A/N: The last one, with the update and how sad it was, seemed terribly cruel to me - I don't like doing that to you guys. So I really wanted to get this one up today as well. Unfortunately the chapter as I wrote it was about twenty pages long, which was just too much, so I had to split it in sort of a strange place. But I like to think of this one as a nice big inhale before the final stretch.

Ch 42: A Break and the Return of the Cake

"What on earth are you doing?" Sam asked as she entered the kitchen.

Jack turned around quickly, hoping he didn't look as guilty as he felt. "I'm ah… taking the cake. With us."

She looked baffled. "Why?"

"Teal'c!" Jack exclaimed. "I wanted to… to share it with him. You know, since he was stuck working all night with your dad while we got to have fun here. But I'm only giving him one piece. The rest is mine."

"Oh. Okay. Listen, have you seen Danny's shoe? He's almost ready to go but we're missing one."

"Which one?" he asked curiously.

"The right… why?"

He shrugged. "Nope. I haven't seen it." He finished transferring the cake to the Tupperware container, secured it in the diaper bag, and went to the fridge to get Danny's sippy cup of juice. "Sam?" he called over his shoulder with a chuckle. "I found the shoe!"

"How the hell did it get in the refrigerator?" Sam wondered as he tossed the little shoe to her.

"No idea, but we're going to be late."

"Not if you let me drive!" she called as she hurried out of the kitchen to find Danny and tell him he could call off the search for his missing shoe.

The good thing about oversleeping and having to get yourself and a toddler ready to go in twenty minutes, Sam thought as she sat down on the floor and pulled Danny in her lap to help him with his shoe, was that they were all moving way too fast to stop and think about the fact that this could easily be their last morning with Danny… and her last morning at her CO's house by extension.

Well, there was barely time to think about it. "Hey my shoe is coooooode," Danny exclaimed, hugging his arms and shivering for dramatic effect.

Sam laughed and velcroed it shut anyway. "It'll only be cold for a second, sweetie," she promised, setting him on his feet and getting to hers.

"Why?"

"Because your body temperature will warm it right up. Now, go get Toppy…"

"Got him," Jack called, tossing the dinosaur to her on his way to the front door. "Let's go."

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Everyone was already waiting in Daniel's lab by the time Jack, Danny, and Sam hurried into the room, the two adults a bit out of breath after hurrying through the base carrying Danny and their things. "Hi everybody. Sorry we're late," Sam apologized collectively to her dad, General Hammond, and Teal'c as they entered.

"Tea!" Danny exclaimed happily, squirming to be put down.

"Don't worry about it, Major. I hear you've made yet another breakthrough," Hammond said as Sam set Danny on his feet and he ran over to Teal'c and threw his arms around Teal'c's legs as far as they would go. "I misted you Tea!"

"Indeed? I trust you had an enjoyable evening."

"Yup. I wearned to wite, I maked you a pitcher. One for you too, Gen… Gen…"

"General," Sam supplied, rummaging in the diaper bag for said pictures, despite the fact that it was still on Jack's arm.

"Wight. Gen'wall. I maked you one too Gen'wall. And for da doc too… where is da doc?"

"She's probably in the infirmary poking people in the a…"

"Colonel," Hammond and Sam both said at the same time.

"In the… area that… usually gets… the shots," he finished lamely.

"Good one," Sam muttered quietly to him as she found the pictures Danny had made and handed them to him so he could pass them around.

"Wow, he really did write our names," General Hammond said, clearly impressed. He tilted the picture so Jacob could see it, as his friend was trying to look over his shoulder at the drawing.

"Sam teached me," Danny said proudly.

"I will be honored to display this picture proudly in my quarters," Teal'c said seriously. "Thank you, young Danny."

"You welcome, Tea. I did wots of udder fun stuff too wast night. Dack wouldn't wet me watch da piggy movie an we watched his instead."

"Something appropriate for a small child, I hope, Colonel," Hammond said.

"Of course, sir."

"Dere was wots of singing and dancing."

"Oh really?" Hammond asked, amused. "In one of your movies, Jack?"

"Yup!" Danny reported. "I forget da name dough. Dack?"

"Huh? Oh, the movie. The Wizard of Oz."

"Yeah, dat's what we watched. And we maked dinner. Sam maked yummy dinner an I helped woll up da twiangles an-den we all had a baff!"

The three bald men looked to the two officers for an explanation. "Uh, Danny had a bath," Jack said, clearing his throat.

"We just supervised," Sam said quickly.

"You fell in wiff me dough Sam memember?" Danny prompted. "And Dack had to save us boff from getting more boo-boos."

"Er, yeah. I remember."

After a few moments where all the adults tried willing themselves to be somewhere far away from the awkward conversation they'd inadvertently landed themselves in, Hammond quickly said, "Well, as interesting as your night seems to have been, I hear you have some more important news to tell us, Major?"

"Yes sir," Sam said immediately. "It's about the trunk… only, before I go into all that, I'd like to have a word with my father, please." She was smiling sweetly, until she turned her attention from General Hammond to her father, who looked baffled for several moments as to why his daughter was suddenly giving him a severe look he hadn't seen in a very long time.

He glanced at Jack for an explanation, but Jack had slunk his way over to Teal'c and was keeping Danny in front of him with a hand on each of the little boy's shoulders.

"Sam, I'm sure whatever it is can wait until after we get to work on the trunk," Jacob said, quickly figuring out that his daughter now knew about the little meeting they'd had yesterday. He wasn't surprised she found out about it, but he was surprised she wanted to talk about it before they dealt with the trunk situation.

"Actually, Dad, no it can't," Sam said firmly. She turned back to everyone else. "Would you excuse us please."

Jack nodded and steered Danny towards the door in front of him, Teal'c nodding as well and following closely behind. General Hammond thought about trying to come up with something to say, but decided it was probably best if he just stayed out of it this time. He joined the rest of SG-1 in the hallway, but wasn't fast enough closing the door to avoid hearing the beginnings of a rather loud and colorful discourse issuing from his smartest officer.

Jack's eyes widened and he leaned over and covered Danny's ears with both hands. The little boy looked similarly surprised. Hammond closed the door and said, "Well, I'm glad I'm not in his shoes."

"Uh-oh, he's in biiiiiiiiiig twouble," Danny said in awe when Jack lowered his hands from the boy's ears.

General Hammond chuckled and nodded. "I think you're right, son."

They could still hear loud… discussing… from inside Daniel's lab, but the door was very thick and didn't allow them to distinguish what exactly was being said. "Duice pease Dack," Danny requested politely, patting his leg. Clearly his interest in what was happening in his office was short-lived.

Jack rummaged in the diaper bag, coming across the large cake container first. "Oh, this is perfect, while she's busy… Teal'c, I need you to take care of this." He passed the container to Teal'c, who opened it and peered inside suspiciously.

"You are giving me a partially consumed cake, O'Neill?"

"Yeah."

"For what reason?"

"Because…"

"Sam maked it," Danny said. "It's yucky."

"Shh!" Jack scolded, glancing back at the closed door automatically. He certainly didn't want to be the next one called in there! "You just drink your juice," Jack insisted, picking him up with one arm and sticking the sippy cup directly in his mouth.

"It's not yucky," Jack said to both men, who were looking very amused - if you knew how to look for it. "It's just… look it's a long story. Bottom line is, as far as Carter knows I brought this delicious cake up here to share with you today. Now, you're going to make it all go away, got it?"

"I shall see to it immediately, O'Neill," Teal'c said, nodding and heading off down the hallway.

Jack and Hammond watched him get on the elevator and turned to look at each other. "Burnt on the bottom?" Hammond guessed.

Jack shook his head. "Raw in the middle."

"You eat it anyway?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good man." Hammond clapped him on the shoulder and said, "I'll be in my office. Call me when we're ready to begin."

"Yes sir."

Jack watched Hammond get on the elevator, and turned to Danny, whom he was still holding in one arm. "And then there were two."

"I'm two," Danny offered, holding up two fingers as well.

"Yes, you are," Jack said with a laugh, setting him down. "Let's get comfortable little buddy. We might be here a while." He sat down against the wall pulled a bouncy ball out of the diaper bag. Rolling it back and forth for a few moments, he turned to Danny and asked, "Hey, want to play fetch?"

vvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Janet Fraiser stepped off the elevator with Teal'c, carrying a folded pair of adult-sized BDUs and a blanket. "Doc, watch out!" Jack called loudly, just as she slipped on something and felt herself falling.

Teal'c grabbed her with one arm and stopped her from falling easily, setting her on her feet and keeping a hand on her arm to steady her. Heart beating rapidly, she said, "Thanks Teal'c. I'm okay." She looked down at her feet, where Danny was now crawling around her legs. He scrambled to his feet with a ball held proudly in one hand - one she recognized from having confiscated it from Colonel O'Neill in the infirmary. Several times, as a matter of fact. He must have 'liberated it' from her desk again.

"Hi doc!" Danny greeted with a cheerful grin.

"Hi Danny. What are you doing?"

"Chasin da ball. Here Dack!" Danny called loudly, throwing it back down the corridor, where it bounced and rolled its way almost back to Jack.

"You okay?" Jack asked as she and Teal'c followed Danny to meet Jack halfway.

"Thanks to Teal'c," Janet said, nodding. "And no thanks to you. I told you I was taking that ball away from you because it was dangerous."

"You said it was dangerous to me, if I recall."

"Yes, and it still is. I'll be thinking about this little incident the next time you're in for a shot. Speaking of which, Teal'c told me you're close to getting… the situation reversed so I wanted to make sure to supervise."

"Well, right now we're waiting for Carter to finish putting Dad in his place… wait a second, where did you run into Teal'c?"

"She was in the commissary when I went to procure a fork," Teal'c explained, handing Jack the Tupperware container.

Jack opened it and peered inside in disbelief. Apart from a few crumbs and icing smears, it was completely empty. "You ate all of this?"

"Was that not what you intended when you gave it to me?"

"Ah… not exactly. I kind of thought you'd just toss it."

"And tell Major Carter I consumed it? That would be dishonest."

"Yeah but… you really ate the whole thing?"

"Indeed. It was most satisfying."

"Wait a second, somebody tell me what I missed," Janet interrupted as the door to Daniel's lab opened and Sam emerged.

She glanced at all of them quickly and said, "Hey guys."

"Done?" Jack asked. She nodded. "Dad?"

"Owes you an apology."

"Written or verbal?"

Sam laughed. "I didn't specify. Hey, what's going on?" Her eyes stopped on the empty container Jack was holding.

Thinking quickly, he said, "Teal'c ate all the rest of your cake!"

"Already?" Sam asked, surprised, but pleased nonetheless. She smiled at Teal'c. "I guess you liked it?"

"I did indeed. It was most delicious, Major Carter. Very… moist. I apologize for not leaving any for the rest of you."

"That's okay," Janet said quickly.

"Yeah, I'll let it go this once, Teal'c, but you'd better get Danny to teach you about sharing, big guy," Jack said, pretending to be mad that he hadn't got any more cake.

"I shall be sure that you get as much as you deserve in the future, O'Neill," Teal'c said, making it sound suspiciously like a threat - at least to Jack.

Danny opened his mouth to say something. Thinking he might be about to spoil the whole cake conspiracy, Jack said, "I bet you want to give the doc the picture you made for her last night, don't you Danny boy?"

"Yeah!"

"All right, go find it, it's in your bag." He shooed Danny off towards where the diaper bag was parked. Janet went with him.

Jack smiled at Sam and tried to peer into the lab. "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing," she said innocently. "I just had a few choice words with him."

"Yeah, and all of us - Danny included - heard a few of those choice words. They weren't exactly rated G, were they?"

She shrugged. "We're all okay now."

"Really?"

"Yeah… where's General Hammond?"

"In his office. Go call him and tell him the coast is clear, and let's get Take 2 of this under way while some of us are still young. And… since some of us are still a lot younger than they're supposed to be."

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