eyes. "Are you Chris? My uncle's old best friend?"
Chris nodded dumbly. "You look just like him and I mean exactly like him."
"So I've been told."
"So… how's your uncle doing these days?"
Daniel started to play out the innocent happiness of someone who looked his age and Chris believed it. They got comfortable with each other very quickly. Chris looked back up at the group to see Jack and Sam smiling widely – all teeth showing. Startled by this picture, Parson laughed.
"Daniel, are these your friends?"
"Uh huh," he answered. He walked up to SG-1 and pointed them out to his friend. "This is Co- Jack O'Neill, Sam Carter, and Murray. They're my buddies!" Jack rolled his eyes, but secretly appreciated the little-kid-ness. Daniel sauntered back over to his friend happily, his glasses slipping down his nose.
"So Chris… whadda you do?" Daniel was curious to what his adult friend was up to nowadays. His own blue/green eyes searched Chris' bright blue ones, his black, spiky hair, and sort of tanned skin. His happy and open face turned to momentary confusion.
"What do you mean Danny?" Jack scowled at the pet name and Daniel smiled as of he knew what Jack's expression was.
"Like now you're a grownup, what do you do for a living?"
"Oh! I'm an anthropologist and I speak, read, and write… oh, I don't know… 16, 17, maybe 18 languages. I also dabbled in science as a physicist, even got a minor – very small one mind you – in astrophysics. Do you know all those words?" Chris figured maybe Daniel, that is this Daniel's 'uncle,' taught him what an anthropologist was. He noticed the blond girl, Sam's; face light up at the mention of physics and his degree.
Sam seemed to notice his causal scrutiny of her. "My mom's an astrophysicist. She taught me a bunch about the topic." Parson mouthed out an "oh!" Hammond chuckled inwardly and coughed into his fist politely. They all looked at him.
"Let's say we bring this indoors, we can use my cabin."
Chris nodded and only SG-1 noticed the slight stress on "my." Jack had agreed to lend his cabin for the reunion. While Chris looked away, Hammond and Jack exchanged a small nod. Daniel turned to Jack and Hammond. He pointed over his shoulder at Chris' car.
"I'm uh, gonna go with Chris, general."
"That's fine son."
"I'm coming with you Danny." Daniel rolled his eyes, the over-protection was expected from Jack and knew that there was no way to change his mind.
"Fine."
"So general, should I just follow you?" Chris asked.
"Yeah sure." Daniel now played his part.
"Come on! Let's go to the general's house!" he whined impatiently tugging on Chris' pants. Chris laughed good-naturedly. Hammond smiled at them as he hopped in the car. Parson gathered up the 'kids' and got them into the tiny Mini.
A/N: Chris Parson is of my own desperate ramblings, as you see in the first chapter, this is Daniel's friend. But there is a Chris Parson that does live in Colorado Springs (weird huh?) If you are that person, sorry! He needed to be conviently close, tis all...