Author's Notes: High Cuteness Factor. Ye be warned.

Chapter Nine
Visiting Sam

Daniel set aside the green crayon and studied his latest masterpiece. Every inch of the page Jack had torn out of the coloring book was colored; Daniel had even stayed in the lines for most of it. It had been hard work. But he was done. Sam would love it.

Doctor Janet insisted that structure would help Daniel feel safer, so in the week since he'd descended, they'd settled into a routine. After a morning of tests with Doctor Janet and lessons with Sam or Ally, Daniel and Jack had lunch at the commissary and then retired to Jack's office. Jack worked on reports, and Daniel had two hours of free time before spending an hour exercising with Teal'c--Jack called it "roughhousing"-- and then helping Ally with translations for the rest of the day. Free time was Daniel's favoritest part of the day. Siler had built a small desk and chair, just Daniel's size, and they'd been placed in the corner of Jack's office. Whatever Daniel did--right now he liked coloring bestest--he could see Jack close by.

He looked over at Jack now. Jack was reading a report, his lips silently moving and his forehead scrunched in concentration. After a moment, he scowled, grabbed for the heavy dishenairy on his desk, and started flipping through it. Sam's report then.

Jack had lots of reports to read. Daniel had been shocked to see the large stack and even more shocked to discover that Jack actually read them and made sure he understood them all. After Jack had grumbled once about Sam's reports because she used big words, Daniel wondered aloud about the reports he had written as a big person.

"Long, Dannyboy," Jack had answered, smiling the special smile that Daniel had come to recognize as belonging just to him. "They were always long. And detailed. Lots of itsy, bitsy details."

        "Did it have big words like Sam's?  Did you hafta use the dishenairy?"
        "Yes to the big words.  No to the dictionary.  Whenever you used a big word, you 

defined it. In detail. I figure I'm the only colonel in the Air Force who can identify hieroglyphic, hieratic, and demotic scripts."

Later, Daniel had asked Sam if she knew that Jack read their reports. She'd laughed. "Yes. But don't you dare tell him I know. He enjoys his dumb act too much."

With Sam's picture in one hand, Daniel headed over to Jack and leaned against him. Jack's gaze didn't leave the dishenairy, but his arm crept around Daniel's waist and tugged Daniel closer. Daniel liked it when Jack did that. Jack touched him a lot. So did Sam and Teal'c. It was as if they didn't believe their eyes and needed to make sure he was actually there. Daniel could tell by their touch how much they wanted him near. It made him feel all warm and bubbly inside.

        "I'm done with Sam's picture.  Can we go take it to her now?"
        "Five more minutes, buddy," Jack said.
        Daniel waited as long as he could.  When he was sure five minutes must be over, 
he plucked at Jack's sleeve.
        "Jaaaaack!"
        "Almost done, Danny.  Don't whine, okay?"
        Daniel fidgeted.  Five minutes was a very long time.  He wanted to find Sam now.  

Then a plan came to him. A daring plan. His mouth dried at the thought of it, but he really, really wanted to see Sam and give her the picture. He licked his lips, rested a hand on Jack's leg right above the knee, and looked intently at Jack's face.

        "Jack?  Can I go by myself?" Daniel whispered.
        That got Jack's attention.  His gaze snapped to Daniel.  "What?"
        "By myself," Daniel repeated, louder this time, starting to feel more confident 

with his plan. "I know where Sam's lab is. Teal'c showed me how to use the elly-gator. It's magic. The doors close, and you press a button, and the elly-gator takes you somewhere else. I can count to twenty now, and I know Sam's number. It's nineteen. Can I go? Pretty please?"

        "By yourself?"  Jack lifted an eyebrow.
        Daniel swallowed but nodded gamely.
        "What if you get lost?"
        Daniel hadn't thought of that.  He was pretty sure he knew how to find Sam, but 
the SGC was real big, and lots of it looked the same.
        "Ally says everybody likes me.  I can ask somebody for help."
        "Right.  Daniel Jackson ask for help.  That'll be the day," Jack muttered.
        "Please, Jack?  I want to--"  Daniel swallowed again.  Everyone said he was safe.  

He needed to start believing it. He knew Jack was supposed to be going on missions through the Stargate, not tagging along with a kid. "I have to try, Jack."

Jack stared at him and finally nodded. "Okay. But only if you promise you'll ask someone to call me if you need help."

        Daniel grabbed Jack around the waist and squeezed.  "Promise!"
        "And I'm calling Carter, so she knows you're coming.  No side trips."
        Daniel nodded eagerly and skipped to the office door.  "Thanks, Jack!"
        Out in the corridor, he closed Jack's door and gazed at it cheerfully.  It was 

covered with coloring book pages. When Sam had seen it, she'd complained that her door wasn't as pretty, which had set Daniel off on his current project. He clutched the page he'd just colored, the first of many to decorate Sam's door. He'd have to do Teal'c's door too. And Ally's. And Doctor Janet's. And Mister General's.

Absorbed by thoughts of how much more colorful the SGC would look after he was finished with it, Daniel almost bumped into a passing airman. The airman steadied him with a smile and a pat on the head. Daniel smoothed his hair with a grimace. He kinda liked it when Jack and Sam played with his hair, but whenever anyone else did it, he felt like a--a--whatever those furry things with four legs and a tail were called.

That was when Daniel noticed how far he'd gotten from Jack's door. He paused in the middle of the corridor, looking back nervously. It was scary to be out here by himself. Not that he was alone. SGC people kept passing him. But Jack wasn't around. He needed Jack. He felt himself breathing faster.

        "Hey, Daniel."
        At the sound of the voice, Daniel looked up.  And up.  Sergeant Siler was real tall.  
Some of Daniel's panic faded.  He liked Siler.
        "Where're you headed?"
        "To see Sam."  Daniel held out his picture.  "I colored this.  For her door."
        Siler took the paper and examined it with great care.  His face was solemn as he 
handed it back.  "You're quite the artist, Daniel.  This is quality work."
        Daniel beamed.  He wondered if Siler had a door.
        "Mind if I come with you?" Siler asked.
        Daniel looked at him suspiciously.  "Did Jack send you?"
        Wouldn't it be just like Jack to say Daniel could go by himself and then send 
someone to check on him?
        "Nope.  Headed that way myself."  Siler hefted a large wrench.  "Dr. Felgar's got 
a leak."
        "Oh.  Okay."
        As they walked, Daniel told Siler his plan to decorate the SGC doors with 

coloring book pages, which Siler approved with a gravity that reminded Daniel of Teal'c. Sometime while they were talking together, Daniel had taken Siler's hand. He didn't remember doing it, but Siler didn't seem to mind, and Daniel felt safer knowing someone was holding him in case the Others tried to steal him.

Then Daniel saw the elly-gator doors. He loosed his grip on Siler's hand and yelled, "Race ya!"

He sprinted off and laughed when he heard the pounding of Siler's boots behind him. He reached the doors first and triumphantly slapped the button with the up arrow.

        "Ha!  Beat ya!"
        He turned to grin at Siler and frowned instead.  Siler was bent over, his face red,  

the hand without the wrench pressed against one knee. Daniel wasn't sure whether Siler was trying to laugh or breathe because the funny gasping noises sounded like a combination of both.

        "Are you okay?"  Daniel reached out to touch Siler's shaking arm.
        Siler gulped in another laughing gasp and ushered Daniel into the elly-gator.  "I'm 
fine.  You just surprised me, that's all."
        Daniel pressed the button with the big 19 and checked on Siler while the doors 
closed.  He seemed to be doing better.
        "Are you really fine?" Daniel demanded.  "Cuz Jack says I usedta say I was fine 
when I wasn't and that's a bad thing."
        Siler pressed his lips together.  His face was turning red again.
        "Maybe you better see Doctor Janet."  Daniel stared at the panel of numbers and 

tried to remember which one Jack pressed whenever they went to see Doctor Janet. Jack had said no side trips, but this was an en-urgency.

Siler took a deep breath. It seemed to help him recover. He transferred the wrench to his other hand and placed his closer hand on Daniel's shoulder.

"Worrywart at any age, aren't you? I'm fine, Daniel. Really. I guess I'm not used to you like this."

        "Like what?"
        "You're very...happy."
        Daniel pondered that.  "I like being happy.  Wasn't I happy as a big person?"
        Siler resumed the sober expression that Daniel was used to seeing on Siler's face.  

He shifted from one foot to the other as if he were uncomfortable with the conversation. "You weren't unhappy. You were just focused on other priorities. It's hard to say. Sometimes it was like you didn't think you deserved happiness. It wasn't one of your goals in life."

        "It shoulda been."
        Siler squeezed Daniel's shoulder.  "Yes, it should've been because you did 
deserve it, Daniel.  You, of all the people in the SGC, deserve it most."
        The elly-gator bobbed to a stop and opened its doors.  Siler accompanied Daniel 

out of the elly-gator, made sure he was oriented in the right direction to find Sam's lab, and waved before turning the corner that took him out of Daniel's sight. For a moment, Daniel felt bereft. Jack's office was near the gateroom, close enough to the hub of SGC activity that people were going by his office all the time. These corridors were empty and mostly silent. He could hear the occasional murmur between scientists and the tap-tap on keyboards.

        He was almost to Sam's lab when a voice called out to him, "Doctor J!"
        Daniel turned to see Lou Ferretti and one of Lou's teammates, Suzanne Aston.  
Lou extended a hand, palm side up.
        "Gimme five, Doctor J."
        With a grin, Daniel slapped the offered hand and turned his own palm up to 

receive Lou's slap. Lou liked to joke around a lot. He always called Daniel "Doctor J" or "Doc" even though Daniel had explained several times that he wasn't a doctor anymore.

"Got a question for you, Doc. Who's the smartest person in the SGC? Besides yourself, I mean."

Daniel thought for a moment and remembered how Jack always needed the dishenairy for Sam's reports. "Sam?"

"No, no. You're supposed to say, `Why, Lou. It's you, of course.' Then Suzie here will do whatever I tell her, see?"

Daniel eyed him sternly. Sometimes Lou acted like he was even littler than Daniel. "Are you gonna tell her to do something silly?"

        Lou pressed a hand to his chest and fluttered his eyelids.  "Me?"
        "Cuz yesterday you told me Jack liked salt in his coffee, but he didn't.  He spitted 

it out and maked a real big mess. And the day before that, you showed me how to blow bubbles in my milk, and that maked a big mess too. Jack says if you keep setting a bad zample for 'pressionable kids, he's gonna make you sorry."

Suzanne snickered and gave Lou a light punch on the upper arm. "Oh, yeah, I can see that. Anyone messing with O'Neill's kid is not long for this life. Better watch your back, Ferretti."

        "That's your job, Suz."
        They said goodbye to Daniel and continued toward the elly-gator, still bantering.  

Daniel smiled. He liked that Suzanne had called him "O'Neill's kid." He wasn't, really, but he knew Jack would take care of him, no matter what. He couldn't remember for sure, but he thought that's what parents did for kids.

A couple doors away, Sam leaned out into the corridor and caught sight of Daniel "There you are! I thought I heard your voice."

Daniel zipped to her side, waving the picture. "Look, Sam! Look! I colored you a picture. And guess what? I'm gonna color more, so your door can look just like Jack's. Do you like it? Is it pretty?"

"Pretty? It's gorgeous! Let's find some tape and put it up right now. You can show me where to hang it."