By Laura and Rosenquist
See header from part 1. Thanks again for all your great reviews! Thank you neko-jin72 for giving us the first review for our story Cartoon LD meets the Real World SG-1, to let you know, part 2 is at our beta so stay tuned.
Now on with the story.
The rest of the weekend, to Jack's relief, went without any further incident. Daniel tried his damndest to be on his best behavior and, to Jack's amazement, heeded Jack's every word. That was by itself very impressive. He wondered if maybe the kid was up to something and was just trying to cover it up with good behavior. Of course, there was the off chance that Daniel had actually listened to him for a change and the little chat they'd had a few days ago in the car had finally gotten through to him. Well, as unlikely as that sounded, he really hoped that was the case this time.
Finally, it was Monday, and they set to remodeling Daniel's office to make it more suitable for his current shrunken needs. And it turned out to be a quite enjoyable task, kind of like your typical get together with some friends to do some remodeling at your own house.
And fortunately, they managed to accomplish the changes without turning everything upside down. They simply re- fashioned some old baskets from Jack's living room, whose contents needed purging anyway, and with a few sturdy baskets, they found a book-organizing solution Daniel could actually manage on his own.
The bookcase underwent some heavy remodeling as well, also measuring up to a height that at Daniel's current size he was able to manage on his own, without having to constantly ask for help to reach the higher shelves.
But with the reduced height of the bookcase there were some things they still hadn't been able to find shelving space for yet. So a few bookshelves, featuring a "Mystical" motif with royal purple and midnight blue and enchanting gold accents –Daniel's choice, by the way, yeah, go figure,— were added to the new array of kid friendly furniture. They revolved for easy access and were strong enough to hold many of his thick volumes. So the book problem was solved and Daniel was indeed a happy camper and therefore, so was Jack and the rest of his self-appointed family.
If only the cheerful atmosphere had lasted a little bit longer, then Jack would've been forever grateful to whatever divine powers there might be. But of course, just when things finally calm down and everything's going great, life decides to kick you in the butt. And, of course, today wouldn't be an exception.
Just one day before the scheduled, long awaited mission, Daniel got sick, a really bad case of the flu. And to Daniel's utter shock and complete dismay, General Hammond thought the mission was too important to be postponed for the amount of time that it would take Daniel to fully recover and instead appointed another team to take over the mission, as Jack refused to leave Daniel while he was so sick, although Daniel fervently tried to convince them otherwise. But Janet would have none of that. So the matter was closed. SG-1 wouldn't be taking this particular trip through the gate. At least, it was closed to everyone but Daniel.
"NO! I don't want to!"
"It's not a question of whether you want to or not, Daniel. This is about your health, and as your doctor I can't in my right mind let you go through the stargate in your current condition. You're sick, Daniel, and you need rest," Janet said in her no nonsense tone.
"No, I'm not! I'm fine!" Daniel protested vehemently.
Jack winced inwardly at the shrill, angry shout while Janet just crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the diminutive archeologist. "Oh… is that your educated opinion, Doctor Jackson?"
Daniel jutted his jaw out and narrowed his eyes, shooting daggers at her before matching Janet's posture, with arms crossed angrily over his tiny chest, the picture of defiance.
"I'm. Fine." He hissed through gritted teeth.
"Well, I'm afraid to inform you, Daniel, that you're not. You're running a fever and you've got swollen lymph nodes. You are sick, Daniel," Janet explained, obviously struggling to keep her temper in check.
"It's my body. I think I'd know if I were as sick as you claim I am, don't you think?"
"I'm sorry, Danny, but that's usually not the case," Jack interjected.
The kid now turned his anger on him. "Shut up, Jack!" Daniel spat into Jack's face.
Jack leveled a disapproving glare that would've made anyone with an iota of sense cringe, but as it was, Daniel's anger was apparently clouding what little of that faculty he usually showed, on a good day.
Jack took a deep breath to calm his already very fragile nerves and took a few steps over to Daniel's bed, setting both arms at either side of the now squirming boy. Daniel averted his eyes quickly. Darting his now slightly apprehensive look to one side then back to Jack's now hard stare, he shifted restlessly on the mattress and found a sudden interest in his shoes. The boy was probably just now starting to suspect he'd pushed a little too far and was beginning to show a small, healthy dose of fear.
"Now you listen to me, Daniel. I've just about had enough of your attitude. I'd seriously advise you to make a swift adjustment before I decide to do it for you. Is that clear?"
Daniel gulped. "What do you mean by doing it for me?" Daniel asked, sounding worried.
"Oh, you'll find out soon enough if you don't start to change your attitude from now on and I promise you that you won't be happy about it. Now lie still and do as your doctor tells you to do."
Daniel reluctantly lay back in the bed. His nose was running and he felt miserable.
~oOo~
Jack couldn't be angry for long when he looked down on the little runny-nosed boy who looked very miserable. Jack grabbed a Kleenex from the table and asked Daniel to blow.
Daniel's face went suddenly green. Jack recognized what that meant and hurried to get a bucket and supported Daniel when he started to vomit.
Tears ran down Daniel's face and he started to cry.
All the anger forgotten, Jack got Daniel onto his lap and let the boy cry his heart out on his shoulder while he rubbed his back soothingly.
After long time Daniel started to calm down and Jack could only hear sniffles.
"Mm…s'rry for ac'in l'ke a b'by," Daniel said, keeping his face buried against Jack's shoulder.
"What? I didn't quite understand you, Danny."
Daniel turned his head away from Jack's shoulder and said, "Sorry for acting like a baby."
"You're not acting like a baby, just like a four year old kid that has the flu. You should see how I react when I'm sick, it's not a pretty picture, believe me."
Daniel giggled. "I can imagine, Jack."
A few hours later, Janet allowed Daniel to go home with Jack, with explicit instructions to take it easy and rest for the next few weeks and to come see her immediately if he started feeling any worse or if his fever went higher.
"Aye, aye, ma'am." Jack saluted sharply, earning another bout of giggles from Daniel and a hard glare from Janet, although Jack could tell she was having a hard time keeping a straight face. Danny's new kiddie laugh tended to have that effect on people. It was kind of contagious, like the flu.
"Don't worry; we'll call if there's any trouble." Jack grinned placatingly.
~oOo~
As soon as they got home, Jack took Daniel up the stairs to his room and put him to bed, heedless of Daniel's very loud complaints and objections.
"But Jaack! I'm not tired."
"You heard the good Doctor before we left, Danny. You need rest." Jack pulled the blankets over the small frame.
"Rest doesn't necessarily mean bedrest, Jack," Daniel argued, a big pout already forming on his round, flushed little face.
"Maybe. But still I think it'd do you good to take a little nap."
Daniel rolled his eyes and groaned loudly. "Oh… here we go again. Will you quit it with the nap thing already! How many times do I have to tell you I'm not a little kid and I don't need to take naps so if you will excuse me…" He started pushing the covers off himself and made to get up, but Jack was faster than he was, quickly rearranging the bedding around him and forcing him to lie back down.
"This doesn't have anything to do with your age, Daniel. You're sick and you need rest, bedrest. If you were big I'd insist on exactly the same thing so you just relax and close your eyes," Jack said, taking a seat on a chair by Danny's bed.
Daniel followed Jack with his gaze, a deep frown now on his small face. "Are you planning on staying?"
"Oh, I just thought I'd keep you company."
"You just don't trust me to stay in bed," Daniel protested.
"Ya think?" Jack gave him a pointed look.
Daniel returned Jack's glare with one of his own but the glare match was cut short as Daniel was wracked by a bout of coughing. Jack helped him sit up quickly and started clapping him on the back until the coughing finally stopped, though the bout left Daniel panting and even more flushed than he was before.
Jack reached for the bottle of water and the glass he'd left on the bedside table, poured some into the glass and offered the still panting boy some. Daniel gladly accepted it and had started taking a few small sips when he suddenly sneezed violently, sending water flying in all directions.
"Oops. Sorry." Jack picked up a Kleenex and gave it to Daniel. "Bless you. That's okay; it's not your fault. Now lie down and go to sleep and you'll hopefully feel better when you wake up."
"I'm not sleepy," Daniel said while he tried and failed miserably to hide a yawn.
Jack wrapped a blanket around Daniel and said, "Yeah, right, I can see that."
In a matter of seconds Daniel was sound asleep and the only noise that came from him was a snore that was clear to hear, because of the boy's stuffed nose.
Jack smiled of the sight of the sleeping boy who only few seconds ago had claimed he wasn't tired. He stroked Daniel's hair. "Sleep well and don't let the bed bugs bite."
Then he went back to the chair and watched his sick child sleep.
~oOo~
A few days later Daniel was up and about and totally hyper. He was looking forward to going back to work.
Daniel hurried to Jack's bedroom to wake him up. He couldn't wait to get back to SGC, but his face fell when he noticed Jack was still in bed, and he was coughing badly .
"Jack, I hope I didn't give you the flu."
After he'd stopped coughing, Jack took a Kleenex and blew his nose.
"Amm fre'd so, kid'o," Jack said in a stuffed-up voice.
"Are you able to take care of yourself while you're sick, Jack? If you are I'll go to work and I'll call you from time to time and see if you're okay."
"No way you're going to work, young man! Get me the phone and I'll call Janet and ask her if she wants to take care of you for a few days while I'm sick."
"No I don't want to spend a few days at Janet's, not even a day. She will smother me to pieces. I'm going to work and I don't care what you think!" Daniel said and ran out of the bedroom.
Jack was too weak to get out of the bed in time to stop his wayward charge.
Daniel hurried to hide the phone then headed out the door to work. He'd planned to take the bus as far as he could and hitchhike the rest of the way.