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Chapter Three: School Day

After pulling on his shoes and getting some shoes on Johnny, Daniel slipped his book bag over his head so it settled on one hip then reached down to pick up Johnny again. Unlike his siblings, Johnny was quite a bit smaller than his sisters were at six and what Zale and Zada were at six so it wasn't hard to cart him around on a bad day but they both made sure Johnny knew this coddling was circumstantial, not normal course of action.

Daniel looked down and found Zale looking up with those expectant blue eyes. He was standing tall with his little book bag ready to go. Daniel smiled and looked back to Jack who was looking at them with a quirky little smile on his face.

"What?" Daniel asked with a laugh.

"My boys, all my handsome boys," Jack said with a smile then leaned down and kissed Zale on the forehead then hugged Daniel and Johnny close. He kissed Johnny on the head and turned to kiss Daniel gently on the lips. Daniel felt the love in those lips as he always did and returned the kiss for a moment before pulling away and walking away from the house. Zale was walking next to him, swinging his arms with happy abandon and Johnny was looking around, curious enough to care where they were going at least.

Over the last decade some things had changed and others stayed the same. Daniel still taught languages and history to the people of the Vannas Island. Jack still taught special fighting techniques that didn't rely on magical abilities, so did Teal'c. Daniel had an office, set office hours in the arena building where the guys taught. One thing that had changed was that with so many kids at least two went to work with them almost every day, it was no more a surprise to either Jack's warriors or Daniel's students especially after Adrian and DK moved out about four years ago when their daughter Daniella was born. Daniel's namesake spent much of her time with Daniel and Jack's kids anyway but not as often now that Jack's namesake, Neil was born a couple years ago.

It had always been important to Jack and Daniel that their children weren't raised by child care but they had date nights, more so before Johnny was born as he needed more immediate care and didn't like too many strangers being around him. Luckily Teal'c and Sam or Adrian didn't count as strangers to their littlest boy. And though they made sure to spend the time together, most of their lives revolved around their beautiful family, as it should have been.

"Daddy, why is Johnny sad?" Zale asked, bringing Daniel's attention back to his surroundings as they turned off the main path towards the arena.

"I think he saw something scary, something he didn't want to see so I am going to stay close to him and keep reminding him that he is safe and all of you are safe."

Zale reached up and took Johnny's hand which was loosely gripping Daniel's elbow, to squeeze it and Daniel knew Zale was sending his little brother loving feelings especially when Johnny smiled shyly down at Zale before the older brother released the younger one. Daniel loved that their children never let it matter that half of them weren't biologically related to the others. Zale may not have been Johnny's blood but none of them knew the difference.

"Can we see Uncle Adrian and Auntie Demi today?" Zale asked.

"Possibly, we'll have to wait and see."

Zale nodded and Daniel was pleased to see his son more energetic than he was this morning. They made it to the arena area after a few minutes walk and met up with Sam who was working with some of the Vannas next generation on technologies that would work with Magis. "Hey Daniel," she said with a grin as she released the hand of her daughter who was a little older than Johnny, Ishtar was a beautiful girl with bobbing blonde hair that fell in waves around her thin shoulders and bright brown eyes from her big daddy. Daniel pointed Johnny in that direction and he smiled a little and asked to be put down. Daniel let go of his son and Johnny moved forward and waved at Ishtar. She waved back and patted his shoulder, as if she knew he was sad and scared from this morning. Ishtar started talking to Johnny and he would nod or shake his head in response, all the children accepted Johnny how he was so they learned ways of communicating with him on his terms.

"What you up to Sam?" he asked his long time geek sister.

"You know, just working the techno vs. Magis battle every day," she said with a chuckle. Daniel nodded and continued walking together. "What's up with the O'Neill entourage you got going here?" she asked.

"Zale asked to spend the morning with me," Daniel said as he smiled down at his son who smiled back up. "Johnny saw something that scared him so bad that he didn't want to leave me once Jack handed him over. You know how he gets when he's scared."

She nodded, "You are his life sized teddy bear."

"Yeah, as long as it helps I will always be okay with whatever he needs."

Sam paused and Daniel looked back at her even as Johnny and Ishtar walked a few feet ahead of them. Zale kept walking so he could keep up with his little brother and Sam started moving a second later but the gap allowed for a little more privacy for the adults. "What if I told you that I am putting some finishing touches on a way to access the visions, to get them out of his head? He could see what his ability could do and maybe not feel so helpless and scared."

"I think you would be our hero, especially Jack!" Daniel exclaimed, gripping her hands in excitement.

"Well I will keep you guys posted but Ishtar wanted to see Taylor so she is going to meet up with her at the arena and training center."

Daniel nodded, "Well if she wants to stay with Taylor, our kids are joining her later so Jack and I can have lunch together," Daniel said. He was sure that Taylor wasn't going to be alone with the children so one more wasn't going to make her too crazy especially since Zale and Zada didn't need to really be 'watched', they were always old souls since they were very young.

"Sure, lunch," Sam returned with a smirk. Daniel laughed and watched Sam race off after Ishtar before she turned and headed to the school building, the science stuff always happened in another building as it was a newer subject with Sam at the head and Daniel's classes were in another room. He called out to Johnny who immediately walked back to Daniel with Zale behind him.

As they entered his classroom, Adrian bounded forward. Even in his late twenties, he was still full of energy and never slowed down. "Hey Zale, how you doing kid?" he asked and leaned down to hug the grinning boy.

Adrian turned and rubbed his chest as he crouched down in front of Johnny. It was one of the signals that Adrian worked out, asking Johnny if he was okay and if the adult could hug him. Adrian had always been very present in the O'Neill-Jackson children's lives. Johnny nodded and reached out to hug Adrian tightly.

"What you doing here Adrian?" Daniel asked with a smile, the younger man was usually in Daniel's afternoon classes, spending most of his mornings with his son and daughter.

"DK and I traded so I could come this morning, I felt like Zale needed to see me," Adrian said with a wink. Zale grinned again and reached out to take Adrian's hand.

Daniel wasn't surprised, Zale and Zada had created such a strong bond with Adrian that he could sometimes sense when they weren't doing well emotionally or mentally. The bond with the children applied to Jack and Daniel as well but not as strongly because neither of them had magical abilities for the call to be answered in them. That's the way Erica and Akina had explained it years ago.

"Can I sit with Uncle Adrian?" Zale asked and Daniel nodded, rubbing his black mop of hair gently.

"Of course Z, you have to let Uncle Adrian listen in class though ok?"

Zale nodded, serious about his agreement. Daniel's little boy took learning and respecting the teacher, who was also Daddy, very seriously. They both turned to walk back to sit down in the first table, and Daniel watched as Zale tugged a notebook out of his backpack and started getting ready to take notes, it was a precious sight in Daniel's opinion. Johnny on the other hand found Kirkan Greer in the room, his little brother Greer sitting close by and Johnny looked up to Daniel to ask permission which Daniel gave with a gentle smile and nod. Johnny ran over to Kirkan and Greer who smiled as he got to them and Kirkan leaned down and started talking to Johnny in a quiet voice. Daniel turned to pull out his class materials, grateful for the people who did what they could to spoil and love his children even though they were a little different, their family coming from a different place and time. No one questioned whether any of the original team belonged here with the Vannas, each person had made contributions to the Vannas in their own ways and it couldn't be discounted anymore.

Kirkan and his brothers had constantly seen Johnny from the time he was a baby and Johnny had taken a shine to the Greer brothers. Little Greer was ten years old, according to a birthday celebration they recently had and Daniel wondered again how no one knew that Greer was clearly Akina's son. He had her green eyes with a ring of silver around the edge that made his eyes incredibly sharp and focused and his black hair and features reminded Daniel of William.

Since it was not his story to tell, Daniel said nothing and turned to start speaking to his class.