A/N: So, this is actually the chapter where that note about this story taking place before Chimera is relevant.

Ch 9

After lunch, they took everything back to the truck and drove over to the toy store. Jack was back in his good mood, but Sam wasn't entirely certain it wasn't exaggerated to keep them from worrying about him. Maybe a trip to the toy store would be just as good for Jack as Danny.

They got a basket and set Danny in it. It was getting close to his normal nap time, so he didn't object to the ride as he had done with the stroller. They had found the more boring things like diapers, sippy cups, baby forks and spoons, and a portable booster seat, and were perusing the toy aisles, showing Danny things they thought he might like and asking what he thought.

As they had expected, he was thrilled with the large Duplo Legos, and Lincoln Logs were a big hit as well. They found a package of little plastic dinosaurs that Sam was convinced were a choking hazard.

"So we watch him while he plays with them," Jack suggested. "Well… if Janet thinks it's okay," he added.

They picked out several books, including one about Egypt that was a little advanced, but Sam wanted to see if he was drawn to the pictures in it, and maybe even the hieroglyphs. She found a plush triceratops that Danny hugged tightly and refused to put down, and Jack found a remote controlled T-Rex with light up eyes that moved and roared. He also added a GI Joe and a toy airplane.

"Are those for him or you?" Sam asked, smiling.

"Yes?" Jack answered, picking up a Mr. Potato Head. He wrinkled his nose suddenly, and looked at Sam, who was doing the same thing. They both quickly located the source of the unpleasant smell: Danny. Danny's diaper, to be more specific.

"Oh man… you couldn't wait till we got back to the base?" Jack asked Danny, who merely shrugged and started swinging his legs.

Sam looked in the diaper bag nervously. "I've never…" she started.

"I'll do it," Jack said, taking her by surprise. "Look, it's not that complicated or anything but I doubt you want your first dirty diaper to be in a bathroom at Toys 'R Us… it won't exactly make things easier. Granted, I haven't done one of these in… well over a decade, but hopefully it's like riding a bike."

"Thank you," she said gratefully. He nodded, shouldering the diaper bag and picking Danny up.

"When you're back to your normal self again, you are going to owe me big time," he told the kid. "We'll find you," he added to Sam.

She nodded and watched them go, then looked around. They were on the game aisle, but most of the games were for older kids. She spotted some familiar yellow faces and grinned, wheeling the rapidly filling cart down the aisle for a closer inspection. Who would have thought they made a Simpsons chess set? It was perfect. Silly and perfect. She hid it in the bottom of the basket, hoping she'd be able to sneak it past Jack until they got back to the base, and moved on to the next aisle so he wouldn't have a chance of spotting it on the shelf.

Finding herself on a row of balls, skateboards, and scooters, she picked up a few smaller, softer balls than the ones they'd found on the base for Danny to play with, and she was examining a little basketball hoop when somebody called, "Samantha Carter?"

She turned towards the voice cautiously. What was this, run into old acquaintances day? Although the man approaching her looked vaguely familiar, she had no idea where she had seen him before. "Yes," she answered cautiously. "I'm sorry… do I know you?"

The man, who was carrying several packages of water balloons and three sling shots, smiled and patted his chest absently. "Pete Shanahan? I'm a friend of Mark's… I was his roommate at college. We met at his birthday party last year… and at his wedding… and a few other times before that."

"Oh, right, of course. Sorry. Um… how are you?"

"I'm good. I transferred to Denver a while ago. I'm ah… getting supplies. Lot of new recruits, have to be broken in, you know…"

She looked at the stuff in his hands and thought he looked more like he was stocking up for summer camp, but she kept the comment to herself.

"What about you? You're uh… buying a lot of toys, I see."

"Well… yeah," Sam said evasively.

"Well, after you're done shopping, do you maybe want to get a cup of coffee or…"

Sam cringed. Really, really no. Mark wouldn't appreciate that though. Where were her two ready-made excuses when she needed them?

"SAAAAAAAAM!" a loud little voice called.

"Over here," she called back quickly, just as Jack found them.

"Hey, there she is," Jack said to Danny. He was still holding the little boy in one arm, and when he reached them he was looking back and forth between Sam and Pete cautiously, trying to figure out what was going on and how he should react.

Danny leaned out of Jack's arms, holding his arms out for Sam, and she took him automatically and settled him on her hip while Jack deposited the diaper bag in the seat of the basket. "That was not the highlight of my day so far," he said, referring to his lovely experience changing the dirty diaper.

Sam smiled at him, rubbing Danny's back. He was getting sleepy, she could tell. "Um, Jack, this is a friend of my brother's. Pete Shanahan, Colonel Jack O'Neill."

The men shook hands, both clearly very uncomfortable with the strange situation. Finally, Pete said, "Sorry, Sam, I didn't know you were… Mark never said you had a kid or anything."

"Oh, Daniel's our… I mean Jack's… nephew." She hoped her CO wouldn't notice the "accidental" slip… and hoped that Pete would.

"Oh. That explains it then."

"Dad told me your brother lives in San Diego," Jack said, confused.

"He moved to Denver about two years ago," Sam explained.

"Oh."

"But I've known Mark since college," Pete interjected.

"Oh," Jack repeated, nodding much too enthusiastically for the situation.

Jack picked up a Nerf football off a nearby shelf and started rolling it in his hands awkwardly, needing something to do. This was weird. The guy wouldn't hit on Sam with Jack and a kid right there, would he? And was Sam trying to get rid of this Pete character, or Jack and Danny?

"Well," Sam finally said, shifting Danny in her arms. "As you can see, it's almost time for this guy's nap, so we'd better finish up here. Tell Mark I said hi - I'm sure you'll see him way before I do."

"Okay. I will. Hey, it was great to run into you. And… nice to meet you, Colonel O'Neill."

"Oh yeah. You too."

Sam picked up on the underlying sarcasm that was usually there when he was forced to play diplomat on another planet and hid a smile as he took over the basket and started pushing it down the aisle while Pete went the other way.

"That was really awkward," Sam mumbled one they were a safe distance away. "I've met that guy at least six or seven times and I still couldn't even remember his name."

She was mainly talking to herself, but the information she volunteered made Jack feel a lot better. "We really should get him back," she said, shifting Danny to her other arm. He got heavy after a while.

"Almost, I want to get one more thing," Jack insisted, wheeling the cart to the back of the store where the large toys were - bikes, battery powered mini Jeeps and what not. "You think he's big enough for a tricycle?"

"A tricycle? Do you think General Hammond will allow that on the base?"

"We have to get him a tricycle," Jack insisted, pulling out one of the display ones. Sam set Danny on it and helped him get his feet on the pedals as Jack held it still by the handlebars.

Danny's feet reached. He looked up at them, excited but not knowing what to do. "Here, push your feet like this…" Sam leaned over him awkwardly from behind, her hands on the handlebars as well, and pushed him forward so he could see how his feet were meant to move. He caught on quickly and took off down the aisle.

"Are you sure we should get him something to make him move faster?" Sam asked after they had caught him.

"Yeah. We have to," Jack said, for the second time.

"Why?"

He ran a hand through his hair and said, "All right… he never got one, okay? Or a bike either, for that matter. So I thought…"

"He never had a bike? Ever?"

"No. Well, he said when he was little, he was always on digs with his parents or they were working with museums. Then after that…" he trailed off hesitatingly.

"Yeah," Sam agreed, nodding. For someone who was so attuned to other people's feelings and histories, Daniel really didn't like to talk about his own childhood. Still, they both knew the basics, although Sam realized that Jack seemed to know more than she did. "I'm sure General Hammond won't mind the tricycle. As long as we get a helmet too."

Jack grinned and grabbed one of the boxes of disassembled tricycles. "Great. Let's go."