“Daniel, did you grab her hat?” Jack calls as he shoves his keys in his pocket and checks his wallet for the tickets for the holiday light display. There’s no sign of Cassie’s hat around her car seat, so he reaches across to the passenger seat and grabs the air force one that was supposed to be on Daniel’s head. Realizing there was no response, he straightens and looks around. No Daniel, and no Cassie. “‘It’ll be fun,’” he grumbles, mocking the way Carter and Frasier had talked them into this outing so they could have a girl’s day of Christmas shopping without the child in tow. Slamming the driver’s door of his truck, he wades into the crowd.
A few minutes later, he finds them admiring a nativity that’s complete with live animals. Cassie appears enraptured by the placidly chewing donkey, and Daniel is lecturing the couple standing next to them about the inaccuracy of the animals on display, and quickly venturing into explaining why the popularized nativity scene is unrealistic in general.
Jack gently spins Cassie around, crouching down to her level. “You can’t wander off like that, alright? You have to stay with me.”
“Sorry,” she says, but points beside them. “I was with Uncle Danny.”
“Yeah, well,” Jack zips up her jacket and shoves the beanie down over her long hair, “Uncle Daniel is going to stay with me too.”
Cassie giggles, and Jack smiles back at her and swings her up onto his shoulders, deciding it’ll be easier to remove the temptation. Maybe at nearly twelve years old, she’s too old to be carried like this, but he’s not going to be the one who loses her. He turns around to get Daniel moving and finds the space beside them empty of archaeologists. “Oh, for crying out loud,” he growls, “now where did he go?”
“He’s there!” Cassie points at the next display of castles near the entrance gate.
Jack gives a short, sharp whistle. Daniel will hate it, and probably complain both of their ears off, but it does the job; the man turns around and heads back to them (sure enough, scowling).
“Uncle Jack, you should hold Uncle Daniel’s hand,” Cassie advises wisely. “That’s what mom does when we’re someplace really crowded.”
“That sounds like a great plan, sport,” Jack agrees, smirking at Daniel when the younger man gives him the stink eye as he grabs his hand as soon as he’s close enough. He gives it a moment, navigating the crowd at the ticket booth, before stirring the pot. “This is great. Maybe I need to use this technique off-world, huh Daniel?”
“Don’t even think about it,” the younger man grumbles, but he doesn’t pull away from Jack’s firm grip. They wander onto the paths, and the issue is quickly forgotten as both of his companions are completely captivated by the sparkling Christmas light displays.
Much later, when he comes back from tucking Cassie into the guest bedroom, he finds Daniel fast asleep on the couch. Tugging a blanket in place over his friend and flipping the lights off to head to his own bed, Jack supposes maybe he owes Janet and Sam an apology. He won’t admit to ‘fun’, but he’ll admit to having a good night. Sometimes there are still Christmas miracles, and having some of the most important people in his life safe and soundly asleep under his roof probably qualifies.
