A/N Thanks for waiting for the chapter!
Lola took Janet's hand, and they all made their way to the front of the zoo. Missy and Laney were waiting at the front with the kids. Davis began waving wildly as Lola got closer.
"My boyfriend is here!" Lola jumped up and down.
"Does her dad know about this boyfriend?" Frank asked, chuckling.
"Yeah! He is not happy about it but Davis is so sweet that dad can't stay mad at him!" Devlin explained.
Frank smiled. He never imagined becoming a grandfather because Cam focused more on his work, plus Cam was a shy kid. It surprised him when they got a phone call Cam was adopting a boy. Wendy was over the moon that she was becoming a grandmother. How he got the boy was classified, but Devlin helped Cam and Cam helped Devlin. Then little Lola came into their lives and she was something completely different for both of them. Carolyn fit into Cam's life perfectly. She worked with him, but because she was a doctor, she didn't go on missions as often as Cam. She could get the kids when he couldn't.
As soon as Janet crossed the street with Lola Davis ran over to her and hugged her tight.
"Happy Birthday, Lola!" Davis giggled.
"Thank you!" Lola smiled.
"Wagons are a great idea instead of strollers and you can fit more than one kid in them!" Missy said as Daniel came up, pulling the wagons.
"We figured if the kids get tired, they can just climb in and rest for a bit." Janet said as she hugged Missy and Laney. Everyone hugged and greeted each other.
"This is Cam's parents Frank and Wendy. My parents Hank and Kim!" Carolyn introduced. Missy and Laney smiled and shook their hands.
"You must be Davis. You like to hold our Lola's hand? How old are you?" Frank asked, glaring a Davis playfully.
"We like to hold hands and I'm four!" Davis swung Lola's hand back and forth. Frank couldn't help but smile at the bold four-year-old.
Tucker and Devlin went to talk on a bench away from the adults. They hadn't seen each other since Devlin started school and they had a lot to talk about.
Go over the schedule one more time, Cass." Jack sat down on a bench; He hoped his knees were going to hold out.
"Sure. The kids should get here between eight forty-five and nine. Then we head in to the zoo and see some animals and four kids will go paint. Around ten, we will go wash hands and have a snack. Then at ten thirty we can start the animal feeding encounters.Then around eleven thirty or twelve we will go to lunch and presents. At one-thirty, we will finish up the painting sessions and animal feeding encounters. Then by three or four at the latest, everyone should be picked up and we can go home and nap. Of course there are going to be potty breaks in between. There are a lot of kids coming. Lola invited her entire class from the day care center and most of them said they were coming." Cassie sat down next to Jack.
"Sounds like a solid plan!" Jack nodded.
Lola waved when she saw Ashley and Teal'c heading her way. She ran to Ashley and Ashley picked her up.
"We brought a surprise for you, doodle bug, but you have to be quiet!" Ashley put her finger up to her mouth. Lola nodded excitedly. Ashley and Teal'c turned around to show Lola her surprise.
Devlin was still happily talking to Tucker when a shadow appeared in front of them. Devlin looked up to see a tall, skinny, red-haired boy standing there, smiling.
"Silas!" Devlin leapt up and hugged one of his best friends. Silas laughed, glad to see his friend better health than when he had left him. Devlin look up to see Silas's dad, Jeb, was hugging Lola tightly. He then picked Lola up so a blonde lady, Hailey, could hug Lola.
"I missed you so much, baby girl!" Hailey hugged Lola tightly.
"What's your baby's name?" Lola noticed a stroller beside them.
"Her name is Star!" Hailey smiled.
"She's tiny like banana baby when she was born. How old is she?" Lola gently touched the baby's hand.
"She's two weeks old! I was hoping I was going to get to come I really missed you." Hailey stroked Lola's face.
"I missed you too! I'm learning how to write letters, then we can send letters like Dev sends Silas!" Lola bounced.
"I will love to get letters from you! Your mom would be so proud of you. She couldn't wait for you to be in her class." Hailey's eyes filled up with tears. Jenny Hamish was Hailey's best friend from the time the Hamish's moved there. Jenny had Lola, who was six months old. It had been a big secret at the time that they came through the ring. Silas was only five, almost six. She had been teaching Silas at home, but she liked Jenny, who was the new five-year-old teacher. So Jenny would come pick Silas on her way to school and leave Lola with Hailey. Then she would bring Silas home and they would talk before going home. Jenny finally told her about them having to leave their son behind so they could get away from the Goa'uld. Jenny was so excited when they found Devlin. She thought Doyle would calm down and not worry about the fields so much. Jenny loved and protected those children so much that she gave her life for them. Hailey didn't even get to say goodbye to Lola because she was in the hospital. They didn't know she was pregnant with their miracle baby. Hailey felt someone gently wipe away her tears. Hailey blinked to see Jeb had moved them to a bench. Lola was kindly wiping her tears.
"I shouldn't have come I'm ruining your birthday by crying!" Hailey sniffed. Lola looked more confused that Hailey was crying than upset.
"Crying is OK, but why are you crying?" Lola asked.
"I miss your mom and I missed you. I just got sad it happens after mommies have babies sometimes. You look so much like her it kind of surprised me." Hailey explained as she hugged Lola.
"I'm sorry you're sad maybe seeing the animals will help. You can take my turn painting with the animals if you want to but I would like you to stay, please." Lola stroked Hailey's hair as she had done to Lola.
Jeb had told Cam how weepy Hailey been since the baby. Janet had done an examination shortly after the baby was born and a couple of days before they came through the gate. Janet said that being weepy was normal. Lola seemed to calm Hailey down, and the other adults were keeping the kids distracted.
"I don't want to take your turn sweetheart I want to watch you have fun. Let's go see some animals." Hailey gingerly stood. They went back to where the other kids were. More of Lola's friends had arrived. Lola ran over to greet her friends.
"Are you OK momma?" Silas asked, walking up to them with them.
"I'll be fine, darling! You are getting tall, Dev!" Hailey hugged Devlin. Devlin grinned he grew an inch and a half since he last saw her.
"OK , guys, I have blue wrist bands for the kids and white wrist band for the adults. So the employees will know you are part of a party that way you get to do the feeding encounters for free. So make sure they see your wrist band. Lola, since it is your birthday, the zoo is letting you do two animal paintings. Which one do you want to do first? Everyone gets to choose from skunks, porcupine or armadillo." Carolyn explained as she stood on a bench. She handed the wrist bands to Cam to pass out.
"I want to paint with the skunks!" Lola said.
"Who wants to paint with skunk, raise your hand?" Carolyn asked. Little hands shot up.
"OK, so we'll do Davis, Trent, and Emma will go first for the skunks. I need to make a list of what everyone wants to do. Who wants to paint porcupines. Cassie, Laura, Josh and Jordan, you guys first, then you can help with the little ones later. Anyone for the armadillo? Kelly, Marshall, Justin and Bryan." Carolyn said as she continued to write the names so she can remember who wanted to paint with what animal.
"Do I want to know what my credit card bill is going to be?" Cam asked as he help Carolyn step down from the bench.
"I wouldn't ask!" Carolyn chuckled.
"Thank you for doing this for Lola!" Cam said, taking her hand.
"Of course I would do anything for her!" Carolyn smiled. A car pulled up to the curb, a young lieutenant got out of the car.
"Is this the Mitchell party?" The man asked.
"Yes, it is!" Cam said.
"Hi! I'm Micha Peyton, and this is Will Peyton. The people at the day care center said that they would take Will if you signed him in for me. Today is my first day at Cheyenne mountain and I don't know how long I'm going to be. Will has a severe nut allergy do you know how to work an epi pen?" Micha asked anxiously.
"I'm a Doctor Carolyn Lam. I know how to work with an epi pen. We can keep Will with us for the day. Cam and I work at the mountain as well." Carolyn assured, smiling as she gave Micha her card with her information.
"Oh, that would be great. Will is my nephew. I just got custody of Will two weeks ago from Florida. I was trying to move up here at the time so he has a lot of layers. He is wearing my hat until I can get him some kid winter clothes." Micha explained as he took the lumpy, over layered four-year-old out of the car. He helped put a book bag on the boy's back. All you could see of the boy was clear blue eyes behind plastic frame glasses.
"Hi! Will come see the animals. You get to choose what animal you want to paint with!" Lola ran up to him.
"Happy Birthday, Lola!" Will said, ripping off the scarf he was wearing.
"Alright dude, have fun! I want to hear all about your day later!" Micha hugged Will.
"Reverse kiss?" Will asked. Micha blew a raspberry on Will's cheek.
"Lay it on me!" Micha kneeled down and turned his face as Will blew a raspberry on Micha's cheek. He patted the boy on the back, then got back in his car and drove away.
"Let's go see some animals!" Carolyn said as a zoo worker opened the entrance gate.
Between the adults and older children, they could get the wrist bands on the younger children. The wagons Janet and Daniel brought held quite a lot of children, and other children were holding each other's hands as they entered the zoo.
"We are meeting at the toucan snack bar at ten for snack. It is easy to find on the map. Kids, you must stay with a group of adults at all times." Janet passed out maps to the adults.
"Go have fun the first three groups lets go do said animal paintings." Cam said. The twelve children came to the front. Cam would be with Lola's group, Carolyn would be with the older kids, and Jacob would be with the last group.
The kids were picking out paint colors and listening to the Zoo keepers give instructions when one of the worker pulled Carolyn aside.
"Are you kidding me? I talked to three people about this, and they assured me it would be fine for him to go in with his wheelchair!" Carolyn snapped.
"Told you they wouldn't let me. I don't want to scare the animals. I don't want to paint." Jordan put on a brave face.
"That's not fair! I don't want to do it if Jordy can't!" Lola stood up from her spot.
"If I help him walk in the room, he can paint, right?" Cassie asked before the other kids rioted.
"As long as he can sit up by himself. Then yes, it will be fine." The worker said.
Cassie helped Jordan unbuckle from his chair. His legs and back were stiff from the cold. He stood up and leaned on Cassie. They walked into the room. The others went into their rooms to do their paintings.
"Carolyn, come here please!" Cassie stuck her head out the door. Jordan was sitting in a chair, tears running down his face.
"Are you hurting, baby?" Carolyn asked, hurrying over to Jordan. She kneeled down beside him and he leaned into her.
"The cold makes me hurt!" Jordan whimpered.
"Can he go first so we can get him back in his chair?" Carolyn asked.
"Sure, we can do that. My coworker went to get our porcupine. Her name is Kale she is seven years old. She was born in the zoo. I'm going to set up your paint. You wanted green and yellow, right?" The worker, who's shirt said Ty.
"I'm seven years old too. Yes, green and yellow please!" Jordan nodded.
"You are the same age that's cool! Are you allergic to peanuts?" The Ty asked.
"No."
"OK peanuts are her favourite snack. So Janey is going to put Kale down. You're going to get her to come by holding the pointing stick." Ty handed him a stick with an orange ball on the end. Jordan held out the stick, and the porcupine came to the stick. Jordan grinned.
"Great job! OK, I'm going to put her in the paint and you're going to get her to go on the canvas by giving her peanuts." The worker instructed. The worker got Kale to put her feet in the paint. She then lumbered over to Jordan, who was holding out the peanut. Kale took the peanut with her paw and ate the nut.
"Oh no, she's eating paint!" Jordan gasped.
"It's OK we use special paint that won't hurt the animals besides look, she left most of it on the canvas. If you tell her to spin, she will make a cool design." Ty smiled.
"Kale spin, please!" Jordan made a circle motion with hand. Again the animal slowly made a circle in to the paint and then into the canvas. Jordan giggled.
"Do you want her to do any more or do you like your painting?" Ty asked.
"I love how it is!" Jordan gushed. He shifted his weight, leaning on Carolyn more.
The other kids were painting with another porcupine named Homer.
We have your name on the back of the painting! You can come pick the painting up before you leave." Ty said, picking up the canvas from the plastic on the floor. The other worker lead Kale away to wash her off for the next group. Ty passed out wipes for everyone to wipe off their hands.
"Can I carry you back to your chair?" Carolyn asked Jordan.
"Yes, please!" Jordan nodded Carolyn lifted Jordan out of the chair and took him out to his wheelchair. The other kids were coming out of their art rooms at the same time.
"That was so cool! Did you have fun, Jordan?" Lola bounced over to them.
It was a good and bad thing Jordan was staring to feel pain again. It him hurt getting back into his wheelchair even though he tried not to show it hurt.
"What's wrong?" Lola asked, seeing the tears in his eyes.
"I'm OK, Lola! How were the skunks?" Jordan asked.
"They were so cute! Why are you crying? Did you not get to paint?" Lola asked, as she stood on her toes so she could put her forehead on his.
Carolyn watched as the sweet five-year-old comforted her friend. Cam looked on proudly. Jordan pressed his head against Lola's head.
"I got to paint with a porcupine it was so cool. My back hurts, that is all. I will be OK." Jordan pulled his head back.
"Mommy will give you medicine so you will feel better." Lola rubbed Jordan's arm.
"I don't want medicine! It makes me sleepy. Let's go look at more animals!" Jordan insisted.
"OK." Lola sighed.
They all left of the enrichment center. The painting took about thirty minutes, so they still had thirty minutes before meeting for a snack. Lola pointed to the aquarium section, and the others agreed to go into the building. Jacob smiled seeing Jack holding Hannah, showing her some fish.
"How was painting with the animals?" Sam asked, walking up to Jacob holding a little boy's hand.
"It was really cool! Did you know armadillos hate the cold? They can hold their breath for six minutes!" Marshall asked proudly. He was one of the older five-year-olds in the four-year-old class because of his birthday.
"There is a pink fairy armadillo they are tiny and the others are the size of cats!" Kelly said, excitedly making her hands tiny then bigger as the zoo worker had done. Kelly was Marshall's twin sister.
"They are the only mammals that have hard armor but the babies armor is soft." Justin informed. Justin was four, but soaked in animal facts like a sponge.
"We had a lot of fun, very informative stuff, about armadillos!" Jacob chuckled.
"I know one! Their sticky tongues slurp up bugs from the ground!" Bryan shouted, when he finally thought of a fact.
"Good job!" Jacob praised.
"I knew Jack would be a favorite, but Makyla has claimed Jack and Hannah for herself." Sam pointed to a cute little black girl holding Jack's hand. Her other hand was on her hip and she was talking nonstop to Jack. The four-year-old had a round face. She wore a hot pink dress that went beautifully with her dark skin tone her beaded braids were pulled into two doggy ears. She would make Hannah smile by making fish faces at her.
"Hey guys! They are getting ready to have a show were the feed the fish and stuff if you want to go sit down?" Daniel pointed to a seating area behind them. The kids and Jacob went to sit down. Sam went to go get Jack and Makyla, who had their backs to them.
"Hey! Let's go watch a show!" Sam walked up to them. Hannah smiled hugely and kicked her feet when she saw Sam.
"Our little fish likes the fish!" Jack said, as Sam took Hannah.
"Hannah is Jack's baby!" Makyla frowned up at Sam.
"Makyla, this Hannah's mommy and my wife, Sam!" Jack introduced. Makyla just pulled Jack towards the sitting area. Jack grabbed Sam's hand as he pasted her.
When they got to the sitting area, Jacob had saved them a spot on the top step for them. Makyla went to sit closer on the floor with the other kids. Janet was removing some of Will's layers for him. He had pulled his hat off, revealing a head full of honey colored ringlets.
"Oh! Tucker's hair looked like that when he was little! He likes his hair short now. I kind of miss the curls!" Miss cooed.
"I'm sweaty!" Will said, as Janet pulled the last layer off.
"I'm sure you are! Your little body was wearing four shirts and a jacket. That sweatshirt and jacket would have been enough." Janet chuckled as she folded the other shirts. She noticed not only were the shirts too big for the boy, but they had other names on the tags.
"At least you'll fit better in the wagon." Daniel smiled, turning around from where he was sitting.
"Do you have older brothers or sisters?" Janet asked, as she put the shirts in his bag.
"I have two brothers! Davey and Mac, they went away with mommy and daddy on a train. Uncle Micha said I'll see them again one day!" Will said, brightly.
Janet and Daniel shared a look. Two weeks ago, a tragic train accident happened with a school group in Florida. The four year old lost his entire family, sadly Daniel knew what that was like.
"Can I hug you?" Will asked, holding out his arms.
"Of course, sweetheart!" Janet hugged the boy tight. Will then went to sit with the other kids.