wordpress - Removing category base form links messes up the parent-child behavior -

cross posted here better visibility.

i using 'standard' trick category removal in wordpress. in permalinks set permalinks structure

/%category%/%postname%/ 

and category base

. 

which worked fine, until client said wants parent categories appear in header of article, , child categories show in footer of articles on home/index pages...

i've set up, problem child categories links now:

http://www.example.com/./parent_category/child_category 

and when click child category, sent latest article.

i've tried add in .htaccess

rewriterule ^category/(.+)$ http://www.example.com/$1 [r=301,l] 

but did nothing.

now works, when remove dot, links like:

http://www.example.com/category/parent_category/child_category 

and client explicitly doesn't want category/ in link...

other installing plugin, can do? how sort this? can have

http://www.example.com/parent_category/child_category 

as permalink, , if how achieve this?

edit

this plugin seems fix issue, great if didn't need 3rd party plugin :\