Supermarket Shoes
(#9 in Shoelaces LD universe)
by Jennamajig

SUMMARY: Daniel and Jack try to deal with Daniel being little Daniel. Inspired by the DJsSG-1Lverse yahoo list.

SEASON/SPOILERS: None.

DISCLAIMER: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

He had a hard time sitting still in the hard plastic seat. Instead he grasped the back of the chair and spun around.

It made him dizzy, but oddly, he also wanted to do it again. McDonalds sure was a totally different place when you were five.

"Eat one more chicken nugget."

"But they're cold. I don't like 'em cold."

"Well, Daniel, if you'd been eating before, then it would have been eaten and not cold. Hurry up, we've still got pick up Teal'c and run errands."

He spun around in the chair again. "Errands are boring. I wanna play in the ball pit."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "You want to what?"

He stopped his chair. "Play in the ball pit. You are always telling me to be a kid. Well, I can fit now." He pointed to the play area. "It has a slide."

Jack glanced over at the play area, and appeared to mulling something over. "Yes it does." He picked up the box of chicken nuggets. "Eat the last nugget and you get ten minutes."

"No way! That's bribery."

"Yes, it is." He shook the box. "This goes in the garbage and I'm belting you back into the car right now."

He grabbed the box, thrusting the last nugget into his mouth.

"This is so not fair, Jack," he muttered around the nugget.

"Now, Daniel, it's not nice to speak with your mouth full."

He gave Jack a glare and swallowed. "I still think it's not fair. You can't tell me what to do. I'm not a little ..."

"Kid?" Jack finished. He handed Daniel a napkin. "You have ketchup on your cheek."

He took the napkin and after three swipes was unsuccessful in reaching it. He sighed as Jack still pointed at his cheek.

"I need help."

Jack smiled and reached for his cheek. "I know, Daniel."

"I can do things myself," he insisted, even though it never seemed to be true. It was frustrating. And to top it all off, he still really wanted to play in the ball pit.

"Of course you can. But help's not such a bad thing. I helped you when you were thirty-eight, too."

"Yeah, but that's different." He played with the Velcro on his shoes before sticking his thumb in his mouth. "I'm different," he mumbled around the digit.

Jack pulled the thumb out and shook his head. "That's just it, Daniel. You're not. You're just little. You're still Daniel. Stubborn and annoying at times, but still Daniel."

"O'Neill," he muttered. "Not Daniel Jackson." He swung his legs back and forth.

"That may be so, but last time I checked, a different last name doesn't give someone a brain transplant. Sara certainly pointed that one out to me often enough." Daniel felt Jack pat his head. "Still want to go in the ball pit?"

He nodded.

"Good. Ten minutes. And give me your shoes and your car. I don't want you to lose it."

"Jack..."

"I'm serious, kiddo. Remember what happened at the pool?"

"It just fell in!"

"Sure it did. Car?"

"Here." He pulled the yellow car out of the pocket of his overalls and reluctantly placed it in Jack's hand.

"Good. Go play. I need to check the grocery list."

"Grocery list? Can we get Starbucks ice cream?"

"Starbucks makes ice cream?"

"Uh huh." Duh. Jack should know this.

He saw Jack shake his head again. "What am I thinking? Of course they do." He looked at his watch. "Nine minutes. You are wasting valuable ball pit time."

"I'm going, I'm going."

Ten minutes later, Jack had to practically pry him out of the pit. He'd managed to start a ball war with another five-year-old and was winning when Jack called time.

"I was winning you know," Daniel told Jack as he reached for belt to secure him in the car seat.

"I saw. You know, I think you may have better aim as a five-year-old than you did as a thirty-eight-year-old."

"Very funny." He frowned as Jack pulled the latch closed. "When can we get rid of this stupid thing? I am *not* a baby."

"Colorado law, kiddo. Five more pounds and we'll take it out to the driveway and I'll break out the baseball bats."

"Really?" He brightened at the prospect.

Jack smiled. "As long as the neighbors don't complain. Do you know how hard that thing is to secure to the back seat? We'll both be celebrating when it's gone."

Happy with that small piece of news, Daniel stared out the window while Jack drove. After one quick stop to pick up Teal'c, they were off to the grocery store. The Jaffa had yet to master the art of food shopping since acquiring his own place outside of the SGC. Daniel, however, thought it was an excuse to use Teal'c as backup. Previous grocery shopping trips had been far from crisis-free.

The first time, Daniel had refused to sit in the cart and insisted on walking. His shorter attention span soon got the upper hand, however, and when Daniel tried to ride on the bumper of the cart, he lost his grip and slid into a display. Six stitches and three weeks later, they tried again. Daniel sat in the seat in the cart this time, but tried to sneak coffee into the cart in any way possible. However, his sneakiness led to an entire coffee display falling before their very eyes.

After that, Jack decided that he would either do the shopping alone or with back-up. Sometimes it was Sam, but most of the time, Teal'c came, pushing his own cart alongside Jack's.

Daniel pretended not to be insulted, but the truth was, he knew he needed to be watched and he hated it. It was yet another piece of his independence that had disappeared and it seemed that he had very few pieces left. Jack tried, he did. But he was five now, and even Jack couldn't ignore that fact. Jack was his appointed guardian; Daniel needed him to sign off on everything, it seemed, from his bank account to his medical treatment. Yes, hugs and family togetherness were a huge plus, but the cons still reared their ugly head. A lot.

He sighed as they entered the supermarket. Knowing what was next, he let Jack lift and settle him into the cart. Jack patted his head and handed him his Matchbox car.

"Limit your impulse buys, okay?"

"Uh huh." He was too busy driving the car on top of Jack's knuckles as he gripped the cart. Of all the things he'd gotten used to, his shorter attention span was something that always caught him off guard. He wanted to control it, but never could.

Shopping always started out well, and this time was no different. Jack started by the deli and made his way down each aisle. Teal'c bought up the rear, just like it was a mission through the Stargate. Of course, no Stargate trip had Teal'c purchasing five pounds of ham, sliced thin. The woman at the deli counter always looked surprised at the order, despite the fact that it had been the same the last five times Teal'c went shopping with them.

He got to hold the bread so it didn't get smushed, and liked to kick his feet back so they hit the cart, shaking its contents.

"Daniel..." Jack warned as he surveyed the cereal selection.

"I didn't do anything," he insisted. Teal'c raised an eyebrow.

"It is not wise to lie, Daniel O'Neill."

Busted. "Right." He pushed his car along the cart's handle again. "I want Coco Puffs."

"Those are pure sugar," Jack said.

"So? Fruit Loops aren't better. It says so right on the side of the box."

Jack dumped the Fruit Loops into the cart anyway. "Coco Puffs have chocolate in them, which, as you are well aware, has both sugar *and* caffeine in it. I do not need a sugar and caffeine high pint-sized archaeologist running around the house."

"I resent being called pint-sized. And I won't be hyper, I promise."

Jack gripped the handle of the cart to stare him in the eyes. "Wanna bet? Who was up till 3 a.m. two nights ago because those sly little blue eyes convinced Sam to let you have just one little cup of coffee with the rest of us?"

He blinked. "I hardly think that's relevant. I did sleep."

Jack snorted. "Till 11 a.m.! I had to carry you out to the car and you missed a meeting we'd scheduled with SG-9."

"We still had that meeting."

"Daniel..."

He crossed his arms. "Jack..."

He watched Jack sigh.

"I believe it would be in your best interest to 'let sleeping canines lie,' Daniel O'Neill."

"That's dogs, Teal'c, but thank you. We can compromise, kiddo. How about Lucky Charms? You like marshmallows."

He did. But he'd wanted chocolate. However, they had yet to reach the freezer aisle and if he played nice now, Starbucks ice cream might soon be in his possession.

"Okay," he agreed, and another box went in the back. Teal'c selected a box of Captain Crunch, and to the new aisle they went.

Daniel brightened at the sight of freezer doors. "Starbucks. Ice cream."

Jack grinned. "Now who said anything about Starbucks ice cream?"

"Jaaaack."

"Just kidding. One pint, nothing fancy."

"They're all fancy. It's Starbucks." Jack stopped in front of the ice cream freezers and Daniel pulled the door open, leaning over the cart so far so much that he almost fell into the freezer himself. But the chill was worth it and he held his prize in his lap, coldness and all.

Jack was squinting at the price label. "I can see the Starbucks' price carries over from the counter as well. Would you look at this, T? This is highway robbery."

"I can pay for it." If money was a problem, he had plenty. And Jack told him to save it for a rainy day. Starbucks ice cream was his rainy day.

"I know you can, but I got it. We made a deal, remember?"

"I remember. But even though I'm small, they still pay me more than they pay you."

An attractive, young, brown-haired woman who had been browsing through the freezer next to them, looked up, confused. Jack patted Daniel's head.

"Child actor. Those commercials sure can pay a bundle." She looked a little unconvinced, but once Jack flashed her a smile, she smiled right back.

"Well he *is* certainly adorable enough."

"Most of the time, yes," Jack agreed. Daniel almost gagged. If he didn't know better, he'd swear Jack was flirting with the woman. He crossed his arms and looked at Teal'c, who raised his eyebrows in response.

The woman laughed. "Kids can always be adorable when they want to be. How old is he?"

"Five."

"So big," she crooned and Daniel resisted the urge to drop a heavy grocery item on her foot. Instead, he smiled sweetly and decided he'd had enough of her batting her eyelashes at Jack. Next she'd notice Teal'c and all hell would break loose.

"Daddy." Smile still in place, he tried to sound as cute as a five year old could humanly be. "I have to go potty. Now."

Jack shot Daniel a glare before bidding the woman farewell and pushing the cart out of the aisle.

"I can't believe you did that," he hissed.

"I can't believe you were flirting with her. She's at least twenty years younger than you!"

"I was not flirting! And besides, you don't think I can get a woman that young. You may have gotten all the alien girls before, Daniel, but I'm not chopped liver."

"You were clearly using me as a flirtation device. Your actual flirting skills need work." Daniel shot a look in Teal'c direction. "Right, Teal'c?"

"I believe my best course of action is to stay out of this conversation, Daniel O'Neill."

"Easy out," Jack muttered, "and my flirting is fine." Daniel noticed they'd begun heading towards the rear of the store.

"Where are we going, Jack?"

Jack smiled, stopped the cart and gestured up. Daniel followed his gaze to the supermarket's restrooms.

"You had to pee. So you're gonna."

"But the ice cream is melting," he said. Plus, he didn't have to go and even if he did, that meant Jack would have to accompany him because his little fingers couldn't undo the buttons of his overalls.

Jack smiled. "Then you better make it fast. Teal'c will give you a hand."

Daniel looked at Teal'c, prepared to bring out the puppy dog eyes, but Teal'c was grinning. Actually grinning. He sighed and realized it might just be impossible to have a supermarket trip without a least one small incident.

Next time, Sam better come. That way, at least, she'd be on his side.

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