Author's Notes: No notes.

Part 3 - Dinner

        An hour later Daniel was still working in his alphabet book; Jack was thoroughly amazed.  He had always thought kids had a short attention span, yet Daniel had been writing constantly for a whole hour with only a few short breaks for wriggling.  The kid looked cute, his expression set in concentration and a small pink tongue poking out between his lips.  From this angle, Jack could see the resemblance to their mother - the same kind of nose, the sandy-brown hair and blue eyes, the round face; there seemed to no little similarities to Melburn Jackson, Daniel's father.  Not that Jack knew his step-father all that well; they had only met twice - once at the wedding, and then at Daniel's christening.  Jack - with his blonde hair and brown eyes - took after his father, John O'Neill, the drunken layabout whom Claire had divorced when Jack was twelve.  
        "Jack?" Daniel asked tentatively, seeing that his brother appeared to be staring at him.
        "Yeah?"  Jack quickly looked back at the television.
        "I'm hungry."  It had been a long time since lunch, and his stomach was beginning to grumble.
        Looking at the clock, Jack saw that it was only half-past five; way too early for his dinner.  "It's not time to eat yet," he told Daniel.
        "But I'm hungry."  A whine crept into Daniel's voice.  "The lady only gave me a sandwich for lunch."  He rolled over onto his side to look at Jack.
        Staring into those big blue eyes, Jack almost gave in.  But, he reminded himself, Daniel was living under his roof so the kid had to abide by his rules.  "Well, you'll just have to wait."
        Daniel couldn't believe that Jack was making him go hungry; he hadn't done anything wrong so why wouldn't Jack let him eat?  "How long will it be?"
        "'Bout another hour," Jack stated.  Why wouldn't the kid let this go?
        Frowning, Daniel tried to work out how long that would be; he could tell the time but had little concept of the length.  "Is that long?" he queried.
        "No, not long," Jack replied.  But of course to him, an hour wasn't long.  He didn't realise that it could be an eternity to a child.  
        "Jack?"
        "Yes?"  Jack's patience was beginning to wear a bit thin.
        "Can I please have a drink?"  If he couldn't get one, maybe he could get the other.  
        Sighing, Jack got up; he supposed there was no harm in giving the kid a drink.  "What do you want?"
        "Milk," Daniel replied promptly.  He'd always had milk when in Egypt and loved the taste.
        "Right, well, you'll have to drink it in the kitchen."  Jack didn't want to have to clean up any mess from the carpet.
        Daniel, carrying his teddy, followed Jack obediently into the kitchen and sat down at the table.  He put the teddy on the table, then watched his brother get a glass from the cupboard and the milk from the refrigerator, before filling one with the other.  Daniel held his hands out eagerly for the glass and took a big mouthful of the milk.  Then he screwed up his nose with disgust.  "This isn't milk!" he complained.
        "Yes, it is.  Look."  Jack held the carton in front of his little half-brother.  
        Daniel saw the word `milk' on the carton.  "But it doesn't taste like milk," he said, trying to figure it out.
        "Well, it has to be milk because it comes from cows," Jack explained, putting the milk away and closing the fridge door with a little more force than necessary; he could tell that Daniel was going to drive him up the wall!  
        "No, it doesn't.  It comes from goats," Daniel stated with authority.  He should know; he had often helped his father milk their goats.
        Jack realised it was a cultural thing and forced himself to have patience.  "Well, here it comes from cows so if you want milk, you'll have to drink it."
         Daniel looked at the glass and contemplated his options.  He was really hungry, and he supposed that cows' milk was better than none, but he didn't like the taste of it.  
        "Oh, for crying out loud."  Jack went to take the milk away.
        "No!"  Daniel held onto the glass.  "I'll drink it."  To prove that he would, Daniel took a mouthful and tried not to make a face at the taste.  "See?"
        With a shake of his head, Jack turned, went to the cupboard and got out the chocolate syrup.  Then he poured some into the glass of milk and stirred it with a spoon.  "There, try that."
        Daniel took a sip and found that it tasted really good.  He said, "Thank you, Jack," before drinking more of the milk enthusiastically.
        "Listen, I'm going to go back and watch the game," Jack stated, confident that Daniel could handle the drinking by himself.  "When you're finished, just leave the glass on the table and come back."
        "Okay," Daniel briefly disconnected himself from the glass to reply.  Then he went back to drinking his new favourite kind of milk.
        Jack returned to the living room and settled himself down on the couch again.  But he couldn't concentrate on the game, Daniel's comment about only having a sandwich for lunch niggling at him.  He supposed he really should make sure that the kid didn't go hungry.  But it would only be a once off, having an early tea.  Tomorrow he would set about laying down the ground rules for Daniel's short stay. 
        He checked the list that Mrs. Clarke had given him and decided that pizza would be okay.  Jack then rang and ordered two pizzas; he could always heat some up for himself later on at his usual time.
        Jack had just hung up when Daniel came into the living room sporting a chocolate-coloured milk moustache.  "All finished?" Jack asked.
        "Yep."  Daniel smiled at Jack and then went over to his book again.
        Sighing, Jack retrieved a tissue from the box on the bookshelf and handed it to Daniel.  "Clean your mouth," he instructed.
        Daniel obeyed, getting nearly all of the milk that he hadn't even been aware was there.  Then he sat still as Jack cleaned the remainder off his upper lip.  Once Jack was finished, Daniel sprawled out on the floor again, eager to continue his writing.
~~~~~~~~~~
        Fifteen minutes later, the pizza arrived.  Daniel - and teddy - followed Jack into the kitchen and sat at the table expectantly.  "What's that?" he asked, looking at the boxes that Jack held.  That hour - or what he thought had been an hour - had gone very quickly.
        "Pizza."  Jack opened the small box and put it in front of Daniel.  He had chosen the simplest type of pizza for the kid - Hawaiian - to see whether Daniel liked it.  "You eat it like this."  Jack lifted a slice of his pizza and demonstrated how to eat it.
        Putting his teddy aside, Daniel used both hands to lift a piece of pizza to his mouth.  He bit off the end and chewed it thoughtfully, trying to decide whether he liked it.
        "Well?" Jack prompted, thinking that if Daniel hadn't complained by now, then he probably liked it.
        "Pretty good," Daniel replied with his mouth full.  
        Three slices of pizza and a lot of mess later, Daniel leaned back in his chair.  "I'm full," he said, patting his stomach just like he had seen his father do.  
        The corners of Jack's mouth twitched at the adult-like action.  "Do you want anything for dessert?  How about some ice-cream?"
        Daniel perked up at that.  "Yes please!"
        Jack cleared away Daniel's plate, scraping the food that had fallen off the pizza into the bin, and got him some chocolate ice-cream.  The kid dug in straight away, virtually inhaling it.  "Slow down," Jack told him, not wanting to deal with ice-cream headaches or sick stomachs from eating too fast.
        "Okay."  The pace slowed but not by much.  Soon Daniel was finished and he started swinging his legs as he waited for Jack.  "Are you having ice-cream too?"
        "Maybe later."  Jack could hear the rhythmic thump-thump of the little feet hitting the leg of the table.  "How about we go back into the other room?"
        Daniel grabbed his teddy and slithered off the chair before running into the living room.  Jack finished off his slice of pizza before putting the rest in the fridge for later and following his brother.  Maybe he could get some more of the game watched this time.

tbc..