Chapter Seven

After their heart to heart, Jack went to work on getting Vala and Kenan permission to live off base, with the promise that Daniel would be directly supervising both of them. With the Earth members of SG-1, General Landry, and General O'Neill all giving glowing recommendations for Vala, the powers that be finally gave in and consented. Daniel was sure one of the selling points was Kenan. The SGC was no place for a child, especially one who had been separated from his mother for over three years. Even the IOA, NID, and anyone else with a say wasn't that heartless. Besides, meaning to or not, the boy could easily get in the way and impede the function of the SGC – Daniel wasn't convinced of this. Kenan did not have his mother's propensity for trouble and had been essentially an angel the last few days.

It had been four days since they brought Kenan to Earth and all three of them spent most of their time together in Daniel's office. Vala had grumbled that she was bored but Daniel knew she secretly loved every moment, bored or not. She loved watching Kenan's excitement as he learned all that Daniel was willing to teach on various aspects of his job. They had yet to take him outside and he was starting to get antsy. Though he may love learning about languages and dead civilizations, he still was only five years old.

During those four days, while Daniel and Vala waited to hear back on the decision whether or not Vala could live off base, they had been looking at houses. Was it too soon to do so? Yeah, probably was, but they both knew where this would end up. Daniel had essentially asked her to marry him on Lyria when he suggested they get married in order to force the higher ups to allow Vala off the base permanently. They also wanted to get Kenan settled and establish a routine for him. There was also the matter of birth certificate, social security number, and other such documents for him that needed to be squared away. That was Jack's next task to tackle and he was determined to get all that expedited, along with anything else Vala may need.

Anyways, back to the house hunting, they had found a potential house that was located close to the base. It looked perfect in the photos and Vala and Daniel made an appointment to take a closer look with Kenan. Carolyn wanted to wait a full week before letting Kenan out into the world, for both his safety and the general population. Kenan had gotten several inoculations during his first medical exam and while Carolyn didn't find anything wrong with him, no disease or anything like that, she wanted to give it a week, just in case. So the house tour was scheduled for the agreed upon day.

On day five of being back on Earth, Vala was requested on the planet SG-3 had been assigned to. They had discovered a large piece Goa'uld technology and since Vala was the go-to girl for all Goa'uld technology (she had the most knowledge and experience given her time as a host and her previous occupation. Sam was also unavailable due to other reasons). General Landry didn't order her to but strongly requested it. Vala reluctantly agreed. This was her job, at least for now. Maybe she'd make a change later on but until then, she'd do the job she had worked too hard earn. Kenan hadn't taken it well, afraid history was repeating itself. It had taken over an hour for both Vala and Daniel to calm him down and assure him she was coming back and it was only a short trip. Daniel promised Kenan he'd be with him the whole time and that they'd do whatever the little man wanted.

Daniel took Kenan to the Embarkation room to see Vala off. It was a touching moment, to see Vala say goodbye to Kenan, promising she'd back in a few hours. Once she stepped through the 'Gate, Kenan had clung to Daniel, he being the only familiar figure out of everyone on the base. Daniel took him back to his office, hoping to cheer him up with some new artifacts SG-12 had brought back, but the boy remained glum. As he sat across from Kenan, Daniel tapped his pencil against his note as he tried to think of what he could do to cheer him up. He abruptly dropped his pencil and stood.

"C'mon," he encouraged Kenan to stand and take his hand.

"Where we going?" the five year old inquired as they walked down the corridors.

"You'll see," Daniel promised with a smile and led the two of them into the elevator.

Kenan didn't ask anymore questions as they stepped out of the elevator once they hit their floor and Daniel didn't offer any information. He frowned confusingly as Daniel led him down a long hallway, signed something on a paper before going to the end of the tunnel. When they got to the end, Kenan's face lit up as he took in the new surroundings. Daniel's heart melted at the child's expression. While he knew Vala would've wanted to be here for this, Danie knew it had been the right call to bring Kenan to the surface.

"We're outside!" Kenan stated the obvious as he spun around to look around him.

It was only the entrance and the view of the parking lot wasn't that exciting, but Kenan didn't seem to mind or notice. "Yeah, we are," Daniel confirmed before tugging the hand he still held, "C'mon, I have something I wanna show you."

Kenan grinned widely and eagerly followed Daniel. Not far from the entrance or parking was some green space complete with a small field of grass for Kenan to run around in before it broke off into trees and shrubbery. There was even a nice scenic spot Daniel liked to go to when he had a bad day, which, lets face it, was often. It had a gorgeous view and at night, thousands upon thousands of stars were visible. Seeing the empty, green space, Kenan's excitement grew.

"It's pretty!" he exclaimed, "Does all of Earth look like this?"

"No, not really. Some places do, but then we have other parts that are completely different. We have beaches, rivers, deserts, mountains, and so much in between."

"Oh," Kenan said, thoughtfully before bouncing on his feet, "Can I go play?"

"Of course," Daniel agreed and dropped his hand.

Daniel suddenly wished he had the foresight to bring the baseball mitts they had used back on Lyria, but dismissed the oversight when Kenan sprinted off to discover the secrets Earth had to offer. He peppered Daniel with question of what type of planets and flowers were in the field. Questioned him on the structures he could see from their vantage point and Daniel happily and patiently answered every question.

So much curiosity in such a small boy, Daniel thought fondly as he continued to enjoy Kenan discovering things about his new home. The simplest things brought joy and excitement to Kenan, things that Daniel often took for granted or simply didn't even thing about. It was a beautiful thing - to see the world through a child's eye, even more so when that child wasn't even from the planet. When was the last time he stopped and looked around him at the beauty the earth had to offer? He saw and acknowledged it almost daily on new planets but had stopped doing so on his own.

"Daniel?" Kenan's voice broke Daniel out of his thoughts.

The two of them were lying on the grass, watching the clouds go by. Daniel turned his head to the side to look at Kenan. "What's up, little man?"

"Mama's coming back, right?" the vulnerability in his voice damn near broke Daniel.

Daniel rolled onto his stomach. "She is, buddy, I promise," he knew he shouldn't promise things like that, not in his line of work.

"What if something bad happens to her?"

"Nothing bad is going to happen to her."

"Would I hafta go to live with Tante Junia again?" Kenan continued as if he hadn't heard Daniel.

"Nothing is going to happen to your mom, Kenan," Daniel tried again, "but if, if, something did, well if you wanted to go back to Tante Junia's then you would."

"Could I stay with you?" he asked meekly.

Daniel felt like his heart would burst. Kenan hadn't even known Daniel for a full two weeks and the fact that even after such a short period of time, he would want to remain with Daniel, made Daniel want to cry. What was it about this kid that made Daniel fall so hard and fast for him? There's no way him just being Vala's kid would've had that kind of effect. No, this boy was just so special in his very own way that one couldn't help but fall in love with him.

"If that what you want, yes. I would love that," Daniel responded, trying not to get choked up, "but nothing is going to happen to mama. She won't allow it," he added playfully.

"When are we gonna live with you?"

Daniel blinked at the abrupt change of topic and took a moment to answer. "Uhh, why do you ask?"

"I heard you and mama talking about houses," he answered, "Does that mean we get to live with you soon?"

"No, not necessarily," he replied honestly, "Is that something you're still okay with?"

"Yes," he blurted out quickly, "So, we are going to live with you?"

Daniel chuckled at his persistence. "Yes, once we find a place and everything is all squared away, we'll all live together."

"Does that mean you'll be marrying mama now?"

Damn, this kid wanted to move fast. Daniel couldn't blame him since he wanted to go the same speed. "I'd like to," he admitted softly, "It might be too soon, but do I have your permission?"

Kenan grinned and nodded enthusiastically. "That means you'll be my pa – dad, right?" Kenan corrected himself, testing the new word. He had picked up on the fact that most people here called their fathers dad and not papa.

"Kinda, yeah," Daniel replied, "I would adopt you, but once I marry your mom, yeah, I'd be your step-dad."

Kenan's face scrunched up. "Do I have to call you step-dad?"

Daniel chuckled and shook his head gently. "No, not if you didn't want to."

"Could I call you dad?"

"If you want to, yeah. Or you could call me Daniel if that makes you more comfortable."

"I like dad or papa better," Kenan stated.

Daniel snickered lightly. "Okay then. Do me a favor and don't tell you mom about this. I want it to be a surprise. Can you do that?"

"Yes!"

"Awesome!" he high fived the boy and then looked at the time. "We should go grab some dinner. We missed lunch."

Kenan was up on his feet within seconds, making Daniel chuckled again. One of the few things he inherited from his mother was her bottomless appetite.

At the tail end of dinner, Vala returned to Earth with the Goa'uld device in tow. When she popped into the commissary after her post-op check-up, she was met with a very eager and relieved little boy. Vala, glad to be home, relished the hugs and kisses she received from her son. When she inquired what they did to keep themselves occupied, Kenan told her all about their trip up to the surface. Daniel shot her an apologetic look when she glanced at him but didn't seem too angry or upset about it. She was just glad Daniel had taken Kenan's mind off of her absence and enjoyed their time together.

Kenan had kept his promise not to mention Daniel's future plans to propose and Vala spent the rest of the night in the company of her two favorite males, none the wiser.

Author's Note: So I rushed it a bit, hope that was okay and that it wasn't a mistake. As much as I would love to write more bonding scenes, it would honestly end up more boring. Those with kids or who babysit or whatever, know that you normally just play with children throughout the day, doing various things. For about four years, I spent most of the day learning and relearning about firetrucks, dump trucks (trash trucks), and tractors while playing with each. That was all my little man wanted to talk about or play with and it was how we bonded. Any TV we watched normally had one of those elements in it.

So as you can see, it might've been a snooze fest had a written such scenes. Again, let me know your thoughts and if it was a mistake to rush through the chapter a bit.