When they reached the surface, Jack and Sam walked hand in hand to Jack's truck. Sam opened the door and Jack put Cleo in her car seat.
"We get toy now?" she asked sweetly, looking at Jack who smiled at her.
"Yep, anything you want" he said and Sam cleared her throat.
"Within reason" he added, giving her a wink which made her giggle.
"Now let's move out campers" he said, closing the door then opening the front door and hopping in.
Sam walked around to the other side and opened the door and climbed in and put her seat belt on. Jack started the truck and started driving down the mountain.
Twenty-five minutes later they pulled into the superstore parking lot and got out. Jack unbuckled Cleo and helped her to the ground then he and Sam took one of her hands.
"Should we have gotten her a cart?" Sam asked.
Jack looked at Cleo, and then back to Sam "nah, I'll carry her if she gets tired" he said.
They spent the next hour and a half walking around looking at different toys; letting Cleo chose which ones she wanted. Jack had gotten a cart and was putting the toys in the basket. Sam looked and smiled at the two O'Neill's and couldn't help but think one was as bad as the other; Jack was as exited about seeing all the different toys as Cleo. They ended up buying loads of things, even though Sam keep reminding Jack that Lea had shipped several boxes of Cleo's things and they should be receiving them soon.
"I know, I know" was all he said before getting distracted by Cleo. Sam just shook her head; he had done pretty much the same thing when Cass had come to earth.
They spent two hours in the store before deciding to head to the check-out counter. They had bought Cleo so many toys and other things Sam couldn't even believe it. Once they were done there they made a quick stop at the grocery store before heading back to the house. Sam and Jack emptied the bags while Cleo played with a few of her new toys. When they were done Jack turned to Sam,
"Why don't you go see what Cleo's up to while I make us a small snack" Jack said,
"You sure?" she asked, he nodded and she smiled at him and gave him a quick kiss,
"Thank you."
Sam left the kitchen and went down to Cleo's room; the little girl was sitting on the floor playing with the beautiful doll house Jack had bought her. Sam smiled at the sight. Cleo looked up when she heard the door open.
"Come play Sam" she said. Sam complied and moved over to the little girl and sat down next to her. They played and talked for a while before Jack came into the room. He stood in the door way looking at Sam and Cleo playing and talking and his heart warmed at the sight.
"Hey" they both turned around to look at Jack and smiled.
"I've made some sandwiches for a snack, so who's hungry?"
"Me" Cleo said, and then she got up from the floor.
"Sam are you hungry?" she asked looking at Sam.
"Yes I am" she said smiling at her.
Sam got up from the floor and Cleo took her hand as they walked down to the kitchen. Jack picked Cleo up and put her on a chair at the breakfast bar and passed a plate to her before he and Sam sat down on each side of her and started eating their sandwich.
When they were finished with their snack, Sam cleaned up the plates and let Jack go play with Cleo for a while. While she was drying her hands there was a knock on the door, so she went to answer it. She looked through the peephole before opening up the door; it was a delivery company.
"Hello, can I help you?" Sam asked.
"Yes, is this the O'Neill residence?" the man asked.
"Yes," Sam answered.
"I have three boxes here for a Jack O'Neill" Sam nodded, "we've been expecting them."
"I need you to sign this ma'am" he said as he handed her a clipboard; she signed her name and passed it back to him. He turned to go back to the truck to get the boxes. Jack came up behind her as he was walking away.
"Who is it Sam?" he asked.
"A delivery man, I think its Cleo's things" she told him.
Jack nodded and moved to help the man. When the three boxes were inside the living room and the delivery man was gone, Jack started opening the boxes.
"You were right, it is Cleo's things" Jack said to her. There was another knock on the door and this time Jack went to answer it. When he opened the door, Janet and Cassie were standing there.
"Hey Doc, Cass, what can I do for the two of you?" Jack asked.
Janet smiled and looked inside and saw the three boxes and bags of toys scattered all over the living room.
"I think it may be what we can do for you" she said and smiled at him.
"We have come to offer to take Cleo to the park and maybe for some food afterwards," Cassie said. "We thought maybe you and Sam could use some time to get Cleo's room sorted out with out her running around" she said.
Jack thought about this before looking at Sam.
"What do you think?" he asked.
"It would be easer" she said nodding.
"Ok" he said to Janet, then called down the hall "Cleo, honey" they could hear the little pitter patter of feet running down the hall. She stopped in front of him and he bent down and picked her up.
"Honey, would you like to go to the park with Janet and Cass" he said, pointing at them.
"You remember them from last night don't you?" she nodded and waved at them.
"So do you want to go to the park and play for a while?" he asked.
"Yes" she said enthusiastically.
"Ok" Jack said as Sam came up behind them with Cleo's shoes and jacket. Once they were both on Jack looked at Janet.
"Are you going to walk or do you want the car seat?"
"Umm, I think we should probably take the car seat" Jack nodded.
He went out and got the car seat out of his truck and put it in Janet's car; then put Cleo in it and buckled her up and gave her a kiss on the check as he said good bye and closed the door before turning to Janet.
"How long do you think you will be?" he asked.
"How long do you want us to be?" she asked sweetly and smiled.
Jack moved closer to her so only she could hear,
"Someone has been spending too much alone time with Danny" Janet's head shot up and she looked at him in shock and then blushed. Jack smiled and turned to Sam who was in the door way.
"You owe me twenty bucks" he said, before turning back to Janet.
"Whenever you get tired of her company bring her back" he said turning to the back window of the car and waving goodbye to Cleo.
"Bye sweetie, have fun in the park."
"Ok" she said smiling and then waved back at him.
When they had driven off, Jack walked back up the steps to the house.
"What do mean I owe you twenty bucks?" she asked him.
"The Doc and Danny have a thing going" he said grinning.
"Damn" she muttered, "how about I find another way of paying" she said giving him a sweet kiss…"like I don't abandon you to do all the unpacking" she said before walking back into the house.
She heard Jack mumble something but couldn't tell what it was. It didn't take them long to clean up the house and fix Cleo's room. They filed up the shelves and toy chests with the old and new things. Jack was taking things out of the last box when he came across the photos. There was one of Alex and Cleo just after she was born and one of Alex and Charlie on their wedding day.
Jack stopped what he was doing when he saw that photo. He could remember that day so clearly; he had been Charlie's best man, and he remembered the look on Charlie's face when he saw Alex walk down the isle. Jack had moved slightly and placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered in his ear.
"You lay a finger on her the wrong way and I will kill you Charlie."
"I would never think of hurting someone so beautiful Jack" the man had assured him, and Jack knew he was being sincere.
Sam noticed Jack had stopped and was now staring out into space; she moved over to him.
"Jack?" she said.
He looked at her, and then showed her the picture.
"I threaten to kill him if he hurt her" Sam smiled, thinking of how protective Jack probably was of his little sisters.
"Do you know what he said to me? He said that she was too beautiful to hurt" Sam looked at the picture.
"She was very beautiful" Jack nodded, "yeah inside and out."
They both went back to work and when they finished they moved into the living room. Jack called Janet to see how things were going; she told him that they were going to see a movie and grab some dinner afterwards, so they would be gone for another couple of hours.
TBC…