Author's Notes: No notes.

Part 5 - A Great Start to the Day?
Monday, 24th November

When Daniel awoke, it was dark in his bedroom. He could see a light shining into his room from the hallway, which made it a little less scary, but he was still afraid of the shadows he could see. "It's okay," he said to his teddy bear, Thoth, as he decided to be brave and find the bathroom. With Thoth for company, Daniel got out of bed and quickly moved into the hallway, then into the bathroom next door.

Standing on tiptoe, he reached for and found the lightswitch, which he turned on, immediately brightening the room. To his surprise, there was a wooden box situated in front of the toilet that hadn't been there earlier. Deciding that was good, he climbed onto it, then sat down on the toilet seat.

After completing his business, Daniel dragged the box over to the basin and washed his hands. Then he picked up Thoth, turned off the light - after several tries - and went back to his bedroom doorway. He stood there for a minute, looking inside at the dark shadowy objects inside, before deciding that he wasn't brave enough to venture back in. Besides, Jack hadn't checked for monsters earlier, so there could be some lurking under his bed.

With that thought, Daniel turned and ventured down the brightly lit hallway in the hopes of finding Jack. The door next to the bathroom was slightly ajar so Daniel cautiously pushed it open and bravely ventured inside. As he got closer, he could see the bed and the lumpy shape in it. Deciding he would be safer here, Daniel crawled into the bed.

Being a light sleeper, Jack woke up with the disturbance. He rolled over and turned on the bedside light, then looked at the other side of the bed. Daniel lay there, only the top of his head visible above the blankets, eyes tightly closed. "Daniel, what are you doing here?"

"Thoth was scared," the boy replied, transferring his fears onto the teddy bear.

Jack's brow wrinkled in confusion. "Who's Thoth?"

Opening his eyes, Daniel held his teddy bear out for Jack to see. "Mommy says Thoth is the guardian of wisdom, and that's why she gave him to me."

O-kay then, Jack thought, thinking it was a weird choice of name for a teddy bear. "So what you're saying is that you're scared," he tried to make sense of what Daniel was saying.

"No, Thoth is scared," Daniel said with exaggerated patience.

"Daniel, it's a teddy bear." Jack couldn't bring himself to endow the toy with feelings. "It can't be scared."

"Yes, it can," Daniel argued, hugging Thoth close to him. "He misses Mommy and Daddy," he added quietly.

Jack sighed and rubbed a hand over his face; he wasn't up to this in the middle of the night. "Daniel," he warned; how could he get the kid to go back to bed without tears so he could get a good nights' sleep?

"Can we stay here?" Daniel asked in a small voice, sensing that Jack wasn't happy with him. His thumb automatically went into his mouth, as it often did when he was uncertain.

He knew he really ought to send Daniel back but Jack also knew that being away from home must be tough on the kid. "Sure, why not?" he said, settling down again and turning off the light. "Just don't kick."

"I won't," Daniel promised, happy that he could stay. He scooted a bit closer to Jack, confident that he would be safe in this room. "Are you mad?" he inquired hesitantly, hoping the answer was `no'.

Only for thinking I could do this, Jack said mentally. But to Daniel, he stated, "No, I'm not mad. I'm just tired. Now, go to sleep."

"Okay," Daniel happily agreed. Jack wasn't mad at him; that was good.

Jack waited for any more questions but when there was only silence, he allowed himself to relax and go to sleep; it seemed that he would need to be well rested for tomorrow.

Daniel was the first one awake in the morning. He hadn't moved from his spot in the bed but Jack was now right on the edge of the bed, curled up facing Daniel. The little boy looked at his brother for a minute, observing the quiet mutterings and restless movement, waiting for him to wake up. When he didn't, Daniel crawled closer and shook Jack's shoulder.

Jack came awake suddenly and rolled onto his back to get away from the touch, flinging his arm out at the same time. His hand contacted something before he overbalanced and fell out of bed onto the hard floor.

Tears welled up in Daniel's eyes; Jack's hand had hit his cheek, and it hurt. He stuck his thumb in his mouth as two fat tears rolled down his cheeks. Jack had hit him! He hadn't done anything naughty!

Shaking off the bad dream - or as it happened to be this time, a memory - Jack realised what must have happened. He quickly got up and looked at Daniel. The boy was still sitting there, eyes wide and glistening with tears, with one thumb in his mouth and a reddening mark on his cheek. Jack swore under his breath and then sat down beside the kid. Daniel scooted away from him, scared. "I'm sorry, Daniel."

"I didn't do anything," Daniel said, his tone clearly portraying that he was upset and bewildered.

"I know. It's my fault. I should have warned you not to wake me up like that." How was he going to explain that to a four-year-old?

"Why?" Daniel forgot about his tears as he became curious at Jack's words.

Jack took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. "A while ago, some bad men hurt me very badly. Sometimes I have bad dreams about it, and when I do, I forget where I am. And if you try to wake me up like you did, and I'm still dreaming, then it can be dangerous." He looked at the kid to see if he was following the explanation.

"It was a bad dream?" Daniel queried, trying to understand it, his lower lip quivering.

"Yes." Jack reached out and patted Daniel's shoulder; the kid didn't shy away this time. "I'm sorry. Does it hurt?"

Daniel nodded silently; it was still throbbing a little but not as bad as it had been.

Jack took a closer look at the red mark. It would fade quickly, he decided, being somewhat of an expert on bruises. "It'll be fine. How about we have some breakfast?" he suggested, changing the subject.

"Okay." Frowning because Jack wasn't going to kiss it better, Daniel slid off the bed with his teddy bear, put his thumb back in his mouth and headed off to the kitchen, still subdued.

Jack flopped back on the bed; the day was off to a bad start and he didn't know how to make it better.

Daniel waited in the kitchen for what seemed like a long time. He sat on a chair and swung his legs rhythmically, wondering what was keeping Jack. He was pleased that Jack hadn't hit him on purpose, because that meant that Jack didn't dislike him, but his young mind couldn't really comprehend what kind of dreams his brother experienced that would make him hit people. The only bad dreams he knew about were about monsters or bad Egyptian gods coming back to life.

When Jack came in, Daniel looked at him to judge his mood. Jack seemed sort of grumpy so Daniel decided to keep quiet and not provide any morning chatter. He stilled his legs and waited for his brother to make the first move.

Searching through the cupboards, Jack got out two bowls and spoons, a box of Froot Loops, and the milk. He put them on the table and then put a hand on Daniel's head. "You okay?"

"Uh-huh." Daniel tipped his head back to stare solemnly at Jack.

"Good." Refraining from the urge to ruffle Daniel's hair, Jack sat down on a nearby chair and poured some cereal for the kid. After putting some milk on the Froot Loops, he pushed the bowl over to Daniel. "Here, eat this." He handed the spoon over.

Daniel stared at the strange-looking cereal in front of him. "What is it?" Little multi-coloured rings filled his bowl. He squinted at the box on the table, reading the words. "What does `Froot Loops' mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything," Jack tried to explain. "They are called that because they're fruit-flavoured loops." Which, when he thought about it, sounded quite weird.

Picking up a green one, Daniel asked, "What's this one supposed to be?"

"Uh, probably apple," Jack guessed.

Daniel put it in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully, mentally trying to compare it to a real apple. "It doesn't taste like an apple."

"Well, it won't taste exactly like an apple because it's got cereal in it," Jack told him.

"Why?"

Jack leaned his head back for a moment, not used to dealing with such a barrage of questions. People in the army followed orders, they didn't continually ask questions. "It just does, okay?"

Daniel still had some questions but he recognised the tone of voice that Jack was using as being like the one his daddy sometimes used when he was too busy to answer any more. "Okay," he agreed, and started eating the cereal. He still wasn't thrilled with the milk but since it mixed in with the cereal, it wasn't too bad.

After he finished his cereal, Jack made some chocolate milk for Daniel, which the little boy drank eagerly. When Daniel was finished, he started swinging his legs, which annoyed Jack. "How about you go get dressed and clean your teeth?" Jack suggested.

"Okay." Daniel went to his bedroom, put his glasses on, and then started going through the drawers with his clothes in them. He pulled out the first pair of underwear, jeans and t-shirt that he came across, then took them to the middle of the room and sat on the floor to get changed. The pyjama top was a bit tricky with its buttons but he persevered and finally got them undone. Then he pulled on the t-shirt without checking to see which way it was supposed to go. The pyjama bottoms were easier to remove, and then he put the underwear and jeans on, fortunately in the right order. However, when he was finished and he surveyed himself, Daniel decided that something wasn't quite right - the pockets of the jeans were missing. So he tried to look behind himself to see if the pockets were there.

He was spinning around in circles when Jack entered. A smile involuntarily appeared on Jack's face; Daniel looked like a dog trying to catch its' own tail. "What are you doing?" he asked in an amused tone. When Daniel stopped spinning, Jack saw that the kid had put his clothes on back-to-front. "Come here." He crouched down to Daniel's level.

"I can't find the pockets," Daniel told him, obediently - and a little unsteadily - going over to Jack. "They're missing!"

"They're not missing," Jack promised him, still smiling. He helped Daniel put the t-shirt on the right way, then he pulled down the jeans. "Hop out."

Daniel stepped out of the jeans, one small hand on Jack's shoulder for balance. Then when Jack turned the jeans around the other way, with the pockets at the front, Daniel followed his brother's instructions to put them back on correctly. That was much better, he decided, seeing that the pockets had reappeared.

"How about a sweater?" Jack said, knowing that the weather was going to be cold outside since it was nearly winter. Despite the season though, it was fairly moderate weather for late November; during the night, he had only had the central heating on low.

Daniel went over to the drawer and pulled out a reasonably thick blue sweater. "Like this?" It went well with his blue jeans but clashed with the brown t-shirt.

Oh well, Jack reasoned, at least the t-shirt would be hidden under the sweater. "Yes, that'll be fine." He beckoned for Daniel to come over to him again so that he could ensure that the sweater went on properly.

Once Daniel was ready, he started to head to the bathroom but was stopped when Jack said, "Socks." So he went back into the bedroom and rooted around amongst all of his clothes, totally messing up the orderly way Jack had arranged them the previous day. He found some black socks, sat on the floor, and put them on his feet. Then he continued on his mission to the bathroom.

Jack sighed; he didn't know whether Daniel was naturally quiet in the morning or whether the kid was still upset about what had happened earlier. He hoped it was the first reason because he didn't know how to fix the second. Going over to the drawers, he made the remaining clothes neat again, and then went to the bathroom to see how Daniel was going.

To his surprise, the door to the bathroom was shut. Jack knocked on the door. "Daniel, are you alright?" he called out.

"I'm fine," came the response. Soon after, the toilet flushed and a few seconds later, the door opened. Daniel looked up at him, a confused expression on his face. "Why?"

"I, uh..." Jack didn't really have an explanation; he had just been surprised by the sudden need for privacy. "Just checking," he eventually said.

"Okay." Daniel accepted that and went back to wash his hands. After he had done that, he got his toothbrush and held out the toothpaste. "Jack, can you please put some on?" It had been well drummed into him by his mother not to do it himself after the time when he had squeezed the paste all out.

"Right." Jack entered the room and put a small amount of toothpaste onto the brush.

"Thank you." Daniel perfunctorily cleaned his teeth, spat out the paste and then did his little ritual of putting lots of water in his mouth so that his cheeks bulged out. Then, leaning over the sink, he `popped' his cheeks with his hands and the water flew out of his mouth into the basin.

"Daniel," Jack warned him, having stepped back to avoid getting wet. "There's no need to do that. Just spit the water out properly," he ordered.

"But it's fun!" Daniel protested, a pout appearing on his face.

"It might be fun but it's also messy," Jack stated firmly, getting a washcloth and wiping drops of toothpaste off Daniel's face. "Mess is bad."

"Why?" Daniel wanted to know.

"Because messy isn't a good look."

"Why?"

Jack bit his tongue; he was getting thoroughly sick of that word already. "Because it isn't. So while you're in this house, you'll have to be tidy, okay? Not make any mess."

"Okay." Daniel figured he could do that - while he remembered, anyway. "Are we going out today?"

"Yes, we are," Jack replied, deciding to clean his teeth now while Daniel was still in the bathroom.

"Where are we going?" Daniel wanted to know.

"Shopping." Jack put the toothpaste on the brush. "Daniel, how about you go do something in your room until I'm ready."

"Okay." Daniel got down from the box and wandered back to his bedroom. He picked out one of his books, sat down in the middle of the floor, and started reading.

Jack quickly showered, shaved and dressed, then checked in on Daniel, who was still reading quietly. He was relieved that the kid seemed to be able to entertain himself, as that would free up Jack's time.

Daniel looked up when he saw Jack in the doorway. "Are we going now?" he asked somewhat eagerly; his spirits had lifted considerably while he had been reading.

Shaking his head, Jack replied, "The shops won't be open yet. Do you want to watch some cartoons?"

"What are cartoons?" Daniel queried, tilting his head quizzically.

"I'll show you." Jack gestured for Daniel to follow him into the living room. When they got there, Jack turned the television on and flicked through the channels until he found a cartoon. "That is a cartoon," he said, pointing at the screen.

Daniel stared at it for a minute, trying to work out what was so good about it. Then he found himself airborne as Jack picked up him and sat him on the couch. Confused, Daniel watched Jack sit down on the chair nearby and start to read the newspaper, clearly ignoring him. It was becoming obvious that Jack didn't want to play with him, and Daniel felt disappointed. His parents had always found time each day to play with him, especially in the mornings before they went to work.

Jack eventually realised that Daniel was staring at him. He lowered the paper and asked, "Don't you like the cartoon?"

"Why don't you like me?" Daniel countered; he had so wanted his brother to like him.

"I like you," Jack replied, not entirely convincingly.

"But you don't want to do anything with me," Daniel persisted, scooting back on the couch and tucking his knees to his chest.

Jack resisted the urge to roll his eyes; kids - they always took things so personally. "I always read the paper in the morning. I just thought that you might like to watch some cartoons or something."

Having never watched television before, Daniel had little interest in it. "Can I go outside?"

"Not this morning." It was too cold, and Daniel didn't have the right shoes for playing in a possibly muddy backyard. "We need to get you some rainboots first."

"What are they?"

"Shoes that are very important for playing outside if it's cold and wet," Jack explained. Geez, Daniel asked a lot of questions.

"Oh." Daniel absorbed that information. "Can I read then?"

Jack nodded. "Sure." If that's what interested the kid, then who was he to stand in the way?

Daniel slid off the couch and went back to his room. Jack returned to reading his paper and ignored the little voice in his head that was berating him for not spending time with Daniel. He had his routine and he was going to stick with it as much as possible even with the kid around. Daniel was just going to have to get used to it.

tbc...