Chapter 47: Chicken Soup
Jack herded the kids ahead of him, cheeks aflame and his neck uncomfortably hot. He had no idea what had possessed him to spring the question about training bras on the poor unsuspecting Ms. J. To the teacher's credit, after her initial surprise, she'd answered him, perhaps with a bit more information than he'd hoped for. He could only think that his relief that there was nothing to worry about with Sam had caused him to blurt out his question, combined with the fact that the little girl had sprung the problem on him that very morning, when she'd talked about a classmate's older sister having one and asking if she could also get one. At least now Jack was fairly confident it would be at least another year before Sam would need one, hopefully longer. He really, really, really didn't want to have to think about bra shopping!
Thoughts of training bras led to thoughts about other discussions that he might have to have with the young girl, who looked so young and innocent right now that he simply couldn't imagine having such grown up discussions with her. Especially when he superimposed the image of the woman he knew the little girl had once been, might one day become again! Now wasn't that confusing? Somehow, it all seemed terribly wrong for him to even consider talking to Sam, who in his mind was still even a little bit, Major Carter, his 2IC, about boys, and all the things that came along with boys. Not to mention all the changes her body might undergo over time if things didn't sort themselves out.
He gulped, and tried to think of something else, but unfortunately, his thoughts led in turn to thoughts of similar discussions he might have to have with Daniel and Teal'c, who were older than Sam, and his mind latched onto the dilemma like a dog chasing its tail, running in little circles and keeping him preoccupied all through the drive home and their usual afternoon and evening rituals. So preoccupied were his thoughts, that he didn't notice how quiet the kids were until dinnertime came and he noticed Sam and Daniel picking at their plates. Teal'c was eating with his usual gusto.
"Sam? Daniel? Something wrong with dinner?" He'd gotten a pretty good grasp of the foods that each child liked and didn't like, and always made sure to have at least one thing that each kid liked for every meal and expected all of them to try a small sample of anything new. Even still, he sometimes ran into the occasional mistakes where he forgot or cooked something incorrectly. Rarely though did more than one kid not find at least one thing to eat happily.
Two silent headshakes met his question as the two continued to pick at their meals. His eyebrows shot up at the response.
"Well, if that's so," he prompted, "Than why aren't you eating it?"
Identical shrugs, and Daniel spoke to his plate, neatly avoiding the question with a non-response. "I finished my potatoes, may I go read a book? I'm tired."
"And I'm all done my milk, can I watch TV, Colonel Jack?" Sam asked, she'd given up nudging her vegetables around on her plate and was looking at him earnestly.
Jack regarded the two children carefully, noting that other than appearing slightly tired, they both looked fine. And as they had said, Daniel had finished his potatoes, and Sam had drained her milk glass, and they had both picked at other parts of their dinner, though left it mostly untouched. Grudgingly, he gave them permission, but decided to check on them in a few minutes as soon as he'd cleared away the table. His paternal instincts told him something was up, and the puzzled and slightly worried looks Teal'c was sending his way told him the older boy was out of the loop on this one.
Putting away the leftovers and loading the dishwasher up, Jack poked his head into the living room to have a little talk with Sam, figuring the normally bubbly little girl would be easier to crack. He changed his mind however when he discovered her asleep on the couch, the TV on some news program she hadn't bothered to change. His instincts kicking up a notch, he retrieved the ear thermometer, and went to her side, kneeling down next to the couch so that his knees protested the arrangement with a pop. She stirred only slightly as he inserted the probe, but he soothed her gently back to sleep. The thermometer beeped, and he pulled it out, reading the results at 99.3. Not quite a fever, but still a little warm, and probably a good clue as to why Sam and Daniel were acting off color.
He pulled the throw blanket off the back of the sofa and covered the little girl with it, deciding to come back for her later, and went upstairs to check on Daniel. Finding the boy on his bunk, laying back with a book like he'd said, Jack sat down on the edge of the bed. "Hey," he said.
"Hey," Daniel answered, putting his book down.
"Feeling ok?" Jack asked, watching the boy carefully.
Daniel lifted one shoulder. "I'm okay, just tired."
Jack reached out and gently brushed Daniel's forehead. "You don't feel hot, all the same, I'd like to check it." He held up the thermometer. "You might be coming down with something."
Daniel eyed the thermometer warily a moment, and then nodded, turning his head away for Jack to insert the probe. A moment later, they had the results.
"Well, you don't have a fever, at least not right now. All the same, you should probably take it easy."
Brandishing his book with a crooked smile, Daniel just nodded, and Jack patted him on the shoulder, leaving him in peace.
To be safe, Jack checked on Teal'c, who he found in the living room quietly playing a video game. He was seated on the couch, where Sam still slept, only now she sprawled so that her head and one arm were in Teal'c's lap. Teal'c didn't seem to mind the arrangement however, merely holding his controller so that his movements didn't disturb the younger child, and the volume was turned down low so as not to wake her.
Teal'c looked up with a small nod when Jack entered, and allowed his temperature to be checked. Jack was relieved to find it normal, and equally relieved to hear Teal'c deny any feelings of fatigue or anything else unusual.
Jack joined Teal'c for several games, sitting on the chair next to the two kids, and was debating when to call it a night when Sam sighed and stirred. Both males looked down at the little girl, and then exchanged glances. Jack smiled at Teal'c's unsure look, and knew the boy likely was ready to get up and move around, but was loathe to disturb Sam. Taking the decision out of the boy's hands, Jack stood and stretched, and then gently lifted Sam into his arms. The little girl sighed again and shifted at the movement, but then instinctively snuggled into his embrace. Teal'c nodded gratefully, and moved off to the bathroom to perform his nightly rituals, while Jack took Sam to bed, settling her in with practiced ease.
Checking her temperature once more, he found it more or less unchanged. Frowning and still concerned, Jack tucked the little girl in, and left the bedside lamp on, even though Sam had proven she didn't really need a night light. Except for the fact she refused to go to sleep unless the closet door was closed. Worry momentarily lost out to amusement, as he double-checked the closed door, lips quirking up at one end. He distinctly recalled a certain then Captain telling him in no uncertain terms that she'd had no fear of the dark as a child. And it was true, as long as the closet door was firmly shut. After the first week he'd made sure to check the door, when she'd ended up in his room terrified something had escaped and refused to go back to bed until he'd checked every crack and crevice of her room (and he meant every crack and crevice) before consenting to go back to bed.
Leaving Sam's room and moving down the hall, Jack entered the boy's room, and found Daniel asleep on his bunk, the lights still on. He couldn't resist a small smile at the sight of the youngster, hair rumpled, cheeks pink, glasses on and book open in his lap. The smile however, was replaced by a frown, as he reminded himself that tonight, this sleep wasn't the normal fall asleep while reading he was so used to seeing in Daniel's older self, and even a few times in his younger self. No, this sleep was different, and Jack checked Daniel's temperature, finding it slightly higher than it was earlier, but like Sam's, not a fever.
All the same, he still felt a niggling sense of concern as her tenderly removed Daniel's glasses and closed the book, carefully marking the place in the weighty text, a text on some ancient civilization that looked way to intense for someone so young. Gently, he drew the covers up around the sleeping figure.
Teal'c entered the room not long after, meeting Jack's worried frown with a questioning look. A look to which Jack could only shrug one shoulder to. Teal'c merely nodded almost imperceptibly, and swung up into his bunk, looking at Jack with a face that told him the older boy would be looking out for the younger one tonight, more so than he usually did. Jack smiled softly, and returned the nod with the same trust that had made him give the preteen a Zat, the day when their lives had changed. Turning out the lights, Jack pulled the door, and left the boys in peace, going about his own nighttime rituals.
He checked on the kids again before going to bed, to find them much the same, all asleep. And he woke once during the night, finding things quiet and unchanged, although he was concerned to hear the faint sounds of a cough from Daniel's room, and a slight whimper from Sam as she tossed in her sleep, dislodging covers.
In the morning, Teal'c was the only one to wake up on his own, Sam and Daniel still slept, though both now moved restlessly. It didn't take him much time to confirm his suspicions from the night before. Sam and Daniel at least were sick, though for now, given their lack of a full-fledged fever, it seemed like just a cold.
After checking on Daniel, Teal'c got out of bed and followed him to the kitchen, looking worried, and Jack tried to look reassuring as he checked his supply of soup, crackers, and juice. Sensing the boy's concern, Jack sat him down at the breakfast bar with a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice. He let Teal'c form his question in his own time, having discovered that the young Teal'c preferred to quietly observe and puzzle over problems before voicing questions, much in the way his older self did.
Sure enough, Teal'c set his spoon down and looked across to Jack who was eating his own bowl of cereal. "Colonel O'Neill, what is wrong with Daniel and Samantha, are they not well?"
Jack also put his spoon down, giving Teal'c his full attention. "It looks like they have a cold, Teal'c. They'll probably feel pretty crummy for a day or so, but should be feeling better before ya know it."
Teal'c pondered the odd vocabulary for a moment, and then replied, "If they are cold, should we not endeavor to keep them warm?"
Ducking his head to hide the smile, Jack thought about how best to answer. "No, they aren't cold, they have a cold, a type of mild illness that makes them feel badly for a short time."
The boy frowned. "Jaffa do no become ill in this fashion," he stated. "Is there nothing we can do to make Samantha and Daniel overcome this… cold?"
Jack just shrugged, picking up his spoon. "Not really, it will go away on it's own like I said, in the meantime we just make sure they get plenty of rest, and enough to drink." Quietly, Jack was relieved that Teal'c found the idea of a cold foreign. It meant that he was less likely to pick up whatever it was that Sam and Daniel had. He'd still watch the older boy like a hawk though, just in case Jaffa youth could pick up Tauri illnesses.
The day progressed, and the youngest two definitely had a cold, as they woke up stuffy and hoarse, complaining of sore throats and feeling achy, or in Sam's case, "yucky." He just kept them plied with cool drinks, and even coaxed a little bit of warm soup into each. Both came down for a short while in the afternoon, padding down the stairs in socks and Pj's, dragging blankets with them.
Towards night, both developed the chest rattling cough that told Jack that the stuffiness was already starting to loosen a bit, and making him relieved that hopefully the kids would feel a bit better the next day. Once or twice, he'd thought about calling Janet, but none of the kids had fevers, and were both taking in good fluids, so he was loathe to disturb the good doctor since he knew she was enjoying a rare weekend off with Cassie for what looked like just a cold.
Teal'c spent the day helping where he could, spending much of his time making excuses and finding quiet activities he could do with or near Sam or Daniel. Jack still caught him frowning and looking worried on occasion and did his best to look reassuring as he took on the task of handing two sick kids. Teal'c readily followed his lead.
The next day, the two seemed to be feeling better, taking juice and toast for breakfast, soup and crackers for lunch, and eating most of a plate each of regular food for dinner. They also spent several hours at a time awake, and most of the afternoon downstairs. While they weren't anywhere near as active as normal, and Sam in particular was more than a little cranky more than once, they were close enough to normal that Jack was fairly confident they'd be able to go back to school the next day. Especially considering that it would be Sam's first day of third grade, and she was nearly beside herself with excitement. But it looked like this pit stop would only affect their weekend. Somehow, they'd managed to pick up their first cold just in time for the weekend, much to the kids' dismay.
Jack could only grin in amusement, where the kids couldn't see him. While his concern had kept him going the first day, by the end of the second day he was more than ready to send them back to school, secretly relieved he'd not need to take a day off work to spend a third day catering to their every whim and dealing with irritable whining.
And so Jack was quite pleased when the house became quiet, except for the occasional cough. Not only were the kids feeling better, because he really did hate to see them sick, but in an odd way, he was glad they'd be back to school. He was quite familiar with the conflicting emotions, of wanting to spend as much time as possible with the kids while they were like this, but on the other hand, he was equally glad to have a bit of time to interact with adults, and have adult conversations, rather than spending his days locating lost sneakers, settling disputes over who owned what book, who got to pick the channel last, and trying to convince them that broccoli was not poisonous.
It looked like they had gotten over the worst of it. Or at least that's what Jack thought.
A/N: Sorry it took so long with the update! Life intruded, and it's been so hectic! Anyway, wrote this one when I was under the weather myself, so I could only commiserate with the kids.
Oh, and I'm pleased to announce that they seem to be finishing up the water pipe project. Friday was a big day as they reconnected everyone to the water main and the pipes went away. The millions of cones went away too. Let's just say I won't miss them!