A/N: Short one for today - the next one is long, and should put Jacob back in most people's good graces.

Ch 35

Sam laughed as Danny dove into the mass of bedclothes and pillows that had once undoubtedly been the fort Jack had made with Danny, before the emergency search for the lost Toppy had begun. Giggling, Danny burrowed underneath all the covers and finally emerged with a flashlight and his Egyptology book. "Wook, Sam, our fort breaked."

"Broke," Sam corrected automatically. "Yeah, I'm a little bit scared to see what the rest of the house looks like. You guys did at least put the groceries away, right?"

"Huh?"

"Come on, let's go check out the kitchen."

"Duice?"

"Sure, you can have some juice. If you got some today." She helped disentangle him from the sheets and blankets and led him into the kitchen. A quick inspection of the fridge and cupboards as she poured apple juice into a sippy cup was a relief, especially considering the state of the rest of the house. Obviously Jack had put everything away before the fort construction had begun. "Wow, you guys actually did a really good job. I was expecting you to stock up on frozen pizzas, chips, and beer."

"Sam you making are dinner pease?"

"Er… I don't know about that… well, actually, if the Colonel has a crock pot I probably could."

"Yay!" Danny exclaimed happily, clapping his hands. He remembered last time she'd made him dinner - it had been lots of fun playing with the spaghetti and sauce.

She laughed at how excited he was. "Well, I've certainly never had such an enthusiastic request before. Let's see what we can do, huh?"

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Crock pots were amazing inventions, Sam thought twenty minutes later as she put the lid on the pot and turned it on. Combine a few ingredients and just leave it alone for a couple of hours, and wham, instant meal. She made a mental note to thank Janet for introducing her to the art of crock-pot cooking next time she saw her and turned to Danny, who was finishing the picture he was coloring for Jack, laying on his tummy in the middle of the kitchen with his coloring book and crayons spread around him.

"Almost done there, Danny?"

"Yup. You too?"

"Well, mostly. We just have to wait now, it'll be ready around six. Right before then, we can make those rolls you guys got, if you want."

Danny loved rolls, so he nodded happily and went on coloring. "And da cake too, wight?"

"What?"

"Da cake. Dack said we could haff cake."

"I don't know how to make cake. We have ice cream for dessert."

"But Dack said."

"Then maybe you and Jack can make it when he gets here."

"Noooooo. You will make it better," he said confidently.

Sam sighed. "Danny, I don't know what… hang on, let me check the cupboards again." Sure enough, she found one of those boxes of cake mix that Janet called "baking for dummies" and Jack called "baking for people who have better things to do with their time but still like to eat cake." She read the back of it quickly and said, "All right, we'll make this. But you have to help me with the icing, okay?"

"Kay," he agreed. "I done wiff dis pick-ture, Sam."

She came over to look at it and smiled. "Wow, good job. Is that one for Jack?"

"Yup."

"Excellent. Why don't you write your name on it and we'll put it up on the refrigerator for him?" Sam suggested. That would be a nice little reminder, she thought with a smirk.

"Wite my name?"

"Yeah… you know the alphabet, right?"

He sang the alphabet song as proof. Sam listened patiently, realizing there was a big difference between repeating or recognizing the letters and being able to write them yourself. "Okay, here, I'll write it out for you and you can try to copy it."

She grabbed a note pad and sat down on the floor with him. "See, this is your name. D-A-N-N-Y." She drew out the letters carefully and said, "Try to copy underneath here."

Danny tackled the task eagerly, always wanting to learn. He copied the letters out several times on the paper and finally produced a wobbly but legible version. Sam was halfway through the cake preparations when he brought it over to her proudly. "That's amazing, Danny, you're so smart," she praised enthusiastically. Since it had been a good way to keep him entertained and within her eyesight, she said, "Hey, do you want to learn to write Jack's name too? That way we can make it say 'To Jack, love Danny.'"

"Yeah wite Dack, wite Dack," Danny said.

Sam wiped her hands off and took the crayon. "J-A-C-K. See?"

"Now wite Sam."

"Oh. Okay."

"S-A-M? Dat's all?"

"Yup. Easy to remember, huh?"

"Yeah. Now wite Tea's name."

She smiled and wrote T-E-A-L-'-C.

"What's dat?" Danny asked, pointing to the apostrophe.

"It's called an apostrophe. It's not a letter, but it's part of his name."

"Oh."

"Why don't you practice all these, that's a lot to do at once."

He nodded and took the paper and crayon back. Seeing he was once again engrossed in his little project, Sam got back to hers, picking up the cake box to read the next instruction. "Separate eggs? Great."

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Teal'c entered Jack's office without a word and sat down across O'Neill's desk. "Hey, big guy," Jack offered after Teal'c stared straight ahead for several long moments of silence. If Jack didn't know any better, he'd say the Jaffa was… sulking.

"O'Neill, what has transpired between yourself and Jacob Carter? He is being extremely unpleasant to work with."

"Sorry about that, Teal'c, I forgot you were helping him. But it's not my fault. The guy hauled me into Hammond's office and started accusing me and Carter of… all kinds of stuff. Speaking of which, you were there with us, so Hammond might ask you if you saw anything… inappropriate."

"I see."

Jack waited a few seconds and asked hesitantly, "So… what would you say if he were to ask you something like that?"

"I would tell him the truth, O'Neill. Of course."

"Right, but… what exactly would that be?"

"That I have never witnessed any inappropriate physical interactions between you, nor do I believe any to have ever taken place."

"Oh. Good. Thanks."

"Why do you ask, O'Neill? Do you feel that there may have been some merit to Jacob Carter's claims?"

Jack narrowed his eyes at Teal'c and said, "Easy there."

Teal'c tilted his head. "I shall get back to work."

"Yeah, how's that going?"

"Our progress is slow but steady. I am hopeful we will be able to return Daniel Jackson to his former state within the next two days."

"Two days, huh?"

"That is merely an educated prediction."

"Yeah, but… two days. Huh. Well. Thanks."

Teal'c got up to leave, hesitated a moment, and said, "It will be difficult to return to the way things were. I will miss young Danny, and have enjoyed his time with us."

"Yeah. Yeah, me too."

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