Title: Day of Beauty
Author: Chrysa
Email: chrysa9@aol.com
Rating: G
Category: Humor/fluff
Pairing: D/J
Summary: Daniel and his little girl.
Disclaimer: I don't own it. God, help us all if I did. Any character that you don't recognize as being part of SG-1 on TV is mine.
Author Note: Many thanks to Misty who beta read. This came out of a strange memory of my trying to stick curlers in my dad’s hair when I was little. Strange.
****
“Daddy?”
“Yes, dear?” Daniel replied absently as he tilted his head this way and that, trying to decipher the latest writings discovered by SG-11. He shook his head. No choice, he’d have to print them out if only-
“Daddy?”
The sharp tug at his knee nearly dislodged the laptop sitting across his thighs, and pulled Daniel’s attention off of his work. He looked over to see his four-year-old daughter, Madeline, glaring at him with angry chocolate eyes. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. What did you need?”
Maddy clambered up onto the couch to sit next to him, bringing her constant companion, a teddy bear named Walter, with her. Walter was named after Walter Harriman, the gate technician who’d given her the bear as a present. As a joke, Sam had had someone make a little gate technician’s suit for the bear, complete with glasses and a nametag. Today Walter wasn’t wearing glasses however; his suit was wearing some of the chocolate milk Maddy had been drinking earlier. It appeared Walter was due for a bath. Daniel made a mental note to snag Walter during nap time and toss him into the washing machine.
In the meantime, he lifted one arm and Maddy snuggled into his side. For a moment, she stared at the strange block writing on the screen as if trying to decipher it then dismissed it as unimportant and looked up at her father. “What is a ‘day of booty’?”
Daniel blinked, his mind immediately sliding down into the gutter before he was able to stop it. Then he realized what Maddy was talking about. “Oh! ‘Day of beauty’?” She nodded, her brown curls flopping back and forth. “Today is mommy’s day out with your aunts. Well…Mommy works really hard taking care of us and all the other people at work, so sometimes she needs to relax.” He turned the laptop towards her and put in a search for day spas. Then he showed her pictures of women getting their make up and hair done and getting manicures. “See? That’s what they do where Mommy goes, and when she comes home I take her out to dinner, and you get to spend time with Uncle Jack and Aunt Sam. She goes out and gets pretty.”
Maddy’s brow furrowed. “Mommy’s already pretty.”
Daniel kissed the top of her head. “Yes, she is. The attention makes her feel special.”
“Oh…Okay.” With that Maddy scrambled off the couch and dashed off.
“I wish I had that much energy.” Daniel sighed, shaking his head and turning back to work.
****
Sometime later, Daniel’s finely tuned sense of danger had him pausing in his work and looking around.
It was quiet.
Too quiet.
Where Maddy was concerned that usually spelled trouble. Now, whether that was trouble with a capital ‘T’ or a lowercase ‘t’ remained to be seen. Carefully, he put the laptop on the coffee table and started hunting around for his daughter. He met her coming out of the master bedroom with her little shopping basket tucked under one arm. Daniel looked down at her, his hands on his hips, and eyebrow raised in an admirable impression of Teal’c at his most intimidating. “Maddy,” he said sternly.
Maddy, stopped and gave him, what Sam called his, ‘I’m just humoring you, you mental gnat,’ look. One of many look she’d apparently inherited from him.
“You know you’re not supposed to go into our bedroom when one of us isn’t in there with you.”
She nodded at him still looking polite, but vaguely clueless, then grabbed his hand and dragged him back into the living room. In looks she favored Janet, but in demeanor Daniel was beginning to suspect she would be a great deal like him.
That pleased him to no end.
Maddy pulled him down to the floor in front of the coffee table and proceeded to carefully take out each piece of Janet’s beauty routine. Daniel watched as Maddy treated each piece like fine china, remembering several nights when Janet would place Maddy on her lap and include her in the things she did. Now it seemed that Maddy wanted to do the same for him. His daughter gave him a pleased look.
“I take it we’re having our own day of beauty?” Daniel asked, settling himself in for a long afternoon of play.
“Yes! Daddy’s speshal!” Maddy stood up and carefully picked up Janet’s heirloom hair brush and proceeded to gently comb his hair.
Daniel grinned at the feather light touches of the brush, and out of the corner of his eye he could see Maddy sticking out her tongue as she concentrated on brushing around his glasses. As she came around to his front to brush his bangs Daniel smiled at her. Maddy paused and smiled back at him. “Eskimo kiss?” she asked.
Daniel laughed as they brushed noses. He hugged her tightly. “You always make Daddy feel special, sweetie.” He let her go and she carefully put the brush back in her shopping basket. His eyebrow went up as she picked up a curler. “Honey?”
“Yes, Daddy?” She asked, trying to find a spot on his head to stick it.
“I think my hair’s too short for curlers.”
“Oh.” She patted his head as if making sure there were no hidden locks of hair.
“We could stick the curlers in your hair,” Daniel suggested tweaking one of her curls. Maddy handed him the curler and he picked up the hair brush. Gently, he worked the brush through her curls in her bangs, and rolled her hair. Then he sat her in his lap and rolled the rest of her hair, taking care not to pull too hard. Picking up Janet’s hand mirror he showed her the result.
Maddy tilted her head back and forth inspecting her father’s work.
“Do you like that? It’ll be very curly when we take them out.”
She nodded. “Good job.”
“Thank you. What’s next?”
Maddy bit her lip as she looked at Janet’s stuff. She pointed at Janet’s lipstick and gave Daniel a sneaky look.
Daniel narrowed his eyes at her. “No.”
Maddy nodded.
Daniel shook his head.
Maddy nodded emphatically.
“Honey, unless they’re in theater or the movies….or they’re like Sgt. Baker. Men don’t wear makeup.” He picked up Janet’s lipstick and had Maddy stand back up. “Open wide.” As he applied the lipstick to Maddy’s lips, then accidentally got it on her skin, Daniel suddenly realized why Janet liked using a lip brush. She had much better control that way. “Okay,” he said brushing the stray lipstick off her face. He smacked his lips together Maddy following suit. “Very pretty.”
Then Maddy picked up the nail polish and Daniel knew it was going to be a long day.
****
“I definitely needed this,” Janet said to Sam as they walked in the front door. She ran her fingers through her hair and smiled. “So, what-“
“The hell happened here?” Sam finished for her as they took a look at the living room.
Spread out on the coffee table were boxes of juice, cookies, half a sandwich and Daniel’s laptop along with Janet’s skin care line and make up. Passed out on the couch was Daniel, his face covered in a dried and flaking mud mask. He had one arm thrown up over his eyes and a cleansing cloth stuck to his forehead and one end of it was flapping up and down with each exhalation of breath.
“Janet is that-“
“Nail polish?” Janet moved in closer to inspect a hand. “Yup, ‘crimson tide.’” She took a good look at her daughter, who was lying on his chest fast asleep. The curlers in Maddy’s hair had been pushed and pulled out of position as she slept, and were now sticking out at crazy angles. Apparently, she’d gotten into the cold cream as well, judging from the streaks on her face and what was mashed into Daniel’s shirt. Plus, she had dried mud mask on her hands and had managed to mash that into Daniel’s shirt as well. Was that her best lipstick? Janet shook her head. Of all the things they could have done today…
“Janet?” Sam snickered. “He’s got it on his toes.”
Janet clapped a hand over her mouth and they had to move down the hall before she burst out laughing.
“Jack’s never going to believe this when I tell him,” Sam snickered.
“I’ll get the camera.”
The end
