A/N: I didn't really like leaving that last chapter off on a sort of sad note compared to the rest of this story, so... here we go. I only skimmed this time, during nap time, so there may be some mistakes in here. Oh, and the A/N from Chapter 1 explains about the cat.

Ch 13

Sam made a couple of quick trips to and from her car when she got home, bringing in Danny and all of the things he might need that night, while being sure to keep an eye on him the entire time. Luckily he was a little tired from his scare and the exertion of crying so much earlier.

Once Sam finally had everything inside, she turned to Danny, who was watching her expectantly. "What?" she asked.

"I'm hungwy."

"Oh. Right. I have to feed you…" Sam picked him up and went into the kitchen. "Now the question is… what am I going to feed you?" She set Danny down and he shrieked as soon as Sam opened the refrigerator. "What's wrong?" she asked, whipping back around to face him. He was watching Sam's cat, Quarks, who had just sauntered into the kitchen to inspect the goings-on.

"That's Quarks. He won't hurt you, Danny. He's been lonely here, with just Cassie to come over and feed him and play with him after school."

"Kee-cat?" Danny asked after watching the animal carefully.

"Yes, that's right! You're so smart… well, of course you are, you're Daniel… Anyway, he's a nice kitty cat, he won't hurt you."

Quarks jumped up on the counter and walked over to the can opener for his dinner. Danny clapped for the cat, impressed with his leaping abilities, and watched curiously as Sam opened a can of cat food and dumped it into his bowl. The cat began eating, unaware that he had a captive two-year-old audience.

"Now… that was easy, but what should I feed you? I don't exactly have a lot of groceries… and if I ordered pizza your first night here, Jan and the Colonel would never let me live it down." Sam was ostensibly talking to Daniel, but she was really just thinking out loud as she opened various cupboards, the freezer, and checked the fridge once more, just in case.

"Looks like it's going to be spaghetti," she realized, pulling out a jar of sauce and a box of pasta. "Is that okay, Danny?" She turned to him, but he was gone. "Crap," she muttered, hurrying into the den to look for him.

She finally found him, in her bedroom, pulling books off the bookshelf and examining them. "Okay, bookworm. Come on, back in the kitchen where I can keep an eye on you."

Danny gave a mighty sneeze, looking surprised at his own efforts.

"Bless you," she said, smiling as she went into the bathroom for a tissue. She came back, wiped his nose, face, arm… and the cover of the book he had been holding, and said affectionately, "Were those books dusty, sweetie? You're lucky you're so cute, you know."

"Yup," he agreed, nodding.

Sam sighed. "Come on. Don't you want to help me make dinner?"

"No."

Laughing, Sam said, "Well at least you're honest. We'll bring some toys into the kitchen for you then. Come on." She took his hand and led him back into the kitchen, stopping on the way to grab the bucket of Duplo blocks. Danny seemed happy to play with his blocks on the floor by the sink, so Sam set about fixing the pasta.

Danny quickly gave up playing with his blocks in favor of dragging a few pots and pans out of the cupboard he had seen Sam open before. A wooden spoon later and he was making quite a racket, having a great time. Sam decided it wasn't hurting anything other than her ears, and let him knock himself out. At least she could tell where he was the whole time. While the pasta boiled, she assembled the collapsible booster seat they had bought, and strapped it onto one of her kitchen chairs.

Half an hour later, Danny was strapped into the chair with a bib and a plate of pasta. Sam knew it was going to be messy, but there wasn't much else to offer him. She cut up the pasta and fed him. He loved it, particularly because it was so messy and fun to squish around - on the plastic tray in front of him, Sam's arms and shirt, his own face and hair…

When he finally had more spaghetti in his tummy than on his body and his immediate vicinity, he refused to eat any more. Sam, who had managed a few bites of her own in between trying to feed Danny and keep the spaghetti off her kitchen walls, set about cleaning everything up. Danny watched from his seat, still happily smooshing around the few remaining noodles on his tray that escaped the first level of clean-up. Sam cleaned him off with a dishtowel, noticing that his cheeks were still tinted from the sauce even after she had removed it all.

As soon as she put him down he ran off into the den. Sam followed him, but, seeing that he was happy to start pulling out all of his toys, she ducked back into the kitchen and finished cleaning up. Danny sneezed twice more while she was cleaning, but he was playing contentedly. She sat down on the floor across from him and they played catch with a foam ball for a while.

His cheeks were still pink, and now she was certain it wasn't from the sauce. She felt his cheeks and forehead cautiously. "Are you sick?"

"Nope," he answered with a big sniffle.

"Oh, sweetie, please don't be sick… you just got here, you can't be sick…"

"I not sick, Sam," he said stubbornly. Sam nodded and discreetly felt his forehead again as she brushed his hair out of his face, hoping the little guy was right.

Unfortunately, he wasn't. She watched him get more and more congested right before her eyes, despite all her efforts to get him to blow his nose and drink water. Within an hour he was coughing and sneezing, his eyes were bright, and his cheeks were pink. He was feeling very sorry for himself too, and was understandably whiny and fussy.

"Saaaam, I feel yucky," he sniffled, rubbing his eyes with his hands.

"I know," she said, trying to keep him from rubbing his eyes. "I'll call Janet and… dammit!"

"Danit dammit?" Danny asked.

"No, I didn't mean… I mean, don't say that… I shouldn't have… shi… I mean crap I can't call her anyway, she's on duty tonight and…"

"CWAPDAMMIT!"

"Shh, no, don't… what should… let's go wash your face and hands, that might help a little." She scooped him up and took him into the bathroom. He had a sneezing fit in her bedroom that left her shirt extremely disgusting. She pressed a cold cloth to his face and helped him wash his hands, but that didn't help at all - not that she had truly expected it to, it was really just something to do.

He sneezed again and apparently hit a threshold. He started crying, which Sam knew would only make him feel more miserable, but she didn't blame him. Seeing the little guy feeling so bad, especially when she was home alone with him, was enough to make her want to cry too. She rummaged around in her medicine cabinet, but of course didn't have anything that it was safe to give to a baby.

"Come on, Danny, we're going to go to the drug store," she decided. Holding him tightly, she stepped back into her shoes, grabbed her wallet and keys, and was heading out the door with them when she remembered the diaper bag. She returned to grab it, then was halfway to her car when Danny stopped his crying to wail, "Saaaaam! Iwanmydino!"

"What?"

"My dino! My dino-saw!"

"Oh. Right." Sam hurried back inside yet again and quickly tore apart the living room in the search for the plush triceratops. "You should name this guy," she said absently, handing it to him and hurrying out the door.

Strapping a crying, clinging toddler into a car seat, she soon learned, was a skill she had yet to master. She was on the verge of tears by the time she finally got him safely buckled and began driving. Danny was still sniffling, coughing, and crying, but he was no longer sneezing as Sam drove.

The constant crying was making it impossible for her to think, and she realized that taking such an upset child into a drug store wasn't likely to endear her to any of its employees or customers. She took a right at the next light instead of going straight, and soon found herself pulling into her CO's driveway.

vvvvvvvvvv