A/N: Yeah, you knew it had to happen.

Ch 26

The next time the phone rang, Jacob reached for it, but Sam was quicker. She was starting to feel like a child herself - her father seemed to have grounded her to her lab, only she had no idea what she had done to merit such punishment. "Patch him through," she said into the phone, making an educated guess as to who might be calling. Again.

"Okay, so the toothbrush thing worked, and remember when Teal'c told that joke? Well, he laughed even harder tonight when he came into the bathroom to see what all the noise was about, and let's just leave it at that. But Danny's still awake."

"It's almost midnight!"

"I know. He's exhausted, but I think he's trying to wait up for you and I'm out of ideas. He cried when I turned off the light and said he's afraid of the dark. We've tried your bed, we've tried moving him to mine, we've tried putting him on the couch with Teal'c. We've tried every combination we could think of of people and places to sleep. I swear if we had some porridge we'd be our own damn fairy tale. At first he found it amusing but now he's just sort of whining constantly and crying when he gets up the energy…"

Sam glanced back at her dad and said firmly, "I'm not helping here anyway, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you. You will never have to change another diaper again, I swear."

She hung up the phone and said, "Yeah right," but smiled nonetheless. She turned to her dad again, who was looking most unhappy.

"Sam, we've got a lot of work to do here."

"I know that. But Hammond hasn't ordered me officially back here until tomorrow morning… which is in just a few hours, and we're getting nowhere. Look, Dad, I'm not doing anything useful here. I'm not Daniel - I can read his notebooks and stare at these symbols all day and still have no clue what I'm doing. I'm exhausted. I need to sleep, and so do Daniel and Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c. Right now, at this point, I'm most useful at ho… helping Danny. At helping take care of Danny. I'm sorry, but this is what General Hammond ordered me to do in the first place, so… I'll see you in the morning, Dad." She gave him an apologetic but confused smile and left, leaving one very upset Tok'ra/General/father behind.

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As Sam reached for the doorknob, Jack's front door was pulled open quickly just as her fingertips grazed it. She jumped. A large hand circled her wrist and yanked her inside, and she was lifted a foot off the floor in a bone-crushing hug.

"Easy there, big guy, she's breakable and we haven't got a spare," Jack called as he too hurried to the front hall carrying Danny.

Teal'c loosened his grip on Sam slightly, but he didn't set her on her feet or let her go. "Major Carter, the crying has been most distressing," Teal'c stated.

"I know, Teal'c, I'm…"

"You must make him stop," Teal'c interrupted, sounding as close to panicked as Teal'c ever sounded. He set her back on her feet and released her, grabbing her shoulders instead as he pleaded with her. "Please, Major Carter. This is unendurable."

"Okay, Teal'c. Calm down." Sam couldn't hide her amusement at the fact that the largest, toughest man she knew - who had endured all sorts of horrible tortures - had been completely undone (by Teal'c's standards) by a fussy toddler. "I'll see what I can do." She patted his arms comfortingly until he released her shoulders and said, "Breathe."

She turned to Jack and Danny, who both looked like they had terrible hangovers, they looked so tired. "Hey, Danny," she said, giving them both a sympathetic smile. "Hi."

"Hi. Thanks for coming back."

"I'm tired too, and Dad seems to be wanting to pull an all-nighter. Let's just all try to get some sleep." She took Danny from him - he felt heavier than usual because he was so tired. He cuddled into her and mumbled a sleepy greeting. "Come on Danny, let's go."

She trudged down the hallway. Jack followed hesitatingly. "Uh, about that… there was kind of an incident when Teal'c and I both tried to sleep in your room with him and he jumped on me while I was drinking water lying down... Danny jumped, not Teal'c…"

She stopped in the doorway, staring at the stripped bed. "The sheets are in the dryer," he offered. "But we can just swap for the night if you want so you don't have to wait. Or we can try moving him after he falls asleep, but I don't know what that'll do to him if he wakes up again…"

"No, that's okay," Sam said. This shouldn't be weird… sure she didn't know many USAF officers who slept in their CO's beds, but it wasn't like he was going to be in there with them… "Just… take him for a minute while I change."

"Saaaam…" Danny objected as he was handed off again.

"I'll be right back," she promised. "Why don't you go pick out a book or something?"

"Kay."

After getting ready for bed, she found Danny being tucked into their CO's bed… by said CO. She yawned sleepily and said, "My dad might be mad tomorrow, so if Hammond asks I was just following his original orders, okay?"

"I'll just tell him I ordered you back here. As far as the Air Force goes, your dad's retired and I'm your CO. He can't technically get you in any trouble."

"Technically, maybe you're right. But as General Hammond's best friend he could just wind up unhappy with you instead…"

"Nah, don't worry about it."

"Dack?" Danny interrupted.

"What?"

"I'm firsty," Danny stated, plainly implying that Jack was supposed to solve that particular problem.

"So… in other words you would like me to go get you some water?" Jack asked, amused.

"Yup." He nodded confidently.

"All right, fine." He turned to go but stopped in the doorway. "Sam, you're not 'firsty' too, are you?"

She laughed. "No, thanks, I'm good." Jack nodded and left. Sam sat down next to Danny on the edge of the bed and picked up the book next to him. "All right, Danny. You ready?"

She opened the book, but Danny interrupted. "No, here." He patted the space on the pillow next to him. She sighed and stretched out beside him. He cuddled into her and said, "Now wead. Pease."

"Well, I guess since you remembered the please," she muttered, opening the book and propping it on her stomach so she could read it while lying down - not the most comfortable of positions.

Jack returned with a sippy cup of fresh water, smiling in amusement at how quickly Danny had made them both look extremely comfortable there. "Someone's been sleeping in my bed."

She set the book down and looked at him. "Actually, neither of us has slept yet," she pointed out.

"Hmm, I don't remember the part of the story where Goldilocks was a smartass." He handed Danny his cup and said, "Well, you and the baby bear there sleep well."

"Dack I am a boy," Danny informed him, clearly not wanting to be mistaken for a bear - even a baby one.

"Oh we all know that, since you've been treating this place like a nudist colony," Jack responded, leaning over to ruffle Danny's hair. "Well, you're sufficiently hydrated, so it looks like my work here is done, kids. See you in the morning."

He figured he should leave, but the guest room seemed very lonely all of a sudden. He was secretly pleased when Danny whined, "Nooo."

"What?"

"Don't weave, Dack, stay wiff us."

"Oh. Well, okay. If you insist." Jack surveyed the crowded bed again for a moment and sat down on the edge at the end, next to Sam's feet.

"Sam," Danny prompted, squirming and patting the cover of the book.

"Right. Here we go." Sam opened the book again and began reading. "65 million years ago, the earth was a very different place…"

Fifteen minutes later, Jack was stretched out horizontally along the foot of the bed, almost asleep. Danny was still awake, fascinated by the book and glad to have both Sam and Jack in the same room with him. Sam was getting tired of reading. She yawned into the back of her hand and said, "Just a little bit more, okay. Aren't you sleepy?" He shook his head stubbornly. Sam sighed and turned the page.

"Here, I'll take a turn," Jack offered, holding out an arm in their general direction, not bothering to open his eyes yet.

"Thank you," Sam said gratefully - she'd been on the verge of borrowing Danny's sippy cup if she had to keep reading much longer. She passed him the book, but Danny objected.

"I can't see da dino-saws!"

"All right, hang on." Jack rolled over and slid up the bed to Danny's other side, getting comfortable next to the little boy. "There, now can you see your beloved dinosaurs?"

"Yup. Fanks, Dack."

"Thanks, Jack," Sam echoed with a big yawn.

Jack took up reading, expecting it to help keep him awake. Amazingly, he found he could read the dinosaur book while still remaining half asleep if he slurred through the last half of the longer dinosaur names. Danny at this age was too small to correct him, and Sam was too tired to bother. She was asleep within ten minutes of turning over the book to Jack.

He glanced over at them and smiled - Danny was finally starting to blink drowsily, his lids at half-mast. Jack closed the book gently.

"Dack?"

"Shh, Sam's asleep."

"Dack," he repeated, whispering this time and blinking rapidly to wake himself up. "Keep weading."

"Okay." Jack kept reading diligently, quieter this time in what he hoped was a sleep-inducing tone. It was working on himself at least…

Danny was the last one awake. When Jack nodded off, Danny slid the book out of his hands and looked at it by himself for a few minutes, but it wasn't as much fun alone, and he was sleepy. He pushed it down the bed with his feet and snuggled back down between Jack and Sam. He was a happy boy as he went to sleep - the lamp was still on and he was definitely safe between the two of them… no need to be scared of the dark anymore.

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