Daniel nodded; then yawned as he stretched out his arms while still seated on the sofa. He closed his eyes, about to involuntarily succumb to sleep on the old, but very comfortable sofa in the living room of their country-style home.
Jack chuckled, “Angel, bed.”
“Huh?” Daniel asked, reacting to the statement without really hearing it.
“It's been a long day, and tomorrow will be even longer. We have to go Christmas shopping,” Jack reminded.
“Oh, yeah,” the younger man sighed as he stood up. “All those moms. I swear, Jack, they're worse than the Goa'uld when they're shopping for presents.”
“Have to have the 'in' gift, Danny,” Jack remarked, reaching out to take his lover's hand. “Together?”
Daniel nodded, and the two began their nightly routine of looking in on their children, beginning with Jennifer, their oldest, since her room was over the garage and separate from the main upstairs section of the home.
Neither man noticed that when Daniel had stood up, the remote control to the television had fallen to the floor. Normally, they kept the remote well out of the reach of their youngest children.
While they trusted thirteen-year-old Jennifer and the very responsible seven-and-a-half-year-old David to follow the guidelines they'd laid out for television watching, Chenoa and the triplets, better known as the Munchkins, were a bit too young to rely on in that respect.
Of course, the twins were too young to have to worry about that at all yet, since they were just over a year old. The Munchkins, though, were a very precocious two, while Chenoa had just turned three in October.
“Danny, looks like the girls want to go out,” Jack noted when the couple returned to the living room to take the stairs up to the second floor. “Why don't you check on David, and I'll meet you in the nursery when the girls are done taking care of business.”
“Ohhh...uh...<yawn>...kay,” the almost-zombie-like younger man replied as he headed upstairs.
Jack chuckled, shaking his head, and then attended to their beagles, Bijou and Katie.
====
“Jonny, we 'pose wait,” Little Danny said from his spot in the large crib he slept in.
Though two years old now, the Munchkins still slept in their extra-large crib, a situation that their parents knew needed to be rectified soon. The boy looked over at the other crib in the room, seeing his youngest brother and sister, Ricky and Jenny, were both still asleep. Aislinn, the youngest of the triplets, was also still sleeping, although she seemed on the verge of waking up.
“No wait,” Jonny insisted, climbing over and out of the crib. For a toddler, the oldest Munchkin was very agile, and his motor skills had always been well above average, even as a newborn. “Come.”
“Grrrr,” Bijou warned.
“Shhh, Bij. It okay,” Jonny advised.
Little Danny quietly climbed down, although he missed the last 'step' and ended up on his butt.
“Ouch!” the little boy exclaimed, reaching back and rubbing his back side.
“No be baby,” Jonny whined.
“Not baby,” Little Danny insisted.
Jonny and Little Danny began to toddle out of the nursery when they heard their sister call out, “Where go?”
Jonny looked back at Aislinn and shrugged, asking, “You come?”
“Ash come,” the little girl answered, climbing out of the crib, although she got her finger caught in one of the crib grooves. “Hurt,” she said, holding out her finger.
Little Danny toddled over, kissed the finger, and asked, “Better?”
Aislinn smiled and held out her finger to Jonny, who adamantly shook his head; that is, until his sister began to sniffle.
“Gee, Ash,” Jonny griped and then kissed her finger.
Aislinn grinned and again asked, “Where go?”
“Let go,” Jonny commanded, taking the lead of the 'escape' from the nursery, although he really didn't know where they were going or why; he just loved the adventure of the 'escape'.
Bijou shook herself, did a quick check on the twins and Chenoa, who was still fast asleep on her bed in the nursery, and then followed the Munchkins out of the room. Using her nose to push open the door that had been left slightly ajar, she entered Jack and Daniel's bedroom, seeing them still sound asleep.
“Woof!” the beagle called out.
“Not now, Jack, tired,” Daniel mumbled into his husband's chest.
“Down, girl,” Jack spoke at the same time, patting Daniel on the head as if he were the mama beagle.
Both men licked their lips and then returned to sleep.
“Grrrr,” Bijou growled before turning and running after the triplets to check on them.
====
“Jonny, thingy,” Aislinn pointed out as she spotted the remote control on the floor.
“TV!” Jonny exclaimed.
“What button?” Little Danny asked as the three children lined up on the sofa, sitting in their birth order.
Jonny shrugged and simply began pushing buttons until, finally, the television turned on. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, the volume was fairly low, though still loud enough for them to hear it.
Aislinn gasped, while Little Danny's eyes grew wide. Jonny cocked his head to one side. The triplets looked at each other and then back at the screen.
Something was very, very wrong.
“We hide?” Aislinn asked, afraid of being punished.
“They find us,” Little Danny opined.
“No break,” Jonny insisted.
====
Meanwhile, Jack and Daniel had finally awoken, having heard the cries of Ricky and Jenny over the monitor. Having entered the nursery, they were stunned to see the Munchkins were gone.
“Jack?”
“Danny, they're just downstairs,” Jack replied. “Bij is gone; she'll be with them. You take care of the twins, and I'll go find the ragamuffins,” he suggested.
Daniel sighed. His anxiety level had risen sharply in just a few brief seconds, but at the same time, he couldn't help but be amazed at the Munchkins' antics. They were always up to something, and he was sure that Jonny was, as usual, the ring leader.
~Just like his father,~ the archaeologist mused, ready to blame Jack for all the 'bad' traits their children exhibited.
====
The Air Force general hurried downstairs, more worried than he had let on to his soulmate. He was sure the children were okay and hadn't wanted Daniel to worry; yet, three creative triplets loose on their own could mean all kinds of mischief, and a part of him was definitely concerned. Reaching the end of the stairs, he could hear the television. Seconds later, he saw the Munchkins sitting on the sofa with odd expressions on their faces.
Suddenly, Aislinn's eyes widened as she saw their older father, and she exclaimed a bit fearfully, “We no break.”
Jack was confused, especially when Jonny and Little Danny nodded in agreement with her.
Being the oldest, Jonny scooted off the sofa and quickly approached Jack, saying, “Dad, TV broken.”
Jack saw the boy pointing at the television set and walked a few steps further so that he could see the electronic media in question.
“Looks fine to me, Son,” Jack stated, smiling at the episode of “Daniel Boone” that was playing on TV Land. ~Good show; haven't seen it in years.~
“No color,” Jonny stated. “Dad, where color?”
“We no break,” Little Danny said, shaking his head while still sitting next to Aislinn on the sofa. He took his sister's hand protectively and asked her, “Right, Ash?”
“Right; no break,” Aislinn agreed.
Jack laughed, walking over to the sofa and sitting down next to Little Danny. He motioned for Jonny to join them, picking up his namesake and placing him on his lap a second later.
“There's nothing wrong with the television,” Jack explained.
“Where color?” Jonny asked again in an exasperated tone.
“There is none, at least not in this show. Wait for the commercials to come on, and then there will be lots of color,” Jack answered.
“Where color?” Aislinn asked.
Jack laughed, “Ash, when television was first invented, there wasn't any color.”
“No color?” Jonny gasped in astonishment.
“Everything was just like this show was, black and white. It's great,” Jack opined.
“Dad sick,” Little Danny opined, shaking his head at the comment.
“Hey, black and white TV is the bestest,” the silver-haired man responded.
“Dad sick,” Aislinn whispered to the middle Munchkin, nodding at the same time.
“We still love you,” Jonny opined, giving his father a hug.
“Thank you, Son,” Jack chuckled.
====
“So, where were they?” Daniel asked quietly when Jack returned upstairs a few minutes later. He was dressing the twins. “Noa's still sleeping, so ...”
Jack nodded, not wanting to disturb the curly-haired girl, and softly answered, “I feel old.”
“Jack ...”
“The Munchkins think I'm sick,” Jack informed, still amused by what he'd experienced downstairs.
“Sick? Why?” Daniel asked as he buttoned the back of Jenny's red blouse that matched her red hair.
“Because I told them the world used to be black and white,” Jack sighed, shaking his head as he picked up Ricky and smiled at him.
“Jack, speak English,” Daniel requested.
“They thought they'd broken the TV,” the other man clarified. “We must have left the remote control on the sofa. They found it, turned it on, and got an old rerun on TV Land - in black and white.”
“Oh,” Daniel chuckled.
“Too many cartoons, Angel,” Jack stated. “It's time to give them some quality TV lessons, the 'real' TV.”
“In black and white?” Daniel questioned with a cute, dimply smile.
“Is there any other, aside from 'The Simpsons', of course?” Jack asked.
“I take the fifth,” Daniel answered as he put on Jenny's shoes.
“Fifth? Bad memory, Daniel,” Jack stated, shuddering in mock terror as he recalled the replicator named 'Fifth' whom they'd done battle with a few years ago.
Daniel rolled his eyes; then made a face at Jenny, who laughed.
“They've seen black and white before, Love, but, uh, I guess it just didn't sink in for some reason,” the younger man commented. “They are only two.”
“There's that,” Jack acknowledged.
With Ricky still in his arms, Jack turned around and started towards the door.
“Where are you going?”
Smiling as he continued to walk, the general answered, “To add black and white to a color world. We'll start with some 'Twilight Zone', maybe a little ...”
“Jack, they're too young for that,” Daniel argued.
“I'll make sure the shows aren't scary,” Jack insisted. Seeing his lover's scowl, he added, “Okay, we'll go for a little 'Father Knows Best' or maybe some 'Andy Griffith' or ... wait, I think I have a tape of 'The Mickey Mouse Club' around here somewhere. That's what they need -- Mickey in black and white.” He bounced Ricky in his arms and musically intoned, “M-i-c ... see you in black and white ... K-e-y ... why? because we love it! M-o-u-s-e ... Mickey Mouse, yeah!”
Daniel laughed, grinning at their youngest daughter as he mused, “Yes, that's your dad -- he makes anything black and white colorful. Isn't he wonderful?”
The redheaded girl giggled as Daniel hugged her. There certainly was no lack of color in the world of the Jackson-O'Neills.
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