By NamanKAL
See header and warnings from part 1.
A/N: Thank you all for your great reviews. Here's finally part 6. Someone asked me no more cliffies but I can't promise that but I promised Supergirl no cliffie in this chapter and I kept my promise I think.
The ride home to Mac's apartment was a very quiet one, well almost quiet. Mac could hear Danny hiccupping, a residue from his previous tantrum and crying after the shock that Mac had given him a swat on his backside.
Danny didn't argue when Mac carried him to the apartment. When they arrived inside the living room Mac sat down on the couch and got Danny on his lap.
"I know this situation is hard on you, I wish I knew how to help you get back to your old self but since I can't I'm doing the best thing I know I can and that's taking care of you. It's going to be a long way for you to adjust that you are a five-year-old now. I promise you, I'll help you through this and just remember I'm only doing what's best for you."
"You spanked me! I'm an adult you can't just spank me like a little naughty kid! That's for sure not the best you did for me," Danny accused while sniffing.
"I gave you a swat, that's not the same as a real spanking and believe me you'll get to know the difference if you don't start to behave. You're still claiming that you're an adult. Tell me who was having a major temper tantrum and was lying on the pavement kicking and screaming for not to be put in a booster seat? It for sure wasn't me," when Danny didn't answer Mac continued. "It was you Danny, the five-year old you to be exact. As long as you are and act like a little kid I'll treat you like one."
"I won't act like a little kid from now on ever. I'm still an adult and I'm gonna prove it to you."
"Danny, don't try too hard. Let yourself be allowed to be a kid. You can see it as you got a second change of a happy childhood."
"Happy? How can I be happy looking like this," Danny said while pointing with his hands down on his small body. "And how can I be happy when I'm an adult while people see and treat me as a little kid?"
"I can understand your reasoning Danny. If you hadn't your adult memories it would probably have been a lot easier for you."
"That's for sure."
That gave Mac an idea. "What if we could find a way to block your adult memories? Would you agree to it?" Mac knew that he could do it against Danny's will now that he was his guardian, but that was out of the question. He couldn't do something like that to Danny without Danny's acceptance. He would never forgive himself if he did. Danny would lose enough of his independence as it was.
Mac could feel Danny getting tense he looked down at Danny to see how he reacted to his question. Danny looked very thoughtful for awhile.
"No Mac I don't want that. I want at least to have control over my memories. Please Mac don't force me to go through that."
Mac gave him a hug. "Don't worry Danny, I won't I promise," Mac said and he could feel Danny relaxing after he said that. They just sat there for a while. Mac could feel that Danny got heavier and heavier, he wondered if Danny was about to get big again; when he looked down at the boy he saw that he had fallen asleep. Mac couldn't help but smile. Danny the kid that had claimed he didn't do naps was taking a nap again. When Mac looked at the time he could understand why the kid was tired. It was over eight o'clock in the evening; it was way over a five-year-olds bedtime.
Mac stood up and got Danny safely in his arms and carried him to his new room. He got Danny on his bed and changed him in his pajamas that he'd just bought him and tucked him in for the night.
Mac gave Danny a kiss on his forehead. "Good night Danny."
Mac made a mental note to remember to give Danny a bath in the morning, because he hadn't the heart to wake him up for a bath and to get the boy to brush his teeth.
oOo
After Mac had tucked Danny in for the night he made himself some much needed coffee. What a day, when he woke up this morning, he never could imagine that later in the day he would have a five-year-old CSI investigator with adult memories, in his hands. He wondered if this whole thing was a strange dream but when would he wake up? Hopefully soon, before his hair turned grey from worrying about the kid.
When the coffee was finally done he purred some coffee in his cop and went to his laptop and turned it on. He google'd on the net and found material about parenting a preschooler.
He never thought there was so much about it on the net. How was he going to find out what was the right for his kid?
Did he do the right thing when he swatted Danny's backside? According to what he read on the net that physical punishment wasn't the best way of discipline, that the child only would think that it has been punished for what he'd done and now can misbehave again. Maybe he should try and use guidance/discipline instead of physical punishment and tell Danny how he's feeling when he misbehaves, but he had a feeling that it wouldn't help on his rebellious kid.
Mac wondered what he got himself into but still he hadn't regretted taking the boy in. He didn't believe everything what he found on the net, but he would try and use some of the advice even when he had a feeling they wouldn't work.
Mac had planned that he was going to take Danny to the mall tomorrow and get him more clothes and if the kid wanted toys he would give him some. He hoped that Stella wanted to go with him; a feminine touch to the shopping spree to a five-year-old wouldn't hurt at all.
He hoped that he could get Hawkes to visit them sometime tomorrow after they'd been to the mall. He so needed to talk to Hawkes as a doctor and friend.
Mac found some good daycares on the net. He even found out that they had a daycare at the CSI but would that be wise to send Danny there? What if Danny succeeded in sneaking out of the daycare and into the CSI's crime lab? They claimed on the site that they had a very good security there and that the children couldn't leave the daycare on their own but they didn't know Danny Taylor former Danny Messer CSI investigator. He decided that he would visit all the daycares he thought could be good enough for his kid and check out their security.
He would ask one of his team to babysit Danny while he checked the daycares out.
Mac went early to bed, but not before he had checked on his charge who was luckily sound asleep, he knew that he would have a busy day tomorrow and he had a feeling that he would have his hands full again with a rebellious five-year-old Danny.
A/N: I thought it was a good place to end the chapter here. I'll try and write part 7 ASAP.
TBC