Chapter Eight: The Mall
"This is a mall?" Vala asked. "It's so much bigger than I thought…"
"Yeah, this mall is pretty big," Sam said.
The group had left the kids with Charlie and had somehow managed to drag Jack along, too. "So, where are we going to go first?" Jack asked.
"You go to the Men's Department, we go to the Women's Department," Virginia said. "Obviously."
"I meant what store," Jack said.
"Oh…" Vala said. She leaned in toward Daniel, "There's more than one store?"
"I vote all of them," Sam said.
"You're going to go to all the stores?" Daniel asked, slightly flabbergasted.
"Yeah," Sam said. "She needs clothes, Daniel."
"How about we start at J. C. Penny's?" Jack ventured.
"Oh fine," Virginia sighed. "We'll call you when we're done to meet up somewhere."
The group split up, guys heading to the Men's Department, girls heading to the Women's.
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"Okay, you're going to need clothes for all four seasons, basic clothes, nice clothes, and whatnot," Jack said. "Therefore we should start with the basic clothes and move on from there."
Skaara nodded, very bewildered as the men led him through the store. How could they stand picking out clothes in this manner on a regular basis?
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Vala was entranced by all of the clothes; though slightly sad there wasn't any leather to be seen. "What can I get?" Vala asked.
"Depends on what you need, though I do have to say, clearance racks and sales are your friends," Sam said.
"There's a clearance rack," Carolyn said, pointing. They headed over, browsing through.
"You know, we should probably find out your size…" Sam said.
"Oh, it'll be easy enough to guess at first," Virginia said.
"We should make a list of the things you'll need," Carolyn said.
"Jeans, skirts, shirts, shoes, jackets, sweaters, dresses, jewelry…" Virginia started.
"Wow…" Vala said.
"Let's start with this rack and move onto jeans," Sam said. Vala ended up not liking anything on that rack, but liked four pairs of jeans, all of which she decided to get. They then moved onto skirts, seven of which Vala liked.
After that, they moved onto shirts. Vala got about fourteen t-shirts and ten tank tops. Vala spotted the dress section, where the girls decided to browse together.
"I like this one," Vala said. She had tried on a dress that looked straight out of the fifties, with dark blue fabric and white polka dots. The fact that it was a halter-top dress that hugged her curves wasn't lost on Vala. "Only I don't have any shoes to go with this … And I like the spots."
"They're called polka dots—don't ask me why," Sam said.
"Daniel might know, but who cares," Virginia said. "I think you should get it. But what about the other dresses?"
Vala looked at the pile of dresses. "Can I get them all?" she pouted, sounding similar to a child in a candy shop.
"Why not? You need clothes and I'm paying for them," Virginia said.
"Yay!" Vala said.
A phone began ringing, and Sam pulled it out. "Carter … Hi, Daniel … You're done? Already? ... Uh … How much longer?" she asked the others.
"At least another twenty minutes minimum," Carolyn said.
"See, aren't you glad I dragged you here?" Virginia asked her as Sam told Daniel.
"Daniel says he gives us ten minutes and we're supposed to meet at the food court," Sam said as she hung up her phone.
"Ten minutes?" Virginia asked. "Then I guess we had better go buy all of this, as it's going to take nearly that much time to ring it all up…"
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Fifteen minutes later they managed to reach the food court. "How much did you buy?" Jack asked, noting all of the bags that the girls were carrying.
"Uh … A lot?" Vala said. Daniel shook his head. "There was mention of food?"
"Okay, follow Daniel," Virginia said. "I'll show Skaara. Oh, and Daniel, get rice."
Daniel nodded as Virginia and Skaara headed over to the first place, and gradually made their way down the court. Vala and Daniel headed over to the Chinese food, Daniel explaining the complexities of Chinese fast food. Cam headed over to the Southern style food with Carolyn. Teal'c followed them, not actually planning on eating anything.
Which left Sam and Jack together. The two unconsciously headed for the same place, Sbarros. "Uh, Carter," Jack said after the two got in line. "I'm sorry."
"About what, sir?" Sam asked, already knowing the answer.
"About the kids," Jack said.
"It's not your fault, sir," Sam said.
"In a way, it is," Jack said.
"Don't worry about it, sir. It'll solve itself," Sam said.
"Uh…That's the problem, Carter," Jack said. "Charlie doesn't think the kids will understand the whole … Pete … thing…"
"Grace and Patrick realize this isn't their world," Sam said. "As for Lizzie, I don't know."
The two got their food and headed back towards the table that Daniel and Vala had claimed. "I'm going to take them," Jack said.
"Sir?" Sam asked.
"They're my kids," was all that Jack said.
"What is this … Chinese food?" Skaara asked Virginia as Sam and Jack sat down.
"Yummy," Virginia said. She had gotten a large bowl of Sesame Chicken, dumplings, and randomly enough, sushi. Daniel had a large bowl of white rice and Vala had a bowl of Orange Chicken. Cam had managed to get a steak sandwich bigger than his head, Carolyn a salad and a small sandwich. Skaara seemed to have a variety of food from the Chinese restaurant.
"So, who thinks the girls bought too much clothes?" Jack asked.
"I'd rather not have Virginia and Vala hit me," Daniel said.
"I'd get hit, too," Cam said.
Teal'c said nothing, but raised his eyebrow.
"Fine then, I think they did," Jack said.
That promptly got all of the women to glare at him. As the group began eating, they couldn't help but stare at Virginia and Daniel. The two were eating out of each other's bowls with their chopsticks. When Daniel ventured too close to the dumplings, Virginia would hit his chopsticks with hers without a second thought.
"What is with you two?" Cam asked.
"Huh?" Virginia asked. When Cam looked pointedly down at their bowls, she grinned. "Six months in China on an archaeological dig," she explained with a shrug. "We learned to share. But he doesn't get the dumplings. That's a fact."
"And you just continue to do it?" Vala asked.
"Pretty much," Daniel said. "Though I can't fathom why she eats sushi. Or how she got it from a Chinese restaurant."
"Because I like it dummy," Virginia said. "And the sushi stands next to Panda Express."
"What is sushi?" Vala and Skaara asked.
"Raw fish," Carolyn said. "Wrapped in rice and seaweed."
"So, after this we heading back to the base?" Cam asked.
"Probably best," Jack said.
"How are we going to fit all those bags into the car?" Cam asked.
"We will somehow," Vala said.
They finished eating, marveling at how Cam managed to eat his sandwich. "Okay, let's head back," Cam said.
"Ooh! Dippin' Dots!" Virginia squealed. "I want Dippin' Dots. Gimme a sec." She darted off to the stand and came back a moment later with three small cups of the ice cream. "Chocolate for Sam, Mint for me, and Strawberry for Daniel," she said as she handed them out.
"And none for us?" Cam asked.
"Nope, 'sides, Carolyn doesn't like them," Virginia said. Cam rolled his eyes and they headed out the Food Court and back to the parking lot.
"What's that?" Vala asked, pointing to a store and pulling on Daniel's arm.
"That's a baby store," Daniel said.
Vala looked at Daniel with wide eyes. "They have stores just for babies?" she asked.
"Yeah," Sam said.
"Can we go? Please!" Vala begged Daniel. Daniel looked at her and she began pouting. "Please."
"Fine," Daniel sighed. "But no more than fifteen minutes."
"Okay!" Vala said, dragging the father-to-be into the store. The rest of the gang sat down on a bench to wait.
Cam looked at his watch. "Okay, it's been seventeen minutes. Either she bought a boatload of stuff or they're lost."
"Lost," everyone but Skaara and Teal'c said.
They all headed inside. "What is this?" Skaara asked.
"Um…Oh my gosh! Teddy bears!" Virginia squealed, running off.
"I'm sad to be related to her," Sam said. "And do we have any clue where Daniel and Vala might be?"
"Nope," Cam said. "It's a big store and I'm betting Jackson's never been in one."
"Got that right," Virginia said, coming back over with four teddy bears, two pink, and two blue. "So I'm going for stereotypical colors, but who cares. The munchkins will like them."
"How are we supposed to find Daniel and Vala?" Jack asked.
"I would say yell, but there are babies here … So, go to the cash register," Sam said.
They went up to the cashier and Carolyn said, "We believe that two of our friends got lost in here."
"What do they look like?" the cashier asked.
"The woman's got black hair with blonde in the front, and gray eyes. The man's got brown hair, blue eyes, and is wearing glasses," Sam said.
"Oh…Those two…They're not lost…The woman's going a bit overboard is all," the cashier said with a smile.
"Overboard how?" Cam asked.
"She has three carts."
"Oh…Wow…Does Daniel even have that much room in his house?" Virginia asked with wide eyes.
"Nope," Daniel's voice said from behind them. "Vala, I am not letting you buy all of this!"
"But, Daniel—," Vala began.
"No, Vala," Daniel said firmly. "The baby isn't due for a while. You can come back later."
"But what about Caleb," Vala asked. "He needs things."
"She's a shopaholic, isn't she?" Cam asked Carolyn.
"Most likely," she responded.
"Vala, we'll come back later!" Daniel said, grabbing the woman by the hand. "We told Landry we'd be back ten minutes ago."
Vala complained the entire trip back to the base, but brightened when Virginia showed her the bear for Caleb.