Author's Notes: No notes.

Part 9 - An Interesting Afternoon

"Jack?"

"Hmm?"

"Jack!" Daniel put his hands on his brother's arm and shook it. "Wake up!"

"What?" Jack woke suddenly to find himself on the couch and Daniel standing nearby, staring at him. "Uh..."

"Can you open my jigsaw?" Daniel queried, holding the box out to him. He had woken a few minutes ago, got dressed again, and had crawled up onto the big bed to search the bags for the puzzle. While he had been there, he had found the monkey slippers and was now wearing them, tags still attached.

Jack stared back at Daniel for a moment, trying to wake up properly. Last thing he remembered, he had sat down to watch some sports. He glanced at the television; yep, it was on, showing some baseball game now instead of the hockey he'd wanted to watch. How long had he been asleep? "Sure, just... give me a minute."

"Okay." Daniel sat on the coffee table, box in his lap, and swung his legs while waiting impatiently for Jack to get himself together.

His gaze distracted by the swinging monkeys, it took a few seconds for Jack to realise just what Daniel was wearing. "Daniel, why are you wearing your coat inside?" Back-to-front, no less.

"It was on my bed," Daniel replied. "Mommy always puts my clothes on the bed when she wants me to wear them."

Right, Jack berated himself for not putting the coat away. "Well, you don't need the coat on inside, okay? It's warm in here."

"Okay," Daniel agreed; it wasn't very comfortable anyway. He had struggled to put it on earlier, and hadn't succeeded in doing it properly, hence why he had put it on the opposite way. He took it off and put it on the table beside him.

"How long have you been awake?" Jack queried, running a hand through his short hair and then looking at his watch. An hour; geez, he must have been worn out! Looking after Daniel appeared to be harder on his body than basic training.

"Not long. Are you awake now?" Daniel asked, legs still swinging as he eagerly awaited the opening of his puzzle.

"Ye--" The puzzle box abruptly landed in his lap. "Someone's eager," Jack commented as he examined the box.

Daniel didn't reply, just continued to bounce from the momentum of his swinging legs.

"I need a knife," Jack said, noting that the box was sealed so that the pieces couldn't go missing in transit. He got up and went into the kitchen to search for a sharp knife. It wasn't until he turned around and almost knocked Daniel down when he realised that the kid had followed him. "Sit," he ordered, pointing to a chair; the last thing he wanted was for Daniel to get injured with the knife.

Daniel obeyed, watching eagerly as Jack proceeded to open his puzzle; he couldn't wait to try it out.

Jack put the box on the table away from Daniel, then put the knife away and got out the scissors which he always kept on top of the fridge. "Just stay put for a moment," he said, kneeling down in front of Daniel to cut the tags off the slippers.

"What are they for?" Daniel asked curiously.

"So people know how much the slippers are," Jack explained as he cut the tags off. "And if you don't cut them off, then people think you stole them."

"And we didn't stole them, did we?" Daniel said happily, looking at his de-tagged slippers.

"No, we didn't steal them," Jack corrected the kid while agreeing with him. "Now, third rule - never ever use the knife or the scissors, okay? They can hurt you really badly."

Daniel nodded, agreeing. "Daddy says that too." Being on so many digs, Daniel had had that fact drummed into him at an early age, and as a result, kept well away from sharp objects.

"Good." That was one thing he hopefully didn't have to worry too much about then. "All right, let's see where we can put this," he said, picking up the box and checking the measurements. It had to be somewhere big enough to have all the pieces and where Daniel could spread out, but somewhere that wasn't going to be in the way. The only place Jack could think of was Daniel's bedroom - the living room was too small, and it would get in his way.

"In here," Daniel announced, running into the living room and bouncing in front of the coffee table. "Please!" he begged when he saw that Jack wasn't sure. "I'll be really good, and it won't get in your way."

"Hang on," Jack said, realising that Daniel was still in his jeans. "Go put on the sweats first - jeans are for wearing outside." And because Daniel only had the one pair of jeans, Jack had to make sure they lasted.

"And then I can do the jigsaw?"

"And then you can do the jigsaw," Jack agreed.

"Okay." Daniel ran into his room, took his jeans off and then realised he didn't know what sweats were, so he ran back into the living room. "Jack?"

"What?" A bubble of laughter rose in Jack's throat at seeing Daniel in sweater, underwear, and monkey-faced slippers.

"What are sweats?"

With a sigh, Jack followed Daniel back to the bedroom. He got out the only pair out of the wardrobe and handed them to Daniel, who then sat on the floor and put them on. Then the kid ran back into the living room. "Can I start now?"

"Sure."

The puzzle was eagerly snatched out of Jack's hands by the four-year-old, who then knelt down in front of the table and took the lid off. The box was then placed at one side of the table, and the lid - picture facing upwards - was put on the other side. Then Daniel delved into the box and started getting the pieces out.

Satisfied that Daniel was going to be busy for a while, Jack went to fetch the box with the bookshelf in it, then headed out to the garage to put it together.

When the phone rang fifteen minutes later, it startled Daniel; he had been concentrating very hard on his jigsaw. Once he recovered, he decided to answer it since Jack hadn't come back inside yet, not thinking that maybe he shouldn't. "Hello?"

There was a small silence on the other end, then a woman said, [Uh, hello? Who is this?]

"Daniel."

[Uh, Daniel... is Jack there?] The woman sounded very puzzled.

Daniel nodded, forgetting that the lady wouldn't be able to see him. "He's in the garage making me a bookshelf." He was very pleased that he was going to get a bookshelf all of his very own that he could put his books and artifacts on.

[Do you think you would be able to get him for me? Tell him it's his grandma.]

"I have a Grandpa Nick," Daniel shared, instinctively trusting the lady as she was Jack's grandma. "Do you know him?"

[No, I don't,] the woman replied.

"I only have one grandpa," Daniel continued, "and no grandma's because they've all gone away."

[I'm sorry to hear that, Daniel. Could you get Jack for me please?]

"Okay." Daniel put the phone on the table and was about to head outside when Jack came back in with the bookshelf. "Jack, your grandma's here," he said, retrieving the phone and holding it up.

"You answered the phone?" Jack queried as he automatically took the phone from the kid.

"It rang," Daniel told him, not understanding why it might be wrong. "Was that bad?"

"We'll talk about it later," Jack stated before taking a deep breath and putting the phone up to his ear. "Hi, Grandma."

[Jack, is there something you want to tell me?] Iris O'Neill inquired curiously.

"That was Daniel, my half-brother," Jack explained briefly, knowing he would get a full inquisition later. Ever since Claire had married Melburn and gone off to foreign lands, Iris had taken it upon herself to look after Jack since they lived only an hour apart. Sometimes Jack enjoyed it but the inquisitive part of his grandmother's nature drove him crazy.

[Claire's little boy?] came the query.

"That's right." Jack glanced down at the little boy who was staring up at him. "So, how have you been?" he asked, changing the subject.

There was a pause that indicated Iris wasn't done with the subject but she wasn't going to push it right now. [We're fine. I'm just ringing to see if whether you're still coming up for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.]

Jack sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face; he'd totally forgotten about that. Could he still do that with Daniel in tow, having him in a car for an hour? But he couldn't ask his grandparents to come down here because the rest of the O'Neill brood was congregating in Denver. So... "Yeah, that's still fine. Is it okay to bring Daniel?" Since he had four days off for Thanksgiving, he figured that his grandparents could help him looked after the kid.

[Of course,] Iris replied with a smile in her voice. [We'd love to meet him. Why is he staying with you anyway?]

Jack hadn't gotten around to telling his grandparents about Claire's death yet, as he hadn't wanted to get his grandmother's hopes up that he would keep Daniel. "I'll explain everything on Thursday," he stated, well aware of little ears listening in. "We should get there around thirteen hundred hours."

A patient sigh sounded. [You mean, one o'clock, I presume. That will be fine, but make sure you have plenty of time to get Daniel organised - children have a habit of taking much longer than you think to get ready. And have some good music to listen to in the car so that Daniel doesn't get bored.]

"Yes, Grandma," Jack accepted the advice with the air of someone who had heard it all before.

[Now let me speak with Daniel,] she ordered.

Jack handed the phone back to Daniel and said, "She wants to talk to you."

With a grin, Daniel took the phone and held it up to his ear. "Hello, Jack's grandma."

[Hello, Daniel. How would you like to come visit for Thanksgiving?] Iris asked.

"What's Thanksgiving?" Daniel questioned, sitting down on the floor and making himself comfortable.

[It's a special family dinner to celebrate when the pilgrims first arrived in America,] she replied.

"There are lots of pilgrims in Egypt," Daniel informed her, drawing on his memories of the country. "Did they come here too?"

Iris chuckled with amusement. [Some of them probably did, Daniel. But these pilgrims came here a long, long time ago from a country called England. Do you know where that is?]

Daniel nodded wisely. "It's across the channel from France, which is near the Netherlands, which is up higher than Egypt," he recited, the speech having been learnt by heart.

[That's right.] She chuckled again.

"If you're Jack's grandma, does that mean that you're my grandma too?" Daniel inquired innocently.

Iris didn't even hesitate, obviously remembering Daniel's earlier statement. [Yes, it does. You can call me Grandma Iris.]

"Okay, Grandma Iris," Daniel said happily. Then he looked up to see Jack gesturing to him. "I think Jack wants the phone back. Bye, Grandma Iris."

[Goodbye, Daniel.] Iris waited for a minute until she judged that Jack would have the phone, and then said, [He sounds adorable, Jack.]

"Yeah, just great," Jack agreed with her, albeit with little enthusiasm. "We'll see you on Thursday then."

[I can't wait,] Iris replied, her enthusiasm more obvious.

They said their goodbyes and then Jack hung up. After he replaced the receiver, he sat on the couch and looked at Daniel, who stared up at him from his position on the floor.

"I like Grandma Iris," Daniel announced, a smile on his face.

"That's nice. But I need to talk to you about answering the phone," Jack stated, looking seriously at the kid. "If you hear it ringing, you should come and get me, not answer it yourself."

The smile faded somewhat as Daniel registered that Jack wasn't happy with him. "Why?"

"Because... sometimes the people on the other end aren't nice people," Jack replied, trying to think of a reason Daniel would understand and listen to.

"Then why do they want to talk to you?" Daniel asked reasonably.

Jack searched his mind for a way to explain prank callers and tele-marketers to the kid. "Uh, because they want to trick me into buying something that I don't want, or sometimes they just call for a joke, uh, a not-funny joke."

"Why?" Daniel tilted his head, not entirely understanding.

"Because that's the way some people are," Jack said in explanation. He ran a hand through his short hair, somewhat frustrated. "So do you promise me you will never answer the phone?"

Daniel nodded solemnly; it seemed to be very important to Jack that he agree. "I promise."

"Good." Jack rested his hand on Daniel's head for a moment, pleased to have the agreement.

"Can we put the bookshelf in my room?" Daniel asked, his face lighting up again as he changed the subject; he wanted to go and arrange it now.

"Sure, why not," Jack agreed. He watched Daniel run towards the bedroom - geez, the kid was a bundle of energy sometimes - and then sedately followed with the bookshelf.

"Over here," Daniel instructed, pointing to the foot of his bed. Since one side of his bed was right against the wall, it couldn't be within easy reach, but he figured that the end of the bed was the next best place. After Jack put the bookshelf down, Daniel made some small adjustments to its' placement, struggling a little bit - after all, it was almost his height. But finally he was satisfied, and he stood back to observe it.

"So what do you think?" Jack asked, watching the solemn expression on his little brother's face.

"I like it," Daniel announced, mentally putting his belongings on it. Yep, it should be very good, he thought. Running over to the bedside table, he took the books from it and then ran back to put them on one shelf. They only filled up a small space on the top shelf, which didn't look like much, so Daniel collected his pottery shards - which he had to get Jack to retrieve - and the Happy Meal toy, and put them on the same shelf. That looks much better, he thought, like my daddy's bookshelves.

"All done?" Jack asked, noticing how serious Daniel looked when studying his bookshelf.

"Yep!" Pleased with the way he had arranged things, Daniel stepped over and tugged on Jack's hand. When his brother obeyed the tug, Daniel wrapped his arms around Jack and hugged him. "Thank you," he said enthusiastically. Then he grabbed Jack's hand and pulled him out of the bedroom.

"Where are we going?" Jack queried as he was led through the house.

"Look at my puzzle," Daniel said proudly as they entered the living room again. He stood next to the table, a big smile on his face, and waited impatiently for Jack to say something nice about it.

Jack looked at the progress the kid had made. He did a quick count and saw that Daniel almost had the edges done already, which was nearly half the jigsaw; Jack was positive he couldn't have done that so quickly at Daniel's age. "Wow, you've got a lot done," he stated, giving the kid what he hoped was a suitably impressed look.

"It's easy," Daniel informed him authoritatively. "All you have to do is match the pieces to the picture and join them together. Do you want to try?"

"Uh... you'd better finish it first, then I might give it a try," Jack hedged, not wanting to be shown up by his little brother.

"Okay," Daniel accepted that easily. He plonked back down on the floor and started working on the puzzle again.

Deciding to leave Daniel to it, Jack went over to the corner table where his computer was set up with the intent of checking his email, which he hadn't done in a few days. He knew enough about computers to do that - and how to play games - but the rest confused him. He was aware that he was of the computer generation and therefore should know how to do everything but he just wasn't interested. Give him the Playstation any day!

Daniel put in four pieces before he became curious about what Jack was doing. His daddy had a computer that worked without electricity - which made it really handy on digs - but Daniel wasn't allowed to play with it. Maybe Jack will let me, he thought, deciding it was worth a try. "Jack?"

"Yeah?" Jack answered absently, concentrating on the computer screen where his mail was about to appear.

"What are you doing?" Daniel stood up and wandered over to his brother. He leaned against Jack's leg as he stood on tiptoes and tried to see the computer screen.

"Reading my email." As Daniel's head bumped his arm, Jack shifted so that he could work unimpeded.

"Has Mommy sent me anything?" Daniel asked eagerly, knowing that his mother frequently sent Jack letters on the computer. He bounced up and down, wanting to see.

"Uh..." Jack pretended to check. "No, she hasn't," he stated after a few seconds.

Crestfallen for a moment, Daniel soon rallied, finding an excuse for his mother. "That's okay. She's prob'ly busy."

"Probably," Jack agreed, feeling bad for lying to his brother. He watched Daniel's thumb work its way into the small mouth and felt even worse; how long was he supposed to lie to the kid about his parents? "When I'm finished, do you want to do some stuff on the Net?"

Daniel brightened at the suggestion. "Can we look up Egypt?" He missed his home and wanted to see a reminder.

"Sure," Jack agreed; he only hoped that it didn't focus Daniel's attention on his absent parents again.

Satisfied that he would get to play with the computer and see the places he had been raised in, Daniel went back to his jigsaw. He was liking it very much - although he would have preferred the one with the pyramids on it - and it was challenging but not so much that he was getting frustrated.

When Jack called him a few minutes later, Daniel jumped up and ran over to his big brother's chair before climbing onto his lap. "Ready!" he announced enthusiastically, looking at the computer screen in anticipation while bouncing up and down as best as he could. "Pyramids!"

Jack called up a search page and then said to Daniel, "Do you want to type the word in?"

"Okay." Daniel studied the computer for a moment and then decided that the letters in front of him were to press down. Carefully, slowly, he pressed the keys that made up the words `big pyramids', then stared at the screen. "Where are they?"

"Just a minute," Jack chuckled, moving the mouse and clicking on `search'. When a list of sites came up, he quickly scanned through them and picked on that seemed to be about the Great Pyramids, and clicked on the address.

"What's you doing?" Daniel asked curiously.

"There are lots of, uh, pages that you can look at," Jack tried to explain, "but there's too many to look at them all so I had to pick one to start with."

A picture of the pyramids started to appear on the screen and Daniel started bouncing again. "I went there," he informed Jack, pointing to the pyramids, "but Daddy wouldn't let me climb them because it was too dang'rous and the stones were bigger than me and no-one's `llowed to climb them in case they fall off and hurt themselfs."

"That's a very good reason," Jack noted.

"Archeol'gists think that they're only five thousand years old but Daddy says that can't be right because the Egyptians wouldn't have been able to design something that advanced then so they have to be older or someone helped them," Daniel parroted what he had learnt from his father. "He thinks that they're older and that Khufu had the insides changed to suit him when the older race of peoples had gone, and that's why the pyramids are so big but with tiny chambers inside them."

Jack mentally shook his head; Daniel could certainly string together some long sentences.

"And he says that the Sphinx is nearly ten thousand years old because it's rain `roded, not wind `roded, and there's been no big rains in Egypt since the Ice Age or the big Flood, but only the front half because the back half is only wind `roded, so it was added on later," Daniel continued, happy to be imparting his knowledge to his big brother, whom he assumed was listening. "And it used to have the face of a lion but someone, prob'ly Khafre, Khufu's son, changed it to look like him but it doesn't really because it's got no nose `cos someone chopped it off, and the pop-ortions of the face aren't right, but no-one really knows for sure."

"Do you always talk this much?" Jack asked curiously, amazed that such a little boy could store so much information in what seemed like one breath.

"Yep!" Daniel said with the pride of someone who has never been told that talking too much is bad. "Do you think the pyramids are older than everyone says?"

"I, uh, I don't know." Like many people, Jack had never really given it much thought.

"I do, and so does Mommy and Daddy, but some people were mean to them when they told them their theory. When I get bigger, I'm going to show those mean people that Mommy and Daddy were right, and then they'll have to `pologise and be real sorry, and then I'm going to translate all sorts of writing, like the kind Daddy found on the last dig that kinda looked like hier'glyphs but they weren't and no-one knows what they mean."

Jack's ears pricked up; he wondered whether the writings were like some that had been found not too far from where the Doorway to Heaven had rested for thousands of years. The doorway - or so it was apparently called by the linguists who had translated the coverstone - was a large stone ring that resided twenty-eight levels down in Cheyenne Mountain, and it was part of the reason Jack had been transferred there. The scientists working there theorised that the ring could send people to other planets but no-one had been able to make it work yet. When they did, however, Jack's Special Ops background meant that he was likely to be on the team that went through. "Could you read them?"

Daniel shook his head. "I tried but they didn't make sense." It had been fun trying though, and he had wanted to go back and continue with it. "Mommy said she was just about to have a... a breakflew though."

Jack translated that to mean `breakthrough'. Knowing his mother's love of languages, he didn't doubt that she would have been able to solve the language eventually. Had the Air Force approached her to solve the writings on the ring's coverstone, Jack wondered; she certainly hadn't mentioned anything like that in her emails. He might have to make some inquiries at the base tomorrow.

They spent forty-five minutes on the Net, Daniel eagerly imparting his knowledge of everything he saw, and if he didn't know anything about the picture, he would read all about it. Then he decided that he wanted to do some drawing so Daniel went to his room to fetch the sketchbook and crayons, and then came back to the living room to work.

Jack decided to catch up on some reading so he curled up on the couch, and the two of them spent a while doing their own quiet things.

tbc...