Author's Note: SO SORRY about the delay people! Yesterday was crazy and I got busy and distracted hence why I didn't post! My bad, y'all!

Enjoy!

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Chapter Five

Elam woke up twenty minutes after his parents' hushed conversation about their future as a family. The kid didn't seem notice anything out of the ordinary at first but after a few minutes, he seemed to remember the events of yesterday. When he caught sight of Daniel, his eyes widened and looked troubled.

"What's wrong, buddy?" Daniel asked in concern, taking in his son's face.

Elam looked between the two adults before settling on Daniel. "I forgot again," he whispered, worried that his parents would be upset, "sorry."

Daniel gave him a reassuring smile. "You did nothing wrong," he told him, "I already knew."

"You did?" Elam gasped in surprise.

"You may look remarkably like your Uncle Kelson, but you have my eyes, kid," Daniel stated fondly, "When I look at you, I see elements of me and I know I'm your dad."

"Mama thought you would figure it out."

Vala raised her eyebrows. "Did I now?" she asked in surprise and smiled at Elam's insistent nod. "Well, there's no harm done, darling."

"You weren't supposed to know," Elam insisted, "Auntie Sam said you couldn't. I messed up."

"Elam, you're five, this isn't your fault," Daniel said calmly, "We're not mad nor will we be if you accidentally say anything else. Just do your best to keep your promise to Aunt Sam. But in the meantime, we won't tell the others about this."

"But yous still be my daddy?"

"Of course I will," he promised, "that's never going to change. I know it's horrible to ask you this, but you need to try and keep your promise to Aunt Sam and your mother. While you can't call me dad in front of the others, you can when we're alone. But I'm not going anywhere, I'm always gonna be your dad from now on."

"Will you, mama, or Auntie Sam be mad if I call you 'daddy' in front of the others?"

"No, darling," Vala jumped in and gathered him into her arms, "Besides, eventually, they're all gonna find out anyway, so just do your best."

"Okay," he chirped, "I's hungry."

The adults laughed at the abrupt change of topic and agreed to get food before getting up from the bed to put on their BDUs. This probably wasn't the first time Elam had seen his parents in such a state of undress since he didn't bat an eye at the fact that they only wore underwear and a shirt. Vala wondered if they had all shared the same quarters in the other timeline and if this was a typical morning for her son. Guess she would never truly know.

Fully dressed, Vala checked her watch for the time and winced. She shot Daniel a look. "We're late," she informed him, "both of us."

Daniel caught her double meaning and merely smiled, picking up Elam. "They were going to find out sooner or later."

"I know…I just didn't think it would happen hours after…you know."

"Are you okay with them knowing?" Daniel asked cautiously, a little worried, "Is it too soon for you?"

"For me?" she asked incredulously, "Daniel, I was worried about you. I know how private you are about this stuff."

"It's not too soon for me," he assured her, "I'll admit, I don't want to have a heart to heart with the team about it, but I couldn't care less if they know."

Vala stepped closer to her boys, tilting her head as she surveyed Daniel. "Did you hit your head yesterday?"

"Uhh, no. That was you," he replied, "I should be the one who's concerned here. Maybe last night only happened because you sustained a more serious head injury that we thought."

"Mama's head is hurted still?" Elam interrupted their conversation, worry evident, "Is she gonna be okay?"

"No darling, I'm fine," she soothed, stroking his head, "Daddy's just being silly and letting his own insecurities get the better of him."

"Well, daddy has a perfectly reasonable excuse to worry about how last night may have been the result of a more serious brain injury and how mommy may not have meant to say a certain something."

"Oh, mommy can say with certainty that she meant everything she said and regrets nothing from last night. She was only worried about daddy and his strange behavior and was just checking that he didn't regret anything from last night."

"Never," Daniel stated vehemently, "Besides, mommy and daddy already discussed this earlier."

Before Vala could form a rebuttal, Elam interjected, "Are yous flirting?" his face was scrunched in confusion and his question caused his parents to look at him. At their expressions, he went on, "Uncle Cam says when you talk like that, yous flirting. What does that mean?"

"Nothing!" Vala immediately responded, "Nothing important, my love."

Elam accepted her answer and moved on. "Can we get food now?"

Daniel chuckle and set him down but grabbed his hand while Vala grabbed the other. "Yeah, let's go eat."

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Daniel couldn't find it in himself to let go of Elam's hand once they made it to the mess. Thankfully, only Sam seemed to notice but he had a feeling that she already knew all that was needed to know. Sam gave him a knowing smile but also a look assuring him that she wouldn't say anything. Taking a seat at the table with a tray of food, Elam sandwiched between him and Vala, Mitchel finally seemed to notice them.

"Morning sleepyheads," Mitchel greeted, "What took you so long?"

"Oh you know me," Vala brushed off nonchalantly, though if he really looked at her, he'd see that she hadn't even ran a brush through her hair, just gathered it into a simple ponytail.

"Right," Mitchel said slowly, a little suspicious, but let it go. "So Elam, I'm just gonna assume I'm your godfather."

"No, Uncle Teal'c is," the five-year-old corrected.

"Oh come on!" Mitchel complained, "he's not even from Earth!"

"Neither am I," Vala pointed out.

"That's not the point!" Mitchel argued, "How could I, the fun uncle, not be the godfather?"

"What makes you so sure you're the fun uncle?" Sam challenged with a smirk.

"I'm up against Teal'c and Daniel," he stated like it was obvious, "of course I'm the fun uncle."

"Yet apparently I chose Teal'c, despite your fun uncle status," Vala joked.

"Minor oversight," Mitchel took a sip of his coffee, "you can make it up to me by making me this one's godfather."

Both Daniel and Vala choked their food/drink at the man's words, looking at him like he was insane; he even received odd looks from the rest of the table.

"Excuse me?" Vala squeaked out.

"You know, the kid you're carrying now," Mitchel gestured to her midsection, "obviously you can't call him Elam, but at least I can be that one's godfather. How does that work anyways, them being the same person, but five years apart?"

Chaos erupted and everyone besides Teal'c spoke at once.

"What are you talking about?" Daniel and Vala asked together.

"Mama has a baby in her tummy?" Elam ask excitedly, "I get a baby brother or sister?"

"Oh boy," Sam said, completely amused.

"Say what now?" was Landry's reaction.

Hearing Elam's question and still reeling from what Cam had insinuated, Vala snapped, "I'm not pregnant!" the table fell silent and twisted in her seat to face Elam, "There's no baby in my tummy, darling, so no brother or sister I'm afraid."

"Oh," Elam said in disappointment and stared at his food.

"Wait, wait," Mitchel waved his hands to grab everyone's attention, "how is that possible? You have to be or else where the hell did Elam come from?"

"Language," Vala and Daniel said together.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry," he quickly apologized, "Explain to me how he's here if you're not pregnant."

Vala hesitated, not sure if she should answer or not, but did it really matter now? She had already told all of them that she wasn't pregnant and the only other explanation for Elam's existence was the truth. She sighed. "He was conceived and born inside the dilation field."

Everyone besides Cam didn't look to surprised and Vala was sure they had already made the connection Elam had to Daniel by now – all but Cam.

"But that would mean one of us…" he trailed off as he realized what it actually meant.

"I'm his father," Daniel declared quite proudly and shot Sam an apologetic look, "Sorry Sam, but I don't know how the other you thought this would stay a secret."

"I don't think she thought it actually would," Sam commented, "but she had to try."

"I'm sorry, you're what?" Mitchel's brain finally caught up.

"Come now Colonel," Landry spoke up, amused, "surely that can't be too much of a shock!"

"Elam Jackson does indeed possess Daniel Jackson's eyes," Teal'c added, "Daniel Jackson would also be the most likely assumption as Elam Jackson's father."

"Thanks," Daniel said slowly, "I think."

"And you two have no recollection of that timeline whatsoever?" Mitchel asked and when they shook their heads 'no,' he sighed in relief. "Anything else I should know?"

They glanced at each other real quick before shifting back to Cam. "Well, we're gonna raise him together, if that's what you're wondering," Daniel revealed.

"That and we've decided to start dating," Vala interjected.

Cam groaned, burying his head into his arms. "Oh God," he moaned dramatically.

"Romantic relationships between teammates are generally frowned upon," General Landry informed them in a scolding manner.

"But not against regulations," Daniel argued, "We're not Military so it technically isn't against any rules."

"While that may be true, there are reasons why it's frowned upon."

"And we understand that," Daniel told him, "we'll respect that and make sure we don't let it interfere when we're off world or anything."

"See to it you do or else I'll have to reevaluate if SG-1 is the right team for one or both of you."

"Yes sir," Daniel and Vala acknowledged.

"Can I call Daniel daddy again?" Elam broke the tense silence that had befallen the table.

Daniel slid Elam onto his lap. "Yes, you can call me daddy now."

"Good, it was weird calling you Daniel." Elam commented, wrinkling his nose at the thought.

His comment made the adults chuckle.

"This is weird; that's gonna take some getting used to," Mitchel stated as he stared at the trio.

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed.

"You're not the ones who became instant parents to a five-year-old," Vala pointed out.

"Touché," Mitchel gave her that.

"When will we get to Earth?" Elam asked.

"Good question, young man," Landry noted and turned to Sam. "Colonel?"

"Roughly fifty-three hours," Sam replied, "just over two days. We should within communications range with Earth sometime in the next twenty-eight to thirty hours."

"Very good. Alert me when we can contact Earth," Landry ordered as he got up from the table and then left the room after Sam gave him affirmation.

Once the General was gone, Mitchel stared down the two new parents. "So…you two, huh?"

"Nope, not talking about it," Daniel immediately responded, "We're together and that's all you need to know; anything else is none of your business."

"Seriously?" he asked incredulous, "I spend the last year or so watching you two dance around this and when it finally happens, that's all I get?"

"Yep!" Vala answered that one.

"Unbelievable!"

Elam's head turned to Daniel, still in his father's lap. "Is Uncle Cam mad?"

"No darling, he's just having a small tantrum," Vala said/teased with a smirk.

"I am not!" the Colonel denied.

"Is Uncle Cam gonna have to go on timeout or have something taken away?" Elam inquired, "That's what happens when I'm bad."

Sam, Daniel, and Vala snorted while Teal'c smiled at the boy's words. Though his parents couldn't picture him ever being bad in any way. Up until now, he seemed perfectly behaved, but then again, they hadn't known him for a full twenty-four hours so who knew? Guess they would find that out eventually.

"No, he'll probably just get all the unfun jobs when we start repairing the ship," Daniel replied teasingly.

"Very funny, Jackson," Mitchel said deadpanned.

"Speaking of the ship," Sam intervened, "we really should get started on repairs once we're done eating; there's a lot that needs to be done."

The adults all made a sound in agreement and went back to their food, the small talk turning into damage assessment and best strategy to tackle it. There was a lot to do and while they'd probably be fine for the rest of the journey back to Earth, fixing as much as they could was always a good idea in case they ran into any more trouble. They didn't even know the extent of the damage, which was their first priority to find out. They also didn't know what systems were affected by the Ori attack or how bad it was. Poor Elam, it was going to be a boring few days for him since the main focus had to be the ship and any major repairs that had to be done.

"Why does the food taste weird?" Elam broke up the shop talk and when everyone all stared at him, he innocently asked, "What?"

It earned him another chuckle from the table and Vala went on to try and explain while Sam continued to lay out the ground work for the repairs.

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Author's Note: So, just a little filler/fluff chapter before we start really getting into it.

Thoughts so far? Whatcha all think about Elam? He's loosely based on this boy I nannied for over six years - that kid was like a son to me and I still love him like one. Anyways, need to know if Elam is a believable/likable character and/or if I'm letting my love for the kid I used to nanny blind me to certain faults.

Also, I know all of us have seen this type of story (just noticed that someone recently posted one a few days before mine - my bad) but I'm hoping I was able to put a unique twist on it so it's not the same or comparable. Let me know what you think.