Sam and Danny cheered at the idea of going to a movie. Teal'c looked confused. "Did we not just purchase movies Colonel O'Neill?"
"We did, but this is different, you'll like this. Now, how about we call up Doctor Janet, she should be getting off work soon. She has a daughter that's a bit older than all of you that you haven't met yet. You'll like her, her name's Cassie. I bet they'd like to come too." The kids agreed, and Jack pulled out his cell phone, dialing Janet. He was eager to discuss his new theory of the kids' behavior, and besides, it wouldn't hurt for the kids to hang out with Cassie. Janet agreed readily to the outing and promised to prepare Cassie for the change in her friends, and to meet them at the movie theatre in a half an hour.
Heading back to the mall, Jack bought tickets for all of them, forgetting that now tickets would be cheaper. Of course, they were now seeing a Disney movie, rather than the latest testosterone blow up everything bodies everywhere flick he really wanted to see. But you couldn't have everything. Sam was standing on the bench and spotted Janet first.
"There she is, there's Doctor Janet! Doctor Janet! Over here!" Sam jumped off the bench before Jack could say anything or grab her and ran towards the door, disappearing from sight. Jack jumped to his feet, heart stopped in momentary panic that Sam had run off yet again, relieved to see her blond head not far away. The little girl had her arms wrapped around the waist of the short red head that had barely entered the theatre.
Sam was bouncing up and down excitedly as Janet spotted Jack's wave and started making her way. "Look, Doctor Janet, I got new shoes, aren't they cool? And I got a new desk. It's got a star on it. And a dresser too. And Danny and Teal'c got a new bed. And we got new clothes. And Lego. And books. And we had pizza. And I have stars to put on the ceiling that glow in the dark. And Danny made fun of my underwear, but he had to get underwear too. And we're gonna go see a movie, are you gonna come see it with us? We bought movies too. Tomorrow we're going to Colonel Jack's house. I bet Colonel Jack's house is cool." Sam kept up a steady stream of chatter as Janet made her way over to where the Colonel was standing. Cassie followed, looking overwhelmed, but slightly charmed by the little girl. Little Sam was hard to resist.
"Colonel, what did you feed her today?" Janet raised her eyebrows and cocked her head at the little girl that was still bouncing and chattering when she finally reached Jack's side.
Jack shrugged, and handed her their tickets for the movie. "Just two slices of pizza and a carton of milk. Trust me, after that little tussle yesterday; I've been keeping all of them away from the sweets and caffeine."
Janet looked skeptical, then shrugged. "Hmph. Well, I guess she's just excited." She turned, and drew her adopted daughter forward. "Cassie, let me introduce you to Danny, Teal'c, and the little chatterbox there is Sam."
Cassie smiled shyly at the children, as each one greeted her in turn. Danny with a shy "Hi", Teal'c with a solemn bow of his head, and Sam, when she finally wound down and realized that Cassie was new, bounded over with a grin, shaking Cassie's hand.
"Hi, I'm Sam. I'm seven. I'm going to be an astronaut." Sam then turned her attention to Jack. "Colonel Jack, can we have popcorn, please?"
Jack laughed at Sam's wheedling tone, and found himself giving in. As he walked to the counter to buy popcorn, he heard Cassie whispering to Janet, "They're so cute!" and couldn't help but grin. They sure were cute! And damn expensive too!
They sat down for their movie, Sam insisting on sitting next to him, and Cassie ending up on Sam's other side. Sam didn't seem to mind. Janet sat next to Cassie, and Daniel sat on Jack's other side, with Teal'c on the end next to Daniel. The movie started, and nothing major happened during the show, although he occasionally heard Sam whisper things to Cassie, and Cassie whisper back, but since the theatre wasn't crowded, the whispers weren't bothering anyone, so he let it slide.
After the movie, Sam announced she had to use the restroom again, and Jack was relieved that both Janet and Cassie were there, Cassie immediately volunteering to take the little girl to the bathroom. Jack took Daniel and Teal'c, finally feeling the need to answer the call himself.
They met in the lobby, and the four youngsters congregated around some of the arcade machines after plying Jack for some loose change. Jack took the opportunity to explain his observations of the kids' behavior, and Janet looked thoughtful.
When the kids were out of change, they decided to go to a nearby Friendly's for dinner, which actually happened to be in the mall, so they walked over to it. The two youngest kids bounced ahead, and Jack had to call them back several times. The restaurant wasn't very busy on the weeknight, and so they got a table fairly quickly. He got two kids' menus and adult's menus for Teal'c and the rest of them.
Sam took forever to make up her mind over what she wanted, but fortunately, the waitress had more patience than he did. The waitress left paper placemats for the younger three and a basket of crayons after taking their orders and the kids started coloring. Jack reached across and doodled a figure on Sam's placemat, making her giggle. Not to be outdone, Janet drew something on Daniel's. Teal'c had been reluctant to color, but had started to do so at the adult's urging, and at the new game, Cassie leaned over and started drawing on Teal'c's placemat as well. When the waitress returned with their drinks, she smiled and came back with a few more placemats, since she'd only given them to the three younger children, and there weren't enough to go around. Soon everyone had their own masterpiece in the works, and there was a lot of giggling and sharing going on, most especially among the youngest, who often swapped and completed each other's drawings without speaking.
Jack caught Janet's eye, and she nodded, noticing too. She didn't know what to make of it yet, but it was definitely worth watching. Jack returned the nod, satisfied, and turned back to his creation of a large purple dog.
Dinner was uneventful, although their earlier eating habits continued. Sam disassembled her sandwich, eating each piece separately. Daniel was using a fork this time, but he still analyzed each bite as if he was studying it for secrets, and often preferred to dig into his food as if he was unearthing something. Teal'c ate his food with single-minded determination as if eating as much food as fast as possible would somehow make him grow faster. In fact, it was almost as if he were approaching his food as if it were an opponent on the battlefield. Jack frowned, and wondered if he should mention his observations on the kids' eating habits to Janet as well. Then he noticed the Doctor watching the kids eat, and realized she had noticed too. He turned his attention back to his own meal.
Since the kids hadn't had any sweets all day, he felt safe in letting them have dessert. They cheered over the prospect of ice cream. As soon as dessert was done, dinner paid for, and their goodbyes made, he loaded them up and drove back to the base. The trip back was mostly silent, and he realized as he approached the first security check in, that Sam had fallen asleep in the back seat, and Daniel was fighting it.
Parking, he left the packages in the truck, walking around to the back passenger side and cajoling a sleepy Daniel from the backseat. Teal'c let himself out. Sam didn't stir. With a sigh, he walked back around to the driver's side and opened the back door, thankful for his foresight in getting the SUV, because he didn't relish the idea of climbing in the backseat after sleeping children. Gently, he unbuckled the little girl, and lifted her up, feeling her sigh as her face burrowed into his neck, her arms and legs instinctively wrapping around him.
Teal'c walked ahead of him, opening the doors while Daniel trudged behind tiredly. It had been a long day. The security guards and Airmen he passed along the way met him with smiles when they saw his precious bundle and the tired troops trailing him. He didn't think he'd ever gotten through all the security checkpoints so fast before. If he hadn't been so tired, he might have complained about the lapse in security, but then again, somehow he doubted that the enemy would ever resort to the tactic of using a cute little sleeping kid as a cover to gain entrance to a top secret base. And most of these guards knew him anyway.
Hammond met him as he stepped off the elevator. Someone had obviously called ahead. "Sir?" Jack acknowledged the man, and moved down the corridor. Little Carter was getting heavy in his arms.
The General smiled at the sleeping figure, and the tired figures of the rest of SG-1 marching behind and fell into step beside the Colonel.
"Long day?" Hammond asked knowingly.
"Yes sir, but we got everything we needed. I just need to pick up mattresses tomorrow for the bunk beds. Everything should be delivered and I'll have to move some furniture around, but with any luck, they'll be in real beds instead of military cots tomorrow night." Jack shifted Sam slightly as they neared the door to the children's quarters, and Hammond moved out of the way as Teal'c opened the door and Daniel went in first, turning on the light and moving to turn down Sam's covers before heading to the bathroom with an enormous yawn, Teal'c following. Hammond raised his eyebrows at the display.
Jack walked to the bed and gently laid Sam on it. She mumbled, and turned on her side. Straightening, he turned to Hammond and shrugged at the unasked question. "I don't know sir, they've been doing it all day, working together like that. It's like they know they're a part of something, somewhere deep down inside." Jack grabbed an adult sized SGC T-shirt off the nightstand, and tugged off Sam's shoes and jeans. She protested sleepily when he sat her up and switched the shirt out, but settled back into sleep quickly. He smoothed her hair back and pulled the covers up and tucked her in.
"I suppose that's a good sign," General Hammond answered, watching Jack settle Sam in for the night. So many years ago, he'd watched Jacob perform much the same tasks. "We still haven't received any word from our allies."
"They'll be alright." Jack looked down at the sleeping girl as the two boys trooped back into the room from the bathroom, Teal'c swinging up into his bed and Daniel flopping onto his. "They have to be."
A/N: Thanks to everyone who shared their own "cat-tails" (and dog-tails! And even some poor gerbils!) I hope you weren't intending to make me feel better :P I've heard about the hidden dangers of string, tinsel is another biggie. And a coworker of mine had to put their beloved dog down after they went away for one night to return too late and the poor thing had gotten into a drawer partially left accidentally open and eaten a pair of panty hose. By the time they returned, the dog was listless, and x-rays revealed that the dog's intestines were twisted around the hose. He'd eaten a pair before, but someone had caught him in time to pull them out before they went too far, but this time it was too late.
It figures that not only would one of the cats get into the pills (I still don't know how they opened the case, the vet wondered if I had a dog to help them!) but would eat them too. I still think it was Dragon, and that little stinker, the one time he ever had to take pills was after his neuter. He had to take some antibiotics prophalactically for his heart murmur. (For that little story, its posted in Nine Lives lol, and the neuter story I believe is posted in whatever story was posted around the holidays, at least I think it was, someone will have to tell me, that was a story too wild not to post) Anyway, try getting that little beast to take one teeny little pill twice a day for three days. Forget it. We practically had to sit on the squirming bastard and he still spit it out half the time. And forget about hiding it in food, the little shit was an expert on licking everything on the plate clean including the little white pill, and leaving the soggy pill behind, which we'd then have to pick up said soggy pill and chase him down and give to him anyway. So of course he eats several of my medications, including that multivitamin which is huge, though it does smell like yogurt so I guess he thought it was food and he does like yogurt. (Weird cat) But that doesn't explain why he ate the other two. Which brings me back to my theory of suicidal, homicidal, or just plain dumber than a box of rocks. The world may never know. All the same, I'm eyeing everything from my shoelaces to the scissors in the pencil jar and wondering what a cat with a mood disorder would do with them.
Yes, you laugh. But I'm already convinced that Sam has ADHD and OCD. The cat is obsessed, and I do mean obsessed with burying EVERYTHING. And not just the stuff he leaves in the litter box, but the stuff his brother leaves in the box, and the stuff the other cat leaves in the litter box. And he tries to bury the food. We don't know why, but he'll spend several minutes trying to bury the food and water bowls when he's done eating. And when I give them some canned food in the morning, he'll make rounds and try and bury all those bowls too. You can't have anything in the vicinity of the bowls, or it will end up in the bowls. It doesn't even bother him if he gets wet trying to bury the water bowl. He also tries to bury the bathroom sink if someone lets him get a drink there, and the bathtub, which drips.
And Dragon. I don't know what his problem is, but you can't tell me that it's normal to spend as much time as he does staring at absolutely NOTHING on the ceiling. If he's not doing it on purpose, and there aren't spiders dropping down from the ceiling, then there must be something wrong with him too.
Hmm. Well, anyway, don't forget to tell me what you think about the story too lol.