Ok, I'm back from vacation for good, finally! LOL. Anyway, here's the new chapter, the Christmas chapter actually, a little late, lol. Oh well. I hope you like it anyway. :)

IMPORTANT: Also, over on my LJ (the link to which can be found on my profile here) I just updated it with a header inspired by this story, and posted the link to an icon and wall for the story that you're more than welcome to snurch! :D Have a great day! Thanks!

Chapter 11

Now that they knew where he was, Alice left and the Cullens left Daniel be. He sat up on the mountain the rest of the night, thinking. He was sure he'd made the right decision…

And he knew how to make himself accept it and stand by it.

Carlisle was beside the river when he ran back the nest day, the river that ran through the Cullens large back yard before the forest began. Daniel jumped the more than twenty feet effortlessly, and landed beside the doctor with grace that he still wasn't used to. Carlisle was looking at him with concern when he straightened.

"Are you all right, Daniel? Alice said you had a few difficult things to think through…"

Daniel pulled a slow breath, taking the in the scents from the house that told him all of the other Cullens were there, and they could hear him.

"Yes, I'm…I'm fine." He looked into his friend's deep golden eyes and let out a little of the breath, along with what was left of Daniel Jackson. "I've decided what I want to do. If you don't mind, I want to stay—for good. I want to be part of your family and take your name, if the other still stands."

By the time the season for Christmas shopping had arrived a few weeks later, the Cullens were confident enough in Daniel's self-control to let him go to Port Angeles with Bella, Edward, and Renesmee. The Cullens did most of their shopping online, or in larger cities with nicer, more expensive stores…but Bella had been more recently human than everyone but Daniel, and she wanted to give her daughter the whole typical Christmas experience.

Being near Vala as much as he had, it wasn't as hard as he'd thought it would be.

His usual stubbornness probably helped, too, besides the fact that he was no longer considered a newborn—he was well past the year mark now. He wasn't stronger than the rest of his vampire friends any longer, either. He wasn't large and athletic like Emmet, or fast like Edward, a skilled fighter like Jasper. He didn't really even know how to fight, like this. He didn't seem to have any quantifiable special talent like, Jasper, Alice, Edward, and Bella. (Bella's, actually, was the most powerful. Her mind was a shield against all other mental vampire talents, and she could spread it to protect as many people as she wished. Edward could not hear her thoughts unless she allowed it.)

Daniel seemed to be settling into a perfectly mediocre vampire existence.

That was perfectly all right with him. After spending his entire human life as a prodigy, the brain, drawing attention to himself at the same time that he often only wanted to hide in the shadows…it was almost nice to be average.

He could have gone shopping with any of the Cullens, but besides Alice being something of a best friend, and Carlisle a wonderful mentor, Daniel felt closest to Edward and Bella. They had found him, rescued him, and welcomed him into this new life before he even knew they had more family. It was thanks to them that he hadn't either been killed, or woken up alone—with no idea what had happened and no thoughts beyond the thirst.

It was thanks to Edward and Bella that he had not become a monster.

Daniel shuddered whenever he remembered what could have happened. Eventually, he would have regained some sense of himself…probably figured out for himself that he could survive on animals…but after how many human lives had been lost? If the two Cullens had not stayed with him through his transformation and been there when he woke up, he would have been too disoriented to stop himself from acting on this body's instincts.

He could have been a murderer.

The fact that Edward and Bella had saved him from that and shown him from the beginning how to survive without human blood, made him eternally grateful to them. Despite the fact that none of them had created him—and the fact that Carlisle and Esme were the 'parents' of the Cullen home—if Daniel had parents in this life he supposed it would be Edward and Bella. Even though Bella really was younger than him by almost twenty years as her frozen age suggested, Edward was older than them both by decades. All of the Cullens were.

They spent most of the day in Port Angeles, and by that time Daniel was feeling strained. There were too many humans…

Edward caught it in his thoughts, of course, and nudged Bella. Renesmee shot him a sympathetic smile as her mother ushered him into a nearly abandoned bookstore.

"Here, this is better. Will you be okay for just a little while? We're almost done. We have one more stop to make, just down the mall."

Daniel sighed and nodded. "Yeah, thanks. I'll be fine."

"All right. You can just meet us at the car, too, if you need to."

He smiled a little to thank her again, and she nodded and left with Edward and Renesmee. As usual, discreet stares followed the beautiful family. It took a moment for Daniel to remember that people stared at him now, too. The few people in the front of the book store were unsuccessfully hiding the fact that they were watching him, and now that he was alone he had to flee into the rows of bookshelves to escape the discomfort. Before, he could pretend that it wasn't him they were looking at, and it had been true. They were staring at the Cullens, too.

Daniel relaxed the moment he was free of the amazed gazes and whispers that he could hear all too well. The rows of books swallowed him and immediately put him at ease. This was somewhere where he felt at home. It wasn't a huge bookstore, because it wasn't a large mall and this wasn't a large city, but it was enough to comfort him. He had to admit that it felt more than good to be in a bookstore again at all.

Less than an hour later, when the Cullens returned for him, his burning throat had been all but forgotten, and he was perfectly happy browsing the racks. It wasn't until the four of them were climbing into Edward's silver Volvo that he winced as the thirst made itself known again.

"Maybe I should have stayed out longer while we were hunting yesterday," he mumbled—though that, of course, was plenty loud enough for them to hear him.

"That does help," Edward commented. "Until it doesn't bother you as much, anyway."

"It seems like it never gets very much easier to be around humans…"

"That's because our time scale is different than you're used to. I'm sorry to say that it'll take a few decades before it's really easier on any level."

"It's not that easy for me, either," Bella added. "I've just been doing it longer, besides the fact that I had the head start, knowing well what I was getting into when I changed."

Bella had seen her father again the week she was changed, but since she had her shield talent and no vampire had ever been known to have two powers, the Cullens all assumed it was only that she had been prepared that kept her from killing him then, and allowed her to get back out among humans almost immediately after.

Daniel sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I know…I just wish…" he trailed off, careful not to think of Vala. He didn't have to say anything for them to understand, and Edward would hear it repeated in his thoughts anyway. I still wish this had never happened. I want to be human. Sorry, nothing against you, but you know that…

And Daniel saw Edward nod almost imperceptibly in the rearview mirror.

The Christmas after Daniel disappeared was almost nonexistent, for SG-1. Sam and Cameron went home to visit their respective families, and Teal'c and Vala stayed behind and ate Christmas dinner in the commissary with the other single, lonely, otherwise friendless SGC personnel—the skeleton crew that manned the base that day. For the four of them there was no sense of loss at not really celebrating. They hadn't felt like celebrating.

This year they all felt almost as bad, but at least now they knew what had happened. There was at least some amount of closure, and Vala could see that even though it had only been a few weeks, her friends were beginning to move on. They'd had more than a year to mourn, and now that they knew—could get past what had happened and weren't hampered by endless questions—they were moving much more quickly toward okay.

Vala couldn't hamper that anymore. She didn't have Daniel anymore, either. It was almost easier to pretend as if he died to her that day weeks ago as absolutely as he had for Sam, Cameron, and Teal'c. In reality…she had to. He wasn't coming back.

SG-1 did gather this year. When Sam and Cameron returned from leave to see family—a trip only Vala and Teal'c knew that they took together this year, visiting both families before the holiday—the four of them got together at Cameron's apartment Christmas morning. The mood wasn't as jubilant as past years, but it was better than the way things had been for the past year and a half.

"Finally we have the party at my place," Mitchell mussed good-naturedly, when they were through with their short gift exchange.

"Well, we're always at my house," Sam shrugged. Or Daniel's. "I guess it was time for a change." Because doing everything the same would have only reminded us of who we're missing.

None of them missed the subtext.

"Indeed," Teal'c said quietly.

Vala pressed a hand to her stomach and sighed. "Sure."

Despite her quickly growing body and even more highly accelerated mind, Renesmee Cullen was still a child. Nessie dragged her parents to the main house from their cottage the moment she was awake Christmas morning, and immediately commenced pulling the others from their rooms.

It didn't take long before everyone was downstairs around the Christmas tree, laughing and passing out gifts from the generous piles spread under the tree. Alice was the only one who knew that Daniel had a reason to be less than ecstatic, and her hand lingered on his shoulder whenever she passed him.

This was better and worse than last year. Daniel had still agonized then over what he had become—that he couldn't see his friends, couldn't even leave the Cullen house for fear he would kill innocent people to satisfy the thirst that he could not yet control. The Cullens had given him a nice laptop with a few accessories and a docking station, to help him feel some connection with the outside world, and left him alone. He hadn't wanted to take part in the celebration, but it hadn't hurt their feelings.

Daniel felt just as unwilling to celebrate this year, but he knew he wouldn't have a decent explanation if he didn't. He was still on the way to fully accepting the fact that this was life now, and he knew this would help. So he joined in the festivities. He'd bought presents for them all, and allowed them to return the favor even though it made him uncomfortable to be receiving anything from them after everything they'd already done.

Bella was the only one who understood his aversion to gifts from the Cullens, because apparently she had once felt the same way. Thus, he received only a small token from her, Edward, and Nessie. Daniel had discovered that after the transformation, prescription lenses only distorted things, so they had bought him a new pair of glasses with plain glass lenses that he could actually see through. They looked just like the partially broken ones they had found him in, though he glanced at the thin arm and noticed that of course it was a designer label.

He received books from Carlisle and Esme, and from Alice and Jasper a box half his height of more new clothes. From Emmett and Rosalie, a stereo and stack of CDs, because apparently he had not outfitted his new room to their satisfaction. It wasn't until a little later, when everyone was spread out across the living room enjoying their gifts, that Carlisle approached him again. Esme was right behind him, and the others dropped what they were doing and wandered over, as if on some unspoken cue.

Daniel stood uncertainly from the couch when he realized that they were all circling around him.

Carlisle was carrying a thin manila envelope, which he held out as he smiled. "One more thing. This is from all of us."

He couldn't begin to imagine just what on earth would have them all looking at him expectantly like this. "For me?" he asked weakly. Carlisle nodded, and he slowly took the envelope. "Thank you…"

Resisting the urge to wince under their gaze, Daniel bent up the metal tabs and pulled out the contents of the envelope—a thin stack of papers and things of various sizes, all paper-clipped together. He was sure his eyes were bugging out from the moment he saw the document on top, and his hands trembled as he pulled off the paper clip off and dropped it back in the envelope, which he dropped to look through the papers.

"Carlisle…" he all but whimpered.

Everything was there, everything he would need to really start his new life here—birth certificate, drivers' license, social security card, passport, and a few things he didn't even recognize—all in the Cullen name, at his request from a few weeks before. But instead of Daniel's first and middle names before the new one, the middle name he'd never liked anyway had been dropped, and 'Jackson' had been moved back into it's place.

"I hope you don't mind the way I had it done. I thought it would make things a little easier for you," Carlisle told him gently.

Daniel swallowed convulsively. "I…ah…no, this works. It's…perfect. Thank you." His eyes pricked in that strange way these new eyes had when they couldn't tear up, but his old human instincts told him they should be.

"Welcome to the family, Daniel," Edward said smoothly.

The others echoed the sentiment, and Renesmee separated herself from her parents to wrap her arms around his waist.

"Officially, we're cousins now," she chuckled. "But I think I like you as a brother better."

Daniel blinked. He'd never known before that was exactly how she felt. "Thanks." She grinned up at him, and seemed to understand his uncertainty.

She touched his neck with a palm, and he saw things her way for a moment. Nessie showed him her joy whenever he came home from an extended absence; the way she saw her parents talking about him sometimes, the way they seemed almost as protective of him as they were of her, though they didn't usually let him see it. She showed him the good times she remembered since he'd come, the long talks about archaeology and anthropology and languages that had them both sitting up in the living room half the night while Bella and Edward watched in amusement, not minding that they wouldn't be going home to their cottage that night.

Nessie showed him all this and more, and then pulled her hand away and hugged him again, tighter this time. Daniel returned the embrace then, and the pricking was worse. "Thank you," he whispered, both to her and as a repeat to the others.

Maybe this was different. Maybe he still loved and missed his old family back in Colorado, and he always would…but this was his family now.

Now his name was Daniel Jackson Cullen.

Vala drove herself back to the SGC after the Christmas party that morning and quickly hurried to her room. She dropped the bag of gifts she'd gotten there by the door, and she went to her bed and went down on her knees to pull a small wooden box out from under it. As she sat on the edge of the bed, she flipped the box over instead of opening it to see the trinkets from her childhood that lay inside.

She slipped a key from a hole in the side of the box that left the head of the key flush with the grain when it was in its place—completely unnoticeable unless one knew where to look and where to pull to get it out. She pushed the key under the lip of the bottom of the box, into a keyhole that was also invisible unless one knew it was there.

The bottom of the box popped open when Vala turned the key, revealing the small compartment there. The envelopes long since thrown away, the letters from Jacek were there because she couldn't bear to throw them away and yet it was too painful to ever look at them, since her father had run away again. This compartment in this small old box was where she had chosen to carefully lock away her heart.

Vala pulled a picture from her pocket. It was her and Daniel, taken only a couple of months ago where they sat curled together on his couch, smiling at the camera and waiting for the five-second timer to snap the shot. It was the only picture he had ever let her take of them—of him—since they had found each other again. He had insisted that it was safer not to have any evidence lying around of what they were doing, if they were to keep their friends safe from these Volturi he spoke of. He made her promise to keep the one copy of the one picture with her always, or somewhere else equally secure, to make sure no one ever saw it.

She couldn't keep it with her anymore. It would kill her to know it was there and remember what she didn't have anymore. Her fingers brushed delicately over his perfect face in the laminated picture. It was depressing how plain she looked next to him. Her memory could not do him justice, now—not his new face. It was too flawless, white, and smooth. She'd learned not even to mind that it was hard and cold as well when she ran her hand over it…

Vala halted her thoughts there and blew air through her pursed lips. "I love you, Daniel," she whispered.

She would remember that he had loved her, but that was all. She could never really forget, not with the new life growing inside her now…even if it was she alone that had put it there…but all she could really cling to was that Daniel had loved her. To remember the present tense when he wasn't here was too painful, to focus too precisely on the memories was too painful, but she would remember that he had loved her and she would carry his child—the only other child she would ever have, Vala promised herself now.

She didn't think he would begrudge her that much.

Vala swallowed and placed the picture in the shallow space with her father's letters without looking at it again. She quickly shut and locked the compartment, and shoved the box back under her bed.

"Goodbye," she choked.

When Renesmee let go of him, she leaned down and picked up the manila envelope to hand it back to Daniel. She was grinning as she did, and he didn't understand until he felt the weight in the bottom of the paper.

"Yes, there's something else in there," Carlisle grinned. Edward, Emmett, and Alice were now positively bursting at the seams, and the others looked decently anticipatory while Bella rolled her eyes and mouthed a silent 'sorry' in his direction.

Now he was really curious—besides being moderately terrified—as he slid the papers back into the envelope and pulled out the object that distorted the bottom of the package.

"Oh, you didn't," Daniel groaned as he held it up. It was a set of car keys he didn't recognize.

"I'll get it!" Nessie chirped in laughter. She already knew how to drive, of course, though she didn't look old enough to do it on the road yet. She had snatched the keys from his hands and disappeared out the front door before he could protest.

"I told them not to," Bella smiled apologetically. "But I guess there's nothing wrong with not having to borrow a car all the time."

Carlisle chuckled. "Don't worry; it's not too bad."

That was when they all heard the heavy paw-falls in the woods outside the house, and knew that company was coming. The sound stopped at the edge of the trees, and moments later Jacob Black strolled through the front door wearing only an old pair of blue jeans. As far as Daniel had heard it was more convenient that way, than to keep up with shoes and an entire set of clothing when they shifted into wolf form—Jacob and the rest of the 'werewolves.'

"Hey vamps, what'd I miss? Had to spend this morning in La Push with the parental unit and all that…" That was where all the wolves were from, La Push. It was a Quileute Indiana reservation near Forks.

They heard a vehicle park in front of the house, and in a split second Renesmee was back inside, had tossed Daniel his keys back, and latched around Jacob's waist now.

"Jacob! We were just about to show Daniel the car we got him for Christmas. Oh, and I have a present for you!"

Jacob laughed and swung her easily up into his arms. "I hope so. I gotta give you yours, too."

Nessie giggled and jumped down.

"Wait until Daniel sees his car," Edward suggested. "He'll need just as much help being enthusiastic as Bella."

"What's with all the new bloodsuckers knowing nothing about cars?" His alternative terms for vampires were not derogatory; it was simply wolf slang. Daniel raised an eyebrow in amusement at the car jibe, and Jacob shrugged. "No offense intended."

"None taken."

Alice was bouncing up and down by now. "Come on, let's get outside!"

"Okay, okay," Daniel relented. The others waited for him to go out first. He stopped on the porch, relieved and yet a little intimidated at the same time.

It was a straightforward design, similar to Carlisle's Mercedes—it might have been a Mercedes, but he wouldn't have known if it was—though instead of black it was a dull champagne color, pretty but not too terribly ostentatious. Not that it wouldn't still stand out in a lot of typical middle-class vehicles.

"At least it's not a sports car," he managed to smile.

Alice grinned manically. "See? I knew you wouldn't mind a new car. You like it, don't you?"

It was definitely much nicer than anything he'd ever owned in the past.

"Yes, he likes it," Edward nodded in satisfaction.

"Nice," Jacob commented appreciatively. He was the only one of them besides Daniel who had never seen it before, apparently, and he was the first to jog down the steps to take a closer look.

Daniel followed at a slower, human pace; suddenly wishing he knew more about what he was looking at as he joined Jacob. He wished he'd paid more attention on the few occasions Jack had tried to tell him anything about cars…

Jack. How was he handling the news? Weeks ago he would have received the same news that was sent to the SGC. Something in his stomach knotted at the thought of his best friend, abruptly pulling any enjoyment from the moment as he purposely pulled up the aching memories of his other friends' pain to keep the first thoughts from tracking back to Vala. He felt the hand on his shoulder and glanced at Edward briefly before grimacing silently and backing away.

"Thanks, all of you. I do like it; thank you. I uh…I just…I'll be in my room." Daniel ran back into the house at the blinding speed that still marveled him when he thought about it, but he wasn't thinking about it. In his room—empty but for a desk with his computer, and a shelf with the various books he'd bought since coming her—he dropped the manila envelope and the keys on the floor and sank down against the wall.

He knew Edward would give the others a brief explanation, and assure them that it wasn't their fault he'd run away.

"Hey, do you think Vala was okay today?" Cameron asked. He and Sam were the only two left at his apartment, as she had offered to help him clean the kitchen after the small gathering—just an excuse to stay longer, really. Almost a week together on the road, and she still didn't want to leave.

She had to wonder if he was right…if it was time to admit that this wasn't going to change. Being together wasn't only a security blanket from the pain anymore.

"Yeah, I think so. She's getting there, anyway."

Cam shoved a dried plate into place in a cabinet. "You sure she's not sick or something? She looked a little green…"

"I'm sure she's fine," Sam hedged.

He paused a moment, and then shrugged. "Okay. I guess you would know if there was anything to be worried about, right? She would tell you wouldn't she?"

"Probably." She quickly changed the subject. "Hey, do you think your parents really did like me?"

"What? Of course they did. As much fun as Mom had with Vala, I think they're both relieved that you're a little more…conservative."

Sam snorted. It wasn't the perfect word choice, but probably the best either of them could have come up with on short notice. "Right. You know, to be honest, considering what I've hear about your upbringing, I was surprised that you didn't come back from that reunion early complaining that your parents had kicked Vala out of the house."

"No one was more surprised than me," he deadpanned.

She smirked.

"I do think they're still a little confused though—that it didn't work out with that girl from school. Of course they didn't hear about what happened at the reunion with the bounty hunter and the cargo ship rings and everything, so they don't understand that what with that being all she knew, that relationship eventually went the way of most others outside of the base. It worse because she knew there was something big I couldn't tell her…" He shrugged.

"Hmm…and you don't mind?"

Cam smiled suddenly and kissed her cheek. "Now I don't."