A/N: I had so much fun with this chapter! I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Oh, and there's a special request at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 42: Saturday Morning
Jack rolled over and groaned, but for some reason, his bed kept moving up and down, making him feel like a seasick otter. And where did the seagull that was screeching his name in a singsong voice come from, better yet, how did it get in here? And since when did seagulls talk?
"Colonel Jack? Col-o-nel Ja-ack! Are you awake yet?" cooed the singing seagull, and Jack groggily realized it wasn't a bird, but a little girl. Cracking one eye open confirmed his fears, as he caught a glimpse of rumpled blond hair and sparkling blue eyes. She was sure damn cute.
When she wasn't bouncing that was.
On his bed. At… his brief look caught a view of the clock, confirming his guess of the obscene early hour that no respectable person should be up at on a Saturday unless they had a damn good reason. Well, obscene when you were intending to sleep through it that is. He hadn't intended to wake any earlier than at least ten or better yet noon but the clock was glowing a steady 0615. He groaned again.
"Colonel Jack?" Came the chirpy voice again, as the bouncing started up anew. Of course, any other day of the week, she slept like the dead and was impossible to rouse, but on the one lousy day he wanted to sleep in she was up at the butt crack of dawn, bouncy and bubbly.
"Sam." The bouncing stopped.
"Colonel Jack?"
"Is the house burning down?" he muttered into his pillow.
"No." She sounded slightly confused. But at least she'd stopped bouncing.
"Did somebody cut their fingers off?" There had to be a good reason for the early wakeup call.
A slight giggle. "No."
"Is it Christmas?"
More giggling. "No silly!" The bouncing started again, and he groaned, and ground his fists into his eyes.
"Sam!" The bouncing stopped again.
"Colonel Jack?" Her voice was slightly hesitant, and close by. He knew if he opened his eyes, he'd probably be staring right into hers, but that would be admitting he was awake, and he refused to admit he was awake.
"Go back to bed." He felt a slight shifting, that told him she'd moved, but didn't feel the telltale dip of her getting out of his bed.
"I can't sleep." She shifted in the bed again, now flopping against his legs, her cast inadvertently slapping into an area that made him grateful his was lying on his stomach, and not the other way around. As it was, it wasn't particularly comfortable.
Jack suppressed a groan of frustration as she moved again, her body putting just the right amount of pressure on his bad knee to ensure he couldn't just drop off back to sleep. "Well, why don't you go watch cartoons or something for a little while?" he suggested, his tone full of all the subtle nuances and suggestions that going to watch cartoons and leaving Jack alone in his bed was a very good thing for little girls to do early on Saturday mornings.
The subtlety was lost on Sam unfortunately. Her underdeveloped genius mind obviously couldn't cope with such things yet. "Because Daniel and Teal'c are watching them and I don't like what they're watching. Besides, we're going to the library today." Sam explained patiently. She moved off his knees thankfully, but was now sprawled on his back. "Can we go yet?" Her voice was now next to his ear, her breath hot on his neck, and he again resisted the urge to open his eyes and confirm his suspicions about her location.
"Uh, Sam, the library isn't open yet." Maybe she'll go back to bed now he hoped.
"Oh," she said her voice full of disappointment. His hopes were shattered in the next breath. "I'm hungry."
His mind supplied a litany of inappropriate curses that he couldn't say in the presence of Sam's young ears, words that would make a Marine's toes curl. Instead he just sighed. "Ok, fine. Just gimme a minute ok?"
He wasn't prepared for the small arm that snaked around him from behind him, nor the wet kiss that graced his cheek. "Thank you Colonel Jack, love you!" And then she was gone, bounding from the room, leaving Jack's head spinning over the loss of the freedom of being able to sleep whenever and however long he chose, and over how much more he'd gained in exchange. He was still grumpy and tired as he dragged himself from bed fifteen minutes later, but there was a smile on his face as he headed to the kitchen, spying the three small bodies curled up in front of the TV.
After breakfast, he told the kids he'd play some games with them but first they had to straighten up their rooms. A week spent in school meant their rooms were looking worse for wear. They groaned and protested, but like last time, they started to tidy up, and help each other unlike typical children. Jack felt it had to do with the fact that a part of them on some deeper level remembered working together. They still had disagreements, but all in all, they looked out for each other.
And so, when it grew quiet upstairs, while Jack took the opportunity to straighten up a bit downstairs, he didn't think anything of it, figuring the kids had likely found something quiet to do like they had last time. However, when the silence stretched, his long dormant sixth sense, the instinctive trouble radar that all adults develop when in close proximity to children for any length of time, started to send him warning signs. And so he headed upstairs, checking first on Sam's room. He found the room neat and tidy, the bed made, toys put away, her schoolbooks on her desk. One or two things poked out of the closet or from under the bed or drawer telling him it was less than perfect, but he didn't expect it to be, she was only seven. The room was however missing one thing, and that was a blond haired, blue eyed little girl.
He headed down the hall, eyes narrowing in suspicion when he noticed the door to the boys' room was closed, the room dark despite the fact it was daytime. As he stood outside the door, hand poised over the doorknob, his suspicions only rose when he heard what sounded like a quickly muffled giggle. Quietly he pushed the door open, then stared in shock at the transformation the room had undergone.
They must have raided the linen closet for all the spare linen he had on hand, and he wondered where they had found the rope, probably in the garage, but somehow they'd transformed the bunk beds and bedroom into a tent fortress. There was just barely room for the door to open, because they'd draped the linens over every piece of furniture in the room, not just the beds, using the rope tied between the heavier pieces to create rooms and supports. He was impressed. And somewhere in the center, came the glow of a flashlight and the whisper of three young voices. It sounded like they were trying to retell one of the ghost stories from one of their last nights on base. Jack got a sudden sneaky idea.
Glancing quickly about, he spotted the opening, not far from the doorway. Using all his skill in special ops, he slipped into the tent, having to twist and crawl, but he'd been in tighter spaces. His guess from the outside had proved correct; they had hung sheets and blankets down from the inside, creating "walls" and "rooms", therefore making the perfect cover. He crept closer to the voices, timing his entrance.
He could see them now, Daniel was telling the story, his back to Jack. The flashlight made his brownish blond hair glow softly, eerily, as he told the tale. And the tale was a perfect one, about how a group of kids were out camping in the night, and a man came up and carried them away out of the tent. At the right moment, the storyteller would leap at the others…
Jack lunged with a roar, and was rewarded with three shrieks, that quickly turned into laughter as they realized who their "attacker" was. Sam jumped on him, knocking him into the blanket wall, and sent them tumbling into the next "room". "That was mean!" she shouted, but she was giggling as she pushed him.
"Oh yeah? Well maybe I'm not Colonel Jack, maybe I'm really the mean bad tickle monster!" With that, he flipped her over, careful of her still healing arm, and straddled her, arms poised.
"No!" she shrieked, realizing instantly her predicament, "Help! Danny! Teal'c! He's got me! Help!" But Jack only laughed an evil villainous laugh, and his hands descended slowly towards the squirming little girl as she laughed and squealed and tried to get away. But he held on, tickling her mercilessly, even when Daniel and Teal'c came to her rescue, wielding pillows and trying to fight off the "evil monster". But Jack just twisted up his face in a mock snarl, and pretended to snap at them as the pillows thwapped him harmlessly, and his hands roamed along Sam's ticklish spots making her shriek and gasp.
They were all laughing when part of the fortress collapsed on top of them, putting an end to the pillow fight. It took several more minutes for the giggling and gasping group to extract themselves from the pile of rope and linens, hair rumpled and cheeks flushed. Sam had more trouble getting out than the rest of them though. "Guys! Help! I'm stuck!" One of the blanket mounds was moving.
Jack got another gleam in his eye. "Did you guys hear something?" he asked innocently.
Daniel picked up on the new game right away. "No, I didn't hear anything." Teal'c looked confused until Daniel elbowed him and gave him a wink. Teal'c nodded, and Daniel grinned, smothering a laugh with his hand as Sam called for assistance again.
"Well, if you guys didn't hear anything, we should probably make your bed," he said loudly over the noise of a small girl saying she was there and to please get her out. Jack walked over to the wiggling mound, which happened to be one of the comforters, and picked up the whole thing. "Wow, these things are heavy!" he said, dropping it carefully on the bottom bed, he started to tuck in the edges before the occupant could escape.
Daniel came to help immediately, and Teal'c a moment later as soon as he knew what they were doing. Both boys were grinning.
"Make sure you tuck it in nice and tight, don't want it coming loose!" Jack told them loudly and cheerfully, as his hands strayed to the lump in the middle, poking it where its sides were. Daniel laughed, and Teal'c's grin grew broader as he finished tucking in his section of the bed.
"Hey!" (Giggle) "I'm not a bed!" (Giggle, giggle) "Let me out!" (More giggling)
"Colonel O'Neill, this bed seems most lumpy," Teal'c said innocently.
Jack stood back, studying the bed, ignoring the voice that called "That's because I'm under here!"
"You know, you're right Teal'c," Jack said, still staring at the bed. "Let's put some pillows on there, gently now."
"Hey!" The bed protested again as the three males cheerfully loaded all the pillows they could find onto the bed.
"Well, that's better," Jack announced. The boys agreed. "You know, I wonder where Sam is."
"I'm right he-ere!"
Jack winked at Daniel and Teal'c, who grinned back. "Funny, I think I keep hearing her. You know, I think I'll just sit down right here, and rest a bit, and we can look for her." Jack sat down on the bed, and started to bounce up and down. Sam giggled. Jack stopped. "Did you two hear that?" he asked, and they shrugged. He started to bounce again, and the giggling started again. Daniel joined Jack in bouncing and Teal'c watched amused.
Finally, Sam had enough, and with a mighty shove she pushed the blanket away and surged up, sending pillows flying and Daniel ducking for cover. "I'm right here!"
Jack feigned surprise. "Sam! What are you doing lying around in bed when there's work to be done?"
Sam made a face of mock anger, and planted her hands on her hips, which was a difficult maneuver considering her cast. Jack laughed. "C'mere!" he ordered, catching her as she lunged into his arms and hugged her tightly, then held out his other arm for Daniel, who came a bit more reluctantly, but no less enthusiastically. "You too Teal'c," he told the boy, who was still standing and watching the other three with a small smile. Teal'c stood still for a moment, then joined the rest on a bed for an O'Neill family group hug.
A/N: I have to thank everyone for all the wonderful reviews, suggestions, and guesses. But I most especially want to thank ReganX (who unfortunately doesn't have an email on their profile for me to contact them personally) for the very thoughtful review. I'm glad you took the time for such a detailed review, and it really meant a lot to me to hear the things you said!
Ok, other business. I know you all have ideas! A lot of you have asked during the story for thus or thus to happen. So here's a request for inspiration. You've got a few chapters to think of things. But somewhere in the future I'm writing a little "summary" so to speak of things that have happened to the kids over a span of time with Jack, that won't make it into the story as adventures. Basically falls, plans, dumb ideas etc. What I want is ideas for little "and there was the time Sam/Daniel and/or Teal'c did thus and thus" etc. Now, in my mind, Sam is the adventurous one of the group. So I have a bit more featuring her getting into trouble, because at this stage I see Daniel as quiet and bookish and Teal'c as serious and protective. But that doesn't mean your ideas can't include Daniel doing something or Teal'c, or some combination of two or three. Because as you've seen, Daniel was the one instigating running off to some pond that led to Sam's broken arm, and Teal'c started that fight way back when. And after all, where one child is, the other two aren't likely to be far behind.
Now, Sam still has a cast on, so the adventures have to include dumb things a kid might do while wearing a cast. But remember, She's absolutely forbidden to be on anything wheeled (under fear of losing bike riding privileges) and I already took the obvious one of climbing stuff, so the suggestions would have to be something different. What I'm basically looking for is probably stuff from your own childhoods, stuff like accidentally dying the laundry purple or sticking something in the VCR. Nothing malicious, though stunts can be potentially dangerous.
I appreciate everyone's comments and suggestions so far, which is why I thought I'd take the opportunity to ask for ideas outright. Can't guarantee I'll feature any of them though, and may come up with my own ideas, but what with all the pet stories I get, I thought someone's bound to have had an adventurous childhood or children! My email is in my profile if you'd rather use that to contact me. As always, much appreciated!
And now I have to talk about my poor babies. I came home and I couldn't find them. There're workers literally at the base of my driveway with a backhoe and dump truck, moving those giant metal road plates around and digging up stuff. They had to move to let me in. So you can imagine how noisy they were. My scaredy cats didn't like it one bit, not even the usually brave adventurous Sam. It took me a while to locate them, but Sam appeared first, in my closet, which he'd somehow squeezed into, (they learned how to pull the doors open) but needed help getting back out of (I hope he wasn't in there long!) and Dragon appeared from the small space under the dresser next to the bed where I keep a few boxes and things, with pillows on top. I guess it's like a kitty cave system. I hope the noisy machines go away, because I miss having them greet me (or ignore me which is more normal) Not to mention what it's doing to my sleep schedule! (Right now it sounds like they are using chain saws or really big weedwackers. I'm not real sure what chain saws and water pipes got to do with each other though)